PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Safety IS NOT The Eagles’ Biggest Concern Entering 2026 | PHLY Eagles
Episode Date: May 26, 2026Drew Mukuba might not yet know who will line up next to him in Week 1, but whether it’s Marcus Epps, Michael Carter, Brandon Johnson, Grant Delpit, Cole Wisniewski, Mr. Gush or someone else, Brandon... Lee Gowton believes that’s not the most pressing depth chart concern entering the summer. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Hello everybody and welcome to the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon live from the Xfinity Lounge and presented by our friends at Ashley, Bo Wolf, and the great Brandon Lee Goughton saying hi to all you sickos watching live, including we've got some people doing the chores in Norway.
Love to see that. Fantastic BLG. How are you? Thanks for joining me.
I am super sweaty, so I'm so sorry to everyone here.
Let's get into it.
For me,
probably ruining this chair.
That's okay.
We've got a few new ones
so that we can rotate that one out
if we need to.
I feel like the leather is good for,
you know,
it'll go off eventually.
A little wicking action happening there.
Beautiful weather outside.
Yeah.
So you walked,
which in the first place
is going to get you a little bit moist.
That's right.
And then we get here
and I get on the elevator
and I check Slack
and there's a message to everybody
that says the elevator is broken.
And as I'm on floor three or whatever,
well, the elevator breaks.
It would be nice if someone put some signage there
to ward people away from
on the broken elevator.
So I sat there for a little bit,
you know, kept a cool head, hit the button.
Eventually the thing started dropping
and went all the way back down to one,
even though it said it was at four and a half.
So I warned you.
And then we both had to take the...
big long trek up those rickety stairs. What'd you think? Well, it's really one thing to hear about
them when you guys talk about on the podcast. You know, you've heard it all about the stairs. And it's a
whole other thing to live it. So, you know, these are the rigors of, you know, the work we do here
doing podcasting. That's the physical challenge that we arise to. Yeah, this is blue collar.
Yes, my luncheails just behind my seat here. But you look great. No worse for where.
Appreciate it. All right. So we got, we got some Eagle stuff to get into. We're going to talk about some
overplayed and underplayed concerns for the eagles.
We both have one on either side about Ledger.
I have some questions for you about this project.
We're undertaking trying to put together the best 25, 26 Eagles of the century.
Going to throw some things at you.
And then you and I, we are Survivor fans, and we have not talked.
We have purposefully not talked since the finale.
So if you are likely or likewise interested, we'll have that conversation at the end.
Before we get to it, I have a question for a big playoff game tonight for our Little League team.
As an Eagles fan, when it's a big game, it's a playoff game or something,
do you find yourself doing the magical thinking of like trying to bring good juju into your life because it's a big game?
Like, oh, I'm going to work out today because I feel like that will, you know,
that will help me with the football gods or, you know, you give to charity that day because you're trying to give some goodwill.
Do you dance with that?
I think it's just about not being able to sleep.
I think I'm waking up early that morning.
Maybe I take a walk.
I'm just,
I'm not able to rest because I'm just anticipating the day.
If you want to get really embarrassing with it,
before the Super Bowl 52,
I was in Minneapolis covering the game as well.
And I think it was the day before.
Talking about freezing.
Yeah.
And I might have done this for the 59 too.
I can't remember.
Definitely 52.
I was watching like old Rocky videos
and getting really emotional watching those
and kind of like emotionally ramping up
for the game.
Yeah. Trying to expend the energy that you were
maybe to get to get it out early?
Maybe. Maybe as like a yeah,
kind of just really or just trying to put myself in the moment.
I think the feel, the magnitude of everything.
But you didn't dance with the idea that you could
you could affect the game somehow by just, you know,
doing good deeds.
No, I'm not as big of a believer in that.
Yeah.
Lindsay, how about you?
Do you do that?
Like do anything on game day?
Yeah, big game.
You're like, you want to try to do, like, you know, let's say your husband is a coaching
in a state championship game.
Are you trying to do anything to, you know, increase the juju?
Give yourself some good luck.
Oh, I don't do anything.
He's not too superstitious either.
I don't think.
I don't know.
I kind of think it's like there's too many people in the world.
If everybody's doing their superstitions, then like can't really affect.
You got to have a little bit of main character energy, you know?
You're the only one
You're the only one live in your world
Okay, I guess not
Super chat early
Before we get to this conversation
About what is an overplayed
Concern for the Eagles
Jake Arders
Just a nice generous super chat
Thank you Jake
We appreciate that
Okay, BLJ
Your idea for this
It started, I believe
With you think
That the hand-wringing
Over who was going to start
Next to Drew Maccuba
is a little bit overstated.
Is that fair?
That is entirely fair.
I feel like I have a good pulse of, you know, seeing this.
Yep.
Whether it's social media or on bleeding green nation in the comments,
Reddit, any kind of thing you're seeing like,
who's going to start at safety?
Who's going to start at safety?
It reminds me of what was a fair question.
First of all, I think that is a fair question for sure.
Okay.
We don't know what it's going to be yet, but yeah.
Where people are coming from.
But when we go back to last year and we look at,
cornerback too, which is the big bugaboo.
Yeah, okay.
It was a valid concern.
No one looked great in train camp.
It was going to start opposite Queenieff, Mitchell, yeah.
It ended up not being really, like, I think, a top whatever reason the season was bad last year.
Like, the defense was not sunk.
The team was not sunk.
They still had one of the better defenses in the NFL.
And I don't think people are like, Dory Jackson.
That was the reason why the 2020, 2025 Eagles went wrong.
Okay.
But here's my devil's advocate on that.
In that comparison.
In that comparison, you have Quignan Mitchell, you have Cooper de Gene.
Maybe the third corner is a little bit overstated.
In this situation, I think the concern about who's going to start opposite Drew McCuba is wrapped up in, well, Drew McCuba might not be that great himself.
Sure.
Right.
And so if it was Brian Dawkins, he's playing, I mean, unfair, but, you know, if it was Rodney McCuble,
cloud he's playing next to. You're like, okay, well, as long as they get passable play from
somebody, they've got enough people to throw at it. But if Drew McCuba himself is not ready
for prime time, then all of a sudden maybe you have two trouble spots back there.
And that's a fair question, because we don't even know the extent of Maccuba being able to
ready to practice this offseason. We'll get a better sense of that, I guess soon with OTAs starting
up here. But to the play devil's advocate, to your devil's advocate. I would say like
Marcus Epps. I think people are. Angels advocate.
Angel's advocate.
I think people are kind of sleeping on him.
And Vic Fangio essentially said as much in his press conference last week.
I held that opinion before Vic said that.
Yeah.
But, I mean, this is a guy who's been a credible starter, not only in the NFL, but for the
Eagles as well.
And certainly as recently as the last time they were on the field.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So I, and I think the way Vic framed it isn't that Marcus Epps is going to be an all-pro
player for obviously not.
But he said, I think, will be fine.
And that's where I'm coming to from it,
is that I think they will be fine there,
not only because of who they have,
and could still potentially add, mind you,
I don't think it's like,
oh, they're just definitely done there 100%.
It's also the fact that every other spot on the defense
is looking pretty good.
So if that's the one pain point for them,
I think they can live with that.
Yeah, I mean, every unit has to have an 11th best player, right?
So it's going to be somebody.
I'm with you on EPS.
He sets a nice baseline for you, and you hope that, you know,
if Michael Carter has a great summer,
then maybe he could ascend beyond that.
And what amount of turkeys would you put on how making an addition here, like a trade?
I would go low end of that.
Your Grant Delpit type.
Yeah, I'm going to say, I'll go 18.
I think it's really, yeah, I don't think he's rushing.
I just think what they have done with their actions tells us they don't really
want to invest a lot in that position
when you look at read Blankenship
when you look at the fact that
maybe it's just how
we don't know how they evaluated
Emmanuel McNeele Warren
the time they drafted
Eli Stowers instead
I just think they're not really looking to spend
big at that position if there's an opportunity
that comes along with a value is just like a no-brainer
that's almost kind of like what it was
when they got CJGJ the first time
sure but I don't think they're paying a premium
to add to that position
I think you're right.
But I would go a little bit higher on the turkeys.
I think it's possible how he has somebody your mark there.
And the thing is it's not like there's not like there's a young guy here who you want to make sure he gets the reps.
If there is somebody that they want, I think they could just go get him.
Marcus reps.
Marcus reps.
I like that.
Okay.
I think that's fair.
And yeah, I think you're probably right that the Eagles' 2026 season is not going to sink or swim based on.
how well the second safety plays.
I think part of it too is you get to this time of year
and you look at the roster and there's not a whole lot
going on so you're so fixated on that one thing
and also kind of lose context of there's a lot of teams.
I think almost every team in the NFL has some spot
at least one where we're like kind of looking dicey.
We don't feel great about that.
Yes, I think most other teams have a much higher priority position
that is what the fan base is hemmy and honing about this summer.
All right, I will give you my overstated one
And this comes from a conversation on the Anthony Gargano show this morning with Cuzz.
It was about Nick Siriani.
And it's, you know, it's a familiar conversation.
What does, what does Nick do?
What, you know, what advantage is he bringing?
And to me, the, the overstated thing here is,
I don't know how much impact I feel like Nick Siriani himself has on the outcome of the 2026 Eagle season.
And by that I mean
Vic is in charge of the defense
if Sean Manion is truly taking over the offense
which I think that we believe
I don't know how much of an impact Nick is having
on all of the moving parts on this new offense
and there's only a little bit of latitude
between him being aggressive in-game
and not making those end-of-half mistakes
and going for it more on fourth down
and the other version of that.
We know what he's going to do culture-wise.
think he's going to have the locker room behind him.
He's going to have everybody playing hard.
All that stuff is expected.
It's almost like,
um,
I,
I don't know,
I don't know what variance Nick himself is bringing to the table this year.
Does that make sense?
So it's almost like other people saying,
what does Nick Siriani do pejorative,
premonstices pejorative and you're saying,
what does Nick Sirireani do complimentary?
Like in terms of like,
yeah.
Yeah.
It's not,
he's not going to stink the team either.
Correct.
You're not worried about that.
I think that is largely right.
It also kind of goes hand in hand with the conversation of what certainly I'm part of,
where I struggle to articulate, like, where he's giving them this tangible edge.
Sure.
It's probably more of nitpicking.
It's probably, it's unknowable stuff.
It's also probably maybe manifesting, like, in a moment that could be an outsized moment
when you look back at the course of the season in terms of, like, they should have went for it on this fourth down
in a playoff game that they lost.
Like, you know, we could be talking about that for sure.
But short of that, yes, but also that is, I think, how the team is designed.
Yeah.
I mean, listen, am I going to be angry if they don't try to score points with 30 seconds left in the second quarter?
Everyone's speaking.
And we've won, of course.
But I think the larger impact of Nick Seriani on this season, it's like, it's already sort of the road has been built.
There's not a lot of repaving to be done.
Okay.
I don't know.
I still, I go back.
I worry about, not worry.
Do you agree that Sean Mannion has a bigger effect on the relative range of outcomes for the Eagles this season?
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think it kind of, you know, look, this is getting ahead of ourselves a little,
but let's do that since we're here in late May.
But like, they're probably not going to get rid of Nick if the offense is awesome.
But it's almost in a weird spot of where if this happens once a year,
where the offense, you bring in the offensive coordinator, it works out.
And I guess because of who the other guys hired, they hired this offseason like Gerard Johnson
and so on, so forth.
Josh Grazard.
They're maybe kind of trying to get ahead of that a little bit.
Right.
Because I don't think they're just going to promote Somani and head coach.
That would require a very specific set of outcomes.
Right.
So, yeah, I think.
I think if I phrase it this way, I think if Nick Siriani has an 80th percentile season for a head coach and a 20th percentile season for a head coach, I think that's changing like two wins from the Eagles final total.
Whereas I think if Sean Mannion has an 80th percentile season for an offensive coordinator and a 20th percentile season for the offensive coordinator, I think that's like a six-win swing.
I think that's a fair framing.
Okay.
That's all.
All right.
Now we'll take us to our first break on the PHA YGO's podcast.
On the other side, the other side of this coin,
what are the concerns we have that maybe people aren't worried enough about?
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Back in the PHAY Eagles podcast,
Bo and Brandon Lee Gouten
of BleedinggreenNation.com.
Thank you for joining us, BLG.
It's time now for Wawa Taco Tuesday.
Your new craving.
Check it out at any participating Wawa.
Get yourself some tacos
BLJ, the other side of this coin.
What is the concern
if we are too worried about
safety, we are not worried enough about
the
interior offensive line.
Good one.
And real quickly. These guys went to Columbia.
They're going to be fine. I also went to Columbia.
I did not go for stem cells.
Went for cocaine. I cannot
say that is true.
By the way, Wawa Tacos.
I have a list here. I don't know if you can see it.
That's just things to eat.
And Wawa Tacos is actually number one on there because that's true.
I want to try those that has been on my to do list.
So excited to try.
Love that.
Things to eat.
I've heard you guys talk about them.
As for the actual concern.
Okay.
I appreciate that.
Overrated concern here.
Is that, or underrated, sorry.
Concern is the interior offensive line.
I mean, you talked about the stem cell treatment.
I mean, like, I guess good that they're.
trying things.
Yeah.
But bad that they're in a spot where they feel like they kind of have to do something
maybe more experimental.
And also just, I feel like the Eagles were in a really tough spot with this, this offseason
from a standpoint of if you just had a clear knee to position, you can attack that
knowing we have to get better here.
Yeah.
And you don't have anything committed.
Whereas kind of like, not the same approach, but where the Eagles were with cornerback too,
they didn't have anyone.
But they can sign Rick Wollen, great.
Boom.
Interior offensive line, you're not going to sign Tyler Linderbaum, you know,
and for agency to come in and start over Cam Jurgens,
or at least if you did, then Cam Jurgens probably is never playing again at all.
So I don't really know what they were supposed to do,
but I think Howie will tell you, hope is not a strategy,
but I think they're really just hoping that Cam Jurgens and or Leon Dickerson
just aren't dad now.
Well, you're right.
It was a difficult dance they had to make
because it's not like you're going to bring in a guy to compete with those guys.
Those guys, if they are healthy, they are starters.
I think where they would have hoped in a different situation,
they could have come down here,
would have been if you use that first-round pick
on a guy who is supposed to be Lane's replacement eventually
but can kick inside to guard.
And having to replace AJ,
Brown completely changed the calculus for them there. Now listen, you know, is Mikey Levin the tough,
top guy on their board over Maxi Hunter, whoever? I'm sure he was, but they moved around to make that
be the case. I think in a different situation. If you hadn't lost AJ, you're probably drafting an
offensive lineman there. And so you think, okay, we'll get a guy eventually. But then the one offensive
line me drafts in the first three rounds is Mark Howbell, who can't play guard at all?
Of course not.
Like, he's just not a thing that is possible.
So now the depth on the interior offensive line is it does leave you under well.
And when you've got two guys of the three who are real injury concerns, you would have
thought or hoped that there would be one swing guy in the middle who you really want to,
you know, pound the table for.
I think some people in the building feel that way about Drew Kendall.
That requires a bit of a leap of faith.
But even beyond that, I mean, there are no veterans there who really move the needle for you at all.
And so you're hoping that between Michael Morris or whoever else that some guy is going to be reliable.
And I think that you're right.
That is a big leap of faith.
And it is, of course, rolled in with, well, is this offensive line coach going to get these guys ready?
it's all part of that
and just going through the
depth chart I did a piece for bleeding
green nation last week and I was
we talked about the starters there
but looking at the depth I'm like
man this is like even thinner
I guess than I realized
when I was really laying it out
and I think losing someone like Brett Tooth
was huge
like that's a sneakily big absence
from a standpoint of
he played 363 snaps last year
it's like just over a third of the team snaps
and that's what Tyler Steen
like playing basically all of them
right guard the whole year.
And I feel fine about him, by the way.
I think people kind of are a little too down
on Tyler Steen.
I think, you know, there's been a lot of clamoring
for bring Mackay Beckton back,
still a free agent, by the way.
Yeah, that's possible.
But I think also kind of speaks to how
he might not have been quite as vital.
At least the Eagles don't view it that way.
Different position coach and everything now.
But yeah, so it's not just the starters.
Like I said, it's the backups there as well
aware. And like you said, I know EJ has reported that they feel good about Drew Kendall. And I like
what I saw from a Drew Kendall last year and more so in the preseason. But that's a big leap of
faith for someone who has no, no experience. I mean, is it, yeah, so you're going to be
the backup at all three spots? Like, Toethless. Like, that's, that's a big ask. It's a big ask. I agree.
You're two. And then there's nobody else beyond him. And to a larger point where I kind of,
it's the opposite. What have I said? It's safety in terms of like, I don't think that's going to sink
their season.
Poor offensive line play could very much sink the season like it did for this team last
year.
And conversely, when they've been at their best and been able to win Super Bowls, the
offensive line was, if not the best, one of the very best in the NFL.
Well, I think you've given Eagles fans something to not be able to sleep over.
Sorry.
There you go.
BLG is Taco Tuesday, presented by our friends at Wawa.
I think that's fair.
Yeah, somebody mentions Willie Lampkin in the chat.
You know, we know how much I love Willie Lampkin.
Intrigued.
would like to see him do some stuff in the summer.
But yeah, there's no doubt that this is a, still a concern.
They have not solved this.
My underrated concern here is the wide receiver position,
which I know that it's hard to say that that is an understated concern,
but I have it written down here on mine.
What I mean by this is, okay, they're moving on from AJ Brown,
and we've all sort of internalized.
There's no replacing AJ Brown.
but they're going to do the moneyball thing.
They're going to try to recreate him in the aggregate, right?
And with Michael Lemon in the slot and Dantabian Wicks winning with man beaters
and Hollywood Brown can be a deep threat,
I think it's very unlikely that you're going to get the 80th percentile outcome
for all three of those options.
Dantavian Wicks, that is a Packers offense,
that is a team that wants to win the Super Bowl,
that is incentivized to do so,
they're given up on him.
Now, it's not like they got a huge windfall.
In theory, it's because they want to create snaps
for Matthew Golden, last year's first round pick.
But if they thought Tom Tavian Wix was really good,
they wouldn't do that.
Okay, so this is a guy you're expecting
to be one of the top three starters.
Mackay Lemon, I like Mikey Lemon.
A bunch of teams passed on him.
He did not go that high.
It was a bad draft for wide receivers to begin with.
Wide receiver hit rates in the first round,
especially after the top 10 are not great,
there's a real chance that McIalleman doesn't make
that much of an impact as a rookie at all.
And then Hollywood Brown,
the idea that he's a like a difference making deep threat
really has not borne out at all
through the course of his career.
His yards per catch are like, you know,
are not that impressive
and they've actually stayed steady his entire career.
Like there's a real chance that
this wide receiver core
despite the fact that they have improved
the like average player there
that it just really leaves you wanting
and there's nobody who can get open.
On the Hollywood Brown point.
Aside from Devante of course.
Like we've seen examples maybe
of him having speed,
and that's what the player he was in theory
coming into the draft.
His career guards per reception is 11.6.
And I think it's been like between
like 11.3 and 12
like every season of his career or something like that.
And Dallas Goddard's is 11.4.
Like that's crazy.
Yeah.
Now, obviously, Goddard's pretty good for a tight end, but, and I'm willing to see how that looks.
I'm not, like, out on Hollywood Brown.
I just think that you're kind of what you're saying here is when you're looking at it,
the cell that Eagles are trying to make, it's like a little rosier.
I'm in on the cell.
I can buy it.
And, of course, it's going to be about how they're used.
It's really more of a Sean Mannion question than a wide receiver talent question.
But I don't know.
If they're not put in the best scenario as possible,
I don't think that those guys are going to just go out
and get open on their own.
I have this as an understated concern, wide receiver,
specifically losing AJ 2,
in part because of the timing of how this is happening.
I feel like because we've just been so resigned to it
and it's been treated as this inevitability,
which it has been, it kind of almost lessens the impact
as if it happened in March and it just kind of was like,
bam, AJ Brown's gone.
and now you're like kind of really feeling it more.
Well, it is as if Eagles fans are trying to have it both ways
in the sense of, I mean, AJ Brown is worth more than a first round pick.
This guy's unbelievable.
We should be getting two ones for AJ Brown.
And at the same time, oh, we'll be fine.
Kyle Levin and Donovan and Don Tavian Wicks, it's not going to be a problem.
Devante's going to take it over.
Right.
Both things can't really be true.
If he's that good, it's going to be pretty tough to replace him.
I totally agree.
And even in a down year last year, AJ has the,
31st most receiving yards ever in an eagle season like okay it's pretty good for like your down
year yeah and the other ones are first second and 22nd um when it comes to lemon i think you guys have
made interesting points about him that i agree with in terms of i think that what you've talked
about specifically last friday show i believe is you want to see him looking good right away yeah and
o'tia's i think especially and you just touched on it there too part of being concerned i think part of the
sell of Mikhail Lemon is like he has to be ready.
Just like they're counting on volume from him.
Yeah.
To some extent,
maybe he doesn't have to be the number two if Wix is looking really good.
But I feel like you probably want him to be a top three guy at the very least.
I hope so.
Yeah.
Like to trade up for him like they did.
I think we're going to know either way on McKay Lemon early on.
I think I will be quickly sold that if I see it in OTAs and he's crushing it,
I'm going to be quick to buy in training camp.
Yeah.
Um, if I don't, I'm going to probably be, have more.
heightened concerns and not to be like, well, let's just get to the regular season.
Yeah, well, it's tough because he is in theory, you know, he's not the fastest guy.
He's like part of the bill, the cell on him is the toughness and the spatial awareness.
Like that stuff doesn't always pop out in the spring.
But still, I want to see him like, I want to see him doing stuff.
Again, the volume to me was part of the cell.
And watching his highlights, it wasn't always just about being the most physically
impressive player as much as he just got open so much and was there and was reliable.
It's a different player, but it almost reminded me of like part of,
and it's part of what made Zach Earth so great.
It's just his ability, he wasn't the flashiest player with the ball in his hands.
Right.
Quite the opposite, but he would just get open and not such a skill in being able to do that.
And I want to see Lemon look reliable from the jump.
Yeah.
I'm with him.
Shout to Lucas from Brazil.
It was in the chat watching the show.
Lovely international listeners.
If you're watching live from somewhere in a different country, please let us know.
All right, do you have other ones on your list there?
I do.
I have two other ones.
I didn't talk about that so far.
Tight end is one of them.
Okay. Fair.
I think Dallas Goddard being a year older and making even less money,
I'm wondering what the blocking looks like this year.
I guess if you could try to sell me on it,
maybe he's just resigned to this as his situation now.
Whereas last year he had bigger ambitions.
Yeah.
Maybe he's more willing than he.
he was. I am still, I mean, it is very funny that we watched the tight ends last year not be able to
block and how we gave us the lip service about it when we talked to him in February. You know,
I got to reevaluate how I build that position. Like I got to have a more focus on blocking.
And the group that they are likely to bring back as the 53 men roster tight ends is the exact
same except you're adding a guy who didn't block at all in college, somehow a worse blocker.
but don't worry we got Johnny Munt.
Like so much of the idea that they have solved the blocking here
relies on this one guy who is like 32 years old
and doesn't play that often.
Like it is, I mean, is like he's fully like holding the wall of like the,
like it's all, it's all depending on Johnny Munt.
It's like, can we have one other guy?
I wrote that down to my notes.
Like apparently Johnny Munt is going to block for the entire team.
Yeah.
That seems like to be the cell.
Wouldn't it be fun if that was true, though?
It would be fun.
If, like, just Johnny Munt alone, like, solved the Eagles blocking?
And if he did it, that would be, I mean, given the MVP at that point.
Maybe that's the interior offensive line.
They're just going to move Johnny Munt.
I mean, they're asking him to be the guy.
I think it's a fair.
I think it's a fair.
We're not worried about that enough.
I think Stowers is a big part of it, too, and I'm not trying to reprise the refrain role here today.
But I just, the biggest hang up that I have with him is the playing time going back to.
Of course, E.
E.J. thinks he's going to be the leading receiver.
ever in the NFL and he's going to play every single snap.
Yeah.
It's just the numbers, they're really stark in terms of not being a full-time player.
I mean, shout out to our good friend Josh Norris from Underdog Fantasy.
Love a Nordog.
Who was highlighting this.
I mean, he was on the field to block just 127 out of 307.
It's about like 41% of their rushing plays last year.
Okay.
And in total is on the field.
Right.
So plays that they're not even, he's not even, right.
I understand.
59% of just their total snaps.
They just took him off the field.
That's, and that's where blocking, like, we can be like,
how much does this actually matter?
It matters when the coaches don't trust him to play.
So that's part of the concern I have there as well.
Fair concern.
All right, what's the other one?
And the last one real quick is just, I mean,
I don't know how much we need to get into special teams.
I feel like you're a pretty special teams doesn't matter.
No, I don't think I don't think it doesn't matter.
Okay.
I just, I don't know if this is a Jake Elliott thing.
It's the biggest part of it.
Okay.
I kind of forgot how bad of a season Jake Elliott had last year.
He ranked 37th out of 40 kickers and field goal percentage.
And you look at the only three guys under him.
It was Matt Gay, young Waku, and Josh Cardi.
All those players got cut during last season.
And the Eagles instead guaranteed his contract.
Jake Elliott's contract.
You took a pay cut, right?
Slight pay cut for an exchange million dollars, I think, for exchange for guarantee.
Yeah.
So I don't think Jake's going anywhere.
Like now, but that's a concern.
I think it's fair.
What did you,
did you care about the,
the little thing that Michael Clay mentioned about
and falling back in love with the game?
I don't,
what do you make of that?
I think I'm,
I think probably nothing.
Yeah.
And really more of just like lip service
to like getting back in the process again.
But it could be something.
I mean, I think Jake's a prideful guy.
I think he wears it.
I don't think he's just like,
oh, whatever.
I won two Super Bowls.
I've made all this money.
Oh, for sure.
I think he's...
I mean, this is a guy who
has been used to being
like the best athlete
and everything that he's been doing
his whole life, right?
So yeah, I think I would imagine
there's some real existential
like what is wrong with me
stuff going on.
And this could be it.
I mean, if he doesn't...
If this isn't the year he rebounds,
then it's just, it's over probably.
Yeah, probably so.
And then real quick, very, very quick.
I mean, long snapper.
I have a note here from...
Rocko.
Oh.
Bob McGind's draft.
From who?
Rocko Grundle.
No.
But from, I will say, by the way, I forgot,
Darwish, big Darwish fan,
excited about him at tight end.
So looking forward to that.
But I was reading through Bob McGinn's draft series,
which real sicko stuff for,
I feel like Bob McGinn to have gotten quotes from scouts
on long snappers.
That is nuts.
And for you to have found it.
Yeah, correct.
I'll read you the quote here.
You can check out the draft series
that Tyler Dunn's substack go along.
He's the, this is the full quote on Underwood.
He's the best-looking athlete, but probably the least accurate.
Really?
He's had a couple of unplayable snaps and in some critical spots.
Oh, interesting.
An unplayable field goal snap this year and an unplayable punt snap over the guy's head the year before.
I like how detailed this guy.
That's interesting.
So two bad snaps over the course of two years.
Okay.
And he said he finishes up by saying NFL.
snappers just don't have that.
You don't ever see that, but it happened to him a couple times,
and that's really, really bothers me.
I don't know.
I'm intrigued by that.
Yeah.
I also, I do think that there's probably not enough of a difference between
the 27th best long snapper and the 36th best long snapper.
Yeah.
To really matter.
And so even if Underwood isn't good enough,
there will be someone who can do it, right?
even maybe like the 26th and the 40th
is there's always guys coming in for triath
but I think they would kind of like to have a cost-controlled young guy
I think they're going to take a look
and then if they need to bring let's say Charlie Hewlett back
you think he's still out there
or there's a couple other veteran for agents out in the market
but it's that and the last thing I would say is just
I have no idea who the returners are going to be on this team
which you know I don't know how much that matters
but I just I was looking at the depth chart and I'm like
tank basically too good too good on offense to be able to use
his superpower as a kickoff returner.
I don't know that Britain Covey is,
I think he's their best punt returner,
but I don't think he's going to make the roster.
Yeah.
So I don't know what they're going to do there.
Good question.
That'll be...
Oh, don't you love the first day of training camp
writing down everybody who is taking punt return reps
and you see like, oh, this guy bobbled a punt remove.
I don't know about that.
Oh, I love that.
I always like to see...
I think Jalen Reger always struggled catching punts.
I was like, okay.
Yeah.
It's funny to me.
to see those groups too because there's certain players who are like actually very conceivably
in the mix for that job right and there'll be people there too who it's just like why are they there
they're not they're not actually going to be doing that at any point yeah got to get the reps got to
get the reps all right let's take our last break here not our last break our second break on the
p hosy eagles podcast on the other side a little conversation about big picture eagles this century
now who who would your rank as a better eagle leh sean mccoy or saiquan
Barkley. Think about that. Join us on the other side.
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Back in the PHA Yigos podcast,
Bo and BLG.
And so here's the deal with BLG.
We're doing a little series
coming up this summer.
We're going to be ranking the top 26 Eagles
since 2000.
And I got a couple of big picture questions for you
that I want you to think about.
First of all,
how do you feel about a guy like
Sequin,
T.O
where it's one
unbelievable
historic season,
but in the context of
26, 27 seasons,
do you think that that guy
would make your list?
Tio was tough for me
from a standpoint of
I might be one of the biggest
Tio fans there is
when it comes to Eagles fandom.
He was like the guy who got,
he was my gateway into Eagles
fandom as a kid.
So I have such like a nostalgic place
for him. But to answer
like the conceit of your question.
I think it's different with those players in the sense that...
Like a T.O. or a Todd Harriman.
Yeah, okay.
A guy who started 100-something games but was not a pro-bow level player.
I think I do lean towards the high watermark a little bit.
Yep.
Because I think you typically remember what was best.
And you kind of...
This is also my kind of case against Eli Manning when it comes to the Hall of...
In terms of you have to count for the bad too.
You can't just look at that.
Okay.
But I think that's natural people just...
kind of look at what happened
and the best.
And with Sequin specifically, I mean,
to have, I think that was maybe,
I think that was the best running back season
in NFL history. When you include,
when you count for the playoffs to
and the accomplishment of the Super Bowl,
that carries so much weight.
Okay. So what about
there are four guys who the last two years
have played at that level, right?
Sequin, Cooper DeGine,
Quignon,
Bonn, do you think any of those other three guys would be in the conversation?
Hmm.
I remember when Zach Bonn was breaking out into the scene in 2024 and being like, is this the
best linebacker the Eagles have ever had?
Right.
It seems kind of crazy to ask and everyone was getting really mad.
I think we did that at one point, but it wasn't even like a statement.
It was like, but isn't he?
Because he's doing things I just don't recall.
Right.
And he'll certainly.
I mean, that was the best.
season
for a nigo's
linebacker probably this century.
And certainly in modern,
you know,
I can't comment on Chuck Ben,
Eric's,
you know,
other than what I've heard,
but I'm sure,
you know,
belongs up there,
obviously as well.
I said,
Joyner was doing,
was doing similar things.
Joiner.
But, so yeah,
I do think,
I think you're,
they're in the conversation.
I don't know.
I think they're,
you know,
under what Seekwan did,
ultimately.
Okay.
Let me throw a couple of,
um,
borderline guys at you.
Yeah.
And give me just a quick,
gut reaction straw poll.
do you think this guy would be in or not?
Brandon Brooks.
No.
Sheldon Brown.
No.
Jalen Carter.
No.
Oh, interesting.
Brent Selleck.
No one's going to be on my team.
No.
Landon Dickerson.
No.
Dallas Goddard.
No.
Hugh Douglas.
No.
George Milata.
I'm really just a harsh judge here,
apparently, but no.
John Runyon.
I think yes.
Sante Samuel.
I feel like if I say no, you're going to jump over here and attack.
Yes.
Lido.
No.
Slay.
No.
Devante.
Yes.
Michael Vic.
No, but I think he should have a stronger case than a lot of people would think.
Okay.
John Andrews.
No.
Okay.
I'm a little surprised you can go Devante.
Yeah.
I'm the other guys that you said no to.
Tell me why.
Well, so we're just accounting for past accomplishment only.
We're not looking into the future as well at all or accounting for that at all.
Is that?
Correct.
Yeah, we're going as if, yeah, the future doesn't matter.
Hmm.
Because I think that's, okay, maybe not then.
But I do think what he has done as, I think it's going to age really well is part of the thing.
Because I think it's part of a larger story.
Yeah.
And I think he's been great.
And I think he's been undershadowed and overshadowed and underappreciated just for how good he has been because of AJ, he being here as well.
Yeah.
So if we're not accounting for the future, then I lean no.
But I think, again, looking at the bigger picture, it's hard to pull that out.
Yeah, the question I teased before the break.
Saquan or Shady, who do you think you would rank higher?
I have to give it to Seekwon just because.
Really?
Yeah.
It was such an incredible season.
And I know Danez will be mad at that, perhaps.
But, and I wouldn't respond to something he had said.
The last time he was here, my good friend, the professor,
I do think when he talks about, you know, the offensive line,
how, like, it wasn't them, or it was them, you know,
them not getting enough credit.
When we look at last year, I think you have to have a threshold still.
And I don't think a threshold was met last year.
And I'm not even like I'm Sequin's number one fan or anything.
But I do think that has to be calculated there.
So I would go Seekwon over it.
Would you go Shady over Seekon?
My initial reaction is I would go Shady
because I think he had
if you were ranking their seasons
I mean, you know, Sakev only played two seasons
but it would go Seekwan, Shady, Shady, Shady, Shady, Shady, Shady, Shady,
then Seekwan, right?
And Shady was special for three years or so.
But I don't know.
I could be convinced on this one.
I don't feel dogmatic about this.
hard. My initial reaction is shady.
I think part of the Sequin thing for me is he was just so inevitable.
Like he was just so clearly going to have a big moment in these games.
And he basically did except for the Super Bowl where even that was kind of like a down game
for him and he had over 100 yards from scrimmage and was clearly the focal point of the
chief's defensive plan and opened up opportunities for everyone else.
So I just think that was like the most, one of the most dominant Eagles performances I've
ever seen.
Let us know in the comments if you would go Shady or Seekwan.
What about Brian Westbrook?
Love Brian Westbrook.
I just, I don't think he's quite there.
Your gut reaction is that he would be third?
Yes.
I think in my mind, I might go Shady Westbrook-Sakwan,
but I don't feel strongly about that.
I got to get in the, in the minds.
Really work this one out.
B West has that nostalgia thing for me
that I'm trying to I think kind of weigh against
I think you can make a case for B West as number one
okay
I don't know
I think he was probably the most unique
of all those players
yeah and his ability you know as a pass catcher
and what he was in that time of the NFL
where it was more about I think just the pure runners
and he was kind of on the forefront of that
and also had some just big moments
in terms of the special teams plays that he made as well
I think that's right
All right, last one.
If you were thinking about the top spot,
and we take quarterbacks out of it,
so let's not get into the value of quarterbacks here.
You've got considerations like BDoc, Kelsey, Lane, BG,
Jason Peters, Fletcher Cox.
I think those are the big sick.
What is your gut reaction?
It was Jason Peters.
Really?
Yeah.
Oh, that's surprising to me.
I think JP kind of lost,
I think he's underrated
in terms of how he was underrated,
because of kind of what I said with Eli
at different levels,
but I'm saying in terms of he wasn't quite,
he hung around to a point
where people started to get frustrated
in that and didn't fully appreciate him still,
the player he was in his prime.
And I think that the way that it very fortuitously
for the Eagles worked out,
where Lane immediately,
like Lane kept that going,
probably has robbed the luster of JP a little bit.
My lot of too.
My lot of two.
But I think if it had gone like JP to my lot,
I don't know.
I mean,
JP was amazing.
Yeah.
You know,
part of this comes down to when you say best,
is it,
are you defining that as it the best player relative to the rest of the league,
all contributions to the Eagles.
But I'm surprised to hear you say, JP.
Well,
it's also how other players talked and viewed him too.
Sure.
viewed him as like this like godlike figure yeah like i don't think there was a single player who
was like eh Jason peters actually isn't that good i think they kind of like were like afraid of him
in a lot of ways in terms of just the respect he commanded not only as a talent but also
the personality he was yeah okay food for thought much more coming down the pike on these
discussions so stay with us for now we took our last break on the phto yigo show on the other side
stick around if you want to hear BLG
and me talk
Survivor
We had a meeting with our
bosses just going over content ideas
for the next couple months
trying to figure out
what we can do to live enough to show
and there's this new executive guy
his name is Ray
he's in charge of content
and he says
Hey I think you should add a Lisp
to your repertoire
I don't think you have enough of a Lisp on the show
I think that would be a really good idea
and I said Ray
that's a good idea
I will take your advice because I am obligated to do so as your underling.
But you think you're being a little bit shady.
Things did not go overwork very well about that,
but I did have to do what he told me to do.
But that's not the shady rays that we're talking about.
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All right, back on the PHA Yagles podcast.
Spoilers ahead
for anybody who is like catching up
on this season of Survivor.
Before the finale,
we texted and we both
correctly predicted that Aubrey was most likely to win.
What were your big takeaways from the finale?
I thought it was, I've never been
like an Aubrey Stan,
indifferent more.
Like slightly favorable.
I do think it was really satisfying
from a narrative standpoint
for Aubrey to be this person
who was the should have won person
back once he originally played in 2016.
Yeah.
Went up against Michelle Fitzgerald
who won instead.
That was like, I think maybe the first...
Oh, you're dropping last names.
This is, yeah.
This is a...
I am very much a survivor casual.
Yeah.
I'm coming in, I'm watching the season
and I'm forgetting everything
the second it's over.
Right.
You are a true survivor sicko.
Deep in the lore.
But even that's, I feel like I'm casual compared to the podcast and things I listen to.
It's, they're at a whole different level and can like remember every boot order from every, I can't do that.
But I do like it a lot.
And for Aubrey to lose in her first time she ever played and being like, I probably one of the most.
Was that a close vote?
It was a close vote from what I can remember.
And also, I think it was the most, especially kind of.
kind of with the presence of the internet at that time,
unlike, you know, the early aughts being there was so much,
I think that was the most, like,
people ever were like, this person should have won instead.
Okay.
And it was so much vitriol.
Okay.
And also turned into this thing where I think that was the majority opinion
in terms of Aubrey should have won.
Right.
But then she came back and played some other seasons
and didn't do as well.
Okay.
And didn't come off as well in the edit.
Yeah.
Or then people were like, well, this is why she lost.
Yeah.
She never should have won.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then the person she had lost to went to the final three of the all-winner season and season 40.
Didn't get a vote, but still like, you know, kind of strengthened.
I think her case that she actually was legit.
Her resume, okay, yeah.
So I think for Aubrey to win in this way.
And also, I think from a standpoint, too, of I was trying to think other literary and like film examples of this,
where you have the character who kind of tries really hard to accomplish something time and time again.
It might get close.
They don't do it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then they kind of give up in a way,
or they like kind of let go of that,
like trying so hard to get that,
that that's when it comes.
As soon as you let go,
I guess the one I thought of was like in Shawshank Redemption,
when you have read, go to the parole board.
And he's getting rejected, rejected after making all these pleas,
like, I'm chains.
I remember,
and he finally goes in and he's just like,
hey, it is what it is.
Yeah.
And that's the time he finally actually gets released.
I feel like this is a common,
wrestling trope.
Okay.
This is like a common arc for a wrestler.
Yeah.
But yes.
I think that's kind of what happened here with Aubrey.
It's like going into the season,
which is a huge season,
Survivor's Season 50,
there were,
she kind of seemed to want it less than everyone else.
Or at least wasn't in a spot where she's like,
I need this.
This is going to define me.
Kind of was like,
eh,
I'm here.
What happens,
happens.
Okay.
And I think that kind of worked to her advantage,
letting go and being able to play in a spot
where she didn't feel so...
Tied to everything and worked the middle
and was able to be more open-minded
than I think she would have if she was holding so tight
and playing so scared and playing not to lose.
Sure. Yeah, I mean, she deserved to win for sure.
Yes.
I didn't think that it was like...
She certainly wasn't like one of the three best players of the season.
It felt like, you know,
she did a very good job of helping to make sure
that the better players were all...
taken down.
I loved
I loved the way
the vote worked out
with the people who voted for
Jonathan.
And easily,
easily the best part
of the whole finale
was the total package.
Really?
I mean, keep it in your pants,
lady.
Wasn't really a question.
She was supposed to be asking a question.
It was more just kind of...
Why are you the total package?
And then she writes it on the thing.
Yeah.
What are you doing?
That was so weird.
Former Phillies players, Kyle Kendrick's wife, I believe.
That's right.
I forgot.
You told me that.
I forgot this.
Hendricks' wife.
Yeah, she's a monster.
See.
But it's funny to see, like, the three people who vote for Jonathan,
versus the people who vote for Aubrey,
like they don't know what game they're playing.
I think, yes, that's more of like what I think people would call it old school mindset.
I think Jonathan played a respectable game.
I think he probably played a better game than I was giving him credit for.
I feel like you would think that's like Joe Walker up there.
Yeah.
Yeah, he did do, he did some stuff.
Yes.
I saw, but I've seen like now on my Instagram feed, I'm getting served survivor content.
And it's like I have several things about him being like, well, he played a better game.
Like he really thinks he deserved to win.
I, and that Aubrey got votes because of past seasons worth of story.
I do think that's not untrue, the Aubrey part in terms of like, I think that's part of the equation.
but I don't think that's why she won the game.
I think that's part of what people were feeling.
But I don't think Jonathan played a winning game.
I think he played a second place game.
And that's a good outcome for him, especially.
I don't think anyone thought he would have been there.
I think it probably puts him in the conversation
of coming back in the future,
which is a big win for him personally.
So he seemed to be really kind of salty about it,
which was weird.
Yeah.
Because he should have.
What happened to,
it's in God's hands.
Whatever happens is what God wants.
Well, also, too, like, by this point, you know what the votes were,
or at least you have some idea if you won the game or not.
It's not like a surprise given what you would talk about with your other cast speeds.
Right.
I don't know why he would be so surprised.
Have they talked about what the votes would have been like if Aubrey had gone out fourth
and it was Rizzo with the two guys?
I have not seen, like, that confirmed in terms of what people said they would do.
But I do think that would have been probably the most interesting final three.
from a standpoint of, like, I think that was probably Rizzo's best case to win.
I also think that was Jonathan's best case to win.
Yeah.
And I don't think Joe could have done anything.
I think Joe was drawing dead.
No, I agree.
But which is also fine when you make it to the final three twice in the two seasons you play
back to back.
Like, there's worse outcomes than that.
I think Rizzo should have won if that was the case, but I don't know that he would have.
I don't think people respected him.
And I don't think that's entirely fair because I think part of that is just like an age thing
or at least how he comes off.
I feel like the comments have completely stopped.
Yeah.
I'm sorry, everybody.
That's okay.
Sometimes you've got to do it for your own indulgence.
It's late May.
Yeah.
We're looking for something to talk about.
We're going to see OTAs this week.
We haven't seen them yet.
Who do you think would make,
I was trying to think of Survivor Eagles tie-ins.
Who do you think would make for some good contestants on the show?
Oh, good question.
Because I have won that comes to mind right away,
if you need some time.
I think Jordan Milotto would be great
Of course you would want Jordan Milato on there
Would be great
To do good in the challenges
Would I think it's very sociable
Yeah very sociable
Would keep his tribe entertained
You could sing you know I think
Jordan Davis I think along the same lines
Absolutely would do very well
Now they are targets because they're so big
Sure
You might also too want to look for someone who
Is a little bit more normal
Jonathan's huge now
But you know you're trying to
Someone saying
Who are Bernard
You know who I think would do really well
and is maybe just unassuming enough
to not fully be clocked as that guy's definitely a professional athlete?
Zach Bond.
Okay.
I think Zach Bond could be a chamele in his way as a normal person.
I agree with that.
And he talks like a normal person to normal people.
I think that Zach Bond might be a good sleeper.
I like that because I don't, like you said,
I don't think he would be recognized.
Yeah.
Which also matters because if you are, I think Jordan Milada or Jordan Davis
is going to be more recognizable and what would still be very good in the challenges,
which isn't everything, but it's a part of the game.
And I think Zach is also savvy enough to understand the game.
Yeah, is a smart guy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I like that.
Okay.
I mean, just to say.
It would be the worst survivor.
Is that unfair to ask?
Find out in.
Not quite yet.
We need another 15 seconds.
Let me just say,
boy, do I love Surrey.
Oh.
Who doesn't?
Package.
Oh, my gosh.
See, she's on Big Brother,
and I didn't love her.
She did Big Brother?
Yeah, with her son.
Yeah, they were on the same season.
No one knew.
But let's talk about it more in.
Lindsay time.
You didn't like her?
No, I didn't like dislike.
her but like I just feel like the survivor people who also watch great brother like loved her you know
like you guys like that makes sense I just feel like you gravitate towards anybody you like kind of know
and she did go pretty far which like I'm also like you rest of you are idiots she like plays games
like this like get her she's like should be the obvious first target but she was like kind of good
because she's a little older in the game as long as they did yes she's like a little older than
everybody who was like in the house so I feel like she like played like the mom
Yeah, she's good card.
But nobody knew it was her son, like, the whole time.
Oh, that's interesting.
That's cool.
I think, like, one person, like, kind of was like, he seems familiar
because they were, like, a big fan of hers.
Yeah.
I don't think they ever, like.
Interesting.
Yeah.
That's fair.
You have a worst survivor part?
Oh, yes, my worst eagle survivor.
I would say, let me quickly buzz through the roster.
I mean, are we saying they go with?
with the baggage of who they are?
I guess.
Like people know who they are.
Like,
because if Sequin goes on the show,
like,
I bet Sequin would think he would do well,
and I think he wouldn't do that well.
I think that's right.
I think he,
there's,
I think players fall into the,
certain players fall into the trap of,
is a just physical challenge show
when it's not that.
Maybe he falls into that.
Who do you have in mind?
I don't think Jalen would be,
Jalen Hertz would be great.
Yeah.
have no interest.
That Survivor.
Yeah,
also don't think he would do it.
Not even a viable contender.
I'm looking at the roster here.
I don't think I have one.
It would be funny if you had a very specific backup to throw under the bus here.
I'm going to say, yeah, Isaiah King.
It would not be really good at Survivor.
I guess I don't have anyone who stands out.
I think Willi Lampin would be great.
Yeah.
I think, I don't know.
I don't have a bad one.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I asked a bad question because I don't have an example.
I mean, I feel like, uh, I mean, maybe Rocco Wonderwood because, you know.
Is Survivor the same as Big Brother where it's like about who like, it's like that's about
that less, right? Because you're forced into teams on Survivor.
Yeah, and they change up the teams.
So it's like less about who like likes you or dislikes you as in Big Brother.
Like if you're really disliked, people will just be like, they're annoying.
Let's get them out of here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Although then sometimes they want to keep them.
enough it becomes a reason to keep you around
because it's the only going to vote for that guy
to win. Yeah, yeah. That's yeah, yeah, it's
same on a big breath. I was thinking like maybe
AJ Brown would be like a little too like
Yeah. Not like
annoying but just like
I mean they're voting off the island now yeah
Yeah, exactly. That's right. What did you make
what did you think of the mechanics of the game?
Really good
for the most part in terms of
I think there's always concern
they might do a little too much. You know
you're trying too hard or
it's nice to think outside of the box
but you're like forcing it
and I don't think they did that
except for... There was a little bit too much forcing
I thought. Okay. I thought
well I thought they experimented in a good way with some things
with the double vote out.
I think we both like that. I like the double vote out.
I like that. Yeah that's a good
little like game mechanism twist to add.
And I know you loved Mr. Beas being on the show. The Mr. Beas thing
was so bad. I don't understand
how he could be
so uncharismatic. Be careful. This is his platform. On TV. It's crazy. That's like this is,
because they're not using his editing. He's just sitting there with that goofy, weird smile,
uh, was completely like un-magnetic and was bizarre. Now, the thing that they do,
the coin flip, like, okay, great idea. That's fine. But what really turned me off about it,
beyond his lack of charisma was, was, was the,
the way that Jeff Proops kept just being like,
oh my God, how much fun is this?
This is the biggest moment.
Like, stop telling everybody.
It's a huge moment as we're in the middle of the moment.
Like time after time after time,
there was way too much gassing up of Mr. Beast by Probs.
Like, Jeff, this is your show.
You got to be the guy here.
Don't give too much credence to this devil.
The super fan
You know
Overliance on super fans this season
Was a bit much
Obviously there's the country singer episode
Which like dominated
Way too much of the screen time
In that one
The Billy Elish Idol doesn't even have any kind of payoff
Like why did she doesn't want to come in the show
Like what that was so weird
I heard some
I didn't actually listen to this podcast
But I heard people on the Survivor podcast
I listened to talking about
Shout out to Rob as a podcast
I'll give him a blog
He does a good job.
Rob.
That former survivor player, Rob Sester Nino, played in Amazon and All-Stars.
Not Boston Rob.
It's famously not known as that one.
He is, quote-unquote, the Rob Who Sucks, as he refers to, has been referred to.
I forgot where I was going with that.
Billy Elish.
Billy Elish, no payoff.
Oh, she kind of like was like almost acting what it seemed like too cool for it.
I was like, yeah, I guess like, you know, I had some involvement.
I don't know if that was because it was such a dud or just because she just wasn't trying to see.
Why use her name?
I don't know.
It was really weird.
So there was some weird stuff with that.
And the Jimmy Fallon one was terrible.
That screwed Christian over.
I wanted to win.
It was my favorite player.
Really?
Okay.
Yeah.
I like Christian.
Christian Rick Devons.
I love both of those dudes.
That was really an unfortunate.
I really dislike when Survivor.
There's a luck element, obviously.
Sure.
But it can't be to the point.
where you just get in a spot where you're drawing dead and you basically can't do anything
about it. And it was especially punitive to him where not only does he have to vote for himself,
he has to announce it to everyone, which basically just makes it a no-brainer for everyone to vote
for him at that point. Right. That was, it was too much. Yeah. You could do the vote for yourself
thing, which is a little silly, or you could announce that like, even to announce like
next tribal, I have to vote for myself. But,
Yeah, to just make it just like that was a little bit.
And he's great at puzzles, and he couldn't do a puzzle.
So, like, is that challenge, what was, was that challenge even truly fair?
Yeah.
That was tough.
Tough to lose him.
Tough to lose Genevieve, I thought, who had found both of the Biliotic titles and didn't
get any benefit from it whatsoever.
Yeah.
Kind of funny that she ends up, she gets taken out and ends her main op from the season who wins
the season.
So, there was that.
I like D.
D, great player.
I thought.
Bringing back winners was kind of a misstep
because they had brought back three
and I just think they were kind of drilling dead.
Yeah.
I didn't love that casting decision.
I thought the cast as a whole played out pretty well.
I'm happy with it for the most part.
Yeah, too much, too much.
We need to make this a moment.
Yes.
I thought.
And then...
The beauty of Survivor is when you just let the people play.
Speaking of moments,
the spoiler revealed by Jeff
during the live reunion.
Yeah.
I thought it'd been really, they wouldn't do this.
I thought it'd been really good if it was a fake out.
And so actually didn't, he won the challenge.
That would be funny.
And they messed with us in the real time.
They wouldn't do that.
Is there a theme of like recurring players or something that you would like to see for a season?
That's a good question.
I do think we need to bring themes back.
It's been a long enough time.
There was getting to a point with the themes,
I think heroes versus healers versus hustlers is a great example.
of this guy.
What are those other two things?
Okay.
After the heroes, like,
yeah.
Is that a real thing?
But I don't,
I don't know that I have any top of mind.
We do need to get more returning player seasons
because we also went too long without that
because it had been since season 40.
Okay.
And we went all of 41.
Oh, really?
Yeah, 41 through 49 was all new players.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Except for, there's like one guy in there who like got voted out early
and they brought it back one time,
or he got medevact.
But yes.
and Jeff did say
apparently that we're going to not have to wait
as long for returning players
so I'm encouraged by that
I think it's really impressive
just that they have 50 seasons of the show
that's not easy to do
and I think Jeff deserves a lot of credit
for that in terms of I think his passion
is what keeps the show alive in large part
doesn't mean I agree with everything he does
but I do think that he's a good thing
for the show and I'm very happy
that the show is still on
If they did Survivor of Eagles beat writers,
how do you think it plays out?
So that's a great question.
I mean, I feel like you and I might have an advantage at some level
of knowing the game.
I think that's part of it, especially now,
having seen so many seasons and so many scenarios play out,
we have more information.
In terms of survivor skills,
what would you be good at?
What would you be bad at?
I think I'm good.
at not needing to drive a vote.
I think I can...
A big part of it is being able to say yes,
to yes and things.
And I think I can do that well.
I can collaborate.
I think I'd do okay in the physical challenges.
I'm not the best athlete, but I'm tall.
Yeah.
But that's something.
There's certain challenges where I...
Yeah, right.
I did see someone say Brandon Leggoughton earlier.
I like that.
That's good.
Not out to them.
Okay.
Who do you think?
What would you be not bad at?
Or what would you be not good at?
What I would be bad at finding idols.
I'm not good at finding stuff.
I really think about that in terms of the, like when you look at it on TV, it seems so harmless when you're sticking your hand in the trees and stuff.
Yeah.
There's like snakes and spiders out there.
I don't know.
I don't know.
You're reaching under a tree.
I don't know what's in there.
Yeah, I don't really love that.
I'm not the biggest bugs family.
Yeah, the living and the elements.
I think I could do.
I think the hunger is obviously.
That's the number one thing.
That would definitely get me.
I like to eat.
I think I'd do okay with not being able to sleep super well.
That's easy to say, you know, sitting here too.
Yeah.
I am not good at this will surprise you.
I am not good at pretending I like someone I don't like.
No, I don't believe it.
That would probably be my turning point.
Yeah.
That would be my downfall.
some super chats.
Alex Medina,
unrelated,
but I was just listening
to yesterday's show
and wow,
what can I do
to be a favorite Alex?
Yes, of course
we had our conversation
of the favorite Alex
and very generous
super chat, Alex.
That's a good way
to get yourself on the mantle.
I'll put you in the top 100 Alexes.
Wow.
Yeah, why not?
You have a favorite Alex.
My best friend, Alex Reno.
Alex Reno.
Got it Alex.
C. Reed, big Survivor fan.
Thoughts on Cal.
she's spoiling the season. I didn't know this. I saw some discussion about that. I had not seen
it actually. I was unspoiled going into it, thankfully. I had to watch it on a delay, but still
unspoiled. Why did you have to watch it on delay? What was I do? I was doing something last
Wednesday that I can't remember now. Did you make sure you got done that night? No, I watched
the next day. Rachel, my girlfriend, Rachel, was at a work thing. So she, she. I hope it's not my wife.
It is not.
I don't think so.
Okay.
So, yeah, I had to wait to the next day to watch it.
So how did you go about that?
Do you like truly avoid social media at all costs?
I feel like I can't do that for what I do for work.
I have to stay plugged in.
You were able to make it happen?
So I was sent a text that kind of alluded to,
I had in a sense of there was something that went awry in the live finale.
I didn't know exactly what.
it was, but I had seen it. Someone texted me in the morning, and I opened it, and I quickly
just, like, swiped out of that to not actually fully see it. But it's tough out there.
The, man, one of the worst spoilers I had was a couple seasons ago when it was someone, and I
hope I'm not, we, I think we gave a good warning that we're not going to be this for them.
And it's also been almost a week now where it was someone who just does never tweets about
Survivor at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just like, strictly. You get blindsided by that.
And I was like, where's this coming for? And also, it's also.
wasn't even about like, oh, hey, here's the winner,
here's my thought on it.
It was such like an aside that they were making a point on.
That was the details in there.
I was like, why?
Why would you do that?
Oh, yeah.
It's obviously the world we live in.
It's tough to avoid, but frustrating when it comes from somewhere,
you couldn't have reasonably even guarded against.
I've been there.
Avery's Super Chat.
Bo!
My wife and I are concerned that you aren't giving the Lori Berkner
Halloween album its proper respect.
It can be listened to.
year round.
Thoughts.
Avery, I gotta tell you,
I don't,
we don't spend that bad boy
too often.
I'm gonna,
I'm gonna,
I'm gonna,
I'm gonna,
I'm gonna,
I'm gonna get to work here.
You give,
you have given me
some good homework.
I'm gonna check on
the LB
Halloween album and,
and get back to you
with,
with more thoughts.
I'm,
I'm sure it's a banger.
I like Halloween.
That's,
that's all I've got.
Big one.
All right.
Well,
that'll do it for this episode of PHA
by Eagles podcast.
Let us know in the comments.
Once again,
Seiquan,
Shady, who would you vote for for the top Eagles of the century?
We will be back tomorrow.
2 o'clock.
Frane Duffy joins us.
Thank you, Lindsay.
Once again, thank you, BLG.
Hopefully, we're able to get down to the first floor with that honey hassle.
Have a good night, everybody.
Thanks for watching.
We'll talk to you later.
And as always, we love you.
