PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Donovan McNabb, D’Andre Swift & more talk Philadelphia Eagles from the Super Bowl

Episode Date: February 8, 2024

All the stars are out in Las Vegas on radio row as former Eagles Donovan McNabb and Torrey Smith analyze what went wrong down the stretch for the 2023 team and D’Andre Swift addresses his future.Join Zach Berman and Bo Wulf from the middle of where the action is, as the Philly football talk continues with Colts LB Zaire Franklin and Kalyn Kahler of The Athletic talks “tush push” and more. 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.

Brum Soup or P-H-L-Y Eagles show presented by Factor Meal kits. Head to FactorMeals.com slash Eagles 50 and use code Eagles 50 to get 50% off. Bo Wolf, Zach Berman, in the thick of things here at Radio Row on Thursday. The big day at Radio Row as you have explained to me, Zach. Yes, always good to be here, particularly on Thursdays. This is when you get the heavy hitters, the A-lister's. like the people you bump shoulders with, the rough shoulders with these are,

that's when they're here. You're walking around here. Drew Breeze over there. They're asking if we wanted them on the show. I said, no, thanks. We do not harbor that here. We have one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history over there. Tanner McKee is here?

Bo, completely uninterested in Drew Breeze. But if you are a journeyman wide receiver who once was in Eagles training camp, that's who Boe wants. We over there we have I got to bite my tongue here Okay Another Hall of Famer We have Brian Baldier

One of the great analyst in all In all football in sports Chris Long Is there doing his show You're not really going a long way So far you've named a lot of people who have been here all week No There's

Well Drew Breeze hasn't been T.O. hasn't been Those are literally the first two people That I mentioned Baldi and Chris Long who are both doing shows from Radio Row. There's so many. I think there's Chuck Pagano over there.

Wow. Chuck Pagano is here. Chuck Pagano is here. There are so many people coming through here. We have a great show with people we've spoken to the past few days, people who are coming today, and then tomorrow's show is going to be similarly as strong. So Singleton is here? Yeah, it's been a fun.

Just so, you know, here's the flow of things, okay? Because we are, you know, it's noon back east, but it's 9 a.m. here in Vegas. It doesn't really kick off yet. Like the middle of the day, it's more like 10 to 2 is when it gets really popping in this vast convention center. And that's when we do our work to get interviews for the next day show, which is what we did yesterday. Talk to several people who you will hear from on this episode today. Everybody has been wondering after the escapades of what happened during the show yesterday, did the guys get Tori Smith?

Did Bo get the number right? Did he then circle back and make something happening? Yes, Tori Smith will be coming up in a few minutes. We talked to Donovan McNabb, 5. We'll always love you. We talked to D'Andre Swift. Get a little insight into what might be coming for D'Auntre Swift. And we did talk to one of the most impressive lineage in the NFL, of course, the Bose Camp Crush.

We talked to one of those guys that will be coming up at the end of the show. But, exactly, had a nice dinner last night, a little steak. What are you feeling? I feel great. I had to have dinner with Frank Thomas. Frank Thomas was there. Nobody's face has aged less than Frank Thomas. Looks the exact same.

Yeah, and just imagine he's walking out and saying, I'm the second best first baseman in this restaurant, right? Well, I wouldn't call myself a first baseman by trade. But you did play first base. Yeah, but it was never. my primary position. Yeah, well, you were a pitcher, but... Pitcher in third base.

A little bit of left field in college, but I would say third base was my primary position. Third base, your primary position. I can play first base. I could probably play it as well as Frank, but that's not what I would call myself. But yeah, great time, a great time, spending time with Julia. I had a Frank Thomas poster in my room in my grandma's house growing up. Nice. And shout out to Jason.

Shout out the Jason who stopped by the meetup last night. Yeah, shout out to Jason. At the overhang bar at Circa. And a nice long conversation with our DFOP who lives in Vegas. It was good to see. Good Vegas. He got to find out what it's like when I said yesterday. Like Zach is who he is.

He got the full Zach Berman is interviewing you for a story treatment. Elaborate on that. What particularly does that mean? It means there's no such thing as a casual conversation. Everything is pointed questions that are looking for big answers. I wouldn't frame it like that. Just trying to elevate small talk, right? Lawrence.

Hey, Lawrence. Lawrence. Would you say at dinner last night you felt like you were being interviewed by Zach? Thank you, Lawrence. No, okay. All right. You thought it was a nice conversation, right? Someone who's genuinely interested in what you have to say, right?

Yeah. So the... I didn't say it was a bad thing. So there are two really important qualities to have an enjoyable dinner with somebody. Okay? The first is to be interested. The second is to be interesting. Okay?

Everything beyond that, like, is, you know, dessert, if you will, right? If you're interested and you're interesting, it's going to be a nice dinner. Now, there's some people who have a saying like that for every social events? I'm saying there's some people who are interesting, but they're not interested. And then in those cases, it's a one. side of conversation. There's some people who are interested, but they're not interesting. And in that situation, like, you're not providing much, right? So, but if you're interested and you're interesting, it should be a good two-way conversation or a four-way conversation or however many people

are at the table. Okay. Now, what would you say are the, like, six things you need for a, like a casual hangout at the bar with, with listeners at the overhang and circa? What? What are the things there? Do you have a mnemonic for that? No, in that case, what you, you know, I'm curious if you are. No, I said we don't want Drew Brees. Thank you. Yeah, he literally said that, by the way.

He was like, no. He's like, not on my show. Yes. Seriously, every other place is pushing away to get the future Hall of Famer. Not on, not on here. But in any event. Why do you tell us about the minor breaking Eagles news we have since we last? Yeah, so a few minutes ago, Jeremy Fowler from ESPN, reports that Brian Johnson, the former Eagles offensive coordinator, is going to Washington in an un...

You know, we don't yet know the title, but in a senior offensive role. We'll be working with Cliff Kingsbury there, but staying in the division. Curious to see who his quarterback is. Also, shout out to Tim McManus. Always give credit where it's due. Last night on my walk back to the hotel, Tim had breaking news. The Eagles are adding Titans inside linebackers coach Bobby King to the Eagle staff.

Bobby King had been with the Titans with the Chargers, I believe, overlapped with the Chargers while overlapped with Nick Siriani with the Chargers there. So that defensive staff is starting to fill out, and we'll see what moves are coming down as well. And also Roy Eastvon leaving the nest. I didn't see that. Yeah, he's going to Cleveland to be the assistant offensive line coach there. Roy Yistvon is respected by those Olin.

I believe played for Stoutland at Central Connecticut State, if my memory is correct. And one of the coaches on the roster whose initials are state abbreviation. Who are the others? You said he's one of. Yeah. So presumably, well, not. I don't think about it. By definition, if you're one of, there's there.

Yeah, okay. Let me pull up the coaching staff. While you do that, let's just continue to paint the picture because when we're here, these shows are a little different than when we're back at home. At home, we're in the studio here. It's like we're in the wild. Your head has to be on a swivel because you see so many people coming through. So I will keep you abreast on the different people.

I just saw Alex Singleton walk by. Well, you had DJ Elliott. before he left. You know, D.E. D.E. Yep. While you're looking that up, let's... We've got so much to get to in this,

and we just got dead air right now. Yeah, so how about this? How about you look that up while we give our listeners? I think it was just T.J. Eliot and Roe East Von. Okay. Our first interview from yesterday, which was a really good one,

and that one is... Do you know? The first one is DeAndre Swift, right? No. No, Donovan McNap? No. Tori Smith. Yes.

Yes. Okay, the first, I didn't know this is the sequence that. That's because you weren't listening. You weren't interested when we were talked about the rundown before the show. No, I was prepping for the show. Okay, I was prepping for the show. The first one is Tori Smith. Bo did a great job tracking him down.

Tori Smith sat where Bo is sitting now. We talked, well, you'll hear what we talked about. Fun interview. Here you go. Hello, everybody. We are back on the P. H.L.Y. Eagle's show. Joined by Tori Smith, the people who watched the show yesterday. We'll have known this saga.

We finally got you in the table. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Good. I mean, we're here. We are an Eagles show at the Super Bowl. And I think when people think of Eagle's Super Bowl,

thinking about Tori Smith. What do you do with your ring? Left at the hotel. This is the time you're supposed to wear your rings. Flash that thing off. Yeah, I have my rings. And then I put lotion on my hand before I walked at the door. I let them.

I hope it's there. It would fall out my hand. That's a big tip for. When I leave here, the first thing I'm doing is going to my hotel room to make sure my rings it's all of a sudden it's on eBay next to Zephyl water bottle who knows so you have two Super Bowls okay which one when like in terms of word association when I say Super Bowl is it the Eagles one that comes to mind or the Ravens one that comes to mind um for sure the first one with the Ravens but I'm not and I'm gonna get my disclaimer this is not a political

answer yeah okay this is not a political answer so the first time uh when I was in Baltimore we lost in the AFC championship game my rookie year second year we go back we win the Super Bowl but that season my brother passed away. My family, we have never been on a family vacation or anything like that, so I had all of them down there in New Orleans for the Super Bowl. It was a good experience for my family, celebrate with them on the field afterwards. Fast forward to Philly, coming from San Fran, it's a tough couple of years. We win in Philly, and then I'm celebrating, I have two kids.

So, like, it's just two different stages of life. Yeah, two different stages of life. One being young and, you know, one being a little bit older and having those kids there, So I appreciate them both in a different way. From the Eagles Super Bowl, when you think of the game itself, what is like the most vivid memory you have? Oh, man. So many, man.

I could go from, I had a helmet catch. I've never had that before. I remember Foles throw to the back of the end zone to Corey. To Corey. That was a dime. I was like, man, that was crazy. And I had the best seat in the house on a Philly Special. That's right.

That was for sure the moment to remember from that game. And I know you've been asked about that play a million times, but like when the call comes in and you hear Nick say this is what it is, are you like, oh, here it is. It's about to happen, you know what I mean? It was crazy. Don't flinch. I'm like, man, you're all serious.

It's fourth eye, let's go. Like, I'm like, all right, coach playing a win. Let's go. But I think for it to work out the way it did, I mean, that's obviously a legendary play. NFL history. It's pretty cool. And your mind, what's the most important play from that game? Because I can jog your memory with a few, but I'm curious without doing that, which one jumps to mind?

I mean, I think that Philly's special in Ertz's fourth down conversion. I was going to say that. That fourth down conversion is probably to play that people forget about. Exactly. It doesn't happen without that. So as you have watched from afar, I know you're keeping tabs on what's going on in Philly, like without being in the locker room, but knowing guys who are there, what do you make of the way things just sort of collapsed

down the end of the stretch. Yeah, I just think sometimes like, you know, everyone looks for a reason and sometimes you just don't play good. It's about being consistent and I think even though they were winning, they were never really consistent overall. And so comparison, in comparison to the year before

when they were very dominant, they were consistent. You could count on this one thing looking the same way basically every week, right? Not the guys aren't perfect, but you know the defense is going to be rock solid everything. You need an offense. this is going to be the identity every single week. And I think it just never really came to life.

And they were winning tough games. The year before, they were just stomping on people. Yeah. Right? And I think the margin between winning and losing in the league is always just a few plays. But they came out on the, again, last year on that a lot more often than this year. So I never really panicked. Even then, I was still anticipating them to get together during the playoffs because

when we were in Baltimore, the year we won a Super Bowl, you only mentioned the Super Bowl, right? Yeah. We started off 8 and 2 or 7 or whatever it was. And then we finished our season, 10 and 6. Like we were the team that folks were like, what do they do? They just had a meltdown. We ended up winning the Super Bowl. So, I mean, it's possible.

You know, the biggest thing is to give yourself a chance by getting in and you want to be playing your best ball late. And we didn't do that in Baltimore and we were able to get it done. So I was like based on our leadership, I really felt like they stood a chance at getting it done. But obviously it did not come to life. And I was going to say that year, Eagles fans kind of looked at that. You guys fired Jim Caldwell. I'm sorry, you fired your OC and promoted Jim Caldwell.

The Eagles were hoping that's what happened with their defensive coordinator this past year. It did not work out that way. But the season for Philly turned when Dom Desandro got ejected. And we have Fletcher Cox on the show every week. And Fletcher gave us his best Dom Desandro story. I'm curious from your perspective, what's the best Dom Desandro story you can share with? I don't really have a one type of story from him, but Don's the guy that, like, he knows every day going to buy it.

Like, if I ever have a problem in any faith, if I needed a plumber or if I needed anything in the world, I can call it down. Like, he knows everyone in Philadelphia, like, his personality, he's infectious. I think he's just as much a part of that organization. culture as the coaches, right? Like, he's the therapist for so many guys on that team to help hold them together. So I think, I love it to death, right?

Even only being at that one year, I view him like a big brother to me, you know, somebody that, you know, I know I can count on for sure. But I think what he means to that locker room, I don't think people really understand it. You just view him as a security guy. But in my eyes, he is way much more than that. And in the organization's eyes, he's what he's, he's, he's, way bigger than that. You talk about the coaches and how much Dom means, but I'm curious, as the Eagles have made this turnover on the staff, you know, bringing in a new defensive coordinator, bringing

in a new offensive coordinator, changing some of the position coaches. If you're a player in the building when that's happening, are you like texting with your buddies, like, oh, you see who they brought in? Like, what's your level of interest? And it's like you've become a little fan boy at that guys who know them, maybe. Absolutely. How was this guy? Right. It's like anybody. Who are new people. And what do you make of how it's going to go with Nick Siriani now sort of being, having his wings clipped a little

bit, not being in charge of the offense? What do you think the response from the players will be to that? I mean, the response for the players is always going to be the same, right? Whether Coach Siriani's there or Coach Tori Smith is their coach. They're trying to get paid. Okay? They want to win and they're trying to get paid. So they're going to perform.

Right. That's the thing. Do they respect you enough to get them to get better? And if that's the case, then you're going to be fun, right? And for this team, I think they've proven that they can be those guys, right? They played at the highest level. They were just there. Like, we're at the light.

This is a, y'all, I played on two sorry San Francisco team. We were sorry, right? We in Philadelphia are complaining about a team that was arguably the best team in the middle of the season. So it's like, it's still right there. It's like, I think it's just more so fine-tuning than being consistent. assistance. So yes, the roster's probably going to change a little bit as well, what coaches changes. Now it's about seeing how you build in with this new culture, because you're going to be hearing a different voice, but at least the same leader is still

there to kind of help set the tone. So, I mean, I'm excited for the change for them. I mean, you have no choice but to be excited for, right? And they brought them back. Can you imagine y'all too right now on air? Yeah. Right? Like, they had to do it because of y'all, right? Now, I'm just saying, all jokes aside, like when it comes to the fan base, and I think Mr. Lorry has done a good job of kind of reading the room. It's like sometimes even if the same coach and staff would have got it together and had a better year, sometimes you have to make change to speed that progress up a little bit to keep from outside noise being a distraction because the minute you lose doubt are the people that are leading you in the locker room

and sometimes that's poured in from outside sources, right? You have real problems, and I think having a fresh start was probably what's best for kind of everyone there, and I'm glad they kept Coach Serianic, because he's done a pretty good job. Last one from me. You said only one year in Philly with the Eagles,

but you have family in the area. We see you around a lot. What's the role of Philly in your life? Oh, man, I love him, man. I'm up there all the time. I said my folks, my in-laws are all from Concha Hocken, So before I was in Eagle, I was in that area and have a bunch of kids on my 7-on-7 team and Level 82 that are from North Philly and then out west.

So we got kids at LaSalle, got kids from Germantown high school, so some of the better kids in the area come down with us. So I'm up there heavily committed and, you know, again, I love it there. I love the people there too. The people have always been great to me. My favorite thing about the people in Philadelphia is that I played there, did not play there for my first was six, seven years,

six years in the league. Used to go to the same restaurants, same everything, all of these years, folks barely said a word to me. Then when I signed to the Eagles, the next day, it's like, hey, I'm like, hey,

did y'all hate me because I didn't play here or what? But it's always really cool, man, to come back. And honestly, to see something little that stands out is seeing, like, when you walk into the stores or the different delis or get a cheese steak from somewhere, like that Super Bowl sticker

is in every kind of, around so it's like a good little memory to know what it meant to the people in that city. Tori, thank you so much for taking the time. I would say one of the most impactful one-year Eagles careers. We really appreciate that. We back with more on P.H.L.Y, The Eagles Show. All right, we are back on Radio Row in a very pleasant surprise as we're walking around. I mean, Zach over here is like nobody loves Philly football players more than Zach.

And you got the Syracuse connection. We got Zier Franklin. And it's Z as well. It's like the three things. See, Walter Payton, Man of the Year nominee. How are you? I'm good, man. How are you guys doing today?

We're doing very well. Let's talk Philly football. Because that's what Zach wants to do. You want to start with your top five question? Yes, so I've been brainstorming top five Philly players in the NFL. What's your ranking? In your mind, are you doing current? Yeah, let's do active players.

Active players. And it has to be their NFL performance. So, like, for instance, if we were doing this a few years ago, Sheree Floyd was an outstanding. ending in high school, but didn't have the same NFL career. He did. He had an injury and it just not going to. Fair enough.

I'm with you, though. Thank you for, thank you for protecting him. That's good. No, for sure. Hang, so not in any order because I got to think about where the guy. I got to go pits. Yes. For sure.

And in your mind, are you sticking to just the city? Yes, Philadelphia. You have to be in Philadelphia. I have to know that you're from Philly. You went to high school in LaSalle, though. It's not, that's not in Philly per se. But I'm from North Philly. Okay, fair enough.

So it's where you're from as opposed to where you go to high school? Yeah, because Pitts is from Philly, but he went to Archbishop Wood, which is in our warming store. Yeah, exactly. So I would say. I feel like I need to step back so you guys get into this conversation. Pitts, probably Dianj Swift for sure. Dang, Philly boys. Want me give you some, Christian Barmore?

Oh, I love Barrymore. Yeah, shout out to Christian for sure. Dang, I'm blanking on. I know New News from Philly. I feel like I'm missing somebody. I just saw DJ Moore come through. Oh, yeah, for sure, DJ Moore. For sure, DJ Moore.

Okay. I don't know why I'm blinking like this on Philly guys, though. I'm always sharp on a, I mean, obviously we got one coming in to Marvin Harrison. Yes. I asked Swift this yesterday, who is, when you were in high school, who was the best guy you played against? The best guy that I played against in high school? I'm going to be honest. It probably was his teammate Alameda's the case.

Yes. We played him in a championship game. He took a punt back, rushing touchdown and a receiver touchdown. We ended up beating him in overtime, but he scored all their points in the championship game. Elamidaze was ridiculous at St. Joe's prep. So shout out to him. So tell us about getting nominated for Walter Payton Man of the Year. How much pride do you take in getting that kind of recognition?

Man, it just means a lot. You know, obviously just thankful, you know, that I was able to be in this position. But, you know, it's really just a combination of a lot of hard work, a lot of work that I've done in Philly, Indianapolis, just trying to help out the kids and give them opportunities that I didn't have. And you got your own podcast as well? Oh, yeah, yeah. Shout out to the trenches, for sure. Trenches podcast, you know, partner with Joe Button and JbP.

Okay. So, yeah, we got our thing going on a new episode dropping on Friday with TY. It's going to be a little spicy. He's going to shake the ruffle the feathers of a lot of Colts fans out there. Okay. That's good tease right there. Yeah, that's a great tease. The problem is, like, you got, like, football players started their own podcast is so great

because it's giving the real perspective, right? that you wouldn't get from our side. But you guys are way better at podcasting than we are playing football. It's not fair. Speak for yourself, yeah. Yeah, it's definitely a little transit. But, I mean, I guess it is, but it ain't, I mean, some people do get on pods and just pretty much use it to talk about themselves,

which I can't be mad at, you know, you made your own platform do your own thing. I know you got to get going in a minute. I do want to ask you about it. It must have been such a weird thing for you. I don't know you've talked about it. That day in Philly. Yes. You know, you and Jason Kelsey in training camp at little, you know, I wouldn't say little.

That was like a, I've never seen anything like it. You being home and that happening, that must have been such a weird experience for you. Why would it be weird for me? I don't know. You tell me. Just like you're going up against the hometown team and all of a sudden there's like all this drama.

Or do you think that's overblown? Nah, I mean, I'm just say I'm glad my brothers wasn't there because they probably would have jumped. They had just so happily missed it. But, I mean, I was comfortable. You know, I've been playing in Philly my whole life. So, you know, he's just renting. on it. I like that. I like that. I appreciate it because we're at every training camp

practice and you made it interesting for us, right? Like how many times do we need to see seven on sevens? You spiced it up, right? I love joint practice. I got to stop, man. I get in a huge fight every year. One of my best friends told me they said every year I get in a huge fight, I have a great year though. So he said, whoever we join practice with this year, I got to start a sideline clearing ball. So real quick, Carrie Williams, when he used to play for the Eagles, He got in a fight with the Patriots before practice, and the cool thing for him was he got to get kicked out of practice, so he didn't have to do the practice.

It was a hot day, and it's like a veteran trick. If you want the day off, getting a fight early in practice. Well, no, yes and no. I mean, the fines and all other stuff that come with it, too. And it's a little – honestly, I feel like joint practice to me, you know, outside of the fisticuffs that come with it. But I feel like it's the best chance to really compete and compare yourself against guys.

you know, across the league. Like, I was just really looking forward to you. Obviously, we had two joint practices this year, one against Chicago, one against Philly. And like, they say Iron, Sharper Iron, that's the best chance you get to truly compete, you know, one-on-one. Because you can play in the game and not really have a chance to really evaluate yourself against another great player.

So playing against, you know, Dionne J. Swip, playing against DJ Moore, playing against Justin Fields, playing against Jalen Hertz. It was like a true good chance to really compete and work on your craft going into the season. Because in joint practice, you could run your schemes, you can run your plays because that film's not going anywhere.

When you're playing these preseason games, I'm playing cover one, cover two, cover three. Y'all ain't doing nothing special. It's actually harder to play in preseason games because they take all your checks and everything that you actually practice out. You actually play in the defense that you never played in the preseason game. I appreciate your practice a lot. I think it's honestly the best chance to get better. And last thing before you go, sorry.

Shane Steichen, Eagles fans very familiar with him. We're happy with Shane moving forward. Good guy. No, Shane's the man. I know Philly fans is hating. I know they miss him. I know they miss him, but he's ours now. One quick, 10 second question.

You're back in Philly for 24 hours. Where are you eating? Ooh, I just went to Buda Khan. Oh, my God. You haven't a Buda Khan? Yes. Oh, my God. That Kalamari solid?

Yo, Budakon is elite, or is that 48 for sure. There you go. Good advice from Zaire Franklin. Let's talk now to another Philly football player. D'Andre Swift joined us yesterday. Let's watch that now. Good luck on Sunday. Hello, and welcome back to Radio Row.

Bo Wolf, Zach Berman, joined now by the man himself d'andre swift d'andre how you doing welcome to the super bowl i'm good i'm good how you doing you just got here and you are here because you got a big game tonight a big tournament tell us about the battle of the paddles that you were doing excited for the night uh representing todd and the p and g battle the paddles um get to play a little bit ping pong tonight how's your game it's okay it's good i've been playing for about two years now started in the locker room yeah yeah you know it's in the locker room jake elliott is like the top of the totem pole right who else is in the mix um on a team

Terrell Edmonds was pretty good before you got trade I know Kenny Gainwell solid mostly all the old linemen yeah you know Isaac Sayamala used to be good but he left I know Noah Tangii plays a lot the tight end but I'm excited to see what you got you got like Trevor Lawrence anybody you're looking to play against Sequin Bartley I just saw the line up yeah

Jamal Williams going to be there looking at a lot of running backs I beat him before so we could I want to play him again okay I want to see what say Kwan guy. I'm looking forward to seeing what they got. All right. Now, Zach here has been, you know, pounded in the DeAndre Swift drum for a long time. He loves Philly guys. We know you're from right over there, from all the way over in Philly. How did this season go for you being the hometown guy?

It was a blessing, man. Just be able to play for your hometown where you grew up at that opportunity doesn't present itself very often. So to be able to go in that locker room with them type of guys and that organization be able to compete week and week out and build relationships. and it was a year to remember for me, man. I just wish we could have kept it going, wish I wasn't here right now on this or in his radio station, what I mean, but it was a good year.

I spoke to you a few weeks ago about what you proved this year, and one thing you mentioned was playing every game was significant to you. Why was that significant to you? And obviously, going in the free agency, what do you think you showed the rest of the league about yourself? First and foremost, I think I still got a lot to show. But playing in every single game this year, I knew there was a lot of questions going into this year as far as injuries and things like that, things that I've dealt with in my career in Detroit missing a couple games at a time.

But I know that was a little notch on my name. So even playing every single game was one of my goals this year. I know when I'm available. Sky is the limit. What is your opinion on running back valuation in free agency? like the fact that for whatever reason you guys do not get paid, probably what you deserve to get paid, as you enter a free agency?

I said for whatever reason it is the way it is right now. It's sad, I would say, to not see the guys get what I think they deserve for what we get asked to do. We get asked to do a lot, not I mean, but it's kind of like it is what it is. I don't really know what to say on it, I can give my opinion on it, but I just not really want to change. You feel like you've got a lot left? Oh, 100%.

Yeah, I feel like I'm just getting started. Okay. Yeah, 100%. Training camp, most of the questions were about you catching the ball. Yeah. And then you go on, you have your first 1,000-yard rushing season. Yeah. What do you think you showed as a runner?

And then how much more is there in your game than the way you were used this year? I feel like there's a lot more in my game. A lot more in my game that I can showcase. But I feel like I showed a different element of my game this year, being able to do whatever I'm asked to do. And that was kind of my mindset going into it, not being used so much in the past game or whatever, try to affect the game in different ways. And any way I'm asked to do, and I feel like I can do whatever I am asked to do.

I do think that, you know, I'm not going to make you answer for why the team, you know, lost so many games at the end of the season and how all that stuff could happen. But I do feel like as good as you were as a runner, you as a receiver out of the backfield was a thing that was probably underutilized in the offense this year. You don't need to throw anybody under the bus, Did you feel like you could have been used a little bit more in that capacity? Like I said, I'm the type of guy, whatever I'm getting asked to do, I'm going to make that my thing. Okay.

Throughout the whole year. Yes, I could have been used a little bit more in the past game, but I don't call the plays. Right. Whatever I'm asked to do, I'm going to try to master that. Okay. Try to affect the game in that way. Now, go ahead. And now you're drafted in the second round.

You're traded, but you haven't yet experienced free agency. So you've experienced every side of the business part of the NFL except free agency. What are these next few months like for you trying to figure out where you're going? I shouldn't say where you're going next if you'll stay or if you go somewhere else? Just waiting game for my understanding. It's my first time in this position. So I'm kind of learning as the days go by, just waiting. Focus on what I can focus on.

Control what I can control. That's training, making sure I'm taking the right rest time, making sure I'm ready for whatever call happens and go from there. Important off-the-field question for you. I need your reaction because we talked to Devante Smith last week, and we know that he is like the best-dressed guy on the team. But we asked him, who is the second best-dressed guy on the team? He said you.

I appreciate that. That means a lot. I mean a lot. I would say I'm first, but no, I appreciate that. We got a couple guys on the team that know what they're doing. Now, his explanation was that you're more of a street-closed guy. he's more of a suit guy. Is that an accurate assessment?

100%. I'm kind of more chill. He definitely gives you a lot of suits, a lot of good suits. And now speaking of power rankings, okay, a bow made the joke earlier that I have an affinity for players from Philly. People who I watched when they were growing up or I was older watching them in high school. We spoke to Matt Ryan yesterday. We always kind of point out different players from Philadelphia who get drafted or signed.

What's your top five Philly area football players? From Philly or played in Philadelphia? From Philly, from Philly area. So South Jersey is included, Philly suburbs are included. Okay. Not included myself? You can include yourself in there. I'm going to throw me in there. No order, though. I'm going to throw me in there.

Matt Ryan. I'm going to go Micah. He's from the PA area. Okay. Stretching into Harrisburg, but that's fine. That's too far. That's okay. We'll count that.

Who else? Got Kyle Pitts in there? Kyle Pitts for short. And I'm going to go. Hassan? Sanchez for South Jersey That's my five right there Okay

That's my file right there No Zach Berman I'm going guys that I personally know Who was the best player you played against in high school Oh Um played a lot of good people high school Let me think

Um Damar Hamlin was good in high school He's real good now But DeMarre Hamley played with Pittsburgh Central Catholic We always kind of ran into each other Later on in the state championship run DeMarie Ham was real good in high school.

Okay. Now, I mean, I guess the last thing is like, you think we're going to be seeing you in an Eagles uniform next season? Put you on the spot. Only time would tell. I would love to be an eagle again. I would love to. So my last one, anyone who follows Philly High School football

remembers your announcement video, okay, when you're going to Georgia. Are you going to have an announcement video this year when you decide as a free agent? No, not at all. Not at all. That was a good video. No, it was. Lutra Porte did a great job with that video.

Great job. I feel like them times was over. You know what I got? There is one other thing I can ask you about. We talked to Malik Herring on Media Night, and he was telling us the story of you doing like donuts in the courtyard. On the moped. Or something like that?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You want to set the record straight there? Yeah. It was like a little motor. It's like a little moped. We was outside and outside our, a little of apartments or whatever.

I was just doing donuts. Ended up taking a little bit. Bay of fall. That's all right. You bounce back. Get back up. Try it again. There you go.

All right. Well, DeAndre, good luck tonight. The Battle of the Paddles with P&G. You can watch it on their YouTube channel at 8 o'clock tonight on overtime. So good luck. Yes, sir. Thank you. Keep the backhand strong.

We're going on. There you go. All right. Back with more here on P.HLY. All right. Our Philly, Philly episode rolls on as we talk now about our most Philly-Filly episode rolls on as we talk now about our most Philly sponsor. And that is Philly Sports Trips.

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Yeah, Philly football players, active. That's hard. And my definition, by the way, is different than Zaire Frankins. You don't have to live within the city limits or go to school within the city limits. And I say it this way because I used to do this type of thing every draft for the Philadelphia Inquirer. So we included the Philadelphia. inquires coverage area. So that included South Jersey, that included the Philadelphia suburbs, but it didn't go as far

as like Harrisburg. It didn't go down the Delaware. It didn't go deep into New Jersey. Yeah. So I include the Enquirer coverage base, and I could give you like the exact counties. Do you think you could take us through your, like, starting from the day that you joined the Eagles beat, give me the all 20. can you go are there are could you fill out a full roster of philly guys oh i mean if you gave me a few

minutes here who's the best philly quarterback of your time well either either matt ryan or joe flacco let's go with matt ryan i think you got to go matt ryan okay joe flacco won a super ball matt ryan won an MVP uh so let's let's go matt ryan running back you know you got dionre swift i also have jonathan taylor uh i would probably go jonathan taylor there deandre swift is nice enough to spend 10 minutes with us well And by the way, D'Andre Swift, we talked about the Battle of the Paddles. You can watch that. You can watch that whole event on the overtime YouTube page.

See how he did last night. See how he fared. I believe he did not win, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch it. I think it came down in the end to Trent Taylor and Dustin Hopkins. Good stuff. Like, Dustin Hopkins, okay. I think it was the finalist. Yeah, nice.

Nice. That's a good group. So I'm going to go with two running backs. I'm going to go Swift and Taylor. Okay. My wide receivers. You love that 22 personnel, the 21 personnel. Yeah, well, we're going to go one tight end.

Let's go Kyle Pitts, a tight end, of course. Let's go with a wide receiver, DJ Moore and Will 4. I think he can already make it Marvin Harrison, Jr. I can, okay, even though he's not, okay, let's go Marvin Harrison, Jr. and DJ Moore. Will 4 does not make the cut, although I always enjoyed talking to Will 4. We're always enjoyed talking to Jelan Strong. That's probably a better example than Shrevely. Jailen Strong was a really good college player and high school player.

Did not really necessarily. Here's the tough one, though. Can you get an offensive line? We can go Mike McClintchie. We can go Mike McClintchie at right tackle. The rest of the offensive line, you can go. Justin Pugh? You can go Justin Pugh.

You can go Ryan Bates at center. But, you know, I would really need to. Where's Deon Don? from oh yeah we can include Dion there's a good one Deon Dawkins okay okay um so let's let's let's keep rolling here let's let's go the defensive side of the ball you obviously you got Hassan Reddick Sean Phillips was a good one he was an edge rusher for the Broncos you go Christian Baramoor you go with Pierre Tart at defensive tackle like that linebacker there's Zaire Franklin

I mean, Kevin Byard at safety. Yeah, I mean, I really need to, Chuck Clark at safety. There's one. So I need to think of my corners, but that's a pretty good team right there. You work on that. Yeah, I'll work on that. That's a pretty good team. What did you think of this Swift interview?

I thought it was interesting. You know what? I like that he's not going to shy away from the fact that, yeah, I mean, they could have used them more out of the back field. And I still think that's one of the big things that was missing from the offense. In addition to the absence of motion and not being able to beat the Blitz, structurally that was a thing that should have been there all along. Do you think he's back? I don't.

I think the Eagles are going to continue to go inexpensive at that position. Sorry, one second. No, no Drew Brees, no. We don't want him. I think Swift's worthy of a contract. I think Swift's a really good player, and I think it would benefit the evening. Eagles, if they re-signed them, I just don't know where that's where they're going to allocate money. I think if he came back, it's on a deal that's more conducive to the Eagles than more conducive

the Swift. All right. Well, we have, I believe, Kalin Kaler, who was going to join us in a few minutes. But before we get that, we said no Drew Breeze, but that doesn't mean no great quarterbacks of the 2000s coming on the PHO by Eagles show. As long-time listeners will appreciate, let's just toss to this with one word and one word only. Five. You never know who you're going to run into at Super Bowl Meteor Row.

And we have Donovan McNabb here. Donovan, first of all, how are you? How's everything going? Good, outstanding. Everything is good. Just enjoying the festivities, so to speak. Do my podcast and then see some old familiar faces as I walk around here. But now that I'm not, I'm ready to go and work out and get something to eat.

All right. Well, we will keep it quick. I do want to ask you about Jalen Hertz. We were there in the locker room after the regular season game in Arizona last year between the Eagles and the Cardinals and you came in you and you and Jalen had a bit of a conversation I think it's probably fair to say that nobody in the world understands what Jalen Hertz is going through right now more than you do in terms of the media coverage I think you know the answer to that so what from your vantage point what is like the most

important thing for him this offseason well just clear his head I think for all of us who kind of go through seasons where you hide and seasons where it kind of dumps and you're just kind of preparing yourself. I think for for Jalen, the thing that I try to talk to him with is just kind of stay in the moment, stay in the moment, understand what has led you to this point, what you can clean up, and get back to your preparation. And so for him, he's like me. Just kind of put your nose on the ground and grind. And, you know, his offseason will consist of getting his body together, getting in shape, make sure he's ready and ready to throw and ready to learn. But it does, that's different this year is he's got to learn a new office. And so he's learning an

offense that Kellyn Moore has had with Dak Prescott, you know, Justin Herbert. And so now the comparisons are going to come with those two particular guys for him. And it's not going to be so much of what it's been before. So he understands that, I think, now. And I mean, if they don't have good season this year, then, I mean, other heads are going to start the road over there in And obviously your time in Philadelphia was with Andy Reid. The offense never really changed that much. We sort of talked about last season it was Jalen's first year getting to play in the same offense for the second time since he was in high school. And they went to the Super Bowl.

Now he's going to change it again. How difficult do you feel like that will be for him? It's going to be very difficult. It's going to be very difficult. And I think a lot of people aren't going to understand that they're just going to wait for the result. And so it takes time and patience. And for, you know, Jalen, it's really, you look at it because. Because it's comparable to what Kellanmore had in Dallas.

Only thing is now is he going to run the ball more. Because that was the whole thing why Mike McCarthy took over in Dallas because he wanted to establish the run more. And so that was the whole thing that kind of faltered a little bit in Philly toward the end was they kind of almost abandoned the run as much. When you got a running back this, that over 1,000 yards rushing. Like DeAndre Swift had his best year in his career. And he was healthy enough where he can get a lot.

out there and compete. So I think for Kellan Moore, that's something that he's going to have to take on because this ain't Dallas and this ain't California. If you think about Andy Reed, 25 years ago last month, he was hired. 25 years ago in April, you were drafted. See how Lucy said there? I knew it, but. And I ask that because you look at the past 25 years of Eagle's history, it doesn't look like the 25 years before that. The infrastructure that kind of you and Andy put in place 25 years ago, how much do you think

that played a part and what's happened during this quarter century? It was a major, it was a major help for him to understand how to retool, how to improve, and things to eliminate. And so it's funny because we talk about it all the time, he and I, and it's just kind of like, he's like, the only reason that this has been successful here is because of what we've done in Philly. And I go, well, what do you mean? He's like, what did I start with?

It's like, started with a quarterback. Then what did I go with? Offensive line, D line. What was kind of the options after that? It was like skill position. And he's like, the things that we weren't able to complete, I understood what I did wrong. And I'm doing it here.

And I'm like, well, that helps me out. Like, you know. But again, I could have aided more than that. But that's what Patrick has understood. And Patrick only knows one way because Patrick has only been with it. And so I knew one way because I was just with Andy. So our methodical approach was very similar, changed every now and then, but it was very similar. And so that's why he's been very successful.

That's why Patrick has been very successful. That's why the organization has been mentioned. And it's funny because you talk 25 years, we were probably second or third behind New England or maybe Indy as far as a winning percentage. And the success rate that we had in over a decade. here it's been the same almost, but he's been number one. And so New England, at that particular, it's funny because Tom was there for so long, but New England still,

but then he's now moved to the number one spot and the success that he's had with the Kansas City cheese. You've got to get going, so one very last one for you. How weird is it? We're all sort of trying to figure out how healthy Jalen Hertz is when you are the guy and it's your body that everybody is talking about. Well, I mean, that happens with me being such a sex symbol.

Everyone talks about my body. Thank you so much, John, in the time. You know, but you know what? It's what else can they talk about? Yeah. And I do Philly radio every Monday or Tuesday if they play Monday now. And I get tired of the questions of, well, you know, do you think that, you know, his leadership qualities of not being vocal?

I'm like, you didn't say nothing about in the last couple years. Why are you talking about his leadership? Everyone talking about how great of a leader he was. Well, do you think that he's not telling us how he is? What player tells you how hurt is? And so it's either you're hurt or you injured. And we're always going to be banged up. But, you know, we're not going to take ourselves out.

And I think that's where Jaylen was. Well, he was banged up a little bit, but he was healthy enough to play. It just didn't come to the result that he wanted. And this year, be a little bit different. Not a McNaft. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. All right, we're back on Radio Row.

Kailen Kaler. is here. She has her food. She's deciding, debating whether or not she's going to eat while I read these ads. But it's actually a very thematically appropriate ad read that I have here now, Kaelan, because we're talking bagels and co, which are Brooklyn-style bagels made in Philly, and these are huge bagels. We're talking the biggest in Philly. They've got such a large variety, 15 to 20 different types to choose from daily. We're talking seasonal bagels. For instance, They're going to have a Valentine's Day bagel. What could be more romantic than bringing your sweetheart a Valentine's Day bagel on the morning of February 14th?

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So, Kail and Kailer of the athletic, our former colleague, one of the true Capital J. GERNOS covering the NFL. Stop. And I think more importantly for our perspective, Queen of the Tush Push. Queen of the Tush Push, that's right. I'm really, I'm not sleeping well at night because the last possible, what might have been the last, we've talked about this,

what might have been the last Tush Push with Jason Kelsey was a failure. And that doesn't sit well with me. It doesn't sit well. I can't go into the off season with that, you know, looming over me. That's terrible. And if he retires. His career, yeah. Yeah, I mean.

I think that maybe that'll be what brings him back. It might be. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised because he's really serious about that. Where are you at Turkey-wise, Zach, right now on Jason Kelsey retiring versus not retiring? Yeah, what do you guys think? I'm at like 51 to 49. Really? And retiring, but just because like everything that you hear or that we heard after the season is that he's not coming back.

But he hasn't announced it. I kind of think he might come back. And he's deliberate. That's why. Well, I made it a coin flip. Yeah, I know. So what, so. Shefter's report, like, yeah, not a good report.

That was kind of rude, you know. What do you mean? Come on. That's not, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, what, what was his exact? His report was that he told teammates. He told teammates after the game. Yeah.

That he was going to, that it was his last game. Okay. Okay. Now, in the emotion. It could be true. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Right. In the emotion of the moment, that is the case.

Now, it's phrased in such a way that that doesn't, like, it was kind of taken to mean, like, that's his retirement announcement. Yeah. But he knows that that's how it's going to be taken. Right. Okay. But I'm saying, but, like, factually. You don't get to have it both ways, I don't think. You don't get to half report something.

And he also didn't say, according to, like, there was no source. Yeah, that's true. Right. It was just, like, teammate. It said he told teammates. You think he's got every locker room bugged? He might at this point. Like, I feel like it probably came from like an agent.

A general manager? Like a, yeah, or I don't know. Maybe it came from teammates. Yeah. I don't know. But yeah, so that's interesting. That's interesting that you're like that close on the split. Like, you really think it's go either way.

Yeah, I think it's very much up in the air. I'll say in the locker after the game, that was the prevailing sentiment. Yeah. Like, I didn't report it as like told teammates, but teammates were talking after the game as if, like, this is Jason Kelsey's. last game. Like, I mean, I could recount my entire conversation with Lane Johnson after the game. And it was like, it's a shame that Jason goes out like this, right? It's like, I imagine the sentiment you have when you just lose a playoff game and he's hugging Stoughtland.

Because I can believe he did not know yet or he does not know yet. Like he needs a clear mind. And his process, yeah, he wants to give a time. Yeah. And in case that is his last game, he's savoring that moment with his teammates, you know, with Jeff Stoutland. So we'll see. I've been, I was in that post-game. Lockroom with Bo after the New Orleans game in 2000 and well January 2019 so you're thinking five

years ago and he was asked then like are you going to retire every year this goes on and every year he does the same thing and not to take away from like any reporters or whatnot but he's always asked in these interviews like so are you going to retire and and I always think he's you know he hasn't announced yet but he's he's waiting for your show to say I am done right like Jason's going to be very deliberate with how he announced. Yeah, he has lots of ways of reaching the public when he wants to make an announcement. When he wants you to know, you'll know. Exactly, exactly.

And I feel like it'll be interesting, like, if he's hearing from networks right now, because don't you think he would be kind of in high demand of, like, someone they'd want? Definitely. Oh, yeah, I've spoken to network executives throughout this. Is he here this week? Do you guys know? Yes, he's here this week. Wow.

Has he walked through here yet? He taped his show the other day with Travis that came out today. He was playing Blackjack last night. He was at you two last night. Did he tape it in Radio Row? No, they had a separate place. They had to do a separate secret location this time. Yeah, last year they were like on Radio Row.

Yeah. They are too famous for that now. I think that's right. Yeah. Because- Travis showed up like an hour late last year. It was hilarious. I remember you were doing that story.

Yeah, which like 7,000 people read. Literally no one read that story. It was not a good story. Seven thousand people's a lot of people. Well, but it wasn't, it like, it wasn't a good story. I wrote about the New Heights podcast, but like no one listened to the podcast last year. Wait, but are you still? And now, are you still?

I think it was like the number one podcast last year. It just wasn't swift level. Are they too famous now because Kylie has become so popular? Is that why? You know, definitely. Okay. It's because of Kylie. It's Kylie's fame that brought this all in.

I'm going to give Kylie credit. Like she's doing all this media. She's doing great at it. She's very cool. Yeah, she's really good at it. And also to kind of credit, like taking advantage of the moment. A lot of good sponsored content on Kylie's Instagram now. They're raking it in.

Yeah. No, but also like. Which, I mean, if Jason's going to retire, you need those extra streams of income. You do. Yeah, no, she's supported women. Which also, not for nothing. If he wants to play again, he's going to make like $14 million. Well, isn't the timing of the, like, it's just crazy that, like, they did the Amazon Prime documentary thing, and then, like, Travis starts dating Taylor, and then now they're, like, all.

You're a little bit suspicious. You think there's a script here. I don't know. It's just, like, all of these things on separate brothers happening, like, at the same time is interesting. I guess you could just say, oh, they were both in the Super Bowl last year. Maybe it's as simple as that. I think what I would say is if the whole thing. was planned and packaged.

Yeah. Whoever did it, nailed it. Nailed it. Nailed the delivery. They completely, they became like the two most famous players in the league. Well, I can't speak to Travis. Like, I don't know him well enough. But I can say from Jason's perspective,

he's been deliberate about, like, trying everything. He's exploring as much as he can, so he doesn't retire and looks around as like, what now? Yeah. So the stuff like the documentary, the podcast, some of the media, you know, some of the corporate stuff that he's doing. Like, it's very deliberate on his end. Yeah, yeah.

Well, so, wait, going to mention that touch push really quick, I wanted to ask you this. That was the one where they grabbed Jalen's face mask, right? Yes. So that play really scared me on a lot of levels. Not really because I thought he was injured or anything, but because all of the reasons that people hate the Tush push, like, were evident in that play, which is it's hard to officiate because that wasn't called. didn't get called because it's hard for the officials to determine like what's really happening.

They're so close. They're so low. Hard to see the action. So that was an argument to get rid of it right there because of the difficulty in officiating it. And then the safety hazard of your quarterback getting his like head whipped around there. So I was like, oh no. Like this is, I don't, you know, I could see that specific one being used as like a. You think they're going to get rid of it?

I don't think so. I think that moment has passed, but I don't know. I don't think so. Like, I'm not getting the vibe that it's, like, as serious of a thing as it was this time last year being like, we must legislate this out of the game. I don't get that vibe this year. But that particular play, I was like, oh, no, they're going to put that on the, you know, mountain of evidence. And that's why we kept seeing all the, like, off-sides calls this year in alignment. Yes.

Because they were, that was, like, a point of emphasis for officials because. Very silly. Of how difficult that is. So when people were making a big deal this year about Jason Kelsey moving the ball, were you like, why don't you just read my story? Yeah, I tweeted. I was like, hello, hello. Just like I was thinking a lot about your story that like Aaron Rogers was so huffy about

about like how difficult it was to get young wide receivers involved in that offense. He leaves and the very next year, their offense is unbelievable with all of these young wide receivers just being. used correctly? Yeah, like week one, I was at Bears Packers, and I was like, let me not overreact here because it's week one. And, like, Jordan Love was not, like, the Jordan Love that he was at the end of the year. And he was still, he was honestly, like, mediocre in the game. But, like, I went into the locker and post game, and I'm just talking to the rookies.

And I'm like, hey, how do you feel with Jordan? Because you could just, like, sense that, like, it was totally different. And I think there were, like, two different young receivers who had touched on passes in that game, if I remember correctly. And, like, more and more kept coming as a season. Yes, and so I talked to them, and they were like, I'm like, have you earned distrust? Which was the exact same question that I asked the prior year about Aaron. Okay.

And they were like, of course, I've always had his, like, it was like, last year it was actually something they had to think about. It's bizarre. He hasn't asked me to, like, inject Ivermectin in front of him and, like, going to, you know, going to darkness retreat and talk about chem trails. It's really free. So their whole, like, their whole, like, last year it was actually something they had to think about where they answered. This year, they're like, that's a dumb question. Like, of course. like we're on the same he's trusted me the whole time like we're the same age like whatever so that

was really interesting and i've been trying to ask people around the leave like i the thing that i really want to write about this off season and i don't really think it's actually going to be a good story but it's something good to debate um it's just like what is the best way to develop a quarterback um once you pick the quarterback and that's the i mean picking is also the hard part but like i think the real part is like okay you pick the guy the guy could become the guy, but you have to make sure that that happens. So how do you develop a quarterback the right way? Because this season, we saw Jordan Love, who sat for three years, and who we saw improve as the season went on and became a great quarterback by the season's end. And then we saw

C.J. Stroud, who just right away started, and nobody thought he was going to be good, and he just blew us all away. And so I'm trying to ask people just around the league of, like, what do you think is the best way to develop a quarterback? I talked to, like, both the backup quarterbacks here this week because they're both kind of victims of circumstance sam arnold and blaine gabbert because blaine you have a blaine gabbert uh like josh mccown name all your touchdown passes uh video that'll come up on the youtube page so good that's so good um anyway go ahead blaine the team was sold in like week eight of his rookie here he's like yeah in one team meaning they fired the head coach and they sold the team and i was like damn and he's like yeah

consistency is the key. So both Sam and Blaine were like, you need to have the same people around the rookie. And I just think we keep seeing teams over and over and over again. Mess that up. And Chicago is about to do it again. It's so interesting, though, because it's hard to disentangle it, right? Because if the quarterback is good, then nobody's going to get fired.

Right. Right? And you can make the case for, okay, like Jordan Love got to sit for a long time, and that really helped him. And Patrick Mahomes got to sit for a year. Maybe that's the way to do it. But also, the reason that those guys were able to sit is because they were in healthy organizations

that were able to be patient. So the chicken or the egg of it is very difficult. Right. And it's like the teams that are in the position to draft the quarterback's high are already, they suck and they're already like barely surviving. So like if I was the Bears, just using Chicago as an example, to escape that cycle, I would have fired everyone.

and then brought it, like, maybe you keep Brian Poles, but, like, I would have fired the coaching staff just with the logic of, because that coaching staff is going into this season trying to save their jobs again, right? Like, I don't think Matt Eberflus is entering the season feeling, like, super secure in his job. So if they draft Caleb Williams

or whoever the quarterback is, like, you know, it's just creating the situation where, like, the coaching staff needs them to play, needs them to play well right away, and there's pressure and you're rushing things. And so, I don't know, I just see it all playing out that way again. Yeah, so my read on that is I think that there's too much attention paid to the position and not enough attention paid to the player slash person, right?

Like, there are some quarterbacks who would be great independent of circumstances. Yeah. Whether it is the way they play, whether it's their mental makeup, right? Whether it's, you know, and then there's some people who need the environment around them. So I don't think, you know, and I think one of the mistakes that has made some, times in coaching is to think that just because you coach player X this way, player X, not the draft prospect of players, just because you draft player X this way, that's the way to develop every player like that, right?

And so I, and it's, it's the same thing with quarterbacks. Like Patrick Mahomes would probably, it would probably be an outstanding player wherever he went, but he was, but, I don't know. You don't think so? You think that, I think, Andy Reid. I think Patrick Mahomes is, but, yeah. I think probably he, I think he, I think, eventually, but I don't know.

I think, like, if he was in, because if you watch his, like, Texas Tech tape, I mean, he has matured so much. Sure you wouldn't want to hire Cliff Kingsbury as your offensive coordinator? No, no. Like, he's matured so much, so I don't know. I think, I think probably ultimately you're right, but I do think, like, a team could have messed him up. It's also, from the Eagles perspective, the question that has plagued them is not how to develop a quarterback, but how to, like, maintain that development.

Because we have seen, I mean, we saw what Carson Wentz and, like, who knows what happened with Jalen Hertz this year. But now it seems like he's at an inflection point. Is he going to get back to two years ago or is it going to sort of stagnate? Like, how do you continue to get the most out of that guy? Yeah. Are you asking me? No, I'm just saying that. That's the existential eagles question.

And it goes back to the player person too, right? Like sometimes conditions around the player changes, whether it's their health and it affects certain things with them, whether it's the contract, whether it's the people around them, whether it's how they're emboldened within the building or not emboldened, right? Like, there's so much, you know, the

thing that I've realized being around the players for the last 13 years is, like, how overly human these guys are, right? You know, we talk about them as if, like, they're programmable machines, but like, these guys will feel a slight...

Jaylen sometimes talks like what, sure, but, But these guys feel like slighted by a remark that a coach might say, by a remark that a player might say. Like, they are no different than anyone else. And one thing can tilt their day or ruin their day just like that. Yeah. What do you guys think of? Well, I have two Eagles questions.

Okay. Sure. One was, NFL question for you? And I have a player expert. Was Jalen really hurt this year, like, more than we think he was? I don't think he was. So, yeah. So I think that, like, I,

I don't think that he was... Like, is he getting surgery? This, I haven't followed closely. Like, is he having any procedures? I would be shocked if he's not getting anything done. Now, he did play in the Pro Bowl last week, so I don't think the finger is the issue. I'm curious most about the knee. Yeah, I'm curious most about the knee.

Because I feel like what, he was just so much less dynamic as a rusher. I mean, from the Eagles fans' perspective, I hope that he was injured. Because if he wasn't injured and the, like, the superpower of his running ability changing the offense was just taken out of the offense for other reasons? That would be a concern. That would be bad. Yeah. And then my second question was, okay, so entering this year, how is Siriani's job security?

Like, what's the sense that you got of like how? He needs to win this year. He's sitting. He got half fired, essentially. Right. So I don't think he has, I don't think it's very secure. If they lose in the first round next year where they don't make the playoffs, then there will be a new coach in my opinion. Oh, actually, well, first round, it would be hard to fire a guy for making the playoffs four years in a row.

But, yeah, it depends on the tenor of it all. I think Jeffrey wants to see progress. I think Jeffrey Lurie wants to see progress. And what Matt Patricia, he got fired? What's he doing now? Well, Matt Patricia is a dynamic coach that everybody in the league would really love to ask their staff. The Eagles did decide. They put him in a really difficult position, and they had decided to, what would be best for him would be to get.

him a chance to spread his wings elsewhere. Oh my God. That's so generous. It's so generous of them. Jordan Milana's over there? The dastardly Sean Desai is the one who really put that down. Yeah. Jordan Mila taking a picture with former teammate Alex Singleton.

Nice. A quick prospect X question if I can. Well, actually. I don't have one yet. Do you have an idea? I feel like I'm the odd man out here, the odd person out here, because Bo has an affinity for Christian Ellis. Yes.

And Christian Ellis was once prospect X. Let him get out of the building. For those. What's what cost them the season? I mean, he was the best linebacker. It was the inflection point of the season. For those we don't know. Christian Ellis is, I mean, it's a very clear.

Big Dom and Christian Ellis. That's how the Eagle season went down. Big Dom is a distraction from what really happened. It's Christian Ellis. So he on Radio Row? By the way, I wouldn't be surprised if we just saw him like. Ellis? No.

Big Dom. So, Kailin, this now outstanding job every year with prospect where she identifies someone leading up to the draft and kind of tracks them throughout the draft and you find out the identity after the draft Christian Ellis was once that player but so I was going to ask you but was that senior ball last week you were two he has another brother who's coming in and I was just going to say yes there's like seven of them yeah a lot of Ellises so what's the process now what's the process now for finding prospect X okay so the process I was at the senior bowl and I start kind of asking around at the senior bowl but it's too early because you have to wait to see who gets invited to the combine which I don't think they've even released it doesn't get invited right yeah I need no combine person. Actually, this year is going to be interesting how I'm selecting because the All-Star landscape changed. Okay. Because before my criteria was no Senior Bowl, no East West Triang game, no NFLPA, because those were

the top three games. So I was like, okay, if a guy gets invited to the Hula Bowl or College Great Iron showcase, that's fine. But now there's no NFLPA game. So the Hula Bowl became like the third game. And so I was asking, what I was really asking scouts at the Senior Bowl was like, was the Hulah Bowl, talent level, like really that of the game? the third game and they were kind of like no so I think I'm going to be okay with the hula guy

we'll see I'm going to have to see how it pans out so yeah I start asking around like right at at the combine like who's not here who almost got in because you can find out sometimes as you guys know like how many votes somebody got to go to the combine so if they're like right on the threshold of like you know 15 12 to 15 votes like they were right there and it's different per position how many votes you need to get in it's not like okay you have to get 16 it's not like that. It's like just depending on the volume of players at each position, it's different every year. But, you know, I'll ask agents. I'll ask Jeff Foster with the combine used to help me and tell me things, but he doesn't do that anymore, which is sad. But anyways, I checked their combine votes,

and then, you know, I just start pulling around. And then pro days are, you got to wait for the pro days, too, because if a guy pops off and runs fast at a pro day, then it's like, oh, great, that's my guy. So, yeah, that's my process. So we've got a couple months to go through. where I can pick one, but yeah. Here's the thing that I want to ask you about, because we poked fun the other day at Zach not getting the invite to Roger Rale's press office. You got the invite. I got the invite.

First of all, did it come in like a really nice, like wedding invitation? What if it did? You opened it up, and it's like a pigskin ribbon. And yeah, yeah, you have been invited to Grace Roger Goodell with your presence. And how did it go? No, it was a, first it was a text less than a week ahead of time. I think I was not on the original list. I think I was like on the backup or like the second list.

Yeah, so they texted me and were like. People who are coming to the wedding and then you have some seats at the table. Right. We had a couple cancellations. Right. But you did not get a plus one. No, I did not get a plus one. So they texted me and then you get the email later.

But like it was difficult because you had to like change. I had to change my plans because my flight was getting in like just before. Before. It was a Monday. Yeah. Then the actual press conference itself was interesting. Like, I think 125 journalists were invited, which, like, that's, like, a decent number. But you talked to the...

That's Trade Camp in Philly. Yeah. Like, you know, and I thought it actually was, like, more efficient than in the past, because, like, as you guys probably remember, wait, quiz. Who got the first question last year? Last year? Who got the first question last year? Donna Kelsey. Thank you.

Donna freaking Kelsey. gets the first question to the commissioner last year. And it was about how do I get you on the podcast? Come on. What are we doing? Like, that's not, you know, like. Respect the game. We've been doing that all week.

Yeah. She hustles. She hustles. But like, that's like my number one question. The point is, the NFL, she could not have asked that without the NFL knowing she was going to ask that. Oh, of course. Giving her the microphone first, choreographing. the entire side show distraction.

So this year I actually did think it was like serious business. It was like hard questions for the commissioner. He talked for almost an hour. There was only one planted question from a Play 60 kid. So actually the way that it was run, I'm like, okay, that was good. Throwing shade at the Play 60 kid. Yeah, yeah, because it's like, why, you know? I don't know.

So I thought it was actually efficient. Mom to Play 60 kids were out. But I talked to the PFWA, which is kind of like our union, but it's not a union. You know, like representing the riders. over here. Yeah, here we go. Not a very strong one. Yeah, so, you know, we're fighting for media access. It's the weakest union that there possibly is. We're fighting for media access. All it is is just getting on our knees and begging for things. Yeah. Please let us in the locker room. Thank you for letting me talk. Please. Yeah. Anyways, the president of the whole thing, he was like,

Calvin Watkins, who covers the Cowboys, he's like, anytime you have like people who are invited, people who are not, like, if you have to get an invite to ask the commissioner of question, he's like, I have a problem with that. So, you know, I put a, that in my art. I just wrote something about that and put that in there and like I think it was, I wanted to write about it because I'm like, you know, I can just see them doing this every year and just dwindles and dwindles

and dwindles and dwindles until it's on the NFL network and it's only NFL network employee is asking questions. And it's just a moderated panel with Goodell and whoever has the Super Bowl, whatever network has a Super Bowl that year. Right. So yeah, it was a very interesting experience. And you got to ask a question.

I did. This was your first question to Roger? This was my first one. I was sure. You're nervous? No. Everyone, like, I think they want you to, like, stand up to ask a question. But, like, I had my computer. No, I didn't. Don't play their game.

I was like, I was like, I'm staying seated. So I got the mic. It's too deferential to have to stand up. It's kind of how I felt. Yeah. I, like, you know, I was like, I'm not. Good for you. Yeah.

I just stayed seated. It's part of the TV program. When you stand up, the camera goes on to you. So it's like. Yeah, but don't play their game. Right. They don't need my face. You're a journalist.

My NIL. My name, image, like this like what am i getting anyway so yeah you're getting to ask them a question and then I love this part you can never get a follow up in because they immediately remove the microphone

from you but this was actually kind of funny I was saying I said to Sean Reed of the athletic and he asked he he asked the commissioner about I think it was about like the drud mayo succession plan that loophole of that you can pick your successor

in a coaching contract he was asking about that and like if that would be damaging to the Rooney rule, like, as a way that teams might be getting around that in the future. And the commissioner, like, said no, basically. And then Sean did actually get to ask follow-up because I was sitting next to him with the mic. And I just went like the team. Good teammate right there. And I was like, yeah, let's go.

So that was kind of fun. That was nice. I like that. Yeah. All right. Anything you're working on this week before we get going? I did have a story that came out yesterday that I really like how it turned out. If you want to read about the Niners, it is about Kyle Shan.

hand having cameras and listening in on his position. Which actually, you guys should look into this. I heard that Philly might also do this. I don't know. Have you ever heard that? I haven't. Well, they tape every meeting. Right.

But are they, is Siriani or possibly? To me, that doesn't sound like a Siri. No, possibly Howie, like watching live. Because most teams will tape their installs obviously because then they can refer back to them. If you're not there, you can catch you. up. If you sign a player at midseason, you can hand them, you know, email them or whatever,

their server, blah, blah, blah. So most teams do that. But the difference with the Shanahan's, and it started with Mike, they watch in real time, and they're listening in real time. So, like, if they hear something where they're like, that's wrong. It's kind of creepy. They can go in. And Kyle now, because of Zoom technology, he can just unmute himself and speak into the room.

And so the Niners quarterbacks were like, yeah, we call it the voice of God. because his voice will just appear. Wouldn't you hate that as a coach? I would hate that. The coaches that I would say 97% of the coaches that I talked to were like, we love it. It made us better coaches. It's kind of weird, but we love it. They're like, I'd rather be on the same page of him.

Exactly. I don't know. Don't run from the fire. Run to it, right? So, yeah, don't be afraid of pressure. There were contrary opinions, but I couldn't even anonymously include because of the fear of the power of the shannon. Is it only during meetings, or is it just like a nonstop 24-7 feet?

I believe it's just in meeting time. That's not so bad, actually. But in... But like, yeah, like if you're a coach, like, you know, a tough day, you want to spend 10 minutes just fucking around on your... You can mute it. Like, if you want to stop the audio from coming out of your room, you can... Now that it's on Zoom, you can mute it.

And Mike, when Mike was doing it in Denver and Washington, before Zoom technology, they had like a switch on the wall that you could turn off or on with the audio and I believe in those days like it was 24-7 video happening like unless you hit the switch and then it was like well now we can talk and we're muted essentially. I would say

whenever I'm in a building in the Eagles building I just assume that like they can hear me speak right? Especially if we're in like the press conference rooms with the hot mics everywhere. Oh yeah that's I typically go outside the bill situation this year yeah yes you know okay all right well you can read that on the

You can follow Kalin everywhere. And that'll do it for this episode of the PHL White Eagles podcast. The promised interview with a former Bowulf Camp Crush, a BWCC. We'll save that for tomorrow's episode. Very exciting to get to talk to one of my true heroes. And lots more coming on tomorrow's show. This is a predecessor of Christian Ellis, who has had a very fruitful NFL career. And what a call, what an eyeball that was for Bo Wolf back in 2019, I think.

That'll do it. Thank you to Julia for making it all happen today. Thank you to Zach. Thank you to Donovan McNabb and D'Andre Swift and Zaire Franklin and Tori Smith and Kailen Kaler for joining us on the show today. We will talk to you tomorrow as we close things out from Radio Row. Thanks to everybody for watching and listening. And as always, we love you.