PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Philadelphia Eagles training camp: Mekhi Becton steps in for injured Tyler Steen as starting RG

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

On the last day of the patty cake portion of training camp, it was a successful practice for the defensive line as they muddied the pocket for Jalen Hurts throughout the day. Part of the reason for that was the absence of Lane Johnson and Tyler Steen, with Mekhi Becton getting his shot with the starters at right guard. The free-agent addition who entered the league as the No. 11 overall pick now has a chance to win the job for good.Zach Berman and Bo Wulf recap both Monday’s practice and the weekend’s action that featured candid comments from James Bradberry as the team prepares to finally put on the pads. 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.

Hello everybody and welcome to the PHAY Eagles podcast. The fourth practice of training camp is in the books, but the patty cake sessions are over. Tomorrow they put on the pads, Bo Wolf, Zach Berman, lots to talk about, some moving and shaking along the offensive line. We've got a weekend practice to talk about. James Bradbury broke his silence.

Lots of interesting stuff. How you doing? I'm doing well. Excited for the show. We're starting to get into the thick of it now. Yeah, but this is all preamble tomorrow. they put on the pads and you know it's not football's act till they put on the pads what was the coby dean's quote he said today uh yeah these these t-shirts and shorts is cute but we play football

come on well there is validity to that there's only so much evaluation that can be done you and a student observer of practice are probably waiting for the one-on-one's oh line d line oh let's go come on and you don't do o line d line one-on-ones without pads so that will start up i think we'll have a better sense of the lines of scrimmage but i think from a personnel perspective We're starting to get more of a sense now. I mean, football without pads, Zach, is like writing without verbs. You know what I mean? We're just pretending.

It's the most important thing that you have. Honestly, it's probably writing without adjectives. No, adjectives are superfluous. You don't need adjectives. You need verbs. You need good active verbs. Football without pads. It's just...

Yeah, that's not the ball there. Fair enough. Well, the ball today. I thought Janelle and Hertz was throwing the ball well as he has for four consecutive practices. Well, that's interesting. I thought that Jalen himself was fine today. He was good.

But this was the first day of the four practices so far, although they didn't get to see Saturday's practice either, where it seemed like the defensive line was really making things difficult for the offense. The pocket was muddy today. There were a couple times where Jalen Hurts had to throw the ball away. There were a couple coverage sacks. This was the best day that I think the defensive line has had so far. Yeah, Jalen Carter in particular, look like...

I thought Jordan Davis especially had a good day, actually. Okay, that too. Fresh haircut, more aerodynamic imagine. Yes, yeah, he's got the high top fade. Well, not a high top, just a regular fade going on. Interesting, look for Jordan Davis. I like a fade. I know you do.

Yes. Okay. Did you have something else to say about Chalyn Carter? No, I, there's much we can talk about with practice. I'll defer to you for direction. I was just trying to steer us away from the verb adjective conversation. Okay. Well, let's save the defensive line for a little bit later

because I think let's start at the top with the most important news of the day. And that is Nick Siriani saying before practice that Tyler Steen is going to be out for a little bit. Didn't give a specific timetable. He is dealing with an ankle injury. And we talked about this a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago or so, that, you know, I made the case that Howie Roseman in his heart of hearts was probably kind of hoping that at some point Tyler Steen might suffer, a minor injury because then you and how your kindred spirits because then you get a chance to see mackay

beckton at right guard and there's no drama to it right tyler steen has not been demoted exactly macky beckton looks great it's a very easy listen we we still believe in tyler steen long term he's going to be an important part of this team but we don't want to mess with things right now mackay beckon looks good we know we're feeling good and if macky beckton doesn't look good and then it's a very easy he got that little tryout with you know no harm no foul tally O'Elestein is back and ready to compete at right guard. And it was very interesting today because there was no Lane Johnson suffering a toe injury day to day, not a big deal.

But that meant that there was the starting right tackle spot open as well, which is where Mackay Beckton has been the times that Lane Johnson has been absent. And he wasn't at right tackle. He was at right guard because now we are moving forward, I believe, with Mackay Bechtin is getting this shot. And he has a chance right now to win and earn the job like for the rest of the season. if all things go well for him. Well said.

To build upon that, Tyler Steen goes down in Saturday's practice, right? When Steen goes down, Darien Kinnard goes in at right guard. And I know there was some curiosity from some others about why Kinnard went in and not Beckton. I was like screaming at my Twitter feed. Like what are these reporters have covered training camp before? What are we doing guys? Exactly. So the reason being there is that it was a tackle day for Bechtin, right?

Bechton was playing tackle that day. Right. So the way you framed it about today is much better in that Lane Johnson was missing today. This wasn't an injury that occurred during practice. You knew going in, first team right tackle, first team right guard was open. The Eagles had a deliberate choice to make. By putting Mackay Beckton at right guard, I don't think you can read too much into that at all. I think that is an indication of what we've been discussing since we saw Beckton at guard.

The fact that Bechton has played guard as much as he has during the summer, it's four practices now. But in those first two sessions shows you, they're not just looking at him as the swing tackle. They want to see how he can do on the inside. For the reasons you mentioned with Steen, I don't think they wanted to make just a one-for-one swap yet. What does that do for Steen's confidence? What kind of message does that send? There's a reason why Bechtin was playing left guard, I believe, early on, right? They had that opening with Dickerson.

You can put him there. You can evaluate him. But I don't think they want to do, at least early on, the Bechtons playing right guard over Steen. It's a very convenient order that things have happened here. So now that Steen goes down, and by the way, this is a, I said this on Anthony's show this morning, this is a critical time for this to occur. Like you said, pads go on. They have practice. So they had practice today.

They have practice tomorrow. with pads. They have a walk through Wednesday, a practice Thursday night, and then a walk through presumably Friday and off day Saturday. So if you consider Steen's injury to be, you know, a few days, then

this is valuable time for Beck in the show how he looks there and the conversation that you just said theoretically could occur, could actually occur, that, man, there's something to see here. Jeff Stoutland said it in the spring. When we asked about going, one on, one off, that type of thing. He said he wants that five-wheel drive, unless there's

something that happens that makes you think we really need to take a look at this. I think this might be the thing that happens that makes them really want to take a look at this. He has also talked about the ideal body type he has for that guard is a big guy. Now, Mackayne Beckton has not started at guard in the NFL. He has only been a tackle, right? In the past, he has even bristled at the idea of not being a left tackle, of course, a former first-round pick. we have talked about this for a while the eagles throughout the draft process bringing in first round likely prospects along the offensive line they were very much you know if the board had fallen a certain way willing to take somebody who could step in and start right away at red guard in the

first or second round the board did not work that way and so right when the draft was over they go out and sign mackay back yeah sunday night Sunday night so literally the day after the draft to a significant contract and incentive laden right can can make uh over five million dollars and so it was very clear that this was something that was on their mind tylerstein they i'm sure that they like tylerstein but they have never been reliant upon tylerstein they have never thought like this is our guy for sure for all the reasons we have talked about last year you know they give sue a pet of the spot over him they don't even love sue enough to resign him so tylerstein for whatever reason has never gone and grabbed that job in their minds and so now with beckton it is it is an opportunity

and we will see how it goes. I'm sure they will, you know, bring along Tyler Steen at a nice conservative pace and see how things go. But like there's no guarantee that Mikey Beckton's going to take this job and win it. He has been an up and down player throughout his career. I think there's probably a case to be made that maybe Guard is going to be better for him because he doesn't have to move as much, right? But this is going to be interesting to follow.

And it's, it is convenient that it's now. Let's put the pads on and see how things go. Yes. And I just want to add, this is not like a mediator. creation in in this sense okay when you signed mckeye back in the context that you just laid out this is a career tackle this is someone who's never played guard and so your first spring with the team what do you do with him you put him at guard that goes to show you that if if you did not believe throughout the draft process and not as if they were stacked at tackle exactly you've got fred johnson but that's it

yeah you know there's very much an opportunity to have a better swing tackle yeah so we said throughout the draft process, how offensive line was the most likely position they would take in the first round. Well, six went in the first 21 picks, right? So if Troy Faltonu or someone like that slips, maybe even if Ameris Mim slips, it could be a different conversation at number 22. So you, so, but they're looking at these top offensive linemen throughout the spring, okay? They don't take one early on. I didn't perceive that as a vote of confidence in Tyler Steen. And, I said once they put Becht in there, and we talked about this, this is a job that Bechton could win. I still put Steen as the frontrunner because the fact that Steen was in there, I thought he would have the opportunity to earn it. And he still does have the opportunity to earn it. But I think seeing Bechtin in there, and Bechton has natural talent, Brian Baldinger,

who knows far more about offensive line play than me. Maybe you and him are comparable. But a Baldy who knows the Jets quite well, right? spends time up there in Florin Park. He has said, I think his quote was that like Bechton could be the best run blocker on the team or something of that nature. I mean, the sheer size of him is a big, strong, powerful man. It's hard to find.

And you framed it well about his inconsistencies, but there has been high level play. If you look at like the high water mark, it does end up. His rookie year, he was good. Yeah. Last year, I think he was even still up and down. And then there have been some injuries and conditioning stuff. but certainly the talent is there, and he's still only 25 years old, right?

This is a chance for the Eagles to maybe, you know, find some hidden value. He has talked about like he kind of wants to be here for a while. He chose here. Right. If all things go well. Now, to be fair, the offensive line was not great today. They were also missing Lane Johnson,

and I thought that Beckton was overrun a few times, but, you know, this is a new opportunity. If we can just beat spleen the canard, Conard from Saturday that like they set the the depth chart for the day's practice right and so for that day Darren Conard was the second team Red Guard and he had done some work there and so if something happens in the middle of practice guys just bump up exactly you're not moving things around it's not it's not a game exactly well said so when the Steen injury happens they have an opportunity to then reset and say okay this is what we need to see steen's going to be out it's also a

interesting that Matt Hennessy, who we talked about in the spring, spent all his time that we saw at right guard. He was working at center. Today, he was back as the second team right guard. Some of that is because Brett Tooth was also back, but he wasn't even a full participant. So all of this is to say that, like, the right guard competition is very much now open. You are correct there. Although I do think, uh, Kinnard is, is someone who we should at least have on our radar as maybe pushing for our last response. By the way, he was a tax. He was a tax. today. He was not at guard. He was the second team right tackle behind Fred Johnson. So, so someone to have on our on our radar. But yeah, when it was happening the other day, I was saying they're not looking

at Darien Kinnard as as like right guard over Becht. It was that Beckton was a tackle that day. Had Bechton, had Becht had Beckton been playing right guard, Beckton would have just pumped, he would have bumped right up. Now, if you had to go prisoner of the moment, put your turkeys right now, who's the starting right guard? Would you have the plurality on Bechton or would you have Steen at the top? I will go 52-48. I'm making this like a presidential. No, no field.

Oh, no field. No, I think Steen or Bexton. And I said that before. And for who? For Bechton? I'm going to Bechton right now. Okay. Yeah, I think I'd go 48 Bechtin,

42 Steen, 10 Hennessy. I don't think it's going to be Hennessy. Well, I know you're big on your boy, Max Sharping, who's like stuck on the third team. I don't know. No, maybe it's. About the hot tip you got on Sharpie. No, maybe it's the Winsewski thing where, all right, you have this solid pro who could be the backup. Or I'm sorry, who could step in.

It's not apples for apples. So I don't want to say I've seen this movie before. But I think back to- I guess I should put one on Conard. Okay. I think back to the 2021 training camp when there was truly a competition between Andre Doord and Jordan Milata. And then Doherd goes down in camp. Yes.

And it was like, all right, we've seen what we need to see. But that one was also a little bit different. It was a little bit deeper into camp, and Milata had already been completely out playing it. But that was the end of the competition at that point. And so I don't think, one thing I don't think is that they want to go into like the middle of August with this up in the air. I think knowing Stoughtland, I'm not saying Staling and I are tight, but like knowing Stoutland's history, I should say, I think he's going to want to figure this out sooner than later. I think if Bechton stays healthy, it's his job. That's kind of how I think.

Now, we're really getting ahead of ourselves here. If Bechton is the starter, is this one of those August contract extensions? Oh, that's interesting. You try to get ahead of it? That's interesting. I feel like Bechton's history is such that you would want to play it a little bit slower to make sure that you actually saw him on the field in a regular season game. but that's a good arbitrage opportunity.

That's what they did with Mylata that year. It was like, we're not even bringing this to the year. Yeah. I remember being in the Atlanta airport, don't pull down for week one. And they're like, we're getting you on this deal right now. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. That's a good question. Anything else about the, you know, as the Red Guard turns, the Lane Johnson thing, our understanding is very minor. Yeah, toe injury, nothing. He was there watching practice. I don't think there's much to worry about there.

It is no, I mean, Lane Dickerson, I'm sorry, Landon Dickerson's back at practice. Yes, and Lennon Dickerson, he addressed the elephant in the room while we know that there are many ways. You made a bigger deal to this than I do. There are many ways to lacerate a toe. Yes. He said he had heard these rumors. He's watching the show. You know, I gave him a chance.

I asked him. I said, how did you lacerate the toe? He said it wasn't on the slip and slide. I heard that was out there, you know, it was not. stepped on something in the yard. Now, stepped on something in the yard, I mean,

could that have been related to setting up the slip and slide or getting the slip and slide off? It's also important to say, you know, budding aspiring reporters out there, you cannot say definitively it didn't happen with slip and slide.

He said it didn't happen with slip and slide. Yes, but this was, I felt much ado about a slip and slide, is that you, I was listening back to the show and I'm like, we're really belaboring the possibility I mean we treated it I have to be careful

with how I use this this phrasing right now but like we treated it like the Zapruder film almost right like we were we're trying to dissect you said how many ways could you lacerate a toe and I said there's many ways to last rate a toe and then you asked me how else you started with how there are many ways to lacerated tone then I asked how many there and then you Julia noted they had the hay at the bottom of the thing could have been on the hay you know that that's that's

That's intrepid reporting right there by Julia, right? I did not know. I'm not a slip and slide expert by any means. I don't know what goes into the slip and slide. I know that there's, there's water. Yes, yeah, exactly. But I didn't realize you put hay down there. I think it depends.

I think that's what they did. I do know. There's a lot of ways to lacerate at toe. One of the things that you do know. Yes, more than a slip and slide. A matter of fact, if someone walked in here and they said they lacerated their toe, I wouldn't have said, slip and slide, huh? Like that would not have been.

But if it was coming off of them posting a lot of videos of a slip and slide, you might be more willing to think that that was the case. Not just anybody, any regular Joe walking around. As I learned in presumed, I didn't learn this in presumed innocent, but as presumed innocent fortified here, that is circumstantial evidence, okay? That is not. Of course. There's nobody's reporting that. no definitive, there's no smoking gun here. We're speculating.

Circumstantial evidence. So Landon, we're speculating. Landon, I just want to tell you, okay? I did not think you got, you injured your toe on the slip and slide. Well, maybe you're a rube. Maybe he's covered it up. I'm not rub and frank. Yes.

Also, one last thing on the guards, important to note that Trevor Keegan, the fifth round pick, still has only spent time at left guard, no time on right guard. So, pect him, I think. the frontrunner for now. All right, before we talk about the rest of practice, Zach, let's talk about our new sponsor, Bet365. Never Ordinary with Bet365. Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide.

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It's never ordinary at Bet-365. Must be 21 or older and physically located in PA. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call or text, 1-800 gambler. There we go. Bet-365. Welcome to the family. Bo and Julia, I want to issue an apology. I walked in here today.

I said hello. I tried to be enthusiastic. but I did not wish you a happy National Wing Day. So I want to wish both of you in our audience watching at home and at work, happy National Wing Day. How are you celebrating National Wing Day? Why I want to tell you, come celebrate National Chicken Wing Day at Buffalo Wild Wings. BW is where you can enjoy six free, boneless or traditional wings with any $10 purchase.

What better National Wing Day spirit is there than that? This offers Voward in stores all day today, July 29th, National Wing Day. We are currently offering limited flavor. Oh, well, I should say they are currently offering limited time flavors, such as Buffalo Ranch and Luao Barbecue. That sounds good. Luell Cinder. No.

Download the Buffalo Wild Wings app and join the Blazun Rewards Program. Let's go to a sports bar. Julia, should we forgive him or keep them on the hook? for not wishing us National Wing Day. If it happens again next year, that's it. You're done. I'm actually going to put it in my, I have the calendar app here. I'm going to put that here. National Wing Day, July 29, 2025, National Wing Day. Perfect. It's in there.

Beautiful. Yeah, there's some other things I need to add in. But on just that day? Well, I was listening to a podcast yesterday and actually they gave this this interesting thing where they said, put, if something is bothering you, okay, put it in your calendar a month from now. Remember what bothered me a month ago. Okay. And it shows you like how quickly we move on from things. So it's something, I'm not saying a lot's bothering me, but I kind of want to try to exercise that type of thinking.

I thought it was a good logic. Anyways, I... What's bothering you? I heard, or I was there prepping before, and I smelled something good, and I looked up, and Bo was eating his chicken wings. Yeah, and I hadn't eaten all day long. I was ravenous. National chicken wings day, and if you're hungry tonight, you can get six free boneless

or traditional wings with any $10 purchase. You see this thing about, I forget which state it is, but the judge ruled that, like, somebody was suing that, like the false advertising of boneless wings that had bones in them, and the judge ruled that it's okay. Like, it's, all of a sudden, boneless means bones? That wasn't in the New York Times. The country is going to hell. That was not in the New York Times this morning, so.

Nor the Philadelphia Inquirer. So where did you read it? I don't remember. I'm curious where you get your news. Wingday.com. I'm afraid to put that one in as well. You know what I thought was a funny moment, and I've been meaning to ask you about this.

We haven't talked about this during Nick Siriani's press conference this morning. I wonder if you clocked this as well. He was at, it was a, it was a Cam Juergens question, and he was asked about, you know, the process of Cam Juergens getting ready. And he was like, oh, I mean, he had a chance to learn from the best of all time. Like, if it was me, like, you know, I, and he started to pause. He was like, if I had a chance to learn from in. Andy Reid and then he mentioned Bill Belichick and then he brought up Bill Walsh.

But I think in his mind, Bill Belichick is the first one that came into mind and he did not want to put out there Bill Belichick first as the best coach of all time, knowing the, you know, the embryo of everything that has been reported. I actually had a different interpretation. I thought it was interesting that he mentioned Andy Reid first. That's what I mean. Yeah, no, I'm saying because I like I focus more on the Andy Reid part of it than the Bill Belichick part of it. Oh, because of the beef, the beef with Andy. Well, just there's, there's like, hey, first off, Andy beat him in the Super Bowl. Andy fired him, essentially, in Kansas City.

And I think there's... It was so fired up after beating Andy last year. Yeah, and I think there is this, like, Andy Shadow a bit that is more, is in the building now more than it was, like, during maybe the Doug time. I think all of Andy's success in Kansas City. Interesting. And I think it's like, you know, there's some people in there who don't like, you know, there's some people in there who don't like when you bring up the Andy Reid era, right? Why?

I don't know. It's just like, you got to move on from Andy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I do think, I mean, we don't need to go down this rabbit hole. But I think there was like a period of time when I was like, yeah, the Eagles should have moved on from Andy, right? And now Andy goes on and he's having all the success. And so there's some like revisionist history.

Well, they fired Andy Reid, right? Not to say. Nobody's serious thinks that. Like, all fair. I can tell you some serious. people who think that, yes. That they should never have fired Andy Reid. Off air, I can tell you.

I hate saying off air, but there's, there's, there's, there's, there's some interesting. It was clearly time for both sides to move on. I thought it made sense for Andy. I thought it makes sense for the Eagles. It actually would have been, I don't want to say, like malpractice. That's an exaggeration. But you, you couldn't have brought Andy back for you for year 15 after that four and 12 year.

That's besides the point. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I don't know who this off air, uh, unsurious person is, but. If I write it in here, you will nod your head and you will say, oh, that makes sense. Come on. I think Unserious is exactly as I expected. Okay.

Speaking of Nick Siriani, I want to talk to you, Zach, about a thread that you were talking to Siriani about, something that you've asked around about, something that he even mentioned in the beginning of the press conference when he was asked about. what has impressed him, what he's seen from Jalen Hurts so far. You and I have talked about. He's been good throughout what we've seen so far. And one of the first things he brought up is one of the things that he has really been impressed with is Jalen's ability to sort of sidestep pressure and get the ball out quickly on time to the backs. And you then asked him about, you know, the difference between guys in the progression versus designing stuff. And it was notable today that without Saquine Barclay, who was excused from practice for personal reasons,

Jalen Hertz and the offense were still very much throwing to the running backs, both Will Shipley and Kenny Gainwell making plays. But let's start first with Siriani. What did he say when you asked him about having talked about for the past few summers, wanting to infuse the running backs into the passing game? Is there a chance that this is going to be a little bit more for real this time around? Yeah, he said it's both and. He said that you wanted to be a part of the scheme.

There's also times when they're kind of. the checkdown. He said the offense is still going to go through AJ Devante and Dallas Goddard. So you're kind of looking at the fourth option thereafter. But it is, and I'm somewhat sympathetic to Nick Siriani here because, so his first summer here, 2021, he would not tell you anything about the scheme,

but he said one thing I will say is we're going to throw the ball to the running back. Naim Hines, baby. That's a part of this offense. It wasn't a part of the offense. And then the next year, you heard. a little more. And then it's like, all right, well, maybe they just don't trust Mal Sanders in the passing game. So then they bring in DeAndre Swift. And last summer, they're throwing the

Andre Swift every day. And he's saying, he has receiver hands. And we ask the question, you were lowest in the NFL or you had the fewest targets to running backs last year in the NFL. That's going to change this year, right? It didn't happen. And so I said, maybe it's Jan 1 Hertz, right? So I actually think it's an important question for, for Cowan Moore as well, which is why I asked more this question. And he basically said that it is important to have this as part of the offense because he said it does have to be an outlet at times, but it's critical that we utilize those guys in the passing game to create horizontal space every once in a while and get them vertical. So we talked a lot about the spacing in it. I did think that when they

drafted Will Shipley, not to say like Will Shipley, foretells what's going to happen in the offense. But when I did some sniffing around on Shipley, what I kept hearing is they really like what he can be in the passing game. Okay? So it made me think, well, we did hear similar things about gain well, but that this is a function of the offense. And more than Shipley, I should say, I buried it.

When we were talking about Barclay, when we were asking people about Barclay, I kept hearing that he's going to add a dimension to the passing game. And I said, well, Jalen Hertz needs to throw him the ball. So I did find it interesting as well that Shipley was as involved as he was today without Barclay, because I think that shows you this is something that they're trying to tell Jalen to do. Yeah, listen, I remain generally skeptical that this is going to be as much as they say it is, but I do think it's going to be more than we've seen in years past.

And I have been impressed. It has been notable to me that Jalen Hertz is throwing the ball to those guys within the flow of the offense. And it hasn't really, like some of the DeAndre Swift stuff we saw last year was, was like screen heavy. And it has not really been screens so far that we've seen. There was a four-play sequence today in seven-on-seven, Zach, where it was all running backs, and it was two different kinds.

It started with a, you know, a quick checkdown. Jalen worked through his progression quickly, threw it to Will Shipley. Second one, they get Will Shipley on a wheel route past Julian O'Quara, who was working, who was just rotating in. And then this was very funny to me because, like, Julian O'Cquay, has to run all the way down the field, cover Will Shipley. And then on the next play, they sub in Kenny Gainwell for Will Shipley. O'Quara has to stay on the field.

And they call the exact same play. Another wheel route. And poor O'Quara gets even dusted, you know, worse on this one because he's gassed. Jalen Hertz throws a nice one. That's three in a row. And then the next play was a checkdown to Gainwell. But I do think that I think Hertz's willingness to do this is an important factor. We've talked about, you know, his style is, you know,

because of what he brings to the table with his legs. You know, the later he works through his progressions, the more likely it is that he's going to run and less likely that he's going to throw it to the running backs. This is a thing for most mobile quarterbacks. But I do think that, like, it has been notable the way that he has done it so far. We'll see if it carries over to when he has the pads on. And, you know, he could just force the ball to AJ Brown instead.

But I believe it a little bit more than I did a week ago. Yeah, I made this point last week that if you want Seekwan to have a Christian McCaffrey type influence, it needs to be more than on the ground. Chris McCaffrey was a 67 catch player last year in 16 games with the 49ers. In the 10 game or the 11 games, he was with the Niners the year before. He had 52 catches, right? So he's not going to get to that. I think it's going to be closer than you think.

What's your number? How many games? I mean, that's like, look, if he plays eight games, it's not my fault. Okay. Uh, let's go 50 catches. Under. Uh, if he has 50, if, if he plays at least 15 games, he'll have 50 catches. Okay.

What's it, what's the, what's the bet? Uh, should we do pasta fissio? Should we, is, is there a sponsor? We can, uh, um, yeah. Yeah. Let's, let's put it on the board. Okay. 50 catches. 50 catches. Uh, if he play, the bet is void. If he plays fewer than 14 games. No.

It's void if he plays fewer than... But that's 14 games. Come on. Did you not listen to what I just said? Well, I heard what you said, but how about the bet is void if he plays fewer than like 10 games? Well, that's why I literally said 14. I said 50 catches. How about this?

The all the running backs combined. Yeah. Under 70 catches. Oh, well, yeah. I think all the running backs combined are going to have under than 70 catches. If I'm saying 50 catches for safety. You think they're going to have 20 catches for the other guys? And you're telling me that Will Shipley is going to light the world on fire, going to be a big part of the offense.

He's not going to have 20 catches? I don't think Will Shipley's going to have 20. I don't think he's going to have 20 catches. I feel way better about Sequin under 50 than I do about running backs under 70. I think that one's much more likely to hit. Oh, I disagree. How many times is Will Shipley and Kenny Gainwell going to play? You're like the Mr. Will Shipley Hike Squad.

I'm saying this is a part of his skill set. I'm not saying that he's going to get 20 catches this season. 20 catches. That's not that crazy. I don't know if the number three receivers are going to get 20 catches. Now you think the number two running backs going to get 20 catches after all the gas

that you've been just piling on to Will Shipley? I mean, Will Shippley is the same thing as Miles Sanders and LaShawn McCoy. He's not going to get 20 catches? Well, that is a gross exaggeration from what I said. Well, I mean, put some respect on LaShawn McCoy's name. LaShawn McCoy is the best running back in franchise history. Well, I mean, Steve Van Buren is rolling over in his grave.

I would tell Steve Van Buren and I said that. I'd tell him to Stan, too. I can't believe how crazy you think 20 catches for Will Shipley is. Given everything that you've talked about, the Eagles targeted this guy. He's a red star player. He's going to be a major part in the past game. I'm not betting lunch on Will Shipley getting 20 catches.

I'm betting lunch on Seqwaan Bartley getting 50. You got to be prudent with your. resources here, right? You can't just be thrown around. What a wild, what a wild, just peek into how little you believe in the things that you say. I think it's nuts that I literally say 14 games, 50 catches, and then you agree to it. And then, and then, what's that? You said 15.

No, I said 14. No, the first time you said 15. When we were talking about the bet, I said 14 games. You said 15 to start. And then you said if he plays under 14, the bet, the bet is void. You can roll back the tape. I'm fairly confident I said, 14.

Somebody who's watching, roll back the tape. The first thing you said was if he plays 15 games, he's going to have 50 games. I'm going to listen to this on the way home. And we'll, we'll say, but regardless,

so then we agree to this and you just change the game. You changed the role. That's like, you're like just stacking the quarter. One was what you thought. And then the other was the bet. Yeah. I don't know.

All right. A lot of comments I see about Sequin Barclay in that posterior chain that he has. Posterior chain? It sort of reminds me of a story that I was working on. I didn't end up using this. But one of one of Sequan's coaches from when he was little

was talking about, you know, just the body type. I can't wait until he grows into those legs. So I thought that that was interesting. Oh, from the Eagles video. No, that's just my own reporting. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, you can have spoken to many of these high school coaches. Great guys.

Okay. Next up, Bradbury. Tell me about what James Bradbury says on Saturday. Zach spoke for the first time since all of the cornerback acquisitions that they've had over the off season. He's been working at safety with the second team. I actually thought he had a very good day today. Flashed a couple times, just reading things quickly. Made a diving P.B.U. at one point, made a nice read on a swing pass to Tyrion Davis Price

that I think would have led to a T. What did he say about just the way that he is approaching things? And do you think that this is going to last? Well, he said right now quite a bit. And I frame it that way because in multiple answers, he said, I'm on the team right now. Right now I'm on the team. And so it's important. You gave advice to the aspiring reporters out there. I'll give a piece of advice. Listen to what did people like. There's a lot of times when people are in press conferences and they just, have something that they want to ask because they're not actually listening. Like listen to what he said. He's trying to send you a message here. So he was saying right now quite a bit.

And that was not by accident because he knows that the situation here is tenuous. He has not requested a trade. He said he's going to let Howie Roseman handle that. He said, we had a conversation. He was talking about his future with the team.

We had a conversation and right now I'm still on the team. And while I'm on the team, I'm going to try to find my role. And if they want to get rid of me, they'll get rid of me. I'm on the team right now. So I'm taking it day by day. because in the NFL, you never know. I could be traded. I could not be traded, so I'm preparing for anything.

A little background here. He went to them with the idea of moving to safety. He recognized, and I get Bradbury credit, he was honest. He recognized he did not play well last year. He knew Isaiah Rogers was coming back from suspension. He figured the Eagles would draft cornerbacks. He knew what the safety depth chart was. He brought this idea to them.

They were willing to put them out there. Like we've been talking about ever since, since I would say February, because we talked about this at the combine. The contract's guaranteed. So the Eagles paid Bradbury $9.64 million from an option back in March. Okay. He has a guaranteed base salary of $1.21 million. So if they traded him, then someone else would, you know, then you would get cap relief on that, right? But if Eagles cut him, they pay him the base salary anyways, right?

So there's no financial incentive. We've talked about the opportunity cost. But he was honest about the way he played. He was hopeful that safety could be something that could suit him well. He said last year didn't show it, but he thinks he's a physical player. He thinks he's smart. He actually got recruited in college to play safety. He's been the biggest guy in every room that he's been in.

He said you have to talk more at safety than a corner. So he's kind of getting used to. that but he saw what the depth chart was he was honest about the way he played uh and he said i try he said i try to be adaptive i'm on the team right now so while i'm on the team i want to find a role in this team and i feel like i'm a versatile player i'll have a i feel like if i'm a versatile player i'll have a of course i want to start now where am i going to start but i'm working right now at safety to learn that and try to play that and see if i can be a valuable asset there he also acknowledged that it's not as if he won't play cornerback again and he still can play cornerback but this is kind of where he

thinks he can help the team. So I I think that he's being earnest that he recognizes being James. Okay. I'm using earnest as a for as an adjective and not as a noun. I think he's being he's he's being a earnest in in that he he could cause a sting. He could say look I have the leverage. You're paying me no matter what. What am I doing here? Right. And maybe he's had something like that. But I do think he's a professional. He's trying to make this work. He's taken like he's been willing to be with the second team. Did he talk about his body at all? Has he changed his body? Now he says he's always been the biggest guy. That's when he gave that at that answer. So he was a big corner. So he acknowledged that. But yeah, they don't know how how this is how this is going to go.

He said he has experience playing on the inside last year. It did not go particularly well. But that he He says, safety's play, dime, you know, safety's playing in the nickel. So I'm curious to see. I still don't think he's going to be on the team this year. But we also saw this. You listening to what he was saying and the message that he was putting out there on the emphasis on right now. What did you make of that?

Do you think this is, do you think this is like the Zach Ertz situation? That's exactly what was about to say. And they're going to maybe call everybody else's bluff and keep him on the roster for a couple of weeks and then trade him? How do you think it plays out? Yeah. So I was talking with someone on the sideline today. and She'll if you're watching, I'm not mentioning the person by name because I don't know if that was on the record, okay?

But, and the person thought Bradbury was going to be on the team. And I said, I don't think that they wanted him. Was it Jeffrey? No, it's not Jeffrey. I don't think they want him on the team, but you saw this with Ertz. Howie does not want to just cut someone when there's no financial incentive to do it. And so I think Howie's going to try to play the conference. clock out to try to get a trade and we'll do everything he can to get a trade. Now, we've already seen the Rams be stricken by injuries. We've seen the Vikings be stricken by

injuries, right? So early in camp, you don't see as many trades because teams take the first two weeks to kind of see what they have. But I think once you get to the preseason, I imagine Bradbury's going to play in the preseason. I imagine the Walt Dish him. And there's going to be there, I think behind the scenes and in public comments, they'll be going to be there. I think behind the scenes and in public comments they're going to talk bradbury up uh i do know pro scouting directors or i'm sorry not pro scouting directors pro scouts um mine like twitter feeds and articles right for different intel and i think this is something that the eagles are sometimes when when they're speaking uh you know they're speaking to the to the rest of the league there's actually a good piece by katelyn keeler at dspn about um i'm

sorry about the head coach of matt eberflus from the bears and like one of the things that he like the media consultants were saying to him is that you're not speaking to the media you're speaking to like your players whenever you're up there and I think sometimes especially when how he's up there he's speaking to like his players and the rest of the league yeah well so well I think if you were James Bradbury and you wanted to be described in a certain way you might say he lock he lock things down on the outside what a transition you know what I mean he lock well let's talk a little true mark Financial Credit Union because the HELOC allows homeowners to borrow against home equity with a variable interest rate. Home equity line of credit. That's the HELOC here. Preserve your savings and get access to

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That's T-R-U-M-A-R-K. I know next July 29th, I'll be celebrating National Wing Day, and July 29th after that, it's July 29th. ninth after that. And all these years, there's a lot that's going to change. One thing that won't is that I'll probably wash down those wings with a nice cold Miller Light.

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with a great tasting. ice cold, Miller Light, that's also less filling. It's undebatable quality, great taste, and it's only 96 calories, okay? It's the beer that strips away everything you don't need and holds on to what matters most. The light beer that tastes like beer, less filling only 96 calories. The original light beer since 1975, you don't have to choose what's best. Miller Light has great taste and is less filling. Tastes like Miller Time to get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit millerlight.com

slash p hly birds or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces, fewer calories and carbs than premium regular beer. There was something else that James Bradbury sort of threw in as an aside in that press conference that caught your ears. Yeah, he was talking, I like that question. He was talking about the depth chart and he's like, you know, we have our starters at Corner. You know Isaiah Rogers is a good player. They're going to want to play the rookie Quignon Mitchell.

So if you kind of read between the lines there, it certainly sounds like Keely Ringo could be the frontrunner to start. And today's practice was the third consecutive day when Kili Ringo was first up on the outside of corner. What did you make of that? I think he is in the bull position. Yeah, I think it is his job to lose for week one. I would agree.

I think he's played well this summer. I think there's like a night and day disparity, or difference rather. between this summer and last summer. The question with him has always kind of been changed the direction. We'll see. I'm curious if he's going to get some work in preseason games because... I would imagine he'll get some work.

There's not like a strong sample size of him in the NFL. I thought he played well late in the season last year. I think of the Seattle game. I think of the Giants game. The first Giants game. But, yeah, I mean, we've talked about this since the time he was like he was drafted. Like height weight speed, you can't draw up a better corner. You know, you know, 6-2-207, 43840. We talked about how young he was. We talked about a two years of starting experience at Georgia.

But we also talked about the fact that he slipped to the fourth round in the draft. And that's the league telling you something. And the question was, does he have the change of direction you need to play on the outside? Now, granted, I really like to pick when they made it. I'm on record saying that. And then during camp last year, I was not impressed. And I said, oh, maybe the league's right here. But now that we see it this summer, yeah, I do think he is ahead. And I think you've framed it well. You changed the way I thought about this.

So I give you credit. When we talked about the Quinnion Mitchell of this all, and I said, like, it'd be a disappointment if Quignan doesn't start. And you said, not in so many words, but I should think of Quinyon less as like the Bradbury replacement this year and more the Slay replacement next. year and I think that's a good way of thinking about it like quinyon doesn't necessarily need to start day one on the outside um it will be a disappointment if he's not starting next year uh when presumably sleigh is not here and yet quinyon mitchell while keely wringo and isaiah rogers

have been rotating on the outside quinine and mitchell has been spending some time with the starters inside a little bit in dime on saturday it sounds like and then today avonte mannics was a little bit more focused on safety and so quinine mitchell was at times the first team nickel So it does seem as if they are bringing him along at a pace where they do expect him to contribute as a rookie. Yeah. And part of that is the gene not being out there. I thought the gene would be a frontrunner to start in the slot this year. But if you're operating under, I don't want to say the presumption, but the strong possibility that Ringo could start day one,

Mitchell is someone who's done this before. Like Vic Fangio's answer the other day suggested that they didn't know from his college tape if he could play on the inside. But he did have experience on the inside in college. I just think it's more when they drafted him. Howie Roseman said they don't want to put too much on him. They want to focus on one spot. But perhaps seeing Keely Ringo in the spring, and they came back and they said like Keely's going to play. And if Keely doesn't play, Rogers is going to play.

So maybe we should see Mitchell on the inside. All right. Some other sort of, you know, in the weeds updates from practice today. Linebackers continue to rotate and like with different pairings. So, you know, you saw. Devin White and Zach Bond together. You saw Nicobi Dean and Zach Bond together. You saw Devin White and Jeremiah Triner Jr. together. You saw Ben Van Sumer in

Nicoby Dean together. They continue to rotate that group and in pairs and I think they're looking for whatever chemistry they can find there. As we talked about, I thought the defensive line was this was their best day. You had Jalen Carter making most of the noise. Jordan Davis was standing out to me both also as a, like there was a nice play where he and Bryce Huff, which is kind of the first time I noticed Bryce Huff in a positive way,

totally sniffed out a Gillian Hertz keeper, which was a good read, but Davis was getting some pressure. And some of it on Mikey Beckton, to be fair, to just to circle back to the top of the show. But a solid day for Jordan Davis, I thought. And how about Nolan Smith? What did you make of Nolan Smith today? I didn't much notice Nolan Smith today. Did you? Yeah, I thought Nolan Smith had some productive past rushes today. He's, I'll have some more stuff on him sometime this summer. He added muscle this offseason.

He says he's bigger. We'll kind of see. But I thought Nolan Smith looked decent around the edge today. Okay. I will say, I had my first sort of flash of something today from somebody. I can't. The pads have not come on yet. So there's, you know, there's nothing to be said here.

But for the first time this summer, I saw a little something from somebody. So just something to keep in mind. Can we play 20 questions? No. Okay. You can write down who you think it was today, but we'll see if that carries on. I'm not ready to do that yet.

Okay. I was watching practice for me, not for you. Okay. I wasn't playing matchmaker. Another bit of news from the weekend, Zach, that I would love you to explain to our listeners. A change with the doctors. Oh, yes. Okay. I'm glad you brought this up.

Yeah, the thing about training camp is like every day is a season. It seems like, right? You know, you forget it sometimes. Yeah, this was interesting. So I'm on the sideline before practice, and I'm standing there with Jeff McLean and Mike Garifolo, flex, flex. You mean Jimmy Kempski? Oh, yeah, that's a good joke. And I see a very familiar face on the sideline. I said, is that Peter DeLuca?

And now you have to be a sicko to understand what I was talking about there. Peter DeLuca was a long time, you know, team position for like two decades for the Eagles. Following the 2018 season, the Eagles made a change. And Peter DeLuca was no longer the team position. And it was behind the scenes a very notable thing that occurred, right? I mean, he, you know, the team position is a very important role. and there was a lot going on behind the scenes then. And then they didn't necessarily make some changes that stuck.

Ultimately, they cycle through, I don't want to say a few different things, but there was a season in limbo, and then they made another change. They brought in Arsdonota, who's now the chief medical officer and has a very strong reputation. But anyways, Peter DeLuca is back with the team. now as the head orthopedic physician. Okay? And so this is notable. Now, from my understanding, from reporting slash like, he's, he's not reporting to

Howie Roseman. He's reporting to Arsdenota. So there's no change in the organizational structure. But there are some changes here from like a medical perspective, you know, the medical staff perspective, they're bringing in Peter DeLuca, someone who has a lot of experience. I'm certainly respected. But behind the scenes, this is a very notable. notable move because players care a lot about who their doctor is.

And doctors have a major effect on, they can't control injuries, but they have a major effect on the team's health. Yeah, I mean, there's literally no way for us to evaluate how good of a job the doctor is doing. There's no stats I can get you. But I do think it is funny that an organization that we poke fun at for their lack of creativity and like just resigning guys who have left is doing that with a doctor

yeah i think there's a lot more like oh jaya jai's back available why don't we bring him in again i think it's a little bit different i think it's a little bit though or i think that's but it is funny it's quite a bit different uh not necessarily i mean it's it's different to bring back a player who's been injured than bring back a doctor i mean i i don't think this is unimaginative i i think It's like you, I mean, how many doctors are there who you trust is your team position, right? They, they, or your head orthopedic physician, I should say. Yeah, I agree with you on some things there. I don't think that's the case there.

I think there's a lot there that can be. I'm not saying it's the wrong thing to do. I just think it's funny, given that we make fun of them for that. I think there's a lot there that can be re-evaluated from the 2018, 2019. season. Okay. Anything else from practice today, Zach, that caught your eye? Sorry, from practice today, that caught my eye.

Yeah, well, from a personal perspective, like... What time is it? It's 254. Oh, that's interesting. Kenny Pickett just released the ball in seven and seven. Oh, man. You really don't like Kenny Pickett, huh? I have never seen anybody take so long to get rid of the ball in seven on seven as

Kenny Pickett so far. Although, actually, that's not true. Marcus Murray Road to last year. Oh, okay. It's been at least a year. Yeah, Zach Vaughn, another day as the top linebacker option. Now, they are mixing and matching there. The top linebacker option?

Or spent some time with the... The top linebacker column. The first group up, Zach Bonn was there. Nekobo Deans mixing in there. Yeah. So that stood out. I think, you know, Johnny Wilson was getting first team reps, getting first team reps inside. I've seen that before the summer, and that's interesting.

maybe because we typically think of Johnny Wilson as an ex-receiver. Not a lot of action, though, still. He does not get a lot of balls throughout his way. No, but, you know, the tight end of it all, there was one play in particular when he was kind of used in a blocking role. He was a slow receiver, but he was used kind of, he was blocking the edge rusher. I was impressed that Nick Siriani was able to name every wide receiver on the roster today in his answer.

Really? Yeah. You don't think you could have done that? I think I might have forgotten somebody yeah I mean he's got a lot of things to think about wait those are his players he even got Griffin Hebert in there yeah I'm not that impressed by that

I would actually be unimpressed if he can't name every receiver right like you should you should know he couldn't name Tyler Steen in the spring you should know who your receivers are it's it's different in March he's like these are his 90 guys right now I know but still come on that's a very low bar.

That's a very low bar. Could you name every receiver from the Super Bowl team, 2017? Well, yeah, but maybe not everybody on the 90-man roster entering camp. It was your job to, I mean. Sure, but I mean, he's still speaking extemporaneous. I'm not going to get you. Look, no, I am. Speaking of Kenny Pickett, by the way, shout out to the listener who did a great bit with me today.

He mentioned Carson Smucker. He used to work for the Eagles. content department and they just came up to me, he goes, Carson Smucker says hello. And I didn't put together at first that this was a callback to the Michael Dunn says hello to Kenny Pickett, but a great job by that guy. Great job. Yeah. Well done.

Nicely done. Also, the first time I would say since returning from vacation where I almost, you know, snuck out of vacation, but I'm still there. The EJ thing wasn't. That was bit. That was bit. This Eagles tweet from, I think it was yesterday. It says, we, you owe you I, the French we.

Oh, yes. We loving this Jalen Paris connection. Now, okay. Okay, I mean, you know, I've been having fun with the Paris Campbell French thing going on. Obviously, the Olympics are in France, right? So you want to dip your toe there. You got Jason Kelsey in the beret. But this doesn't make any sense.

We love it. That's yes. Yes. loving this Jalen Paris connection. We do the whole thing in French. Don't do it. This pun is bad. Julia?

I agree. Okay. Okay. Why? Way loving this jail and Paris connection? No. Hong, hon. Yeah, that's what I was... How about it just a hon-huh-huh? No, that'll do it. I think the correct...

I mean, and also, like, can we get a baguette emoji in here instead of the other emojis here? Like, let's go. If we're going to lean in here, lean in. No, I think the correct course of action is to be very respectful of a language and a culture and do a hon-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Why? I adore les Francé, so. I've never been to Paris, though.

I've been to Vegas, and I've seen the Eiffel Tower in Vegas. Same thing. The same thing. All right. Anything else? Well, there's a lot. that I'd let me just kind of recollect my thoughts here. We didn't talk Saturday, a few things from Saturday.

I thought Britt and Covey had a good practice on Saturday, and he continues to kind of make some plays here, pay attention to that. I thought as I go through here, the days might be running together. Tyrone Davis Price had a good run. join okwara had a good practice on saturday i thought made some okay yeah i think if you're talking about kind of depth edge guys he is someone who watched that he called out the he called out those

guys and patrick johnson today for bringing the energy that he was looking for and jellix hunt as well but but not brys huff he was probably talking about down the depth chart guys but okay you mentioned no one smith what did uh what were you talking to joshua today yeah actually i saw this play out because avante manix was talking and they announced and it was i mean i wish I had taken a video of this. You're sitting there in the press conference where Vante Maddox and they announced Josh Sweat in the Mix Zone,

Josh Sweat in the Mix Zone. And I don't know if I've ever seen anybody move faster. All right. Then Zach, getting up and running, I mean, like, it was like, I finally got to see what you being the valet guy would have been like, the way, the speed that you have.

Let me clarify this here, okay? Josh, Shet in the mix of. All right, a few things here. There are certain players who... By the way, make sure that you like and subscribe all that good stuff on the YouTube channel. There are certain players who talk quite a bit.

There are certain players who don't talk quite a bit. There's certain players who are, you're waiting to hear from. He didn't even finish the sentence. In a locker room setting, you go up and you just talk to the player. During training camp, during OTAs, they bring the players out. Okay? So, for instance, James Bradbury the other day, I was talking to somebody else and I rushed over there that talked to Bradbury.

I also think not to not to pat like myself or ourselves on the back. I think sometimes there's like obvious questions that but they might like I don't want to say like ruffle feathers, but like people sometimes are they skirt around questions or you know and I think sometimes asking like a direct question. And you know, 13 years on the beat. You have relationships with all these guys like you're not afraid to or like you know. There's also a game you got to play because if it's on the. podium you know you can watch that after the fact yeah so anyway so i wanted to know why josh wet agreed to restructure his deal okay now there's other like you know i actually think fans are curious about the number 19 part of it um why he changed his number he said he just wanted a fresh start

it's like when he cut his hair a few years ago he feels uh you know if it feels clean he uh there's nothing special about 19 he wanted 15 but that was that is retired van buren second best running back of this history. And then he won a nine. That's like un-officially retired, Nick Foles, right? 25, not retired. 25's on an officially, no one's worn 25 since LaShawn. So it's similar to, it's similar to number nine.

Okay. So that, but he said like he, so about restructuring the deal, he said he really didn't think about that. He left it to his agent. He said his agent handled that. He said he just wants like get right this year. That was kind of his, his thought. He said that would work.

out. He's got a lot of trust in that agent, if that's true. That sounds very shady to me. He said, I said you've never played on a contract year before. Like, he signed that extension pretty early on. And he just, I asked what went wrong last year. I used that stat about the middle of 22 to middle of 23. And he said, like, there's a lot that goes in, you know, you just have to kind of, when the

opportunity's there, you have to take advantage of it. He said he's not going to hunt sacks. It's not as if like fourth and one. He's going to be trying to get a sack. sack, but he certainly knows the importance of sacks. I asked him what Vic Fangio said about the, that you can tell if he's back or not by his movement skills. And he said, yeah, he's the smoothest guy on the team.

I had like any position. So he's glad Vic said that. He's moving really well. So, yeah. So, but yeah, I wanted to speak to. So he didn't really have a good answer for why he agreed to that. No, and I asked a few times. He genuinely, he was like, I did.

I didn't. deal with that that was like my agent. And sounds kind of weird. I mean, you know, the agent's probably outlining like this is what's happening. These are the teams that are interested, right? My guess is the answer to that is, well, well, first I said, I asked him like, why did you redo the deal? And like, and he kind of laughed like, well, the obvious answers they asked him to redo the deal. And I said, why did you agree to do that, right?

And so I have the exact quote actually up here. But he essentially said, and I know Josh. a bit like he's he's a those computers yeah I I do think sometimes he doesn't concern himself with like the things that you know I I obsess over every detail of any contract that I sign right I don't know if if that's Josh's personal I mean you wouldn't agree to a lunch bet he said I let my agent handle it with those guys I just want to play I didn't I I didn't even really think about it in the offseason I just approach it the same way just to get better I really didn't think about it just get it right so I can come

and play and focus on what I need to focus on. All right. So that was that, yeah, that was Josh Sweat. I was saying something about Saturday's practice. But yeah, no, I, the reason I rush there is I wanted to ask Josh Sweat questions because I don't, the next time I talk to Josh Swet might be during the regular season, right? I mean, I hope Josh Swett saw the way you moved. It might give him some help on getting to the quarterback.

Yeah, I mean, these guys should know that. You're closed. These guys should know what I want to talk to them. Like, I'm not. I've said this. before and I'm honest about it. I'm not here wasting their time. I'm not like, it's not just I'm saying, well, I'm saying, I'm saying, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, Avante Maddox is sitting on the podium and he sees you stand up and run away from him.

Well, there's a few things there. First off, like you mentioned, you're always getting the podium stuff. I listen back to all the podium stuff. So everyone is at the podium I listen to, but sees a cloud of smoke. I'm fairly confident that I will talk to Avanti Maddox again this summer. Okay. I'm, I'm not as confident. I'll talk to Josh Sweat again this summer. And if the Eagles PR staff is watching it, like, yeah, I would tell them that. Like, there's certain guys who you know this might be your crack at them. And there are certain guys where it's like, all right, like, Avanti Maddox, really nice guy. I imagine he'll be agreeable to interviews in the future.

Okay. There was a question. I was waiting to ask Avanti Maddox, which was, I want to know what the sleep tracking data is telling him. Why? Because that was a big emphasis of his offseason. Right? So you follow up. So you actually listen to what somebody says.

And then you circle back. For the people who didn't see it, what was the thing? During the spring? Yeah. He was talking about getting healthier. One thing he's really focusing on is his sleep. So he wears, I wear the aura ring. He has the aura ring and the whoop band.

And yeah, I mean, it's important to attract sleep. There was a good story in ESPN last week. Stephen Holder, I believe, wrote it about how head coaches are embracing sleep. Yes. And, Zach, let's now dig into this. as someone who fetishizes the head coach and anybody in leadership position, that these guys know everything about everything. How do you now internalize that lesson that sleep is important?

I know sleep is important. It's easier to have that approach when you're the head coach. Then if you're a quad-control coach and assistant coach working your way up, up the feet, like you don't want to be out how work you're trying to get to the mountain tops. Like I, I, yeah, I. Big whoop is what you're saying. No, I, look, it's, it's easier, like the, you, I think sleep is important. I also think you got to get the work done, right?

And if you don't get the work done, like, someone else is going to do it. And so you just got to deal with it. You just got to deal with it? Yeah, like the other night, I was, I was celebrating my mom's birthday. What if you were pushing through to get everything done? And it's, I'm not saying this is the case, but it's a. lower quality of work because you're just trying to get it all done. And if you exchange that for getting better sleep, then the quality would outdo the quantity.

I don't think it's mutually exclusive. I think there's times you can catch up on sleep. And I think there's times when you just got to, you just got to suck it up, right? And now I got to do better with it this season. It's one of my goals. It's been a goal of mine in the past that I've fallen short on. So I hope I'm better at it this year. But I'm not like, this is the thing.

No one cares how hard you work, right? They just care that the work's done. So I'm not trying to talk about like, you know, putting in the hours. I'm saying like at the end of the day, the work, you know, the show needs to be good, the stories need to be good, the reporting needs to be good. And if it's not, it doesn't matter. Like, I don't care if you sleep 10 hours, if you sleep three hours, show me that like there's an expression from Bill Parcells. Okay, I'm not. There's an expression from Bill Parcells.

It says, don't tell me about the labor, just show me the baby, right? And like I kind of. Yes. Famously anti-woman. Is he famously anti-woman? I don't know that. I don't care what you went through. Just give me that baby that you made with your body and forced out.

Okay. It's an expression to say like, you know, it's about the, I care about the work, right? So we don't need to get in that. It's 308. Okay. Super chat from Jilline Alde Sicko says, Parisians have many Statue of Liberty in the scent.

Ah, very nice. Okay. I appreciate that, John. Yeah. Thanks for the money. Ha, ha, ha. Okay. Merci

Bocou. That laugh is like, isn't that like offensive to the French? I mean, all of France is watching right now. They're not thinking any offense. Okay. All right. That'll do it for this episode of the PHLY Eagles podcast.

That's going to do it. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Big day, the pads are on. Finally, some football, some pad crunching. Hopefully we get an Oklahoma drill. We won't, but hopefully we get one-on-ones from the offensive and defensive line for the first time all summer. We'll have exhaustive notes of that on all p.hly.com.

More notes on practice. if you are a diehard that you can read today on all-P-H-L-Y.com, read Zach's story on James Bradbury, and much more to come throughout the week here at 2 o'clock all week long for Julia and Zach. I'm Bo. We thank you for listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow. And as always, we love you.