PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni speak at the NFL Scouting Combine: What did we learn?

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Fresh off hearing from the Philadelphia Eagles’ general manager and head coach, what do we now know about the team’s plans for filling holes at linebacker, safety and cornerback? Do they have a sense of whether Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox want to continue playing? What do they need to get the offense back to a top-five level?Live from Indianapolis, Zach Berman and Bo Wulf recap a newsy day for the Eagles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

to the P-H-L-Y Eagles podcast live at the NFL combined. Bo-Wolf, Zach Berman here. We just heard from Nick Siriani and Howie Roseman. We're going to talk about all the things we learned. This is a fun one because Zach and I haven't even discussed. We haven't even unpacked it off air. We just, we left the press conferences, some of the little gaggles that happened afterwards, went to our respective hotel rooms, logged on.

We're ready to talk, but we don't know what he tried. other thinks about what we just heard from Howard Roseman and Nick Siriani. Zach, how are you? Doing well. He took the words out of my mouth that I was, I was going to say, what's interesting about this show is it's the first show other than the postgame shows when we haven't conversed before. So we don't, I don't know what's on your mind. You don't know what's on my mind. We're, I hope it's not disorganized, but it's really going to be just like spilling our immediate thoughts. I haven't even had time to process what was said. And usually I like to think before I said. So this is, this could be more akin to a postgame show than anything else. The other thing I want to

point out, and longtime viewers of the show will appreciate this, is that when I came on, the first thing I was in. Actually, when I checked in the hotel last night, the first thing I thought about is what's the backdrop going to be for the Tuesday show? And when I got here, I was focused on the backdrop and Julia our our ace head of production at the company she said to me she said Zach it's a nice backdrop but the lighting is not good so can you so as but so I said I was focusing on this backdrop and she said to me she said what you should focus on is is the lighting but you can spin the laptop at the beginning of the show to show what the backdrop would have been so for all the so for the viewers here I was going to give a little yes what a backdrop and

And now you have... Nothing could possibly compare to that skyline. Well, I was trying to give this picturesque view of... This isn't quite Market Square, but this is downtown Indianapolis. And instead you get the... The more important view has already been commented on by the commenters. We got a super chat from real time who says, Zach Berman with the Travis Kelsey Cut, sexy.

I don't think it's the Travis. Kelsey cut. I think it's just a you think Travis calls with the Zach Berman cut. No, no, no. Actually, this was a big controversy during the Super Bowl week, if you recall, that I think the New York Times had a story about Travis Kelsey's haircuping a trend. And like it had been it's been a popular cut in like, you know, different communities for years. Right. And so Travis Kelsey can't necessarily claim credit for it. Okay. Well, there you go. All right, Zach. We will get into everything. And I think there are some things that sort of change the way I feel about the offseason head. Most of it, I think, is either a sell job or what we would have expected. There is one thing in particular that is actually kind of a bit of a red flag in my mind that we heard.

But I want to know the number one takeaway you have and that I have because I imagine they're different. There's one thing that to me was one of the funniest things that I've heard said in one of these situations. So number one takeaway for here, I'm going to cheat. I'm going to give you two. I'm going to give you one for like the off season and one for like what's happened during these past few weeks. What's the answer? What's the answer that you will remember five years from now? The answer I'll remember five.

Well, I'll remember all the answer for five years from now. Okay. But the answer that I will remember most. Well, here, I'm going to give you a quick Nick. My big takeaway from Nick and my big takeaway from Halley. My big takeaway from Nick is that he doesn't view the offense as the problem. That, like, that this is an offense that a year ago was, like, setting records in Philadelphia, that they didn't need to turn over their offensive staff because this is the Philadelphia Eagles offense.

So they're going to put together, they're going to put together their concepts with Kellan Moore's concept. and like the defense, Vic Fangio needed his guys on defense. But offense, this is the Philadelphia Eagles offense. And there's a little bit of a defensiveness about like suggestions about the offense, you know, about Jalen Hertz or the offense. This is, I think he was trying to reinforce that this is an offense that was setting records. And this is an offense that was a big deal in Philly. Right. So that was my big Nick Seriani takeaway.

Okay, let's get into this, actually. Let's save Howie because. Is that something you agree with? Yes, and I'm going to save this silly thing that really made my ears perk up and that I will remember. We'll get to that. That's a little bit of a tease, as Zach likes to say. I absolutely got the sense from several answers that like Nick Siriani doesn't really think he did much wrong and isn't really prepared to change what he does. I mean, some of the messaging is exactly the same.

And I know there was a comment in here before, like, I'm getting tired about hearing about the core values. Well, like, guess what? Those aren't going away. And it like doubling down on what we know to be true. And the one thing we learned today is that apparently there are two of the five core values that are a little bit more important. For a while, it was they are all equally important. And the order doesn't matter. But now it's actually connect and accountability are the two that stand above the rest over the other.

And compete just got a high billing because it begins with the C. So, exactly. Accountability starts with an A, but. No, but connect the competes sound good together. That's what he said. And by the way, and by the way, if you were to like unpack what happened at the end of the season, arguably accountability and connection were two of the things like that they failed at more than the others. All of that said, the way that he talks about the offense, you know, one year removed from the best offense in Eagles history, the way he talks about age. J. Brown. I do not get the sense that he had some, you know, got some time away, had some

come to Jesus moment about like there are a lot of things that we need to change about the offense. If you were expecting like a, and probably it would have been naive to expect this, but if you were expecting a different Nick Siriani like a, with a different plan of attack on how to coach the football team, I think you're going to be disappointed. Yeah, I think that his takeaway is that the defense sucked, right? I think that's, I think that's how he viewed how the season went. And look, we're bringing in Vic Fangio. This guy has so much experience.

Vic Fangio has his guys on defense. They're going to make some personnel changes on defense, and that ties into what Howie said. And obviously, I disagree with that. Like, of course, the defense sucked. But for the offense to finish 10th, with that. with the health that they got and a talent that they have was an absolute failure. And like to puff your chest out about like,

well, we were really good in some categories. Like, I'm sorry, that is not good enough. And the path for this team forward is to be a top three, top five offense. And they absolutely underperformed last year.

Yeah, I think that they would agree with that that they underperform. But I think they view it like, well, the players who are there when they, set all these records are still in place, that the coaches who help build that offense are mostly still in place. Shane Steichen, Brian Johnson, and then Alex Tandy aren't here.

But other than that, like Jeff Stoughtlin and Kevin Petulow. You hear Kevin Patul's name a lot. Kevin Patuo is a big part of this operation, right? And I think that they basically want Kellan Moore to take what they had and add a little flavor to it. But I don't think this is good. And I said this on the show and I still stand by it. you don't hire cullen more not to run kellemore's offense but i will admit that my antenna's up about a 2020 situation where it was it was like they brought in skangeroa to bring in these different

ideas and then they got to a point where dog is like wait no i want a super bowl with my ideas you know we don't need your ideas and i i actually don't know if doug said that but i think that was kind of the i think there was a a that 2020 season And it was like there's what they wanted to do, what they knew they could do, and those two things couldn't butt heads or those two things couldn't mesh. And I think they're really hoping for a meshing here of what they did the first two years. Well, in particular, what they did in 2022. And then what Kellan Moore is bringing in. So here's the actual thing.

All of that stuff is like that's just Nick, right? He's not going to necessarily change who he is. And all of what we're talking about today is like parsing answers from a press conference when people are just speaking extemporaneously. It doesn't necessarily mean a ton. But the one thing to me that was an actual red flag as they move forward and build out this roster moving ahead is Howie Roseman. I asked him the question about like you've had the luxury of not. needing your rookies to play a ton over the past couple years because of the strength of the roster has that affected your ability to like self-scout guys to really have the the information and he said like

as as we move forward we are going to we like we have talked about this coach and I have talked about this like we're going to have to play the young guys and there are going to be some times when it's a little bit uncomfortable just looking at the depth chart because the guy hasn't proven it but like in service of what is best for the team, we're going to have to play the young guys. And this is the conversation that we have been having over the past month or so. Like at some point, those reps matter more. Like it is, it would have been better for the December Eagles if Sydney Brown got starters reps in September, as opposed to having to wait so long.

Which we spoke about in September. Which we spoke about. Yeah, of course. That was not a big surprise. Yeah. But that's a real thing. Like they need to, at some point, they need to let the young. guys play. And then Nick was asked about that. And he gave the exact same answer that he gave

last year and the year before. Like the age doesn't matter. I'm going to play whoever gives us the best chance to win that week. And that is the coaches, like that is always going to be the coach's bias, is who is the most dependable, who is the most reliable. And that's how you get Justin Evans starting four games. And Justin Evans was fine. He wasn't. you know, they won those games, right? But it was the way that Howie talked about it, as if this was a conversation they've had, they have had like this agreement on,

at some point we've got to turn the roster over. And Nick was like, he just wasn't a part of that conversation or he doesn't agree with that. That to me was like, oh, maybe there is a bit of a disconnect here at this thing that is going to be very important as they flip this roster forward.

Well, I agree with you. but interestingly, you know, between the two of us, you usually accuse me or the audience accuses me of kind of defending Howie in this. And maybe I'll push back on Howie. I agree with the premise of what you're saying. They do need to play young guys. But the easiest thing for a GM to do in like defending his record, if you will, like passively defending his record is, well, the coach didn't play my guys. He's like, you know, these picks, right? You know, I mean, perhaps the coaches didn't play them

because the guys weren't ready to play, right? And this goes into what you were saying about, whether it's Nolan Smith or Sidney Brown. I agree. You do have to play these players. And we shouted out Tommy Lawler over this offseason when he spoke about the Chiefs defense. And like they played these guys. They took their lumps.

And then, you know, when it came to money time, these guys were ready. That said, maybe those guys were. better players. And that's, that's, that's, that's what you have to determine. So, uh, yeah, I, I agree with Howie in, in this is that, of course, Sydney Brown should be playing over Justin Evans. We were saying that last year. And Nolan Smith should be getting reps, right? You need to know who these guys are. That was one that specifically mentioned, yes. Yeah. And that like, Tyler Steen should be playing over Sue Opeta, right? Like, like, these are all things that we've

discussed, uh, numbers of times, a number of times, rather. Uh, but, I want to emphasize this is that it's very easy for Howie to say, that's a good point. Like my guys, you know, or my draftics just haven't had the opportunity, right? Like the jury's still out on a Kobe Dean, right? Or the jury's still out on Nolan Smith. The jury's still at, you know, you go on down the list. But. I think that's a good point.

At some point, you can't keep playing these patchwork players on one-year deals. if you have high draft picks, you've got to play high draft picks. Or even if you have mid-round, you draft the guy in the first three rounds to be a starter or contributing player for you. And you need to throw them in the water to see what they can do. And I do believe they're going to do that this year. And I don't think, I think between those two conversations, I think Howie's going to win that one. Because probably so, but it's one to bookmark for week one and week two. Yeah.

Well, because I also think how he could, how we could force the issue in that how he could say, like, I'm not giving you your Justin Evans is this year, right? You know, how he always likes to have insurance, but it could be like they did a linebacker last year. He's not going to submarine his own roster. I mean, you need, you. No, I agree with that. But you look at linebacker last year. Like they deliberately did not, did not. signed someone over Nkobo Bedeen.

They were like, Nicopi Dine's going to play. Now, Nicopa Dene, and he ended up getting hurt, and then the depth was an issue. But pick, you know,

if Jason Kelsey retires, okay, they could very well say, like, this is your center and this is your right guard, right? We drafted these guys, second round and third round.

Like, these guys are going to play. They, they could very well say at, I mean, safety, it's a different story, because if Sidney Brown,

was coming back healthy, then I think you could say Sidney Brown's going to start, but Cindy Brown might not, you know, he might not be healthy. But they might very well do that at cornerback with Kiela Ringo. They might say, I'm not giving you, I'm not giving you someone better than Keeley Ringo unless it's a,

you know, a Sneed or someone who's like a blue chip player. I'm not giving you that one year Stephen Nelson. You're going to play Keeley Ringo, and Kila Ringo is going to take his lumps. So they very well could do that. The thing that Nick said, that is the one thing that I will remember from this press conference, is when he was asked about Jalen Hertz's leadership. And Zach, he said, there's no book written about this is how you lead.

And I read a thousand books like that. It's hard to imagine a topic that has had more books written about it than leadership. I think what he meant is. I wrote in my notes, not a book written about this is how you lead, L-O-L. Yeah, I would say, I would say to Nick, my backpack wasn't there when I did it, but I would say Nick here. I have my iPad. I have a Kindle profile here, and I could give you like 20 books in here about leadership. But that would be funny.

What's your favorite leadership books, Nick? I would say leaders eat last maybe. Wow. Yeah, opposite, contra Roger Goodell. Famous Roger Goodell story. Wouldn't let the warm pizza sit there. It wouldn't know everybody was afraid to eat until he took a slice himself. There's, there's, I don't know, there's a bunch of Jim Collins books that you can look at.

I would say, there's a number, you know, I mean, you're going to laugh when I say this. There's a lot of like Malcolm Gladwell concepts that I'll probably apply this, but maybe good to great stands out. How about, you know what? I'm going to give a shout out to the Covey family. Right? I mean, those are characteristics that leaderships have. But let's, let's pause.

I think what he meant, what Nick meant is that there's no one way. There's no book that says, this is how you have to lead. I think there is probably literally a book that has that title, but yes. No, because I think he meant that there's not. There's not a book on like, this is how you. There is no. Yeah, of course. Of course.

Yeah. But I mean, that's what he meant. We can say that that was very funny. Yes. True. But I thought the funny thing with, the funniest thing for me with Nick was, there's no book written about how to cook something. No. When he when he said, after all, it's what you mentioned a few minutes ago.

After all these years, the core values, they're all important. But there's actually two that are most important. Yeah. It's really connected accountability. But man, he loves telling us about the core values. What did you think about what he said about Jalen? I think he's right. I think that.

Well, tell the listen to us what he said, because we had a discussion yesterday about whether he was going to put anything on Jalen or he was going to. Yeah, so it's similar to what he said. He said like Jalen has his own unique leadership style. And I'm not, I should say, right now I'm not quoting anyone verbatim because I haven't listened through yet. I listen, you know, and in a press conference, I'm like taking notes. Here it's hard to take notes because you can't really hear everything when you're at the combine because questions are shouted. They're at a little bit of a distance. So you have to kind of piece together

some of the things. So I, but what he was saying about Jalen was that Jalen has his style. There's no one way to do this and that Jalen kind of has to lead his way. And this is in response to this, to the speculation, like we said yesterday, that as has been reported, he needs to be more vocal. And I can imagine they're having those conversations behind the scenes because I know Mike Garifolo, my Garifolo is an outstanding reporter and would not report something that he doesn't have like ironclad. And so I think these conversations are being had. But to the point we, when we talked about this with less, I don't think Nick's ever going to throw his quarterback under the bus. or I don't think he's going to, like, remotely be critical of his quarterback.

And I also think that, well, go ahead. No, he's repeatedly in this happening in the Seattle game. Like, he will, he will stand up for his quarterback to the point of where it's into fatigable in his approach. I believe that the, like, Mike's report that the conversation in the building has been about, like, Jalen's leadership style. reflects much worse on the organization than it does Jalen. Like, even if that is a thing that they think needs to be tweaked, like, I'm sorry. For them to be pointing the finger at Jalen Hertz's leadership style after everything that went down is like, I just, it's so passing the buck that it's, I think, unbecoming. I want to clarify, Matt H. said, Zach, that's the opposite of what you said yesterday.

that's what Bo was saying. When we were doing that game yesterday, it was about Howie Roseman. And I think Howie Roseman might have answered that question a little bit differently. Oh, I totally disagree. Okay. You think Howie would have put something on Jalen? Not necessarily on Jalen,

but I think it would have been. You have to remember this as a 25-year-old who's like, you know, still growing, still maturing. Like he said today, he said Jalen has all the traits that you want in a quarterback. And I do believe that they think that. But I think how he's more coded in his in his answer sometimes than I think there's often with how you can read between the lines more than with Nick. I think Nick is very literal.

Yeah, I don't think that I think that how he would have gone out of his way to say nothing but nice things about jail. No, nice things. But leaving open the door that that jail, you know, if Peyton Manning was different when he was 30, or Tom Brady was different when he was 30 than when he was 25, right? You know, quarterbacks, I don't think so. Grow, quarterback's involved. I wouldn't, I wouldn't put that.

I wouldn't put it out of the question that he would. That's, there's, there's, for him, there was nothing to be gained by that. How he was, uh, how he was like 12 minutes today. Um, you know, I only got one question in. And, and it was the question that I had been. saying I wanted to ask about the aberration, right? So we didn't get much on jailing from Howie. There was like a, I didn't hear what the question was,

but I think it was a general quarterback development question that Howie kind of talked about jail in Straits. But so that answer came up with Siriani, did not necessarily come up with, with Howie. Okay, let's save Howie for a little bit. Is there anything else from Nick that you would like to do unpack? Yeah, so like as I said, the defensive staff, and this was, I'm answering this directly because this was a question that I asked,

which was the experience on the staff. And he didn't talk about the experience of the coaches, although he said they needed to give Vic Fangio his guys, which he admitted, which we didn't do with Sean last year. Like he literally said that, and they didn't do that. They gave Sean the side one guy, and that was the nickel coach, Ronnell Williams, right? And they very much, you know, like D.K. McDonald was the DeBacks coach. And that was Nick's guy. And DJO, they did that comprehensive search of like 20 guys.

And Nick hired him, right? Vic, I mean, Vic Fangio hired his assistance year. That's very clear. All three levels are Vic Fangio guys. When I asked about the experience on the staff, he actually focused on Vic Fangio's experience, saying, like, Jonathan Gannon was the first year coordinator. Sean D'Sai was a young coordinator.

Now they have a guy who, when he first came to the Combine, the Combine was in New Orleans, right? Like, that's how old Vic Fangio is. and he's really looking forward to having that experience. And so that was the approach that he took. And so that's one thing that that's that stood out. His defense of A.J. Brown, and I agree with Nick, this is actually what I said in my tweet the other day.

He said A.J. Brown is the best receiver has ever played in Philadelphia. Which, like, if you look at the first two years, he has the two best now. It's 17 game seasons. But still, he is statistically the two best seasons. of a wide receiver in NFL history, in Eagles history, rather. And so he said that AJ has like, I had some pretty good bubble ball receivers back in the day. Yeah, there's a reason why AJ wears the sea on his chest, all this like AJ, very vociferous defensive AJ. And I think they genuinely believe that.

I think that the, the attributes or like the problems that have been assigned to AJ, I think they view that as more external news. anything else. I don't, I genuinely don't think that's coming from the team. I think the jail and stuff, I think that's coming from the team. I don't think any of this AJ. I think the AJ stuff is just like media created, people reading into answers, people, you know, I don't think the team has this, has this big issue with AJ. And then he wasn't as directly about this, but, you know, look, there was a column in the inquire today about, from Marcus Hayes, that the, you know, that he coached like the star players differently than the other people. And Nick said today that he specifically said,

you coach, you know, you have to coach everyone different. There's one standard, but you coach everyone different. And by the way, I should have brought this up to Nick. Afterwards when I was- Imagine trying to coach Fletcher Cox and Jordan Davis the same way. Yeah. Like, it's so stupid. But Mitch Album wrote a book on the Fab Five.

And I wonder if Nick read that book. Like it's one of the first books I first like big sports books I read. But I specifically remember Steve Fisher saying that you have you, you, you don't coach everyone the same way. Like that was a big emphasis that he had there that you don't you treat everyone with respect, but you don't. But you, you, there's different styles that that you, you coach J. John Rowe's different than you coach Chris Weber than you coached Joe and Howard, like someone. so forth. So yeah, that is absolutely the trace. And I see, you know, Bill Parcell said you treat everyone fairly, but not the same. So look, I mean, I don't, I don't doubt that people in the locker

room might say, like, are they holding player X accountable? Or they holding player Y accountable? But I don't think Nick Siriani is doing anything that other coaches aren't doing in that regard. So, um, I think that was an intentional, uh, framing that he did there. Tuesdays with Jimmy? Was that what it was called? No, it was called the Fab Five. Oh, it was called the Fed Five. And then there was a book Parcells, actually.

My wife got it for me for Valentine's Day in 2014, or 2015, rather. I read it in a weekend, awesome book. Would you like to share the significance of this week 10 years later? I mean, if you want me to, 10 years ago on Sunday, I came back from the combine and I got a message. I got back to my apartment in Philly and I opened my phone or my computer, I think. And I got a message from. Yeah, it was on Facebook.

Wow. And it was a message from my now wife, who then was just a woman I was very interested in, right? Sliding into your DMs. well it was it was i mean i don't need to get into the whole story but like it well you know i i i mean i was very interested in her um but yeah that was 10 years ago on sunday um so the combine i always remember like i remember i remember being a single guy at that combine um my second year on the beat and then never been a single guy since so wow watch out ladies in Indianapolis back then.

I wouldn't say that, but you're, yeah, I mean. She got it in just ahead of free agency. Yeah, she put in her, as they're saying in the comments. She got her bid in. She got her bid in. And I always joke that. I always joke, it's a good thing we started dating during the offseason because if we started dating during the season, there's no way I'd be married to her because she

would be like, why isn't this guy ever available? Why is this guy canceling all these dates? Well, yeah, you just wouldn't have been dating. You wouldn't have had, you wouldn't even have started dating. Yeah. Every, like, potential relationship that was in the fall didn't materialize because I'm married to football. There's actually, there's a sign in our living room at home. There's a sign in our living room at home.

Is it like this family is interrupted for football season? Yeah, we interrupt this marriage for football season. That's what it says. We interrupt this marriage for football season. And it has like top billing and, you know, on a shelf in our house. And it is so true. I remember my aunt, Elaine, got it for us when I got engaged. And it is so true.

Well, there you go. All right. Before we move on to Howie Roseman and what else he said today at the Combine, let's talk about Empire Today. Because with Empire Today, you get shop at home convenience, the right product for your needs, quick and professional installation, and that price match guarantee. Empire Today is the best place to get new flooring, so of course they have copycats, but those copycats, they cannot beat Empire Today when it comes to quality, service, speed. So they're going to advertise low-quality

products that Empire Today, they're not even going to carry those Garbonso Beans products, okay? Empire Today will not promise the lowest price. because anybody who does that is putting flooring in your home that they wouldn't even put in their worst enemies. Okay. So, schedule a free home, free in-home estimate today. If you're looking for new flooring, all listeners can receive a $350 off discount when they use the promo code P HLY. Restrictions apply. See Empire Today.com

slash P-H-L-Y For details, Go to Empire Today Today. And let me tell you about game time. I was at the bar last night and there was a person sitting in a seat and turns around to me and says,

were you at the game? The game meaning the Pacers game. And I said, no, I was not. But I didn't tell him this. Had I gone to the game, the only place I would have gotten tickets was game time. and the reason is is because buying tickets to your favorite event should not be stressful.

Game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater near you with killer deals and last minute tickets and their best price guarantee you could stop stressing over the tickets to start getting hyped for the fun. You'll have. They've flashed deals and last minute tickets, easy to find to buy tickets for every kind of event in your area with image of seat views and the lowest price guaranteed with event cancellation protection and job loss protection. Game plan, I'm sorry, game time is the place for last minute ticket deals.

forget planning months in advance. Game time has deals on tickets right up to the day of the event. You can get exclusive flash deals on tickets for football, basketball, baseball, concerts, comedy, theater, and more. And what is also awesome about it is they have the game time guarantee, which means you always get the best price. If you find tickets in the same section and roll for less game time credits you 100%. I'm sorry, 110% of the difference of the difference.

Snag the tickets without the stress with game time. Download the game time app create an account. News code P. P.HLI for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code PHLI for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, Zach, before we get to the big picture, Howie Roseman Takeaways, I want you to give us the news on a couple of players of interest that Howie Roseman talked

us about. Starting with Hassan Reddick. What did Howie Roseman say about Hassan Reddick? Yeah, with Hassan Reddick, they love the player. home you know a local guy uh he's he's been really productive for them but this is kind of going to be about what the price is right and this is nothing about the player himself but you know i i i mean my interpretation is this is going to be dictated by the market in other words uh and how he didn't say this you know he he said what i just said that you know they they they need to see what happens here um but my interpretation is if the market gives if the market suggests that

Hassan Redick's worth X and the Eagles aren't going to pay X, then he'll be free to be traded, basically, or like they'll look to trade them, that they have a number essentially. So that's what stood out to me about how he's remarks there is that he didn't deny

the fact that there's a negotiation going on here. Okay. Next up, James Bradbury. Yeah, he said James Bradbury's under contract. He's on the team. And when they say that, that's like on the team right now, right? I think that they have a cap obligation here.

They know what the cap obligation here. He said, yeah, he said that they view him as an outside corner. They probably weren't prepared last year well enough to play nickel. And they had to move Bradbury in. But that they, they, he's under contract. And like they owe him a lot of money. And this is kind of part of the equation. It felt a little bit more open to bringing him back than I might have expected, actually.

Yeah, I mean, I, well, I don't know if I got, I think that they are looking at it in this perspective. They're going to have to pay him or he's going to take a chunk of their cap space no matter what. You can do the post-June first cut and you split it over two years, but it's not as if he's not eating up your cap space. so you can look at it and say he has this, what's what, nine million guaranteed, I believe it is. So if you're guaranteeing him this money,

it behooves you to kind of, you know, see what, I mean, perhaps in a different defense, perhaps it's on again, off again year. He had a down year

and the Giants, comes back, has a really good year with the Eagles. Then he has a down year again. Perhaps he's up again. I don't think they anticipated the age curve hitting him as hard as it did. year at 29.

So, yeah, I think they would, if you gave them truth serum, like if you were talking to them, just the two of us and Howie at the bar over, you know, some, some Miller light, I think we would. Yeah, I had to be careful there, right? He would be worried about whether we spiked it or not. Over some Miller light. then maybe he would say to us like when we signed him we didn't expect it to look like that but I think that they know they're paying him and so they have to figure out if if the fact they're paying him if they'll just eat that money and think that that roster spots more valuable

or they bring them back and try to salvage him and not necessarily plan on him looking like James Bradbury but if he does that's a bonus all right last two Jason Kelsey and Fletcher Cox. Yeah, good question by you. I'm glad you snuck that in. Good job, but the question face off there. You came Arbner-ready. You were better than me today.

You projected well. But that was one that just needed to be asked on the record, I thought. Yeah, you projected well, I think. Sometimes you ask a question for yourself. Sometimes you ask a question for the Eagles sphere. Yeah, like I vividly remember which they, week one press conference when you were trying to get in the organic question yeah i'm still mad about that to me to be to be frank yeah yeah i hear you there i hear you there so he said that

look those are those are all-time eagles what you don't want is them to play in another jersey if they want to come back they'll come they'll be back basically saying it's their decision this isn't a matter of money now that's interesting with fletcher cox because fletcher cox he was a little bit surprising to me yes i thought that was a little bit Yeah, Fletcher Cox has been a little, Fletcher Cox, I mean, that's clearly the case. He's given away. He's given away his, his, uh, negotiating power with Fletcher Cox. Yeah.

Fletcher Cox wants to play. Which makes me think that they have a sense of the Fletcher situation, right? Um, I, I don't think, I, I think they're anticipating a retirement or Fletcher, like not being bad. Yeah. And you don't want to, I don't think Howie ever wants to be. And I, look, I know. I know from talking to a lot of people that, you know, Joe Banner. Lex.

Joe Banner probably doesn't like the way the Brian Dawkins thing was portrayed. But I think Howie doesn't want to be the guy who, who lets, like, you know, Fletcher Cox finish his career in Pittsburgh, right? Or like the Jets or something like that. Unless it's at that. At that play. No, because it was close to going to Pittsburgh a few years ago. And then it was close to going to the Jets, I think, a year ago.

I don't think, I think how he wants it to be, like, if the player leaves, it's because the play, you know, we, we want him back. I see Tim Williamson says Cox can join PHLY full time. Hey, I don't control the budget, but I would love to have Fletcher Cox on our show all the time. I think that would be like, if Fletcher Cox's post career is like in broadcasting, I would love Fletcher Cox to join us at PHLY. Yeah.

See, he can wear a different color with us. All right. Yeah, let's talk about what your other. Unless he just wears green. Unless he just wears green all the time, right? It comes in in the 91 jersey. Yeah. There you go.

All right. What else did you, what else were your takeaways from Howie Rosam? Yeah. So I think that they realized after the fall, well, they might have realized it in the moment. But I think when he looks back at the roster construction last year, and he said this, that they really wanted to invest a lot in, uh, you know, the offense, they want to have, as you've talked about and you've been ahead of the curve on. Like, they think the way to win is this top five offense.

And that they knew they were going to kind of take it on the chin on defense. I think when they realized now is that they let some good players out the door and they didn't adequately replace them. And that they need to do a better job with the defensive personnel. And so if I read between the lines there, I think the Eagles are going to be aggressive. And I don't think the Eagles are going to be aggressive. in the patchwork solutions. I think the Eagles are going to be aggressive in, in like trying to find that 26-year-old safety or lineback,

trying to find what Roddy McLeod was or trying to find, yeah, or maybe it's a blue chip player at corner. But I think they're going to look for a Roddy McLeod or what, you know, when they signed Hassan Redick. And that was a $15 million deal. That was a substantial deal. But, I mean, they, that, that, that, that, that, that, That wasn't top of the market.

But I think they're looking for that two to three year starter in free agency on defense. So I don't think it's going to kind of be the one-year lottery ticket when I think they are going to try to make a splash, so to speak, for a core starter on defense. Do you disagree? No, I think I do agree. And I think this is rolled in with the salary caps. stuff, which we can we can also talk about. But I want to ask you, I guess, where we talked about this a little bit yesterday, but like, is that, is that more like, that feels the way that he's talking about it,

a little bit more likely at linebacker. But I also, again, and I'm going through and I'm putting together this list for the, for the site on like what I think the Eagles board is going to look like at that free agency, right? And there are some attractive linebacker options, you know, Frankie Louvo, Blake Cashman, Patrick Queen, if that's your type. I think he's a little bit, not necessarily their type. And then there are guys like Willie Gay who are passable, but not necessarily like 10 pole players. But at safety, like, I mean, there are some real guys at safety who are young.

Like, you know, Xavier McKinney is only 25 years old. same for Cam Carle. There are a bunch of other safeties who were like 26, 27. And I don't know if, I think safety makes more sense to me as like, let's sign a really good 29-year-old and hope to pass it on to Blankenship and Brown. Whereas linebackers, like, if we can sign a Frankie Louvre or a Blake Cashman, maybe that makes more sense. But at the same time, you know, what are the odds that the Eagles are going to be the team in the market

that pays the most for, you know, one of the top two linebackers available. Good point. But that's what you look like. You know, if Ligeria Sneed sneaks through and gets on the market, like, would they be willing to be the team that pays the most for a 27-year-old premier corner? Yes, I think so. Yeah, I think when Howie looks at his free agency hits, it's the Rodney McLeod, the branded Brooks. I would even put Javon Hargrave in there, right?

The guys who like, they identified an enormous success. Yeah. No, I'm saying Javon Hargrave was an expensive flight like that. That was a big contract. But that's why that's a little different than McLeod. But he wasn't like the top guy, you know, I'll give a shout out to Greg Rosenthal from NFL. I think Greg does a really good job on his free agency rankings.

I mean, I'm always biased to when Shielded the rankings. But like, you know, I think. She'll has rankings coming out, so now you're burying it for late. No, no, no. I mean, I haven't seen Shields rankings yet, but I'm saying like I use Greg Rosenthal's rankings as like some of my, you know, I think Greg does a really good job there. And so point being that I haven't gone back and looked, but I don't think like Jayvon Hargrave or Rodney McLeod or Brandon Brooks might have been like top 10 in those rankings, but they're players that the Eagles identified. And all the players that were better in their second contracts than their first contracts, which is not often the case. in free agency.

So perhaps you're not playing the top of the market at the position. And when I look at, for instance, I mean, how is how is track record in for agency is outstanding? Yeah. Yeah. Compared to the rest of the league. Like most players who are signed to big deals do not work out very well.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, most of how we's, it's hard for me to even think of a player he's signed to a big deal in free agency who did not pan out. So, but I bring this up because when you look at the. safeties on the market. Like you look at the top of, I mean, let's take away like the top 10 players on the list because a lot of those guys are tagged like Antoine Winfield.

But, you know, if you look at kind of like 11 to 25, there are some deep backs in there, right? And those guys are really going to get paid. Even like C.J. Gardner Johnson or Xavier McKinney or Kyle Dugger. But then when you look at like the linebackers from like 25 on, right, I mean, you mentioned Louvre, Queens 28 on that list. Jordan Brooks is 38 on that list. You know, there's 28. What's that? I see what you're saying.

Oh, yeah. Like Devin White, former All-Pro is 70th on the list. You know, Willie Gay is 85th on the list. And so maybe there's a guy who, I mean, Devin White wouldn't be an example of this, but someone like Willie Gay maybe who they say, the second contracts may better than the first. This is a player who changes scenery, that kind of thing.

And then at safety, I keep, I keep going back to Jeremy Chin, who is 76 on the list. And in the write-up, Greg has, if Chin had been a free agent two years ago, he would have ranked in the top 30. But Jeremy Chin was someone who I think the Eagles had interest in. You have been, I mean, if the Eagles don't sign Jeremy Chin, it's going to be, it's going to be like you're going to turn off all the lights and light a candle in your house as a vigil because you have been pounding this, this Jeremy Chin to the Eagles thing for like three years. now. Well, yeah, the one thing I'll say is I don't know what Vic Fangio thinks about him, right? Like, I haven't spoke. So I do think Vic Fangio is going to have a heavy saying personnel. And actually, there was a question today. I apologize. Was it Dave Zengaro? I couldn't see on the other side. And who asked the question, you know, is Vic Fangio going to have a heavier saying personnel?

That's a good question. How he's like, yeah, how he's like, he thinks he will, right? Or something like that. or he wants to or expects there, something like that. Right. So I do think, you know, I don't know what he thinks of, of Jeremy Chan. But I do know in that front office, that's a player that, that they've thought highly of going back to the draft, going back to the trade market. And it hasn't materialized. He was injured last year. But maybe that's a, you know, a Roddy McLeod type where, you have so much writing on this.

If they sign Jeremy Chin, you get, you get to, you get to do a. total victory lap. Like, that is, that is a celebration for you. That is way more impressive than pretending like you predicted the Eagles we're going to draft Nolan Smith with their second first round pick. If they don't sign Jeremy Chin, I'm worried about you. No, don't be, because I'm saying, I don't know, I don't know Vic Fangio's evaluation. But if they did sign them, there would not be a victory lap.

You know what there would be? It would be Barry Sanders handing the ball to the official. Act like you've been there before. Well, please. Come on. How could you, how could you say? that while you also do the Nolan Smith BS. We're not going to relitigate that.

Okay. I think the, I think the, uh, the, uh, flags have been planted on that. And it's up to the audience to decide one of them is in the side of history. They want to be on. Okay. Uh, you know what? I am not going to fight fire with fire. There was a comment the other day that when that, when Bo teases Zach, he just like smiles

and moves on and that, uh, And that's why Bo keeps doing it because he knows Zach won't push back. Maybe they psychoanalyzed me well because I'm not pushing back. I'm just going to smile and move on. Okay. The salary cap. Yes. Did you get the sense that this changed their operating procedure at all?

Well, I think they were pleasantly surprised by the increase here. I don't think they're necessarily changed their operating procedure. I don't think they're going to spend it for the sake of it. But I do think that they know that whatever their internal projections were, I think this might have been higher than their internal projections. And so they have a little more money to spend. Now, as we discussed on the show yesterday, and you astutely pointed out, I agree with everyone has more money to spend. So what this means is that it's not as if they found $5 in their pocket and no one else has $5. Right.

Everyone else found that $5 in their pocket. So everyone has that $5 to spend on whatever, you know, toy that they want to get at five below. But not everybody is at spending $5 as they are. And so that's where they're probably excited about it. And some of those teams are going to put those $5 in their pocket. Sure. Yeah.

And some of those teams and like are going to, you know, spend those five, you know, spend that $5 to pay down last year's $5 debt, right? And so I, yeah. I do think that they have more flexibility, and I think they'll try to respond accordingly. So I think it's one of those things that they're happy about, but I don't think it necessarily changes their off-season plans as much as it gives them a little more flexibility

to do what they wanted to do this off-season. All right. Anything else from Howie that you would like to discuss? Let me scan through this year, because actually the transcript came while we were here. Oh, just like Julio Jones. Jones. So let me see here.

Yeah, so the aberration question, look, I talked about that after the show when the press conference came up. And I thought that was an important quote from, from Howley in the end of the season press conference. And it was the last question. So I couldn't get a follow up. But he says, you don't want to overreact to an aberration. And I think that I am curious. really answer it. I said as you analyzed it, do you view the last few weeks of the season as an aberration? And he said, quote, I don't know that I think about it other than how do we improve, how do we get

better as quickly as we can, how do we put our resources in the right position, how do we make good decisions after good decisions? Certainly, we weren't good enough. I think luckily that we've gotten a point where the standard here is trying to beat for championships. I don't need to read the whole quote. But yeah, I don't think their big takeaway from last season is this. This is a team that's in trouble. I think that they view it as there is top flight offensive personnel, that there's top flight personnel in offense. There's holes on defense that they can rectify.

I don't think they view it like the wheels are falling off this roster. And perhaps they should. It's interesting. No one is kind of getting to the bottom of like what went wrong. and it's a good trust me it's it's it's not for a lack of asking and everyone wants there to be like one thing and it could be a million like a million little things right that all added up and they got the crap kicked out by the way i owe a mea copa for you um to me yes to you well in well in the uh probably a little late to do this now but i am and and

for our audience. I am sorry. I apologize for the amount of times that I've cursed on this show. And I bring this up because to me, I'm like, you should speak organically. This might be how I speak. I listened to, I'm not, I don't say this in a bad way. I love this show. But I listened to the Kelsey podcast with my son in the car the other day.

We were going to the Sixers game. I had the Kelsey podcast on. and, you know, there are some F bombs thrown in S bombs, and Reed said, they said a bad word. And I said, oh, I'm sorry, should I turn it off? And he said, don't worry. I won't tell mom. I love that. Yeah, but, but yeah, I realize now that it's not like our viewers and listeners, Virgin ears, right?

It's more you might be listening while you have a kid in the backseat of the car. Of course. We've long said this show is for the families. Yeah, but I didn't. You took that in a minute. I got to say, I didn't totally put that together because I had never listened to a podcast with my kids in the car. Typically, like, you know, we have the Disney music or whatever music they're listening to, right? But my son's getting into the sports.

He's into the Kelsey's. I said, I said, what do you want to listen to? And he said, let's listen to a podcast. And I said, oh, okay. And then if he initially said the PHLY podcast, I already listened to the show. And so then I said, I said, how about the Kelsey podcast? Oh, he got really excited. And I was explaining to him.

And then like, it was a great interview with Chris Long and Bo Allen. Very good interview. Yeah. But once he hears that interview give you more of a more of a lean towards Kelsey retiring. It did for me. It did. Yes. It did.

I think. And I think even the way they answered the question. quite like they spoke to him. I think it's like they know this is coming to. Yeah. So that's, that's how it felt. Yeah.

Yeah. So. You know, don't, don't do you don't have to. If it's, if it really strikes you as necessary, you, you can do it. But I think, uh, yeah, a conscious effort to decrease the, uh, the cursing is okay. And we'll leave the, uh, we'll leave the mistress talking, uh, come jokes in just for everybody.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He says, I'm, I'm not gonna, uh, I'm not going to push back. I'm not going to. I'm just going to let that one fly.

So, you know, I see a lot of complaints in the chat about how many questions were asked by, like, Colts people and about like Kirby Smart. And just to just to explain how that happens, like the podium, the Eagles reporters are all off to the side doing something before the press conference. And then we all make our way to the podium. And there are people who are like just, you know, camped out dead center. And so like, you know, is it, if I were an Eagles reporter, would I be waste, like, would I be sitting in the middle trying to get a question when there are like 10 beat riders around me trying to ask their own questions about a team I don't cover? Probably not.

But respect the game. They're doing that's, they're there to do their own job. So that's how that happens. Can I get can't push back on you? You did this with Gannon's press conference last year, right? I did it with Peterson today, right? I mean, look, everyone's got a job. Yes, I think there is an art to it.

And I, well, there's, I think first, my approach to it is either you do it like the very first question to get it out of the way, or you make sure that everybody who actually covers the team has gotten their question. And the press conference is like trailing off and then you get in there. I agree with you there. And that's what I did for full disclosure. That's but did in the Jacksonville Press Conference. I waited until the Trevor Lawrence questions came up and that kind of thing. In the defense of the Colts reporter and the Georgia reporter and whoever it may be.

They're got a job to do. Yeah, there are Eagles reporters who literally didn't get who were trying to get, you know, I was trying to get more questions in. There were Eagles reporters who didn't get the questions that they wanted in. It's the nature of the beast year. I wish we had more time with these guys. I wish we had more time on the side with them. Like, I get it.

It's that there's a lot to ask. We all make the investment to come out here. Everyone has the job to do. And what I always, I try to be empathetic. If you're a Georgia reporter and you flew up here for the combine and your boss is expecting you to deliver this story, you can't be like, well, the Eagles reporters, right? Yeah, you got to get your question in, right?

And the Eagles fans might not like that. I also, I think that's all fair. Yeah. I've also received like questions about this, you know, why were you asking about topic X, topic? Like, just because something is discussed on talk radio or on social media does not necessarily mean like it needs commentary from, you know, It's also up to us to ascertain what is like worthy of a, you know, you know, it's your job.

You know you're only going to get, you know, at most three questions in, right? Yeah. It's your job to decide what are the most important questions to be asked. Yeah. And so, yeah, you don't need to ask about some nonsense report that's, you know, stupid on its face. Yes, exactly. And there's stuff that like we can, you know, lend, lend. context to, right? That, um, that, that, and we have conversations with people all the time.

Like, even if it's not in the televised interview, that it kind of shapes our perspective and shapes our comments. And I, I do hope that there's, that our audience is nuanced enough to know that when that, that when we speak about something, we're often not picking it out of thin air. It's, it's based on, you know, like if, if I go to a certain place, if I don't go to a certain place, if I don't go to a certain place, it might be because I've had conversations with people saying, like, yeah, there's something here or there's nothing there. And sometimes we don't want to give oxygen to something that we know not to be true. Like Jeremy Chin.

Print the jerseys now. Buy it at the process. Yeah. That's more speculation than anything else. But like the Craig Carton stuff, right? Like, look, I'm the first one to admit that I am, we're all operating with an information deficit. Like we don't know everything that goes on in a locker room, right? We don't know. We also. Like 2% of what goes on in the locker room.

Yeah. But like just because someone says something to me doesn't mean we have to say like, what's your response to this ambiguous report about such? Right. Yeah. All right. Now that you have the transcript up, anything else to go over from Howie? Let's see here.

So the jail and her question. talk about that. Yeah, the rookie stuff, that was a good question from you. When he was talking about upgrading on defense, the top priority. He mentioned that they want to get better at all areas. They're obviously like they're not going to prioritize defensive tackle. They have young defensive tackles, right? Let's see, Shane Steichen, Nolan Smith heading into year two.

He said Nolan Smith played well in the playoff game. Did you feel Nolan Smith played well in the playoff game? certainly didn't remember that if he did but yeah yeah he says that's someone that they that he has all the tools he has the right mentality he's got to go and show it and the indication was that he needs an opportunity to do it uh at at running back he said that they're talented players on the free agent market they're guys in their own team talented players end up getting paid um and everyone has a value that they place on on players that they'll see how how this thing shakes out I said last week

the Eagles are probably going to let the market come to them Eagles are not going to set the market at running back. It's simply not something they're going to do but they like to They did it last year with Rashad Penny and Boston Scott on the first name for agency. It was wild. No, but they didn't set the market, right?

I mean, they gave Rashad Penny a deal that. Yeah. Setting the market's the Miles Sanders deal, right? Like your, you know, the market came to them with Rashad Penny. Maybe not Boston Scott. Like Rashad Penny didn't get anything from that. It didn't play.

So let me see here. Give him Vic Fangio's. They took out the part of the transcript about Vic Wiconsa to say. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, Devante Smith. Okay, so this is reading between the lines. This was a question, I believe, from Olivia Reiner. Does a great job at the Inquirer.

Quote, Devante is an incredible person, incredible player. Obviously, homegrown and young guy, without getting into specific. those are the guys you don't really want to leave. We have discussed this before that they're going to prioritize keeping Devante. They have a track record of not letting their outstanding draft picks leave. They'll more than willing to let their bad draft picks leave. Like they do a better job than maybe I would do if I was a GM or some other GMs that I've covered at not compounding a problem with the problem, right?

I might be too attached to a player and say, all right, change the scenery, this kind of thing. It's why I love these former first-round picks them for agency. I think they cut their losses better than some other GMs, but they, Fletcher Cox, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelsey. The reason these guys have stayed here is because they prioritize keeping the guys who are really good that they signed. And then the Fletcher Cox, Jason Kelsey. Let me ask you a question about that. Oh, go ahead. Yeah.

Yeah. we already talked about that. Yeah, we already talked about that. Yep. How good of a job, if, if, let's say Olivia keeps racking up these Pennsylvania Sports Writer of the Year awards, let's say she gets to like five in a row. Okay. How good, like, how many would she have to win before the paper changes its name to the Inquireriner? Yeah, I don't think it's ever going to happen because it's, it's literally you're an inquirer for Philadelphia. You inquire about Philadelphia. So, yeah, that would not change. At some point, she could get big enough to be bigger, to be the face of the paper. What if she wins 15 in a row in Quiriner? Yeah, I mean, look, I think she could win 15 in a row.

I think there's a better chance that she's elsewhere before she wins 15 in a row, right? I think if she wins, I think she wins five in a row. Maybe that's how they keep her. Maybe that's their counteroffer. She's the name of the paper. Yeah. Well, she does an awesome job. And I credit to her. And look, look, they have an outstanding staff of like, of young reporters. You know, Alex Coffey wrote a terrific story recently. I'll give a shout out to her. And, you know, we know the job BJ does. So, yeah, it's, it's, you know, we had Josh Tolentino on the other day. You know, Josh giving us good intel on Nicobie Dean. So they've really good young people there.

Big takeaway here is you're calling Jeff McLean old. Oh, no, no, no, no. But like, I mean, that's the thing. No, no, not. No, no. Washed. That's definitely, McLean is amazing. I say this like, I, I, I spoke. You're not saying he's young.

No, I spoke. Okay. Let me, all right. Oh, you didn't have to bring me on this. We all. Let me clarify this. You said, Jeff McLean and his, in his walker is. No.

Jets and around. Jeff has had a huge effect of my, I'm so proud of like, like, the work I'm so proud of, like, the work I did with Jeff, and Jeff is, Jeff's the, Jeff is one of the best great reporters in the country. Like, I say that. I was talking about young reporters in particular because, and I will say this, there was a period of time. Because he's not one of them, is your point. No. And Jeff would agree with this. There's a period of time when the inquire had a void of young reporters, right? Because there was, it was just the nature. There had been layoffs and the way it was, it was like last one in, first one out. And then there was a hiring freeze for a period.

And there were some people who left. I'll say when I was there, you can count on one hand the people in the 20s in the sports section. Right. And they've done a good job in the past few years of bringing in some of these young talented people. So that's what I was trying to say. I mean, Jeff is awesome. Like Jeff, Jeff knows that I think that. But now he also knows you think he's old.

Jeff's older than Olivia and E.J. Alex coffee. Jeff would tell you the same thing. Someone said, don't take his bait. Stop take. The threat level of midnight says stop taking the bait. You can't compliment someone without you. Driving 15 miles an hour on the highway to work.

No, Jeff does not drive 15 miles per hour. Jeff actually, Jeff would say I'm the one between the two of us who drives 15 miles per hour. We've had a lot of drives together. And between the two of us, I'm the slower drive. You're listening to big band music? I'm listening to podcast. I have the effort in it. All right.

Anything else that we should talk about, Zach? No, you know, that they, I just want to reinforce. And I'm going to have some, like, quotes from today up on all-P-H-L-Y.com. But then I'm also going to, at the end of the week, kind of have some overriding thoughts and, like, takeaways from my week in Indy. And one of the things that I would kind of reinforce is that I do think they're going to be active in free agency. And I do think that it's not going to be for your one-year band-aids. I think they're going to try to make a splash.

And the splash might not be a Legerius Sneeter, a J-1 Johnson, where you're paying a guy, you know, 15, 20 million. But a splash might very well be a starter. you know, a starter at two levels of the defense, right? And that they think can be part of the 2024 defense and the 2025 and 2026 defense. I also think as much as, you know, I expect the Eagles to upgrade the number three wide receiver this off season. I think there's a better chance of that coming in the draft. I think they've invested a lot of money in wide receiver unless there's a bargain. I don't think they're going to be in the market for like a Hollywood Brown or someone like that.

That would really surprise me. You've been pounded in the darnel Mooney tree, though. Yeah, but even Darnell Mooney might be out of their price range. I think that there's a better chance that they draft a wide receiver or a tight end unless the market comes to them. I think the money that they spend is going to be on the defensive side of the ball. And I think they do realize that they needed to be better personnel-wise on defense. Okay. last thing we should say because you know you asked the question about yesterday what you know what what what is our time like here in indy we should let the listeners know we had a chance to have a lovely dinner last night with marissa and boy is the feud between marissa and julia just heating up i mean no don't create feuds please don't create feuds uh yeah it's like if you know marissa is an amazing producer joey is an amazing producer

let's let them, you know, what's the expression? Now it's time to find out which one's a better boxer. No, comparison is the thief of joy, right? So let's let's not compare. Let's just appreciate the fact that, I mean, you and I hit the jackpot with two producers. Well said. Yeah, we had a lovely dinner. Yeah, it was great saying here.

Yeah, good time. So that made the trip to Indianapolis worth it as far as I'm concerned, Zach. Well, that was the highlight of yesterday. But, I mean, the work is. I knew you were going to do this. Yeah. I mean, look, I mean, Miss is amazing. She knows it.

But like, if I came to the two, if I came to Indianapolis on the company's dime and I'm producing, you know, two shows here plus shows when we get back with information from here and two or three articles from here. And I said that the highlight was nothing to do with work. That wouldn't be productive. Productive's got nothing to do with it. We're talking about your personal opinion. Absolutely. that was the highlight of the trip to Indianapolis as far as I'm concerned. I'm here because it's my job.

That was the highlight. Okay. Marissa knows that. And now she knows who appreciates her time more. It was awesome seeing. It was awesome saying Marissa. All right. Well, I look forward to talking tomorrow about whatever,

whatever shenanigans we get into tonight, Zach. That will do it for this episode of the P.H.O.Y. Eagles podcast at the Combine. some discussion in the chat. Apparently this is not an original bit, which I did not know. And so maybe all, you know, if it's not original, then I'm going to probably cast it aside. So this could be the last combined episode. But we are back tomorrow at noon from Radio Row. And then back on Thursday and Friday in studio in Philadelphia at noon as well.

Stay tuned to all p.hly.com for what we've got cooking the rest of the week. and for Zach and Julia, we thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Talk to you tomorrow. And as always, by the way, Zach is working on the world's first book on leadership.

You can check out that next spring. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. There's one other thing we have to say. Thank you for putting this in the chat. Oh, Y Locker. Yes. Do you want me to say? 30% off.

Please. 30% off until Wednesday. 30% off everything at the PHLY Locker. Zach, that guy who's writing that leadership book, is also known for his fashion sense. If you want to look like Zach Berman, you can do it by hitting up the PHLY Locker, 30% off through Wednesday.

Thank you for the reminder, Provalone John. Now that will do it for this episode of the PHY Eagles podcast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Talk to you tomorrow. And as always, we love you. You know,