PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Does salary cap increase change Philadelphia Eagles’ roster-building plans as combine week begins?

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

The NFL descends upon Indianapolis this week for the annual Scouting Combine, where we’ll hear from Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni before the long list of NFL Draft prospects put their athleticism to the test. As we try to figure out the Eagles’ offseason plans, will the team have more wiggle room now than we thought a week ago?Zach Berman and Bo Wulf discuss that possibility and preview the week ahead. 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.

Welcome to the P HLY Eagles podcast on a Monday at high noon, kicking off Combine Week, Boat Wolf, Zach Berman here in the studio in Philadelphia, and we fly out to Indianapolis in just a couple hours. We're going to hear from Howie Roseman and Nick Siriani tomorrow. We will be live from Indianapolis tomorrow at 3 o'clock. So keep that in mind, a little deviation from our septum and the 12 o'clock schedule. Then we'll be back at noon all week long. Zach, how was your weekend? How you doing? Doing great, so excited for this week.

Love working. Well, yes, but the combine, this is always fun for me, the combine because it's the start of the offseason. You would be a good bit as if you just, you spent the whole week calling it the combine and just purposely mispronouncing it. That would not be. Hey, Jordan Roderick, good to see you here at the combine. Yeah, you should do that. That seems to be a good. social experiment, just everybody, every conversation you have, just call it to combine.

That seems to be a good bo-bit. But I am, yeah, I'm doing well. Had a nice weekend and just pumped for this week. Finding out some intel on the Eagles, seeing a lot of familiar faces, meeting some new faces. Should be fun. Who do you say, meet the faces? Meeting some new people. It should be fun.

Yeah, let's talk about it. I do, you know, a couple little thoughts on the very good. show, the mailbag show on Friday with Handsome Rich. We can get to. I want to talk a little bit about the salary cap bump, whether that changes your expectations for anything the Eagles do roster building wise over the next couple months.

Love talking roster building as well. A little bit of the coaching staff to talk about. But let's start in on the combine. Yes. We hear from Howie Roseman and Nick Siriani tomorrow and I guess set the scene with, let's start with Howie, because

we have a long history of these press conferences at the Combine from Harvey Roseman over the course of his decade plus in charge. What are the types of questions you think he will be asked and historically speaking, how honest does he seem to be in these settings? I don't want to choose him being dishonest.

I think he's agenda setting often in these settings. Purposefully misleading. Or I wouldn't even say purposely misleading. Sometimes misleading, but sometimes purposely leading. like wants to emphasize a particular topic. You know, the year that they signed...

Calculated. The year that they signed Hassan Redick, uh, he, his main talking point was, it's, it's no secret. We need help at rush,

it's no secret, you know, we need to improve the past rush. And then they go out at the start of free agency and sign Hassan Redick to a three-year, $45 million deal. There are years,

for instance, when the Eagles aren't going to spend. And he kind of puts that out. there, like tries to make it clear that this is not one of those years. We all remember when he so graciously allowed Nick Foles to hit the open market at the combine. Yes, the goodness of his heart. Yes. There are years coming off the Super Bowl where a big emphasis of his is avoiding complacency, right? And that's kind of the message, is that he's walking around Indianapolis and everyone's congratulating him. And all he's thinking about is how can we go go

get another one. So yeah, look, this will be my 12th combine because, or no, 11th combine, because the COVID year, there was not a combo. Of course, so cruel to you, yes. Not so. So the in, well, well, 2020, there was a combine and how he famously made a joke. I don't know, I should say famously, but he got up there and he said, I don't want to get too close. This, this COVID thing. And by that point, it was just, just like a topic of conversation going on overseas. It was like days away. Exactly.

But I mean, perhaps it was circulating in Indianapolis and we didn't know. So that's all a way of saying that with Howie, you kind of get the whatever he wants to emphasize on that particular week. With Nick, we only really have, we have two combines to go off of here. One was jail-in-focused. One was kind of coaching staff focused. Last year, if you recall, they announced that they hired Sean Desai like hours before. Yes.

Or even minutes before the press conference. They didn't announce that it was reported. It was reported. They were hoping to hold off until after. Yeah, it was reported. But no, they did put it on their social feed at some point. That's right. Yeah.

So a lot of it was that. That was his first time speaking since Jonathan Gannon had left. So hearing the Gannon talk And I think Gannon spoke right before Nick last year Pete Carroll is the one who spilled the beans on Desai That's what it was Okay yes that's what it was thank you

So yeah so we don't really have much to go off of In terms of this is how Nick will be But there are a lot of pertinent questions this year Because it's the first time they're speaking Since that press conference four days after the season or a week after the season rather and there have been a few things since then. Coaching staff has been put together. Both these coordinators have been reports about Nick, reports about the team.

I mean, Derek Gunn had the report last week about Dom DeSandro and how his absence really hurt the Eagles on the sideline. So there's going to be a lot of these questions for Nick, and then for Howie, I think most of it's going to be about building the roster, how they're going to kind of approach for agency, how they're going to approach the draft, some of these particular players coming back, are they going to move on from so-and-so?

And then you always have the non-failure reporters who are there, and they're sneaking in, combined questions, you know, questions about certain position or certain prospect, and then stuff that's pertinent to their market. So it really is, and I said this the other day, It's like how Rich Hoffman said on your show last week. When Malcolm Jenkins was there, he would go from topic A, topic B, topic C, back to topic A. That's kind of how it is in these combined press conferences.

So for Howie, what are – because I think the specific player questions, you tend to get non-answers or evasive answers. Like, you know, if he's asked on the record about, you know, do you think Jason Kelsey is coming back? or like do you have a plan for Fletcher Cox or like how do you feel about the wide receiver position remember like they went into the owner's meetings yes a year ago or two years ago two years ago before they traded for AJ Brown talking about we feel we feel good with Kwez

because you know he's got to get Devante Dallas Goddard got to get their target so you know we feel good about Kwez that stuff you're not likely to get a straight answer on sure what are some of the like big picture roster building questions that you think are are pertinent to him. Well, linebacker in safety, right? Even if you're not getting specific things there,

if he feels, and it's a question you asked in a good way post, in the postseason, and you really didn't get much of a question or you don't get much of an answer to it. We got a lot of faith in Nacobi as a person on the player. But how they're going to approach those two positions? I mean, he doesn't need to say, we're going to spend X, but it's pretty clear that they need upgrades here. Is this a position where they feel they do need to make more of a

splash in free agency or an emphasis in free agency relative to what they've done in the past. Let me ask you this. Do you think, and this is not a habit question, you're guessing as to what the Eagles are going to do this off season, do you think they're more likely to make a multi-year significant signing at linebacker or safety? Safety. I think safety is a better market for them. I still think philosophically the way the organization views corner hasn't changed.

I'm sorry, linebacker hasn't changed. I said corner there because when you look at the safety spot, there's a handful of things in the secondary, like Avanti Maddox, for instance, maybe they view him as a safety. And maybe they're saying, well, Sidney Brown's coming off the ACL. We like read Blankenship.

If we can just get a placeholder here, and then we have Blankenship and Sidney Brown, that could be the way to go. They have more invested in safety than they have a linebacker. But that would be a case against safety. That's what I'm saying. So that's why I hesitated there. But I still think they feel that they need.

I'm on the fence here. They still think they feel like they need the fortify safety. And linebacker organizationally and Howie has said this to me at the Combine in the past. Some positions you need to trust your coaching and your scouting. And linebacker is one of those spots. Now the variable here that we can't account for is Vic Fangio comes in. And Vic Fangio presumably has clout in terms of the roster construction. And I think the other thing that Howie has said in the past, remember when they traded for Darius Lay,

it was, you know, sometimes when you take a shot at a position and you miss, the penalty that you have to pay is like acquiring these veterans, right? And so you draft Sydney Jones in the second round and he doesn't hit. Now you've got to trade for Jerry Sleigh. Not to say that that is how they view Nukobi Dean. I think they would like Nikobe Dean to be one of the two starters, but they have not hit on that position developing wise. And there are some options at linebacker. I have begun, I entered the off season. and thinking safety for the same reasons because it seems like that's going to be a market where there are going to be guys available and having three good safeties if both Reed Blankenship and Sidney Brown hit,

that's a good problem to have. But I do think that like that, you know, linebacker is, you talk about the Vic thing, like I feel like part of Vic Fangio coming in is like, well, you're going to get me better linebackers, right? And I think that is not, that would not be a big surprise. Yeah, and of course, it depends who's on the market and what the price is. But there is a surplus of linebackers and safeties, I would say, starting caliber ones if the Eagles wanted to go that route.

I also think aside from roster construction, a question that is going to come up, perhaps to Howie and perhaps to Nick, maybe both, is Jaylon Hertz. Because, look, you had NFL network. Mike Airfoil will say on Super Bowl Sunday that the team has spoken to Jalen Hertz about being more outgoing, right? And they viewed the Pro Bowl as like a step in the right direction. You've seen multiple reports about Jalen's personality. And I've been on record on the show and elsewhere saying that when you praise Jalen when you're winning, it can't be the same things like, like when you're, I use the Bull Durham quote, you know, that when you're, in the show, the fungus in your shower shoes is colorful, and when you're in the minors,

you're just sloppy, right? And so when you're winning, if it's interpreted as like, this is the most intense, hardworking, you know, hardworking guy, when you're losing, it's kind of like standoffish or reserved, right? And so you can't necessarily have it both ways, although if you are the thermostat and not the thermometer, what you're doing is you're, you're setting the temperature. And that, if J.O.N. is true to his words when they're losing, He needs to be the one setting the temperature. He can't be the one on the side. That said, what do you think Nick and Howie are going to say regarding Jalen?

Nothing but positives. You don't think they're going to want to push him at all? No. Okay. Not publicly. Okay. Jalen Hertz is a great leader. It's one of the reasons we love Jalen Hertz.

It's one of the reasons that we signed him to be our franchise quarterback. We have no concerns about Jalen Hertz as a leader. Does he need to be more outgoing with his teammates? Jalen does a lot of things that you guys don't see behind the scenes. The very last thing that I'm worried about is Jalen Hertz as a leader. So Mike Garfield was wrong. I didn't see the report that you are referencing. I am telling you that Jalen Hertz is everything that we want him to be as a leader.

Okay. Do you think differently? Do you think they're going to take this opportunity to publicly call out the quarterback? I don't think call out. I think there's a way of doing it where he's saying, look, he's, you have to remember he's 25 years old, right? He's still growing. There's a lot of strong personalities on the team.

We love Jaylen. We also think that, you know, as he continues to grow, you're going to see. But I do think they'll say that there's a side of his personality that you don't see, that he's going to show more people, that those close to him see that more people can be exposed to. Yeah, I don't think it's beyond them to say that. I disagree. Okay. I will be shocked if they say anything negative about Jalen Hertz tomorrow.

It's not black or white, right? It's not like positive or negative. It could be the way they frame it. Yeah. I mean, you could say something like, you know, when a season ends the way that it did for us, everybody looks themselves in the mirror and wonders what they could have done differently. And I'm sure that Jalen did that as well. But from where I sit, there is nothing more that I want out of Jalen Hertz as it.

as a leader of this team. Yeah, I think both things can be true. I also don't think something comes out on the morning of Super Bowl Sunday on the NFL network without like the Eagles wanting that to be understood. Yeah, I don't I don't doubt that they seated that to go out, but I don't think they're going to put their face on it. By the way, this comment from Darlene, stop at Zach J-Hon is the same guy he was during the Super Bowl the prior year.

That's literally what I just. just said. I said it can be interpreted one way when you're winning and another way when you're losing. I don't think that's the exact argument that I'm making with Jaylon Hertz is that he is the same in these situations. And if it's praised when they're winning, you have to accept it when you're losing. Yeah, I just, I don't think they're going to. Okay. I mean, like the conversation we had with less about like how, how great is the relationship between Nick Siriani and Jalen Hertz? I don't think Nick Siriani is going to come out in his first press conference and like so discord with his quarterback. And so what's he say about Kellan Moore? He probably will say I was looking at

pictures and I kind of think he looks like a mix of like a love child of Bowulf and Joe Dolan. That'd be an odd statement for him to make. Love the energy that Kellan brings. Is your offense going to look different? Oh, well, of course it's going to look different. You know, Kellan is here to bring fresh ideas and fresh eyes to the offense and add some things that maybe we let get stale over time. It's all about figuring out how to use our guys in the best way and put them in the best position to succeed. I have always said that my job as a head coach is to get the best out of every player.

And Kellyn is here to help me do that, and I'm here to help him however he needs me to. Okay, that's good. What's how we say about the roster? You can't ask me, you can't just go, howie, what about the roster? You've got to give me a more specific question than that. Okay, I was, I didn't realize I was giving you a press conference here, but. That would be a good way to start, actually. Howie, what about the roster?

All right, Howie, what about the roster? Let's see where he takes it. Howie, where do you stand at linebacker in safety? We love Nikobe Dean, the player and the person. Yeah, listen, you know, there's no doubt that we need to get better at linebacker. We were really happy with what we got from Zach Cunningham last year, played at a high level. He's a free agent. In Nacobi, we still believe in very much.

I mean, you should see the work that that guy puts in behind the scenes. One of the best young leaders that we've ever had. But, you know, it's my job to get us better there. What about the, well, here, I'll ask you the question. Howie, how does the increase in the salary cap change your plans during the next few months or affect your plans during the next month and a half? Well, it's good to see you, Zach. It's always good to see how it.

Always good to see you. Always good to see a friendly face. Yeah, listen. It's the same across the league, right? It's no huge surprise that the salary cap continues to grow. It's part of our roster building philosophy, but it doesn't change too much because, you know, if you're doing your job, this is sort of what you're expecting.

Okay. Can I ask follow-ups to that? Sure. Is this what you expected, this type of jumping cap, a $30 million, unprecedented jump. And as you put your off-season planning together in the beginning of February,

were you expecting this amount of cap space? Well, listen, your job as a general manager, as a roster builder, is to be prepared for different scenarios. And so, yeah, this was a possibility that we considered that there might be so much extra room. And I don't think it changes our philosophy too much.

We don't have, you know, at some point, you have to make some concessions. It's not a cap of infinity. We still have tough decisions to make, but, yeah, we're prepared. Do you think he'll use cap of infinity? No. Maybe he's watching right now. Howie, if you can use cap of infinity, I would know you're a loyal listener to the show.

Okay. Let me ask you, Bo Wolf, how do you think it affects them? It's a good question, and I was going to ask you that as well. I think that one thing, I think James Bradbury is probably gone now. I was about to say that it can affect the players you let go because you can take on dead cap space. Yes, I think that is probably the most tangible effect here. It's probably still a post-June one, but I think you might get out ahead of it. And that's going to affect whether, like, I think it probably means they try to bring back Fletcher Cox, restructure him, save that money there.

then you do the post-June 1 with Bradbury and either Kelsey or Graham and maybe just restructure Graham and bring him back because they can only use those two spots. Is that why they respond to Elberto? And then I think they got to resound. The Albordo thing,

I have been thinking like way too much about the Albertoe thing because why have they now twice been so aggressive about getting out ahead of the rest of the league to make sure we lock up Albrado and the rest of it, like, is there a possibility that maybe the rest of the league doesn't think about him the same way? Like, why couldn't they just wait until free agency to see if they had the best Arbado offer?

Like, what is going on? Chessnot Checkers, right? Chestnut? Chess not checkers. Yeah, I don't think this is a chess not checkers. Unless the chess was, we're going to trade for him and totally crater his value completely so that nobody else in the league will be interested and we can bring him back for a cheaper long-term deal. The rest of the league are a bunch of nincompoops when it comes to Alberta. So I'll explain this to you.

You don't read our iTunes comments, do you? No, I do not. But I did just look over at your computer and saw you Googled the word nincompoop. Yes, because Ethan Lawrence wrote that he loves the show and proof that I read all the comments is if I could sneak nincompoop into the next episode. So I snuck nincompoop. but you completely know sold it. I used it. I mean, I, what am I supposed to sell?

I used it in, like, we could just carry on in conversation. They think the rest of the league are a bunch of nincompoops, right? You broke. You laughed yourself. Well, you were silent there. What am I supposed to react to? Obviously, you are not going to use that word of your own volition, so something's going on. Well, I just want everyone to know I appreciate all your comments, good or bad.

and I saw that and we incorporated Nickom poop into the show. Frankly, I don't think Albert O is number two. I think he's number one. I think he's a Incan P. Okay. Yeah, I think them proactively re-signing him is really very funny. But also big for me and Flew World Order because now I'm up two points. So, yeah.

So anyways, back to the cap space, is that I look at it, like I still think that, I thought they were going to be aggressor going into the offseason. You hit it on the head and your Howie answer. in that it's not just more cap space for the Eagles, it's more cap space for everyone else. So in theory, every contract could go up, every ask, I should say, could go up a percentage, right? Because everyone knows teams are flush with cap space.

I think where this helps teams more, it helps the top guys more. I don't think it affects the middle class so much. But I do think a team like the Eagles would be willing to take on more dead money this year, because you can cut somebody, take the cap it, and still have the flexibility to add what you want. I think that's right.

I think it means, like, I think it's going to be hard. I don't think they're going to be able to play at the top of any premier market. Sure. Like, you know, if Chris Jones comes loose, or if Legerius Sneed is available, or even, like, Jalen Johnson or somebody, like that. Most, you know, only one of those guys is likely to even come out.

But like the premium guys at premium positions, I don't think they're going to be able to play at that level, nor do they necessarily want to. But it probably gives them more flexibility to fill a couple more holes at like, you know, $2 million levels than they might have otherwise been able to. Although the aforementioned 2020 Combine, we were there and the name we kept hearing over and over again was Byron Jones. And the Eagles were aggressive going after Byron Jones.

Byron Jones wanted to go to Miami. And the Eagles quickly adjusted, right? Their plan B in that case was signing J. Vaughn Hargrave and trading for Darius Lay. That worked out, right? But I would say that the Eagles will have a few contingencies here. And I do think they're going to be players. I agree with you that the top of the market, there might be a problem. price that's too high to go for Sneed.

There might be a price that's too high to go for Jalen Johnson. That said, at this time last year, I don't think they thought that James Bradbury was coming back, right? They thought James Bradbury was going to get a number that was beyond with Eagles or we're going to assign them to. They thought they were going to get CJ Gardner Johnson back. C.J. Gardner Johnson wanted a contract. C.J. Gunner Johnson is a free agent again.

Is a free agent again? Do you think there's any chance? I mean, if you can let bygones be bygones, right? It's business. It's not personal, right? So why not? He would certainly be an upgrade. He's 26 years old. Jonathan's not here anymore.

What does it matter to C.J? 26 years old? Well, no, I don't think I have to do with Gannon. I think it had to do with the offer last year. You did publicly throw Gannon under the bus a few times. Eh, it was, I think it was the offer more than anything else. Well, yeah, I know. But if they pay him this year, that would be rectified.

I'm saying letting bygones be bygones is, Bygones. I don't know. Bygo. Did I say it incorrectly, Bo? No, I just, I never heard it quite like that. Bygones? You're giving it like a John, like a like a like.

Okay. It's the Philadelphia, right? It's kind of nice. I've never, I've never quite heard it that way. I'm not sure how it's how it's said in Westchester County, but that's how we say it in Philadelphia, right? Okay. So by gone's. Combine.

So, yeah, I think in C.J. Garner Johnson's case, it was. the cap space last year. It was the contract last year more so than anything in Philly. So if he can get past that, if there's no bad blood there, they can do a lot worse than CJ Gardner Johnson. Okay. Well, as we prepare to head to Indianapolis and, you know, see some of our friends from around the league, talk about what's going to happen in the offseason ahead, you know, maybe get some funny stories about their respective beats. One thing we're going to be doing is just sharing some suds.

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All right, a couple things in the coaching stuff. that I wanted to ask you about. Yeah. I think the one thing that that really jumps out to me, given the makeup of the staff and some of the roster building questions we're talking about and how much they need to improve this specific area, the over-indexing on like secondary guys, right? So you've got Christian Parker, who comes from Denver

and is the passing game coordinator slash defensive backs coach, everything. Then you've got Roy Anderson, who's the cornerbacks coach, and Joe Casper, who's the safeties coach. They also kept Ronnell Williams, although he's working with the linebackers now. I just thought that that was an interesting thing. We haven't seen quite that level of that coaching title at that position. Didn't you think that was a little bit interesting?

To an extent, I hear what you're saying. I think it's more a manipulation of titles than anything else. Well, then how do you think it works out? Well, because I'm saying in the past they've had like an assistant debacks coach. And they don't have that, right? So, yeah, I think Christian Parker is in charge, right? Joe Casper deals with the safeties particularly, and Anderson with the cornerbacks. And that...

No broken out nickel's coach this time. No broken out nickel's coach, which would mean that the nickel would probably be under the corner per view. But that was a Sean the side creation. And so they were very much like, Sean, you brought that? No longer. Well, yeah, but I mean, obviously what Sean was trying to break out was based off what he knew from Vic, right? Sure, yeah, so that's not what the Eagles have here. And, yeah, I think it's more of a manipulation of titles.

You know, when they went to the Super Bowl, D.K. McDonald was the assistant D.K. McDonald was the assistant D.Backs coach, for instance, right? Now, it is, you know, they have two of these guys here, and that stands out. And Christian Parker is in that DeNard Wilson role, or he's not just the D. Bax coach, but the passing game coordinator for defense. I think part of it is, you know, probably to get someone to come, there might be, you know, contract stipulations to it, right? If you're paying a guy more than a quality control coach per se, you give him a position coach title.

So that probably has something to deal with it. That didn't jump out. Well, I mean, Joe Casper has taken, it had the same title in Miami. Yeah. Christian Parker gets a bit bumped with the passing game coordinator. Yeah. Roy Anderson doesn't. So that's what jumps out to me more than anything else.

Okay. Two other things. One, big picture, I do think we talked a lot at the Super Bowl about like my antenna being up on this dream team coaching staff. And I think that the way that it has shaken out makes it feel less so like that. For what reason? Well, they didn't add, you know, it's not, you know, Mike Caldwell or Joe Barry as the linebackers coach, right? no shots on the guy that they did hire Bobby King. Is Joe Barry Colin Jenkins in that situation?

Yeah. Like who's the who's... Yeah, I think he's Colin Jenkins. He's Colin Jenkins. Yeah, I think he's the guy who is there to give some kind of veteran leadership and turns out to be cancerous. He comes from Green Bay, yeah. Yeah.

So I think it all makes sense. You know, you get some of Vicks guys. And I agree with what you said to Rich that, like, it is a little bit surprising how much continuity there has been on offense on that staff, given like what we were expected to see from a turnover standpoint, like how quickly they jettisoned Brian Johnson and Alex Taney. And it does sort of like Alex Taney really got kind of a short drift. It feels like it looking back now that everybody else stayed.

But I think it's interesting. It also makes it feel a little bit less like this is just Kellan Moore's show to on offense. Like, I think it's pretty clear that, like, there's still the seriotic continuity. I'll push back on that. I actually think the Alex Taney move is directly related to the Kellan Moore move, right? Kellynne Moore wants his quarterback's coach in there. Right, you get one guy. Yeah, you get your quarterback's coach. So that's, that's, and that's a pretty significant spot on the coaching staff. Yeah, no doubt. So, so the real, you're looking at tight ends coach, running backs coach, and wide receivers

coach, right? We talked about the possibility of Aaron Moorhead because he had been there for a long time and typically you see wide receivers coaches may be connected to the quarterbackers. You thought this year they'd have Aaron Lesshead? I don't know the appropriate response to that but... That is basically it. Okay, okay. Sure, so you say you don't react at all the Ninkum Poop but I am supposed to give a salient retort.

No, I'm saying you didn't. I'm not saying you're supposed to. Less head, okay. Anyways, yeah, what jumped out to me, and I said this the other day, is like the experience on the staff, and it's directly content. And I guess we're focusing more on the defense side

because that's where most of the turnover came. But even at quarterback's coached, right? Like Alex Taney, we heard really good things about last year, a veteran in the league worked up the coaching ranks. Like you respect the way he came up. But you're bringing in someone here a quarterback's coach who has a lot of, you know, and Duck Nussmeyer, who has a lot of experience in this role, who's been a play caller at the college level. This is why I think that I'm, why I say that Tanny got a short trip because you don't hire Alex Tanny at whatever, how old he was last year and expect him to be a fully formed quarterback's coach in year one.

Like the reason you hire someone like that is because you see like potential. for growth. Okay? And it's like the Michael Clay conversation we had. Like everybody's banging on Michael Clay two years ago as a first time special teams coach as like a 29 year old and two years later he's got the best special teams

in the league by DVA, right? So like sometimes, and I'm not saying that like Alex Tenney deserved to keep his job, but if, and maybe you can't fill out the whole staff with guys like that, right? You need some more fully formed guys. I just mean him specifically like, yeah, if you're going to give him that job,

with a guy who was the quarterback's coach as the offensive coordinator. Yeah, you can't expect him to be, you know, a fully formed guy year one. I hear you there. It's the same way as going with a young player at a position, and then he under his achieves or the team underachives, and you upgrade at that position. That's the way I look at it. I think Alex Taney could have a bright future as a coach.

The offense struggled. The Eagles fired Brian Johnson. the Eagles you know you make that change you bring in an offense coordinator he wants a quarterback's coach it's kind of the price of doing business so sure yeah so that's that's my interpretation of that but does it stand out to you like do you see the contrast with the way they put the staff together last year post Super Bowl with internal promotions or college guys yeah and to me that that's just the timing of the of the market don't you think like yeah because last year they had to make all those changes after most of the jobs have been filled

And so they had to promote internally or find guys who maybe weren't quite as qualified as others. Yeah, if you're hiring a linebacker's coach in the middle of February, you're either hiring someone who's out of work completely or someone from college, right? So, yeah. Did you notice, by the way, and I know that you did notice this, but it was interesting. Remember last year, the offensive coordinator search was so small. It was Brian Johnson, Kevin Petulah, basically. And then they had to fulfill the Rooney Rule to interview a minority candidate from

elsewhere. And remember we asked Nick about it at the at the combine last year. And he mentioned that they had a Zoom interview with Nate Skeelhass. Good job with the pronunciation. From Iowa, who was this Iowa State, rather, this young guy. And it seemed like like they were just sort of doing a favor to, you know, the Siriani Larry Caras coaching tree there. But then he gets a skillhouse gets a jump this year, goes, joins the, the Sean McVeigh staff. Yeah, good for him. They're good at identifying coaches. There you go. Last thing on the coaching staff, just to note because we, you know, we had that very awkward interaction with Jordan Milata at the Combine or at the Super Bowl rather. I didn't think it was as awkward as the Roy East fan departure.

Yeah, I didn't think it was awkward. Why do you think it was awkward? It was extremely awkward. No, he was emotional. Like, I was curious, wasn't that the type of reaction you were seeking? Well, I didn't think I was going to be breaking the news to him. Yeah. I mean, do you think that there's like a huge group text about this? Yeah.

If you, if one of, if one of our bosses got fired or left the job, don't you think somebody would have told you? So when I... Wouldn't you be disappointed if nobody had told you? So here's, here's my response to you. If you're on vacation and I'm texting you with a bunch of thoughts about the Eagles, you're like, why are you? That's not true. That was one time. Okay. But yeah, so Super Bowl Week, okay? These guys are scattered around the country.

Yeah. I don't think they're checking in on the coaching staff at that point. Don't you think that you wouldn't have expected that as news trickles that Roy East fan is going to Cleveland, that Roy might not text Jordan Milata say like, thanks for all the memories? Sure. When things are kind of signed sealed and delivered, he's probably sending that message out. But I, yeah, I thought, first time, I thought it was a reasonable question and it was a nice response. You saw like the raw emotion. I made me made too much light of it given the fact that he didn't know.

You saw the whole emotional. Yeah, I thought you were looking for like a joking. I thought you were asking the question in a joking way. Yeah, I wasn't trying to be too jokey, but I thought that he knew. Oh, yeah. No, I wasn't under the impression that this was like, you know, the presidential election and everyone knew who won. Like I thought this was An odd comparison

I was giving something And by the way A lot of people still don't know who won Okay This to me is Yeah I thought it took a little time For this new Well anyway all of that is to say

That shout out to T.J. Paganetti Who is now the guy who Is the assistant offensive line coach He has worked with Jeff Stalyn as the like assistant run game coordinator Over the past couple years worked with running backs And tight ends now he's the guy on the O-line room.

And the second longest tenure coach on the Eagles. Two? Just that one. There you go. All right. Before we continue on, one last thing to tell you about, and that is the big sale we've got going on right now on the P-H-L-Y Locker, 30% off.

And I know that everybody in the chat is talking about how fashionable Zach Berman is. Well, if you want to be as fashionable as the man who thinks that he is, the most fashionable person in Philadelphia, Well, you can go to the PHL White Locker, 30% off everything, including Zach's underwear. What? No, no, that's not the case. But you get a great selection of shirts and a growing inventory that we have online.

So make sure you check that out. I have a bunch in my closet. A couple notes from listening to the mailbag, just two. Actually, maybe three. Okay. I'm not, I actually thought you did a good job. representing the mailbag stance. I'm not

like, you know, virulently anti-mailbag. It's just I don't know. Come on. I finished I said this. You're not anti-mailbag, but come on, give me a break. Yeah, it's a little lazy. Oh, you see, I

disagree there. It's like it's funny out what's on the minds of these people who are watching and listening to the show. I'm happy to answer questions from people in the chat. I'm not We can do a mailbag episode once a month or something like that. But, you know, you put out a mailbag column on Monday. You do a mailbag episode on Friday. I mean, you know, come on.

How excited were you when Bill Simmons' mailbags came out back in the day? This is my second note. Okay. Yes. Like, how deeply jealous must you be of Shil Kapadia? That all you, you do nothing but talk about Bill Simmons. Like, what is it? It was Shiel.

Well, he works. It's his boss. I'm aware. I couldn't believe like the level of gas you were given to Bill Simmons in that episode. I could keep getting more. And you just brought them up out of random today. I think it's fair to say if you're a 37-year-old sports fan. So someone of our generation who was like reading sports training.

It's interesting because that like that's not like your style of writing. Well, first of all styles are my style. Like if you're. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. That's the great thing is that I like things that are original that are, he would, I would print off what he said and Peter. I'll talk about Peter King later, but I would have these printouts.

You know, we had a certain allotment of paper we were allowed to use. In your house or at school? No, at school. I wouldn't print off at home. At school. And so when I was in college, there was one computer lab that did not monitor the printing. Like you didn't have to sign in. So I would go to that computer lab.

Nice. And I would print out Peter King's columns on Monday and Bill Simmons' columns. And in some of these lectures where maybe I would have that underneath and I would read all. Yeah. So I was big on that in high school too. I would do the same thing. You know, when Julia was in the free. Skipping class?

No, no, no, during free period? Yeah, yeah, during free period. when, you know, Joy was like the center of attention in, like, the student center. I was over in the computer lab reading Bill Simmons and reading Peter King. Yeah. Two totally different writers who I thought were. Yeah, I'm not. I mean, listen, I grew up reading Bill Simmons too.

I'm just saying, like, you kept going out of your way to gas the guy up. You know, give me a break. I'm happy to do so. What's the next note? This is the only serious note. The, like, the surplus value thing about, like, positions in the way. the first round. I think that stuff gets a little bit overstated. It's so much more to me about, like, what are the chances of getting a good player

than, and it's the point that Rich made about, like, well, yeah, like, maybe an offensive tackle is going to give you a bigger surplus value, but if you're not playing him for two years, you don't get that surplus value. I think that stuff is just a little bit dogmatic, and there are there are some people who are like they think that they've solved the draft by just draft the positions and I don't think that is the case I think it's much more about like yeah linebackers don't get paid a lot but also first round linebackers don't tend to be very good and the same like running backs are fine it's more about and it's the point you made like you get good tackles in the first round that's more important to me than and part of that is because they go early because

they're an important position but that's more important to me than than the surplus value I I think I think chasing like cap savings vis-a-vis high market contracts is silly in a league where the salary cap continues to raise every year. Like that savings is so much less important than getting the good players. Good point. And that actually leads to a combine question I had for you. Okay. Combine. Which is so we know in 2021 there was not a combine.

and he didn't have this standardized testing data. And the Eagles had probably their best draft of like the past five years, right? I mean, Devante Smith, Leonard, Dickerson, Milton Williams. Now, obviously they were drafting high in the first round, high in the second round. I get all that. Do you think they were high when they were drafting? My question to you is that if there was not a combine the following year, okay 2022 would they still have drafted jordan davis or do you think that because

oh interesting and i ask that because that's someone look he was he was like the top the top defensive line in college football that year right but that combine showed how freakish of an athlete he was and perhaps if you were just going based on film you wouldn't talk yourself as much into the pass rushing upside and conversely when you have someone like kyle hamilton who, now I understand they're not going to prioritize safety the same way they did the defensive tackle. But Kyle Hamilton, who is like a special talent for Notre Dame, you know, and you saw all the draft rankings based on film. He's up there as like a top five player.

But you're saying, do you really want to draft a four, six, three safety in the first round, right? I think that's what it was. That's a roundabout wife saying if you didn't have combined testing, do you think the 2022 draft will look different? Uh, probably so. But, but, I mean, they had, they had athletic testing data on the guys in 2021. From pro days, which are notoriously like. Sure, but it's a little, I mean, you, you, you maybe devalue it a little bit, but you still get the information.

But, but so, like, for instance, Devante Smith, they didn't draft him based on athletic testing. Right. Yeah. I think, I think, um, you're right that Jordan Davis's value maybe went up a little bit too much based off that testing data. but also it's important to know that like this guy has these traits in his body that are different than anybody at that size in recent history. It's like anything. Like I think more information is good,

but sometimes you can sort of twist yourself into pretzels trying to overvalue different things. I do think that there's like a like a prospect fatigue thing that happens. Like with Kyle Hamilton it happened. We talked about it a lot with Pena Sewell, remember? It's like this guy was supposed to be the very best. tackle we've seen in a while and then all of a sudden he slips a six for whatever reason I feel like that's happening a little bit with Marvin Harrison right now that's a big mistake

if it is but yeah and like I just think there are some guys like that where they're they're in the you poke holes for so long that maybe it gets a little bit silly like Jamir Nelson at St. Joe's back yeah sure and as to as relative to like this year I don't know I don't really know how to answer that at the end. Okay. So my next question for the combine, can I ask you? Okay. Are there more show notes you have?

No, that's it. Okay. And the topic of more information. Okay. Just like Delante West. You hear these coaches who are not going to the combine. Robert Sawa. Yeah.

You have Mike McCarthy. Sean McVeigh doesn't go, right? And I keep here... It's funny that McCarthy doesn't go when like Jerry Jones parks the Cowboys bus just in the middle of downtown Indy. And I keep hearing these coaches feel like they can be more, like there's more for them to do in the offices than at the combine. And they don't need to be around like the whole show of the combine. And this befuddles me.

First off, what are you doing in the office the week of February 26th that is like so important that it's, it's better than being around these prospects face to face? like being i mean to me it's it's almost it's like i'm too cool to go to that party right like what well i agree with you that it's a little bit silly it's a little bit look at me um and i do think there are times like you can overvalue like a you know how a guy is in a meeting sure that is probably something that is not the most indicative of success and like you can fool yourself

like we can all think about like guys who were really good interviews as young guys and turned out to not be very good players. I also think it's kind of funny for you because like these are guys who are saying, well, this is where I can be more efficient. This is where I can get the better work done.

That feels like that would actually tug at you. What are they doing that's more efficient? I think it's like to make a statement against what the combine has become. Right? And I hear you there. Which I think is fair. But it's incumbent upon you to like define the value.

in being there, do you really think that watching the workouts online and zooming into these interviews or like you have tapes of all these interviews to me,

look, you don't have to be there for six days, right? And you don't have to also you don't have to participate in like the whole you know, social. Well, that's the thing that was I think for,

I think the value, the real value at the combine, I mean like the most important thing is the medicals, Right? That's the thing that actually matters the most. The number two thing is for like the GMs and the personnel people, that is where a lot of their real conversations are happening. Whether that is with agents over, you know, possible free agents or guys you want to resign or potential trade opportunities. We, you know, the Carson Wentz deal, right, that started in the Combine, like just having that conversation with Mike Tannenbaum, right?

That stuff is valuable and that stuff is real. for scouts and for like lower level coaches, the like socialization is valuable for your long-term career prospects. Like you make connections that could come to fruition three or four years down the line or more than that. But for Mike McCarthy, I don't know that there is any value there. Like what is Mike McCarthy getting out of it? He doesn't need more connections. He doesn't need more connections.

doesn't need to scout, like he's not making the decisions in the draft room anyway. But like you don't have to do that part of it. You can be in your hotel room and, you know, reading a good book if you want. That's why you think Mike McCarthy should go. You think Mike McCarthy needs to go to the combine so that he can sit in his room and read a good book about Austin Powers. Austin Powers? He is a big Austin Powers guy. Is that right?

Okay. My point is you don't have to be at the bar at 2 a.m., like to get the full combine experience. Like you can be there face to face with the player you're going to draft, and there could be value there. I get it. It is more valuable for the personnel side of it than, like, for the head coaches. But I just wonder what plays are you putting in the playbook on February 26th that beats being at an event where you can be around the people you're drafting.

Okay. What's your third question? Well, I was going to ask you what you would do if you were a head coach. I mean, I would probably go. Okay. Okay. And then my last one for you is, like, you're a man about town. What's the combine like for you?

How much? Why are you smiling? What are you supposed to, what are you hinting at? And this is very weird. No. So bring the viewers in, the listeners in, on your combine experiences. What is this like smirk that you have? Like, you think there's like a brothel in down to.

downtown Indianapolis that's going to get a lot of business. What are you talking about? How did you get from what I said to that? I'm saying give the behind the scenes of how you've experienced it from different sides here. You've been, you know, with the team website when you guys are there like through the weekend, right? Yeah. You've been there, you know, as a beat writer where you're popping in and out. You've been there in a lot of different ways.

Like, like, give some insight on your combine experience. This is weird. It's weird. It's weird. You ask me a thousand personal questions. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get there. I'm going to hope to have dinner with you and Marissa tonight.

Okay. Okay. Tomorrow I'm going to hope to have breakfast with a friend and dinner with a friend. And then on Wednesday the same thing and hope to leave and be gone. Like, you know, we'll probably end up going to some bar late at night and there's going to be weird people watching of like different people in the NFL and you're going to hope to get like a five minute conversation that's going to lead to nowhere and you're going to say oh wow that was great and honestly we'll have a I'll have a better time talking to a couple like other media people in the

business okay what about you Zach why were you to take it up back by that question I don't know because you had such a weird like it's such a weird leading question I don't know what you were going for I've written about the Combine experience. If you want to know what I, like, what life was like for Bo Wolf at the Combine, you can read that story about staying at the Starbucks for the whole day, okay? What is your experience like, Zach? What will you be doing? So, wait, so therefore, for the listeners, go find an article from two years ago. Yeah. Instead of me telling you now about my combine, like, isn't that part of the show? Yeah, because that was the experience. That, like, I don't know.

This is the show here. This is the show, right? We're taking people inside behind the scenes. Isn't this way? Okay, Zach, what's your experience? going to be like? Well, now you asked. So I've experienced a lot of different ways in the sense that when I started, you know, I was there for six days and, you know, really I was talking to every or as many prospects as I could and the prospects were a big part of it. We're not doing as much prospect interviews when we're there now. But yeah, I like to go. I like to see a lot of different people. As I said, I think I said this on the air the other day, is that one of the benefits is like seeing coaches and front office executives who are no longer with the team, who you might

not cross paths with as much, and it's good to catch up with them, like similar to if you there's someone who you went to college with and you hadn't seen them in a while, and you can catch up and chat. You see people within the team. You can see people, you can see people, you can see people from other markets. There's a lot of information discussing. I don't want to even say trading, but perhaps what it is, from, you know, you're talking to the CHGO Bears reporters about, you know, what do you get a sense of what the Bears are going to do?

How are they going to approach free agency, right? There's different types of restaurants and bars and bakeries and, and coffee. I was looking for coffee shops where you can, you know, see different people. Yeah, it is actually. Now, not always concentrated downtown, but if you go up Mass Ave or you go

down, I forget the name of that square, but there's some really good restaurants in Indianapolis. Yeah, so I always look forward to it. This is an event that it's a highlight on my calendar every year, as I said. I've been going to it

now since 2013. My first combine, I was there talking to Lane Johnson. And now here I am covering Lane Johnson going into year 12 for him. So I very much look forward to this. My honest answer is that like the magic is not the right. Like the allure of the combine is pretty dull for me at this point. Okay.

I don't know. Like I was away at the Senior Bowl. I was away at the Super Bowl. Like I'd rather be home with my family. Okay. And I will feel that. So that's really my honest answer. Gotcha.

Okay. Now, I have said in the past, I'm more of an owner's meetings guy than a... Well, yeah, you love a billionaire. I don't know how to interpret that comment. No, I think at the owner's meetings, you have substantive conversations with the GMs, the head coaches, the owners, right? The reason I like the owners meetings more than the head coach is, I don't know where the tongue and cheek comment was, is that when the, the, the combine is very much a business trip for the people who are there. The owner's meetings is more of like a vacation for the NFL personnel with some work mixed in, but it's a chance to really have more substantive conversations. And things have happened by the time the owner's meeting took place.

So you can talk about the additions to the team. You can talk about some of the changes that they made at the Combine. So all these coaches have press conferences tomorrow and Wednesday. Sean McDermott's going today. But it's like a race to tell you the least, basically, because they're not going to reveal their plans, right? So some of it's the theoretical conversation, some of its players on their own team,

some of its decisions that were made in the past month. But that's why I like the owners meetings better, but always look forward to the Combine. All right, let's close this out. You wanted to spin a little yarn about Peter King? Yeah, so overnight I read Peter King's column that he is retired, or I put retiring in quotes because that's how he framed it. You know, he'll still look for something to do.

But Peter King means so much to me for my career, like for my football consumption. I have not gone a Monday during a football season. and mostly offseason, there's periods like in the summer when they don't have those columns, but where I'm not reading Peter. It's hard to find something that is as consistent in my life as Peter King's Monday morning columns. That's not hyperbole. And it's a great influence on my reporting. It's a great influence on my writing style for like notes type things.

and just observing him, do the job, seeing the consistency, seeing the professionalism, seeing the integrity. It's an example to so many. There are people in this business who have far more interactions with him than I have. Every interaction I've had with him, I remember. I mean, similar to how I frame it, you know, when a quarterback or head coach is in the building,

every interaction in that building stands out to that person. every interaction I've had with Peter King, like it might be so inconsequential to him. It's seared in my mind years later, right? However long it's been. So it's just I hope everyone read his column today, and the football journalism, football reporting, and Monday mornings are not the same without Peter King. Well said.

Yeah, I would echo he's always been very gracious, and I respect that he's always sort of like tried to, not pass the baton, but sort of spread the love of other good football writing that's going on. I would say yours included. He's been very, yeah. So, yeah, shout out to Peter. Okay, there you go. From Peter King to Peter Prince, hopefully the new King. Zach Prince, I don't know.

Peter Prince, what? King Prince. You, you're on the next level there. I don't know. Just. So next time we talk to- Reaching for something. Next time we talk to everyone,

we are going to be in Indianapolis. We will have heard from Howie Roseman and Nick Siriani. And looking forward to it, if you put a comment in the iTunes section, I will surely read it and apply it to the show. But this was fun. All right. That was fun.

Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening. Once again, tomorrow's episode is at 3. If you want to watch it live, we will be recapping what we heard from Howie Roseman and Nick Siriani. And then the rest of the week live at noon from Indianapolis on Wednesday. Then we fly back Thursday morning. So we'll be back here in studio on Thursday and Friday for Zach and Julia. I'm Bo. We thank you for watching and listening.

We will talk to you tomorrow. And as always, we love you.