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TABLE TALK: The Eagles Are Signing Saquon Barkley And Bryce Huff · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know we recorded
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  this podcast episode on Monday, March eleventh, twenty twenty four, so by
• 0:07
  the time you hear this, some things may have changed here there, but
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  we hope you enjoy the show. All right, everybody, you're listening to
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  Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly
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  Billy sports podcast show in the world. That's right, almost eleven years strong.
• 0:38
  This coming April, it'll be eleven years. Hard to believe. We
• 0:41
  got a great discussion, You're coming your way, and that discussion is just
• 0:46
  going to include me this week, as my guest unfortunately had an emergency work
• 0:52
  situation that he needed to tend to. So hopefully we will spe speaking to
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  that gentleman at some point in the near future. But not that it was
• 1:00
  good that we don't have this week's guest on. However, with the news
• 1:04
  coming out within Eagles Nation that this team has made two moves in free agency,
• 1:11
  it has been quite a Monday for sure. So I don't know.
• 1:17
  I'm looking at my Twitter feed or sorry, x feed or whatever you want
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  to call it, and I'm looking through some other online activity activity and I'm
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  like, man, New York, New York. Wow, they are given
• 1:30
  some talent to the Philadelphia Eagles, for sure. The Philadelphia Eagles turned to
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  New York not once, but twice when they signed a pair of free agents
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  most recently employed by the Jets and the Giants. First came Jets edge rusher
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  and linebacker Bryce Huff, which we're gonna get to in a bit. But
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  the biggest surprise of this free agency period, the quote legal tampering period,
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  really came when the Eagles signed now former Giants running back Sayquon Barkley, who
• 2:00
  I absolutely love. As many know, been listening to this podcast for a
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  while. I'm a Penn State alum. Bring Saquon on board. I am
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  all for it. Yes, Look, the Eagles wasted little time adding both
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  sides to the ball here. I mean, they're certainly breaking some hearts up
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  in New York into the New Jersey region with Jets and Giants fans. But
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  I think these new weapons, these two new weapons are really really a gifts
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  basically for new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and defensive coordinator Bick Fangio, with both
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  moves coming within the first three hours after that window of legal tampering began at
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  noon here on March eleventh. And really, folks, on a side note,
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  this whole legal tampering thing. I mean, why can't why can't things
• 2:47
  just happen like a week after the Super Bowl or something, or right after
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  the Super Bowl where teams can just start negotiating with their players and within free
• 2:58
  agency and restructuring contract. I don't know, it's just this whole legal tampering
• 3:02
  period anyway, It really is ridiculous. Anyway, as we're moving along here,
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  the signings, they can't be officially announced until the new league year begins
• 3:12
  Wednesday at four pm. And I know folks are going to say that that's
• 3:14
  why, Jeff, it's the new league year begins Wednesday at four pm.
• 3:17
  Well let's make the new league year the day after the Super Bowl? Can
• 3:20
  we do that? Anyway? Again, Saquon Barkley here, for me,
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  this is a huge surprise. It is the real eye opener thus far within
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  the free agency period here, not because he is a two Pro Bowl type
• 3:37
  of talent, or as the fact that he just turned twenty seven years old,
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  as a lot of us know who have been following this. It really
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  is the money. I mean, that seems to be the eye opener here.
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  The Eagles don't pay running backs, right, they don't pay running backs.
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  I mean we have had DeAndre Swift during the last Eagle season. That
• 3:57
  contract was well under a two million dollars a year, you know, Boston
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  Scott, Kenny Gainwell, It's really amazing and I think where this Eagles offense
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  is going to be going in the future, the change and shift in philosophy
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  that we are seeing from the front office and from Howie Roseman. Look,
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  Howie Roseman had to convince his boss, owner Jeffrey Lurie, to give Saquon
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  Barkley this three year deal. Wheth's thirty seven point five million dollars. It's
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  a deal that could actually get up to forty six point seventy five million dollars
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  and includes twenty six million dollars fully guaranteed at the signing, so inevitably that
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  that maximum average salary could be right around fifteen point eight three million dollars.
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  It'd be the second highest for a running back in free agency. So,
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  I mean, what's basically gotten into Howie Roseman here? What is happening with
• 4:51
  Howie Roseman? What's happening with this front office and that philosophy that I just
• 4:56
  mentioned, because look, last year, the running back room and included four
• 5:00
  running backs whose combined salaries came nowhere near even ten million dollars. But as
• 5:08
  the Eagles season collapsed at the end of this past season, as we all
• 5:12
  know, and they kind of re examined some things. We know that from
• 5:15
  various stories and various reports, even from Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni talking to
• 5:21
  the press. Most recently, they talked about an influx of new ideas when
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  they brought Kellen Moore in to run the offense, as well as Vic Fangio
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  from the defensive side of the ball. They wanted some new ideas. And
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  maybe this is that you know, trickle up effect new ideas in the front
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  office that could lead to a different philosophy on the field, or or you
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  know, in terms of you know, reading some of my friend's content out
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  there on the interwebs. Maybe this is because this year's draft class doesn't necessarily
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  have a bona fide running back superstar. I think that could potentially be the
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  case. But regardless, Saquon Barkley, I really do think that he is
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  that superstar from a running back standpoint, I think a lot of folks would
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  agree. Quite frankly, there's gonna be some folks out there that say,
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  yeah, you know, but he's often injured. Look, even though the
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  Eagles did not get a hometown discount, Saquon Barkley is gonna continue to be
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  marred, I think, by that acl tear in twenty twenty, just two
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  years after the Giants made him the second overall picked in the twenty nineteen draft.
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  He was limited to thirteen games in twenty twenty one with that ankle injury.
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  But look, from from a health standpoint, I think we gotta put
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  that behind us now. At this point, Saquon Barkley, he's a great
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  guy in the locker room from all indications, away from the field and in
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  the community, he has been fantastic. And again from a health standpoint,
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  he's been fine. The past two years. He's played thirty of thirty four
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  possible games, I'll take it. And in those thirty games he ran for
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  two two hundred and seventy two yards sixteen touchdowns. He also had ninety eight
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  receptions for six hundred and eighteen yards and four touchdowns. That's an interesting stat
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  there folks. I think the Eagles want to get a running back here that
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  cannot only run the ball, of course, but can also catch the ball
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  and also has the ability to understand blocking schemes too, something that we haven't
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  necessarily seen too too much from this running back group, especially during the twenty
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  twenty three season. And I think it's important to realize that he is actually
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  a bell cow. He is going to be a bell cow for this Eagles
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  backfield, a perfect compliment for Jalen Hurts, for receivers Devonte Smith and aj
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  Brown, tight end Dallas Goddard as well. Again, he will be able
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  to be that bell cow, a three down back. We really haven't had
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  that since Lashawn McCoy, Folks. That's been the reality of this situation.
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  So, say, Kwon Barkley is going to be coming in here making a
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  difference. Is he gonna be Christian McCaffrey. Probably not. However, I
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  think that when you look at what Saquon's work in New York has been with
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  a very very stingy offensive line, with a very very stingy front office,
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  a front office in New York that has kind of jerked him around from time
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  to time. Look Saquon Barkley hasn't done well against the Philadelphia Eagles over the
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  years, and thankfully he doesn't have to play him anymore. He went two
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  of seven in games against the Eagles during his career, and I think that's
• 8:39
  again, that's more of a knock on the Giants franchise that really struggled in
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  recent years, and I think we're gonna see that changing. He has never
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  been behind a line like this Philadelphia Eagles line. And yes, questions are
• 8:52
  abound with regard to Jason Kelcey that retirement, Cam Jurgen's moving over to the
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  center position. I think, however, with Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson,
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  who by the way, was just extended all right, Yeah, let's give
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  him props for that, and with Lane Johnson at right tackle, this Eagles
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  offensive line is still going to be a very, very powerful unit and it's
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  gonna be a great unit for Saquon Barkley to run behind during this upcoming season
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  and and well into the future. Anyway, Folks, the Giants, they
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  can't be happy watching one of their best players leave for a hated NFC East
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  rival. I absolutely love this signing the fact that it's gonna make some New
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  York Giants fans cry out. There is very satisfying, to say the least.
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  Now moving on to the other free agents signing today, My gosh,
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  folks, I absolutely love what the Eagles are coming out of the gate doing
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  from a defensive perspective. Defensive end, Bryce Huff has reached a three year,
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  fifty one point one million dollar deal with these this Eagles front office,
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  and he's gonna become the highest paid non quarterback undrafted free agent in the NFL,
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  in fact, in NFL history. Quite frankly, he went from being
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  an undrafted college free agent twenty twenty to one of the most effective edge rushers
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  in the NFL, one of the New York Jets' best player development success stories
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  in recent years, quite frankly, and we've got him now right here in
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  Philadelphia. So last year in twenty twenty three, he led the Jets with
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  a career high ten sacks and recorded sixty eight quarterback pressures in three hundred and
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  twelve pass rushes. That's a league leading twenty one point eight pressure percentage according
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  to Next Gen Stats. It was it was quite a jump for Bryce Huff,
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  who only had seven and a half sacks in his first three seasons combined.
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  So I think from what a lot of us who do follow the sport
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  and follow a lot of this talent, that we have known that Bryce Huff
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  has this lightning quick, get off the ball type of movement about him.
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  He's six foot three, two hundred and fifty five pounds, just provides consistent
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  disruption, mainly from the left end position. And you know, he's also
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  improved over the years as a run defender as well, resulting in increased usage
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  on first and second down and in the end, played four hundred and eighty
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  defensive snaps this past season, which was a career high. And guess what,
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  he didn't actually start a single game. So this is a new beginning
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  for Bryce Huff as well in terms of where his football career is going to
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  be taking him. What does this mean for the Philadelphia Eagles defense and Vic
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  Fangio, Well, it means another piece of the puzzle is here in Philadelphia
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  for a defense that is really going to be completely restructured. We have seen
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  and known what had happened to this defense at the end of this twenty twenty
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  three season. This is just one of a multitude of move that is likely
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  going to be made. Look recently, our good friend of the Pod egg
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  Kratz over at Eagles today at fan Nation, was talking about the fact that
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  Josh Sweat could potentially be on the trading block. There are those rumors as
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  well. Again, this defense is being looked at in every single nook and
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  cranny from a defensive line standpoint of course, linebacker position and what's going to
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  happen with the defensive backs as well. Avonte Maddox being released this past week
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  that was a heartbreaker for sure. However, we know that how he loves
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  to build through the trenches, how these trenches are going to be built from
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  a defensive side of things are going to be very interesting. And now with
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  Bryce Huff coming over, I absolutely love this move. A very quote under
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  the radar type of player in the NFL. I think a lot more folks
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  throughout the NFL world and fans in general are going to understand and know who
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  Bryce Huff is over the course of these next few years. That he's going
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  to be wearing an Eagles jersey. So a great, great move by the
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  Eagles. I love what they're doing thus far in free agency. Let me
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  know your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you, Philadelphia Sports Table at
• 13:09
  gmail dot com. Would love to read your email here in the show respond
• 13:11
  to it as well. What do you think of Sakwon Barkley coming to the
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  Philadelphia Eagles? What do you think of Bryce Huff coming to the Philadelphia Eagles
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  And the fact that this Eagles front office really is coming out aggressive in free
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  agency, knowing that they have about forty three million dollars in cap money and
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  they are willing to spend. They want to make sure they're bringing successful talent
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  here to this team in order to remain contenders within this NFC East Division and
• 13:39
  the NFC overall. We'd love to hear from you again, Philadelphia Sports Table
• 13:43
  at gmail dot com. We'd love to read your email here on the show
• 13:45
  and respond to it. That's going to do it for us this week here
• 13:48
  on table Talk. Yes, very short discussion, Just wanted to get some
• 13:52
  thoughts out there. Want to hear what you all have to say as well.
• 13:54
  Feel free to follow me on threads. Mister Jeff Warren, Yes,
• 13:58
  at mister Warren the show at Philadelphia Sports Table on threads. It's been a
• 14:03
  pretty good experience over there. Thus far. If you're all over there,
• 14:07
  I've been enjoying it thus far. Twitter slash x nay not too much.
• 14:11
  Still there, still there, still doing some stuff at Philadelphia PST. You
• 14:16
  can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren over there and look. If anything happens
• 14:20
  to your podcast feed, you can always head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table
• 14:22
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  specials as well. We got to do one soon. We got to do
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  a PST specials show soon. We're talking movie review or doing some music talk.
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  Got to talk to Eric about that for sure, and Len too.
• 14:35
  I'd love to have Lynn on with his work schedule just absolutely sticks. So
• 14:39
  anyway, that being said, folks, hope you have a great rest of
• 14:41
  your week. We got great content coming your way. Can't wait to be
• 14:45
  in your years later throughout this week. Take care, We'll catch you next time.