PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Emergency pod: Philadelphia Eagles trade for ex-Steelers QB Kenny Pickett

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

You didn’t really think we were done, we, Dunn, did you? The Eagles made a quarterback move Friday, swapping draft picks to acquire former first-round pick and Michael Dunn acquaintance Kenny Pickett as their new No. 2 quarterback. Tanner McKee must be livid.Zach Berman and Bo Wulf get back in the saddle to discuss the move. 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.

everybody and welcome to the p hely eagles podcast bow wolf zach berman what what show is this act number 13 for the week 13 for the week i believe lucky 13 very exciting can he picket the eagles making the move and zach i got to tell you i'm excited about this one because so many of the moves this week are oh like oh they're they're overpaying sequoan berkeley for the first how we's never really done this before is this because you know killing more needs to have a past catching receiving back. How do we parse that? Oh, does Vic Fangio want Devin White and C.J. Gardner-Johnson?

Does Howie want him? Who's doing what here? This does this exactly jive with what we know of Howie Roseman? This trade is pure, unadulterated, like high-quality Howie Roseman stuff that you can, Eagles fans can just snort up all they want. This is Howie to a T sending a third round pick. and the highest of two seventh round picks in 2025 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for Kenny Pickett and a mid-fourth round pick. You look at the trade chart value.

That's about the value of between a fourth and fifth round pick, basically discounting the seventh round picks. In order to get a former first round pick who has a team-friendly contract as a backup quarterback over the next two seasons, who has snapped, who has taken snaps from Michael Dunn in the past and who loves himself a chicken vodka wrap. I would say of all the winners and losers of this trade, Tanner McKee may be the biggest loser, the biggest winner by a mile. Zach Berman, who has done the work on Kenny Pickett.

Well, we'll see what happens with Eagles this year. Or over the next two years, I should say, if Giann stays healthy, if how can he pick it does there. You're right, this is a very howie-ish move. And to go down now, I think they'll try to tell you, it's a third-round comp pick, right? It's the end of the third round pick, okay?

And they go down 22 spots from the third round to the middle of the fourth, and the end of the third to the middle of the fourth, and they give two seventh-round picks next year, like you said. And so the seventh-round picks, I'm not saying they're nothing, really the material move here is going from the late third to the middle of the fourth. And I had been saying that however we want to say stacking the deck for against, I had been saying that they should give Tanner McKee an opportunity to be the QB2. And I said that because the price of a backup quarterback,

like what you pay Marcus Mariotto, what you would have paid Joe Flacco, what you would pay Jukobarcett, right? I said it wasn't, it didn't make sense to bring in some. someone at that price, given Jalen Hertz is in the second year of his deal. Or I'm sorry, the second contract. It's a little different from my perspective. And I imagine from their perspective, when you trade for someone on a rookie deal, similar to what they did with Garner-Minshu, although the salary was even less with

with Garner and Munchu. And it was a different situation with Jalen Hurts still on a rookie deal. But you're getting two years of Kenny Pickett at $2 million this year and about what, a two and change next year, which, again, the key here is also your evaluation of Kenny Pickett, if you think he's any good. If you think Kenny Pickett is like a solid backup quarterback in this league, that's, I'm fine giving, I'm fine going from late third to middle of the fourth, getting a 26-year-old low-priced, some optionality.

If he plays decently in the preseason, if he has to do a spot start next year, maybe you can trade him to a team next year who wants him to compete. More realistically, you're getting an in-eastern. expensive backup quarterback here. So I like the deal based on that. I have no grand illusions of like Kenny Pickett being anything more than maybe at best, a high level backup, low level starter. And I'm totally fine with that.

So when the deal came out, I said, this makes sense. I don't mind the draft pick spread. And yeah, it is very howlyish, but it's worth doing. And then we'll get to it. I don't want to make this a monologue. We'll get to it.

But there's also reports coming out of Pittsburgh now, Jerry Doolock, basically saying that he wasn't happy in Pittsburgh, right? And so you have to factor in that component of it. But from a football perspective, from a cap perspective, from a draft pick comp perspective, it makes sense to me. Yeah, we will get to the reports of Kenny Pickett being a big time diva in a little bit. But I love the negotiation of the trade here because like coming to agreement on what the proper value is. The Steelers have also 119. They have the pick right before 120 in the fourth round.

And so like, oh, well, we're not going to give you, can't give you 119. Meanwhile, you're insisting on the highest of the two seventh round picks in 2025. Like, they really must have had the Eagles over a barrel. Yeah, they're afraid that the Eagles are going to, you know, get like, you know, they're going to trade for back of the seventh round picks next year. And, you know, they're going to load up like four seventh round picks. And so they're insisting that they get the two highest seventh round picks. Very funny. Yeah, I think setting aside the evaluation of the player for a minute,

the acquisition of a cost-controlled, solid backup quarterback is worth that value, no doubt about it. It's a real pit. Like, as you said, that's a third-round pick, and they have needs. Now you wonder if they think they have a Hassan. Reddick trade lined up. Exactly. Then that changes the calculation.

You're more willing to move off of that pick. I do think from the telling us what you actually think perspective, obviously this means that they do not think Tanner McKee is ready to take on the mantle of being a number two quarterback as good as he looked in the preseason for whatever reason. They're not ready to commit to him there. And yes, listen to Jalen Hertz and hit that like button if you're watching on YouTube. So that's something that we've learned. As you said, you know, they did.

work on Kenny Pickett in that draft. Howie was at that game, you know, we got the infamous showdown or meetup at the Senior Bowl when I walked over to Kenny Pickett and he never seen me before and he was being shepherded out by his handlers and I said, Kenny, Kenny, Kenny, Kenny, Kenny, he got his attention and looked to me and I go, Michael Dunn says hello. That's all I had. It's true, Michael Dunn did say hello.

It did. Yes. So obviously I look forward to talking to him about that. But yeah, I mean, in terms of the value and what the Eagles think about this position, I would imagine they think it's nice that they have this position in theory locked up for two years. And if things go poorly for somebody else, but Kenny Pickett gets a chance to play and impresses, they feel good about their ability to rebuild the value of this asset and probably be able to flip it for something else

if that opportunity comes along. Yeah, let me ask you, what do you think of the player? I would say this. I mean, the player so far has not been great as a starting quarterback with two years of experience. You look at just the boilerplate numbers, EPA per dropback. He is, let's see, 31st of,

37 qualifying quarterbacks, 32nd rather. You know, the thing is that the thing you always hear doesn't throw touchdown passes, right? It now doesn't make a ton of mistakes, but it doesn't really bring much to the table. It doesn't throw the ball super far down field. But I would say that I am more willing to believe that he was a victim of circumstance to some degree by being in a poorly coordinated offense than Devin White was, right? Like, you know, Devin White got to play for Todd Bowles. It's hard to believe you're going to unlock something different,

whereas you can convince me that Kenny Pickett in a different surrounding can be much better than he was. I think that's totally reasonable. And I don't like totally dislike the player as you're thinking of him as a backup quarterback. Yeah, I think he could be one of the 10 best backup quarterbacks in the league, realistically. I think that's totally reasonable. Yeah. And if that's the case, this is a terrific trade.

Right. I think even if he's like a solid backup. Now, we've discussed in the past that, you know, wins and losses. It's not a quarterback stat per se. I think the Kenny Pickett defenders would tell you that in 24 starts, he's 14 and 10. Now, he did lose his job last year. He has as many touchdowns as he has interceptions. He's got, he can move a bit, right? And he had a lot of success at Pitt.

He was an older prospect coming out. Again, I never thought when the Steelers had him that like the upside was there for him to be a franchise quarterback. But I think he makes a lot of sense as a backup quarterback. And again, like what you want in that role, it's like a pipe dream to think like Nick full, someone who steps in and wins a Super Bowl for you. What you want is someone who, if J.1N. Hertz is out for three games, he can come in and go two and one, and he doesn't lose you the games, right? That you can function as an offense.

He can get the ball. He has better weapons. He has better coaching, presumably. I mean, we'll see with Kellemmorrow, though. It's hard to be worse than what Matt Canada was last year with the Steelers. So there's, in theory, up stuff. Matt, Siberia. Yeah.

So, like, I, yeah, I think as from a backup quarterback perspective, now, now the one thing I will say is I did like, I like Tanner McKee last year. And you spotted that, you spotted that right away. And so I thought that if you're going to bring in someone to compete with McKee, make it like a really cheap veteran on the minimum who McKee can beat out. Now, in theory, McKee can beat out, Kenny Pickett, right? If you're giving up what is the value of what, like a fifth round pick in trading in trading back from the third to the fourth, then from that perspective, you're expecting Kenny Pick at the big QB2. And look, he was a first round pick who started, like I said, 24 games in the league. So if you want starting experience at QB2, you get it. And you get in the package of a 26 year old who's cheap, who could theory have option to flip.

in a year. And if I can make the obvious joke, I would say the biggest concern about Kenny Pickett as a backup quarterback is, will his hands be big enough to hold the clipboard? Yeah, the hands think gets a lot of attention, right? Like, he's played a lot of football in this league. He's playing cold weather. He played a pig. He played at Ocean Township High School. He's played in some weather in his life, right? So that doesn't mean Has he played well in that weather? So what he played? Look at that rainy night against North Carolina.

Okay. What do you like? Wait, by the way, not just because that game was Pitt versus Carolina, but because these two guys have been traded this all season. Who do you like more? Can he pick it or Sam Howe? I mean, I would rather have Sam Howell as a backup because he's cheaper. You've got two years. That's why he got a little bit more, I think.

but it's a flip of a coin for me. I don't have a super show. I mean, the level of play I saw from Sam Howell in that one game was very impressive. Who do you like more? Kenny Pickett or Mac Jones? Kenny Pickett. What do you like more? Kenny Pickett or Zach Wilson?

Kenny Pickett. I mean, I like. And then. I like Zach Berman more than Zach Wilson. I mean, I guess we can do the same exercise for Justin Fields. I think Justin Fields is, I mean, we'll see what happens with Justin Fields. But who do you like more?

Can you pick it or Justin Fields? Justin Fields. Me too. Okay. Yeah. So look, Pickett gives you, I think if picket can be Minchew, right? Which is, I think like a decent comparison. That's, I think you would take that, right?

Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Now tell us about the, like the reporting out of Pittsburgh. And it's, you got to take it all with a, with a, you know, a truck of salt because a month ago, the same people would have been, we're saying, well, you know, the Steelers are very, very committed to giving Kenny Pickett a third season.

Like he, and over the years, like what a, what a leader of this guy is, this, this young leader of men. And now all of a sudden it's, well, they traded to, they traded for, or they signed Russell Wilson. And he didn't take that well. And he wouldn't dress to be the backup court, the emergency third quarterback. And end of the season, fill us in here. Yeah. So Jerry Doolak, a veteran reporter from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, this is what he said.

The Stewards made this move because of the way Pickett was poorly handling the arrival of Russell Wilson, according to sources. That came on the heels of Pickett's behavior last season when he refused to dress as the emergency third quarterback in Seattle in week 17. So a little background here. Kenny Pickett stepped in for Mitch Trubisky two years ago. Mr. Biscuit. The Steelers won seven and five. in those games, the Steelers kind of rebounded to finish with a 500 record or a winning record that year,

whatever it was. They had momentum late in the year. He's never played in a 16 game season. So, so, oh, sure. Okay, fair enough. So a winning record. Thank you. You're right.

So they had a winning record. And Kenny Pickett had some momentum going into this offseason. He was like the Steelers guy. Kenny Pickett, they win some games with him, right? They were 7 and 5, like I said. Wasn't playing particularly well. And he gets hurt. And Mason Rudolph steps in and plays.

Now, he was juggled in and out of the lineup, if I'm correct, Pickett. But then Mason Rudolph steps in. They start winning some, you know, they play decently with Mason Rudolph. Pickett doesn't get that job back. Okay. And Mason Rudolph leaves this offseason. and the Steelers bring in Russell Wilson. And so Pickett, I haven't spoken to Kenny Pickett.

I don't know his side of the story. I look forward to having the chance to speak to him. We'll see what he says. But presumably, you know, he was hoping for more of a chance to start in Pittsburgh. It's very clear coming here to Philly. He's not coming here with any chance to start. He is, I think he's coming here competing to be the number two. I expect him to be the number two, but there's more of a competition there than there is.

obviously at QB1, but he has to know that coming in, and he's the chance to kind of reset his value. I didn't think he was going to start in Pittsburgh this year anyway. Are you put off by those reports? Your boy, Jordan Fuller, is going on with the Panthers. Okay. All right, good job, Dan Morgan. Delco Prout.

He also signed Calavion-Chason today, loading up on some of the guys I liked. Like them coming out of LSU? No cell there. Can he pick it? Yeah. Look, it's not the type of report that you would want to see. But I would also say you have to consider the circumstances, right? He probably felt that was his team.

Yeah, I'm sure that there are two sides to this one. Sure. Let's say they told him in his exit meeting, you're going to have a chance to compete or you're going to be the guy and then they go out and get someone who that's not going to be the case with. You could feel some kind of way about that. Yeah. I mean, something strikes me that like, like Russell Wilson's not the kind of guy who comes in and expects to be your, you know, your backup and compete with you. Russell Wilson comes in and wants to be. Yeah, I feel like they're refusing to dress as the emergency quarterback is more of a red flag than the other one. True, true, true, true. I don't even know why. I would rather be in uniform at that point, right? Yeah, I guess so. Maybe it was really cold and he wanted to be bundled up. He's like, why am I in uniform? Not even going to play. So. All right, let's give. Before we close out on Kenny Pickett, tell us a little bit about your sojourn, your pilgrimage to the land of Kenny Pickett.

Yeah. So, look, I like local stories. When when Bo and I were at the Athletic, I was always trying to find some, you know, during the offseason in particular, some stories that kind of went beyond the Eagles beat. And you're hoping to get like, you know, some shine with the higher-ups or different audiences, right? Oh, this guy is not just Eagles. He could write about anything. Exactly. That's kind of, you know, you're trying to like flex a little ambition. So I'm like, I'm like, all right.

All right. All right. Guilty as charge, right? Facts are facts. Facts or facts. Yeah. So anyways. That's nothing to anything against you. That's just, I'm saying, was it, was it noticed? So I took the three hour drive. I took three or not the three hour drive. It's really a two hour drive to Ocean Township. the Lennhurst, New Jersey, went to his high school, had a great time meeting with his high school coach.

And, you know, me, I want to find the flavor of the town quite literally. And so I always say, where does he like to eat? Where does he like to eat? I'm told, go to Giannis. Where does he sit when he's here? Who was his? Go to Giannis.

Go to Giannis. And so I go to Giannis. And what does he get to? I talk to them all. Kenny was here with his offensive line. in a few weeks ago, and, and this is, this is where he used to come and get the whole thing. And so I have, I have, um, the chicken vodka wrap, which is what he ate. And let me tell you, that was a legit chicken vodka wrap.

That, that thing was as good as it sounds. I, I love a vodka sauce and the way, you know, with the chicken and the rap, who's, it was all good combination. It was all good combination. You should be a food writer. I mean, to describe the chicken vodka wrap with, well, you got the vodka sauce and the chicken and the wrap. So. You don't say.

Yeah. So, all right. So then, then this is kind of funny. What a way with words. I was, I asked like, like, where does he, you know, like, where he hang out and that kind of thing? And I was told, oh, the casino on the beach. And I'm like, who. Now we're speaking my language here.

So I go, the casino on the beach, it's not an actual casino. It's like a beach club that's called like the deal casino. I don't know if we have Ocean Township or Linshurst guys on who are watching live. But it's not an actual casino. It's just like a beach club that's called a casino. So it's like you hang out at the beach. Well, not furious, but like it was a bit of a letdown. I thought, all right, I have the chicken vodka wrap, and now I'm going to the casino.

I get to see what the casinos. What a day for me. Yeah, yeah. But there was, by the way. You're still angry at Devante Parker. What's it? All these years later, you're still in just a little bit of a bad mood because you didn't get to play blackjack on the beach. And there was a, there was a really good ice cream spot too.

Then I stopped that. Now we're talking. Yeah. but everyone in Lynnhurst was so nice. The Ocean Township people were nice. I had, oh, and I spoke, by the way. I remember that story. I spoke to people from Oakhurst or Lindhurst from that area.

But he won the Phil Filipino Football Award when he was there, which is a prestigious honor for anyone who plays football at Ocean Township High School. And yeah, so Phil Villapino. I spoke to Ryan Moran, who was a high school teammate of Pickett's, now goes to or was at Monmouth University and won the Filipino Award before Pickett. Don Klein is his coach there. They're all very nice. So anyways, it was a nice trip up there.

And I imagine when I go up to Kenny in the locker room or before that, and I mention a chicken vodka rep from Giannis. I hope he reacts the same way Fletcher Cox does when I mentioned the seafood at P. Rouse in Gassu City. Maybe not the way Clark or Carson Wentz responded when I brought up some of the places that I ate there. Malcolm Jenkins. To a need a restraining order. Nick Siriani, by the way, I mean, I ate some great places in Nick Siriani's hometown that I still talked about. Flex.

Flex. So I always Yeah, Claire does ask the important question Would you call Ocean Township a good food city? I deserve that one, Claire. I had good food when I was there. It's not really a city. Wow.

Burying Ocean Township. But no, I would say you can get a good slice and a good chicken vodka wrap at Gianni's. Highly recommend it. Nice people there. And ice cream. And ice cream. Not at Giannis.

I forget the name of the ice cream shop. It's right by Gianni's. But that's one of those situations where Emily's not now watching right now. I'm out for the, you know, I'm out for a few hours at night. I'm doing some work. I can reward myself with a nice ice cream, right? So that's not getting that at home. So I might as well enjoy, you know, enjoy the ice cream when I'm there.

Wow. Just be forewarned if you're going to make the trip. That's not a casino. That is not a casino. The Dio Casino is not a casino. Okay. And he was an Eagles fan. Yeah, Big Eagles fan growing up.

Big Eagles fan growing up used to go to the games. I think his family were seasoned ticket holders. There you go. Yeah. You know, Intrepid reporter wants to know what kind of ice cream flavor you got. Great question, Josh. I forget. What's the top three Zeebee ice cream flavors?

Well, I mean, I always like, You know, I like to see what like the house specialty is when I go somewhere, right? Obviously. There's a place that makes a certain type of ice cream. But no, if I had, I look, you can't go wrong with cookies and cream. Okay. I like, I'm not a candy guy, but like a toffee. I like like an English toffee in there.

And then I would say, you know, you find somewhere the cookie monster ice cream, which is like, it's like a blue ice cream. cream that has like chocolate chip cookies and Oreo cookies and all these different things. Yeah. Wow. Who's saying violation? Not too different from a cookies and cream, really. Cooks and cream.

Yeah. Look, I like anything that has cookies in it. So you combine that. You combine that. Yeah, that's people say vanilla and chocolate swirl. Van Goghacket Swirl is not ice cream. That's like the soft serve. You're not getting a swirl of vanilla chocolate swirl for ice cream, right?

Toffee's a violation. How's Toffee a violation? Now this time, Zach's actually going to get offended. Yeah, like a Heathbar, like a heat bar crunch ice cream? That's, that's, that's legit. So you're going for, I mean, you want, all three of your choices there, you want some kind of crunch, some kind of cookie in there. Well, yeah, because if I'm going to an ice cream shop,

I want like something that's, I mean, I can get very hungry for ice cream. I can get plain vanilla. I can just go to the grocery store. and get like a good vanilla and eat it like that. If I'm eating out at an ice cream shop, I don't want that. And actually my son is best, my best friend, Reed. But whenever I take him for ice cream, he just wants vanilla. And I'm like, I'm like, Reed, we're at an ice cream shop.

I can get you vanilla at the grocery store. Let's let's get something like, you know, let's let's. And he says, all right, I'll have, you know, sprinkles on it. It's not quite the same, but okay. I mean, you got to get those sprinkles for sure. a vanilla ice cream with the rainbow sprinkles. I do. I mean, I like an ice cream truck soft served like, like anybody. Yeah. Well, you know what I like? When I used to go to the games growing up,

I would get the chocolate dipped, which can get a dairy queen. You know, I never love the dipped. Not against it, but I just prefer the sprinkles. No, I like the dip, the hard shell. It's something about the consistency of the soft ice cream and the hard shell. It's a way to go. I did remember being fascinated as a kid once or twice getting like the magic shell. Oh, yeah. You see it. Yeah. You pour it on and then it gets hard. What a science experiment.

Yeah. I do like the ice cream talk, but while I have your attention, can I just ask you about the Josh Sweat News that came out? The Eagles restructured. Yeah. Do you think I wasn't going to get to that? Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I thought we were kind of having fun with the ice cream and then we were going to wrap it up. I just wanted to get that in. What do you make it at Josh Sweat News, Zek? And what is the news for anybody who hasn't seen it? Yeah. So the Eagles restructuring Josh Wets contract, basically guaranteeing this year. So keeping them here in 2024. If we thought that sweat was going to, I didn't think sweat was going to be released.

Maybe that was kind of put out there as like, you know, there's a chance you can get cut. And there's not, you know, the guaranteed money on your deal. So let's, you know, if you agree to a restructured deal, you get that money guaranteed. I thought there was a better chance at him being traded. but this essentially keeps sweat in Philadelphia, and I imagine what this does is it means you're going to trade Hassan Reddick. Like I said the other day, I don't see a scenario or Hassan Reddick, Josh Swett, and Bryce Huff were all going to be here,

but I also didn't expect them to move on from both Reddick and sweat. So I think what I would imagine, Howie has some sense of what he's going to do with Reddick. If not, he'll have to play this out. But for Eagles purposes, you can expect sweat, Huff, Graham Smith to be your end and bond to be your edge rushers at this point. And we'll see what they do in the track. So you think this means it's done that Hassan Reddick is going to be traded?

I'm assuming so. Now, it might not be tomorrow, but yeah. I mean, do you disagree? Do you think there's a chance to let or do you think it's a chance Reddick comes back with sweat and huff? I mean, I would still expect that he's going to be moved, but I think there's a better chance now that I did three days ago. if they can't find the market they've got them all under the cap now right yeah like it's not like they need to move them to get under um it's also something you can wait for sure this could be uh

you know even the season or first couple weeks you know that's a position that is translatable doesn't need to be in the scheme necessarily like just go get the quarterback so that's possible I mean, it's probably too many snaps to go around if you were to keep them all unless you really think Nolan Smith doesn't have it and you're not ready to trust him. But yeah, I mean, I would guess I would put more turkeys on him being moved than not.

Yeah, that's my expectation right. What do you make of like sweat having to take a pay cut? Yeah, that's so I've seen it interpreted that way. the way that it is? Yeah, I mean, let me see what it. I'm sorry, how else would you interpret it? Is that our, so, so what was he making before then this year? What was he slated to make?

Let me see. I mean, what do I make of it? I make like. I mean, he's taking a pickup. Yeah. So if I, so if I had to interpret that, I would say that he had a chance to see what the market is. He wasn't going to get the money that he wanted. He's coming off, you know, it was a slow end to the year.

Yeah, 16, people are saying. Yeah. So he probably wasn't getting the long-term money that he wanted. This ensures him that he's on the team this year that he's not going to get cut. So he gets that salary and he'll be able to hit free agency next year. So it was due 16, new contract is up to 13. Okay. Yeah, I mean that.

Yeah. Yeah, that, yeah, that surprises me some. I mean, clearly, I valued Josh Sweat more than the league did. And because I can't imagine, look, if it's like Keenan Allen wasn't going to take a pay cut, right? Eric Armstead wasn't going to take a pay cut. Art Armstead was like, I'll go get paid on the open market cut me and I'll go get paid, right? clearly Josh Sweat felt it was important that that he's here under contract.

Right. He would not have gotten that. I mean, I am surprised that if he would cut, he doesn't think he would have gotten 13 or 14. Yeah, me too. Me too. Yeah, I think I think if we're playing the keeping score game,

I think this means I can, we'll see what Hassan Redick ends up getting traded for, but I think I can take a win on he had more trade value than Josh Sweat. I mean, yeah, we won't find out, but you're probably right because, you know, the Eagles made the decision to go with Sweat. So look here, I see in the over the cap, I don't know if they've adjusted this yet, but he was due a base salary of 1-1 pro rated signing bonus. He had the other, the roster bonus.

So he gets more guaranteed. money. Yeah. Again, I would need to look at at this to figure it out specifically. Okay. Last thing. Yeah, so his cash due, his cash due in, in 2024 was, was $16 million.

Okay. Again, I don't know what the, what the cash, I mean, we know what the restructured deal is. We, so, I always saying, I need to learn more. We were actually at the facility today when C.J. Garner Johnson and others were introduced. when this came out. So I'm going to find out more. And then last thing, what did you learn from the people we heard from today at the

Obcare Complex? Yeah, C.J. Gardner Johnson is as confident as ever. He said, but he said, look, he had to kind of get out of his feelings, put his feelings aside. And that was a big part of coming to Philly. He said that the comments that he made kind of joked. He thought that was a compliment saying that Eagles fans were obnoxious. The Philly fans are obnoxious because he's obnoxious. He was saying that he still views himself as one of the top young safety is in the game.

So he don't want to say what his role is, but you kind of intimate from that that he's expecting to be the top safety on this team and not necessarily kind of like this hybrid player who's kind of pushed aside from like a Justin Simmons type. Yeah, I thought that was the most notable thing. Yeah. For sure. It was a good question about you. Talking about how much he's been trying to get to know himself over the past. I mean, I like hearing from CJ Gardner Johnson.

He has a magnetism about him, no doubt. Yeah. He's keeping the lights on in the building, right? And then he's going to wear number eight this year. A good question from you. He's tapping into his mamba mentality. He chose Kobe over Jordan because he worked 23 before. There you go.

Yeah. Man, Kenny Pickett must be like, if he made this trade two days earlier, I could have got number eight, right? Maybe. Maybe. But that's only because he's a diva. He thinks he can get whatever he wants. So from Matt Hennessy, I interpreted that, yeah, he's here to be a versatile lineman.

It's not necessarily, he has more experience at Center, which we already knew, but thinks he can play guard, has background with Jeff Stoutland. Happened to be in Philly. And then by the way, when Matt Hennessy walked up today, when he was walking up that aisle, I mean, the exact same. beard and haircut as Sue Opetta. He looked just like from a distance. And we have the news now that Sue Opetta has signed with the Tampa Bay Bucks, a championship caliber organization recognizing a championship caliber player when they see one. Yeah.

Sorry, that was my son knocking on the door. Haven't seen him yet. And then a... He looked just like him. And then from Jake Elliott, he wants to finish his career here in Philly. He appreciates the confidence that the Eagles showed that he's really... kind of found a good routine here during the past two years, gave a lot of credit to the coaching staff in particular Brown. So, yeah, so I would say that that's, that's my big take. I would say

Tyler Brown was, you know, it's kind of like the kicking specialist and has really kind of helped Jake Elliott there. So those are a few things that jumped out from Jake. Okay. All right. What a day. What a week. Kenny Pickett. Classic, Howie, we love it. Very exciting. What's your, over the next two seasons, how many games does Kenny Pickett start for the Eagles? Three. A good line. That's about what I would put it out too. Well, maybe Tanner McKee will now march up to Howie's office and demand a trade as well.

say this. I was told I was going to have a chance to compete for number two. This is BS. I was both camp crush. I was post camp crush. So five years from now at the Super Bowl. And then picket muscles in. Yeah, but Jack wrote about my favorite meal.

Five years from now with the Super Bowl, you will interview. Can you pick, or I'm sorry, Tanner McKee about being the camp crush. That's right. There you go. Because he will be at the Super Bowl leading a team ready to go. Maybe so. Maybe so. All right.

that'll do it for this episode of the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast. Thanks to everybody for tuning in all week. Thanks to Howie for doing stuff for us to talk about. Thanks to Julia for fighting through it like the Michael Jordan flu game. And, you know, I would say we'll talk to you at Monday at noon, but odds are we may talk to you sooner. So we'll see what happens for all of us here at PHOI. Thanks for listening. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. Hit like all that good. stuff. And as always, Michael Dunn says hello.