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Football at Four: Eagles Brass Speaks at NFL Combine; What Really Goes on this Week? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Adam Kaplan is back as it's NFL Combine Week, but
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  Speaker 1: as we will talk about here for Football at four
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  Speaker 1: powered by the Inside of Birds podcast being brought to
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  Speaker 1: For more information, visit the oceanac dot com. Adam, I
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  Speaker 1: thought the biggest tell from the media availability today was
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  Speaker 1: when Harry Roseman said, Adam, we are going to be
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  Speaker 1: talking with Dallas Goddard's agent in the few days, and
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  Speaker 1: I think that kind of gives the audience an idea, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: of what really happens during combine week.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, josh Ya, So basically last year at this time,
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  Speaker 2: this is when my understanding is, we actually put this
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  Speaker 2: out right before the start of free agency, that they
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  Speaker 2: told Dallas Goddards agent that, and they have a very
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  Speaker 2: good relationship with the agency that reps Dallas. They've Ryan Tolner,
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  Speaker 2: Chase Callahan of dealt with Howie and have a great
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  Speaker 2: working relationship. If they've had some complex deals to do,
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  Speaker 2: but how my understanding was straight up with them saying, look,
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  Speaker 2: we're gonna we're looking to trade your client. We're looking
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  Speaker 2: to trim down cash, is my understanding, and you know
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  Speaker 2: they try to do that hard fact, it's pretty close
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  Speaker 2: to happening at one point if we were told so here,
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  Speaker 2: I expect them to kind of tell them where they're at,
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  Speaker 2: what they'd be interested in doing and not doing, and
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  Speaker 2: then they'll go from there. And Dallas are are understanding
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  Speaker 2: is he would be open to returning. But you know
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  Speaker 2: how he made it pretty clear today and also I
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  Speaker 2: know he talked to they had a media gathering here
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  Speaker 2: in Philly last week. He made it pretty clear that, look,
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  Speaker 2: they want to extend a bunch of contracts. They're not
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  Speaker 2: going to be heavy players in free agency, though I
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  Speaker 2: would almost bet a thousand dollars that they'll be. They'll
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  Speaker 2: spend more in free agency than did last year, which
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  Speaker 2: we told people don't expect anything big. It was going
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  Speaker 2: to be a small amount. It was a little smart
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  Speaker 2: than we expected. But they have some things they've got
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  Speaker 2: to do. They've got to be better on the offensive
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  Speaker 2: line with depth. They're at poor depth on the offensive line.
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  Speaker 2: You got to look at that. Jalen Phillips is part
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  Speaker 2: of the free agent class that costs money. We know
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  Speaker 2: they want him back in a pretty significant way. He
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  Speaker 2: did very well. They want to grow that relationship. So
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  Speaker 2: it's really, as how he said today, it's drafting and
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  Speaker 2: developing and then supplementing a little bit through free agency now, and.
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  Speaker 1: Of course obviously a lot of that starts this week.
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  Speaker 1: So Adam, can you take the audience a little behind
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  Speaker 1: the scenes about what is next for a guy like
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  Speaker 1: a Howie Roseman this week of the combine And.
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  Speaker 2: So what he'll do is he will meet with the
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  Speaker 2: agents of all their free agents or most of them,
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  Speaker 2: and Bryce Johnston, who's very important to how he terms out.
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  Speaker 2: He does a lot of the contract structure ideas Jake
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  Speaker 2: Rosenberg used to have a lot of these meetings before
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  Speaker 2: he left the team. So, yeah, this is an important week.
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  Speaker 2: Now you can also get the ball rolling in trade talks.
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  Speaker 2: You know, our expectation is and how he kind of
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  Speaker 2: confirmed this is that they're more than willing to listen
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  Speaker 2: to anyone who's interested in a J. Brown. Doesn't mean
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  Speaker 2: they're going to trade him, but it's how his job,
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  Speaker 2: as he said, a day to listen if someone's calling. Now,
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  Speaker 2: what I would also say is in our reporting over
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  Speaker 2: the years, the Patriots called multiple times. They weren't list
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  Speaker 2: They were like they were trying to get an extension done,
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  Speaker 2: so they weren't interested in listening. But this is a
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  Speaker 2: little different. Brown is twenty nine a NFL years he
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  Speaker 2: turns twenty nine. I believe in June he just didn't
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  Speaker 2: look quite like quite the same player last seat and
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  Speaker 2: still was good. Was not great, and the Eagles learned
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  Speaker 2: certainly with Alshn Jeffery's drop off in performance. He's not.
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  Speaker 2: He was never as good as A J. Brown has been,
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  Speaker 2: but he was a good player for a long time
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  Speaker 2: and they made a mistake. One of the few that
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  Speaker 2: how he's made is when they extended every structure's contract,
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  Speaker 2: gave him more money, and then he went up, just
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  Speaker 2: dropping off completely. So you never want to wait till
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  Speaker 2: it's too late. Now, if he's back, they're set. Now.
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  Speaker 2: They have a depth issue receiver, Johan Dotson's up, Darius Cooper.
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  Speaker 2: If Dotson's back, we'll get a chance, as we understand it,
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  Speaker 2: compete for the number need be to the number three.
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  Speaker 2: So they've got a lot of work to do. But
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  Speaker 2: the big thing their initiative this offseason is to get
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  Speaker 2: contract extensions done, and they want to get a bunch
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  Speaker 2: of them done, as I understand it.
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  Speaker 1: And Adam, when you go about contract extensions, can we
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  Speaker 1: get hit on that really quick?
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  Speaker 3: For the audience out there?
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  Speaker 1: You know, is there a player or a group of
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  Speaker 1: players that you are maybe zeroing in on that you
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  Speaker 1: know the Eagles are going to try to prioritize because
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  Speaker 1: we know that there's a lot of guys on defense
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  Speaker 1: who're going to be coming up with the rookie deals,
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  Speaker 1: right yeah, so.
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  Speaker 2: And I would look toward that side of the football.
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  Speaker 2: Jordan Davis, absolutely, no question. He is a priority for them.
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  Speaker 2: It's a really remarkable story. Awful first two years, kim
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  Speaker 2: Oll Layton in his third season and a breakout season
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  Speaker 2: in the year four. He's grown up. You know, he needed
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  Speaker 2: to mature. I think we've all learned a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: As bad as a can look at one point, just
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  Speaker 2: play the thing out, you never know. And Howie Roseman
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  Speaker 2: did a smart thing. I'll give how he credit. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't agree with it, and I was wrong when they
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  Speaker 2: picked up a fifty year option. And here's why they
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  Speaker 2: did it, Josh, just in case Davis blows it up
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  Speaker 2: like he did and they can't get an extension done
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  Speaker 2: this year. They still have him on our contract through
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. That's why they did it, and that's
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  Speaker 2: where they're at. We'll see if they can get a
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  Speaker 2: deal done. Moro Jomo, do not be surprised if they
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  Speaker 2: extend his contract. He's now eligible. He's played three seasons.
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  Speaker 2: He was really good. No Wams is a better football player,
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  Speaker 2: but they're completely different in the ways they play. So
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  Speaker 2: that's one. Another one you have to look at. Jalen
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  Speaker 2: Card's going to be interesting. As much as they might
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  Speaker 2: be open to extending his contract, you know, he has
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  Speaker 2: his shoulder problems. You have to figure out what that
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  Speaker 2: would look like with dre Rozenous's agent. So that's something
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  Speaker 2: also that they'll look at for sure. And then you know, offensively,
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  Speaker 2: there's really right now. I mean there's really we don't
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  Speaker 2: see taler Steam getting done. Other than that, that's nothing
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  Speaker 2: offhand that I could think of that they need to address
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  Speaker 2: right now.
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  Speaker 1: A couple more with Adam Kaplan NFL Insider don't forget
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you follow him on the x platform at Kaplan NFL
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Inside the Birds podcast like subscribe it download wherever you
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: get your podcasts. You know, to your point about the contracts, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, do you know there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: speculation out there right about how the rise of the
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  Speaker 1: salary cap can impact these teams. Well, how does it
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  Speaker 1: impact a team like the Eagles, for example, in an
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  Speaker 1: off season like this?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I never I try to tell people I've changed
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  Speaker 2: my mind with the salary cap issues or whatever the number.
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  Speaker 2: The more you have, the easier it is to negotiat
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  Speaker 2: and structure contracts. But teams simply do not cut players
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  Speaker 2: for cap purposes, no matter what. Anyone will tell you
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  Speaker 2: ninety nine percent of the time that they're wrong. They're
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  Speaker 2: doing it because they don't think the player can help
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  Speaker 2: them anymore, and that's just the way it is. Or
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  Speaker 2: they don't think the player is worth the cash that
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  Speaker 2: the player would want, and they'll let the player go
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  Speaker 2: somewhere else. Sometimes they might say, hey, listen, if you
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  Speaker 2: can't get a better deal, we'd be willing to bring
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  Speaker 2: you back for this number. But they don't cut players
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  Speaker 2: for cap purpose. They cut them because they don't think
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  Speaker 2: they're worth the cash. People just don't seem to understand that.
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  Speaker 2: Try to warn people about that, and every time it
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  Speaker 2: looks like we're right. The Saints that we give this example,
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  Speaker 2: they refuse to cut players for cap purpose. They're always
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  Speaker 2: they always have cap problems. Just restructure, restructure and restructure,
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  Speaker 2: and at some point you think they're going to pay
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  Speaker 2: the piper, but they just continue in a structure. It's
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  Speaker 2: not a good way to do business. It's credit card spending,
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  Speaker 2: but it's really about cash. And then the cap is
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  Speaker 2: a workaround. Yes it's real, but it's just a workaround.
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  Speaker 2: It's not something owners care about. Owners care about cash ben.
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  Speaker 2: They don't care about what they let the They let
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  Speaker 2: the general manager and contract negotiers worry about the cap
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  Speaker 2: structure and getting under it in compliance. They worry about
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  Speaker 2: cash ben. Like when a guy when a GM says, hey,
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  Speaker 2: we need to cut this player, he's going to know
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  Speaker 2: what's going to cost us cash wise. He didn't say,
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  Speaker 2: what's what's the cap? Look like he didn't care. They
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  Speaker 2: just don't care about that. So just be careful when
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  Speaker 2: you see stuff out there people say this guy's a
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  Speaker 2: cap casually ninety nine times out of one hundred, the
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  Speaker 2: reporters wrong and they just don't understand it. I've learned
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  Speaker 2: that the hard way from talking to contract negotiators. And
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  Speaker 2: I'll take that to the bank and.
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  Speaker 3: Really quick before we let you go, Adam.
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  Speaker 1: One of the comments Hyer Roseman made was that he
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  Speaker 1: was looking forward to a lot of the interviews they
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  Speaker 1: do with the guys pray for the draft this week.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things you and Jeff most talked about
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  Speaker 1: on the Inside of Birds podcast is the how the
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  Speaker 1: Eagles do a lot of these interviews, not just for
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  Speaker 1: players are going to draft this year, but for potential
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  Speaker 1: players they may want to acquire in the future.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And by the way, they you're allowed to tape, are
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  Speaker 2: going to give you a clip very quick Clifflands version
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  Speaker 2: of what goes on this week. You've got your formal
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  Speaker 2: and informal interviews. You could tape everything. So, yeah, it's
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  Speaker 2: so different when the player comes into your building for
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  Speaker 2: a pre draft visit one of your thirds, you could
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  Speaker 2: tape all of that. Yeah, and Andy Reid told me
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  Speaker 2: one time that it's good. It's really good sometimes to
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  Speaker 2: use one of those thirty pre pre draft visits. Maybe
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  Speaker 2: there's a player you don't think you'll be able to get,
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  Speaker 2: but you never know. For free agency, Josh, That's that's
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  Speaker 2: why it's important. The physical examinations are by far the
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  Speaker 2: number one most important information to get. The workouts have
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  Speaker 2: its importance, but it's secondary. Unfortunately, some careers have been
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  Speaker 2: ended by pre existing medical conditions that players did not
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  Speaker 2: know about. It's awful when this happens. And how he
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  Speaker 2: actually he didn't talk about that exactly, but he did
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  Speaker 2: talk about in a week from now, when they get
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  Speaker 2: some of the medical information, they have to adjust their
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  Speaker 2: draft board for stuff they didn't know about. And by
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  Speaker 2: the way, every NFL team gets to see medical information.
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  Speaker 2: It's not hidden by one team by another. Another opinion
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  Speaker 2: of it may differ for sure, but that's the medicals
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  Speaker 2: are important. Interview is important, and workouts as well.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you said that. I'll say that earlier as well.
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  Speaker 1: The no, there's no hidden information with these medicals. It's
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  Speaker 1: all everyone's got the same information out there. Adam Kaplan,
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  Speaker 1: NFL Insider at Kaplin NFL on the X platform Football
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: at four powered by the Inside the Birds Podcast.
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  Speaker 3: Like to subscribe and Dell or wherever you get your podcast. Adam,
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  Speaker 3: take care, you gotta thank you