PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Live from NFL League Meetings: Howie Roseman explains why he paid big for Saquon Barkley

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

ORLANDO, Fl. –– Live from the NFL’s annual league meetings, we’re here to recap what Howie Roseman said about his busy offseason thus far. Why was Saquon Barkley worth bucking the Eagles’ trend of running back devaluation? Why was Bryce Huff so attractive and is Haason Reddick on the move soon? How did things come together with the C.J. Gardner-Johnson reunion? Will Grier … real person?Zach Berman and Bo Wulf are on the scene with everything you need to know from Florida, with some thoughts on what might be coming in the NFL Draft. 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.

for the PHLY Eagles podcast. Monday 4 p.m. Bowulf, Zach Berman, on site at the NFL league meetings in Orlando, Florida. Much to discuss today. Zach, how you doing? Doing great. Excited for the show. You are correct when you said, much to discuss today.

And this is one of my favorite events from the year. We spoke to Howie Roseman today. Got the chance to speak to different coaches from the IFC. I've got a chance to spend time with you and the other reporters. So this is going to be a good show. We've had some of our finest shows in the past from the league meetings. And I think today we'll live up to it as well. Well, let's hope so.

And we do, in fact, have plenty to get to from everything we heard from Howie Roseman to some things that have happened around the league over the past few days, maybe some whispers that we have heard in the nooks and crannies of the rich. and the J.W. Marriott, the whispers that are happening in all the dark corners and caverns of this posh resort where we are not staying. We are somewhere else. We will get to that. And you know what? As much as I would like to start with some off football stuff for reasons that I will explain at the end of the show, I think I owe it to you, Zach, because you have done such a wonderful job as a teammate today that I'm going to return the favor. Let's just start with football.

today? I would like to think every day. But yeah, no, this is this is why people are tuning in. Not everyone, the media corps is down here. And we're both down here. Had a chance to speak to Howie Roseman. Really, Howie's first public comments. We can get to it all. All right.

Okay. I want you to know that this is a service to you. And I take the note in the chat that the light behind me is a little bit distracting. But guess what? It makes me look like an angel. And I think that's how it should. You know, I wanted to have this beautiful Orlando Vista behind me. You'll never get a view like that outside of Orlando.

But apparently the lighting wasn't good. So I'm actually, you're missing out on the trees and the clouds and somewhere in the distance here, Universal Studios and Disney World. Okay. Let's begin with Howard Roseman. We got to talk to Howie Roseman today for a few minutes with the rest of her. who are down here. This is the first time that we have spoken to Howard Roseman about the moves that he has made, the truth that he has told with the moves that he has made with this roster over the past month, probably really one of like four times a year where we get to talk to

Harry Roseman. And I would say of those four times between this and the combine and right before the start of the regular season after cuts and then after the regular season or after the season is over. Of those four times, I feel like this is the best version of Howie we get in terms of him telling us the truth a little bit and having things to be reflective of that. And so among those things, obviously we talked to him about all the players who they have signs. I think we should start with Sequin Barclay because that is the, first of all, it's the thumbnail. So you've got to keep that thread continued. But I think that is the one where it was the most different move that he has made from his long history as the person in charge of the Eagles roster.

What can you tell us about why Sequin Barclay was different to Howie Roseman than running backs in the past? Well, he would disagree with the premise of that statement, and he would suggest that the Eagles have gone hard after running backs before. they were obviously they signed lishan mccoy in in in in 2012 they he was in the front office when they signed brian westbrook to an extension yeah i mean when you've been in a front office for 25 years yeah you're going to be able to find examples of things you've done yeah he wouldn't say this publicly but they were going to draft christian mcalfrey in in 2017 but what you can't dispute is that recent history shows the Eagles haven't really allocated resources, whether it will, particularly financial resources, in this position. So, yes, Saquan is different. And why is he different?

Well, their perspective on it. And this is, well, Howe's perspective speaking on behalf of the organization, is that Seekwan is a special player. Those are his words. And it's hard to find special players, particularly on the open market, right? You think when can you get the elite all pro level players? it's very rarely via free agency.

So that was a motivating factor. The other part of this was the fact that, and you refer to this in your analysis, when you look at ways you can upgrade the offense, Sequin touches the ball 300 times. Like they're not being coy about this. Sequin's going to have a huge role in this offense. He's going to be a three down back.

He's going to get the ball quite a bit. and that it's rare to find someone who can have that type of effect on the offense. And then also just all the different things that Saquan brings to the table. I did ask, you know, just to be consistent here, because I said when they made the move that, yeah, I know they signed LaShaa McCoy. LaShaaumacoy was going into his age 24. Yeah, Sequan's going into year 7, 27, has a lot of workload. and how he acknowledged that the workload curve is, is something that they studied, that it's, that it's there.

He would kind of push back on the age thing. They're not paying Seekwon at age 30, right? Sequan's kind of in that wheelhouse of when you would consider a young free agent, 25, 20, he's 27 years old. So a little on the higher end there, but you're still getting him for, in theory, prime years. But he basically thought that, like, for this period that they're having him, he could be a special player for the team.

And that was Roy the empathy. He called him a freak. Yeah. Somewhere, somewhere in this great country of ours, debatable, Gunter Brewer, a shiver went down his spine when he heard. Howie Roseman referring to Sequin Berkeley as a freak. Do you know where Gunter Brewer is, by the way? I believe it was at NC State. No, he's at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech. You know what? I knew it was a, I knew it was a, uh, uh, ACC other team. Also, I spent a lot of time in Blacksburg and a previous life. So shout out to our listeners down to Blacksburg. I've heard some good things about Gunterboro. I recently. He had a very nice interaction with our dear friend, Coach Flynn.

Ah, two great wide receiver minds. Yeah. We're game, respect game. No doubt about it. I thought that this was one of the interesting things he said about Seekwon Barkley. And credit to the intrepid reporter who followed up and pushed him on, you know, those guys were at different ages than Seacquan. I believe that was Zach Burrower.

of PHLY, so shout out to him. It was a good follow-up. And he said, I think I can read it here. Obviously, we looked at the workload. The player trains unbelievably. He's a freak. You see that in his testing numbers, his GPS numbers, and based on the resources that go to that amount,

basically the amount they paid around the league, this made a lot of sense for us. Interesting for him to call out the GPS numbers that they're looking at. You know, the owner's meetings, of course, as you will note, Zach, is where Jeffrey Lurie once touted the R-Fid, and for the Eagles to talk about that, that doesn't mean they're going to be right, because they would have said the exact same thing about James Bradbury last year, right? But just in terms of how they do their due diligence on, is this a guy who's going to fall off the cliff? That is a data point for them.

I don't know that it's still the right bet. I feel like it's the same thing we discussed in terms of what was the spot where they could upgrade the weapons on offense without upsetting the apple cart of, you know, if you dropped a wide receiver in the first round, how do AJ Brown and Devante Smith feel about that? Same thing about tight end. This is a guy who we can sign. Everybody's going to be happy about it. And we think that he takes the ceiling of the offense to a different level. I think there probably is connectivity to how they saw Christian McCaffrey, like, oh, that was a lot for them to give up.

but what he brought to the team in this offense with Jalen Hertz taking attention away from the running game with the guys on the outside. If Sequin Barclay can break some tackles and make some big plays down field, that is what, like, that is what lifts the whole thing and it's more than they might have been able to find somewhere else. I don't know that if it's the right value, but he talked about the pendulum having swung on maybe the league is devaluing the position a little bit too much. This is a chance where, like you mentioned the Christian McCaffrey thing and you talk about

like he says that the perception they don't value the position is a little bit incorrect. It's not about do they value the position. It's when do they value the player more than the rest of the league, right? Like they were willing to draft Christian McCaffrey, but there were teams willing to draft him earlier than they were, right? There were teams who I'm sure were willing to sign Sequin Barclay, but why were the Eagles willing to pay more? I think it's because they saw the ceiling in the offense and the other options around to create that ceiling as Sequin makes more sense for us. Yeah, I think you outlined it well there.

I think the Christian McCaffrey thing, like they saw the 49ers give valuable picks, but also pay money, like a big salary to Christian McCaffrey, they take what was already a really good offense, like a really efficient offense, and made it on steroids, basically, right? Christian McAfry made a material difference in what San Francisco is able to do.

Christian McCaffrey is on steroids? No, I'm not. I put the offense on on steroids. It brought the offense to a level that it wasn't before. So this is so to your point, where can you make that jump as an offense? And I think they also viewed Sequan Barkley. You know, you mentioned breaking tackles, like a body type perspective. Saquan's different than some of the other backs that they've had.

Like when you talk about three-down backs, in theory, Sequin should be able to do everything for you, right? He should be able to have explosive runs downfield, but also fight for like hard yards. He should be able to catch the ball out of the backfield and he should be able to pass block, right? Like you're not paying Seekoine Barclay this money to be part of a committee.

You're paying Sequan Barclay to be the committee. Like you're paying Saquant Barclay to do everything for you. And so what they've tried to do in the past, like, you know, they had like Garrett Blunt and Darren Sproles, before Sprouls got hurt, right? You know, they had Corey Clement in there. They traded for Jay Jai. They had guys who can, like, do different types of roles.

And in, and then obviously when, you know, they, they drafted Miles Sanders and he was splitting carry sometimes. And I really think with Sequin, they see someone who can do everything. Now, whether he can remains to be seen. But the, the aspirational view on this signing, the ambitious view of his signing is that he's, that he's the committee all in one. And I think actually that's a dangerous way to go about things because like you're not going to be pleasantly surprised. But like Saquo and Barclay, there's really no way that Saigon Barclay can outperform what

he's getting paid, right? Whereas if you are, if you have Darren Sprouls and Corey Clement and LaGarrett Blunt and you're willing to trade for Jay Ajai, you have guys. you have like upside and and you're also protected from injury, right? Like if you're building the whole plane out of Saquan Barclay and Saquan Barclay gets hurt or is half of what he's been in the past because father time has cut up with him, you're kind of screwed, right, at the position. Now, we can debate about how much it matters to have that fall off at running back. Does that change your downside as an offense too much? whereas if you have multiplicity,

then there's a little bit more variance to get more for what you're paying. But that's like, that's the deal that they have made. And that's why I think they haven't gone all in for the position in the past in that way. And I think they view, for whatever reason, Sequin has, you know, he called him a freak. Like I think they view him as a guy who they think can age well

and they don't have to be too worried about it. But there's no doubt. It's the signing they have made that have. has the biggest downside. Sure. I mean, the special player thing is what jumps out because the expectation is for him to be special. So if he doesn't make this Christian McCaffrey effect, right, if he's, I don't want to say merely Miles Sanders, but if he's what Miles Sanders was in this offense, that's not good enough, right?

He has to be what Christian McCaffrey is in San Francisco. But I am curious your thoughts because he said publicly, right, about the pendulum swinging, like you mentioned. And you look elsewhere in the league. Darnell Mooney essentially is getting the same average per year and guaranteed money that Saquan Barclay is. Darnell Mooney is a second receiver, maybe a third receiver. Wide receivers are more important than running backs. Like we know that.

But when you look at how teams are spending money, maybe I'm not saying it's the right move, but you say, would you take this money and pay Saquan Barclay? Or would you take this money to pay Darnell Mooney? like which one lifts the upside for this offense. The money's the same. Now, what the question is is what's the delta between Saquan Barclay and the next running back in this offense? The Eagles were one of the most efficient running teams in the league without Saquan Barclay. But I do think when they look at that pendulum, what they're saying is that this rate is what you're paying now for number two, number three wide receivers.

If you're able to get a top five running back at that price, then maybe from a market perspective, it makes sense. And maybe some of the views with how much you can pay a back is not necessarily in line or aligned, rather, with a growing salary cap. And kind of you look at the percentage of the cap that back's getting. So I actually don't agree with that framing. Okay. Because I think what the right framing is, from their perspective, is, is if the rest of the market, if D'Andre Swift is going for eight, then all of a sudden 13 for Sequin is pretty reasonable.

If, like, if the, if we want to add a starting caliber running back, and that is the barrier to entry, and like that floor has been raised a little bit, and there's like a squeeze between the ceiling and the floor of the running back market, then the ceiling becomes better value. like the top of the market becomes a little bit better value. I think part of the reason that you can't compare running backs to wide receivers is because running back is an unpredictable position.

Guys do drop off rapidly. Sure. And it is a cheap position to replace in the draft with like relative hit rate, like a pretty good hit rate, hit rate better than most positions. So I think that's the way they view it. Like if they're going to fill that position and maybe they don't think it's a great running back draft class, then yeah, instead of paying and we're not willing to to do like, you know, $4 million for Zach Moss or whoever it is, we're going to sign a guy,

then we would rather pay for who we think is the best guy. Yeah. And that and I think we're in alignment with how we view the signing in that he needs to be the best guy, right? He needs to be as how we said special. He needs to age as how he said like a freak, right, in order for this signing to be a good signing, because once that age curve hits you, Once that workload curve hits you, you can tell at that position pretty quickly if the guy doesn't happen anymore. And there's a reason, frankly, why the Eagles have moved on from running backs, you know, when they're approaching like H27, H28. Now you're paying a premium price for H27, H28.

So. Yeah, like the pass protection is nice. The past catching is nice. Even between the tackle stuff is nice. But he's being paid for the explosiveness. If he is not breaking long runs, then they have not gotten what they've paid for. Absolutely. And, you know, and I'm looking back when they signed Westbrook to a, you know, five-year, $25 million contract.

That was the 2005 season, right? So at that point. Literally 20 years ago. Yeah. They paid two running backs in 20 years. Yeah, they paid DeMarco, but obviously DeMarco wasn't when Halle was there. But Brian Westbrook in, you know, so he was going into his, at that point, I think age 26 season or thereabouts. So, yeah, this, I mean, a year younger, but certainly from a workload perspective, Brian Westbrook did not have the same type of workload that, you know, that Sequan Berkeley has coming into this.

Okay. Let's move on from Sequin. Let's talk about the guys who they signed on defense and how I wrote. Roseman's perspective on them. Do you want to start with Bryce Huff? Sure. I mean, that's the most, that's the one they spent the most money on. That's, that's going to be the most important. And in conjunction with that, we should also mention Hassan Reddick, because I think that's the most Eagles fans wanted to know. Yes. And, you know, the expected resolution for Hassan Redick, Howie Roseman chose not to comment

on any pending trade with Hassan Redick saying that they don't talk about players' contracts and stuff like that. We know that they've got this April 1st roster bonus, which could be potentially a, like a deadline for them to try to get something done by, but just knowing the Eagles history, I don't think like that's a drop dead date. Like if they don't get a good offer, they're not going to just, you know, trade him for something. I think they would be willing to pay the roster bonus if they expect that then there's going to be a better offer down the line when, when teams are more desperate for an edge rusher. But in terms of Bryce Huff, Zach, what do you, what do you make of what power has been said?

Yeah, I think this is kind of the, this is the opposite of Sequin in that this is the profile player that they typically target, right? They see all these tools for him that that really jump out to them. They see the explosiveness. They see the hand usage, right? And what then they also see, all right, from an opportunity perspective, why was he available? Well, the Jets, you know, how he said they had like five, six edge rush. who they were getting on the field. And they've spent first round picks and big money on some of these guys. And so that's also why he wasn't getting the playing time.

And that is actually aligned. You asked Robert Sala today about why he wasn't getting more time. And Sawa went through that. That, you know, he kept earning more time, right? And there were a lot of guys in front of them. You can talk more about that. We will have a little video up on the YouTube page later tonight. just a quick couple snippets of answers that were Eagles related from the AFC coaches this morning.

Yeah, but basically the Eagles want to have what Howie always says, like these fastballs around the edge, right? You keep bringing them in. And that's what Bryce Huff's done. When they signed him, we talked about, you know, the advanced numbers as far as just pressure rate and how consistent that is. And that Howie said there's a perception, that Huff is a liability. Just to be... Just to be perfectly transparent. We did not talk about pressure rate.

We did not... Okay, we talked about... You were talking about pressure rate. I'm not talking about pressure rate. Okay, sorry. I talked about pressure rate. Okay, you are absolved from all pressure rate discussion. Okay, you did not mention pressure rate.

I mean, I might have talked about it being a farce, but yeah. Okay. So Howie said there's a perception that help is a liability against the run. Time will kind of tell on that. But the Eagles think he has the total. in his body to make a difference. So really, this is just, this is a bet on a player with tools at a position that they really like. And that's, that's the impetus here more than anything else, is, is that they value edge rushers.

It's hard to find an edge rusher who has kind of the tools that Huff has. They think he can grow into a bigger role. I thought Robert Sala said it well today when he said that there's a, a thought that all he does is like rush the quarterback. And he said, all Mariana Rivera did was close games in the ninth inning. Right. But if you can do a valuable role exceedingly well, that's a valuable skill set to have. And so that's the Bryce Huff skinny, if you will. Let me ask you this about the edge rusher in conjunction with Bryce Huff.

Obviously, we knew they were fielding trade offers for both Josh Swett and Hassan Reddick, leading into the league year before they signed Bryce Huff. Do you think they signed Bryce Huff expecting that he, he was going to replace one of those two players, or just in case they were going to have to replace those two players and knowing maybe they would keep them all? Oh, I don't think they expected to keep them all, right? Do you think that's still the table, or do you think, do you think Redick is definitely gone? I think the only way that all three are back is if they pay Redick more money, right?

I mean, I think Redick has a number that he's expecting to get. and that, you know, that he's still searching for it, presumably, because a trade hasn't been made unless the Eagles can't get the compensation that they want in return. But I don't think Hassan Redick plays this year on the number that he has. So perhaps there's a situation where the Eagles say, all right, you didn't get what you're looking for, we'll give you a bump in your last year, keep you happy, and then you hit the open market next year. but I don't see a situation where the Eagles are,

where Hassan Reddick's playing under his current deal. It would utterly surprise me knowing the personality of players and just kind of the expectation of players if Bryce Huff is making more than Hassan Redick and Josh Swett. And that I don't think Josh Swett stayed on to be the third edge rusher. I think part of him signing on or kind of renegotiating his deal was to have a good year and to hit the open market next year.

And I don't necessarily think that the situation would have been conducive for that if he all of a sudden is third in edge rusher snaps behind Reddick and Huff. Well, that said, I mean, Josh Sweat played a bunch fewer snaps two years ago

and had a better year, just volume-wise, right? But we're still the number two guy. Still the number two guy, but if you're going to promise him that you're going to get about the same amount of snaps, like this is a guy who absolutely wore down last year.

And we talked about part of the problem with the defense was those guys had to play too many snaps. The problem with that was maybe they didn't trust Nolan Smith enough. Like Nolan Smith was drafted to be part of that rotation. Sure. And maybe that's a coaching thing or not. But if you, like if you can convince Josh Sweat and Hassan Reddick that everybody playing fewer snaps is going to make everybody better.

I don't, I don't like, like, I think they still would like to trade Hassan Reddick and get good value back for him, appropriate value back for him. But I think probably more than any other position, I think there would be, there would be, it might be combustible with everybody fighting for playing time, but you could probably make it work there more than anywhere else. I suppose so, but there's also a human dynamic here, right?

I agree. So you would need to massage, I mean, it would have to be like a very, very generous massage on, Hassan Reddick's contract because like it can't just be we'll throw you a little change by orchids of Asia. That came off the tip of your tongue.

I don't see this. Now I could be wrong. And look the league might tell Hassan Redick what he's worth, right? But also I think some of this might come down to compensation as well from the Eagles perspective, right? And how he has shown in the past,

he showed this was Zach Ertz. He's he's shown it elsewhere that he's not going to just make a trade to make a trade. It has to make a sense for him. And he's he's willing to be patient. He's willing to wait for the right deal and kind of see what that presents. And he also understands more so than I think most teams do that or I should say most GMs do. That deadlines at this time of year are often artificial, right? you don't play a game until September 6th.

Really, that's what you're working with. And by the way, that did not materialize the way the Eagles wandered. And I'm sure Howie could have pulled the trigger earlier on a Zach Hurt's trade than getting a fifth round pick and Tay Gowan after a few months of them playing. But what Howie has shown over time is he's not going to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade. It has to be a trade that makes sense for the Eagles. So I'm really curious to see what happens here over the next. month, but I think overall, like in, and not the change of subject, but in conjunction with

this conversation is that the Eagles aren't finished here. Like, I really want to make that clear. Like, there's, there's more work that I expect the Eagles to do. Obviously, the Reddick trade. There could be other high profile moves that they, that they make here. I don't think the Eagles are sitting on their hands on March 25th being like, all right, this is the team. We're going to trot out plus draft picks, right?

I still think they are looking to make moves. I agree. And some of it is in conjunction with like what the veteran trade market has been. We can talk about that after we get through all of this because the legerious need trade is something I want to ask you about from the Eagles perspective. And I do, I need to address the, there's a comment in here from AWOG who was saying he's surprised at how anti-advanced stats I am compared to the way he thinks that I like about football. Pressure isn't, my whole beef is that pressure is not an advanced stat. it is a subjective thing being presented as objective. It's the same thing as targets, like judging corners by who's been targeted.

We were watching the film with Coach Flynn the other day of these corners targets. And it's like a running back out of the backfield, they're dropping deep in zone. They just happen to sort of maybe be the closest guy. And they get pegged for that as a target. That's not real. And so pressure is it is not an objective thing. When I'm looking at pressure, I want to see quarterback hits. That is a thing that you cannot.

argue there is too much of a blurry line about what is a pressure it's an invented thing that's why it doesn't matter give me hard data you like your hard data that's for sure don't present

the subjective as objective that's my soapbox for today speaking I concur Soapboxes, Zach, what's everybody's favorite thing to do tonight? What are we doing tonight, Zach? Tonight is the party with the league big weeks,

the head anchos. And you know what everybody's going to be doing as they're talking and making their way from food table to food table, seeing if they're a lamas to pet? You know what they're going to be doing? You tell me, though. They're going to be sucking them back with the boy, Zach, because a lot has changed over the year.

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Alipop is sold online. You can go to DrinkOllipop.com or on Amazon, and it's available and almost 30,000 retailers nationwide, including, get this, Wawa, plus Target, Sprouts, Wegman, ShopRite, and GoPuff. Zach, before we get going, speaking of sucking them back with the boys, I wanted to give a shout out to all the good bracket names in the PHLY bracket pool, and one of them is sucking them back with the boys. But really, like a lot of credit to the team that is number one in the bracket after the first weekend.

Very well-named, compliments to the chef, which is a very good one. A quick rundown of the rest. We've got Tom Donahoe fist bump, President's Day Party, Baskin-Robbins, 31 flavors, Julio, cummed and went, space guy naked,

excited for this bracket, sucking him back, 2K-24, Zach's honeytrap, Bow's plaid shirt, Daniel Gallin's mustache, and then the Ostman family bakery, which is the team name of Daniel Gallin's submission.

So shout out to Defob Daniel Gowan. Hentime for badness, dirt of the earth. This Zach will get naked. ZB's hentai heroes. More mistress talk. Fashion party. That's mine. Smells like Weston Lobby.

Food City All-Stars. And Puntalytics. Shout out to Raphael, our friend, who is in the chat, who is in the bracket. Great names. And we have a former NFL head coach. who chimed in on the super chat.

Why don't you read it? We'll pull it up on the screen. Thank you so much from Arthur Bowulf Smith, saying, seeing the joy die in Zeeb's eyes, has he realized that he wasn't going to talk to Fletch? It was a great moment in PHY history. Us sickos are lucky to have a beatwriter who loves the job more than his family.

Happy late birthday. I got to say, I love my family more than anything. I do love my job also when I strive to be good at it. And it wasn't that I was unhappy to see my wife and my kids on the screen. I was taking it back by it. But I had prepared for Fletcher Cox. It also thought it'd be pretty cool to have Fletcher Cox the week that, you know, get a chance to catch up with him about retirement. So I was driving in the work all pumped to talk to Fletcher Cox.

But this was a, it was a very good treat. I also want to say in terms of confidence to the chef that my mother-in-law, she will. watched the show and she said, now she needs to make me rice crispy treats because she didn't realize how much I liked rice crispy treats. And I was saying how, you know, Bose were delicious. They had the brown butter. But if my mother-in-law is watching, you don't have to make me rice crispy streets. I really appreciate that, but I'm very low overhead though, very easy to make. Very low overhead. That is true. Now, did, did Emily have a review of her own after having seen the episode? Yeah, yeah, she, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's,

She thought you guys were creative and she said that I really need to think of something for your birthday. But she also knows I'm not a big birthday. Like, guys actually come up before that like I don't make a big enough deal sometimes about birthdays. And then additionally, her birthday falls always during football season, right? And unfortunately for me sometimes you get into a big week and I'm focused on that game. I'm focused on the matchups. And so, but yeah, June 11th, I can work something fun up for June 11th. And was, was Emily impressed that one of the leaders of the most powerful nations on Earth listens to the show?

I don't think she got to that part. But yeah, she certainly likes seeing Sean Greene. Shout out to Emack. I know you're watching. She likes seeing Sean Greve and Pete Vernon and Coach Cross on there. So shout out to them. I appreciate that very much. All right.

Let's keep moving around the topic. By the way, she did get to the part about Macron. I just, I don't think she quite understood the joke there. That's the thing. I think it was very esoteric. Wait, so you just lied like 90 seconds ago? I wasn't trying to cover for her. It wasn't like we were like actively watching the Macron part, right?

It was, it was funny if you were in on the joke, I think. Wow. All of a sudden, you're, we have to call into question. integrity as a truth teller if you're going to no no no no no I'm trying to protect I'm trying to stand up for my wife here okay let's let's keep moving the ball around from the things that harry Roseman talked about today let's move on to CJ Gardner Johnson if we're just going to go down the list of how much money they spent CJ Gardner Johnson what did what did how we say I thought this was maybe like the poll quote of everything he said today was the thing that he said

about the like the nastiness on defense and let me pull it up. Yeah. So I, what did he say exactly? Yeah, he did not use the term that I used competitive zeal. If he pulled out, if he pulled out a competitive zeal, I would certainly know that he watches the show. Well, well, hold on. Well, now I have to address this because he said something today that did make it clear that he watches the show.

It has never been so clear because you, this was towards the end. and you as, you know, the man who needs to have everything on the record, and he did a very good job of this. You wanted to just sort of quickly run through everybody they signed, get Howie Roseman's, you know, stump speech on them, the bottom line. And you asked him about Devonte, or he asked him about Paris Campbell, actually, and he goes, well, Zach. And he winks.

I'm like, twinkle, goes into his eye, and a wry smile, creeps up his cheeks, and he goes, you know, he did have a 60-catch season a year. ago, two years ago. It didn't go totally like that, but yeah, I mean, the 60 catch season did. And then he winked again. And that is accurate that he has 60 catch season. Anyways, regarding C.J. Gardner

Johnson, he said, when he was asked about that mentality personality, he said, that would be accurate to say. We were looking to gain our swagger and mentality back. Obviously what happened at the end of the year, didn't feel good, wasn't acceptable for any of us. You get players you can bring that

and have that motivation and that mentality. And he was also talking about guys who were young. Yeah. The idea of bringing in, which, which to be to be fair, this was a thing he said at the combine and followed through with was focusing on bringing in younger guys on defense. But the swagger, the mentality, I remain of the thought that it's kind of silly to like frame it as you're making right a decision from last offseason. But if you think that that is a dynamic that is needed in the defense moving forward. I can get on board.

Yeah, I stand by what I said when they signed him, that I thought they missed that last year. I'm not saying that I don't think you signed someone because of that. They have to be talented, right? Like that's the barrier for entry is being really talented. But I think if we go back and we watch the shows, I said that you can't just have guys out there who are like wireboys. Like everyone's different, right?

But I think a certain edge can benefit a defense. Actually, I heard Jason Kelsey say a similar thing on his show this week about what C.J. brings. And I think there's value to that. Now, I'll put it this way. I wouldn't want 11 C.J. Garner Johnson's on my defense in terms of personality. Too small. I want high-skill level. No, but I mean, just like there's a, it can become too combustible if everyone's like that.

But you often need the straw that stirs the drink. and he can be the straw that serves the drink. And I think the Eagles missed that last year, and I think they'll welcome him back this year. Well, and they framed, Howie Roseman sort of framed Devin White as part of that group as bringing a little bit of edge. And I asked him about Devin White

and the perception that this is a guy who was a freelancer last year especially, and at times throughout his career, and maybe that didn't seem like it was going to be a fit for Vic Fangio. Why is that not the case? and he said basically, you know, I think Devin White would tell you that he didn't have his best year last year, just like we didn't have our best year last year.

And he saw that like there were guys in the market who got paid more money who didn't have a great year two years ago and had a good year this year. And so both sides view this as a chance to increase his value and like an opportunity for him to do that. But in terms of the Vic fit, he said what what Vic looks for. He looks for speed. He looks for explosiveness. which Devon certainly has. This is a direct quote. He's looking for people who are versatile,

who can play in space, who can play in coverage, who can get out for the quarterback, and obviously fill in the run game as well. In terms of Vic and the fit, I think it's a good fit and obviously a good opportunity for us. And so I think he's selling it as like this is a make-good opportunity for Devin White to be like a guy in the middle of a defense that has upside

and rebuild his value on the open market. Yeah. I'm I'm with you there as far as Devin White. I think what how he said was was spot on. Like they're acknowledging that he did not have the year that he wanted last year. He was being paid accordingly, right? And that this is a chance for Devin White to reset his value. And, you know, we said like if this goes well for Devin White,

he's being paid big money next year. He's still at that age profile. He's had good years behind him. And that's kind of what Deagles are. gambling on is he has the athletics skill set that made him the number five pick in the draft. He has the personality attributes that allowed him to be a team captain. And there are factors sometimes, and we've seen it, like guys play bad in contract years. Sometimes guys play great in contract years.

Sometimes the contract year affects them. And this isn't to say that Devin White's going to come in and he's going to have the year that what it's Kevin Dodson was that the, was that the, was that the, guard who it's kind of like a cast off and is making 16 million the next year. I'm not saying that's that's going to happen, but that's kind of the gamble that the Eagles are taking with Devin White. I thought that one of the things he said about some of the other players he signed that really made my my eyebrows raise that, you know, I wanted to bookmark was on Zach Bonn.

Yeah. When he mentioned that, you know, Vic Fangio went to Miami last year and had a player with a very similar skill set, uh, have a breakout year. and he's referring to Andrew Van Ginkle, who we've talked about. And it is absolutely true that Bonn was like, Bonn was not Orrin Berks, right? It was not like they waited out the market. He was the guy who they targeted to go get. They signed him very early in free agency.

And I think they view him as, it sounds like, according to what Howard Rosman said, sort of a poor man's or next man's Andrew Van Ginkle in the way they're going to use him, which, you know, comes back to the discussion about do they have too many edge rushers? like are there enough snaps to go around? If they're going to use him in this way, you probably don't have enough room for all those guys, but that is, they view him as a guy who has real upside in the defense.

Yeah, and the part of his quote that jumped out to me is he was a targeted guy for us, right? And I don't think we made light of it, but it was like interesting the first day of free agency. The three guys they signed were Sakerne Barclay, Bryce Huff, and Zach Bonn, right? And that's not by coincidence. This is someone who went the market over. and they wanted him.

When they did their scouting, they thought this was a profile player that they really wanted to bring in here. And that to me is also a part of the conversation we've had about Vic Fangio's influence in the guys they signed this offseason. I mean, that to me is like, Vic was like, I want a guy like this. And they probably brought a few guys to him who might have that skill set. And this is the one that he wanted. Yeah. And both, I mean, it's probably not a coincidence. Both are Wisconsin guys who kind of fit that role in the Wisconsin.

defense. And that's how, if so, if you're looking for the Zach Bond comp for the Eagles, it's going to be the way Andrew Van Ginkle was used last year in Miami, not maybe in terms of workload and Bond's going to have a role in special teams for the Eagles, but that's the way they're going to use them. I want to get to corner in a sec, Zach, but before that of the, of everybody else who we talked about, everybody else who he signed, is there anybody else worth mentioning? I know, I imagine you're going to have a piece on all p.hly.com that sort of goes through everybody. Well, not who they signed, but who they traded for, Kenny Pickett.

We should just kind of get into Pickett real quickly. Sure. And, you know, first off, it was framed to Howie in a question about, like, did he run this by Jaylen? And he quickly pushed back that Jaylen's a franchise quarterback. Like, there's nothing they could do a quarterback that affects Jaylin hurts his status on the on the team. But he basically said that Pickett's a guy that they did a lot of work on going into the

draft. You never know what's going to happen down the line. That, you know, the Eagles are not shy about saying that they've benefited from the backup quarterback or the second quarterback, as Jeffrey Lurie terms it, like more than any team in the league when they're concerned they want a Super Bowl with one, right? And then you look at all the guys that they've had who've played playoff games who have been backups. And so they're investing in that position. I think they view Pickett as more athletic than the perception might indicate, but they also don't think that the backup quarterback needs to play the same style as the starting quarterback. Like from their vantage point, it's hard enough to find like a starting quarterback in this league or a good quarterback in this league.

You're really limiting yourself if you say you need to find one who has the same skill set as your starting quarterback. And that because of the skill players that they have on offense, right, if J.1 and Hertz got hurt, they can function. well as an offense, in theory, not leaning into some of the, you know, run concepts that they might have with J.1. Hertz. Also, it should be noted that like the Eagles, I think publicly and privately, are still very bullish on Tandong Key. Now, you could also say your actions speak louder, right? Right? Like that. They're only bullish to a point. I mean, if they were, if they loved him, they would not have made this trade. No, yeah, you're correct about that.

They don't think he's he's ready to be the backup quarterback, but I also don't think Tanner McKee's in jeopardy of losing his roster spot. Like, you know, when Will Greer was signed. They signed Will Greer over the weekend, formerly West Virginia, has kicked around the league for the past five years. You don't view him as a threat to Tanner McKee. No, I think Will Greer's just here to kind of be, I don't want to say a translator, but he's he's there to be, well,

translator has a, he's here to place the bet on, on Jalen Hertz's gambling addiction. No, no, he's, he's here to kind of help with the Kellynne Moore offense. You know, he has experience with Moore, has experience with the way, Nuss Meyer.

I don't think the Eagles add a quarterback in the draft or in the undrafted market who, like, meaningfully pushes Tanner McKee. I think Tanner McKee's the number three developmental quarterback this year. Sorry, you got pause there for a minute on my feet. The McKee thing, like, I believe that they still like him, but they don't love him. Sure.

Otherwise, like, you know, they don't think he's ready. To be the backup. Yeah, to be the backup. Yeah, that's what he was drafted for, right? They drafted him to be, to have the upside of being a cheap backup, a cost-controlled backup. He had a really good preseason. Who knows what happened over the course of the regular season. And now they're committing two years to a different,

cheap backup, which means that if they want to keep Kenny Pickett, they're going to have one year of a cheap backup in Taryn McKee. I don't know. They don't love them that much. I have fair point. Fair point. I mean, I think that maybe they think they can trade Pickett and flip them that way, but still. Yeah, I think the way they're looking at it is if you have to win a game next year, do you have a better chance of doing it with Kenny Pickett or Chandrop Keep. By the way, that answer might not be obvious. Like that answer might not certainly be Kenny Pickett, even though Kenny Pickett was a first-round pick. But I think from their perspective, it's a chance to collect a guy that they probably had a decent draft grade on coming out of pit.

And they'll see what they had on it. But they did trade. I mean, they trade meaningful pick, right? Or a meaningful picket swat to get picket. So it's not like Pickett is a lottery ticket for them. Lottery picket, lottery ticket. There you go. All right.

Last thing from Howie Roseman. I think is his sort of state of the cornerback position, which was another good question by you, Zach. And I think this is along the lines of, we got a long way before week one happens. But in conjunction with the Legerius Sneed trade, which is also part of the Kenny Pickett conversation, Legerius Sneed gets traded for a third.

And wasn't it some other pick swap as part of it or something? And obviously the new contract, I mean, I'm a little bit surprised that the Eagles didn't want to pay that, especially if you didn't make the Kenny Pickett trade, right? Like if it was a third on the table, that strikes me as the kind of thing that they might have been interested in. Maybe that means that they are in the market for a different veteran cornerback that they can trade for

who maybe has more upside or is a little bit younger. Maybe it means that they think they've got enough at the position or they want to see how the draft plays out. What did how we say about like the guys who are here and their expectations moving forward. And then we'll get into the Sneed talk after that. Sure. Yeah. So what he said about Corner is like Slay is someone who, you know,

they still think the top cornerback. They looked at the way he played last year against number one corners. And they really liked him, right? Or they thought he still played at a high level. Like they're still expecting Slay to be their number one corner. The Eagles aren't beating around the bush about James Bradbury. Like they are honest. They're not going to stand up there and try to give a spin about Bradbury's year.

Bradbury did not play. Yeah, but, you know, they say like, like Bradbury did not play the way that they expected him to play when they gave that contract. So his expectations or our expectations? Yes, exactly. And then when they signed Bradbury to that contract, they thought they'd have him for three years. like they said they had said we're not shying away from the fact that he didn't have the year that he wanted or we wanted yeah but as we discussed on this show like bradbury has that contract they're paying bradbury right there's no financial relief right now to release bradbury right so i i think that they'll see what bradbury has this spring and kind of make a decision they can do something after after june first if they want but that's kind of where they stand there keely ringo how he won't say this is their third round pick this year, but they traded their third round pick this year for him.

They played them late last year. I think they saw some things that they liked. Eli Ricks is someone that they'll still hope to develop. Isaiah Rogers, like they consider Isaiah Rogers in this mix. Now he has to be reinstated, but they're looking forward to seeing him. That's something that is certainly the case. Tyler Hall, who they signed.

They liked it when he was on Vegas's practice squad. like they were interested in signing him then. But really, and this is a big reminder from Hallie Roseman, he said, quote, again, it's March 25th. We'll see where it ends up here as we go through the process. And I said the first week of free agency, I did not think the move at corner was on the open market that year, this year. I thought that if they really wanted to make a material change at corner, it would be like in the draft or via trade. And I thought they would trade for someone. I still think that's on the table.

I think you've presented really good names when you talked about AJ Terrell, maybe J.C. Horn gets moved. The name that I'll keep mentioning is Patrick Sartan. Now, Denver hasn't given any indication that they're going to trade him. But Sean Payton said today that don't rule the Broncos out, basically, as a trade-up candidate for a quarterback. And if the Broncos do that, then unless they're trading all their future first, again, right, which they've already done for Russell Wilson, then they're going to have to get another first somehow. And I think the Eagles would give up number 22 right now for Patrick Stratan. Right? So I would kind of, I'm not like reporting this. I'm curious because of the market.

The market for veterans has been so deflated. Would you need to give up a first? Could you give up, could you give up two seconds? I mean, he's like 23 years old. He might be the best owner in the league. But yeah, good point. I mean, if it's two seconds, yeah. But look, I said I was going to give up the 20 second pick in the trade for Brian Burns. And it wouldn't have cost that. So, yeah, you don't want me making the trades, right? I'm the one who gave up a second round pick for Zion Williams.

And in my fantasy league. I'm already knocked out, right? So that didn't do me any good. Well, you're knocked out. Yeah, lost in the opening round of the playoffs. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, no.

Oh, no. Yeah. And they didn't even say the name of our playoffs. when they talked about the whole back and forth. Shout out the rights to Ricky. And 11 made a good trade because he got Zion for a second. And I thought I'd make a run. And I did not make a run.

Was it close at least? Yeah, it was 5.3. It was 5.3. I couldn't. My problem was Drew Howard. I didn't play any games last week. And he was like questionable every night. And I could have cut him early in the week and I didn't do that.

Anyways, it's kind of like when the Brewers traded for C.C. Zabathia, then they got knocked out right away, right? Then CC goes. Yeah, but at least they had fun. Well, Zion was fun to follow for these three weeks, but I'll always have these three weeks of Zion, right? Yeah. Let's wait and see, uh, let's,

let's wait and see what's happening in your life nine months from now. You have to be a real NBA junkie to understand that joke. So yeah, so anyways, uh, that's kind of where they stand at, at cornerback. I think this is the position. where like they need to make or there's still room to be made here like in terms of a material change where you could say their starter week one or like their contributor week one might not be on the roster i don't think james bradbury's spot on the team is secure i i think this is a wait

and see with bradbury that's where i like i think there is a line between telling the truth and and not necessarily telling the truth because you know he's talking about james bradbury has been through adversity before his career he has had bounce back years so like that is still on the table and you know we sent a third round picked for kely ringo we liked what we saw from him this year i just i don't i don't know that i believe that they're they're willing to believe that bradbury can be a starter for them i still think it's more likely than not that he is not even here by training camp but um we will see we'll see if if they're not able to make a trade and if the draft doesn't work out that way i mean they do have a lot of they have better like middle depth

at the position and like better shots than they have had in the past, especially if Isaiah Rogers gets reinstated, then you've got Ringo and Ricks and Rogers and even like the, the 20% chance that Bradbury gets back to a respectable level. Like that is better, you know, two through five than they have had in recent years. Yeah, that's, that's fair to say. Because like, I don't think that they need to use a second or third round pick on a corner or, you know, if it's not the top of their board,

I don't think that they need to force it. Agreed. All right. Before we move on, Zach, let's talk again about our friends at MortgageC.S. Mortgage CS offers refinancing options, including rate and term refinances for a rate or payment reduction or cash out refinances to tap into home equity, making it a smart choice for those with high interest debt or funding, home projects, or education. Mortgage CS stands for mortgage concierge service. service, white glove service from the good folks at Mortgage CS. They are going to take you through every step of the process and make things easier for you,

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price guaranteed. Zach, would you have done the Legerius Sneed deal if you were the Eagles? If my evaluation of Sneedy as a player was that he was the top corner, yes. I would. I think that that price in terms of contract is reasonable. I think the price into, I think the like you're giving up a third round pick. Now the Eagles didn't, they don't have a third round pick to give up, right? They probably had to give up.

They did. They did. But it wasn't the signal because I think the chiefs were looking early. Actually, no, I'm sorry. This is next year's third round pick. So they do have a third round pick to give up. That's right. Yeah, it was a future.

Yeah, because I think the Chiefs were looking for a better third round pick than what the comp pick would have been, had they not tagged him. But also, it really depends on if you think Sneed's that player. If you think Sneed was kind of like propped up in that defense, I don't have a strong opinion on it. I think the valuation's good, but it would really come down to the evaluation. I would rather, like Patrick Sartan, but I don't know if certain is available.

So about the cost. It's hard to say. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Anything else from Howie Rose, when you'd like to touch on? That was, it was good speaking with him. We'll have more kind of sprinkled in over the next few days. But I think from a big picture perspective, those were the big ones here.

Okay. Oh, well, we should say too. This is an opinion that I have. Howie was asked about, like, the leadership void, with Fletcher Cox and with Jason Kelsey. This is a big soapbox one for you. And I totally agree with your take here. Yeah.

And so he kind of talked about the guys who can step up as leaders. But I want to make one thing clear. I keep hearing how are the Eagles going to replace these guys as leaders. And they're going to miss them as players, but they're really going to miss the leadership. They're going to miss them as players much more in my thing. Jason Kelsey is an all-pro center who controls the line of scrimmage. You're not going to get that. from day one, at least, with Cam Jurgens.

Fletcher Cox was their most consistent defensive player last year. Like, he was a consistent player here for a decade plus. They're going to miss that. Like, I keep hearing they're going to miss them. They had them both as leaders last year. The team totally sank at the end of the season. So what did it matter? Yeah.

They're going to miss these guys as football players far more than they're going to miss these guys as leaders. That's not to take anything away from them as leaders. It's just that I always say this. leadership is apparent on good teams, right? Like if you're, when you have a good team, you can always point to the leadership. What the Eagles need is a lot of good players. And they're really going to miss that at center and at defensive tackle. I totally agree.

I think that's a good. They're absolutely going to miss them more as elite players than they are as leaders. Although how he did go through, like, you know, Devin White's been a captain, say, well, Barkley's been a captain. Some of these guys are bringing in and have some of those, capabilities. I think we touched on everything else from around the league. What did you make of the rule changes, Zach?

Yeah, I mean, I'm not like being an Eagles, John Ferrari stand here, but I would much rather see a fourth and 20. Got voted down again. Yeah, got voted down again. Like, it's a fun play. I would love that. That would add more excitement to the game. You know, I heard Andy Reid when he was talking about kickoff.

basically saying that they have 2,000 plays that aren't good for fans, aren't good for players, aren't good for coaches, right, and gain kickoffs right now. So add some excitement back to the kickoffs. That's kind of how I view that fourth and 20 proposal. I would like to see that. I don't, the NFL, more than any other league, seems to be most resistant to change sometimes when it comes to roles.

I don't agree with that. They change the rules every off season. I mean, baseball changed the rules like once in 50 years. Yeah, so that's, all right, fair enough. So I, but I think they don't like, you know, for instance, we talk about like the chains and things like that. They're still antiquated things that are kind of baked in here. Yeah. Yeah.

I actually think they have a fetish for over litigating the game and changing things and making that part of like the entertainment product is there's always a new thing to complain about. Is that how you see the tackle? Change? I think the hip track tackle thing, first of all, it's going to be a total disaster to litigate and officiate in game. Maybe I'm going too far here. I also think it's pretty gross. Like the NFLPA is against this, right?

Like vehemently against this. And I think scale-wise, obviously it's different. But I think there is a bit of a connective thread between, who is in your hotel room right now? Are we into mistress talk? No, no, it's the housekeeping attendant. Yeah, the cleaning person. Coming a little bit late at 5 o'clock.

You're telling me, yeah. Looking askance. I think, if you would like me to move on, I think there's a connective thread. This is not funny between the, like Republican urge to litigate women's health and tell you how we think that you should like you should have agency over your own body. No, we're going to be the ones who are in charge of that. And it's like a constant reminder of who is in charge and putting you in your place.

I think there is a functionality of that here from ownership perspective. Like we're in charge. It doesn't matter if you think that. This is best for you or your bodies. Like, we're going to tell you what's best. And it's just another way of letting you know that we're the ones who are in charge. I mean, I think that's a little bit of a leap here. I don't, I think that's, I don't see the.

I think gremlins are going to gremlin. I think this is a situation where, yeah, that they, they want to kind of point the things, whether it's real or whether it's artificial, of how they're trying to make the game safer. and I mean you could argue whether this this makes the game safer but this is them saying we focus on player safety and so we're going to do this whereas like the reality is they play a collision sport and as long as there's tackling like you're wearing pads and helmets for a reason and there's there's going to be injuries here but yeah I don't I don't I think I don't see a similarity. You don't want to be part of this conversation. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, yeah, I don't think when they're in that meeting there, they are thinking about women's reproductive rights. I don't think, I think that is like. Well, I'm not saying they're thinking. That's not what I said. I'm just saying like, oh, we know best. We want to let you know. Yeah.

I actually don't think they want to. I don't think they know best. I don't think they think they know best here. I just think they want to point to something that they did. I think they just want to say, look, look, we care about player safety, right? Because we're changing this tackle. Like, I think they're just looking for things to point to. It's like someone who, you know, like runs the first base.

Or, yeah, I'll tell you what it's like. It's like the Valley Parker, who you give them the keys and they sprint to the car, right? Because they want you to see that like they're they're working to do something here. I think that's that's what this is. Okay. I'm not going to linger here. I'll allow us to move on. Because by the way, the owner's meeting is where we had some of our,

one of our most contentious shows in the past. I don't even remember this. Oh, who. I remember vividly. I remember. I sort of remember the general idea of it from two years ago. I were calling my wife the next morning. Yeah.

like I felt really uncomfortable about last night show. They were sitting in the West Palm Beach airport at like 6 a.m. being like, I think birds of friends is in trouble right now.

I was like, I was saying that I was saying, I think Boe accused me of like condoning Deshawning Deshawn Watson's behavior because I simply said that that the Eagles are like focused in trying to find a good quarterback and they're not they're

not making a moral stand when it comes to yeah that they're separating the art from the artist i think that was that was my position i i would remembers he says the dischaun watson show i don't even remember the whole the whole back and forth oh yeah i i i slept very uncomfortable yeah i slept uncomfortable that night because of that and because i was in a hotel room that did not change its air filters for about that that back I don't think that hotel ever changed their filters. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. How do you like this hotel, Zach? Um, I mean, besides the fact that they just knocked on my door five o'clock. By the way, we got the sheet of paper here when we signed in that said, that said, you will receive a tidy refresh every day, which includes garbage removal and towel replacement. Okay. So like that's, that's the extent of it. They empty your, your trash and, and they made my dad. They did they not make your bed?

Oh, really? No. No, that's what they were there for. That's what they're here for a five or six. Look, I mean, I think the smell is, I feel like it passes the smell test. Oh,

you know, wow, you think it smells bad or you think it lacks a distinct good smell? Well, it definitely lacks a distinct good smell, but it smells bad. It smells, it's kind of smell.

I was going to text you last night. Does your smell like chlorine? Yeah. But, smell snob. Look, it's, I mean, It's a fine.

Look, I'll put it this way. I've stayed a much worse. I'm not complaining. No doubt about that. Yeah, I, I mean, one thing that. You're not my favorite. I do. I could use a little bit more from the water pressure.

Okay. Yeah. And it, it, it took about like 45 seconds for hot water to come out. Did that happen for you as well? Well, we'll get to that. Okay. We'll get to that. Yeah.

But, no, I, I've said this. I said this to you off off, off camera, and I'll say it on. Like, I don't think any, I don't think any, I don't think any, I don't think any, fan like wants to hear from reporters complaining about their uh like it's just a checking yeah people people care about your proclivities yeah look this is this is this is the i want to bring the family here i like this isn't where i would like i i wouldn't take emily no i want to take emily on like a vacation to to take to here but i think it's it's it's it's fine it's it's for i don't think i've ever stayed somewhere where where uh they go steamer over iron oh i did see that

Yeah, I did see that. Okay. We have to figure out how to use the steamer. Yeah, by the way, Randy says housekeeping going at knock at 5 a.m. Look, I was up at 5 a.m. So the housekeeping can knock at 5 a.m. I was ready to rock and roll at 5 a.m. All right, let's get to that.

Because Zach, Zach saved my life this morning. I was worried for your life. I didn't save your life. He deserves credit for being a true hero. I text him last night. What's our call time in the morning? Coach's breakfast is 745. Zach's got the rental car.

So he says, let's leave at 645. I said, great. No problem. I was just hanging out in the room last night, watching college basketball, had dinner with myself. Lovely. Nothing, you know, nothing going on.

And then I get a room phone call this morning that wakes me up. And I look at my clock. It's 715. What have I done? somehow my alarm was on was on silent and I slept right through the whole thing. I was so un worried about getting up at 615. It was just completely off my radar. And then here's, here's, you know, concierge, your friend, your friend here was checking on you.

I knew exactly what had happened. And I ran into the shower. I think I was downstairs within 10 minutes, but I felt terrible. I totally screwed you over. That's never happened to me before. it's okay. I'll say from my perspective, it went from like slightly annoyed to like slightly worried.

Because so, yeah. You tried to call me. I texted like four times and I called twice and you weren't picking up. Yeah. And I'm thinking, oh goodness, like I hope everything's okay.

Do I have to contact Rachel? Like, do I have to be? You said you were minutes away from texting Zach and Marissa to ask for Rachel's number. Or she or Marissa. Yeah. So yeah, so yeah, I was, I didn't quite know what to do there. And then, and there was like a, a steady stream of our colleagues from a different outlet who, you know, who are also staying in the hotel.

And like, you know, they were getting Uber's or lifts. And I was like, oh, I can give you a ride. And like, they're hanging out with me for like five minutes. Oh, there were people waiting for a ride with you who then left? Oh, yeah. Oh, that's very funny. And I was like, sorry, I'm waiting on Bo. And then they're like, and then.

And one person was like, one person was like, well, when Bo wakes his ass up, he can, he can get an over. Yeah. And then I was like, and then I was like, actually, Bill has my credentials. Yes. So not only did I hold you up, but you couldn't even leave without me because I had, I went yesterday to try to do my part as a good teammate and got your credential for you before you arrived. No. But that meant that you were held hostage. Yeah.

Look, we got there on time. No harm, no foul. We did get there on time. We didn't miss anything. You did a good job getting changed quickly. I was just happy everything was okay because like I'm thinking like, oh my God, am I going to have to call Rachel? I didn't know what had. Like I didn't know.

I mean, I didn't know what was going on. Like, and I wanted to see if you if I had died, would you have done the show today still? Well, what kind of question is that? I would be in mourning. I'd be really like, I mean, I don't want to talk about this. That's a horrible leak to take. Yeah, I just didn't know what I mean your mind must have gone there. Am I going to have to miss Rally for this?

I figured I figured your phone died was my guess. And that's why, but I had to go to the front desk like you said. And they said, you know, it's room number. I was like, I don't know his room number. I said, but this is, I literally said this. I've been sitting right here in front of you. for the last 25 minutes at this point, like, or the last 20 minutes. I was like, I didn't say this whole thing out, but I'm thinking, like, I wasn't sitting here

for 20 minutes with this idea of, like, you know, defrauding someone in your hotel by finding out there, you know, by having you call them. Like, I'm clearly waiting for somebody. Let me ask you this, because it's clear that my short-term or middle-term memory is not very good. am I right that this has not happened before? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, certainly not to this level. Yeah, I mean, look, it happens with me too sometimes where like, you know, I'm six minutes late or something like that.

I'm usually like a texture. Like, hey, I'm coming down now. Like, or I need an extra five. So I figured it was that. But then when it got to seven, I was like, oh, shoot. And then when it got to like 705, I was like. But yeah, look, this is fine. This is fine.

But it's a good tip now for people that they do want to defraud somebody. Put in the, put in the time on the front end, wait like a half an hour, looking aggrieved in the lobby and then go to the front desk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Seriously, playing the long game there. No, but I was, I was annoyed at at first, but. Rightfully so.

It worked out fine. And it was the IFC today. Like if it was tomorrow, yes. Oh, I would be really fired up. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And fairly. Yeah.

If I'm late to Nick because I'm like, Nick, this guy didn't get out of bed today. Yeah. Yeah, that would be hard. That would be hard to live down. But we did get there on time. So I would probably need to all the more reason to have an early call time. So you build in some. Some equity.

I probably need a second sentence. I had the thing where I, I woke up at five, right? My alarm was set for 545. And then I'm like, you know, it's going to take me eight to ten minutes to fall back to sleep. Do I really need those extra 35 minutes? And so then I was like, you know what? I'm up. My R.E.M. is finished.

So I'm just going to get up. Showered. Yeah, research some stuff, read some stuff, and was ready for the day. Okay. All right, Zach. That is pretty much it for this episode. Now, let's update what we're going to do tomorrow. So tomorrow morning after tonight's, you know, extravaganza with the owners and, you know, the head honchos in the NFL, the Bacchanal that's going to happen at the Ritz Carlton and the JW.

We will hear from Nick Siriani early in the morning. Now, some discussion that it's not fair that AFC coaches go first and NFC coaches go second every single year, putting the head coaches. and media members in the NFC in the very difficult position of having to be there at 745 in the morning after the Bacchanal. Do you know what? Tough. That's just, that's why this job is so hard, right, Zach? Not the case.

We're going to hear from Nick Siriani in the morning. We're going to hear from Jeffrey Lurie tomorrow afternoon. And then our plan right now is one show at 5 o'clock, 5 p.m. Eastern time tomorrow in which we will talk. about everything that we've heard from Siriani and Jeffrey Lurie, the only time of year that Jeffrey Lurie speaks. So that will be an important thing to unpack.

Until then, how are you feeling, Zach? Excited. This is your favorite place. Yeah, feeling excited. On that note, I have no sympathy for like the sports reporters who will tweet out, I don't know how people function at this hour, right? It's like seven,

it's 745 in the morning. Like this is a totally reasonable time. reasonable time. Now, you're obviously not, you know, out that late often on a Monday night or whatever, come on. Like, this is, yeah, I have no sympathy for for people who are like, oh, God, I can't function here. We get to do this job. We don't have to do this job. That's what I say every day. Yep. Okay. Anything else to get off your chest besides that handsome shirt? No, we got a, we got a full show tomorrow and then I got good shows coming. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday with Rich Hoffman.

So excited for those. So there's going to be a lot to still unpack from Howie, from Nick, from Jeffrey Lori. and you can find more coverage on all p.shly.com. Also, shout out, by the way, real quick. Big news for P.HLY. Yes. Your Gigano show.

Because it's back. Yep. Starting up at Thursday at 9 a.m. So make sure you tune in. Yeah, excited about that. Got the whole squad ready to go. Very excited to, uh, to, uh, watch that on Thursday and every day after that. So for Zach and Julia behind the scenes and everybody

who was here live commenting away, we thank you for listening and watching. Make sure to subscribe and hit the like button all that good stuff. We will talk to you tomorrow at five. And as always, we love you.