PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Why Riq Woolen Is Eagles’ BIGGEST WINNER This Spring | PHLY Eagles Podcast

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

Eagles fans everywhere should pray to the god of E.J. Smith for creating Riq Woolen, whose impressive spring performance surely has him ticketed for a Gold Jacket. How does Jalen Hurts and Sean Mannion’s offense look going into a hiatus? With minicamp wrapped up, we review the winners and losers of OTAs and Minicamp for the Eagles and Howie Roseman as they head into summer vacation.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello everybody. What a day it is on the P. H.O.Y. Eagles podcast live from the Xfinity Lounge. Presented by Ashley Bo Wolf, E.J. Smith, E.J. Happy World Cup opening day to you. That is part of why it's a special day. Oh, I know. An international competition.

Hate to see me coming. We got to start, though. Happy birthday to you, Bo. It's a special, special day. I know I'm not going to be the only person. and wish you a happy birthday today. Hopefully the chat gets involved. Listen, I did hear from three separate car dealerships today,

wishing me happy birthday. Very exciting that they remembered. Good stuff from them. Did they ask you if you're on a market of a car? Well, what's annoying is that they all called themselves your favorite car dealership. I moved on from at least two of you recently. Well, they don't know that. They thought that the car they sold you.

They think they're trying to be reliable. I mean, come on. Well, how is your person? I heard from my dentist. That's pretty good. Yeah. Okay, that's not actually I don't think you want to hear from your dentist on your birthday. Well, wishing me happy birthday.

Okay, there weren't strings attached. Well, of course there's strings attached. They have my personal information. They're trying to use it to exploit me. I don't want my dentist. If you're, dentist, if you're listening over in Westchester, I won't shout out the place. Don't call me on my birthday.

I don't want to hear from you. Well, then call me. Okay. Don't text me either. I don't want to hear from. Yeah, would you rather get from a call or text as Mark Lacholtsman from a business. Would you rather get a text or an email? Neither.

An email, though. An email that is ignorable also hate to see me coming. I'll ignore an email now. I mean, you got to be hitting up my texts. Yeah. That's a little bit intrusive. It can't be polluting the text. How is like your actual?

Toyota, Glenridge. Have people been, have you gotten some nice messages? How are the kids? How is the family? How has it been? We got to lead with this. They were good. Jane came right down and like whispered,

whispered saying, saying me happy birthday. I like that. I like that. You saw me. That was great. It's also, Kakey's last day of school today.

So you're a big day for him as well. It was fun. Yeah. Got a fresh cut. You got a birthday glow today. Yeah. Why are you down on the cut? It looks good.

A little, a little peloton in this morning. You're working out on your birthday. You know what I wanted to, I meant to bring this up yesterday. Because I did do a peloton again. but is there anything in life that has a lower success rate than you think you're squeezing in a workout and you have something to do on the back end and you convince

yourself that maybe a nice cold shower is going to stop you from being from sweating I mean nothing nothing has a lower success rate that that sweat is looking at you oh you know what this shower feels pretty good I actually I feel like I may have succeeded here get back in the car. I have cooled down my body temperature. But you're like, oh my God. Not a chance.

Not you can't even make it to the car before you've sweat through your clothes. Yeah, your sweat pores are just laughing at you. You're in the shower. This moron, 40 years he doesn't know. That was body works. I don't know what that means. Well, I'm glad it's been a good birthday. Hopefully the show is fun and you can.

You brought some donuts. Sounds very nice. Yeah, I got some donuts from Westchester on my way in. hopefully I hope that doesn't mean well I'm not going to say I'm not going to say I'm quite the start to the show

yeah shout out to I won't give them that I won't give them no free advertising but good bakery in Westchester we had a croillet no I don't think that you need to give

a French pronunciation to a cruller Coillet no yeah no well we split one it's not a croatong

it's a crouette it's a cruller You can just say cruller. No, how would the French pronounce it? Cruller. No, I think they'd say Croixier. No. Anyway, well, I'm glad that we've been able to celebrate a little bit.

I was gazing you up on a different podcast this morning. So I had to keep the festivities going. Well, I mean, listen, you're going to be missing some meetings to do with some other shows podcast. See, you know I feel bad about it. Now we're going to go to therapy. You know I feel really bad about that. And I know that you're teasing me, but you know I'm guilty about it. So you can't do that.

You shouldn't feel bad about that. What you should feel bad about is calling Lindsay's favorite celebrity a poser. Oh, we're doing all this in the A block. I just said, listen, maybe Taylor Swift has been a Knicks fan for a long time. There are a lot of pictures of her in Nick's gear and with, what's his name, Strouddmeier? Amari Saddowar? Yes, Saddemeier. It's probably the last time she was out of Knicks game is when he played for the team.

Okay, yeah, so she's got history. Just because she doesn't go to games all time. Doesn't mean she's not watching at home every night. Yeah, but I generally, now listen, I'm rooting for the Knicks because of Devon and his family. Okay. I generally find it gross. His family. His family.

I generally find it gross how the celebrities have descended upon Madison Square Garden. I think it has kind of cheapened the atmosphere, some in my opinion. I don't totally disagree with you. Yeah. But I do think like a lot of those celebrities are real Knicks fans. Yeah. You know my boy Timothy. I'm fine with him. Spike. And Sandler. And like even like Larry David. Like that's fine. Yeah, there are legitimate Knicks fans. It's just that they're usually more spread out. But it's just becoming like a who.

What I honestly, what I dislike more is not that they're there. It's just that the cameras are only showing them. I wish the cameras, yeah, the broadcast. would show more real fans. Like the celebrities are allowed to go, that's fine. But it's just like, I hate, after the OG and an Obie shot, well, the tip at the end of the game, like, you see all the celebrities going crazy. And then they, like, pan to, like, thousands of people, like, pushed up against a guardrail watching the game somewhere nearby.

And it's like, those are the real fans. Welcome to America. Well, yes, but that's, but it's like, it is such a, like, brazen illustration of that welcome to America. Sure. Which is what I just don't like that. I wish there were more cameras on the rest of the garden. But the rest of the garden is kind of the same thing. Well, of course it is.

But I do, the one thing that I would push back on being from New York. Oh. Oh, excuse me. Is the idea that Nick's fans are like Johnny Come Lately's. I'm not saying that. No, no, I know. New York is a basketball town. Yeah.

And like, listen, it's not dissimilar to, the Eagles or the Red Sox where like the decades and decades of built up agony and weight shared suffering yeah it leads to it

now listen there's a bunch of Knicks fans who are acting like Bozos and it's a fair to say if this happened in Philadelphia we would never hear the end of it that's absolutely true but that doesn't mean that we should be I just might yeah I the idea that it like

Nick's fans are not real fans is the only thing that I Yeah, I wouldn't agree with that But I think a lot of the people who are courtside aren't real fans Oh, I think that's absolutely, but that's true in any They just want to be seen That's true in any place Yeah, but it's more, you're right That of the distinction is like we see more of them because they are still

Yeah, I don't think that we need to be seeing Mariska Hargate as the cutaway to every basket that gets made. Completely agree. Yeah, but she was sitting next to Taylor Swift, so. Which is why I didn't like it. What's your power ranking of the Hames sisters? I don't care about that. I think they're weird.

Just Taylor. And one of them was missing last night. That's right. And then that's why Hargotei got the spot. I guess. I was kind of curious. Like the third one just like, I don't need to go to the game.

Is it a thing that Taylor Swift and Mariska Hargatay are friends? Oh, yeah. Her one cat's named Olivia Benson after her character in Svio. And she like brought like the last tour, not there, but the one before that she would bring out a surprise celebrity. Every different show in that city or whatever. and she brought her out one of them. I don't know if it was New York or I don't know where she loved,

but they're friends. All right. Her one cat's name is Olivia Benson is the most millennial sentence ever. It's like the most aggressive. Her other, her other cats, her other cat's name is Meredith Gray after Grey's Anatomy. I didn't watch Grey's Anatomy, but man,

what a start to the show. Electric Starrette did double do it yesterday. She'd performed two shows and then went to the, the garden. Good for her. I got nothing to say about that. I miss who you said. Rich Bobby in the chat says that I only hate Fat Joe. Love Fat Joe. Like as an artist. As a Knicks fan, I am apathetic. Got it. Time for the right people presented by True Mark Financial. Did the Knicks have the right people in the garden last night? No, that's not what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about the Eagles. And now that we have wrapped up spring practices, we saw two OTAs, we saw two

mini-camp practices, we've talked to players, we've talked to coaches. Who were the winners? Who were the losers? And so for the right people, E.J., let's each pick one big winner from the spring. I think we know who yours is going to be, but I will let you have the floor. Yeah, it's got to be Rieke Wollen. I feel like... Wollin's sheep's clothing, baby. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I invented the man or, you know, that I was the first one on the Rik-Wollen bandwagon here. But what I will say is that if you're looking through the players that really jumped out throughout the spring, requal in from the beginning until the end, literally the beginning and the end of spring workouts

stood out. When we first got out there, his physical presence just hits you immediately, the fact that he is so tall, so big, and so athletic at that size. And it's not just us. It's something if you talk to the Eagles coaches, talk to Eagles players, they are bullish about him and they really have been impressed by what they've seen so far from him. And not for nothing. He ended spring practices with an interception against Jalen Hertz over the middle of the field there. So just, again, a really complete and impressive spring from Rick Wullen.

And honestly, like, when they signed him, you could have said they have the best cornerback trio in the NFL. I think seeing Rick Wollin up close, that underscores it even more. It is funny, and I get it, to be like, okay, you guys don't get to see spring practice. We are your eyes and ears at practice in the spring and in training camp. We're going to tell you the things that you don't get to see. When it comes to the regular season, you get to see it for yourself. But now we are your eyes and ears.

And here's what you need to know about the eagles that you haven't seen yet. That boy tall. I get it. That's funny. But when you walk onto the field for the first time and you see him in the quarterback group, you're like, oh, my God, that guy is tall. Yeah. And he moves.

fluidly and there is no doubt that the one thing that like truly you see on the field and when you see it in this setting it is the same as what it will be in the regular season is that makeup speed on on deep balls it's okay if a guy is two yards behind him because he is going to make that up not just with the speed but also with the length i mean that that stuff does show up yeah it's been interesting to hear from him talk about having to learn how to use his length to it as advantage you know he's obviously a late converted late to the position um and you know coming from that wide receiver background i think when he first started as a corner he didn't really like know how to utilize the fact that he is that tall but you can tell now that he is really like made playing that

position kind of his own um you know he can he doesn't play it like quininead mitchell he can't um but i think for that reason like those two even if you like even if you drill down even if you kind of set decide, like how talented all three of those guys are, Quineon Mitchell, Cooper to Gene and Rieckwell. And even if you just like look at the complementary skill sets, I do think him and Quinnion Mitchell have complementary skill sets where, you know, you can start getting creative with matchups. You know, we talk to, we, we hear from day news so often talking about like the different permutations of the secondary where what side is, you know, field side, boundary side for the corners, I think that you're going to see some creativity just because those guys are so

complimentary and they can kind of match up against different receivers and give guys different looks. I mean, you should be very excited about this group. So let me, go ahead. There's a, there's a good chance.

It's a real chance that's the best, it's the best cornerback trio the Eagles have ever had possible. So would you rather, relative to the rest of the NFL, do you think the Eagles defensive tackle, top three, let's say the top three only? Their defensive tackle trio or their cornerback trio is better. you can only pick one. It's a good question.

I think I would say the cornerback trio. I think so too. Like as good as Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Morrow, Joe Mo are, like, you have two all pros at corner. And honestly, like, I mean, let's not go too far with REEC, but you could have three guys who are pushing for all pro spots. Now, they might like steal a little bit from each other. You know, like it might be hard for all of them to get the numbers, the production,

the recognition, but you have three players who are talented enough to achieve that at the very least. Well, and I mean, from a building up his market standpoint, he's going to get the ball thrown at him a lot. He's going to have a lot of chances. Yeah, you would think. You would think. And it's funny because it'll play in the Eagles hand to some degree

because, like, if you threw 10 passes at Quinnion Mitchell, he's probably not going to catch him. He's not going to catch him. He's not. Now, the other receiver won't catch him either. Unless it's the playoffs. Yes, exactly. Very good point to point to point out.

there, but if you throw the ball at Rick Wollins way 10 times, I actually think he will come down with one of them. So it's going to be a really interesting year for him. And like, he's kind of played coy when he's been up on the podium about if he feels like he has something to prove. But how could you not? You know, I don't want to make it an unfair comparison. But like Josh Job, like the Seahawks were like aggressive to maintain.

Josh Job instead of Rick Wollin now, the money might have been different. I mean, they had paid him less money than Reeves. But that is like the context that you and I can acknowledge. If you're requal and I'm sure it's not like, oh, he was worth less. He signed for less, so therefore I shouldn't take exception. I don't know. Like I'm sure he has a chip on his shoulder. You see the thumbnail as him celebrating the Super Bowl.

You know, and like now he's with the Eagles. And I think he will have something to prove. All right. Well, let's close the book then on the right people presented by True Mark Financial. Eagles think. E.J. thinks they have the right person at corner opposite Quinion. and Cooper DeGine. Let's take our first break here

on the PHA-Y Eagle Show. Thank you everybody in the chat for the birthday wishes back with more on the other side. More winners? I don't know if we should call anybody losers, but... Knock down.

Non-winners coming up next. Five years ago today, transactions, the Eagles, signed the following draft picks, Devante Smith, Milton Williams, Zach McPherson, and Kenneth Gainwell.

Devante went from being the number one to then playing four years with AJ Brown, who wasn't even on the team then. Now he's going to be the number one again. Milton Williams played his entire rookie contract, then got paid. Zach McPherson, got injured. Kenneth Gainwell,

the Eagles career, became the Steelers player of the year, and now he's somewhere else. So much can change in five years, including the price of your internet, unless you lock in the X-Feeleger. 5-year price guarantee and get all your devices working in perfect harmony for five whole years. Best part, no annual contracts, no hidden fees, and Xfinity's best equipment included. So lock in your price and unlock the possibilities with Xfinity. Learn more at Xfinity.com.

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Welcome back to the P.HLY Eagles podcast, Bo Wolf, E.J. Smith. Make sure you're liking that video. Got a couple things to tell you about before we move on here. Number one, we got the Phillies tailgate coming up on the 20th of June. Game against a New York Mets.

Best tailgate in the city. Two for one deal sponsored by Wawa, Philly Sports Trips and Cavs. Check that out. We've also got the draft party coming up for the Sixers on June 23rd, night one. Die cards only.

These guys have been working hard. I'm about to say. I saw it out there today. Kyle's running simulations to figure out what kind of picks they could get who's going to be on the board. I know they've been breaking down the prospects on the show. It'd be a lot of fun. And then World Cup, as we talked about, we've got some World Cup merch, the Cup collection. Oh, look at that.

On the PHLY store. Check that bad boy out. I like some of those shirts on that black shirt, the 26 right there. That's a nice shirt. I'm going to have to be getting that one. The Eagles 26. Oh, well, yes. And, of course, we've got the Eagles 26, which we've told you about.

Very exciting. The sit-down discussion, wide-ranging, running through all the possible players who could be included in our ranking of the top 26 Eagles since 2000. That premieres on Monday. The defensive side of the ball up first with Tim McManus of ESPN, Cuzz himself, Fran Duffy, and me. And then we'll do the offense on Tuesday. And then we got the rest of the summer to run through some of the interesting conversations and the rankings they're in. I can't wait to listen to Monday and Tuesday. I wasn't here when you guys did it.

and I won't be here when it airs, actually. So I'm going to be on vacation. I'm going to be on vacation, listen to those shows. Very excited. I've seen some of the clips. They look awesome. I could send it to you a little.

Thank you a little preview. Yeah, send it to me so I can watch it on the plane. What's it called? Like a screening? A screener. And you get to see the movie before it's out. Maybe I should do like a review. Yeah.

Yeah, I can give you the screener. There you go. Please do. I think I know the answer to this and I will not push you on it, but I will ask you ask you one time, do you want to tell the people where you're going on vacation? Why don't we save it from overtime? That's a good tease.

I like that. I will tell you where we are going on vacation in about 40 minutes. And it is worth waiting to hear where we're going. Interesting. Some super chats. Rob Milner asks, are we underrating Dallas Gotters' role in the offense? I think that's an interesting question. I do think back to when I looked at everybody's production over the past four years.

years in the NFL when AJ Brown is not on the field. Yeah. And just how efficient Dallas Goddard has been, the number three most efficient player in the NFL. Now it's, we're talking 200 and something snaps. And I don't think that's a level of expect, you know, an expect, a realistic expectation you can have for him in this offense. But if he stays healthy, Ealing trusts him.

Yeah. Right. And I don't, we don't know that McKayleman is going to turn into right away what the egos want him to be or if Dantavian Wix is going to be. what they hope he is, considering the fact that the Packers were willing to move on from him. I think there's a very real chance that if you guarantee me, Dallas Goddard plays 15 games,

I might bet on him to be the number two leading receiver on the team. Yeah, I would go so far saying that if he plays 15 plus games, I would expect him to be the number two receiver. And that's not as much to, that's not as much a reflection on Mackay Lemon or Don Tavian Wicks. These offenses favor tight ends that can do what Dallas Godter can do. He's going to be on the field a lot, because he is a combo tight end.

He's somebody who's going to be able to contribute in the run game. And he should be, because of that, a big beneficiary of the undercenter play action, which that's no longer like, that's one of the biggest things that we learned in the spring, is that's no longer like a concept. That is the foundation for the Eagles offense. They spent more time than anything else working on under center and under center play action as an extension of that. So to me, like, we've talked a lot about Tucker Kraft, but I do think that he is the

template. Like he had 489 receiving yards and 32 catches in eight games last year before getting injured. His yards per game are significantly more than what Dallas Goddard has had the last few years. So for me, it is pretty straightforward. If you look at the best versions of the offense that I think Sean Manion is installing right now, they feature really productive and really dominant tight ends and Dallas Goddard checks a lot of the boxes that those guys also check. Good point. The other super chat we have from early in the show from Rich Bobby who says

Happy Birthday Beau, hello friends. Thank you, Rich. Happy birthday to your son. Oh. Jack and I share a birthday. Oh, happy birthday, Jack. He just turned 21. 21st birthday. I hope he spends it more interestingly

than I spent my. I had great company on my 21st birthday. I spent it at an Applebee's. Oh, that sounds nice. It was great, but like in hindsight, It's like, why don't we go to like an actual bar, you know? But when I was 21, I loved Applebee's, man. Sure.

That was like my favorite place in the world. You're actually good one, Applebees. I would love that. I would love that. If they sponsor it. Do they still have half-priced apps? I don't know. We should do that for the city-state thing.

Yeah, like that. That's a good idea. We should go back to the Hard Rock. We should. That'd be fine. Yeah. All right. Let's move on.

I'll give you a winner, and this is kind of an easy box to check. What? I'm laughing it. a chat. Sorry. I wait from overtime. Somebody came very close. It's easy to say,

but I think we can say like Sean Manning was a winner of the spring, just in terms of how much everybody's talking about him, how much it is clear to us that the offense is going to look different and that he has been given

the freedom to implement those changes. I don't, I'm not going to promise you it's going to be a top 10 offense. Obviously, he lost AJ Brown, so there's talent being pulled away from the offense. The defense really got the better of the offense over the course of the spring. Yeah.

And yet, I think it's okay to be positive. And it's also, you know, we can go back to you pat yourself on the back, but like the way that Jalen talked about the offense, I think was significant and allows us to give him some breathing room. I just love that the synergy we've got going on here. Like, you guys might, no, you can't see it. Requel and Sean Mangon are my two biggest winners. I didn't know if you wanted me to go with the chicanery this early, not going with players,

but I do think the thing that encourages me so much is what you alluded to, going through some of those because I'm writing something for the website for tomorrow morning, all p.h.O.com. You can check out what I learned over the last couple of weeks. And going back through the quotes, the answers from a lot of the offensive players, you know, Lane Johnson. The last time we heard from Lane Johnson was in October, last time local reporters heard from Lane Johnson was in October, when he said, said the offense was predictable and the offense was stagnant and defenses were keying in on what they were trying to do. We just heard from Lane Johnson breaking that silence and all he can talk about

is how he was envious of these schemes and he was watching from afar and he's invigorated. He's hoping that, you know, Sean Mangon's going to bring this new system that's going to help them be less stagnant, the enthusiasm that he had for it and like the vision that he has for his position in the system. Sequin Barkley, I know for a fact that previously in Seekwan's career, he's been pretty apathetic about the difference between under center and shotgun runs. Now when we hear from Saquan Barkley, he's telling us all about how wide zone, you know, the angles are better for him and how under center creates different advantages for him. And what that tells you, and you obviously Jalen is its own story, like Jalen 95% new two years ago

almost to the day. And now Jalen is excited to onboard a new brand of football and learn a new new way of playing. All of these things show you, they all trace back to. Sean Mannion has done a good job this spring explaining the vision for this offense explaining the why behind the things he wants to do Chris Cooper mentioned this

and it stuck out to me as I was going back through everything he said like Sean Mannion does a good job of making everybody's role black and white and explaining how that role contributes to the bigger picture and for that reason I do think that Sean Mannion has been one of the biggest winners of the spring because you're seeing the hints of like

the work that he's done in the meeting room that was a big question about him there's still questions you know how is he going to be as a play caller. And the fact that we can talk about this, I think that like, I guess the offense is probably like 20% installed right now. Maybe maybe 40, but there's a long way to go. I'm not sure I'll go that far.

Exactly. So there's a lot of questions still, but he has answered a big question, which is how is he going to be in front of a meeting room with a lot of stars? Lane Johnson, Sequin Barkley, Jalen Hertz, you know, Cam Jerkins, they are all like clearly bought in and totally understanding

the foundational pieces of the, the offensive is and song. Well said. I feel like you worked that one out. You prepared that one. That was good. No, I just said it. I said these things earlier today too.

Oh. Well, I also wrote. Boom. No, no. This is a more synthesized, more real version of it. You know? And listen,

we love those guys over there. You have, yeah, I don't know. I'm invigorated. Okay. All right, who you got next? Who do I? have next. Do you want to do a non-winner? No, I've got a quick winner that I think we will be good.

Tank Bigsby. Tank Bigsby, it might be a little bit of like he is a new commodity to us in practice because he got, the trade happened after training camp last year, but why are you smiling at me? Because I feel like you've been intercepted by the other person he had a conversation with today. Maybe a little bit, but I do think, like, you heard a lot about Tank Biggsby. Tank, Bigsby's practice habits from Nick Siriani last year. And we have gotten to see that. And he kind of reminds me, so I did not get inceptive, because this is an original thought right here.

You know, just in terms of, like, standing on the depth chart and standing, like, with the way the coaching staff feels about him, it kind of reminds me of Kenny Gainwell and that, like, the coaching staff just, like, loves this guy. And you can see why. Like, he is, like, the effort guy out there. He works very hard in practice. So I'm not saying he's going to have, like, a huge role in the offense,

but I think he had a nice spring. It was like good to see what you had heard so much about. And I do think that they're going to find a role for him in a similar way where like Kenny Gainwell was like the short yardage back. And that's not like a natural role for Kenny Gainwell to have earned. I think it is a reflection of the fact that like he earned something and they have, they're going to find, they're going to carve something out. And we saw some two back sets during the spring, during the spring.

Yeah. It might be like a little bit of a hokey thing that they might really, they won't actually commit to. but I don't know. I like a Tank Bigsby. I think the Tank to Gainwell comparison, I think of them much differently, whereas Tank is more like swaggy and feels like he thinks he's the best player on the field,

whereas Kenny Gainwell was like, very quiet, happy to do the dirty work. Yeah. Now, don't get in his mentions at halftime, because you might get chomped at, but much more of like a quiet good soldier, whereas I feel like Tank Bigsby as much effort as you say.

he's giving is a little bit more like he wants the ball. I'm the baddest guy out here. I'm not saying stylistically or personality-wise are the same. I'm just saying the backup running back that the coaches love, they both fit that archetype. Do you think we now have to wonder if it's just

especially since we used to hear about Naheem Hines that Nick Siriani only has a particular kink for the backup running back. He just loves all backup running backs. I'm starting to think that that might be the thing going on here. Nahim Hines, Kenny, I mean, Boy, did he never stop talking about Kenny Gainwell.

And now he's talking about Bigsby. I think we maybe have identified his type. Like he likes a tough, energetic backup running back. I think he just likes a backup running back. Well, what about Will Shipley? It doesn't seem like. He's the number three. He likes number two.

He likes the number two running back. He likes the number two running back. Maybe. He also, I mean, it goes without saying. He also loves, like, a technician wide receiver. Like, Keenan Allen and T.Y. Hilton. Like, how many T.Y. Hilton stories have you heard in your Nick Steriani?

Covering experience. Keenan-Nellon as well. Eden Allen. All right. I'm going to take another break. We'll come back. And on the other side, we will get into a little game

about the future of the safety position that includes somebody who I think has been a low-key winner of the spring. My name is Lindsay, and Parks Casino is my casino of choice. Parks is a great place for a night of headline entertainment and award-winning dining. I think the night complete

and stay at the new beautiful Parksview Hotel which is just steps away from Parks Casino and offers shuttle service. And boy, do they have an awesome lineup of entertainment coming up this summer on Saturday, June 20th. If you get All McCartney live, a tribute to Sir Paul McCartney. In just a couple days, Long Island medium, Teresa Caputo is going to be there. We got George Thurgood and the Destroyers on August 28th. And how about this? Sebastian Bach with special guests, Stephen Adler, from Guns and Runs and Reuters.

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We're going to get a couple of things up on the screen. You've got to put all of your chips on something here, E.J. And the question is, starting safety week one, will it be Marcus Epps, who took the lion's share of the first team reps in Nickel opposite Drew McCuba this spring in base? It was just Cooper deGene and McCuba. Will it be Michael Carter the second, who was a little bit sprinkled in over the last two days? Yeah.

at Epps's expense, but not a ton, and has also been spending time as a second team nickel, but also second team safety, or will it be the field? No turkey spreading here. Usually I'd like to spread some turkeys. Yeah, but I'm going to spread my chips. You've got to go all in, push them in on one of those three options.

I don't have to go all in. I can spread them. No, you're pushing them all in. The hands are dealt. You're going all in. Yeah, that's bad work by me. I'm going to go Marcus Epps then. I was going to spread my chips.

50% Marcus Epps, 30% Michael Carter, and 20% the field. Interesting. Just because I feel like it's hard to say like, oh, they're definitely going to trade. I looked at the field mostly as a trade Canada. I agree. But, you know, the gush could sneak in there. You never know. I think that would be pretty big of a surprise.

I mean, who's to say? McFangio doesn't. like the gush. But if I had to go all in, I'd go with Marcus Epps. And honestly, I think that that's fine. Marcus Epps played good football for the Eagles last year. He's played important games for them in the past. And I think he gets like, it's underrated that like he has a lot of experience in the NFL.

And that might be like a seamless transition from reed blanket ship to him because he's got so much experience. So it's not like, you know, it probably, if you look at the secondary as a whole, he is the weak link there, but it doesn't mean that it's like a liability or anything like that. And in theory, if the corners are all studs, you know,

there's a little bit less pressure on him. The ask is easier. If I had to put all my chips on something, I would put them on EPS. I agree. He's got the incumbent advantage. But I think that this was a good spring for Marcus Epps.

He's one of my winners from the spring because he got, I mean, I know that Carter got a couple reps at the end, but Marcus Epps got most of them. He got the seal of approval from Vic Fangio, and I thought it looked pretty good. I'm about to say, though, the defense looked so good that Marcus Epps being one of the 11,

yeah, credit to him. I definitely would not rule out. Howie Roseman making a trade for a starting caliber, true, good level safety player in August or something like that. But right now I'm going to go, I'm going to go Marcus Epps. Yeah, I agree. All right, check out Parks Casino in Ben Salem. Everybody's Casino of Joyce.

As far as we're concerned, that is the hand you're dealt. Marcus Seps, looking like potentially the week one starter. Who's next on your list? Winner or non-winner? Let's do a non-winner. Let's talk about it. Let's vent a little bit here. Eli Stowers.

I think we can lump in both of the first two-round picks here because very quickly, let's just say, McCai Lemon, you're dealing with a hamstring injury. That's not great. Right. I'm sure that he will still be a starting week one, but having to worry about that. And maybe now, you know, you always hear about how short the off season is as a rookie.

There's so much that is thrown at you. And for his one little break here, now probably be more concerned about rehabbing that hamstring as opposed to getting some time away. It's going to make this a long rookie season for him. I still have every expectation he will be a major part of the offense. But in terms of just the spring, yeah, he suffered an injury. that was not good. Yeah, and they need him to be, I don't think they need him to be elite. I don't think

they need him to like break records as a rookie, but they need him to be a productive part of the offense. I don't think, I mean, unless you feel amazing about Hollywood Brown, like he's going to be one of the three and you're going to need him to be, you're going to need him to get open, catch the ball, and, you know, run after the catch. So yeah, it's more of a projection than you would want it to be. for me stowers is like 1a here because he was out there now listen he was it seemed like his role was diminished a little bit toward the end of camp and maybe that was because of an injury i think he must have been dealing with something minor but even when so maybe he comes back in training camp and it's like you know it's dealing with a soft tissue injury that was affecting my ability to you know get

out of breaks and he looks awesome in training camp and this is all you know a funny memory that we were all so worried about Eli Stowers after minicamp. But to me, like, we've talked about it before, that's the setting where he should look special. That's the setting where the undersized tight end, who, you know, is like late convert to the position and really has great physical traits, he should jump out. Like, the Rieke Wullen experience, to a certain degree, should be the Eli Stowers experience as well, where it's like, man, this guy just moves differently than the other

tight ends. And the fact that he didn't, it's not to say, like, you know, we need to wave a red flag or anything like that, we don't need to overreact, but I think it does put more onus on training camp to figure out, like, is this guy going to contribute in year one? Because we know that he's probably not going to be a factor as a blocker, year one. It would take a significant leap in that area for him to be on the field, on early downs before the Eagles over somebody like Johnny Mudd. He has to be able to contribute in the passing game. We just didn't see that in the spring. And we do have to caution that big picture, generally speaking, up until the last couple of years,

Tight end is like a position that takes more seasoning and a longer gestation period than almost any other position. Yeah. Like it takes usually like year three before you find out who a tight end really is. Now that has changed a little bit recently. Brock Bowers has a monster rookie season. Sam LaPorteur had a great rookie season. Aaron fan. Colson Loveland and Ty Warren were productive last year.

And so that is changing a little bit, especially for those early round picks. But he's not an early, he's a second round pick who is development. as much as he was productive last year at Vanderbilt, I just, I don't think the way he looks the first half of his rookie season is going to matter much at all about what kind of player he turns into, but at the same time, he had a disappointing spring. Yeah, I generally agree. I think, we talked about it before,

I would like to see him flash some of the receiving upside that you drafted him for, even as a rookie. if we're sitting here a year from now and it's like Eli Stowers was basically a non-factor he was like Brand Capitara I mean he had one nice contested catch I think the second day of OTAs but it was I mean it was like a nine-yard catch

you know yeah it's just as the guy who pounded the table for Eli Stowers like you know played the other side of the argument on day two of the draft where I was buying the physical tools and excited about the upside of the player it has been a little bit like underwhelming. You know, even rookie mini camp, just like seeing him out there,

you would have wanted to see him like stand out a little more. Yeah. So I don't know. I don't want to kill the guy. I don't want to sit here and act like, you know, he's not. It's totally fine. Yeah. It's just we are, we are operating with what we have seen and what we have seen leaves a lot

to be desired moving forward. Yeah. We're also, this is not predictive. This is just what, right. What happened over the past month. Exactly. And yeah. And yeah, it was it was not a great month for him for what we saw.

It's funny because it's like when you go through and this is a good, like, this is a good thing to keep in mind with for the exercise. Like you go through the winners and it's so easy. It's like, Rick Willow and looked awesome. Sean Mangan's doing a great job. Tank Biggsby was fun out there. And then you go through the losers. Not on my list, but go ahead. Then you go through the losers and it feels like you have to couch everything so much.

And it shows you like that is how the positives should be looked at too. You know, we can revisit the exercise you did on the show a year ago. but like Jehan Dotson was somebody that like at least somebody on the set was bullish about because you know the way the way they looked in the spring and you know the momentum of the way that that season the 2024 season ended for him so I'm not saying that that was like a out and I don't the reason I bring it up is because it wasn't an outlandish take it was like reasonable for people to think that Dotsam was going to be ascending not you not you but people um I wouldn't have brought it up if I thought it was a crazy take I'm just

just saying like that shows you like that this is only a part this is only part of the picture uh i'll give you another winner and you know what since we have um thrown a little bit of water on two of the early round draft picks it was a good thing for mark al bell to be getting first team reps at right tackle to be playing both right tackle and left tackle uh chris cooper showing or testing him and seeing if he can do both of those things and also just being elevated um and i thought that, you know, after our first impression of him, which was, that is not like the build that I was expecting. Yeah. He is a little bit lean lower body wise more so than you would think of a guy that size. But once we saw him on the field with everybody else, I thought he

moved pretty well. And you know, they're not in pads. He's not, they're not actually pass blocking, but he didn't stand out in a bad way. And I thought that that was encouraging for a player of his enormity. I agree. With everything there, because when we saw him at rookie mini camp, I was like, oh, this guy's got really skinny legs, like, you know, relatively skinny legs. You could be an Eagles wide receiver with those legs. He's got really skinny, like ankles and calves. But there are offensive linemen who are successful in the NFL who are built somewhat similarly. Like, if I'm Markle Bell, I'm actually looking at like, because, like, Jordan Milata, you don't look at him and say that, like, that's the build that I want.

I saw people comparing his legs to, like, Landon Dickerson when I posted a picture of the two of them. again, like he's never going to look like that. But like Fred Johnson, I think he could look like Fred Johnson in a few years. And I think that that would be absolutely fine with the movement skills that he has to pair with that. So I think he was a winner. Can I share my like, this is more like me venting than like a take that I'm entrenched in? Please. So like Chris Cooper talked about wanting to cross-trained guys more.

And that's like, you know, sort of the earned experience. of coaching that he has led him to this conclusion that I have to cross train more. Maybe he's over learning that lesson? No, I feel like, and you know, maybe one day we'll get to talk to Jeff Stalind about this. We'll have him in studio or something like that, and I'll ask him this. I wonder if Jeff Stoutland would be like, yeah, I remember after year 10, I was like, I have to cross train everybody. And then in year 15, I realize the rookies need to settle in.

Yeah. And the other guys get cross trained. I wonder if like this is like, it's like a 200 level class lesson he's learned. Yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, like the bell curve where it's like the zero IQ and the 200 IQ are the same. I wonder if Chris Cooper is at like 160 IQ on this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, I have to cross train everybody.

And it's like at some point, 200 IQ you go like, let me just leave the rookie alone. Yeah. So I don't know. I like that take. Yeah, it's a little bit like, I feel like we just crush Chris Cooper sometimes. And it's just, I think it's, uh, emblematic of like how difficult the job he's stepping into is. But yeah, I did have that thought. I don't like that.

Yeah. Do you think there will be times, or maybe at least the first time that the whole stadium is going, coo-that Chris Cooper will think that they're talking about him? No, because Chris Cooper doesn't strike me as the type of guy. But all the more reason for him to be like...

Maybe in that sense. Maybe like he'd be angry about it. Yeah. I mean, he, again, he checks the box as like a gruff offensive line coach. So I had to finish with something nice. Is me calling him gruff nice? I think he would take it nicely. Yeah.

So that's me saying something nice because here I am questioning his coaching decision. All right, time for our last break on the PHA, my Eagles podcast. Back with more on the other side. I will tell you a non-winner that hurts my heart. Birds are headed to Nashville. Music City. And you want to be there to watch it all happen and have a good time with birds fans down on Broadway, get a little honky tonking and watch a fun football game.

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I'll give you a non-winner, E.J. I'm very curious who it's going to be. There are a couple candidates. I think this is not who you expect. It's not who I ever expect. It's not who Lindsay expects either. I think it was a disappointing spring for my guy, Darius Cooper.

And the reason I would say that is because McIall Lemon missed time. Devante misses yesterday's practice but didn't miss a ton of time. Dantabian Wicks was not there for all of the stuff that we saw. And we never really saw Darius Cooper even worked in with the ones.

And they're rotating guys a lot. We saw Johnny Wilson. We see Elijah Moore. We see Hollywood Brown. I remember really saw Darius Cooper there. I mean, even Kwez Watkins got a couple reps. And I know that Nick sort of lumps Darius Cooper in with Johnny Wilson as like the dirty work kind of guys. And Johnny Wilson actually had a pretty good spring.

You could call him a winner if you wanted to. It made a couple nice catches. It showcased that catch radius. Looked spry. I worry that Darius Cooper. has not taken the year one to year two leap that maybe us boosters have been hoping. I'm not counting him out. Coopsters.

We're going to see him in training camp. But he didn't really flash this spring. And I thought that that was a little bit disappointing. I agree. The thing I was going to mention is that like when Nick goes through, because like Nick's defense mechanism is probably a strong word, but the word I will go with when asked about AJ is usually to just list every receiver. He does love to do that, yeah.

Every receiver on the roster, basically. And I think sometimes you can, like, learn from that. And you're right. He's always clumping Darius Cooper in with Johnny Wilson in a way that I don't think is, like, complimentary. Yeah. Like, he will talk about Tay Wicks and he'll talk about Kese, which is what he calls Hollywood Brown. He'll talk about Elijah Moore. And then it's like, oh, and we've got those young guys who are trying to prove themselves.

I mean, the place that Terry Cooper made in preseason last year in the games. like that was more electric than anything we've ever seen from Johnny Wilson or, you know, some of those other guys. And yet, and yet that's not the way that Nick sort of talks or thinks about. Yeah, it might, I can't say this for certain. It's a guess,

but it might be reflective of like maybe he wasn't killing it in practice all year. Yeah, that's a fair point. Yeah. I think that I am worried how much the staff seems to like Elijah Moore. Hmm. Okay. I hadn't thought about that,

but okay. I mean, not, not, it's not keeping me up at night. I mean, it is, now that you say it,

I would have expected Darius Cooper to pop a little bit during the spring. So hopefully in training camp for the, for the coopsters out there. All right, over you. Why don't we do two more each?

I'll go. Winner or non-winner. I'll go non-winter. And it's Tanner McKee's trade stock. Okay. I don't feel differently about Tanner McKee. based off the way the spring went for him. I don't think.

Like, he looked fine when he was out there. Honestly, when he was out there, it made you go like, why isn't he out there more? And I would even call any Dalton a loser, a non-winner of the spring just because he looked bad, even though he got more in second team. I might put him in with the non-winners. I thought he looked bad.

That's what I'm saying. Yes, yes. But Tanner McKee, I thought looked fine. I just, I don't know. The way that they've handled him makes me wonder, like, did they try to trade him and it didn't work out? Like, I don't know. I just, I would have gone into, like, the OTAs and felt like, you know, the Eagles are probably comfortable trading Tanner McKee, but it would have to be, like, a really good price.

And I'm not saying that that's changed. I'm not saying that's different. But I don't know. Just the way that they handled the spring, it was strange to me. And if I'm Tanner McKee, I don't feel good about the way they handled the spring. Not in the way where it's like I'm anchor at the team, but just like, I don't know. Like, maybe shot confidence a little bit, like a shot to your confidence. It's just you were the number two quarterback. And now you've got. not taking down a peg. I don't know. I feel, I almost, I kind of, like,

feel for him, almost. Yeah, we'll see how he responds. And it's possible that he was dealing with an injury that that was part of

what effect of the snaps there. Non-winner, I'm going to lump two guys together. Okay. Both former day three picks at the same position, and that's Keely Ringo and Mack McWilliams. Yeah.

Now, Keely, I think we know where he stands with the Eagles right now. They don't trust him as a defensive player. but they think very highly of him as a special team's player. Right. I think if he's here, he will make the team because of that.

I think there's a chance that he gets traded. But, I mean, you know, he opens up from what we see, working with the third team, rotates in with the twos as well, mostly on the outside. He didn't do anything that we saw. I think he is sort of what we've seen him be at this point. And then Mac McWilliams, this is probably a little bit unfair

because I have liked them testing his versatility, he and Jonathan Jones have been doing a lot of back and forth with the second team inside outside. But there are so many bodies there now. Right. And with Michael Carter, with Jonathan Jones, if you thought that Mack McWilliams' path to having an effect on the team this season

was probably being the backup nickel behind Cooper DeGine, I'm not so sure he gets that job. Yeah, it's funny because, like, Mac MacMilliams has almost been the victim of, like, Vic declaring early that he was a fan of him. 100%. Because, like,

if Mack and McWilliams never had, like, a moment where, like, Vic is like, yeah, honestly, Max McWilliams and Smile Mondin, both.

Like, Vic really liked those guys early in camp, and both of them have sort of settled back into, like, I mean, maybe a little bit less than the role you'd expect from them, but realistically, like,

the role you'd expect from them. Yeah. Yeah. Because I was with you, like, I, Mac McWilliams had a real moment in training camp last year where it's like,

oh, man, this guy could compete. And ever since then it feels like he's kind of just been, you know, around the periphery. All right, you got one more. I'm going to go Jeremiah Trotter Jr. He was on my list as well. Is there a chance?

How many turkeys are you putting on Jeremiah Trader Jr. There is a chance. Starting in week one. I mean, I think that if Jahan Campbell is healthy or the start of training camp and makes it through camp healthy, I think it is zero. But, but,

but, I think there is, is a real chance that he has something of a role on the defense. If Jahad Campbell is not who Vic Fangio wants him to be. Now, I think there's a chance that if Vic thinks that, Howie Roseman puts a hit out on him, because how he's not going to let Jehad Hamble not get on the field at the expense of Jeremiah Trader Jr. However, he's not going to put a hit out on Jeremiah.

Of course not. No, not on Trotter Jr. on Vic. Oh. Who is less likely? I shouldn't ask that question. Never mind. But I think Charter has looked really good now like how a linebacker looks in spring football.

Of course, that doesn't really matter. But it is a continuation of the way that he has always looked in these settings. He knows where the ball is going. I think Jeremiah Charter Jr. The more important thing is that I think they don't have to rush Jahad Campbell back if this is an injury that lingers,

I think they can feel okay. I just wonder, just wonder, if Vic Fangio has another linebacker surprise in store for us. You think about it, 2025, everyone's saying Nekobi Dean's getting Wally Pippe. He's not going to be able to play because Jihad Campbell looks so good. Coby Dean starts,

I don't have the number in front of me, but he starts the majority of the games when he's healthy. Yeah. The year before. Yeah, Devin White. Devin White. Everybody thinks Devin White is Pennsylvania's a starting line. backer and Zach Bonn comes out of nowhere and takes that job.

At that point, we knew it was Bonn, but we thought it was going to be Bonn and White. It was, he threw a Nacobi for. Yeah. So every year it feels like there's a little bit of a trick up the sleep from Vic Fangio based off of like, and it comes out of nowhere. It's like, oh my God, I couldn't have seen that coming. Well, and it's a good point because it is something that Nacobi one's different. But that first year, Devin White got most of the first team. They were doing a lot of rotating, but Nicopi did not get a lot of first team reps.

Yeah. And so I think we should learn that at linebacker, we can't necessarily trust the reps for Vic and how he feels. Yeah. Maybe the pairings, not even the pairings, really. Yeah. I'm just saying, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., I said earlier this week, I almost feel bad for him.

He has really gotten very close to the ceiling that you would have envisioned for him when they drafted him. For him to be here and not really have a clear path to starting, maybe Vic makes one for him. I wouldn't rule it out. I'm putting six turkeys on it. Okay. I think you can,

you go ahead and put 19. I don't care. You said zero. Oh, yeah. I get it for six now. I had two other ones at the end. I'll go quickly. One, Cam Juergens,

love to see the comedic chops. Yeah. That he's developed. Fantastic stuff yesterday. Themselves has been a thing for a long time. Now, to be clear, he wasn't saying that as a joke. You're just taking it as a joke.

No, it was very funny. But also, he's clearly like a weight has been lifted off of him, you can tell. Literally. Which is nice. The other one I was going to have is, and this is a little bit of a counterbalance to Eli Stowers. But, I mean, it's very clear that as long as he stays healthy, Johnny Munt is the number two tight end. Yeah. They threw him a couple passes.

Like, he's going to be on the field. All aboard the Munt train. He's going to be on the field. Love a Johnny Munt. Chocolate Munt cake. Good spring for my boy, Kamlatu. Got a lot of first team reps. He was open on that deep crosser that one day.

I saw it. I can tell your grandkids about that. Maybe I will. Maybe I'll tell Kim Latu, Smith. Kim Latsu Smith, that's right. Okay. I think we got like 20 seconds to kill. I've got World Cup questions for you.

And I have the beginning of a take that I may want to save for when I get back about AJ Brown and Terrell Owens. Okay. That I can tell you about. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.

Not yet. I will tell you about it. Not yet. In Lindsay. Birthday time. I should have been over time today. I'm sorry. I have an epit.

Can I jump in? About what? Carolones and Tio? No. No. An epidemic that I feel like has swept this building in particular. It's happened to me each of the last two days. You're coming down the elevator.

Yeah. You get off on the first floor. Mm-hmm. And the door opens and the person waiting just walks right into the elevator. Oh, yeah. Without letting you out. This is one of your things. I've heard you talk about this before.

We used to be a country. What happened to manners? Yeah. They just don't expect you to be in there. Now I'm going to check myself because you've done it to somebody. I started to do it. The door opened and I started to walk in presumptively. And then I saw there was a person there and, of course, I backed out and let them come out for her.

You can't, you can't be walking on like you own the place when there could be multiple people in the elevator who need to get out. That's like, I feel like that's like a thing I have to like teach my kids now, like to make, oh wait for the elevator open. Make sure nobody's there. Make sure the elevator's there. Yeah. Did you see French dad? I'm sorry. I don't even get it.

You said, I'm not saying it again. What did I say? You said you were blanking down on the elevator. No, that's you. We've already established which of the two of us is getting naked in the elevator. No, I was not naked. Which one of us is disrobing? No, no, no, no, no, no.

In between floors, three and four. That is not the truth. That is not what happened. Let's not start the rumors now. Let's pull the footage. We got to pull the elevator footage. Security cam. That would be so funny.

It is, DJ. He's pants off. He's like, he's like, he's like, looking around. If we still had one of our sponsors,

it'd be a good, a good sponsorship thing. Like a good ad read. But they don't, I don't think of their partners with it. So anyway, yeah, Linz is right.

teach your children to let people off the elevator before you get on. I agree with this. It doesn't. Outerrageous stuff. It doesn't like peave me the way that it peaves you, but I've got plenty of things that bother me. So I get it. It's like the not saying thank you when someone holds a door. Oh, I mean, it's spit in my face, why don't you?

Yeah, like, or not putting the shopping cart back. Like just like leaving it in the parking lot. Oh, that, that is, I think that's universally. that's like should be the death penalty terrible thing to do you know what is a when you know what's a really bad one is uh people who spit their gum into the urinal oh yeah like where do you think that's a thing someone's gonna clean that up yeah like what happens to the gum from there loser that one's not cool that one bothers me the other day universal i think the elevator one is kind of like it's like um you know it's like it's like people like chew them with their mouth open that bothers

me, but it doesn't bother everybody. I can get how you would make the mistake because you're, you know, just you're sleeping walking through your day, the door is open, you're walking, but then how about like a sorry or like you back out and let them come out, but then just walking in and like, what are we doing? Yeah, I agree. Or the worst is then when like, because you're like, oh, they should be saying sorry to me, you say sorry and they're like, and you're like, I shouldn't have said sorry.

I didn't do anything wrong. Sorry, give me this AJT a take. No, I'm going to workshop it. You told us about it. Yeah, but I don't feel strongly about it right now. I feel like I need to go back and look at it. Where are you going to marinate on it? Hmm?

Where are you going to marinate on your take? Oh, yeah. Let's do this now. So I'm going on vacation. Obviously, the chat knows now. My wife is pregnant. So we're going on a baby moon. He tells us, she's like, she's doing, she loves planning vacation.

Looking at all these different spots. And, you know, I tell her like, you know, I think, you know, We were going to, we were thinking of going abroad, but we decided not to. And she's telling me, I found this place in Sedona, Arizona. It specializes in baby moons. They have romantic getaways. You can watch, you can sit out on the top of this thing. And, like, you can look at the mountains and the stars.

It's so beautiful. And I was like, that sounds familiar, Julia. What's the name of that place? And I won't say the name for the, well, you guys probably all know the name. It's the place you're thinking of. It is the place you're thinking. So we're going to interlock fingers and have a nice time.

Wow. I mean, listen, it looks nice. Look at I say. I can see how you could enjoy a romantic getaway at this place. Very scenic. I think the chat is about to get crazy. I mean. That is wild.

In real life, that's where you're going. it is it is going to be maybe it'll feel like significant when I stand where they stood I mean I don't want to make too light of it but yes it is going to be an interesting experience

I promise we didn't book it because of that it is just you know funny coincidence CDP got very close to it I'm not going with who he said I was going with but I am going I mean, I can't wait to hear about it. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be fun.

I mean, I want to be respectful, but yes, it's going to be funny. It's going to be funny. Okay. What were your World Cup questions? I just want to get you on the record on some World Cup stuff. So these are easy questions. You didn't need to prep. You want to tell you my hot take?

Yes, I want to hear your hot take. And then we'll go through the question. Here's my hot take. I don't care about England soccer. Mm-hmm. I'm tired of all the coverage being about what's England going to do is a cup coming home. I don't care about England soccer. All the English players, for the most part, I already see.

To me, the beauty of the World Cup is getting to learn about players I've never heard of or never gotten to see play or see these other footballing nations getting swept up into that. I don't care about England soccer. You don't care if it's coming home. I don't care. And I hope it never does. The thing that I will agree with you about, I agree with your sentiment in general.

The thing that I especially agree with is I think the England national team is kind of the antithesis of what the World Cup is about where it's like the England national team is all these stars. Listen, I love some of these players personally. But like there are all these stars and can they figure it out?

Can they put it together and win the tournament? like they and they are inherently like a team that is not going to be greater than the sum of its parts and to me what's special. They tried to build it this year where it's a little bit different where they take it's still it's still just megastars. It's like, and these guys. I like to take, I like to take in the chat that they're very much like the way the Cowboys are covered. Yeah.

It's like, you know, they were great. All expectations. Yeah. But to me like what makes the World Cup special is a team that is greater than the sum of its parts because like they will just like. die on the field for their country, you know, for the badge. I don't want to be too hyperbolic. But, you know, the passion that those smaller countries have, like, when you watch like Scotland, like, that's what's cool about the World Cup is these guys who, like, grew up

together and they are so, they recognize the opportunity that they have to do something special together. Like, the England players have that, but it's more about, like, the egos and the personalities at play. So, yeah, I'm with you there. Who is, who do you think's going to win? Who are you picking as a winner? I haven't given it enough thought.

This has been a different pre-World Cup experience for me. I'm just going to sort of let it come to me. Okay. I want to let it wash over me. I haven't done as much prep. I respect that. I don't have a good answer for you. Who do you think is going to win?

I think Spain win. Yeah. But that's not like a hot take. Just a, I mean, they're the favorite. They don't have a great striker, but the striker they do have. I'm not going to try to, well, I guess I can pronounce his name. the way I will. Oyersabal is how you're supposed to pronounce it.

He's not like a... He's not like a headline player, but he is ideal for what they want, which is a striker that's going to drop in and rotate, and they're just going to control games. And I think that's going to be important because of the weather. Like I think when I was looking at the teams I like here, are you going to say that we're overstating the weather? I just keep hearing this.

It's going to be really hot. And like some of these countries aren't used to that. So I do think the South American countries will have an advantage. But I think teams that can control games the way Spain can will also have an advantage because they're not playing high tempo. They can, they have talent on the wing, but they don't have to. It was really hot there too. Yeah, but I think that also affected the tournament. Okay. So I have a sliding scale of dark horses that I want to get on the record. And then I have a take I feel passionate about. But let's go through my dark horses really quick, if you don't mind.

So it's weird to call Brazil a dark horse. Yeah. But people are down on Brazil right now. People think like, oh, you know, this group of Brazilian players is not, you know, what they were. It's kind of similar to like the Cowboys or England where it's like the history doesn't inform like the way you expect to play. Yeah, but the thing with Brazil is like everyone loves Ecuador. Everyone's like, oh man, Ecuador is my dark horse. And it's like, yeah, you're looking at like Moises Caicedo and William Paco. Like you're looking at their defense. Oh my God, they can make a game terrible for you.

Brazil can do that too. Brazil have Marquinos and Gabriela's your centerbacks. their fullbacks aren't as good. But like they have, and people like, Casamiro had a great season at United and then they have got Bruno Gimerice. They have a great defensive, like, backbone to the team. And oh, by the way, they've got Venetius,

they've got Rafini, they've got Igor Tiago, they've got Mateus Cunia. Like, they have talent up front. They've got Pakata. Like, they're a really good team still. Like, I think people are discounting them because of like, like, because I don't even know, I guess, really. It's like a lot of their players,

or in good form by the end of the season. If it's a midfield tournament, like they've got, like, aggressive, like, physical players in the midfield, I think Brazil will be pretty good this year. Or in the World Cup. I hope so. I love watching Brazil. The other ones I wanted to use.

But they better not be playing. I want to see Brazil play with some flair. They will. But, like, they can also make a game terrible if they need to. Okay. And, again, if this is a tournament that favor South Americans who are going to, like, I mean, I'm not saying this, like, stereotypically, but the way that South American teams play,

especially the smaller teams, they do want it to be physical and terrible. Like Brazil are used to that. They're comfortable playing them, like playing like that in the same way Argentina are. The other ones really quick. Netherlands, Belgium. And I really like Turkey.

I think Turkey could make a really big run. Especially Brazil and Turkey and the Netherlands are all on the easier side of the bracket if things go the way you expect them to go. All right. Last thing for me, something I'm passionate about here. Okay.

People are really excited about Portugal. Get out of here with that. I love Portugal's midfield as much as anybody. Like incredibly talented midfield. Like honestly, an embarrassment of riches in their midfield. Like, they could do a lot of different things. But, like, it's not just the Rinaldo of it all that makes me very dubious about them being able to make a run.

And that is a big thing. Like, that's totally valid. But, like, all of their forwards are shaky. Like, you know, Rafael A. Alice had a terrible season. And like, I don't know if I've ever, like, I'm new to soccer. So I haven't seen him like. You don't sound new to it.

What's that? You don't sound new to it. Well, I'm just, I take in a lot of soccer now. But like, Rafael Laos had like several bad years where I don't think he's going to carry that attack. And it's like Pedro Netto on the other side. I hate that guy. I can't stand that guy.

So like, what are you talking about like Bernardo Silva playing on the right wing or something like that? I'm not buying Portugal as like an actual team. And oh, by the way, like, they don't have a, good defense. Like they've got Ruben Neves. I don't even know who their other centerback's going to be. And then they've got Nuno Mendez, who's awesome. But he's like a specific type of player that you have to account for as a left back. You're not like he's not a defensive left back. So I'm out on Portugal. I just, I don't see it for them. I know people are excited about them because their

midfield is stacked, but I feel like their team isn't good enough to win. Now, if they win, we can clip that. Good ball knowledge there. I ingest a lot of soccer content. I watch a lot of soccer, and I'm excited. Which African team are you most excited about? I mean, Morocco is the one. Ashraf Hakimia is one of my favorite players. He's incredible, and he is to me, like, I've said this on the show before.

Fullbacks are usually players that failed into that position. They were not good enough to play winger, or they weren't big enough to play centerback. Hakemi is like the 99th percentile of fullback, where he can play anywhere. That guy literally, if you had 11 Hakimis, you'd have a really good team. So Morocco are fun. And then, I mean, I'm going with the Afcon teams

because Senegal are also awesome. Duf from over there is great. So, yeah, that guy's good. Duf is a fun name. Duf. But Morocco, I'm going chalk with the African teams. Morocco are great. What do we dof?

What do we dof? So yeah, anyway, thank you for let me get that off my chest. You're very welcome. Shout out to Morgan Rogers. I hope you score. the winner in the final if England do make it that far. I know you're done with England, but Morgan Rogers, man. What a guy.

All right, how about that? Yeah, it was fun. Good stuff. Anything else? No, happy birthday to you. I hope it's a special day. Thank you. I hope you enjoy some time away.

Get to celebrate with your family. Eat another donut. Bring some donuts home. Bring some donuts home. Yeah. Yeah. Now we're talking. Lindsay, thank you very much.

Thanks to everybody in the chat. Do we miss the super chat? Is there one more? CDP. E.J. Who are your top five novelists? Oh, man. I'm not equipped to answer this question.

He's just going to do some reading over the weekend and it'll give you an answer on Monday. Whoever wrote Dune or Georgia R. Martin number one for sure. Whoever wrote Dund? I can't say one of the people who I want to say because they're controversial. I mean, there's a book series that was very, very big when we were kids that I loved reading. You're not going to take Dr. Seuss? No.

No. Wasn't he like canceled? Maybe. This person is also definitely canceled. I'm not going to say. The person you're thinking of is definitely a bad person. You know what I'm talking about. I know you're talking about it.

Okay. Thank you. Trash person. So redacted is number four. Okay. I don't know. I don't have number five. I'm sorry.

I don't read a lot of novels. I read a lot of journalism. I read a lot of... Can we talk about my favorite j-crushes maybe when I get back? No. You like redacted as number four? Yeah.

That's bad stuff out of you. Who's your top five novelist then? Well, nobody who hates people for wanting to be who they are. Exactly. That's why I didn't name that. You can't shame me for this now. Yes, I can.

All right. Thanks, everybody for the birthday wishes. Appreciate it. We will talk to you tomorrow. Fun show. Tomorrow, Fran is going to be joined by Brian Broadus, who used to work for the Eagles a long time ago. They're going to spin some yarns. They're going to get a little storytelling about Eagles behind the scenes, front office things that have happened a long time ago.

Oh, Zach Burma loved that. Well, he's not a novelist. He's written. Those are not novels. What's the difference between a novel and a book? What's the difference between a novel and a book? book. My novel is fiction. And I feel like novels are

like it's a series. No. Okay. Who wrote the books that my wife wrote the book of love? I don't even know. What are the books my life? My wife likes to read. I'm out.

I'm waving the white flag. You know what? This is tough. After you sounded so smart talking soccer, you've really brought us down. Brian Brown. us. Brian brought us down. All right.

That'll do it for this episode of the P.H.I. Eagles podcast. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 2 o'clock. Thanks, you, Lindsay. Thanks, yeah. Thanks, you, Lindsay. Thanks, you, E.J.

Thanks, you, everybody else. And as always, stem cells has been going on for a long time. And as always, we love you.