PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Will Lane Johnson, A.J. Brown be back with the Eagles next year?

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

After a disappointing year, the Eagles offense faces major questions at several key positions going into the offseason. From uncertain futures for Lane Johnson and A.J. Brown, questions about the long-term stability on the offensive line and how that may impact Saquon Barkley, Bo Wulf and EJ Smith empty the notebook from last week’s locker-room clean out. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello everybody and welcome to the PHY Eagles podcast. Bo Wolf, E.J. Smith, live from the Xfinity Studio, and presented by Bet365, and Ashley, it is a brisk Tuesday afternoon. We've got Eagles news-ish. We're going to reflect on some of the players we talked to on Lockroom Cleanout Day on the offensive side of the ball, which we have not done yet. Some interesting little nuggets to pass around, and we'll just continue hanging out. Bo Wolf and the cake man over here. E.J., how you doing? I'm doing well. I had some great chocolate cake last night.

You know, celebrated my dad's birthday. I'm excited to talk about some of these topics. He did have a good time. He wore another Jalen Hertz-esque outfit. Love that. Like a nice monochrome, like textured sweatsuit-ish thing with a hat. But yeah, no, we had a nice time. And the chocolate cake was enjoyed.

I mean, the cake you had was. Enjoy it. I appreciate all the people that reached out. Well, most of the people that reached out. Even if they disagreed. Some people, at least most of them were like nice about their disagreement. Yeah, because they feel sorry for him. Don't do that.

Don't do that. Because you realize that there are some important figures in our lives that agreed with me. That's not true. It is objectively true that there are some important people in our lives. I won't name names. Well, Zach is one of them. I don't know who that is. I won't pay me.

I'm not an important person. They agreed with me. And also, and then we can put this to bed. It's one of those moments where, like, you know how they'll say, like, nothing you do is original or, like, everything you do. Somebody else has done somewhere in the corners of the internet. I've learned, I've been sent a lot of research about this topic, and there is an origin. I don't think it's a two Americas thing, like, as, no pun intended, as black and white as that. I think that there is, like, a faction within a fact.

that this origin actually has some roots in it. That has just diluted itself into being incorrect about something. Yeah, we're not incorrect. It just makes it just you're wrong, but you're living your life wrong, which happens to a lot of people. Super chat from Musa right off the bat. The Discord had never been so unified as we were against the cake take. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come together as a nation.

Yeah, I'm a unifying force. Yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah. All right, let's get to the news. Nothing crazy today, but today is apparently. the day that the eagles are formally interviewing the day man Brian Dayball The day man is that what we're

Yeah no It was the athletic How about those stats huh? Yeah I mean it was It was something They don't call him Brian Night Bowl You really ruined See there's somebody in the chat

Who agrees with me here You really ruined the stat with the bad dad joke Like I don't think anybody's gonna remember the stat It's not a good stat otherwise The whole point of the stat is to set up the joke I don't know. The athletics Diana Rossini

The athletics diarrhea? No, I didn't say that. I said the athletics, Diana Rossini reported that the Eagles are going to be interviewing Brian Dayball today. I think that especially

Do you think tempers flare during that interview? What do you mean? Where do I see my son in five years? Like a 35% chance, right? somehow Jalen Hertz is not involved but is concussed somewhere Brian Dayballs trying to get him out of the tent Brian table Howie and Nicker in one room

and somewhere else in California Jalen Hertz is all of a sudden his head is ringing Jalen! Jalen! Get him out! Yeah it'll be interesting I think of the field of the candidates that they've interviewed so far he is probably one of the better case scenarios, again, if you are not worried about the personality dynamics, yeah, so it'll be interesting to start on the polls.

I like your take from last week that... It's got to be in the booth. It's got to be in the booth. Yeah. Can't be on the sideline. I like that take. Yeah. Coaches in the business think very highly of Brian Dable. What? I just realized you were in the same shirt as you were wearing yesterday.

Am I? I don't know how I didn't notice that until just now. I wasn't so sure. Is that true? This little thing? Why are you wearing the shirt again? Were you wearing it? I didn't even know. Lindsay, was he wearing this before?

No, right? Oh, man. This is a real tease. We are going to have to look for the ad break to see if you just put this on. I didn't realize until like Louis literally just started and I looked and I was like, wait, he wore that yesterday. I don't remember what he was wearing before the show. I think he put this on for the show. So.

Why would I do that? He did. Wait, no, he did run out and get water, so he would have had an opportunity. Oh, you thought you're being slick. We're on to you. Oh, yeah. You're on to me 15 minutes later. You really picked up on it.

Way to go sharp eyes. I don't know why it took me this long to realize you're wearing that shirt. It took you 15 minutes. Yeah, we're on to you. Oh, man. Not at that rate. Loopy Tuesday. Yeah, check out unblocked with Brank.

this week, Thursday at 11 o'clock. Some insight on the coaching search and everything else. And you'll have to see what shirt Bo was wearing in that. Find out. Yeah, I think Dayball is, I think, I think there's some variability there, but I think you are probably getting competence. Yeah, I would agree. And I mean...

I don't think you're getting like exciting scheme all of a sudden, but I think you're... I think there's an argument that you would be getting. a scheme that is catered toward the personnel that they have on offense. You're getting someone who has coached elite offenses, especially only having to worry about being the offensive coordinator. I think there's real upside there. I really do.

I mean, he was in my top five for a reason. And really, of the guys that they've interviewed so far, he's probably the highest I had ranked. And I think it probably does lead to just generally speaking better clarity about Jalen Hertz. Yeah, I would agree. especially like I mean quarterback run game stuff like that's a real litmus test there so all right let's let's get into the meat of the show here mr. Smith we spent some time last week talking about the defensive guys from locker room cleanout day especially the

guys who have big off seasons ahead yeah a few of them on offense as well let's let's start with Lane Johnson now we didn't get to talk to Elaine Johnson we haven't spoken to Lane really since was it like week four yeah it was a road game I think it might have been Tampa. Okay. That was the last time we heard from it. He famously said that the Eagles offense was predictable. What game was that?

Now it's going to bother me if I can't figure it out. Let's see. Was it, it must have, oh, it was after the, they lost to the Giants, I believe. And then the following week against Minnesota, that was when he did like a radio interview. And then as like reporters crowded his locker, he had a speech about not wanting to, not wanting what he said to divide the team. So he said he was done. And so, yeah, we haven't heard from Lane Johnson since October.

And obviously, he had a really deflating end to the season. So I don't know. It's an interesting one. I really do think there's, I mean, to say non-zero would probably even be underselling it. I think there's a real chance, you know, maybe 50-50 that Lane considers retirement and ultimately decides to retire. Well, I think there's a 100% chance he considers it. Yeah, sure. I mean, I think there's, yeah, let's say 50-50 at the end of the season is where I'm

I would put it. Okay. You know, he's going to turn 36 in May. And I think, like, it's surprising because he's playing at such a high level. But I don't know if Lane ever really wanted to be, like, Jason Peters, playing into his 40s. Like, I don't think that that is something that necessarily appealed to him. I think if the Eagles, I think he would have liked to retire, you know, on top if it were this season. He mentioned that going into the year.

Like, if they won the Super Bowl, maybe he would have considered riding off into the sunset. But, no, I think that there is a real chance that it happens this off. season. I wouldn't say more than 50. I probably, if I had to put it, if I, if you asked me to like put real turkeys on Lane Johnson retiring right now, I'm probably put like 42. I think I would go a little bit under that. Yeah, that's fair. I think just having been around him as long as I have, I would be surprised if he chooses to go out like this. Yeah, and the thing is that my evaluation of it is based off of like the end of the season when those things are probably more heightened you know as Kelsey used always say yeah at the end of every season he thought he was

he was ready to retire and then yeah yeah it sort of sit yeah but I think there's a lot of a lot at play there I think there are a lot of factors that he'll have to weigh so it's a real thing it is it goes without saying how significant it would be if Lane does retire and you know I also think like if we think about the succession planning it's funny because with jason peters the eagles tried so hard to have yeah the like have a steady solid succession plan in place and it's kind of you know not to be religious just like the phrases like you know man plans god laughs right it's like they kind of fell into jordan milada being that that successor there where when they thought it might have been andre dillard or lane johnson or um i guess those are the two main ones would you

consider anybody else in there? Those are their plans. Yeah, like Halapulavati Vitae wasn't exactly a, you know, Jason Peter's successor. Correct. But yeah, I think similarly with Kelsey, obviously Cam Juergens ended up being that guy, but I think that Landon Dickerson, when he was drafted, there was a thought that he might be that guy. It would be kind of ironic if Fred Johnson ended up being the successor to Lane Johnson.

I think that they probably would aspire for higher than that, but I do think that it's in play. I don't think. Truly speaking, it's in play for Fred Johnson to be there. Yeah, they probably won't competition for him. Yeah. Sure. I don't think how I would feel comfortable with that.

But, you know, three years ago. Now you talked to Fred Johnson. Yeah. What is his expectation? Yeah, so I was asking Fred Johnson about his outlook going into free agency. And the first thing that he said that stood out to me is I feel like I played myself into a starting role. I feel like I maximized all of my opportunities this year. and then I gave my team the best chance to win with me in.

So I think when you think about Fred Johnson entering his opportunity to start, when Lane Johnson went down, Fred talked a lot about wanting to prove to the league that he is a starting caliber, right, it's not a right tackle, just a tackle. And the sense I got talking to him, he thinks he did that. He thinks he proved that, you know, he's more than just a swing tackle. I think he's right. I think he is a starting tackle.

I don't think that he is good enough is not the right word but I don't think that Howie Roseman will ever view him as plan A as a starting as a starting time. Yeah, no, I don't, sorry, I didn't want to suggest that I thought Fred Johnson was going to walk into the job. No, I think that's, that's probably, it explains why they parted ways

last offseason, right? And then they had to go trade for him because he didn't win the job in Jacksonville. I would imagine it'll be a similar conversation this time around. I think the Eagles would love to have Fred Johnson back as their swing tackle. But if he wants to be a starter, I don't think even, I think even if Lane Johnson retires,

maybe Fred thinks that that's an opening for him, but they would still draft over him. Well, we have another quote, and I think we have a graphic for this one, Lindsay. I asked Fred if he, you know, how he, because he made it clear to me, like he views himself as a starter in the league. And he deserves to.

And he also said that, you know, he'd give the first listening ear to the Eagles. And I said, well, how do you reconcile those two things? Because there's not a clear path to starting. And what he told me is, if Lane retires, then I would most definitely think about staying. If Lane doesn't retire, then I'll have to look for a starting opportunity. That's just the nature of the business. Lane is one of the best I've ever seen.

I don't ever want to be compared to him or anything. That's his spot. That's his right. So to me, that stands out. You know, that is significant. Because as much as Fred would like to be back with the Eagles, it is contingent upon. I'm leaning into your shot too much. I lean into your shot all the time.

It's fine. but it is contingent upon what happens with Lane. And I think it stood out to me when I talked to Fred how much the possibility of Lane retiring was a part of the conversation with him and other guys in the locker. Yeah, it's also part of the larger conversation that we've had about just the state of the offense

to say nothing of who the offensive coordinator is going to be. But there's a chance that you lose Lane and A.J. Brown. Yeah. And you've, I mean, the most important thing that Howie Roseman has to do this offseason is completely revitalized the offensive line. Yes. Yeah, we talked about the interior as well, where you draft someone that you feel good about starting double-digit games because more likely than not, they probably will.

So, no, there's a lot of work to be done up front. It's like it really goes to show as much, even a team like the Eagles that pour a ton of resources into their offensive line. Like, it's still not a guarantee you're going to get consistent play from that group. It's just, it's a hard position to get year over. year elite play out of. Okay, good job. And let me just say, like, I put it at 42%.

I put it at 42%. I'm not saying it's happening. I'm not saying it's more likely than not. I think that there's a real chance, though. Okay. All right, much more to come. We'll talk AJ Brown. We'll dip into some of the reports around him as well,

but also just the future for him. Some interesting Jahan Dotson information for you coming up. Why is that so funny? Why, you got to laugh at the guy? He's already doing all the cardio, never gets thrown the ball. Now you're going to laugh at him just for his name. They're the one that's just going to be piling on. That's not what I'm here to do.

Well, they're going to have to stick around. I had a very nice conversation with John Downson. They're going to have to stick around to find out what you have cooking here. It's not a skill issue. This is a role issue. Are you going to go to break? We'll be back with more on the other side here on the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast. So the other morning, getting.

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Bo-Wolf E.J. Smith. E.J., I do feel like some of the moves that, like the openings that continue to get filled, they are bit by bit working in the Eagles favor. Yeah, I would say they're breaking in the Eagles favor. Yeah. For sure. I mean, the Titans hiring Robert Sala.

Very unsirious. Well, but who do you think is O.C. will be, I guess. Could be a shoot to drop there. Probably somewhat bad. I mean, it's going to be somebody from that. It's a bad organization. They're making bad hires. They're probably going to also make another bad hire.

Yeah. Yeah, no, that one worked in the Eagles favor, Drew Petsing, going to, shoot, why am I for, why am I blanking? Yeah, going to Detroit. That, yeah, that's a big one. I mean, that was one of the OC jobs that you felt probably appealed more to the candidates than the Eagles. So, yeah, no, I mean, there's a lot to unfold, but early results have been good for the Eagles' pursuit of some of the better fits out there. Buck hired a guy. Yeah, they hired a longtime special teams coordinator.

Danny Smith from a Steelers. Something about something about him over the past couple years like 72 year old gun on the sidelines or something. I choose gum per Mike Garifolo. Oh, Danny boy. The teams, the teams are calling.

I had a Scottish like linguistics thing in my feed the other day. Okay. Don't make this weird. It's like this woman, it's a Scottish woman. You see you're going into my shot all the time?

No. That, that, you made it weird. Great. Congratulations. The gum guy. Yeah, the gum guy. Okay. It's the Scottish woman

like pronouncing words like with her accent and it is just like insane. The way that they pronounce the letter R I mean, every culture pronounces it differently, but like the way they pronounce the letter R is just trippy.

Is it, what's her name? The British Idol? No, she's Scottish. Susan Boyle. She was Scottish, I think. Maybe. I don't remember the woman's name, but like, it's like an extra consonant. I dream, oh, I'm going by.

She was Scottish. I know, I know my Scots. I know my Sousins. Shout out John McGinn. You don't even know who John McGinn is, do you? Shout out Ryan Giggs. Shout out Scott McTamane. Shout out McBeth.

Shout out Andrew Robertson. He can't just keep naming. Yes, I can. What do you mean? There's the rules. Shout out. Lindsay's furiously looking up, famous Scots. So I just Googled famous Scottish people.

Scott Pollard. Shout out Aidan Borland. I have one. Mary, queen of Scots. Scott Steiner. He's not an actual Scott. He's just a Scott. Yeah.

Sean Connery. Uh, yeah. Gerard Butler. Punch the keys, jabal. Andy Murray, tennis player. Oh, yeah. Ryan Giggs as well. I should have got Andy Murray.

Oh, so you lost. I did lose. Love that. AJ Brown? He's not Scottish, is he? I walked right into that one. Gentlemen, welcome to the rock. All right, go ahead.

AJ Brown. Yeah. Well, I think that we, obviously, we didn't hear from him in locker room clean out, but we haven't really, I feel like you and I haven't had a real conversation about, like, AJ Brown. Let's do it. You and I have not had our formal. Let's have a nice thing. Let's have a lot of tea.

How can I help you? We have not had our formal, like, what is going to happen with AJ Brown in the soft season conversation. Yes. And it's a conversation that if I'm going to Wawa and I run into like a friend or maybe a fan of the show,

it's one of the first things they ask me. So I think it is, it's past due that we, maybe don't, I don't know if we're going to make a prediction, but at the very least we talk through this. So I went through the numbers because I think that the first thing that you hear from people is, well, the cap hit is a non-starter. So let's go through some of the,

hear from people who don't know anything, but go ahead. Let's go through the numbers so that they, you know, we're here to educate. And by the way, continue a great conversation going on in the chat about famous Scots. Oh, I like that. Leave a comment on the video after watching. Tell us your favorite Scots. Groundsekeeper, Willie, great one.

All right, go ahead. So, yeah, AJ Brown's cap hit, if he is on the team next year, is 23.4 million. If they trade him, he has a dead cap hit, and this is the number you'll hear a lot of, of 43. A. 0.45 million. According to Spot Rack, that is the fourth highest dead cap hit. or that would be the fourth highest dead cap.

This is something that is disqualifying to the Andrew Brants of the world who have not updated the way that they think about NFL roster building in the past decade. Still, the fourth highest dead cap hit in NFL history if the Eagles were to trade him, a 43.5 million. They obviously could designate that as a post-June 1 trade that would offset some of that salary into next season. I'm not going to get into that because I actually think

it's probably cleaner if you just take the dead cap hit. And the thing that I think is important to point out is, especially after last off season, we heard so much from the Eagles. Well, the Eagles made moves that were informed by saving cash, not cap. You know, the CJ Gardner-Johnson trade was a good example. It really was about freeing up money in future years and freeing up short-term cash rather than the cap implications. They didn't save very much on the salary cap that season.

If they traded AJ Brown next season, they would save $29 million in cash. I think it's $110 million over the duration of his contract. they'd be freeing up money in future years by moving him this offseason. So I don't think that the cap hit is as prohibitive as it might seem to, like, if you just look at that dead cap hit, well, go ahead. If you just look at that dead cap hit, you go, oh, they're not going to, they don't want AJ Brown counting for $43.5 million against the cap. What I would tell people is you probably don't realize the Eagles.

Honestly, like, they had more dead cap money than that last season. they will be expecting to have more than that next season. The way that they structure a lot of their contracts is to work around the dead cap money in order to build the best team possible. Yeah, there are a few things I play here. One is taking on that cap means that the cash is gone in future years.

Yes. So it allows you the room to pay, the defensive players are going to have to pay, and it's like anything else. There's a cost. They're not going to take on that, cap that dead cap it just to get rid of him for a sixth round pick

but if they think that he doesn't want to be here and maybe there are some other little things that they can move around with the structure of the contract because he doesn't want to be here you take on that hit for a first round pick or a conditional first round pick or a second round pick whatever it is there's a there's a price where it becomes worth it

the other thing is I mean the Eagles do continue to run financially this way and they're making a bet that it's going to continue to be a feasible thing for them to do. Yeah. We'll see how long that plays out. Well, there's always the, like, quote unquote, I've heard how you're always going to use the expression before,

like take your medicine. You know, at some point, if there is a rebuilding year, you accelerate some of that dead cap into that season. In some way, they're betting on the end of the world. Maybe not that, actually. I think that they're betting on TV contracts continuing to boost the salary cap every few seasons. And the, like I just said,

the reality that at some point the team will need to be rebuilt. And at that point is that's when you, quote, unquote, take your medicine and take some of those dead cap hits to clear out future years, clear out for future years. So all of that is to say, what do you think happens? So I think the first thing... And first of all, what do you make of the recent Joe St. Loquito report? Yeah, no, I mean... Tell people what the report was.

Well, I'll answer both your questions. So first off, what do I think happens? I just think that the conversation we're having now is, it is financially feasible for them to do this. It's not a non-starter. And then on the report, I, I talked to AJ all year. You know, I had the story midway through the year where AJ said he was starting not to care anymore.

I don't, I cannot confirm that AJ Brown requested a trade at any point during the season, but would it surprise me if he had? It would not surprise me if he had. He was very clearly frustrated throughout the season. You know, he was, I don't want to, like, I'm not sure. sure if any of his actions were in pursuit of getting traded, but he was, again, it was in pursuit of letting people know how upset he was, letting people know how unsettled he was with the way the Eagles offense played and some of the dynamics internally. So, no, it would not

surprise me to hear that he had requests for the trade. It's not something I can confirm, but it's not something that I would sit up here and refute. I think if you have been paying attention to the show since September. I think you probably heard us say that AJ Brown let it be known that he wanted to be traded. It's hard to, you know, get the specifics of, like, is it formal, like, handing over? But yes, he made it very clear, is my understanding,

several times that he didn't want to be here anymore. So there you go. Yeah, makes sense. Yeah. I mean, maybe things change over the course of the season. Maybe things change depending on. who they hire as offensive coordinator. But that was certainly the case at one point.

Yeah, and the thing is I'm not optimistic that those changes are going to be enough to change his mind. Okay, I have to ask Jankey Rondo. Shout out Janky Rondo. Yeah. So what do you think happens? I think he's traded. How many turkeys would you put on it?

I'm curious to hear. 81. 81. Wow. Okay. I was more at like 65. So this is the next part of the conversation. The Eagles have to have enough suitors, bidders, whatever you want to call them. I'm sure you'll come up with something.

The Eagles have to have enough of a market for A.J. Brown for this to make sense for them. Because as much as we just explained that the cap hit is not significant enough that they wouldn't do a deal, there is enough of a prohibitive side to this that they're going to want a premium pick back. And also, as we talk through some of these past trades, with wide receivers, the team that receives the AJ Brown in this deal is going to be getting a more favorable contract because the Eagles, like usually with these deals, it's trade the player and then sign them. And for that team that then receives the player, that is a more financially daunting task

because the Eagles had already signed him a lot of that guaranteed money, it's going to stick with the Eagles. That's the point of the dead cap hit. So it's a more favorable, more palatable contract for whoever gets him in the deal. So it should be appealing to teams, but how appealing. is the question for me. I think I would be more toward like the 65 turkeys range of the side of things

because of the fact that I don't know if it's a guarantee that they're going to get what they want for A.J. Brown in a trade. And what do you think that that is? Is the other question. So I can give you some past trades, but... Sure, give me the past trades. So Seattle got a 20, 25 second round pick for D.K. Metcalf

and a day three pick swap last year. Metcalf had to sign a contract with the Steelers when he got there. So I think that's the floor. for A.J. Brown. Like, I think if you're the Eagles, you look at that deal and you say that's not enough for A.J. Brown already signed to a contract. Devante Adams. AJ is a year older than D.K. McHaff was then. But they were the same drafts. But he is a better player. Yeah. And he's not getting a new contract.

Yeah. Devante Adams, from the Raiders to the Jets a few years ago, was a conditional day two pick that could have turned into a first. Okay. Had, I think it was if the Jets made the AFC championship game or if DeVonte Adams was all pro. Dang, Lindsay catching strays. Yeah, we'll give you a first if pigs fly. I think Tyreek Hill is like the the absolute best case scenario that is unrealistic. He went for five picks, three of which were premium picks.

A first and a second in 2022 and then a 2023 second as well. And then Odell, like a long time ago, I mean, I think it was 2014, went for a first, a second, and Jabro-Peppers. So based off of those, I think based off of the history, you're probably asking for a first. I'm not confident that Eagles get a first for A.J. Brown. I also think there is a way for Howie to be creative here. With conditions? With conditions or with attaching his own picks.

So, you know, what if it's AJ in 23 for a top 10 pick? Or, you know, something like that. Let's uh... I think we think the obvious suitors are New England and Buffalo right? Yeah, I think have picks at the back end of the first round

so I think maybe that you know maybe it's aging a third for one of those picks. Yeah, I think the Buffalo... Or it's a conditional and they get to root against those teams all season long. So you're saying a future pick from those teams? Not this year?

I could see that. A future pick is interesting because we know the Eagles value future draft compensation a little higher than other front offices. Right. And that's probably similar to the Hassan Reddick deal. It's probably a way to get a pick that you feel good about

if teams aren't willing to offer it first. So, yeah, no, I could see a 2027 first for A.J. Brown. I could see that. How about you called the New York Jets? Call it Blinsey's husband. Mr. Lindsay. I'm going to solve two problems here for you. I'm going to give you AJ Brown.

I'm going to give you Tanner McKee. and I'm going to give you 23 overall. You give me number two overall. If you were the Jets G.M... Ooh, let's get spicy. If you were the Jets GGM, would you say yes to that trade? Be honest. This is your job interview.

Well, if they need a quarterback... They might see this and be like, this guy's got some good ideas. And if, if, you know, Mendoza goes one overall or whoever, and they don't like their other options at two. I'm not all the way against it. You just failed the interview. I don't think you. The Chet say yes to that.

I don't, I mean, it's not about the GM. You got to get Butch or whatever. The Brick Johnson's name. You got to get, you got to get a line to Brick's, you know, frat bro. And you get to put a little whisper in his ear, make it his idea, Incept that thing. Incept that thing. I think this is a fun exercise.

Maybe we can. We'll throw in a case of Bushlight and, you know. Yeah, that's going to seal the deal. That's going to seal the deal. If I had made the exact same trade, well, no, because it's Tanner McKee, it's your bit. But if we were sitting here with any rational mind on Tanner McKee, they would be like, what are you guys talking about right now?

Brick doesn't know what he's doing. I think there are some fun trade scenarios here. I don't know if you want to do them before or after the break. All right, I'll take a break. All right. It's a good tease. I mean, he says it's a good tease. Let's see if you stick around it.

Do you guys remember when BG strip sack Tom Brady for the first Philly Super Bowl ever? Well, now Brandon Graham is bringing us his Crooked Tea Strip Sack pack so we can all savor the flavor. What is the strip sack pack? Well, it's big, it's heavy, and it's juicy. It's the kind of pack you want to show off. You already know Crooked tea is zero sugar in all flavor, and the strips sack pack is stuffed with 24 cans and collectible trading cards by our friend Jordan Specter.

Some cards are even signed by BG himself and every case is packing heat. From the fridge to the tailgate, this is one sack you're going to be proud to display. So grab yours today at a store near you or on GoPuff. And for our guy, BG, we have to send a shout out to the Philly area bars carrying crooked tea. Thank you to Sports and Social Allentown, Garage Fishtown, City Tap and Logan Square, and Wicked Wolf on Chestnut. Go check them all out for game day or a night out and tell them that P.H.L.L.I. Sports. sent you. Elkin Chevrolet run by three brothers, real brothers, local guys, and yeah, big Eagles fans. So you know what that means. They are furious just like you are. And how are you

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Route 73 South and Marlton together. Let's drive. Back on the P.H.L. Y. Eagles podcast, Bo Wolf and E.J. Smith. All right. All right. Let's go through some of, I'm not, we'll go through the draft order. And you tell, you stop me. We're going to do it. We will have a full show at some point of, like, you know, true trade proposals. So you do not want to do this? Go ahead.

Stop me when you hear a team that would trade a first round pick for A.J. Brown. Okay. A.J. Brown and the Eagles first, let's say. Okay. All right? Sure. Raiders? No.

Jets? Yes. No. Cardinals. Good point from Deontay in the chat, who says the Tanner McKee's Madden rating isn't high enough for Brick Johnson to want it. That's actually a really good point. Titans? No.

Giants. Oh, they're dumb. No. Let's say you're the GM and you're making a rational decision for the team. Browns? No. Commanders? No.

Saints. No. One more? Not in a position to mortgage the future. Chiefs? That's interesting. That is interesting. I think the Chiefs would consider doing it.

That's interesting. Let's wrap. Let's go through the top 15 and then we can... The Chiefs is interesting, actually. 23 and AJ for, what is that, eight? Eight. Or no, it's nine, it's nine. Numbers.

It's kind of interesting. Would the Eagles do it? I think the Eagles would do that. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Bengals no Dolphins no

Cowboys no How about Jeff Halfley To the Dolphins So what are we doing Interesting coaching hires Happening right now Yeah I guess it's like

Halfley Stephansky and Robert Sala Three of the four openings Have been Guys who have proven to be mediocre as head coaches Now I like Stefanski too I didn't think

Cofansky deserve to be in that goal But I'm just talking about Their actual win loss records None of them is over like 450. I mean, Halfley had four years as the coach of Boston College was bad. Yeah, the Halfley one really surprised me. It looks a little bit like he's got the haircut of a Dan

Bovino. I don't think we need to be hiring that guy. I can't talk about anybody's haircut right now. I'm struggling. Wolfing, as the kids would say. You're fine. All right. Rams? No. Ravens. No.

I'm surprised you don't think the Ravens. I can see the Ravens. Bucks, no. And then the rest are also probably knows. Well, the Jets have 16, actually. I know. That's not enough. It's not enough of a jump. It'd probably just be AJ for 16.

I don't think the Jets do that. I don't think the Jets do that. I think the chiefs are the one there. I think that that's a fun one. Yeah, I think that that could be mutually beneficial for all. And then the Eagles probably go, we need Fran to tell us, unless you have somebody in mind. The Eagles had a top 10 pick.

who would you, what position or which player? Offensive line. Is there an offensive lineman that is that highly thought of? That's going in that range. For instance, Maui Gola? I'm impressed that you had, you've been studying Franz draft guide. Not enough. Yeah.

We're going to need. We're getting there. We're going to need more friend. All right. I like that. I think it's also worth underscoring how good NJ. Brown has been, even though I think we both agree that he was not up to that standard this year. just the last two years, if you look at the last two years combined,

yards per route run, if we have the graphic, second best wide receiver in football behind Puka and Akua. It's Puka, A.J. Brown, Nico Collins, Jackson Smith, and Jigba, Christian Watkins. Yeah, yards per route run, the last two seasons. And that's with this year, him running a bunch of routes and not get the ball. Yeah.

Stupid hitches. Yeah, and I feel careful. I feel vindicated because, you guys talked a lot about AJ Brown's hamstring at the beginning of the season. I do think that this, if I was another team looking at AJ Brown's performance this year, I would be a lot more, I would be explaining the drop off. I'd be explaining it because of the way that he, the way the season went for him, like mentally checked out at times.

I think if you traded for AJ Brown, you'd be confident you're getting the same version of him that we've seen in years past. And you think if I put this guy in a functional offense that he's engaged and, you know, 100% committed to, you're getting a dominant player again. Probably. What's interesting, though, is it really did hurt his stock. Because this time last year, if we were talking about A.J. Brown in the trade, it would be minimum a first round pick. We probably would be talking about a one and a two, like maybe two ones. I think you'd be

I think a one and a two for AJ last year wouldn't have been an unreasonable thing to ask for but they wouldn't have traded him as the thing so yeah okay you want to talk Dotson now

or you want to wait till the break no I want to hear let's hear your Dotson hate okay this is not hate I had a very nice conversation with John Donson I saw the graphic that you had ready and I thought this was going to be hate

well my question to him because I have always been fascinated by this in the Eagles offense since whether you want to call it Nick Siriani as the offensive as the head coach or Jalen Hurts as the quarterback since 2021 the Eagles have continuously had their number three wide receiver on the field all the time and never getting the ball the last two seasons we can pull up those same Yaris Perot run numbers 94 qualifying receivers over the past two years or 95 qualifying wide receivers

and Johan Dotson is 95th Dead last and a huge drop-off from 94 so Brandon Cooks is 91st then Van Jefferson Xavier Hutchinson Andre Yosevash who's at 0.81 yards per route run Jahan Dotson's all the way down at 0.59 and I start wondering

okay his target rate his target rate is so low how low is it Carlton well Since the numbers go back on true media Since 2013 is what we have And I can pull it up here There has not been a single wide receiver Jahan Dotson ran 810 routes over the past two years

A lot of routes 8.5 target rate There is not another receiver who has at least 700 routes run Who's been under 10% in any two-year span There's one other guy, Jalen Guyten or no, sorry, Jeremy Ross in 2013, 2014, who had 500 yards, 500 routes run, and was 8.4, like, just barely below. It is crazy how often Jehan Dodson has just had to be out there running around knowing

he wasn't going to get the ball. And I'm just, I was curious, like, how much of a mental strain is that for a guy who was used to his entire life getting the ball all the time. Yeah, that is interesting. He said, yeah, it's hard. Like, it's really hard. And he understands it. He knows, like, what his role is.

But that doesn't make it any easier. And it's also, it's such a weird usage because, you know, I understood it more when it was Quez Watkins. And it was like, okay, this guy is just a burner. He is there just to stretch the defense and change the shape of things and hopefully open things up a little bit. You understand it if it's Zach Pascal. And he's there just to block or whatever it is.

But, like, it was such a weird. use of Jahan Dotson, especially given the fact that you gave up a real pick for him. And obviously, I mean, listen, he made a huge play in the Super Bowl, so it was worth it. But, boy, was this a waste of that resource

over the past two seasons on a week and week out basis? And I think he is ready to go somewhere where he thinks he can try to prove that he can actually be a part of an offense. Yeah, I mean, there's a multitude of factors that inform the fact that like the wide receiver three in the Eagles offense is so

limit used so limited or whatever i used in such a limited fashion um you know i'm looking at alamede zakias's numbers here and it's just like staggering it's like you know 400 yards 533 yards the two years prior with the falcons 164 yards with the eagles in 2023 500 yards the following season with commanders and then 300 yards this year with the bears if you look at the target rates the 10 worst single season target rates since 2021. Five of them are Eagles. Yeah. It's like two Dotson, there's a

J.J. Arthago White Side in there. There's a Zichias. J.J.J. Arthago Whiteside. And then Quayor is down low as well. Remind me. It's crazy. Remind me to mention my J.J.R. Othago Whiteside, like Philadelphia Sports Take later in the show.

There's a tease. You want to go to break now? You want to... No, go ahead. To me, it's... Again, it's a multitude of factors. It's Jalen Hertz and his reluctance to target players that he is not familiar with and necessarily like trusting of. I think it's obviously the A.J. Brown and Devante Smith. They are both going to take a lot of the target share naturally because they're good players.

And I think it is somewhat like the framework of the offense taking those two things into account. And yeah, like Jahan Dotson being on clear out routes. But still, I feel like even with all that in consideration, Jahan Dotson does still have some culpability and the fact that he is not as. Oh, I think that's true. I think that the lack of production because like it's funny because when they

replaced Jehan Dot, they replaced Quez with Jahan Dots and you were thinking like okay this is a more ideal third wide receiver in this offense. You were just thinking hopefully Jalen will throw him the ball. I actually think that like if you were if you were building a wide receiving core if AJ Brown's back next year I actually think you need to go back

to like the Quez mold. You could do better than that but it needs to be at least a guy who can stretch the field vertically and you know Jalen's a different player than he was when Qua was, you know, that fulfilling that role for the team. But I still think, like, you need to have some value added in the off the ball role, you know, in the off the ball part of the offense, where it is, well, at the very least, you need to have a safety over this guy. Because even if he only gets the ball twice, like the Rashid Shaheed, like, you know, genre of player, it's like,

I mean, even if he only catches one pass, it could be an 80-yard touchdown. So, I don't know. I think that that's like the lesson learned from Johan Dotson's time with the Eagles. Do you think there's any squinting case to be made that in a post A.J. Brown world if you make the offense a little bit more equitable

and and you know, Devante leads the team in targets but like it's not just forcing the ball to these two guys or three guys that it could make the offense more efficient? Yeah, I mean, which game was it, the Giants game where AJ was out

and everybody was like, see, the offense looks better without AJ Brown. I think probably not is my answer to them. Yeah, I'm skeptical of that. I think if they had a good blend of receiving options, yes, then if you brought in a good offensive coordinator and you had, you know, like the old adage is like the basketball team of wide receivers, you know, you have the guys who post people up, speed guys, route runners, obviously, and Devante. Yeah, I've never understood that.

Just give me the best players. Oh, I like the basketball analogy. You want to have guys who can fulfill different jobs. Yeah. I'd rather just have the guys who are better. Yeah, but if they're all one-dimensional, if you only... I mean, I guess you have to really lean into it. Like, if you have, like, a bunch of guys are like six-four or...

Right, but if it's like I've got... Yeah, I've got, you know, A.J. Brown and... Even, not even... Not even players that good. I mean, if you... You're saying you're going to look at this roster. You're like, oh, you need a rookie prole type in there. Like, come on.

No, but if you had, like, three D.K. Metcalfs, you probably would like to have... slot receiver that could run routes that are not just, you know, slants and goes. Yeah. I think, I don't know, it probably can be overstated, but I've always thought that that's a useful, a useful tool, so. Okay. All right. It is time now to send you two hour last break on the other side.

We'll find out this fascinating JJ Othega Whiteside take that E.J. has, and we do have a surprise for him coming up. Next, let's talk about Monarch money. You will feel organized and confident in your finances with Monarch money. It's an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together and one clean interface on your laptop or phone. Whether you're switching jobs like me with past retirement accounts to monitor or just trying to simplify checking your portfolio, Monarch has been perfect to keep an eye on all my finances in one place, and I think it can be that for you as well. It can be so time-consuming checking a handful of different apps, Monarch really is the perfect solution. It's built for people with busy lives.

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and if you guys are like me, you just took a couple of boxes of Omaha steaks out of your freezer. At my house, Omaha seems to always mark a special occasion. We broke a few boxes out for Christmas. We'll have some for our first Sunday family dinner in a while this weekend. They're really the perfect centerpiece to a special meal. And you guys can save big on unforgettable gifts with Omaha Steaks. Visit omahostakes.com for 50% off site wide and an extra 20% off select favorites during their cyber sale. And for an extra $35 off, you can use promo code Eagles at checkout.

That's Omaha Stakes.com promo code Eagles at checkout. Terms apply. See site for details. You can find the link in our description and pin comment. Go to Omaha Stakes.com to get 50% off again. That's promo code Eagles, E-A-G-L-E-S, at checkouts for an extra $35. Minimum purchase may apply. Back on the P.HL.I. Eagles podcast, Boow and E.J. Smith. Do you know that Danny Smith was the Eagles special teams coordinator for four years in the mid-90s?

I did not know that under. Railroads. Yeah, okay. So it predates me. Did you ever date anyone besides Julia? I'm not answering that question. What is this surprise? I don't feel comfortable at all.

Jeez. Lindsay won't look at me. You are over there scheming. I don't feel good about this. Boom. No. Have I ever told you how much I hate surprises? Yeah, I inferred it when you came back from going to the bathroom.

We're like, what's the surprise? I hate surprises. Like, I don't keep secrets for surprises. I don't like being surprised. I'm an anxious person. Have you had a bad surprise? Is there an inciting moment here? I think everyone who listens to this show knows I am a chronic overthinker.

So when you tell me that I have a surprise coming, my brain goes into overdrive, to figure out what it is and I can't focus on anything else. It's called Lindsay Drive. I don't, oh, I get it, okay, great. See, look how vexed I am. I am totally thrown off, so just tell me what the surprises and we can move on. I mean, I think we all know now I have to keep you

on the hook longer and I can't just go right to it. I mean, I have to, we all have to sit here and watch you suffer a little bit, right? How was your dad's birthday last night? I've never been more unhappy on this show. My dad's birthday was great. It was great. And you've got class two tonight?

Yeah, I've got, oh, I got one funny story about my dad's birthday. So my niece, she's wearing her earmuffs inside. And whatever she would put them on, I would, like, pantomime. I'd pretend like, Jan, I can't, like, can you hear me? Can you hear me? And I was, like, not saying anything. And she was, like, at first she's like, come on, man. Like, I'm smart enough to know that you're doing this.

But then I started, like, kicking my nephew under the table and saying his name, so he would look at me. And that she... That threw her for a loop. She was like, this guy might be onto something. That's nice. Yeah. Okay.

Tell me the surprise. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome. I hate you guys so much because I'm gullible too. I'm a trusting individual. So I'm actually like... Let the chat way in. Should we tell E.J. what the surprises? No.

Or should we make him wait and let you watch him squirm? They're mad at me for the cake take. They're not going to be on my side. E.J. kicking nephews. Hey, listen, sometimes you've got to keep them in line. All right, I like that. I'll tell you, before we get to the surprise, I'll tell you one other player I talked to

on the offensive side of the ball. Okay, yeah. Who had something interesting to say. That was Cameron Williams, the offensive lineman. What? I'm just going to be on edge. You're going to have to get used to it. Look at them.

They know something. EJ's on tilt. He's got, he's, what's happening? EJ's very nervous about something and so you guys walking over and made him extra nervous. From what?

They're not good liars. No, I honestly, I'm not in my head. I can't wait. I got to get him out. All right. Talk to Cameron Williams. Yeah. Interesting here for him.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think we all thought that he overperformed given expectations in week 18. He acknowledged. that it's been a weird year. He was excited to get on the field. He said he was pleasantly surprised with that performance as well.

He told Stout he wanted Stout to be honest with him. Yeah. Tell him how he did. Cameron Williams thought he played to like a C-minus level. Stout said it was a C-plus. Wow. He was happy with that. Now he said the weight and dealing with like losing weight

has been a real problem for him. Interesting. All year long. And he said like he was getting fined for his weight all the way through like mid-season. That's tough for these young guys. Sixth round rookies. Brutal.

But he eventually got there and he does feel better. So he feels encouraged. That's great. I mean, I thought Cam Williams' profile coming out. Like, I thought it was really interesting. I incorrectly, you and Fran were on the right side of this. I thought that Cam Williams was the more intriguing, like, late round slash undrafted offensive line prospect that the Eagles had coming into training camp.

obviously Miles Hinton looked really good in training camp It looked early on Yeah but I would say like when I watch Cam Williams at Texas And understanding that he came He declared for the draft Probably a year too early I thought that there was something there So it'll be interesting to follow him going into the next summer

Especially knowing now because of your good reporting That the Eagles wanted him to drop weight And you know maybe that impacts him Or maybe that informs him looking better in his second year There you go All right Let's put him out of his story Missouri Lindsay. We did have Brandon Graham for Unblock Thriller today. Let's find out what he had to say.

All right, BG, I need you to weigh in on something for me here. I'm a little bit nervous about this, but I got to show you something and I just, I just want you to tell me what it is that you see. Okay. Okay, describe what, what this is? What kind of cake is that? That's a pound chocolate cake. It looked like. A pound chocolate cake. Would you call that? It's It's like a yellow cake underneath, chocolate frosting. Would you call that a chocolate cake, or would you call that a yellow cake with chocolate frosting? I say a yellow cake with chocolate frosting because I can see the yellow part.

Yeah. So you don't describe cake by the frosting. You describe it by the kind of cake. Yeah, by the kind of cake. By the bottom, though. But you're right, though. You do. But if I've seen the frosting sometimes, like, fully,

I would just suggest that it was, I would think that it was a chocolate cake if I didn't see none of the other. If I didn't see it. If I didn't see it, but once you see it underneath, that's how you describe it. That's how you describe it. Yeah. E.J. thinks this is a chocolate cake. Nah. No. That's a swirl. And then he tried to put it on me. He thinks it's a, he thinks maybe this is a white-black thing.

But it's that's a chocolate. It's not a chocolate cake. No, that's, it could be, you know, you can go marble. You can go a little marble, a little chocolate and vanilla that mix. But no, it's, yeah, it's definitely a swirl. All right, Pitch, thank you for being on the right side of history here. That's all we got. E.J., how do you like them apples? Okay.

I teach a class at Temple. I teach journalism. You've taught one class and all of a sudden you're a professor. As someone who teaches the art of journalism and being, having integrity as a reporter, shame on you. Shame on you. What do you think it is? Do you think it's a yellow cake with chocolate frosting? It's a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

It's the first lesson they teach you in journalism school. Don't ask leading questions. What did he say in the first place? He said it's a chocolate pound cake, which the bat, you guys, oh, it looks like a donut. It is, it's a pound cake shape, but it's a chocolate cake. I had to explain to him what the picture was. Yeah, you had to explain to him what the cake was in the picture. He said a chocolate pound cake.

He didn't say a yellow pound cake with chocolate frosting. Beach knew it was up. No, he steered him in the direction, your direction. If I was there- He didn't understand why this was even a question, and so I had to explain him what is going on here, that there's someone with a screw loose who thinks that this is something that it's not.

Like, he didn't, he had to understand why this was even a question. Since you already brought up that, oh, it's a white-black thing, it's not a white-black thing, because there are definitely black folks who do not think it's a chocolate cake. I think it is where you are from and, like, where your background is, like, you know, hundreds of years, what your lineage is. Because my grandpa grew up in South Carolina, probably didn't have much.

For them, that was chocolate cake. Wait, what does that have to do with, didn't have much that that's chocolate cake? No, there's... Stay tuned and find out. in cake time I don't like cake time I don't like cake time at all

no so a certain Zach Berman sent me a video you keep bringing it where they this woman went through the history and this is again where it's like nothing that you do is original everything is something somebody else has done

because she she showed a yellow cake with the chocolate frosting what I would call chocolate cake she showed it and she called it called it chocolate cake and then people were all on her mentions going crazy. So she went into like, she went into like the history of it. And if you're from the south, I don't even think it's a white black thing. I think if you're from the south and you didn't have access to cocoa powder in like the 1800s, you would just call it chocolate cake because that's the only way that you could have a chocolate

cake is if you took the yellow cake that you could make and put chocolate frosting on it. So there is like a history behind this. But again, what she said is that like even in the black community. There's not a consensus on this being chocolate cake. Now you, here, I can see it in your face. You want to go, yeah, because some people have been smart enough to realize that it's not a chocolate cake. But listen, I'll give you credit. Dead on impression. To me, I think that a chocolate cake with chocolate icing is double chocolate. I think that, and what I will concede, what I will concede, because there's been some, there's been some good discourse about this. It's not all been good. Let's be clear here. There has been some good

discourse. I will go as far as saying that like a chocolate cake, the one that you're describing, a cake that is made with like cocoa powder. What would you call that with vanilla icing? I would probably call that

what BG called it a swirl. No, you wouldn't. That's not what you would call it. What would you call it? If you were asking for that, what would you say? Yeah. I honestly Would you call it a vanilla cake? I wouldn't call it a vanilla cake. Of course you wouldn't.

But it's for some reason. It feels different. I probably would call that. What would you call it? A chocolate cake with vanilla icing. Yeah, to me. Yeah, fine. I don't care about that one.

I care about the yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Because the difference is, you're describing a chocolate, like chocolate cake is more of like, it's more of a... The cake is describing the cake. Yeah, but yellow cake to me is a neutral. I know that Dayneuz was eating yellow cake when he was a kid

and respected Daynezz's grandma. But my grandpa called a chocolate cake. So if we're going to respect the elders, respect my elders too. But what would you call it if there was no icing? I would call it yellow cake, but I also wouldn't... Honestly, if I saw a yellow cake

just on its own, I'd probably call it cornbread. Because I'd just be like, who made cornbread. Would you, if you saw a yellow cake with no frosting, you probably not think it was just like yellow cake. Yeah, but you would know it. It's yellow cake.

Yeah. If you knew it was cake. I think yellow cake is neutral enough. If you put chocolate frosting on it, it's a chocolate cake. Shout out to all the people who agree with me on this. All three of them? Deontay, Zach. Jamie.

Jamie voted yes on the poll. He voted in favor of the chocolate cake. wow, I think he admitted afterwards it was a mistake. No, he saw that the consensus was against us. He didn't realize this is wrong. Yeah, I don't care about that one.

That's the comment. What is it? When you realize that you're wrong and then you say, yeah, no, I don't care about that one. No, I think chocolate cake with vanilla icing, to me, that is chocolate cake. You would eat chocolate cake on its own. Like a chocolate, like a, like you...

The thing is, and this is what I said on social media, and this is like the only concession I'll make. is that there can be different versions of chocolate cake I think that that's fine you guys don't get to just like decide there's only one chocolate cake

there can be more than one version of chocolate cake and for the record I said... If your family calls a hot dog a hamburger and you go to a restaurant and order a hamburger Oh the waitress said it was a chocolate cake too

what? I don't believe you What do you mean? You don't believe me. Why would I... You can ask anyone in my family. We said we pointed... And we didn't do what you did.

We didn't go, look at this cake. You see how it's chocolate. What would you call this cake? We just said, what kind of cake is that? And she said, that's a chocolate cake. And that's the... That is a subtle distinction here that... You know how sometimes with arguments,

you just end up arguing, like, different things? No. I'm not saying that is the chocolate cake. I'm saying that is a chocolate cake. It's such a silly take I feel great about it I'm glad you feel good about it I mean you thought that this BG interview

was going to be You thought this BG interview The entire world It was going to be Yeah it really is the world You thought this BG interview Was going to be like your big smoking gun And you just asked him leading questions

For five minutes And they're like see he agreed with me When I was not That was not leading question Into calling it something that he didn't call it originally Because he couldn't tell from your picture that it wasn't a donut.

No, he got it exactly right. I wouldn't be opposed to somebody calling it a chocolate pound cake because the pound cake is the shape and chocolate is the flavor of the cake. No, no, hold on, hold on. Hold on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You need to look that in the face. I will not have you sit here and tell me a pound kick is the circle. It is. It is. A pound cake is the circle. Google pound cake right now. Look at pound cake. A chocolate pound cake is

That's not what a pound cake is. When you ask me, I haven't done this. I haven't done this on the show. You can't describe it correctly by its flavor or by its density. I have never pulled this on the show. How are you going to tell me what a pound cake is? It is a pound cake. It is the same container you make a pound cake in.

When Julia makes a pound cake, it is that shape. That's why he said a chocolate pound cake. You steered him away from it. You were like, please agree with me that it's not. a chocolate pound cake. Chocolate pound cake is probably the... It's hard to not ask a leading question when you're just asking someone to say, to verify, hey, isn't this the color green? Poundkine is not a loaf idiot sandwich. Come on, man. What are we doing?

Pound chocolate? Pound cake. Man. If you... You're wrong about cake from every angle now. This is a pound cake. This right here. It's not... You guys see that? You see how it's a circle? That is what a pound cake is made at. That's a pound cake is made out. That's a pound cake. That's a shape of a pound cake. That's a pound cake.

So when he says a chocolate pound cake, you're just wrong. You're just wrong. Perfect. BG is actually more right than I am. It is a chocolate pound cake. It's not a chocolate pound cake with yellow cake. It's redundant.

It's a chocolate pound cake. It's hard for me to ask the audience to tune in tomorrow. Pound cake. When they have seen you be so wrong on so. many levels. What's to say that your perception of Eagles news is not... You're going to call my integrity in the question just because you don't like that you're wrong? It's not your integrity so much as it's your ability to discern fact from nonsense. A chocolate pound cake.

So I'm rethinking everything you've told me about the Eagles over the past nine months. Like what? Whatever it is. Well, I mean, certainly the KAMLatu stuff is starting to make a little bit more sense. Oh, come on. Cam Latu. I was so right now. Camelotu.

I'm starting to think that A.J. Brown really wants to be here. That, what are some of your other takes? That, I mean, it certainly makes your more Ojimo opinions make a little bit more sense as well. What do you mean? My Moro Joomo takes, you're just naming times I've been correct about things. No, in your own perception of a warped reality. To stand on business as if you think that you were right that Moro Jima was better than Milton Williams. I actually think I'm pretty flexible on most things.

Like, if you tell me that you disagree with something, I will reevaluate it. I feel great about this. This is this specific argument, every argument that you have thrown at me, like Fran, like sent me like chocolate-covered potato chips. And then his little like goons online are like, yeah, get him, friend. Not the same thing. Yeah, I mean, listen, those of us who have listened to... Dana is saying if you put a rab, if you go into the once, this was funny, if you go into the wind, you get a rabbit and you put chocolate over it and does it make it a chocolate bunny.

It's funny, but what does it have to do with, what does it have to do with the chocolate cake? Nothing is the answer. It was a fun scenario, though. Would you call it a chocolate bunny? I would be more willing to call that a chocolate bunny. Oh, don't be ridiculous. Then yellow cake. Chalka the Chalka Gatia.

The Chalka bunny is already a thing. Yeah. I got a, I have an annual tradition. Reese's bunny on Easter. And if I don't get it, somebody's going to hear about it. That sounds like a threat. It is.

It's totally a threat. All right. Yes, as Matthew Greenwood says, DTR makes a lot more sense now. I got nothing to say about the DTR. reframing. Super chat from SRG. Maybe Nick can do a reverse Andy

and make Clint hurt the offensive coordinator. It's funny to think about. Hey, what do you think about? What about Matt Nagy? Who seems like has maybe been soft-fired? Yeah. I don't know. I mean, he's kind of like a more ideal version

of Mike Kafka. Yeah, I would rather have him than Kafka. Well, yeah, obviously. He is like a Mike Kafka without like personal beef involved for you. Yeah. Be interesting. I still wouldn't put him in like

the top tier of candidates. I agree with that. Yeah. CDP. E.J. What are the top five songs from the combined discography of Green Day and Blink 182? E.J. is right about cake.

Wait, CDP's on my side. I didn't think he was. I thought CDP was just yelling at me about the pound cake thing. Because you were wrong about that. That, you know, the pound cake thing even more than this, I will not declare the chocolate cake a two Americas thing.

I think it might be geographical, but not two Americas. I think the pound cake thing might be a two Americas thing. You can't just keep falling back on this. I don't like that we were falling back on the two Americans thing very that often, but I have never seen a loaf of pound cake before.

Are you looking something up now? Yeah, never, I've, no. I don't think that that is something that I would have had in my life. The pound cake, it has nothing to do with the shape. That's not what makes it pound cake. To me, when you look up pound cake,

pound cake is a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients, flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Pound cakes are generally baked in either a loaf pan or a bunt mold. Does it say anything about customs? No. Different customs for different shapes.

Yeah, I would not have If you turned If I asked you for a pound cake And I got that loaf I'd be like What is this? Why did you make this into a loaf? It's really good in a bun shape

It's great Should try it Everyone should try it You know what? We can agree that pound cake is delicious Do you think pasta tastes different In different shapes? Yes

It tastes different? Yeah There are different There are different So if your kids are like, I don't want that shape, you're like, I get it. Oh, I don't know about that. I mean, yeah, I mean, certainly there are thicker, you know, obviously angel hair tastes different than rigatoni. Yeah.

It's a, it gives of a texture. It feels like angel hair has got like a little bit more like, like oil on it, you know? I think it's just texture. You cook it with oil. No, I feel like if you cook them exactly the same, the angel hair. I mean, listen. As someone who listened to many of your mailbag responses and learned very well that you have no idea what you're talking about on many fronts, this is still blowing me away. You know, it's funny because, A, I stand by my mailbag stuff. Everyone likes to pretend that I'm so bad at it. But like, I always had the disadvantage of Sheel and Cliff reading the entries before me.

And I feel like I represented myself pretty well. I hear that my successor on that podcast is getting the same amount of heat for his takes, which doesn't surprise me because it's not always easy. But I really do. It's actually pretty easy. It's not. You don't knock until you try it. Have you been on a mailback episode?

I'm happy to do it. Have you been on one? Maybe, I don't know. And if you were in that, you would get things wrong all the time, and then you just be like, I'm sorry, you guys just aren't intellectually on my level. So therefore, I would not get anything wrong. Also, I have to make a correction. I have to make a correction on something.

Speaking of you being like hoity tooty, I'm smarter than everybody. You would like better call Saul early seasons, not later seasons, because you would be the like, let me tell you why this is actually good. guy with those seasons. Yeah. Yeah. I was great on the mailbag. Not if you were the person asking for life advice, maybe as a content provider.

No, I gave people great life advice. You got to let them know what time it is is one of my favorite, like the one of my favorite ones, and I stand by that. I totally stand by that. Bewildering stuff. Really? Really wild stuff. Yeah, I do, I fear for the Temple Journalism students

who are going to be sent off into the world. At your behest. What is that? Radfrax says that you'd be the one who's like, let me tell you why the season two of the wire is actually the best season. That is actually really mean. That's not that mean.

That's fine. I think it is pretty mean. If somebody thinks you would say that. Season 5 is the worst season. Season 5 is worse than season 2. It's because you're a reporter and you don't like... Yeah, I hate their depiction of reporters. Frank Barber.

Oh, yeah. Thank you, Frank. What was E.J.'s J.J. Arthega take? All right. So, how did you spell our... Okay, it's fine. He spelled it how it's pronounced. Yeah, that's fair.

Yeah. First and foremost, J.J. Arthago Whiteside was very nice. One of the nicest players I've covered. Hard agree. Yeah. And I think he taught me that, you know how Jason Kelsey will say, like, the thing about that people don't realize about Philadelphia sports fans is if you work hard as an athlete and you care, then they'll love you forever.

That's all that they ask for is that you care as much as they do and that you work hard. He don't skip steps. JJ Arthago-Whiteside taught me that that is a total lie. Because JJ-Rthago-Whiteside worked hard. He, like, you played special teams. That's a good tick. yeah, he played special teams, he did the dirty work when it wasn't going well for him in his career, he played after his grandfather passed away.

Like, he really cared. And he just wasn't good, and everybody hated him for it. It's a very good take. And it's fair. I'm not saying that they were wrong to hate him for it. Well, no, I think there is a, maybe I'm wrong. I feel like it wasn't a hatred of J.J.R.thago, White Side. I felt like he just became a punchline.

Yeah, he became. Well, no, let's be real. He became a punching bag. Like, he became like, I think the, I think, The picture of his mom holding the umbrella over him. Yeah, that's true. Like, people just really didn't like him. And I'm not here to tell you.

I feel like that was still a little bit different than Gillian Rager conversation, which I felt like, which was, that was more visceral and more like, we don't like this guy. Rager got, like, toxic, yeah. And I actually think the J.J. thing was maybe even more of a, like, a Howie complaint at the time.

I don't know, maybe I have that. Maybe I'm retro fitting that. People made him. I think this is a good take, though. They made him a pun. Right. They made him a punchline. He was definitely like, he just caught the ire of Eagles fans. And I'm not saying that they were wrong for being frustrated. There's a good rebound from you after a day of bad takes to finally land a good one. Just keep shooting, right? Volume shooter. One of them was going to go away.

But no, to me, like J.J. Arthago-Wideside, he worked hard. Fans didn't like it because he wasn't good. Pedigree obviously has a huge part to do. Like if JJ Arthago-Wight side had been a six-round pick, people would have loved him. Sure. And let me say, I'm not like blaming them for being frustrated with him as a player. I understand it. I just, whenever I hear like, oh, if In Philadelphia, if the athletes care, if they run to first base hard, then we'll love them. It's like, no, if guys stink, they stink, and that's fine. Philadelphia sports fans are real. It's a good take. Yeah.

Okay. Let's take the chance to end on a good take by you. And let you know that we'll be back tomorrow. With more bad takes. Can we at least kill the cake debate? Can the cake debate rest for a while? I can't have any more people. I think until we have new information.

I can't have any more people like reaching out to me. to be like, E.J., you're so stupid about this. Like, I love you guys, and I appreciate you watching, but I can't have that. I can't have too much of that. Okay. Yeah, I mean, by no means am I promising that it's done. No, well, it'll come up again.

But, yeah. A couple days off. Barring new information, new developments in the story. We'll take a break for a day. The cake debate rages on. All right. I'll do it. Thanks for listening and watching today, everybody.

Thank you, Lindsay. We will talk to you tomorrow at 2 o'clock. And as always, we love you. All silly like the mayor.