PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | A very special Philadelphia Eagles Presidents’ Day

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

In honor of that most hallowed of holidays, it’s time to celebrate Zach Berman’s favorite day of the year with a Philadelphia Eagles twist. Would you vote for Jason Kelce as POTUS? Which Eagle would you most want to have a beer with and why is Jordan Mailata? Joe Banner vs. Don Smolenski, who wins in a cage match?With Zach observing the holiday, Rich Hofmann and Bo Wulf take care of the proceedings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

to a very special President's Day episode of the PHLY Eagles podcast. I'm Bo Wolf, joined by handsome Rich Hoffman to my left. And as you see in front of us, we have a brand new sponsor that we're going to be very excited to tell you about Miller Light on board as the official beer of the PHY Eagles podcast. We'll get to that. We've structured the whole show today around Zach Berman's favorite holiday. Now, he is off celebrating and observing the special.

day, as only he can do. But Rich, what's your favorite part of the President's Day festivities? I just feel so inadequate to talk about it compared to Zach, you know, and is it a good thing that he took off? Is it because he's taking it so seriously? Or is it a bad thing? I mean, should he be here for this day specifically? Yeah, I mean, the football season could be wrapped up today. It could be Labor Day to President's Day if he had his druthers. Labor Day to President's Day, one of the best CB ideas ever. He gave Roger Goodell the whole branding. It was... Do the whole thing?

Yeah, absolutely perfect. Yeah, fantastic. So we're going to talk about some like Eagles-related presidential things. I have to say the graphic that Julia put together for the thumbnail, as hard as I've laughed at any thumbnail that we have had since

starting the show in September. I mean, it's a great picture of Don Smolenski, Eagles president, if you were unaware. It's the only one that in the image file. So there we go. We get Donnie Smolls, and maybe we can talk about, you know,

who would win in a wrestling match between Don Smolenski and Joe Banner in your eyes. If we just talk Eagles presidents, we're going to talk sort of about, like, you know, who in the Eagles world would you want to be president?

This is the day, okay? We're celebrating the day, and somewhere, Zach is like, what is going on? And that's okay. That's okay. He's back tomorrow at noon. So, Rich, how was your weekend?

It was great, Bo. You know, I was trying to observe President's Day. You know, it's kind of the preamble to today, honestly. But it was good, you know. I didn't do a lot. I'm cat sitting, my girlfriend's cat right now. So I did that. Yeah.

Is it, is that a flex? Got a girlfriend, that's flex. Oh, that is a flex. Yeah. Well, I also have a cat now that I have to deal with. So that's very important. goes into cats sitting. Oh, nothing. You just, you know, cats are very, they're self-sufficient. They're fine. You do have to clean out the litter box, which that's the only real hard part.

Is that having never had a cat? Is that like a once a day, twice a day, once every other day? What are we talking? For me, it's a once every couple of days type of thing. Maybe it should be done a little quicker. But again, I'm just learning right now. Yeah, you're doing the best you can. It's a new thing. I will say that the one tough thing about cats is that I have, such a gag reflex when I open the dry food, it smells really bad. So if somebody had a

camera on me as I was doing that, it wouldn't have been good. And so what are the, are you just trying to hold your breath now? Are you like doing the actual pinch of the nose? Yeah. What are you going for? Sometimes it's a pinch of the nose. Sometimes I'll just, I'll throw my whole sweatshirt over it

and try and do it, you know, in one fell swoop, basically. It's a learning process, but we got a little more time to perfect the, perfect it. But you know what? 1% better every day. She's still eating the cat food, so it's working. That was the main thing. What about you? What did you think? Had a good weekend.

We did go see the Mrs. Doubtfire play on Saturday. That was fun with the generations of Wolfmen. Had Casey and my dad there. It was kind of fun. Do they have a dude looks like a lady number? No. Oh man, it's like my favorite montage.

I know. And you know what? They have updated it. It is a little bit less problematic than the original version, and there's some changes to the ending. But, you know, the guy who played the Robin Williams role, very good, very talented. I can't wait for you to tell me, because I don't want you to give the listeners any spoilers. I can't wait to hear what the actual ending is to the movie. I don't know what that would be. Well, it doesn't wrap up in quite so neat a bow as the original.

Oh, a little realism. Okay. Yeah, but in a good way. Yeah, you know. I feel like they paint the Sally Field role a little bit difficultly. Like, they're a little bit unfair to her in the movie, and they're a little bit more fair to her in the show. That's fair.

Yeah, it's a little bit just more updated, but, like, you know, maybe, like, they don't need to get back together in the end. Is that what happens in the movie? Do they get back together? No, but they come to a nice agreement, chair in custody. And is Brosnan still in the picture in the movie? I don't think he is. I think he's kind of like a goof in the middle of the movie.

You know what, though? He is played less like a villain in the show. Makes sense. Yeah. Understandable. It's not his fault. I mean, you throw a lime at the guy, that's fine, but... Sure.

Yeah. That actually part does carry over, the lime throw. Oh, man. I might have to go see this. I don't know. I think you may have missed your opportunity. Actually, maybe it's still playing. I don't know.

Academy of Music. Shout out to the Academy of Music. All right. This is going to get a little weird, I guess. But let's start with Rich. Now, there's one small piece of Eagles news, by the way, that trickled out over the weekend. A report that has not been confirmed that I've seen,

but that Aaron Moorhead might be sticking around as the Eagles wide receivers coach. I would count as a surprise, considering some things we heard. but if that's the case, all the power to him. Why would you count that as a surprise? Well, he's been there a while. You know, he predated Siriani, right?

Like aside from Devante Smith and A.J. Brown, who were already awesome. I think he would be hard-pressed to find guys who have, like, gotten a lot better. And just because they were clearing so much of the staff on offense, I was expecting him to be replaced. But good for him. I'm trying to think who, I guess maybe. They had such a long string of having just one year of wide receivers coaches. It was like the joke was the defense of the dark arts type deal.

And it's weird that Aaron Moorhead has been the guy who's now been here for like five years. Who do you think had the best year? Maybe since you've been around the team, I know it hasn't been consecutively who is the best wide receivers coach. It was not. Best wide receivers coach? It wasn't Gunterre, I don't think. No. Well, it was Mike Groh.

It was Mike Roe, and then he got promoted, yeah. Yeah, you're the wide receivers coached long enough to become the villain or something like that. Yeah, that's right. Now David Cully predated him. He was, well-thought-of. Yes. He was there for a long time. There for a long time with Andy.

So there you go. Okay. Congrats to Aaron Morett, if that is, in fact, the case. We will hear a little bit more. Hopefully the Eagles will announce their official full staff at some point. They usually wait until everything is buttoned up. up to do that. We've got the combine next week, and so if it hasn't been officially announced by then, we'll get to sniff around a little bit more there. But for now, we know Kellyn Moore and Vic Fangio,

and we roll on. I have one quick draft take for you, since I'm, Zach is going to be on the show the next three days, and I think I'm doing Friday as well with him. But I don't know, and just reading up on the draft, it seems like, do you think there's a decent chance they go? I mean, obviously, when you did the draft with Fran, Tyler Geithen, he did well in that. And so do you think there's a decent chance that go tackle in the first round, kind of the succession plan?

I do. Just because that is what their history tells us, right? Now, Howie has had, I've said this before, the great thing about having Howie Roseman as a general manager is that he's been here so long that we have like a real sample size as opposed to what you might not have with other general managers.

first round picks he has only ever used them on the premium positions right quarterback defensive line offensive line and wide receiver that's it now I think cornerback is a possibility and is not one that he is opposed to it I think that's been a little bit more situational we know that they were interested in corners over the past couple years from you know Derek stingley to Patrick Sertan and j C horn and maybe even Christian Gonzalez last year so that is a possibility and I think if they were like hoping that need met value at any position they might hope that it's corner this year but aside from that I don't think they're taking a wide receiver in the first round just because of the personality dynamics I don't think they're

taking a defensive tackle again it seems like edge rusher is not really ripe in that area for them I think that would be one that they would be interested in especially if Hassan Reddick or Josh Shet is moved, right? Obviously they're not taking a linebacker and I don't think they're taking a first round safety. So barring that, we also know that, you know, Howie

will say that if we say that we're going to be about something, we've got to have our actions follow our words. And if we are all about building a great offensive line, we're going to have to use resources to do that. They know that Lane Johnson's not going to be here forever. It might be one year, it might be two years.

tackle seems like the most Howie Roseman pick here. And it's the same area where they took Andre Dillard a couple years ago. That said, Tommy Lawler, friend of the show, had a good sort of thought exercise up on Eagles Blitz, his website over the weekend, about sort of comparing the Eagles draft philosophy to the chief's draft philosophy. And Zach was talking about how impressive it is that the chiefs have turned over their defense so much. much with all these young guys. And part of it is they let those guys play. And the Eagles, I think, like, you could make, it goes both ways.

You could make the case that, well, it's a good thing if you were allowed to redshirt these guys because it means that you've got better players than them, right? I think, like, very specifically of Nicopi Dean from his rookie year. Like, he can't get on the field because T.J. Edwards and Kaiser White are playing so well. That's good. The flip side to that is you don't get the information that you need. And at some point, you do have to trust these guys. And so they go into this year having to trust Nikobie Dean,

but they don't have the full picture of information. Now, if you play guys as a rookie, you might get some false positives or some false negatives, like guys take time to develop. But I do think that there is a bit of a reluctance for the Eagles, and I don't know if it's coaching staff or front office, to sometimes let the young guys play. Yeah, and I just think, you know,

The other guy that I thought of in terms of just letting a guy sit and watching him, you know, letting him develop kind of behind the scenes, let him watch the games, is Jordan Milato, who obviously resource-wise was not nearly the same commitment as these other guys. But like if we're talking about team building over the past couple years, that is like the great hit of the Howie Roesman era to get, you know, a legitimate left tackle because Jeff Stalton said, hey, this guy has incredible skills. you know, we need to let him sit for a couple years, keep him on the roster, but just like let him watch and develop. And then in a couple years, I think I can make him a legit player. I do think it's a little bit different, though,

when it's the first round when you're taking that player, and you're also trying to win right now because there are a couple guys. And there are like economic reasons to do it because if you're drafting a guy and letting him sit for a year or two, you're not getting the full value of that contract. that said there are a couple guys in that range like it seems like offensive tackle in that late teens early 20 range that there are some legit players and kind of well thought of guys and guys who you know you read the scouting reports on a couple of these guys marius mims and guiten are kind of the two i think a lot of people say these guys are raw but they have like they have a ton of talent they might be good in a couple years and it just made me think like well maybe the eagles are the perfect spot right because if these are going to be the best guys in a couple years and you just have to do deal with some growing pains, well, they're probably more equipped to handle that because their bad years will just be preseason and, you know, the practice, you know, practices. And then if,

if Lane or Mila gets hurt, then they can play or something like that. So. And I also think there's an interesting Jeff Stoutland conversation here because if you think, okay, we have the best offensive line coach in the league. This guy can develop players better than anybody. He's been, he's being paid for that, right? Is the best. use of that skill being able to draft offensive linemen on day three and Jeff Stoutland can turn them into starting caliber offensive lineman or is it drafting really good prospects on you know day one and day two and he can turn them into pro bowlers right and I don't know that there's a right answer there but in terms of like resource allocation I like I don't

think that you should have to use only first and second round and third round picks to fill out the offensive line if you have this special weapon. And it's a little bit like the Niners defensive line, right? They have this guy, Chris Kukurik, I think is the pronunciation. And like they always get the most out of defensive linemen. And for a long time, it was like, well, we'll just sign these guys like Arden Key or Cleland Farrell or whatever, these guys who are sort of journeymen and he will turn them into productive, like above-average starters. and then they instead go out and they get, you know, they get Bosa, they sign J. Van Hargrave,

they go trade for Chase Young, and they're trying to get like the over-the-top production from these high ceiling guys. And I don't know what the right way to do it is, but if you're just thinking about, like, how can we borrow from some places to fill out the rest of the roster, I think you can make the case that it might make more sense to add some late-round guys. But then you also factor in, like, Jeff Stalland is the guy in the building who has a lot of juice come draft time. And so, of course, he's going to be pushing for better players to join his room. Yeah, I think it's a really, you laid it out perfectly there. I just think it's

like a very interesting philosophical discussion because on the one hand, it looks like the Eagles will get what they want, you know, in terms of, you know, a succession plan, premium position. They've always built on the trenches. And it seems like the board is going to fall that way, but I'm not sure it's the right thing for this year's team. And like you said, like if Jeff Staland is that good at developing players, and by the way, he is, very good. Like, he is an excellent track record. Not like every player has worked out,

but the fact that Milada is, like, a legit left tackle is a huge deal. Like, it's all the other mistakes that the Eagles have made at the top of, you know, drafts like Andre Dillard. Andre Dillard got completely erased because they drafted this rugby player. Right. And they just let him sit on the back end of the roster for a couple years. So I'm with you. I, you know, I like the idea of drafting other tackle just because that's the Eagles I know.

And in general, it's been a pretty good product, slightly above average, even, you know, when you wait in the bad years. But on the other hand, I kind of feel like you do too. Well, it actually, and it comes full circle this year with a specific question you asked because last year they used a third round pick on Tyler Steen. And Tyler Steen doesn't really get on the field. He starts one game at Red Guard,

but Sue Opetta started most of those games. And if they had had, if they had just let Tyler Steen play those games, even if it was like, you know, and Nick Siriani will always say, You have to do what you have to do, like what you think is going to give you the best chance to win that Sunday. You cannot think of the bigger picture. But would the Eagles be in better position this offseason if they had six games of seeing Tylerstein play and also giving him that development time?

I think they would. And that's really the other argument is that not only does it give you a better understanding of the players, but you are investing the on-field time to, hopefully let them get better over the course of time. So sometimes it's Jordan Milata, and he can get better on the side. But sometimes there are guys who need to play in order to get better themselves. And so it is this interesting push and pull that I think the Eagles are on sort of one side of relative to some other teams in the league. That's the offensive version of the church of Christian Ellis, right? Yeah. And honestly, like the Ellis thing is very much a part of

this. Like, I don't need to go back here, but like, I'm sorry, you know that Nicholas Morrow is not going to, like, get better over time and is what he is, whereas Christian Ellis could be just a little bit better, and he is under team control. I mean, a very short-sighted roster decision, as far as I'm concerned. As you already know. Okay. Let's talk now about our new friends, because if that was a short-sighted decision, you know what the best decision you can make. Just hanging out with friends, hanging out with bugs.

and drinking a Miller Light, okay? Because if you want to make your favorite moments even better, well, Miller Light, the great tasting light beer, is for people who love beer. In a new year, in a President's Day, a holiday is a day to celebrate with friends, family, and a great tasting light beer. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it tastes like Miller Time.

You know all about Miller Light. Miller Light? This is no surprise to you. You know that if you're going out, you want to throw back a few with the buds, the best way to do it is a nice cold Miller Light, baby, because the dependable taste of Miller Light is the perfect light beer for beer lovers. It's got that clean finish, and you know it's only got 96 calories in 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. What could be better than that? Simple ingredients, like malted barley for rich, balanced toffee note flavors, and the iconic golden color. Miller Light is brewed for taste. It hits different than other light beers. It's the taste you can depend on. No games, no gimmicks. Just a great beer for people who like beer. And you know

it is the original light beer since 1975 and still the best one. Miller Light, great taste, 96 calories, go to Millerlight.com slash p.h-l-Y birds to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. Tastes like Miller Time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Miller Light, the official beer of P.HLY Eagles.

Boy, are we excited. It's 5 o'clock somewhere. I was looking up because, you know, I'm not going to crack one just yet. Maybe later. Definitely later. But it's 5 o'clock in London, in Dakar, in Dublin. All you guys, all of our international listeners, crack open that Miller light, baby. And then, after you do that, buy tickets to a game or an event or something fun.

Because buying tickets to your favorite events shouldn't be stressful. Game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets. for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater near you. With killer deals on last minute tickets and their best price guarantee, you can stop stressing over the tickets and start getting hyped for the fun you'll have. They've got flash deals and last minute tickets, easy to find and buy tickets for every kind of event in your area, images of seat views, lowest price guarantee, event cancellation protection, job loss protection, and more. It is the fastest growing ticketing app in the country for a reason.

Get images of your seat before you buy so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive, buy tickets in a matter of seconds. Just two taps in your set. Tickets are sent directly to your phone, so you never have to dig through your email. Tickets make great holiday gifts, and today is one of the most important holidays on the calendar. It's President State people. Spread some love with Game Time. Snagget tickets, without distress with Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account,

and use code P HLY for $20. So if your first purchase, terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem with code P HLY for $20 off. Download game time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right. This is a, this is, I feel like this is an easy transition from Miller Light, Rich, because one of the things you used to always hear about presidential candidates, who would you want to have a beer with?

Yeah. Tell me who, like, in the Eagles sphere, would you most want to share a nice cold Miller Light with? Well, I have a couple, Beau. I thought when you, I thought this would be harder. and then when, I don't know, I think it's such an open-ended question when you posed it to me that I came up with like six or seven names. Okay, I like this. There feels like one obvious one. The obvious one, I'll say it right now, Jason Kelsey.

Sure. The every man. Everybody wants to have a beer with Jay's. That's his whole thing. Yeah. And I also, well, let's, uh, yeah, I think it's self-explanatory. I guess the issue with Kelsey is, and I forget if you, you or Sheel or the person who kept this, how many beers did he? drink on Parade Day, did we say?

That was from Shields story. Like, do you remember the number? 20 or something like that, yeah. Yeah, I mean, as somebody who likes drinking a light domestic, don't get me wrong, and drinking like a few of them, I don't get quite as hung over with those. Another Miller Light advantage for everybody there. I don't think I could drink.

Longevity is the nice, I mean, you should be hanging out all night with, shaking middle of lights. I do not think I could hang with Jason Kelsey. In fact, I know I could not hang with Jason Kelsey. That would be the one issue. But you don't have to. I mean, you can call it when you can be responsible. I would call it.

Yes. Yeah, drink responsibly. Over the course of your two hours drinking beers with Jason Kelsey, what are you guys going to be talking about? Oh, I mean, everything. I think I'm just going to, like, you know, maybe say like a couple key buzzwords and just let him go. You know, like Taylor Swift, football, parade, you know, Travis, you know, whatever. And I would just let him go, let him talk, maybe like yell at him so to get him excited as well. Okay.

You know, as somebody who's interviewed him, I mean, you wrote the great story a couple years ago about all of his injuries and things like that. I don't know how to get the best out of Jason Kelsey. So maybe that's more of a question for you. Yeah, I mean, I think Jason Kelsey is a versatile conversationalist. I think you could talk movies, TV shows. He's got thoughts on music, all kinds of things. I feel like given our statuses, we would probably just be talking about kids. and like fatherhood, but yeah, I would love to have a beer with Jason Kelsey.

I like the fact, by the way, the shack of all people was like, I need the Eagle Center on my podcast. That's the type of crossover appeal. It's crazy how just monumentally big of a star he is now. It's crazy. And at a position where people are not stars. Right. But like, do you think the people who know him through, you know,

new heights and even, you know, the parade and all the other? Do you think like a, I wonder the number of people that do not know that he's like an awesome football player too. That it's not just the personality. And even Travis is like, he's like reached this new level of fame because he's dating Taylor Swift. But like arguably the best tight end of all time. Totally. Like, you know, certainly from a receiving standpoint, it's crazy how good they are, the two of them. Like it's wild.

Like they're two brothers and they're going to be in the hall of fame. Right. Both of them. Has that ever happened? I have two brothers ever made the Hall of Fame? I don't think so. And yet, I would argue because Travis has become so famous, starting the podcast and then what he's done over the past couple months here, are we talking like 25 to 30 percent of the people have

like no idea? Oh yeah, these guys are awesome football players too. They're not just like funny and famous and all of these things. Good, yeah, but they're like generationally good. Yeah, it's crazy. All right, who else is on your list? We already mentioned him. Jordan Milata.

Yeah. I mean, if you're drafting a, like, okay, you can have a beer with someone, you're not going to know who's going to walk through that door, but you can guess, you can pick the nationality. I feel like Australian. It's like, okay, I'll take an Australian, yeah. Absolutely. Brett Brown used to say that because he lived in Australia for a long time.

He was like, yeah, the people there are just different. Just like just having a beer on the beach with any of those people. They just, it's a different type of temperament where they'll make fun of you, but at the same time while they're making fun of you, it's nice at the same time. They enjoy having a good time, but not like a crazy time. I don't really know how to explain it.

The one thing I will always remember, though, in the first preseason game that Mila played, do you remember like... So bad. He was terrible, but I think everybody realized, like, okay, that was his first time playing football, and he might have thrown, like, one good block. Right.

And I do remember... You see his size. I covered that game with you and Shield, And when you guys came up from the locker room afterwards, I believe it was either you or sheel, you guys said, man, Milata can fill it up. And it being the notebook where it's just like he's a very good talker. And I found that too. Like I covered him and, you know, as somebody who didn't cover the Eagles full time, just like wrote a couple stories on his development and things like that, he was like a pleasure to talk to. especially to somebody who really didn't cover the Eagles on a day-in-day-out basis,

not like somebody whose face he knew. And it was just like such an easy conversation where he absolutely fills it up. He made fun of himself. He just was a very good hang. And I also think, too, when you mentioned Eagles-related people to have a beer with, you do default a lot to the linemen and maybe the linebackers. Sure. They seem the most, like, approachable.

They seem the most normal. They're also bigger, too. Like, I would say the other skill players, like, they're in, like, such good shape that I wonder, like, do you even drink beer? Right. Or if it's like... Especially, like, the receivers, like, those guys. Yeah, I mean...

Jay Brown, have you ever had a beer in life? Such an unbelievable, like, human specimen. Yeah, exactly. Although, I don't know. I'd like to have a beer with Devante Smith. I don't even know if he drinks, but, I don't know. just to just to like pick see if we can get some

honesty out of him. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Anybody else on your list? You know, Jeff Stoutland would be pretty good too. Stout's a good one. See, see, I would want to just drink a beer with him

and just have him break down offensive line stuff. And I wouldn't know anything he was saying. But I think that would be a... But I think that would be a good way to pass the time for a couple hours. Okay. I have a couple other guys here. I would love to drink. this is like a very random name.

Like this? Tom Brookshire. Really? Well, I would like to drink with one of those guys that played in the 60s, you know, the 50s where they would probably drink beer for like pregame instead of Gator. Sure. You know? Like at halftime, we drink milk and we smoke cigarettes. Like that type of era of football.

I just would want to know, no, it doesn't have to be Tom Brookshire, but he was an announcer. Yes. You know, he played with, you know, Bednaric. They won the NFL championship. He played against Lombardi, those type of things. That's why I chose him. But really, you could substitute anyone of those guys. Well, listen to this, Rich.

This is a happy coincidence because my reaction to that is I did go through the list of eagles and players in NFL history with the same last names as presidents. Now, Brookshire, of course, there has been no president, Brookshire. But did you know that Tom Brookshire is by birth? Thomas Jefferson Brookshire. I did not know that. What are the odds? What a life he lived, born in Roswell, New Mexico. Do you think Zach knew those two things?

I'm going to guess no. I mean, I think Zach knows a lot of things. I feel like he might not have known that Tom Brookshire's middle name is Jefferson. Now he does. There you go. Okay, yeah, that's a good one. I think you've covered some good bases. Now, what about the flip side here?

Who would you actually vote for in the Eagle's Fear to be president of the United States? There's some good ones. I'll let you go first. Now, it's funny because Travis does joke to Jason that, like, he's going to run for president one day. Feels like a big job, but there are worse options, I would say. You know the guy who came to mind for me? And I don't know.

You know, this is the truism, of course, that, like anybody who is interested in being president should not be president. But Malcolm Jenkins is the guy who came to mind for me. He has leadership experience. I think he cares about the right things. He has many different life experiences that I think would come in handy for thinking of the bigger picture. So that's one guy who came to mind for me.

Those two were at the top of my list. Malcolm Jenkins, by the way, the thing that I always enjoyed about him was that, first off, he would answer every question from the press. So, you know, like he'd be standing at his locker after a game for like 35 minutes. and just get millions of questions, whether it's about the game. Yeah, that was what was always so impressive, was like the ping pong version of it.

It was like, okay, like, what are you doing about social justice? Why did you miss that tackle? Like, who's your favorite robber? Like, just, like, bouncing back and forth. And just no, no, like, switch, or, like, he was able to flip the switch so quickly from. And I would stand on those scrumps, and I would just enjoy what you were saying, that ping pong.

And the thing I would like is that on one hand, he would give like a great answer about, you know, his charities or his activism or any of those off-field things, which again, I agree with you. He did care about the, uh, the right things. But then he would get a football question. And Malcolm Jenkins, sneaky concussion uncle. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Like, he would be like, yeah, that, that, uh, late hit call that I got was complete BS. He's like, the fact that I'm paying a fine when the quarterback is letting. Yeah. You know, when he was also. like run the ball a little bit and like the importance of physicality yeah I think you're right

snake he can't cushion uncle is probably good well he did not like when defensive backs got flagged for hard hits which in his opinion was the quarterback's fault because they led the receiver right in the tom Brady opinion as well yeah which easy for him to say now that he's not playing exactly but but malcolm would he just he was versatile in that way right where he'd give a he'd give a great answer about the off-field stuff and just be like, look, if you throw the ball over the middle, I'm going to knock you out. And that's the way football should be played. So I was a big fan of Malcolm Jenkins.

Jason Kelsey was another one. Okay. Now, I know he didn't win a war or anything, but he's got some Ulysses S. Grant. Men of Ohio. Yep. Like to drink beers. Like that, yeah. That's really all I got besides those two.

Beards? Yeah, beards as well, too. Just saying, you know. here's another guy Ron Jaworski interesting a successful small business owner okay

okay I don't know enough about John's politics I'm afraid to go down that road oh yeah I'm not even I'm not even opening that up okay but I will say have you ever played at any of his golf courses before I have yeah

yeah well one time this scene is sticking out in my head I think it was I think you and I have played together Oh, we have. Have we played at... What is it? Running Deer. Is that what it's called?

River Winds? River Wins. Yeah, we did play at that one. That's right. That's the nicest one of the bunch. I went to, I believe it was Rambalwood. We used to play Rambalwood all the time, actually, before it was a Jaworski course. They gave like a nice discount to Eagles employees.

So that was like my 20 is. The only golf I played was $15 rounds at Ramblwood. Oh, great. So one day, my friends and I played around at Ramblewood. It was like a Saturday. in the fall. And as we're leaving in the parking lot, it was an early morning round. I know you like a good early morning round. So it's like 10.30, 11. We're leaving and who shows up in the parking lot, but Jaws himself. And Jaws is just getting questions just fired at him about the Eagles. And he is like,

this was like Malcolm Jenkins, but golf and it was mainly Eagle stuff. But my friends and I did ask him a golf question like Jaws. What's your favorite course? And he had a great answer for for us. Which was? He said he liked running deer because he said that he had the greens rolling at a 12, which I didn't know what that meant, really. On the stamp. I think that means it's hard, but...

The speed, yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, I was impressed by Jaws dealing with all these... Got these babies rolling out of 12 out of 12. That's good. I saw somebody mentioned D'emiko Ryan's in the chat. I think that would have been a good one. That would probably have been Zach's favorite.

Nothing to do with how attractive he is, just because he's a good leader. Okay. But he is very attractive. What do we think about Hertz? Now, I thought about this because I think Hertz is like the one who has the most obvious like patina of like a guarded politician where like he has a very calculated image and will go out of his way to not answer a question directly. So I believe that he is the most politician-like player on the team just in terms of his charisma and demeanor. We depend who he's running against.

I just don't know how he's getting the votes. I don't know where the charisma is, where he's standing out in a kind of a debate format. But I agree. Once he got in office, like, I could see it. Yeah, I think that's good. A couple other names from the test. Troy Vincent.

somebody. Well, yeah, there's a good one because there's a guy you know that he can play the political power game. Totally. He knows, he knows bureaucracy. He knows how to get around the red tape. Yeah. That's a good one. That's a good one. I would vote for him over Runyon. Yeah. Who has also done that as well? That's a good one. Who else we got? For some reason, I wrote down Eric Allen. Okay. I like, yeah, he's got a good. Great player. He was always good on TV. Yeah.

He's a pretty handsome guy. Okay. That's a good one. But the big one, the last one I have. Ooh, the big one, okay. Actually, the big one. Real outsider candidate. You know, you talk about somebody who doesn't want office, doesn't want the spotlight. How about Dom DeSandro?

Ooh. Make stuff happen. No doubt about that. Would have some levers to pull in terms of getting the vote out, I imagine. Yeah, I mean, I would certainly not vote. I would certainly never say that I would not vote for Dom. So, yeah, I'm in. Who else we got?

We got nomdi. Nomdi? You know, I would vote for Nomdi. I've always liked a nomdi relative to some of the other opinion of him. Did a great job on Bird on a Wire. Of course, one of the great short-lived web structures that has ever existed in team content in which he and I compared players on the roster

to characters from the wire. How do you feel about like a Jeffrey Lurie? Sure. I think so. Do you think he has ever thought about it? I don't think so. No, I think he's comfortable. Yeah, he's got a nice, he's got a good thing going.

Who needs that stress? He's certainly somebody who knows a lot of politicians, though. That's true, yeah. I think that's any. Probably most owners are like that, but he, yeah, he likes to be plugged in there. Who would be the last person you would vote for? I didn't have anybody for this, so who... Maybe you can spark my imagination on this.

Jeff Garcia came to mind. Jason Babin. Oh, Jason Babin. That was the one. Jason Babin, maybe my least favorite player of all time. Just a guy who basically stands for everything that goes against winning football. Yeah. Just like, bad in the locker room.

Also, I'm just going to, like, chase sacks. I only care about my own production. Yeah. Like if I get two sacks at the end of the game, it's fine that you run for 180 yards at me. Yes. Because at the end of the day, it says I have two sacks.

I think Jason Babin would be up there. Oh, I do actually have a couple others now that you mention it. Okay. Orlando Scandrick. Oh, good one. I'm just like, come on, dude. Yeah, real turncoat, yeah.

Benedict Arnold type guy. Yeah. Chip Kelly. So here's the thing with Chip. Now here comes Zach getting very angry. Well, look, it's not even that Chip in general couldn't fulfill some sort of role. You know, he could serve in my cabinet.

I just, I do not trust him with all the levers of power. Like, he does not strike me as somebody. He needs to be staying his lane. That's the whole, yeah, that's the whole lesson we learned. I don't think he really respects checks and balances, you know, and that's probably why I would look against you. Well, I mean, you bring that up, and now that I'm thinking about it,

like, who's got the temperament, the steady temperament to handle that job? somebody who is comfortable with all kinds of people and backgrounds Big Red! I would vote for Big Red.

Totally. The life experiences and just completely agree. Yeah. Andy Reid for president. Let's see it. Okay. All right. Before we move on, it's time for me to tell you about bagels and co. Because you know Andy Reid, He loves a bagel, and he would make the same joke, so I think that's okay.

Bagels and Co. We're talking Brooklyn-style bagels made in Philly with Philly Love. Huge bagels, the biggest bagels in Philly. There's a large variety, usually 15 to 20 different types to choose from daily. They've got seasonal bagels as well. For instance, Valentine's Day just passed. I wonder if they've got a President's Day bagel. Let's hope.

The largest cream cheese variety around 30 different flavors of cream cheese and smears, affordable prices, because in today's inflationary world, they think that's key. They have debated raising their prices, but they want to be an everyday brand and not some high-end place that you go splurge on the weekends. We're talking about the best Brooklyn-style bagels in the city. Go out and get one for the best Brooklyn-style bagels made right here in Philly. Head to www.thebagels andco.com slash store-dash-locator to find the close. closest bagels and co near you. Now, the other thing that I want to talk to you guys about,

everybody's always asking like, oh, we love the show. What can we do to support the show? Well, if you're not a diehard yet, it's time to get on board because you get so much. You get the discount on the merch, which sort of pays for itself up front. You also get all the premium written content that is for members only at all p.hly.com. You know, Zach is always telling you, we're writing, we're writing, we're writing, we're writing. You got Kyle Newbeck, you got Derek Botner, you got Charlie O'Connor, you got Zach Berman, sometimes Bo Wolf.

All of that stuff for diehards only is at LPHLY.com. And you also get access to the members-only Discord. We had a nice little back and forth over the weekend talking about Gino's cheese steak relative to other cheese steaks. Give my take. I can't get that to you for free. You need to be a Discord member to sign up. So people are always talking about what can we do. What you can do is become a diehard.

When you become a diehard, you immediately get to choose a free shirt or hat of your choice from the PHLY Locker. And you get another one every single year at renewal. You also instantly get access to the PHLY Discord lounge, as we said, to chat with other Philly sports fans away from all the BS on Twitter. Head over to all phly.com now and join the best sports fans. in the city. All right. I have this very long list of presidential last names. Does that interest you in all?

Let's hear them. Okay. We start with Washington. The best in NFL history, Ted Washington, no eagle. There's never been an eagle, according to pro football reference, with the last name, Washington. Adams. Who do you think comes to mind as the best Adams? I don't know.

I would make the case for Devon. Over Sam Adams, Flose L Adams, and Mike Adams. The best Eagles Adams, well, it's not Jamar, and it's not Josh. It is Keith Adams. Sure. Yeah, there you go. The linebacker from the mid-2000s. Jefferson, it's early, but I'm giving it to Justin Jefferson across the league.

And for the Eagles, we talked about Thomas Jefferson, Brookshire. What a life he lived. but the actual answer is 1995 third round pick defensive end Greg Jefferson who played 57 games in five seasons starting 41 and then an interesting Wikipedia note here

seven years after his NFL career ended played one year for the Orlando Predators in 2007 and both his daughters are professional weightlifters so shout out to Greg Jefferson Madison got Sam Madison the longtime corner has the best.

No eagle has ever been the last name Madison. Monroe, the best of the best. Eugene Monroe, the former Jaguars offensive lineman, the best eagle, Henry Monroe, who played three games for the 1979 Eagles. Then you get to another Adams. We're not going to go back there. Now one where the Eagles makes some hay. And this is a tough conversation because we get to Jackson.

And, you know, all time you've got some great. You've got Ricky Jackson, the Hall of Famer. You've got Bo Jackson, Eddie Jackson, Harold Jackson, Jacey Jackson, Jonah Jackson, Lamar Jackson, Stephen Jackson, Tom Jackson, Vincent Jackson, and then you get two great Eagles, Deshawn and Keith. Now, Keith's sort of like a, what's the, like a, what's sort of like a meteor, right? Like came out. His rookie year.

Unbelievable rookie year. first team all pro in each of his first three seasons sort of like the prodo receiving tight end unbelievable but then career sort of fizzled out from there Deshawn three pro bowls in his first six seasons of course 3,000 yard seasons you're given the edge to Keith or Deshawn

I'm going to give the edge to Deshawn longer lasting impact yeah I think that's fair would you say Lamar is already at the capability of the best of all time Well, Bo is in the hearts and minds of everybody. But I did wear the Bo Jackson sweatshirt last week. So I also thought about just for the episode going like white button down red tie and blazer jacket to like look like a president.

But too much effort. Jamal Jackson, former center. Jamal Jackson. Yeah, long list of other Eagles. Alonzo, Bobby, Ernest, Greg, Harold, Jamal, Kenny, Malik, Randy, Tehran and Tyree. So there you go. Listen, don't ever pretend like we don't prep for this show.

Okay? We're doing work. By the way, that reminds me, Malik Jackson, when you asked the other day about who was the right comp for Eddie Jackson, Malik came to mind because he was a player who had a high history of production but was released, and so he wasn't going to count

against the comp pick formula. Sort of maybe made sense, although he didn't have an injury history and then got injured, whereas Eddie does have a bit of an injury history. All right, you move on to one where the Eagles have the only and best by far, and that is Van Buren. Sure. Steve Van Buren walking away with that title.

Not too many Van Burence walking around the NFL anymore. Van Buren boys. You go to Harrison, and I don't know, would you make the case, would you go for Marvin, James, or Rodney as the best Harrison of all time? It's a good... Pretty good representation for the Harrisons. I think I'd make the case for Marvin, but James is close. Yeah, and Rodney somehow is probably the least problematic of the three.

Probably so. That's impressive considering he wasn't like a saint when he played either. Yes. For the Eagles, it's Dennis over Jerome. So shout out to Dennis Johnson, a fourth round pick in 1978, who played seven years. Tyler, not a lot of Tyler representation, surprisingly. No Eagle has ever been the last name Tyler. Wendell Tyler, the best of all time.

Polk? Chris Polk. Oh, yeah. What a player. That kickoff return. Yeah. And you were thinking, this bowling ball is going to be a kickoff returner,

and he just ran it to the house. They would give him the ball up like 35 points when they were rolling. Chris Polk? Yeah. Carlos Polk is going to take it home for NFL league-wide. Taylor, very good representation of Taylor, because you've got Jason, you've got Fred,

you've got Jim, Jonathan, and Sean, unfortunately, all outpaced by. Lawrence L.T. taking home for the Eagles Bobby Taylor in a runaway. No Phil Moors. No Eagles Pierce's, but Antonio Pierce takes that one home. No Eagles Buchanan's. Buck Buchanan is the only Hall of Famer there. He's going to take that one home. No Eagles Lincoln's. Keith Lincoln, a Pro Bowl running back from the 60s, gets that one. Then you get to Johnson. And you know there's lots of Johnsons. Andre or Calvin? I'm going Calvin. Calvin. I think so. Now the Eagles I mean, you got Lane.

Lane wins here. No doubt. But you've also got Vaughn, Norman, Norm, rather, Patrick, Reggie. Three Ron Johnsons have played for the Eagles. Three different Ron Johnsons. Jay, Jimmy, Keelan, Kishon, Kevin, Kyron, Lee, Marcus, Damaris, Dirk, Dwight, Eric, Fred, Al, Alonzo, Charles, and Charlie. What a run. Dirk Johnson. What a punter.

Grant, I didn't know this. Do you know Bud Grant, the famous coach, played for the Eagles? I did not know that. Did not know that. I know he was having a garage sale until his late 90s. That's right. Wow, that's a good memory. Jaquim is going to take home the Grant Award.

Hayes, you've got Bullet Bob and for the Eagles, Joe, who was a seventh round pick in 1984. No Garfields, no Arthur's for the Eagles. There was a Mike Arthur center from the 80s or 90s who is going to take that home. Cleveland, the last. The winner's probably been the Ravens Guard him or Ezra Cleveland

Tyree Cleveland of course in camp with the Eagles but never played in the game then you got Harrison again Cleveland again McKinley no Eagles although there was an Alvin who was better than Tack McKinley only one Roosevelt and that's Namin Roosevelt

the wide receiver no taffs Wilson probably Larry Wilson beating Russell Wilson and Adrian Wilson as the only Hall of Famer for the Eagles. Bernard Wilson is going to take that home. Is this fascinating or what?

Harding. Only two Hardings in the NFL history. Both played for the Eagles. Roger and Greg. Oh, who could forget. Who could forget. Roger, of course, was a two-way player who played center and linebacker in the 1940s.

He must have been just paving the way for Chuck Bed and Eric. No coolages. Hoover, the best is probably Brad, the fullback. Eagles had a wide receiver, Melvin Hoover. And you skip over Roosevelt. again, no Truman's, no Eisenhower's, Kennedy. Eagles have never had a Kennedy play in a game.

Cortez is going to take that home as the only Hall of Famer. Then you skip to Johnson, get to Nixon, probably Kishon Nixon. Packers is the best. No Eagles Nixon. Ford, Rudy Ford, of course. By far, the Eagles best Ford over Charlie. And Len Ford is a Hall of Famer from the 40s and 50s. Carter, now here's where we get some action again.

because Chris is a Hall of Famer, obviously, but does his time with Eagles hold up to Jalen or are they both outpaced by D'Andre? I mean, I'm going to take Jalen and just take the future stock, yeah. Obviously, I'm taking D'Andre. Only one Reagan, that was Frank Reagan from the 1940s. Bush, probably Reggie. Eagles have never had a Bush, but they have had a Bushbee.

and the only Clinton is Charles Clinton from 1987. And he did not play for the Eagles. And unfortunately, that's the end of history. So that's all we've got. The Eagles did, though, have a Doug Bartlett in 1989. I know Zach was curious there. No time to get to the rest of it. Was that worth your time?

I think so. I think so. It might have been more fun if you were drinking a couple cold Miller lights during it and saying, I remember that guy. I remember that guy. Yeah, why not? Anything else you have in your show prep that I don't want to have wasted? Favorite Joe Banner memory?

Favorite Joe Banner memory? Because obviously, Eagles presidents. It is interesting how it went from, like, the Eagles president was just portrayed as, like, the bad guy in the building to now, like, nobody even knows. Eagles wise who Don Smolensky is, and he just sort of sticks to the business side as far as we know. I mean, I feel like the obvious banner thing is when the guy in the ticket office got fired for tweeting some complaint about the Eagles letting Brian Dawkins go.

Is that true? Yeah. Wasn't that a big deal? And then they rehired him or something? I think he posted on Facebook or something, and he was like a seasonal employee and they said, okay, you're fired? I feel like that's the...

I mean, the divorce with Dawkins, I feel like, is the major Joe Benner moment. I think the gold standard quote, too. Gold standard, of course. Which, you know, it was funny. Like Joe Banner, in the late 90s, probably early 2000s, there was probably like a three or four year span where the Eagles just had an advantage because he and the organization just, like, understood how the salary cap worked. Yeah.

Better than everybody. And they were doing the right things for the most part. And it is interesting that, like, Howie Roseman, who learned under Joe Banner, has sort of overcorrected from the, like, letting guys leave and be willing to be early on that. Yeah. Whereas Howie has sort of gone the opposite way. And, like, all of these guys we want to keep around as longtime players.

I wonder, like, what the pathology is there. But it's interesting. With Joe Banner, too, there might have been a couple times that, he called the Daily News offices and complained about the Phillies getting on the back page when every once in a while when the Phillies were in like a pennant race or something like that. He thought it was an Eagles town. I mean, I think he was right, but there's no doubt that there are always sort of stories of, you know, Howie Roseman will say something like, oh, like, I didn't read this,

but, you know, somebody, you know, it's Bob's job to tell me about it. Joe Benner was not even, I don't even think, pretending. He was paying very close attention to everything that was being said. See, I respect that at least. Yeah, he's being honest. Yeah. I mean, there's, there were like, I remember, I think Angelo has told this story of, like, hearing that, like, ego, like, an intern in the PR staff had to, like, transcribe every morning show on WIP, which is like, what a terrible job that is. Like, is that person okay now?

Yeah, I don't know. But, yeah, I mean, I don't. I also think that it's fair to say that, like, Joe Banner is as responsible for, like, the Eagles' current level of success as most people. What are you laughing at? The idea of somebody transcribing, like, Rich from Roxborough or something like that. How do I spell that? Some, yeah. Off-color joke, yeah.

I would hope that it was selective. It was just, like, everything that they're saying about the Eagles and not just the entire three-hour show or whatever. Four hours? Wouldn't be funny if it was like, Brett Veach. That was his job. Yeah. That would be funny. Yeah, any other Joe Banner memories?

Gold standard is good. Gold standard, yeah. Look, I think for a long time, Joe Banner did a good job. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Was it a little annoying that he was puffing his chest and taking a whiff when they didn't win a Super Bowl? Yeah, at times.

But I think overall he did a good job. And I think he is right about it. Like, he was right about that general take. And he shouldn't have said that in those words, probably, because it was obvious that it could be grabbed and made fun of. But, like, all you can do, really, is give yourself a bunch of shots and be in position to get those shots. And they were doing that better than anybody, other than the Patriots.

I mean, it sounds a lot like the Kyle Shanahan 49ers right now, too. So if they want to... There you go. Like, the gold standard, that would work for the 49ers, too. You know, they could really run with that. Yeah. No, I like Joe better. The one thing...

He also has, like, he's still very plugged in. He still has very good insight into what's going on. When we used to do those Q&As for the Athletic, I used to enjoy talking to Joe and bounce those things off of him. And that was, in terms of transcribing, interesting, because Joe has a very specific way of talking where, like, he's giving a lot of information, but no sentence ever ends.

And so it's the only time where I'm ever putting in, like, semicolons is when I'm transcribing a Joe banner quote because it's like he's moving from one thing to the other without a thought ending, which is great. I love that. Yeah. Yeah, it is funny that they just changed to Smolenski who's like, yeah, this guy's not really a football person anymore. That's okay. Yeah, it's fine. Okay. Anything else? No, I think that's all I got. What a president's day it has been. Zeth wants to know if I can do vice presidents now. I didn't do that. We'll do that another time. On Vice President's Day, Maybe Zach will be so jealous of missing the President's Day show

that he's going to start a groundswell for there to be a Vice President's Day. And we can talk about Macho Harris. Al Harris, Best Eagle. Nice. You beat me. Okay. All right, that'll do it for this episode of the President's Day episode

of the P.H.O. White Eagles podcast. Thank you to Miller Light for being on board with us for the foreseeable future, the official beer. of the P. H.L.Y. Eagles show. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening back tomorrow at noon with Zach. We're going to get all the stories of his vacation, the good, bad, and the ugly, all that good stuff. And we look forward to talking about it. The Combine is next week. Free agency looms. We're going to get into all that stuff as time goes on here on the P.HLY Eagles podcast and all-PHLY.com. Thank you, everybody for listening and watching. We will talk to you tomorrow. to Rich for hanging in over the past few episodes. And as always, we love you.