PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Who’s the right Philadelphia Eagles FA signing to compare to the Sixers’ addition of Paul George?

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Let’s use the Eagles as our general reference point to discuss a bunch of other things happening in the world of Philadelphia sports. Paul George might be the Sixers’ biggest FA signing in some time, but who does it compare to from an Eagles standpoint? Nnamdi Asomugha? (Yikes) Alshon Jeffery? And what about the impending debut of Matvei Michkov. What’s the most exciting Eagles debut in recent memory? Plus, which Eagles season is this Phillies season most analogous to?Rich Hofmann joins Bo Wulf for a pre-July 4 show to play ping-pong around the Philadelphia sports landscape. 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 on a Wednesday high noon, Bo Wolf and the handsome Rich himself. Rich Hoffman here to talk about God knows what on July 3rd and the doldrums of the NFL season. We're going to take a little spin around what's going on in Philadelphia sports, maybe use my own like eagle. That's the only thing I can use to contextualize anything. I only know about the Eagles and nothing else. And so we'll use that as a reference point to talk about some of the things that you know all about. you've got the newsletter pumping out continuously every day. You are Mr. Philly Sports.

I think you are the Renaissance man who can cover it all. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Bo. Thank you for that description. Yeah, it's not, it's funny. You know, we've been doing the newsletter for about nine months now. And like the last week, I have not really touched the Eagles, which is funny because they are, I would say for most of the year,

they are the main focus of the newsletter. But yeah, it's like the one month of the year where the N. NFL just kind of shuts down a little bit. You a big Fourth of July guy? No, no. And I don't want to say I'm not patriotic, but I'm not a big Fourth of July guy. Just, I don't know, like the Jersey Shore where I like to go down a lot of the time in the summer, it's too crowded. Way too crowded.

And the two holidays in the summer that are just ridiculous are Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. So, you know, I like to hang out with a couple friends, whether, you know, somebody has a bad backyard, grill, grill out there. But I would say it's more of kind of a low-key holiday for me. What about you? Yeah, I feel like, you know, the, the thing that people always say about New Year's Eve is it's like, you know, it's like a drinking holiday for the people who don't drink or whatever. Like it's for the Johnny Come Lately's. I feel like that's like July 4th.

Like, oh, you want to like go, go barbecue and hang out outside? Yeah. How about every other day in the summer? you could do that. It's something you probably do at least two other times during these three months. I will say for most people, maybe not for me, but having it on Thursday is pretty nice, right? That blends in it. Take Friday off, have the long weekend.

Unless you have to do a show on Friday. Yes, which I may or may not have to do. But I have in a past life, I have, you know, like the longer weekend element of it too. It's not a, I don't know, it's not that big of a deal. You know, there's like, you know, you turn on the TV. There's the Nathan's hot dog eating contest, you know, it's just, it's a ridiculous day. Or, and you're just a, just kind of a normal day. What do you think is the most hot dogs you ever put down in a day?

Oh, uh, three or four, maybe. Yeah, it seems about right. It's not a high number. What about you? Yeah, I mean, I feel like at some point in my life, I've probably had four hot dogs, but. not making it like a dollar dog night or just like a barbecue where yeah probably a barbecue where there weren't weren't like burger options i'm just you know living life but hard as great hot dog too it is hard as grip a hot talk but probably lower lower ceiling it's a high floor food

low ceiling though yeah i agree yeah i agree with that uh yeah i'm sure the uh the founding fathers would have a great time watching how the world is going these days on July 4th if they got time machineed in like we had a time machine episode yesterday. All right. Let's talk about the big addition. Actually, you know, before we get to Paul George, let's talk about, have you seen some of these clips from the the Giants Hard Knocks that have been doing on? And to be honest with you, Bo, like I know that Amazon has done the in-season hard knocks for, you know, a few years now, even they did it with the Eagles the one year. I had no idea this existed. Like, you know, you see on Twitter these behind the scene clips of Joe Shane and John Mara, it was, what a nice surprise.

Like at the dead period of football. I can't believe it let the stuff be seen. No, and that's what made it even funnier. Yes, I have seen like the three or four clips that are surfacing and the clips are so good. I am going to go back over this weekend and watch the entire show. I think I think I am too. Basically must watch TV now. Yeah, I mean, the clip of Joe.

The two ones that are so funny to me. One is the Joe Shane, John Mara back and forth, where it's like, John Mary, like, wants to be like, you know, I want Stank on Barkland, man. Like, I'm the owner. And Joe Shan's like, well, you know, we're paying Daniel Jones all this money. And it's so funny that, like, he's coming by what is probably the right decision

for them to not overpay a running back. But for like the most backwards logic possible, like, well, we can't sign him because we finally have to figure out of Daniel Jones is good or not, as if you shouldn't have figured that out before you gave him all that money. But the one with like the front office consularies where, you know, Brandon Brown, he used to work in the Eagles front office is there. And the director of pro personnel is like, I'm just, he's trying to be very coy about it and like as respectful as possible.

But he's like, so what, what are we going to do? What's going to be our identity on offense? And the funniest thing to me is Shane is like he's lamenting. the mental headache of the season before and dealing with the the distractions of like having to maybe work out of contract with stigman Barkley's like took 10 years off my life man and I don't know you know I don't want to make that the reason we don't do something that might be right for the franchise but I got to think about it like I mean your boy needs some sleep like he it's both it was so funny and and the the Mara kind of the angry blank stairs were just killing me they were

cutting back and forth to him. And then as Joe Shane is running through the logic of, all right, I think we need to bolster the offensive line a little bit. He starts listing the skill position players. And in some brilliant production by HBO or whoever the hell is doing this, I have no idea, NFL films, whatever, they cut as he is running through all the skill guys,

they cut to a screen of an all 22 snap. And they kind of start highlighting. all of the players and the players that they highlight, Darren Waller, retired, Daniel Bellinger, Wondale Robinson, Jalen Hyatt,

and Darius Slayton. And Shane is like, trying to gas them up a little bit. Like he's trying to tell you, he's like, we're going to get Wondale healthy this year. And I'm just thinking like, man,

what is going on here? Like, you know, uh, the Eagles, not a perfect roster, but you went through the, you know,

the best skill position players, kind of the best core group of skill guys with Zach a few weeks ago. The Giants, if you did the opposite, if you did the worst in the league, that was a pretty rough group. I know they just added the receiver from LSU, which should certainly help. He seems like a very good player. It's not great.

And then, yeah, the other thing, when the director of player personnel, I think, I forget his name. Yeah. He said, he's looking at his lips. He goes, we lose Sequin. What is our identity on offense? And then the room goes completely quiet. And it's like, well, like, your identity don't happen.

And then he's like, feel the silence. He's like, because we're losing our, we're losing the guys. We're losing our exposed to play for losing. Like, you know, like, I'm thinking like, as much as like Joe Shane does not come off grade here, it's like, well, our identity is still bad. If we lose them. You know, like I. We need an identity as like the, you know, 25th best offense in football. Like, we might sting, but we have an identity.

Yeah. So, yeah. It was very funny. And the other takeaway I had from that scene is interesting setup there. No conference table, just like a little powwow in Shane's office. Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. That was very weird.

And it was like it was done for the cameras. Like these guys aren't usually invited into these conversations. It's usually much more just Mara walking into the office and two of those guys, just hammering it out. And it's also funny when he's, his explanation is like, well, you know, what we're going to do is like, you know, we got to protect him. We're going to address the offensive. line and free agency. That's how we're going to spend this money that we're not going to spend on Sequin. And the big moves were like overpaying John Runyon Jr. and signing Jermaine L.A.U. Menor. So offensive line is solved. Yeah. I'm not sure it would be would be Brandon Brown. But like the last

guy in that room probably was like, wait, we're having like a serious discussion in here like right now. I thought we were just ordering lunch. Like I got I'm squeezing this in this like half size couch. Like can I get a chair to myself please? Anyway, this is a high recommendation to, based off these three clips to watch this show, because I really got a kick out of those three clips. So good. I couldn't, I could, the, I took 10 years off my life, man. That was so good. Do you, do you think that the Giants are going to be worse than Washington this year?

I think I would take the Giants as more likely to win like six games. But I don't know, maybe Jen Daniels will be awesome. But you would say, like the way I look at it. Exactly. The commanders do have that fantastic coaching staff at their disposal. So they might be over cheese. What was it? Number 10 in the week.

I think that's right. Yeah. Cliff? Cliff and DQ, baby. Yeah. Yeah, it seems to me that Washington probably is going to be a little worse this year, but at least has the potential with that great coaching staff. Not really the great coaching staff, but the quarterback.

And certainly Jane Daniels has more upside than Daniel Jones does, right? Like there was a lot of Joe Shane saying, hey, look, we got we got to find out if we got to find out. Daniel's the guy. I guess you do. It is a funny to imagine Daniel Jones watching this because it's not only like, will we find out? But then even in that meeting, the guy's the guy's like, well, if it's Daniel or whoever else, you know, they're openly like who is going to be the quarterback. And they did sign Drew Locke. And I think there's a like 45 turkey chance that Drew Locke is like.

unseeding Daniel Jones as the quarterback at some point this season. Does Drew Locke have more wins versus the Eagles than Daniel Jones? Ooh, good question. Now, I think Daniel Jones had the, was it the week 18 game in 2022? When the Eagles sat everybody, they won that game, and then they played two weeks later. But it might, I mean, it might be close. Yeah. All right.

Well, there you go. Yeah, no, it would be a very weird situation for, Daniel Jones to be watching this being like, man, they don't believe in me at all. Now, in fairness, he should he should probably realize like, there's a reason they don't believe in me at all. It's kind of amazing they believed in me. Because you paid me that money and I had to hand it off to a $10 million running back. Let me cook, man. I'm just thinking of like a stack of money, $40 million, handing off to $12 million.

It just doesn't sit right to me. It's not how it's supposed to work. And yes, as the commenters are saying, you know, Zach should have been decued. for drafting Callais Campbell, just like I should have been decued last week in the all-N-fell draft for taking two giants for some reason. So maybe the ledger is even. All right, let's talk, let's talk Paul George. And I know that you have been a part of the P.HLY Sixers podcast that has been fun to follow. I want to know from an Eagle standpoint, Rich. Let me give you a couple, you know, Eagles free agent signings of recent memory on the scale.

and you tell me where you think Paul George is going to net out. Okay, at the bottom of the line, you've got DeMarco Murray in 2015, which was like a bad overpay investment on its face at the beginning and turned down disastrously. Then you've got Namdi in 2011, 30 years old at the time, felt like worth the risk and a bit of a coup to be able to get him at the time and maybe support. surprising people, but you did wonder, why are they letting him go? And it obviously did not turn on very well. The next step on the scale, you've got Alshan in 2017.

You know that you're overpaying a little bit for competence, but you know also that it's the perfect fit. And obviously, it turned out well. And then on the high end, just sticking with free agents, I'm going to Sante in 2008, which what maybe looked like and overpaid at first and there were real questions about like why are the Patriots

letting this guy go and he turns out to be a stud. So I don't know where it's going to like end up though but the one and you mentioned it in your description of all those moves it's very clear to me that at the time of the signing this is Namdi Asimba is what this is like right

player on the older side but seemed like a coup right didn't seem like somebody that the Eagles were going to be able to get for a long time and then surprise they are the team left standing older player as well like some some age concerns I feel like 34 in basketball is pretty equivalent to 30 playing the quarterback position might honestly be younger

and yeah so I think that is is where it kind of nets out to me now is it going to actually turn out to be the same as Namdi I'm trying to remember like the Namdi era was he just just not as impactful from the from the gecko because i'm just saying that because there was so much else wrong with those teams right like they were poorly put together all these old guys you know the coaching staff made some weird choices like you you were there for that era he just he just was not quite as impactful right yeah i'm like a little bit of a nomdi apologist like i think he gets a slight bad rap for his eagle's time not that he was good but like he wasn't the only problem as as

as you're saying. And it was like they were using him in a much different way than he was used in Oakland. And I think like the eats lunch by himself stuff was like overplayed. He's just one small part of a team that, you know, was 53 players, 53 cabs to steal the 86 Mets phrase. Also, you know, not for nothing. He and I collaborated on the award-winning Bird on a Wire series, we're in every week we would compare a player on the Eagles team to a character from the wire because he was a big wire fan so he'll always have a spot in my heart for that reason.

But yeah, I think it was you were paying for the reputation without considering the fit. And it was more about, you know, like the way that Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman were described in the, you know, Bill Belichick flirtation is that they're like sort of like star hunters, which, you know, we talk about Darry that way. right? I think it was more about the flash of, oh, man, we can actually get this guy than it was, like, how is he going to fit? What's the plan? You know, it was much more of a collection of parts than building a sensible team. Well, and I remember they had the big storyline going into that season. It was, oh, they have the three corners, right? They have DRC, they have Sante and they have nom DiRC. So athletic, of course he could play in this lot. exactly. So I guess the Paul George one is a little bit different because Paul George is actually like a good fit.

Like they have the Sixers have a point guard. They have a big guy, get a wing in between them that can shoot threes. That's that's actually a good fit. Is he, is he still going to be good? I don't know. How is he going to age? Like what is his health going to be like? You could say that about Embed as well. So so I guess it's a little bit different in in that respect. But yeah, I remember like just the sheer surprise when they signed Nomdi. Yeah, I remember it was. Was it the same day the Phillies traded for 100 pence? I think it was right around that time. Yeah. And I think I grouped those two together because they didn't go quite so hot in those. But I just remember, like, it was just like, wow, the Eagles actually got this guy. They weren't really talked up as a major suitor for most of his free agency, if I remember that correctly.

No, and I remember, I remember Dave Spadera was live on there. This is when I was working for Philadelphia Eagles.com. and we were at Lehigh and Dave's live on air and like Schefter, I believe, breaks it and he keeps reading the Schaefter tweet Namdi to the dot dot dot, Eagles.

You know, Namdi awesome. Oh yeah, that's right. That's right. he's freaking out, of course, as you would expect. But I'll always remember that like the line reading, but from Dave, the dot, dot, dot, dot, eagle. And he's going nuts. And it did. It seemed too good to be true. Random Agent X and Random Agent X of CAA Sports negotiated the deal. Yes, exactly. What a job by them.

What a job by them. They put pen to paper. Great job. Yeah. Yeah. No, but that's, I think the dot, dot, dot, yeah, that like goes to show. Like, that was not a team that was talked about in the NOMD's sweepstakes. I think Dallas was, weren't they like pretty heavily interested in that time?

That sounds right. Yeah. And that's, I just remember that offseason two. It's just like the classic, like in football, just like winning free agency doesn't always mean that the season's going to go. So great, you know. Yes, I agree with that. As for the actual Paul George of it all, you wrote about this a little bit in the newsletter. Is it Paul George or is it George Paul?

Or is it, you know, as the thumbnail, do you prefer Paul George or do you prefer John Ringo? Oh, John Ringo. Yeah. Nice. You feel, you feel, I mean, we'll see how it works out. hard to argue with this being the best use of their cap space, but what are your like general expectations here? Yeah, I mean, I think they're going to be pretty good.

I think if you were going to make this move, like if you were going to do the star hunting route, which is Darry like at his postseason press conference was like, yeah, we're not getting role players. Like he was not, honestly, after the Sixers lost the Knicks, I was like,

role players don't sound so bad. Like it's playoffs are a war of attrition, those type of thing. He was like, uh-uh. Okay. So if you were going to go this route, and I think looking at some of the salaries that some of the role players are getting, I can buy this. The big thing in the NBA now, Bo is that like,

teams trade their entire dress for somebody as good as Paul George, you know? And I get like, I'm going into this with my eyes wide open. Like he's older. You know, some of the, like, why did the clippers let him leave? That's another parallel. to Nandi.

And I know you mentioned in the newsletter today. Why do you think that is? I don't know. I mean, they mentioned the whole second apron thing, but if they were going to offer him a three-year deal, like that still was going to come into play for these next few years. So I don't completely understand that.

Maybe we look back on that as a sign and it just, it was not as good. I don't know. But I think in terms of like what Darryor Mory had ahead of him, like I think it was the best use of their resources. And like you look at the Knicks a couple weeks ago, they traded for Mikhail Bridges. And, you know, obviously he's got a family member who works with us and who is a big supporter of his. I think Mikhail is a fine basketball player.

He is not even close to five first round picks better than Paul George. He might be zero first round picks better than Paul George. And, you know, I wrote in the newsletter today that like, I think the last time an AllStar changed teams was 2019. Like these guys, they opt into their contract. tracks, then they demand to get traded. So to just get somebody for having to pay nothing but the money is a big deal. So we'll see. I think they'll be pretty good.

I was thinking about it, like, where the Philly sports teams are in the hierarchy right now. And to me, like, bringing it back to the Eagles, like, it's pretty clear to me that the Eagles are like the big wildcard team of the four Philly teams right now, right? Like, you got the Phillies. They're at the top. Like, they are like championship contend. inner circle. If they lose in the playoffs,

it's going to be heartbreaking, that type of thing. Like, they have a team that actually can win it all. Sixers are like a notch or two down from them. Like, they're going to be good. They're going to be like a top four seed. They're not in that inner circle of contenders.

Like maybe something goes right for them. Maybe they get some injury luck for the first time ever. And the Flyers are rebuilding. The Eagles are like the one team I don't have a handle on, right? Like they could be better than the Sixers. Like just as they were a couple years ago, right? If everything goes right. But I don't think, like, their place in the NFC hierarchy is, is like set in stone, I would say.

So in a lot of ways, I kind of view them and their season is like the most interesting. You know, because we just don't, I think they're going to be good, but we don't know exactly what, what's going to happen there. I agree. Yeah. I think there's, I think there's a wide variance. And I think there is some combustion floor. Yeah. If you disagree and you want to, you know, bet on the Eagles to,

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Try for yourself, the Shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. All right. You ready, Rich? Yeah. Topic number two. You do a very good job with the flyer stuff on the newsletter. I can't tell if you know what you're talking about or not. Are you faking it? Are you like,

are you just taking Charlie and Bill's words for it? How are you going about the flyer stuff? I'm taking a lot of Charlie and Bill's words for it. But I feel like it's like anything. You know, you listen to them for a long enough time. You, you gain more of an interest.

And, you know, I certainly know a lot more about hockey than I did nine months ago, I would say. But like, yeah, of course I'm still leaning on them. But like, I do think I've gained at least some knowledge from consistently doing it and kind of learning the state of the flyers.

I mean, I think in a lot of ways, they are similar to what the Sixers were 10 years ago, right? They are just, they're tearing this thing down and they're trying to get stars. And they got their guy a couple weeks ago. That's very exciting. But it's going to take a couple years. And that's okay. But yes, am I leaning on Charlie and Bill for a lot of my knowledge? Yes, absolutely.

They do a great job. And so all of it. Fantastic. And with that in mind, the Mitch Koff and pending debut, is there an Eagles facsimile for the excitement here as they're hoping that this young guy is the star to lead the turnaround? You know, is this Carson Wentz? Do you go all the way back? Is this Donovan McNabb? What do you think? What's the, what's the proxy here? I think it's probably Wentz is the guy I was thinking. of just because, and let's say it's when there's some old tweet of him saying I'm going to cut off my own dick in Russian. Yeah, maybe. Some trick shot videos with his buddies.

Yeah. Let's say it's it's wence, but it's like two or three weeks into his rookie season when there's like actually some some evidence that, okay, he's pretty good, right? You know, we don't know how this is going to turn out, but there's excitement. building up because I guess I just didn't really know what to think of Carson when they drafted him, right? This guy from North Dakota State, uh, who, uh, you know, played on this loaded college team, but, you know, the Eagles, you know, they make all of these crazy trades to get up to number two. Who knows what they actually have? They were, they were pretty confident. The Rams were going to take golf at number one. So they, they get went to two. Um, I think that's

probably it. Like I, I remember in that first year, especially when they started off, like, that Steelers game, that week three game against the Steelers. I remember my buddy who's like the most like cynical Eagles fan ever told me. He was like, I think we actually have a guy for the first time in a long time. And I actually agreed with them. I was like, yeah, it seems like they actually have figured out the quarterback. I don't know how good this guy is going to be, but he's going to be one of the 10 or so quarterbacks that matter that you can win with, that type of thing.

So that's, I guess it's hard to have the same sort of. situation as Mitchkov because they don't really take players from other countries in football except for Jordan Milano, of course. There you go. But yeah, it's not as prevalent where there's like, you know, a major football league in another country and getting them over and is a whole different thing. So it's a little bit hard, I'd say. Yeah, and I think the, like the Donovan and Wentz were both a little bit, did we get the right guy

from the beginning, whereas it doesn't seem like that's the opinion of Mitchcoff, right? It's like, this is the guy. We just got to get him over. I think so. I think that's what everybody said. It sounded like he was the second best player in last year's draft. They had Connor Bedard was the first guy, and he was just like generational prospect. But this guy would have went second if he was coming over right away, and teams were confident

about that. But in a very process move, Danny, Danny the diplomat. Matt was like, I'm, I'm going to take this guy and we'll wait to three years. But instead, he works the back channels and gets him over in a year and seems like a great deal. So it seems like he's good. Like, you know, everybody says, you know, Charlie and Bill and they've kind of pointed me on the direction of other hockey writers. It seems like it's pretty rare for, for a kid his age to be like putting up that many points in the KHL. So we'll see. I think it's also good for the flyers this year too, because obviously,

They are kind of fourth on the current Philadelphia pecking order. And they even said like after the season, their front office, they're like, hey, we might take a step back this year. Like we might not be as competitive as we were for most of this season until they fell apart at the end until they realized they weren't very good. I think it's much more tenable for a fan base if you have this kind of like amazing prospect who, you know, not driving them to wins, but at least like if he shows enough where it's like, That's the reason they come to the arena every day is to watch this guy, right? And if he just does enough where he just like enough flashes, enough good plays,

like it's like, all right, we got something here. And we can, you know, hopefully draft somebody good in this draft, that type of thing. So Shane in the chat says the, the KHL stats are not just rare for his age, has never happened before. So. Okay. Yeah. No, that's, that's true. So.

All right. Let's talk, let's talk Phil's now. You talked about it before. right now at the peckin order there at the top it you know feels like anything less than a world series appearance would at this point be a disappointment that's a that's a marty harvest for october man but where would you put like the your enjoyment as a fan of this baseball season for the fillies is there an eagle season that it compares to this is i have one in mind but i'm going to let you go first this is really enjoyable i would say um you know it's it's funny

As far as the timeline is concerned, I actually think it reminds me a little more of 2022 just because we know who a lot of the players are. They have been to a Super Bowl, kind of the older core members of that team, just like Bryce and Schwerber and JT. But I think in terms of enjoyment, I just remember that 2017 season, like in the middle of the year when like the defense starts doing the electric slide and they were just clowning teams in the middle of the year. And it feels like this Philly's team, I just, I really enjoy watching them every night, you know?

Like they just, they've dealt with some injuries. It doesn't really matter. They just continue to pitch really well and pluck guys from AAA and kind of under the radar signings and continue to do well. I know it's a little bit of a cop out to just say, oh, it reminds me of the two Super Bowl seasons. Those are those are the most fun. But I mean, they really like the Eagles did not have, you know, a Pittsburgh, Steelers 2005 run where they're the sixth seed and then they just go to the Super Bowl. Like when they've made the Super Bowl, they've been the best team in the NFC both times.

Yeah. And I think baseball is different because, I mean, the season is so long. It's the only thing on during the summer. I think in baseball more than other sports, like the journey does matter more than the destination, right? Like you will remember the regular season more than even if they do flame out in the playoffs. but I think timeline wise

I would compare it to the 2004 because it's like okay this team is really really good but can they get over like they went to the World Series I like that NLCS now it's like this is a lot of fun you know we've got TO

like this is this is great but we probably will remember if this team gets it done or not like if they don't then it's going to be looked at and like the whole era may be seen as a slight disappointment that too 2014 had a lot of baggage heading into it.

And I think that was part of the genius of acquiring TO, right? Is that like you've had this new amazing player who kind of took the spotlight off like, man, they actually better get this done when it matters because there have been some horrific playoff losses at this core as, as handed to this city. I guess that the only difference is the Phillies don't have that new player this year. True. It's a lot of their older guys just playing well. Tio.

He is the Dhani Jones of that team of this Phillies team. Yeah, but no, I agree with you. Like just that that is a better comparison from a timeline standpoint because that was the same group of players. They had been one of the best teams in the league for a few years, had not gotten over the hump. And, you know, 2004 was kind of a make or break year in that regard. I do think the vibes, though, 2017 is the, is the,

Right. There's good vibes. Like even last night, like Kyle Schwerber, he, Michael Mercado makes his first start at, uh, at Wrigley Field, just a guy who, you know, he might have been that the eighth pitcher on the organizational starting depth chart, makes his first start, gets, gives up a couple hard hits, but gives him a very professional five innings one run. And like, you know, he's like a shy guy. Seems like a really, really nice kind of grateful kid for, you know, kind of can't believe where he is. And Kyle Schwerber's like, no, man, like, you're leading the high fives tonight. Like, that was awesome.

So, yeah, their vibes are, I hate, like, focusing on, oh, man, the vibes are immaculate here because I think sometimes that can be misleading. And I'm a little bit of a curmudgeon in that regard. But their vibes are immaculate. There's just nothing wrong with it right now. Who's like the Schwerber equivalent, you think, on the Eagles? On the 2004 Eagles? Or the current Eagles, or the 22, you know,

guy who is very good, but it's almost like the, the juice that he brings just every day as a vibes guy, almost outweighs how good he is as a player. A little bit of, maybe not the vibes, but like Deshawn Jackson, like an actual home run hit. Oh, interesting. Okay. You know, for a while there, he mainly had one trick, but it was a very valuable trick. And, you know, he was, you know, a core member of that group and somebody who the fan base really liked as well. you know it's funny i uh i have a cousin beau who uh who i've compared to kyle schwerber a lot

because he either like when he makes a joke he either like completely whiffs or it's like the funniest thing you've ever heard in your life like he's made me laugh harder five five or so times than anybody i've ever met but he's also just like actual crickets like actual like Joe Shane John Mara level crickets on a daily basis or whatever. I don't know if I like that. Yeah, you're not going to remember the singles hitter. No, not at all.

Like not like a polite little laugh, you know, just just a little, little giggle, little cackle. Nope. Yeah, you don't want Juan Pierre as a jokester. He would be like, give me. Ben Revere. Yeah, you don't want that. I like that. Let's get him on the pot. All right.

Well, don't sleep on. this Phillies team. You know what I'm saying? Because it's time for me to tell you about our friends at Sleep Healthy PA. Because at Sleep Healthy PA, they are committed to helping Philadelphia residents stop the snore and find solutions for sleep apnea that will allow you to rest well and improve your health. What causes sleep apnea? Well, we've talked about this before. There's a little choke point in the throat that causes snoring. That's kind of like a kink in the garden hose. And What Dr. Andrew Cohen wants to do is help you unkink that bad boy. Dr. Andrew Cohen, board certified in dental sleep medicine,

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oh dipping away from philadelphia and i mean burhalter i have a i have a comp here for you i think burhalter is like press taylor okay now i actually think that press taylor got a bit of a bad rap uh in philadelphia i don't think he was the boogeyman that that he was described as however you have press taylor he underwhelms like the offense does not perform and then it goes to Doug Peterson. And it's like, okay, hey, we need you to do better here. Doug's like, no, I'm going to ride with my guy. Maybe there's a little bit of cronyism going on.

And Jeffrey Lurie is like, I mean, if you're going to ride with him, you're both gone. And I'm thinking like, okay, if we're running it back with Burrhalter and the results have spoken for themselves, I'm not saying that he's the reason they lost, they didn't get out of the group stage, right? Tim Way, I can't just be shoving people in the head. that that Uruguay game was was nuts but like there's got to be some proof of concept here and if we're going back to the well and this is your best idea and these are the results I'm sorry you got to go completely agree and well I like the press Taylor comp too because you know he's a brother of another person in the profession as well yeah yeah

as much as it pains me though you you ask me for the Philly Sports comparison and I think it's Brett Brown unfortunately. Brett Brown is a friend of mine. Someone who had the support of the younger players, someone who has kind of grown with the team, and someone who's probably not going to get a head coaching job of this caliber again if they do move on from him, unfortunately. Now, I do think Greg Burrhalter did not come up with the Philly Special,

did not look that up. So he doesn't have that on his resume. like Press Taylor. Yeah, man, we just need a new coach. Like, you know more about this than I do. Like, I just, I'll let you go on this. It's just, it's ridiculous. Like, how many chances does this guy get?

Like, he got a full cycle last time. Okay, they beat Mexico at home. Great. Like, there's a bunch of coaches that beat Mexico at home in the, in the qualifying rounds. Like, that's fine. Like, you got us to the World Cup. exactly what you were expected to do. Right, but like not a very competitive game

against the Netherlands in the round of 16. And then we're playing at home in the Gold Cup, man. Like I just, sorry, not the Gold Cup. The, what is this one called? Cop America. Cop America. It's the Conmy Bowl. It's the South American tournament.

They put this in our country, bow. They put it in our football stadiums, our American football stadiums. And we can't get out of the group against Panama. and Bolivia, it's time to go. I think there is, I think the golden generation description of this player crop is a little bit overstated.

And somebody made the point on Twitter, I don't know who it was, but maybe the biggest difference from this generation and the other ones is that just top European teams are willing to have Americans on the teams now. Like, you know, I don't think that, like Eunice Musa is that much better of a player than Michael Bradley or like you know Brian McBride is is better than Ricardo Pepe

right like some of these differences are minor I just do think and like all of the oh these guys love Burrhalter so much you know I like the Brett Brown comparison here because I remember in the lead up to the Copa America, like all the reports from the camp are like, oh, this is as tight of a team as I've ever seen. Like, oh, what the vibes here are immaculate and we're making fun of the vibes. But like, who cares?

Like, have some teeth. This team doesn't, they don't play with any, you know, to circle back to the Giants identity thing, but like identity or grit or anything. It just, a second cycle is so usually rare to begin with for a reason and to do it for someone, to do it for someone who, did not overperform,

does not have like any kind of extra edge, along with everything swirling around the fact that Leah, his brother works for the organization and they had the Raina thing. Like, I'm sorry. This is such a unique opportunity to have the World Cup at home. If you can't get out of the group in the Copa, America. Like, I'm sorry.

and we got to just do something different. Now is the time. Completely agree. And I know. So what do you think of kind of the U.S. men's job versus the women's job? Because a lot of people have pointed out, the women made a great hire. They hired Emma Hayes from Chelsea. And it seems like they're back on the right track.

That's like a top tier hire. That's somebody who is kind of at the top of her profession. Now, I would say the differences, though, is that the U.S. women are, good. They've been consistently good for a long time. That's as far as national team jobs go, that is one of the glamor positions in, you know, in women's soccer. But man, like, I still can't get on board with like, okay, the men are not as good. They're not as advanced as the women are. It's still like an amazing opportunity, right? Like they're hosting, they're hosting the World Cup here. And if you are the guy or girl,

whatever, if you are the person that turns the men's team around, gets them into the quarter finals. And I'm sure. We'll take it. I'm sure the ghost of set bladder is cooking up like the most cupcake route to the quarters. Like they want the US to go for you. Don't even have to qualify this time.

You're in. You're going to be in group A and we're going to put you against three patties and probably give you a very winnable knockout stage game as well. It just feels like a tremendous opportunity. And if you're not shooting higher than Greg Burruller, I don't know what we're doing. Yeah. I don't know. I agree.

A great super chat from Corey who says it seems clear that we can't work it out with his coach. They should just fire him and let it be. Let it be. Nicely done. You big Beatles guy? I like the Beatles. Yeah. I feel like it's hard to be not a Beatles guy, you know, just because their songs are so.

Eubiquitous. On the present. Yeah, exactly. I like to break out a little Beatles impression every now and then. Oh, yeah. Of, are you distinguishing between the... No, absolutely not. No, just...

Yeah. You got a fire Burrhalter. The guy has got no juice. Unbelievable. Come on, Paul. Yeah. Shoot the ball for him. What are we doing with...

Pulisich and Raina on the wings get them inside get them in space have you ever seen the Beatles doc on I think it was Disney Plus it was like three or four years ago came out I was like interested in the idea of it

and like to watch the craft and I think I lasted like 25 minutes that was all I could do yeah the craft is a little long it's like eight hours of footage so if you are like a super music sicko I'm sure you would love it Now, there were a couple selected scenes where, like, you could see that, uh, that Paul and John were like, they finally, like, they hit something.

They tripped on something that was good. Um, I think it's get back was the song. And it was like, wow, that's pretty impressive. Their talent. But anyway, the last, uh, I'd say hour of it, though, they do a concert on a roof in London in like downtown London. And it is like an amazing hour of footage because they have like the police. on the on the street being like what the hell is going on up there like they certainly didn't have like a permit to do it or anything and there's people like walking out of their offices and it's like you know

they're talking to like some you know 35 year old woman on the street and she's like I think that's Paul McCartney but like that's crazy like what would he be doing up there it's two o'clock on Thursday afternoon or whatever so that's pretty good I would I would recommend watching the last hour of that okay i like that good wreck uh all right i got another uh if we want to keep this going i got a jared mccain one for you sure let's find our let's find our eagles draft equivalent you know is this is this a guy who's drafted for a specific role like uh like an avante maddox you know in in the fourth round in 2018 or a or a daniel to own a sime in 2013 like we just knew this interior pass rusher we think he can do this is this a guy who uh like his

his one best skill is the most valuable skill. Maybe that's like a, I don't think of a pass rusher who, like who can get to the quarterback, like a Derek Barnett, I guess would be the equivalent there. What do you see Jared McCain falling in? The thing that I thought about,

um, is something that's important, I think in every single sport, including football. And I think there are some Eagles tie-ins here. And that's like the idea of having multiple timelines, like, replenishing the pipeline.

And like, look, you're not going to get it 100% right. In basketball, the Golden State Warriors just tried to do this after they won the championship a couple years ago. You know, Joe Lacob, who has a very high opinion of himself and, you know, tripped into this amazing core group of players. It was like, well, exactly. Bob Myers is the reason that they were so good. That's true. That's true. He's a big Bob Iger's guy.

Bob Iger guy as well. Did you see Bob Iger is buying into an NWS? him or his wife who's, but yes, I saw the, I saw the, I saw the headline. I don't know exactly.

It could be his wife. Anyway, could be a lot of leadership, running that, running that team. But yeah, Joe Lacob was obsessed with this idea that,

oh, we're going to have two timelines. We're going to be good now and we're going to be good later. And he didn't realize, like, hey, your second group of players

are not like a championship caliber core. In fact, the guy they took second James Wiseman kind of stinks. Yeah. So that's why I like that the Sixers took McCain the other night. I think a lot of people were like, you know, are they going to trade the pick? Are they going to try and do the thing with De Anthony Melton? But like I like the idea of if it's not a Tyrese maxi type home run pick or whatever, just getting like a rotation player. And I have no idea if Jared McCain is going to be a rotation player. But the idea of like taking a swing on a pick and like maybe in a couple years, instead. of being like, man, we don't have a backup point card. We don't have somebody who, uh, who can make shots off Maxine and B. sometimes your draft pick like turns into that guy.

And it's, it's like on a cheap, uh, contract. So I don't know if that was the right pick or not. Uh, I know you had some takes when we were at, uh, when you're at garage and connect, Dalton connect in his age, you were grabbing your back to disintegrate. I mean, he was at that, he was at that Beatles concert, I believe. I think he was. see. So we'll see. Like I like the idea of not doing the two timeline thing, but being like, look, it's important to try and take some swings on younger players as well who, you know, as our older guys

get more expensive or if we phase them out, they can step into roles. And it's like what the Phillies have right now with the with the daycare, right? They're, that group of bone and Stott who's struggling a little bit now in Marsh. Like, yeah, they're not as good as Harper Schwerber, Real Muto Turner. But like, they play a role on a really good team. And like a couple of those guys are probably going to be here for 10 years. And I think it's important to have, you know, kind of a next generation. And whether that's with the Phillies with Aidan Miller or, you know, I'm sure the flyers are going to run into that as they get better as well.

It's interesting to me, though, Bo, is that like it felt like the Eagles tried to do this a little bit with the Georgia guys. Right. Like they had their. And I think it's rare in football to actually. actually be able to do the two timeline thing because turnover is just so crazy at most of the positions outside of quarterback outside some of the line spots it's you know it's really hard to have staying power but the eagles had two guys who were here uh they have multiple guys actually but two guys who were here for forever while they had these georgia guys waiting in the wings and so far like

the georgia guys jalen carter i think is going to be very very good but the rest of them have a lot to prove and they do not have the the kind of safety net of fletcher cox and jason kelsey still playing really well in the final years of their careers well of those four guys jordan davis jayling carter nolan smith i guess five guys nicobee dean keely wringo would would you agree that outside of jeline carter keely wringo is the one you have the most faith in like overperforming their draft slot. Oh, yeah. When you factor in the draft slot as well,

I think I might have the most faith in him just in general. Hmm. I don't know. Maybe those OTA reports you guys were giving me. I think you still got to go Carter, but. Oh, oh, okay. Oh, you're, you're. Oh, you're saying of the other four,

just period, hit him over Jordan Davis, and Kobe. I think I might agree with that too, actually. Yeah. Yeah, no, I don't have more faith than him than Jim Carter. Jail and Carter, I think is going to be going to be, going to be very good. But yeah, but of the other, compared to the other three guys, it's kind of crazy to pick the guy who's only really played in a couple games, be like,

oh, yeah, he flashed on this terrible defense. But that's the state of things right now. Those June practices. I think on the, on the draft front, like, I just, I don't think there was any sport where you're going to be rewarded for overvaluing the current fit. Like, and it seems like, such a conversation in the NBA specifically. I made the reference to Fran the other day, but like, you know, I was, I was listening to these, like the, who's the guy the thunder took, the injured, top, uh, top it's that. Topich. Yeah, like, oh, well, they've already got ball handlers. Where are they doing draft another ball hand? Or like, he's 18 years old. He's injured. He's going to be out for the year. Like,

he's two years away. Like, the draft is, everyone's telling me it's not a good draft. Like, if you think Jared McCain has a better chance of being a rotational player, get the good player, not the guy who might in theory be a better fit for the 2020-6ers. Like, that doesn't make any sense. I agree. And it's also a thing with Mori. I think his drafts have been like kind of underrated because he doesn't really value

them as much and they're picking later. Like his 2020 draft is like as good as it gets. Now he doesn't, he loses a little bit of credit because he let Isaiah Joe go. but like, you know, All-Star at 21. I forget where Isaiah Joe was in the 40s, but like rotation player, who just got a nice contract.

And then B.B. Paul was like the second and last pick in the draft. Like, that's pretty good. So hopefully, yeah, hopefully Jared McCain works out. I certainly do not care at all about his TikToks and his painted nails. He can keep doing that all he wants.

If he can make threes, that's great, you know? Well, said, is it Isaiah Joe or Joe Isaiah? It's Isaiah Joe. Oh, got it. All right, any other like tangentially related Eagles things that you would like to discuss before hopping off, Rich? I guess we could do is it Paul Reed or is it Reed Paul as well? That's good. Read Paul George.

Any other tangential Eagles things. Yeah, I think the one point I wanted to make because we were talking about where the Philly teams all stack up. I actually think the Eagles are probably going to be better than the Sixers this year. But I did want to mention like the volatility. like if Nick Siriani has a rough first month this year, like the conversation is not going to be the same as like, what the hell is Nick Nurse doing with this if the Sixers go like eight and six in, you know, October, November.

Right. And just like a level of pressure is different. I mean, it would be like if Greg Popovich got fired from the Spurs and had talked to Josh Harris over the like over the summer. And they had a bad first month of the season like, oh, well, maybe they can go to Pop. Like, I mean, the Belichick thing is very looming. And I think you're right. Like, Nick, Nick is the guy probably more than Jalen who is going to get the blowback early on if they do not come out of the gates.

Definitely. One more Sixers thing that cracked me up. It's kind of an Eagles tie in as well. Josh Harris loves him some pointless collaboration. Loves it. Oh, this is so funny. Like the idea that he had Darry talk to Adam Peters and the commander's brain trust about, what's it like to have two days of the draft or whatever?

As if like Darry has been, I think, a very good NBA GM for basically two decades now. Yeah. Like he couldn't figure it out. And Adam Peters is the one that's, oh, that's a great idea there, Adam. And I mean, you have to imagine the level of. eye rolling that had to come from Daryl Mory to have to participate in this meeting because I know for a fact that like in the commander's search for their own general manager like they you know they talked to Mory and they wanted to get his input on the kinds of things to look for right that's seems like a fine piece of collaboration like but to do the reverse yeah like well let's let's let's make it fair and you know Adam Peters can tell you what it's like to to sleep on a draft board like give me

a break. Well, I was also thinking, did Bob Myers? Was he, was he the one who gave us DQ? Yeah, maybe. They run into each other. I don't know where, but. Yeah, the new market inefficiency is backward hats. Yes, exactly. Yeah. All right. Good stuff. Well, Rich, thank you for spending time with us today. Enjoy your fourth. We're going to get a lot of the PhDLY podcast is going to get a lot of handsome rich over the next couple weeks. So we're looking forward to that. You and you and ZB spending some time together, you know, happy fourth. Thanks for, thanks for hanging.

Happy fourth, everybody. That'll do it for this episode of the P.H.L.Y. Eagles podcast, hit the like button, subscribe, all that good stuff. Enjoy your holiday. And then stay tuned over the next couple weeks. ZB back from vacation, him and Rich and some other rotating guests will be a lot of fun. I'm out of here. So I look forward to seeing you guys in a couple weeks.

That'll do it for this episode of the PHY Eagles podcast for Julia. Thank you for making it all happen today. We'll talk to you on Friday at noon. And as always, we love you.