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ITB: Which Eagles Are Facing Uncertain Futures? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Inside the Birds.
0:13
Speaker 2: Is back.
0:14
Speaker 1: What's going on, everybody?
0:15
Speaker 3: It is Jeff Mosher and Adam Kaplan here for a
0:17
Speaker 3: middle of the week. Inside the Birds is the Eagles
0:20
Speaker 3: get ready. They got a week eight Sunday night matchup. Yes, Adam,
0:23
Speaker 3: a Sunday night primetime matchup between two teams who have
0:27
Speaker 3: fewer combined wins than like the Seahawks.
0:30
Speaker 1: Just to take an example of a team.
0:32
Speaker 3: In fact, the Vikings have twice as many combined wins
0:36
Speaker 3: as the Eagles and the With that said, right, Adam
0:39
Speaker 3: had this good idea. We are going to take a
0:43
Speaker 3: look at this roster because.
0:44
Speaker 1: They continue to lose. There's going to be a lot.
0:45
Speaker 3: There's already, we're getting a ton of questions from our
0:47
Speaker 3: Patreon folks, the future of the team, of certain players.
0:51
Speaker 1: So it's a good, in this show, what.
0:54
Speaker 3: We will do is look at, and we'll probably do
0:56
Speaker 3: more on these, but we're going to start to look
0:58
Speaker 3: at some important players, examine their futures, what happens if
1:01
Speaker 3: things continue to spiral out of control. I just want
1:04
Speaker 3: to get the PSA out now, Adam. we're not telling
1:07
Speaker 3: people who are still like emotionally invested and believe that
1:10
Speaker 3: the NFC East can one to not root for that,
1:12
Speaker 3: or that we've completely sold out on covering that. We're
1:16
Speaker 3: just addressing the reality is that the team is spiraling.
1:19
Speaker 3: The trade deadline is coming pretty soon. There's going to
1:22
Speaker 3: be some decisions that Eagles have to make.
1:24
Speaker 2: That's part of it. And we'll explain the contract. We'll
1:26
Speaker 2: tell you what, how the league sees these players and
1:28
Speaker 2: what may happen. Yeah. So we'll do, we'll do some
1:32
Speaker 2: offense on this show today. And this is a, It's
1:34
Speaker 2: just really motivated by a lot of the questions and
1:37
Speaker 2: comments we'll be getting. Let's go out. People really want
1:38
Speaker 2: to know about the future. Like we're not turning the
1:41
Speaker 2: page to the next season, but a lot of fans are.
1:42
Speaker 2: I understand that we saw them losing five in a row,
1:45
Speaker 2: but they're decimated by injury. Damian Pierce, the latest to
1:49
Speaker 2: go on injury reserve. You can't make it up with
1:51
Speaker 2: what we believe is a lower body injury. But yeah, anyway,
1:55
Speaker 2: so just to get that out of the way, Pierce
1:57
Speaker 2: goes to IR. They signed Jaden Blue off the practice squad.
2:01
Speaker 2: Elijah Moore will be added. Elijah Mitchell will be added
2:03
Speaker 2: by the game. That'll happen. And then depending on whether
2:07
Speaker 2: they're going to have Barkley or not, they're going to
2:09
Speaker 2: have to have a third running back. If Barkley's available,
2:12
Speaker 2: he's starting. If he's not available, they have to have
2:13
Speaker 2: a third back. You cannot go into a game with
2:15
Speaker 2: two backs. You cannot do that. No, Cole Payton's not
2:17
Speaker 2: a running back yet. Yet.
2:20
Speaker 1: All right.
2:21
Speaker 3: So we'll keep you all abreast of what goes on
2:23
Speaker 3: with the Eagles running backs.
2:24
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's it.
2:25
Speaker 3: It's a sad state of affairs when Barkley, who can
2:27
Speaker 3: barely get out there, is your third healthiest running back
2:30
Speaker 3: right now behind Jaden Blue, who hasn't played, and Elijah Mitchell,
2:33
Speaker 3: who's only played a little bit. So kind of a
2:35
Speaker 3: rough situation there.
2:37
Speaker 2: Real quick with Mitchell, he's got one of the worst
2:39
Speaker 2: injury histories you could ever– it's just ridiculously bad. Yeah.
2:43
Speaker 3: But you remember all those 49ers running backs who played
2:46
Speaker 3: in that system would get– like Mostert would get hurt
2:48
Speaker 3: all the time.
2:49
Speaker 1: Mitchell would get hurt. Yeah, Jordan Mason had a little
2:52
Speaker 1: flash in the pan there.
2:53
Speaker 3: He wound up getting– I mean, when you're a 49er
2:55
Speaker 3: running back or a Dolphin running back, you get hurt,
2:57
Speaker 3: which is what happens. All right, so let's take a
3:00
Speaker 3: look right here. We'll start with the biggest names and
3:03
Speaker 3: the most important. Let's start with Jalen Hurts.
3:05
Speaker 1: And really, there's a big cloud of uncertainty.
3:08
Speaker 3: I spoke to some people in the medical profession who
3:11
Speaker 3: have dealt a lot with clots, and I'm not breaking
3:12
Speaker 3: news here, but clearly there is concern that as he
3:17
Speaker 3: gets healthier with the blood thinners– What has to happen
3:20
Speaker 3: is they have to make sure that they understand that
3:22
Speaker 3: that was a provoked situation and not something that will
3:26
Speaker 3: be recurring with him because if he gets more blood clots,
3:29
Speaker 3: especially in the lungs, for most people, that's game over.
3:33
Speaker 1: I mean, that's happened to other athletes before. Unfortunately.
3:36
Speaker 2: Medically, they've got to get through it, which they'll do,
3:40
Speaker 2: and we wish Jalen the best. So he's signed through 2028,
3:43
Speaker 2: and next year– The total cash is $ 51. 5 million. $ 22
3:50
Speaker 2: million is fully guaranteed. And they're just going to have
3:53
Speaker 2: to make decisions. Let me just address something. Because we've
3:56
Speaker 2: seen before Jalen had his issue with the blood clots.
4:00
Speaker 2: We started off great. We outlined this on Inside the Tape,
4:02
Speaker 2: how great he looked through two games. Playing with tremendous timing.
4:06
Speaker 2: He's never shown this kind of consistent timing. Bears game
4:09
Speaker 2: was bad and wasn't great after that. And then he
4:11
Speaker 2: had his health situation. But for the people who want
4:14
Speaker 2: Hurts off the roster, let me ask you this question.
4:16
Speaker 2: Who do you want the quarterback to be? For the future.
4:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would think that the only reason to want
4:21
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts off the roster, there's two reasons. One, you
4:23
Speaker 3: just never liked him that much to begin with, and
4:25
Speaker 3: you feel like this is your validation. Or number two,
4:29
Speaker 3: at this point, you just feel like you need a reset,
4:32
Speaker 3: a total franchise reset, and you could maybe get good
4:35
Speaker 3: value for trading Jalen Hurts.
4:38
Speaker 2: Yes, you could. And they would get, I'm telling you
4:41
Speaker 2: right now, if the Eagles trade him, they will get
4:42
Speaker 2: at least a first-round pick. Trust me on this one.
4:44
Speaker 1: I would believe that. Oh, yeah, for sure.
4:46
Speaker 2: I know teams would absolutely, if Eagles made him available,
4:49
Speaker 2: they'd be in. There's a personnel director that I know
4:52
Speaker 2: who probably would be a GM who really likes Hertz.
4:55
Speaker 2: Really likes Hertz. So they would get at least a first.
4:58
Speaker 2: I'd say a top first round pick. I mean, it
5:00
Speaker 2: could be late, but they would get one. Agreed. So
5:03
Speaker 2: once he gets healthy, he's a starter next year if
5:07
Speaker 2: they don't trade him. Cole Payton, who's a running back.
5:11
Speaker 2: Excuse me. He's a quarterback. He's a quarterback. I'm joking.
5:13
Speaker 2: He's a quarterback for now. We'll see if they cross-train him.
5:16
Speaker 2: in the off season, but he's signed through 2029. Those
5:18
Speaker 2: are the only two on our contract for next season.
5:22
Speaker 2: Tanner McKee's contracts up, Joe Milton's contracts up. So it's just,
5:26
Speaker 2: they got to get through the hurt situation, get them healthy,
5:29
Speaker 2: and then figure out what they're going to do to
5:31
Speaker 2: support them. It's just a shame that he's just not
5:37
Speaker 2: available from a football standpoint, because he, I know it's
5:41
Speaker 2: hard for people to go back to weeks one and two,
5:43
Speaker 2: but he looks so good And I was one of
5:47
Speaker 2: the few people in the media that felt like he's
5:48
Speaker 2: going to get the scheme. So I just felt like
5:52
Speaker 2: they were in good synergy. I know after that, the
5:55
Speaker 2: Bears game, as you mentioned, wasn't very good. But it's
5:59
Speaker 2: just that he and Manny could work together going forward here.
6:03
Speaker 2: But of course, if Hurts is the quarterback, he doesn't
6:06
Speaker 2: have a healthy running back. His number one receiver's hurt.
6:08
Speaker 2: There's also a lot around him. Right. Oh, that's not healthy.
6:12
Speaker 2: That's the thing. It's not like he's just Hurts is
6:14
Speaker 2: the only one dealing with something. Yep. The offensive line
6:17
Speaker 2: has been a disaster. Well, they did pass pro pretty
6:20
Speaker 2: well in this past game, but that's the quarterback position.
6:22
Speaker 2: So they've got to fortify it. They're going to need
6:24
Speaker 2: a backup next year versus a starter. They got to
6:26
Speaker 2: get that done. And quite frankly, McKee is, is falling
6:31
Speaker 2: off so badly. All he could be is a number two.
6:32
Speaker 2: He's not, he's not going anywhere to compete for a
6:34
Speaker 2: starting job. No chance at all.
6:36
Speaker 1: Correct.
6:36
Speaker 3: Now people have asked us in the last week or two,
6:39
Speaker 3: whether it's Patreon or on social media, you know, what
6:41
Speaker 3: are the, even in some interviews, what are the odds
6:43
Speaker 3: that Joe Milton leapfrogs McKee into the number one spot?
6:48
Speaker 1: And I keep saying, for what at this point?
6:50
Speaker 3: I mean, you're trying to, until the Eagles are mathematically eliminated,
6:54
Speaker 3: which may not happen because for weeks, even if they
6:58
Speaker 3: continue to lose because the division's not very good. But
7:01
Speaker 3: as long as McKee doesn't fall on his face, and
7:04
Speaker 3: to be honest with you, he made obviously progress against
7:06
Speaker 3: the Cowboys from the start before.
7:08
Speaker 1: Not a whole lot, but progress. It wasn't great. It
7:12
Speaker 1: was not great. But he didn't turn the ball over.
7:17
Speaker 1: He made progress.
7:18
Speaker 3: As long as he does not just completely fall on
7:22
Speaker 3: his face terrible for three straight weeks, he's going to
7:24
Speaker 3: get the opportunity. The Eagles would love to see him
7:26
Speaker 3: improve a little bit because if he does walk and
7:29
Speaker 3: somebody's interested and signs.
7:30
Speaker 1: A decent backup quarterback contract, that helps them In a
7:35
Speaker 1: compact form.
7:36
Speaker 2: And plus, also add this. If he does well, and
7:39
Speaker 2: let's say he can't find a job. No, again, he's
7:41
Speaker 2: not going to compete for a starting job. Let's say
7:43
Speaker 2: nobody wants to give him a decent cut. If he
7:45
Speaker 2: looks good, the Eagles are going to want him back
7:46
Speaker 2: as the backup.
7:47
Speaker 1: For sure.
7:48
Speaker 2: To wherever the quarterback's going to be.
7:49
Speaker 1: Great point.
7:49
Speaker 2: Just to add to that. So, yeah, they need a
7:52
Speaker 2: full evaluation. It sucks about Devontae Smith's hamstring. Right. It
7:56
Speaker 2: just sucks. And Wicks with the ankle injury. I mean,
7:59
Speaker 2: this is– I'm not going to excuse, as we pointed
8:02
Speaker 2: out on our post-game show, Some of the layup throws
8:05
Speaker 2: that he missed. I mean, just the throws you can't miss.
8:08
Speaker 2: Cooper had the terrible drop. Bad as a drop, which
8:11
Speaker 2: you're going to have. But he's got to be better.
8:13
Speaker 2: He's not, to be quite frank here about this, McKee
8:17
Speaker 2: does not look good. He's not looked as good as
8:19
Speaker 2: you would think he should.
8:20
Speaker 1: I agree.
8:21
Speaker 2: I agree.
8:23
Speaker 1: As for Milton, you know, he could be the guy
8:25
Speaker 1: if McKee were to get hurt. It would be.
8:27
Speaker 3: Interesting to see if they were down to Milton because
8:29
Speaker 3: McKee gets hurt. This would be like a couple weeks
8:33
Speaker 3: if that happens, right? Would they start to try to
8:36
Speaker 3: integrate Cole Payton as a gadget? I mean, at that point,
8:39
Speaker 3: your season's so over, it doesn't matter. And maybe you
8:41
Speaker 3: try to throw Payton on the field to see if
8:43
Speaker 3: you can get the Taysom Hill qualities that we described
8:47
Speaker 3: from him when they drafted him. But that is the
8:49
Speaker 3: quarterback situation right now. A lot of uncertainty from a
8:52
Speaker 3: health standpoint about Hurts. And then a lot of uncertainty
8:55
Speaker 3: about whether the franchise just decides to push reset.
8:58
Speaker 1: At the end.
8:59
Speaker 3: All that is to be determined over how they finish here.
9:02
Speaker 2: Well, also we'll talk more about this next week, but
9:04
Speaker 2: if Howie is aggressive at the trade deadline in terms
9:08
Speaker 2: of moving players, there's your reset.
9:11
Speaker 1: Sure. Oh yeah.
9:13
Speaker 2: Absolutely. They're going to have so many picks for the future.
9:15
Speaker 2: Not that you, no one at one of this kind
9:17
Speaker 2: of season GMs don't like, they don't want this, but
9:21
Speaker 2: at some point you have to say, it's not going
9:22
Speaker 2: to work. Here's where we are. We have so many
9:24
Speaker 2: guys hurt both sides of the football. So it's going
9:27
Speaker 2: to be fascinating because Howie's not been in a position
9:29
Speaker 2: like this. I have to look up what he did
9:31
Speaker 2: in 2020 when they dug Peterson's last year when they
9:33
Speaker 2: were a disaster, but they've been so good for five years.
9:36
Speaker 2: This is not something they plan on. Yeah.
9:38
Speaker 1: All right. Let's talk about running back, obviously. And you
9:41
Speaker 1: just kind of alluded to this.
9:42
Speaker 3: If the losing continues and you get closer to the deadline,
9:46
Speaker 3: which is really only two games left. So even if
9:48
Speaker 3: the Eagles win both games and they're four and five,
9:51
Speaker 3: I can't see Howie not really just turning down offers
9:54
Speaker 3: to compete for an NFC East. If he gets something
9:56
Speaker 3: good for Saquon Barkley, like Cam Juergens, he probably makes it.
10:00
Speaker 1: The deal.
10:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, as much as they love to have him. If
10:05
Speaker 2: you know you're out of it. So Barkley is signed
10:10
Speaker 2: through 2028. The total cash for next season is $ 16 million. $ 2. 5
10:15
Speaker 2: million is fully guaranteed. Yeah. The rest of the season,
10:20
Speaker 2: let me see if I have the rest of the
10:21
Speaker 2: season cash. Well, it's going to be prorated. Remember, the
10:25
Speaker 2: cash this season is just under $ 17 million. But it's prorated.
10:30
Speaker 2: It's prorated because you're almost at the halfway point. Now,
10:35
Speaker 2: sometimes teams do this, depending on which team is interested.
10:38
Speaker 2: Let's say the Eagles won a third round. Let's say
10:40
Speaker 2: they won a second round pick. That GM might say,
10:42
Speaker 2: wait a minute, if you want a second, you're going
10:45
Speaker 2: to eat most of this. We'll give you the two.
10:48
Speaker 2: But you're going to eat, let's say it's $ 8 million,
10:49
Speaker 2: you're going to eat $ 6 million of it. We're not
10:51
Speaker 2: going to take the $ 8 million plus, give you a second,
10:53
Speaker 2: get out of here.
10:54
Speaker 1: Right, right.
10:55
Speaker 2: Howie is the king, just so you know. A couple
10:58
Speaker 2: of former GMs told us Howie's big. He's had this
11:00
Speaker 2: thing where he loves asking for a second-round pick. It's
11:04
Speaker 2: just funny. I didn't know it was going to go there,
11:06
Speaker 2: but other GMs have told us a lot of times
11:09
Speaker 2: when he's got desirable players, he goes, you know what?
11:12
Speaker 2: He starts at the second. Way too high for whatever
11:14
Speaker 2: player it is. Like, he's probably worth a fourth. Because
11:18
Speaker 2: you can't negotiate up. You start as high as you can,
11:21
Speaker 2: and you work your way down.
11:23
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
11:25
Speaker 3: As for Barkley and his market, I see a lot
11:27
Speaker 3: of people out there sort of trying to gauge which
11:30
Speaker 3: teams he'd be best for.
11:31
Speaker 1: But I don't know that they've taken all the facts seriously.
11:34
Speaker 3: For example, Seattle was a team I constantly saw, but
11:37
Speaker 3: Seattle just traded for Quentin Nelson.
11:38
Speaker 1: They gave up two draft picks for him.
11:40
Speaker 3: They also drafted a running back in the first round
11:42
Speaker 3: and have Zach Charbonnet coming back. Not saying that they
11:45
Speaker 3: wouldn't be interested. I'm just saying it's hard to keep
11:47
Speaker 3: giving up picks and giving up picks, especially when.
11:49
Speaker 2: You're not high in the draft. Judarian Price just returned
11:53
Speaker 2: to practice this week, and Charbonnet's getting closer. He returned
11:56
Speaker 2: to practice last week. He didn't practice a lot. They
12:01
Speaker 2: just didn't clear him to play yet. They've got Emmanuel Wilson,
12:03
Speaker 2: who's been a nice story as a backup, and Holani's
12:05
Speaker 2: been the kid who was undrafted for Agent 24. If
12:09
Speaker 2: Charmaine coming back and Jadarian Price coming back, why would
12:11
Speaker 2: you– it makes no sense. Right.
12:13
Speaker 3: I've seen the Texans, but they just gave up a
12:16
Speaker 3: second-round pick for Marvin Harrison. So you want to give
12:19
Speaker 3: up another top 50? I mean, that team needs to
12:22
Speaker 3: rebuild because they're really struggling. So I'm not sure that
12:25
Speaker 3: that would be.
12:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not– only one team in the 17-game era
12:29
Speaker 2: has made the playoffs and is starting at 0-4. They're
12:31
Speaker 2: not getting the playoffs. there's no chance. Yeah.
12:34
Speaker 1: So, I mean, maybe there's a good fit somewhere.
12:36
Speaker 3: I haven't really thought about exactly where the best fit
12:38
Speaker 3: would be.
12:39
Speaker 1: We will. We can do that. But I just wanted
12:42
Speaker 1: to kind of throw some fire on some of the
12:44
Speaker 1: things I've seen. Yeah.
12:45
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, you got to be, you got to
12:47
Speaker 2: step back from a cash standpoint. Is it worth it
12:51
Speaker 2: for that club? Like not that the chiefs are doing
12:54
Speaker 2: anything because they have Kenneth Walker, but let's say Kenneth
12:56
Speaker 2: Walker wasn't there. The chiefs are a low cash bent team.
12:59
Speaker 2: That stuff matters to general managers because they have to
13:01
Speaker 2: answer to ownership. You cannot ever, as a GM, GMs
13:04
Speaker 2: have told me this, you don't go to your owner
13:05
Speaker 2: and ask for more money. They're going to say, wait
13:07
Speaker 2: a minute, why didn't you know this? Like, why didn't
13:09
Speaker 2: you know? Why are you asking for more cash? GMs
13:12
Speaker 2: rarely ask for it, and it's embarrassing, apparently. But no,
13:15
Speaker 2: but chiefs are not interested, trust me on that, that
13:18
Speaker 2: Kev Walker's having a career year.
13:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, if anything, they need a wide receiver.
13:21
Speaker 2: They need receivers badly, and that's another story. That's another story.
13:25
Speaker 2: But Shipley, by the way, signed through 2070, he's on IR.
13:28
Speaker 2: Expired contracts, Tank Bixby is on IR. Damian Pierce is
13:33
Speaker 2: on IR. And Carson Steele, who's on IR. That's insane.
13:37
Speaker 1: It is a hospital ward, man. It's not good.
13:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ash.
13:41
Speaker 1: All right. I agree with you.
13:42
Speaker 3: Of course, obviously, the Eagles would love to have Barkley
13:45
Speaker 3: next year. But if they're hitting reset, it might be
13:47
Speaker 3: at his age. It may not make sense for them.
13:49
Speaker 3: It just depends on, again, what direction that they are
13:52
Speaker 3: choosing to take after this year.
13:55
Speaker 1: Wide receiver.
13:56
Speaker 2: All right.
13:56
Speaker 3: So this is pretty interesting, right? Because you've got Devante.
13:59
Speaker 3: I'm going to let you take it.
14:00
Speaker 1: Away and give all the details on the contracts.
14:03
Speaker 2: Yeah. So Devante Smith, who's got an undervalued contract by far,
14:07
Speaker 2: was signed through 2028. Next year's cash is fully guaranteed.
14:11
Speaker 2: He had a conversion date. I think it was like
14:15
Speaker 2: the third year of free agency of this year. And
14:17
Speaker 2: then next year, it's called an advanced guarantee. I believe
14:22
Speaker 2: it's $ 22 million fully guaranteed next season. But after that,
14:24
Speaker 2: $ 28 million is not. And there's no rollover on that
14:27
Speaker 2: year from what I recall. But it's not even that.
14:32
Speaker 2: Nicole and his agents got to get him more money.
14:34
Speaker 2: This is embarrassing, what he's playing on. I know he's hurt,
14:38
Speaker 2: but that's not the point. The point is he's a
14:39
Speaker 2: fantastic player. He's on a Hall of Fame track. I mean,
14:43
Speaker 2: he's been great from day one. $ 25 million a year
14:47
Speaker 2: is what he's making. Come on. The Texans did Rosenhaus right...
14:50
Speaker 2: He's got Nico Collins. They increase his pay per year
14:54
Speaker 2: to get him to $ 30 million. By the way, he's
14:57
Speaker 2: had a big injury history. Very big. Sure. Very good player.
15:01
Speaker 2: But hurt a lot. This is the first time Devontae's
15:03
Speaker 2: missed significant time. Come on. Right. Right. So he deserves
15:08
Speaker 2: an adjustment. Yes, he deserves an adjustment. Now, Dontavian Wicks,
15:13
Speaker 2: before his injury, ankle injury, really good story. Signed through 2027.
15:17
Speaker 2: He's got just over $ 9 million fully– He's gotten just
15:20
Speaker 2: over $ 9 million in cash due. Next season, only $ 2
15:24
Speaker 2: million is guaranteed. Had he not gotten hurt and he
15:27
Speaker 2: kept playing like this, you could say the Eagles got
15:29
Speaker 2: a bargain. Because the guy has been, he was great
15:31
Speaker 2: in OTAs, great in training camp, off to a good start.
15:33
Speaker 2: But now he's got an ankle injury, unfortunately.
15:35
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, yeah.
15:37
Speaker 3: He'll be an interesting one if the phone rings near
15:39
Speaker 3: the deadline for a team with a wide receiver.
15:42
Speaker 2: I would think they wouldn't do it.
15:45
Speaker 3: If you're having a fire sale, I mean, you can–
15:47
Speaker 3: I like Wicks, but you can find a Wicks.
15:49
Speaker 2: That's not– No, I understand, but here's my point. Unless
15:51
Speaker 2: you're getting at least a third, no one's giving up
15:52
Speaker 2: a third for this guy.
15:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. I can't see that happening.
15:56
Speaker 2: Give him a fifth?
15:56
Speaker 3: Like what– Yeah, well, then at that point, you might
15:59
Speaker 3: as well keep him around, see what he can do
16:01
Speaker 3: next year.
16:01
Speaker 1: That makes sense. You're right.
16:02
Speaker 2: He's a good story. The Eagles are a heavy 11
16:05
Speaker 2: personnel team. Yep. A little bit heavier than we thought
16:08
Speaker 2: because 11 was playing earlier than we thought coming back
16:11
Speaker 2: from his injury. And plus, because Johnny Mudd has not
16:14
Speaker 2: been very good. For the future, they're likely going to be,
16:18
Speaker 2: unless they get a dominant wide tight end, they're going
16:21
Speaker 2: to be a heavy 11 personnel team. That's just the
16:22
Speaker 2: way it is. Right. Why would you want to move Cooper?
16:25
Speaker 2: Excuse me, move Wicks. I don't see it.
16:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, good point. Darius Cooper still with the team
16:29
Speaker 3: through 2027. It's been a nice story. I'd love to
16:31
Speaker 3: see him continue to develop and get used. We know Lemon,
16:35
Speaker 3: first round pick coming off first game. I had forgot
16:38
Speaker 3: about Johnny Wilson.
16:38
Speaker 1: He is still on the team. Yeah, he's on IR, correct? Yep.
16:43
Speaker 2: Signed for 27 out for the season with another knee injury. Yeah.
16:48
Speaker 2: He signed for 2027 and that's it. So yeah, they're
16:53
Speaker 2: real light for the future. Expiring deals, Hollywood Brown, Elijah
16:56
Speaker 2: Moore and Britton Covey had the knee injury. We'll see
16:58
Speaker 2: how he's doing, but they need address in the, to
17:03
Speaker 2: address in the, in the draft. They got to get
17:05
Speaker 2: someone's explosive.
17:07
Speaker 3: So this hit me when I was doing work around
17:09
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17:11
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17:14
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17:14
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17:16
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17:21
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17:24
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Speaker 3: Please support our show. Let them know Inside the Bird
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Speaker 3: sent you. Everything in life comes down to choice, doesn't it?
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19:29
Speaker 3: How's Jeremiah Smith sound? Because right now they're picking number
19:32
Speaker 3: five overall.
19:32
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't know if he makes it there. But,
19:35
Speaker 2: you know, and one thing I do want to mention,
19:37
Speaker 2: I've talked about this over the years. Just be very
19:40
Speaker 2: careful with the so-called draft analysts who say, oh, this
19:41
Speaker 2: is going to be a great draft for quarterbacks. Right.
19:44
Speaker 1: I laugh.
19:45
Speaker 2: There was one I wrote about and I remember telling,
19:48
Speaker 2: I forget who I was talking to this. is many.
19:50
Speaker 2: You remember Brian Brom?
19:51
Speaker 1: Yeah.
19:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:53
Speaker 1: Purdue?
19:54
Speaker 2: What's that?
19:55
Speaker 1: Was he a Purdue or a Louisville quarterback?
19:56
Speaker 2: I think he was a Louisville quarterback. He's Jeff Brom's brother.
19:59
Speaker 2: But anyway.
19:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's Jeff Brom's brother.
20:00
Speaker 2: Yeah. He was supposed to be like the second coming.
20:02
Speaker 2: And I remember like talking to NFL people like, where
20:05
Speaker 2: are you guys getting this stuff? I'm like, I'm just
20:07
Speaker 2: going by with these so-called draft experts. That's what I remember. Like,
20:09
Speaker 2: don't listen to these people. Yeah. First of all, they
20:12
Speaker 2: got to get through their final season. Let them get
20:13
Speaker 2: through the final season before you start crowning guys.
20:15
Speaker 1: The biggest thing. Look at all the injuries. The kid from.
20:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's not a good year, but it's what I'm playing.
20:20
Speaker 1: So no, it's not good. All right.
20:23
Speaker 3: So that's the wide receivers we're looking at now. The
20:26
Speaker 3: tight ends.
20:26
Speaker 1: My gosh. I mean, this is like a repetitive theme
20:29
Speaker 1: for us.
20:30
Speaker 3: Just the lack of long-term talent at the position. Second
20:34
Speaker 3: round pick Eli Stowers, who barely has gotten on the field.
20:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he just came back last week, played on offense.
20:40
Speaker 2: He signed for 2029. Expiring deals. Goddard, Johnny Munkake, and Calcutta.
20:48
Speaker 1: Johnny Munkake.
20:50
Speaker 2: They've got to do something with his position, and this
20:52
Speaker 2: is just ridiculous.
20:53
Speaker 1: Yeah.
20:53
Speaker 2: How he's got to fortify it. Like, it's not good.
20:57
Speaker 2: We'll see. Stowers has got a long way to go,
20:59
Speaker 2: so it's not fair to evaluate him yet. Plus, he
21:01
Speaker 2: just come back from a quad strain. But, they missed
21:06
Speaker 2: on Johnny Mudd. He's, there's a reason why Jacksonville cut him. Okay.
21:09
Speaker 2: As we said at the time, you got to be
21:10
Speaker 2: wary when a team like that gets rid of their
21:13
Speaker 2: blocking today. Cause they don't think he could play anymore.
21:15
Speaker 2: Clearly he's 31 years old. They didn't think he could
21:17
Speaker 2: help them. That's what they're telling you.
21:19
Speaker 1: On top of being a one dimensional player. Now he's
21:21
Speaker 1: starting to decline at the one dimension. Yeah. He's good.
21:23
Speaker 2: Not good enough. Not been good enough. So they need
21:26
Speaker 2: to invest. I'm not saying third round like that. When,
21:28
Speaker 2: when I forget who might've been the Packers, Josiah Deguara,
21:32
Speaker 2: who the Eagles had for, for a cup of coffee.
21:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:35
Speaker 2: You, The only time you draft a tight end that high,
21:38
Speaker 2: he better be the best blocking tight end you've ever seen.
21:41
Speaker 2: Like this guy better lead, but you don't draft him
21:43
Speaker 2: that high.
21:43
Speaker 1: Well, it did happen.
21:44
Speaker 3: It's weird because that's kind of what happened last draft
21:46
Speaker 3: where the Eagles zigged because they got Eli Stowers, a
21:50
Speaker 3: pass catcher with very little blocking and pedigree. Everybody else zagged, right?
21:54
Speaker 1: You saw... Sam Rauch and Max Clare and Nate Berkshire,
21:57
Speaker 1: these guys all went in the third round. There's more guys.
22:00
Speaker 1: Somebody else went that I didn't mention.
22:02
Speaker 3: But there were about four or five wide tight ends
22:05
Speaker 3: who can catch just enough to be fair to be
22:09
Speaker 3: drafted on day two that were in there. So that's
22:13
Speaker 3: kind of the breed coming out of college now, which
22:15
Speaker 3: is a good thing if the Eagles want to get one.
22:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's something how it's just got to invest in.
22:21
Speaker 2: And their college department, And the pro department's got to,
22:25
Speaker 2: they got to do, they got to find someone who
22:27
Speaker 2: can block. I know it's hard. I've heard this for years.
22:29
Speaker 2: It's very hard to find wide tight ends, but they
22:31
Speaker 2: found the wrong one. Yeah. Like you ever hear of
22:34
Speaker 2: Nick Vanette? Of course.
22:36
Speaker 1: Wasn't he with the Patriots for a while or the Ravens?
22:39
Speaker 2: He's been with probably 10 teams without looking.
22:41
Speaker 1: Yeah. You're right. A ton of teams.
22:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. He learned how to block. Okay. He's good. He's
22:47
Speaker 2: going to be like 10 years probably by the time
22:49
Speaker 2: you make more than that. It, These guys are out there.
22:52
Speaker 2: You just have to find them.
22:53
Speaker 1: Hey, look what Charlie Kolar made, right? Oh, who can
22:56
Speaker 1: do both.
22:56
Speaker 2: By the way, he signed a nice contract with the Chargers.
22:59
Speaker 2: He was the Ravens' third string tight end. Do you remember?
23:03
Speaker 2: Who was the tight end? You'll remember from Delaware.
23:05
Speaker 1: Nick Boyle.
23:07
Speaker 2: What's that? Nick Boyle.
23:08
Speaker 1: Nick Boyle.
23:10
Speaker 2: I've never seen six. There were like six GMs I
23:12
Speaker 2: spoke with were in on it. They wanted this guy
23:15
Speaker 2: like he was the prettiest girl on the street. They
23:18
Speaker 2: wanted this dude.
23:19
Speaker 1: Because he can block. Yeah. The teams that play this–
23:21
Speaker 1: the teams that run love these guys.
23:23
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's unbelievable. Yeah. And Baltimore and– wasn't he with Baltimore?
23:28
Speaker 2: He was drafted by Baltimore maybe?
23:30
Speaker 1: He played eight years for the Ravens.
23:33
Speaker 2: I just remember like– so Howie's just got to– he's
23:36
Speaker 2: got to find these guys. You can't just blame everything
23:38
Speaker 2: on injury. They have some control over having a better roster.
23:42
Speaker 2: That's right.
23:42
Speaker 1: Nick, what a blast from the power.
23:44
Speaker 3: Talking about Nick Boyle and Nick Vanette in this podcast.
23:46
Speaker 2: I don't know why because I just remember– I'll give
23:49
Speaker 2: you one more. And this guy's the first round pick,
23:51
Speaker 2: but he, he was a big time tight end coming
23:54
Speaker 2: out of Colorado. Daniel Graham. Remember Daniel Graham?
23:56
Speaker 1: Of course. Yeah.
23:57
Speaker 2: Yeah. He then made a shitload of money with the
24:01
Speaker 2: Broncos as a, uh, he was a first round pick
24:04
Speaker 2: of the Packer, the, the Patriots. And he became one
24:07
Speaker 2: of the, maybe the best. Why he just learned how
24:09
Speaker 2: to block. Oh, um, the, the tight end, the guy
24:13
Speaker 2: keeps getting big contracts from the Vikings who was drafted
24:15
Speaker 2: by the, um, Jaguars, the Ravens. Uh, Super athletic tight
24:19
Speaker 2: end out of San Jose State.
24:20
Speaker 1: Yep, I can see him, but I can't think of
24:22
Speaker 1: his name right now.
24:23
Speaker 2: His name is... It's got a P in it, right?
24:28
Speaker 2: I think he's on IR.
24:30
Speaker 1: Well, while you look for that, I.
24:31
Speaker 2: Just want to tell you.
24:32
Speaker 1: Oh, that's right, Oliver.
24:33
Speaker 2: Big time athletic tight end. I don't know what happened.
24:36
Speaker 2: Or then he bulked up. He became the best wide
24:39
Speaker 2: tight end. Top three top wide tight end, if you're
24:41
Speaker 2: grading them.
24:42
Speaker 1: Just an animal.
24:43
Speaker 2: You couldn't make this up. He did no blocking at
24:46
Speaker 2: San Jose State.
24:47
Speaker 3: Right, right.
24:48
Speaker 2: And then he bulked up and became a good blocking
24:50
Speaker 2: tight end. So anyway.
24:52
Speaker 3: Adam, in 2021, which is now five years ago, Nick Boyle,
24:56
Speaker 3: to your point, signed a two-year $ 13 million deal.
24:59
Speaker 1: That's $ 6.
25:00
Speaker 3: 5 million a year in five years ago.
25:03
Speaker 1: Five years ago.
25:04
Speaker 2: For a guy who only blocks.
25:06
Speaker 1: What's Goddard making? Like eight right now? Like only a
25:08
Speaker 1: little bit more? Seven.
25:09
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. Goddard's the toy tight end. But
25:13
Speaker 2: if you find an elite wide tight end, you'll literally
25:16
Speaker 2: pay anything.
25:17
Speaker 1: For sure.
25:17
Speaker 2: That means in line block. Oh, you're basically six offensive
25:20
Speaker 2: line is what you are.
25:21
Speaker 1: Anyway, there you go. All right.
25:23
Speaker 3: Uh, let's discuss, well, that's, that's, and then probably we
25:26
Speaker 3: should get into the offensive line, another show, other players,
25:28
Speaker 3: but I mean, we really just wanted to get into
25:30
Speaker 3: the future of the skill positions.
25:31
Speaker 1: Cause those are the guys that.
25:32
Speaker 3: Really do move, uh, at the deadline and then cause
25:35
Speaker 3: you to kind of rethink your future and, and what
25:38
Speaker 3: it might look like.
25:40
Speaker 2: Yeah. We'll talk about that next week and then we'll
25:41
Speaker 2: do defense as well. We'll give you the list of
25:43
Speaker 2: what we, the players that we we've heard that we're
25:45
Speaker 2: getting garnering interest. this is just, it's been, this is
25:50
Speaker 2: our ninth year doing this, the show. And it's been
25:53
Speaker 2: so long since they've been so bad since 2020. And that,
25:56
Speaker 2: that was a, that's one of these years. That'd be
25:58
Speaker 2: a good 30 for 30 short. Yeah. All the crap
26:01
Speaker 2: that was going on with that team, that that was another, that,
26:03
Speaker 2: that there was so much behind the scenes. It was
26:05
Speaker 2: ridiculously bad. It was how we turn everything around, but you,
26:10
Speaker 2: you can't, you can only do so much to prevent injuries.
26:14
Speaker 2: Guys are going to get hurt. but I still say
26:16
Speaker 2: they should be better than they are. Maybe I'm in
26:18
Speaker 2: the minority, but.
26:20
Speaker 1: I mean, they could have been better if they had
26:22
Speaker 1: made better decisions.
26:24
Speaker 2: Yes. And who the hell knew the defense was like last,
26:26
Speaker 2: last week's defense with someone from another team said to me,
26:29
Speaker 2: they watched the tape on Monday and they watched Philly's
26:31
Speaker 2: tape and he goes, dude, I've never seen Fangio's defense
26:33
Speaker 2: look this bad. Like they were not competitive. I'm like,
26:37
Speaker 2: he goes, I wouldn't accuse them for not trying, but
26:39
Speaker 2: they were, they were so out of position.
26:41
Speaker 1: Right.
26:41
Speaker 2: It's like, okay, okay, that's interesting. And then we talked
26:45
Speaker 2: to Greg about it, and he kind of agreed. It
26:46
Speaker 2: was bad.
26:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
26:49
Speaker 2: Anyway.
26:50
Speaker 3: Hey, Philly fans, game day is stressful enough. Parking, traffic,
26:54
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27:49
Speaker 1: All right, we'll be back on Saturday as we always are.
27:53
Speaker 1: I mean, me and Adam with Greg Cosell.
27:55
Speaker 3: And we'll have a really great– we'll have a great, real,
27:58
Speaker 3: honest preview of the game.
28:00
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
28:01
Speaker 1: We're not packing it in.
28:02
Speaker 3: We're going to give you game analysis and all that.
28:04
Speaker 2: We've got a lot of information. Oh, and then tomorrow– actually, no,
28:08
Speaker 2: later today, I guess, is Inside the Tape Defense. Yep.
28:12
Speaker 1: Yep. Some fascinating stuff from– Oh. And Inside the Data.
28:15
Speaker 1: Great stuff there, too.
28:16
Speaker 2: I'm just going to say, listen, we got– I cannot
28:19
Speaker 2: wait to hear the show with you and Sam. We've–
28:22
Speaker 2: You know, can't go too deep into this, but we've
28:25
Speaker 2: got access to a lot of incredible information. We're going
28:27
Speaker 2: to move into the data space. We're going to start
28:30
Speaker 2: noticing some things. That's all I'm going to tell you,
28:32
Speaker 2: because that's where it's a data. We believe in data
28:35
Speaker 2: and tape.
28:36
Speaker 1: Can't argue with the numbers.
28:37
Speaker 2: No, no, no. I can't wait. I can't wait to
28:40
Speaker 2: hear the show because we have the information that we have.
28:43
Speaker 2: It gives you a picture. It gives you a better
28:46
Speaker 2: picture than just the tape.
28:47
Speaker 1: For sure.
28:48
Speaker 3: And Sam does a great job of framing it to
28:50
Speaker 3: let people decide for themselves, you know, how they feel
28:52
Speaker 3: about it.
28:53
Speaker 2: He knows football, by the way. He was on Penn
28:54
Speaker 2: State's coaching staff, wasn't he?
28:55
Speaker 1: He was. He was an assistant coach on the Penn
28:58
Speaker 1: State coaching staff. All right.
29:00
Speaker 3: That is going to do it for this episode of
29:02
Speaker 3: Inside the Birds, the leading podcast in Eagles Intel. And
29:05
Speaker 3: as always, we thank you for flying with us Inside
29:10
Speaker 3: the Birds.
29:12
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29:15
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29:20
Speaker 1: For the fan, by the fan is their motto.
29:23
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29:27
Speaker 3: on Twitter at PHLSportsNation.