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Football at Four: An Inside Look at Free Agency/Draft Needs for the Eagles · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: And Football for is powered by the Inside of the
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  Speaker 1: Birds Podcast. It is brought to you by the Fanatic
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  Speaker 1: Madness is on the way. This time next week the
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  Speaker 1: madness will have begun. You can watch all the March
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  Speaker 1: Resort in Atlantic City. Right now. The madness of football
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  Speaker 1: Free agency begins with the legal tampering period on Monday,
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  Speaker 1: and we're gonna take a look at some of the
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  Speaker 1: Eagles needs free agency draft Monday, it all begins. They
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  Speaker 1: could have some new bodies in here. Adam Kaplan from
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  Speaker 1: the Inside the Birds Podcast taking a look at free agency.
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  Speaker 1: We know there's a lot of smoke around AJ Brown
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  Speaker 1: today and who knows, by the end of this conversation, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: he might be gone. Who knows, right, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So so, Mike. Even if A. J. Brown is on
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  Speaker 2: the roster, remember he's on a contract for a while.
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  Speaker 2: They still a depth issue at receiver. John Dotson his
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  Speaker 2: contracts up. He was their third receiver. Arris Cooper was
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  Speaker 2: a great story. His hope, I'm sure, is that he
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  Speaker 2: could compete for the number three jobs. So the number
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  Speaker 2: three job is open right now. Johnny Wilson coming off
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  Speaker 2: a major injury, major knee injury. Remember Mike, they miss
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  Speaker 2: him as a blocking receiver. That's really all that he's
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  Speaker 2: done here. He's really good at it. They missed him
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  Speaker 2: last season, There's no question about it. Britain Covey's just
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  Speaker 2: a slot receiver and a special team returner. So depth
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  Speaker 2: is an issue at receiver. It's not a major need,
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  Speaker 2: but it's in need now. Another need mic on offense.
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  Speaker 2: They've got to address the death on their offensive line.
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  Speaker 2: Brett Toade's contract is up. He had that one great
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  Speaker 2: start in the second game against the Giants. Drew Kennel's
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  Speaker 2: got some upside as a center. He's not the way
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  Speaker 2: he was explaining to me by someone who turned a
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  Speaker 2: scouting report on him coming out of Boston College. Probably
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  Speaker 2: not physical enough for big enough to play guard at
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  Speaker 2: this level consistently if he had to, but certainly projects
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  Speaker 2: to be a center. They need a veteran center guard
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  Speaker 2: Mike a particularly guard as a backup. They also need
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  Speaker 2: a backup left or right tackle, a combo got like
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  Speaker 2: Fred Johnson. If not Fred Johnson, Mike, somebody else. They
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  Speaker 2: can get. They don't look like they don't have to
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  Speaker 2: have the guy until training camp, so it's not like
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  Speaker 2: a need they have to fill now, but at some
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  Speaker 2: point they're gonna need it. Tight end is a major need. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: if Dallas Goddard is back, that won't preclude them from
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  Speaker 2: drafting a ted end in the first round. I'll have
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  Speaker 2: no impact on God are coming back. Remember when the
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  Speaker 2: Eagles shocked us and took Goddard in the second round
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  Speaker 2: of twenty eighteen, zach Ertz was only twenty seven years old.
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  Speaker 2: Let's not forget about that. And honestly, at some point
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  Speaker 2: they've got to get Lane Johnson's replacement. It could obviously
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  Speaker 2: be in the first round. And that guy might have
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  Speaker 2: to play left tackle as well, because right now they
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  Speaker 2: don't know who their back off left tackle would be.
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  Speaker 2: So right now, Mike, those would be the needs on offense.
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  Speaker 1: Well, obviously a lot of that resolves around what aj
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  Speaker 1: Brown and these You know, they want this resolved in
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  Speaker 1: the next couple of days. I guess before we're right
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  Speaker 1: when free agency begins, so that they can kind of
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  Speaker 1: map out what to do next. This thing could happen
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  Speaker 1: imminently or not at all right, Well.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the thing. If they trade aj bra let's say
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  Speaker 2: by Wednesday he's moved, they're going to want to have
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  Speaker 2: and a general idea they'd be trust me on this one.
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  Speaker 2: They'll be adding a veteran one way or the other
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  Speaker 2: via trade or free agency. And then they could draft
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  Speaker 2: AJ's long term replacement in the draft. I mean they
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  Speaker 2: could do that. They could select that guy then, but
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  Speaker 2: they're gonna run and add a veteran. Yeah, and that
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  Speaker 2: with the doors opening on Monday, half halfway and then
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  Speaker 2: fully on Wednesday afternoon, they're gonna want to know kind
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  Speaker 2: of what the receiver position looks like. And remember, if
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  Speaker 2: they trade AJ Brown, they free up twenty nine million
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  Speaker 2: dollars in cash. Cash is king of the National Football League.
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  Speaker 2: That's a major deal there.
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  Speaker 1: If they move that cash, a lot of teams bailing out.
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  Speaker 1: That looks like the Patriots, maybe the Chargers looks like
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  Speaker 1: the Rams. Kick the tires they're out. Who knows. This
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  Speaker 1: Aj Brown thing seems to be ramping up on the
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  Speaker 1: Friday before the start of the new league year, which
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  Speaker 1: starts next week, Adam, we looked at some needs on
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  Speaker 1: offense defense. It seems like a jigsaw puzzle, who stays,
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  Speaker 1: who goes, and if who goes, then you need replacements.
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  Speaker 1: So the defense is something to definitely keep an eye on. Right.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, So defensive line wise, they're really good in terms
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  Speaker 2: of their they're three starters, Ojomo final Yever's contract, Davis
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  Speaker 2: trying to get an extension on Jalen Carter. Right, So
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  Speaker 2: the issue is at Edge. They have Campbell's up, excuse me,
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  Speaker 2: Phillips is up, not Campbell. John Campbell's in the second
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  Speaker 2: year and they have to figure out full time where
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  Speaker 2: he's gonna line up, but Phillips his contracts up. Mike,
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  Speaker 2: and right now it's Jaylexan, who they love, and Nolan Smith,
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  Speaker 2: who kind of regressed, to be honest with it. He's
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  Speaker 2: a good run defender, but he was hurt last season.
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  Speaker 2: It's been hurt the last two seasons, so you worry
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  Speaker 2: about that. Edge is a major concern right now going forward,
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  Speaker 2: particular if they cannot reach an agreement by Monday with
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  Speaker 2: Jalen Phillips. If they can, they're gonna have to do
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  Speaker 2: something and it could be significant. And then the other
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  Speaker 2: needs are Mike other than Edge. Right now, Corner is
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  Speaker 2: a major need to Quinnon Mitchell. Right now, we feel
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  Speaker 2: like it's going to be another year of Cooper de
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  Speaker 2: Genie at Nickel. Now, the difference between last year and
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  Speaker 2: our reporting where we put it out on all of
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  Speaker 2: our platforms that they were gonna they were pretty convinced
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  Speaker 2: he would only he would play Nickel and then and
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  Speaker 2: base he'd play on the outside. This year it's a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more open, potentially moving them more to corner.
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  Speaker 2: But right now it looks like Nickel, so right corners open,
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  Speaker 2: Mic right corners open. Even if a Dowey Jackson resigned,
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  Speaker 2: that's not going to stop them from matting a legitimate
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  Speaker 2: piece at right corner. That's a problem. Set Dobson Macouba
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  Speaker 2: is a problem black and hips contracts up so as
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  Speaker 2: Sidney is, Mark steps sat Brown will only play on
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  Speaker 2: special teams based only the way if he's been used.
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  Speaker 2: So safety is also an issue, Mike, quite frankly depth
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  Speaker 2: at corner and safety is a problem. They've got a
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  Speaker 2: lot of needs Mike on defense.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know we talked to Andrew yesterday about
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  Speaker 1: you know, obviously Red Blanket Ship played for Christian Parker.
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  Speaker 1: There would be some ties to Dallas there. But if
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  Speaker 1: you lost Red Blanketship. We talked about this when you
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  Speaker 1: were on Tuesday. You really have Andrew mccoba, who obviously
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  Speaker 1: health is an issue there. You might have to find
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  Speaker 1: multiple safeties.
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  Speaker 2: Honestly, right now, it's safety, it's mccomba and nobody because
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  Speaker 2: again Cidey Brown. I always say, coaches let you know
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  Speaker 2: what they think the player by how many snaps a
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  Speaker 2: guy plays at a certain position. Saint Brown will only
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  Speaker 2: play on defense if absolutely necessary. So that kind of
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  Speaker 2: tells you where Vic Fangio is. He doesn't believe in
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  Speaker 2: him to be a starter, and you know you don't
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  Speaker 2: typically don't rotate at safety. So they've got a safety problem, Mike,
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  Speaker 2: They've got a death problem on defense. The edge right now,
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  Speaker 2: right corner strong safety. More or less, they they it
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  Speaker 2: is a problem even if Nakobe Dean leaves, which is
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  Speaker 2: highly probable. And by the way, we fully expect someone
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  Speaker 2: who's played in this Fanjuo defense to go to Dallas,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's blankets Ship, whether it's Dean, I mean probably
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  Speaker 2: I put this. We talked about this, Jeff and I
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  Speaker 2: did literally that. The second Christian Parker got the job.
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  Speaker 2: Our next show, he said, do not be surprised if
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  Speaker 2: Dean or Blanket Ship signs there. Now both signing there.
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  Speaker 2: I know that the Cowboys are looking into Vinka Fitzpatrick
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  Speaker 2: and they have liked him for a while. But this
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  Speaker 2: always happens when coaches, new coordinators come in. They want
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  Speaker 2: their guys who understand the offense or defense, whatever side
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  Speaker 2: of the football they're on, and in this case it's
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  Speaker 2: defense with the Christian Parker.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make, Adam of some reports of Dallas
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  Speaker 1: being involved in Max Crosby and then possibly you know,
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  Speaker 1: because if you're involved in Max Crosby or possibly ty
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  Speaker 1: to worry about them looking at Jalen Phillips, Well, look.
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  Speaker 2: If if and yeah, Jerry Jones, and this is one
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  Speaker 2: of the few times that I believe him. You know,
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  Speaker 2: he talks a lot, you know he did. He did
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  Speaker 2: a lot at the start of last season that Quinn
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  Speaker 2: Williams trade. Of course he gave up, they gave up
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  Speaker 2: a lot, but he's made it pretty claire that they're
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  Speaker 2: gonna they for many years. They Jerry was in the
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  Speaker 2: mid to late two thousand, like before you're going back
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  Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen years, Mike, that was really when they were
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  Speaker 2: at Big freezing spinners, but they've kind of changed it up.
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  Speaker 2: But I do believe them that they're going to do
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  Speaker 2: something significant, whether Hendrickson, Trey Henderson, whether it's Max Crosby
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  Speaker 2: that trade, They're going to do something because they cannot
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  Speaker 2: compete defensively. They're so undisciplined. That's the thing, man, Mike.
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  Speaker 2: They just they have talent, they just don't play together
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  Speaker 2: as a unit. Donovan as Brokho's having surgery on something,
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  Speaker 2: so that's concern. Their hedge rush group is not very good.
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  Speaker 2: Clowney's contracts out, Faler's contract is up. They have a
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  Speaker 2: lot of work to do, and they were terrible in
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  Speaker 2: the secondary last season.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and obviously Christian Parker, the new coordinator over there,
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  Speaker 1: he's probably gonna want to get guys he's familiar with.
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  Speaker 1: So I would imagine that all three Eagles free agents.
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  Speaker 1: If you're an Eagles fan, you should be on pretty
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  Speaker 1: high alert that Dallas could be kicking the tires on
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  Speaker 1: to Kobe. I know yesterday we had Q Myers on
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  Speaker 1: from ESPN Radio. He's a raider, follows the Raiders out there,
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  Speaker 1: and he's saying, we would love na Kobe Dean there
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  Speaker 1: I gotta imagine Dean is going to be an interesting
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  Speaker 1: commodity on the market. I'm very intrigued to see what
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  Speaker 1: kind of market Blanket Ship has. Jeff and I talked
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  Speaker 1: about him on Wednesday, because Adam you were at the
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  Speaker 1: Super Bowl. We got a chance to talk to Reid.
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  Speaker 1: You could see it in his face that he does
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  Speaker 1: not want to leave here, but I think he does
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  Speaker 1: understand that there's almost no way he can come back
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  Speaker 1: if he gets an offer. And that offer, I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think there's going to be an offer out there,
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  Speaker 1: much like Jeff compared to the kind of like TJ. Edwards.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly, I would agree. I only the agent will
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  Speaker 2: really know because he's that person's negotiating. Remember Black and
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  Speaker 2: Ship change agencies, as Ojomo has recently, as na Kobe
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  Speaker 2: Dean has done in the last year. So these guys
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  Speaker 2: are going to look to get paid. Well. The thing
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  Speaker 2: about Dean is it's kind of like the tape is great,
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  Speaker 2: but he's got this injury history that he's overcome, which
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  Speaker 2: has been incredible, kind of a medical marvel. But overall,
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  Speaker 2: Mike and Jalen Phillips, you know you mentioned Dallas or wherever.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, if his deal is not done by Monday,
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  Speaker 2: coming back to the Eagles, the chances are that he'd leave.
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  Speaker 2: The Eagles know this that whenever they do at edge,
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  Speaker 2: it's probably going to be significant, and that one they're
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  Speaker 2: number one goals to get Phillips done.
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  Speaker 1: But if it's not dominal effect, yep.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, how he's very aggressive. I know that their cash
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  Speaker 2: bend they'd like it to be similar to last year.
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  Speaker 2: A little bit. We reported this last year they're going
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  Speaker 2: to have a significantly low cash bend. This is just
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  Speaker 2: because they they spent a ton on extensions the last
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  Speaker 2: two years and now it's really Mike. It's a couple
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  Speaker 2: of extent, two or three extensions and just resigning some
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  Speaker 2: key free agents. But as how he sat the combine.
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  Speaker 2: You cannot resent everyone, can't keep everybody. It's impossible.
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  Speaker 1: No, We've talked about on Football four all week long.
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  Speaker 1: It looks like the priority would be Jalen Phillips. But
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  Speaker 1: what is everybody else's priority around you? That could kind
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  Speaker 1: of derail your priority?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and look again, if I think it's twelve noon
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  Speaker 2: Eastern is when you could start agreeing to deals, but
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  Speaker 2: you can't sign them. And they could. By the way,
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  Speaker 2: there are a lot of players allowed to back up.
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  Speaker 2: I call it the doors half open.
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  Speaker 1: And by the way, those deals were agreed upon in
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  Speaker 1: Indianapolis most likely.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And actually I mean I remember I put this
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  Speaker 2: out and I was not yelled at, because when I
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  Speaker 2: put stuff out the Suner Bowl by a team shopping
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  Speaker 2: a player, I usually get yelled at. But I put
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  Speaker 2: out at the twenty oh nine Suner Bowl. I think
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  Speaker 2: it was that Eagles were shopping mc nab. They were
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  Speaker 2: looking to see who was interested in That turned out
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  Speaker 2: to be true. They went up trading them so much
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  Speaker 2: later back in May. But the bottom line is, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: most of the stuff, the talks start hard. Yeah, the
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  Speaker 2: DeMarco Murray trade. I remember when the Eagles trade them
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  Speaker 2: to the Titans. That that mostly got done at the combine.
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  Speaker 2: And then the Eagles try to get aj Brown at that
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  Speaker 2: combine and it didn't work. John Robinson know you could
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  Speaker 2: check back with me down the line, but we're trying
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  Speaker 2: to get his contract done and they wind up not
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  Speaker 2: getting done. And how he stayed on it and the
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  Speaker 2: guy's man joined the draft.
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  Speaker 1: Adam Kaplan Football four on Tuesday. You are back when
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  Speaker 1: we speak on Tuesday, will we be talking about some
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  Speaker 1: players out of the Eagles nest.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, for sure, and maybe some coming. But there
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  Speaker 2: are a lot of might gets harder. I don't have
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  Speaker 2: enough time. But just understand this and the folks understand
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  Speaker 2: this a little bit stronger here. It's about cash.
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  Speaker 1: Ben.
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  Speaker 2: If Phillips works walks away, that means they're going to
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  Speaker 2: have more money to spend. If the re sign him,
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  Speaker 2: that's pretty much going to crush their budget, and they have,
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  Speaker 2: but they budgeted for a couple extensions, two to three
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  Speaker 2: of them, plus bringing Phillips back. If Jalen Phillips leaves,
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  Speaker 2: they're going to have money to spend. And how he
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  Speaker 2: will always spend money that they've allocated. So keep an
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  Speaker 2: eye on that.
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  Speaker 1: All right, we'll see what happens. AJ Brown could be here,
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  Speaker 1: could be gone. That's uh.
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  Speaker 2: Another one. Yeah, that would free up money, Mike, that
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  Speaker 2: would free up money.
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  Speaker 1: Oh well, real quick. Last one, Dallas Goddard. That to
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  Speaker 1: do because last year it seems like we were like
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  Speaker 1: he's out, they bring him back.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was out. Let's put it this way. He
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  Speaker 2: was pretty much out. I mean this thing moved at
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  Speaker 2: the combine we were told we put it out, no one,
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  Speaker 2: No one said we weren't right. They were. They were
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  Speaker 2: looking to move them hard and then they couldn't get
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  Speaker 2: a deal done with another team and they told Dallas
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  Speaker 2: for you to come back this, we have to cut
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  Speaker 2: your your your pay by five point two five million.
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  Speaker 2: He agreed to it. He loved being an Eagle, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, I'll leave you with this. It sounds like
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  Speaker 2: they're going to let him just say, hey, look, go
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  Speaker 2: get your deal, see what's out there, and let us
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  Speaker 2: keep us in the loop and see if we can
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  Speaker 2: work something out. That's that's how how he's done that
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  Speaker 2: for years with guys TG Edwards. We put it out
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  Speaker 2: at the time that highly unlikely he'd come back, but
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  Speaker 2: they want to know what's out there for them, and
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  Speaker 2: they thought it was. Although it wasn't great money, they
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  Speaker 2: just weren't going to match it. But there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of going on here, Mike, this free agency. It's very interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I look forward to talking to you on Tuesday
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  Speaker 1: because we'll probably have things about fits, who's here, who's
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: gone football? On four of course every day four o'clock
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: and the Inside the Birds podcast, which you can get
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: on all podcasting platforms as you covered for all of
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the Eagles offseason, leading you up to the draft right
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  Speaker 1: here on Football four. Thanks Adam, thank you.