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The Eagles Roster Is Set - Now What? (PST Episode 683) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. Over
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: 13 and a half years strong. Got a great show
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: coming your way, as we always do here at the
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: podcast show.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: For our regular show.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: We're going to be diving into some Philadelphia Phillies talk.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: My gosh, they absolutely destroyed August.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: We're going to get into this team and what we
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: might see from them in September and what we need
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: to see from them. in september some quick thoughts on
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the philadelphia 76ers they signed a few guys for training
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: camp might we see any of these guys actually making
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the team or actually even make a difference and then
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: we're going to give some quick thoughts on lionel messi's
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: retirement from international soccer what that means to the soccer
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: world and what we're throwing down on the table this
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: week Our good friend OJ Spivey from the Philadelphia Tribune
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: joins us to break down the Eagles 53-man roster and
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: how various units now look for this upcoming season.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: I'm Jeff Warren. Here are my buddy Len Hunsicker. How
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: you doing, my friend?
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: I'm doing all right.
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: Hopefully everybody's having a good week out there.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Len, let's just get into it with regard to the
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Phillies here. My gosh, they absolutely destroyed August. When you
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: take a look at what they did last month, a
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: 21 and seven record across 28 games played.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: They swept.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Four series in a month for the first time since 1991.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: They won 20 games in a month for only the
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: fifth time this century. And with Monday's 2-1 win over
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the Diamondbacks, they reached 21 wins in a month for
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: only the second time this century. You've got Jesus Lizardo,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: who had a 1.31 ERA in August. Christopher Sanchez with
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: a 1.72 ERA this the team was on fire. The
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: bats were on fire in August. They absolutely destroyed. And
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: it was, dude, it was just wonderful to watch when
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I had the opportunity to watch.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: It was wonderful to watch.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, this is something that, you know, I remember
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: talking about this a couple of weeks ago.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: I remember saying, you know, the playoffs in a sense
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: have started now. So, I mean, and the Phillies, not
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: that they're listening to me, but you know, they must
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: be feeling the same way because they, you know, have
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: really taken matters into their own hands this month. Like
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: you said, 21-7. I'm pretty sure that was the best
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: record in Major League Baseball for the month of August. So, yeah,
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: they've definitely kind of kept pace with Atlanta, who we're
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: going to talk about going forward in a little bit here. Um,
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: but yeah, everything, like you had mentioned, uh, the frontline
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: starting pitching, even Aaron Nola, I think probably had, um, uh,
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: you know, he had a couple, um, pretty good starts
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: in the month of August. So he was actually a
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: nice kind of, you know, piece to see come up
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: a little bit because ironically enough, Zach Wheeler, I would say, uh,
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: if you were looking for maybe a Philly who hasn't
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: been hot lately, Zach Wheeler would be that guy. He
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: struggled a little bit over his past maybe five, six starts.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, it was nice to see Nola kind of.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: Step up and counterbalance what just hopefully is a minor
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: blip in the road for Zach Wheeler. But, yeah, like
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: you said, Sanchez, Lizardo have been lights out.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: Hopefully, Lozardo keeps that going tonight against Arizona.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Really quick with Aaron Nola.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: He has had a 2.50 ERA in his last seven starts.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, there is consistency there, Len. There is consistency
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: with Aaron Nola. And my gosh, if we get this
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: throughout the course of September. I mean, just in terms
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: of the pitching here and what we've been seeing as well,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: that is certainly going to be welcomed.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: And we can't we cannot not.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Discuss Alex McFarlane, a pressure situation, 25 year old right
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: handed rookie reliever, three outs this past week.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: And he was so impressive. And look, is it going
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: to happen all the time?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: No.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: But the fact of the matter is, you know, there
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: is another piece here that they may be able to
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: utilize down the stretch that, you know, where we're seeing
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: some pitching consistency here, my gosh, it's so welcomed right
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: now at this time for what they need, if they're
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: going to perform well here in September.
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: And you know, you're, you're looking for, okay, what, what
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: are the areas we need to shore up? Aaron Nola
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: was a guy that, you know, I think probably earlier
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: in the season, I think we had mentioned it and
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: I'm sure a lot of people have felt, Oh man,
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: when we get to the playoffs, this guy's pretty much
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: unusable because of the way he had pitched earlier in
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: the season. Now he's making a case that, okay, if
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: we need a fourth starter in a series, we, maybe
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: we're getting to a point where we're starting to get
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: comfortable with the way Nola's pitching, and maybe he can
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: fill that role. The bullpen is, despite the fact that
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: they have had a good month of August as a team,
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: great month of August as a team, the bullpen is
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: still an area where it's like, there's really not a
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: lot of guys that you can point to in the
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: bullpen right now that I can say, I trust this guy.
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: I'm comfortable when this guy comes in the game.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: So McFarlane has a chance to, you know, be a
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: guy that if he can continue that this season, maybe
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: he gets Don Mattingly's trust, and maybe he's a guy
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: that can feature out of the bullpen, as we know
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: in playoff baseball. The Phillies are kind of an anomaly
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: in that they're kind of built around starting pitching, going
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: deep into games. As we've seen the past few years,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: playoff baseball is your starter goes two to five innings,
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: and then you just throw one 100-mile-an-hour guy after another
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: out there in relief roles. So, you know, it is
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: more of a bullpen game, the playoffs. So, you know,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: the Phillies are going to be looking for some bullpen
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: pieces if they have to, you know, play that style.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: So you're going to have to kind of get a
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: core of bullpen guys here that Mattingly trusts, and maybe
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: McFarlane can get.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: To that role.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Perhaps he can.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: And look, the starting pitching, the bullpen, obviously going to
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: be so important, but the bats are also going to
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: be important too. And the real question is, can they
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: really keep this up? And we don't have a crystal
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: ball here. But I'm looking at one particular guy on
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: this team, Len, who I think needs to have that consistency.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: And because he had a solid August, he was batting 286.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: His OPS was about 800. And I'm talking about Bryson Stott.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: I think if Bryson Stott has a.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Solidly consistent September, it's going to bode well for this team.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And it could bode well for this team in terms
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: of maybe catching up To the Atlanta Braves. Yeah, I
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: do think a lot hinges on, of course, Bryce Harper.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Needs to continue doing what he's doing.
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: The big names need to hit.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: But I'm talking about whether it's Bryson Stott, even Alec Baum,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Justin Crawford, who I think has been a very underrated
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: story in terms of this season. Eric and I talked
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: about him last week as well. But with Bryson Stott
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: in particular, I think the fact that he's had a
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: lot of meaningful improvement in his plate discipline, especially in August,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: 20 walks against 14 strikeouts during the month. That is
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: definitely an improvement for Bryson Stott, for sure. And I
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: think if he continues with that batting average of 286,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: and I know batting average isn't everything, but still, even
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: if he's able to make some connection, some small ball.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Perhaps being played.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Bryson Stott, I think, is an outlier as to when
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: you look at this team and where it can go.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: If he is consistent, Len, I think it's going to
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: bode well for this team.
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and this is something that I think– I mean,
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: you could probably go back to shows that we did
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: towards the beginning of the season maybe as we were
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: doing like a preview show for the season where it's like, okay,
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: we know who the big names in the lineup are.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: We need supplemental offense from the other guys. And by
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: other guys, we meant people like Bryson Stott and like
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Alec Boehm.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: I was scorching hot in August. Hopefully, that's not just
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: like a couple-week thing. Maybe whatever has been going on
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: with him throughout the season, he figured it out. Maybe
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: he turned a corner. And hopefully, we get this Alec
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Boehm for the rest of the season. I mean, even
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: through the playoffs. And then, like you mentioned with Stott,
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: he's come along really well at the plate, particularly in
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: terms of plate discipline. Those are two guys that between–
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: you have the stars at the beginning of the season,
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: you add, uh, Luis arise. And then if these two, um,
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: can continue to hit the way that they've been hitting, um, yeah, I,
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: I mean, it, it, it really kind of puts the
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Phillies in a good position.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: And, you know, again, I don't know.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Uh, I don't know if, uh, the position change is
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: going to hurt him in any kind of balloting, but man, um,
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: and I, I think this is Ben Davis's new tangent whenever, uh,
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: the Phillies play, but, uh, Bryson Stott really does need
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: to get some looks.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: For a gold glove.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's been, it feels like every night he's
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: doing something in the field that that's just, wow.
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: It's just eye catching.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: So yeah.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's, he's been, I mean, really from both
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: sides of the, of the field really been doing a
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: lot this past month or so.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Is he the guy for you that you want to
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: see most consistent this coming season? here, or we are
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: in September. I mean, is there a guy on this
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: team that you're like, you know what? He's the one
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: that I want to see remaining consistent. And it's going
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: to give this team that edge as they are looking
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: towards the post season.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Is it stop for you? Who is it for you?
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: It's not one guy. We mentioned this a few weeks
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: ago where this isn't a team that's new to this environment.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: Everybody's been here before. Everybody, with the exception of maybe
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: Crawford because he's a rookie.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: But everybody on.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: This team has been in this position at this point
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: in time.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: They know the time of year they're in and they
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: know what's expected. This needs to be all hands on deck.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: We can't afford for this to be a time where
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: these guys are hot and these guys are cold.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: I mean, we need these guys need to lock into
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: a groove.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: And all, you know, start hitting at at least a
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: consistent level. I'm not asking for everybody to come in and,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: you know, hit 330 in September and forward.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: That's not realistic.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Be consistent. Have good at bats. Work the count. Work pitchers.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: Get pitch counts up. Don't just go up there swinging
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: at the first thing you see and popping a ball
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: weakly up the center field.
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: You know, smart at bats. Be consistent.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Be judicious in what you're swinging at. And I think
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: the Phillies have done a lot more of that in
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: the past month.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: It's amazing the way the game of baseball works out
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: cold streaks, hot streaks, but at the end of the day,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: you want consistency. So that being said, we are going
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: to take a break here. When we get back, we're
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: going to get into some Sixers talk. We're going to talk.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: About Lionel Messi's retirement as well. Stick with us. We'll
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: be back in just a bit.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: We are back.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Lynn taking that swiggy swig right before break there.
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: No, just water.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: I know I'm getting around.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: It's a school night.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: It is a school night for you, which is why
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: we're going to hopefully make things a little quick here,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: because I don't know. Look, it's not a big story
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: coming out of Sixers Nation at all. And what the
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Sixers did this week, they announced three training camp signings.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: These are Exhibit 10 signings specifically for training camp.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: We've got Taco Fall. We've got Jameer Nelson Jr., St.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: Thomas as well. Um, look taco fall.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: He's only played in 37 NBA games at this point.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: Jameer Nelson jr.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Um, was with the Spurs, I believe in 2025, uh,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: or I'm sorry, maybe, maybe it was 2024. I think
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: it was with the Kings 2025 as well. Anyway.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Um, and St. Thomas was, uh, with the blue coats, uh,
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: last season.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: So, um, Len, I don't necessarily think any of these guys.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Are going to be like breaking out necessarily.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, they're training camp signings, but just wanted to
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: mention it here on the show. Do you, do you
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: think any of these guys have the opportunity to make.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: This roster here?
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: The only one I would say that probably has any
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: kind of shot at all would for me would be
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: taco fall. And that's just because I don't love his name.
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: Makes you hungry.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: But just cause I don't really know that the Sixers are,
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: have a ton at the center position that we're confident
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: on as of yet.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: Behind Joel Embiid.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: So maybe, maybe it's just due to, you know, the
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: position he plays where, where he kind of, if he
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: does well in camp, maybe he gets a longer look,
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: but I mean, I think these guys are camp bodies.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: We need to bring players in. We're going to have scrimmages.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: We need to have just fresh bodies rotating in and out,
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: or maybe we have like, a few different groups of
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: five players and just go five on five, you know,
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: going at each other in, in, in camp or whatever.
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: These are camp bodies.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, for, you know, you know, fall, he's been in,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: he's been around long enough where if he was going
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: to be even an NBA bench player, I feel like
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: that would have happened by now.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: Jamir Nelson jr.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: You know, hopefully he's getting, you know, I think that's
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: kind of more a token to his father.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: Right. Right. You know, so, in the organization.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: I'm not, I don't want to be derogatory and, you know,
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: use the, the, the nepotism thing, but you know, in
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: the world, it's who, you know, you know, in anything,
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: you know, and not just basketball in any kind of
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: work setting. So, you know, hopefully it's an opportunity for,
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: for networking more than anything else. You get somebody else
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: to look at you. Maybe they bring you in. You know,
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: Nelson jr. Is a pretty well-traveled player. Maybe these guys
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: can get opportunities over in Europe. just continue to grow.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: The game, learn the game.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: And you know, not everybody's going to be an NBA player.
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: Maybe down the road, you have an opportunity to get
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: into coaching or something like that, whatever it happens to be.
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: St. Thomas, I'll be honest with you. When I first
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: saw the blurb the.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: Other day out of the corner of my eye, it
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: was like, Oh, are they going to training camp in St.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: Thomas? Like the Virgin Island, St.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: Thomas, like that actually is the thought that entered my head.
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: So it was like, I mean, no offense to the guy.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Are you, would destroy any of us in basketball, but
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: you know you know, it's a camp body and hopefully
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: it can open doors, you know, again, networking, meet who
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: you can meet and figure out where in your basketball
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: journey life is going to take you. But I don't
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: expect any of these, any of these three to be
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: on the Sixers roster.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: When it's the regular season.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, dude, I just brought up taco falls.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Some of the stats here, he spent two C in 2000. Well,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: after he was undrafted in 2019, he started with the Celtics,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: started with the Celtics, one with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: averaged 2.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in six
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: minutes a game during his NBA career. And actually the
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: last four seasons, he was bouncing between teams, in the
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Chinese Basketball Association and the Australian National Basketball League.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: He hasn't made his mark yet, but who knows, right?
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: And that's not– we talk about this, and we do
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: kind of because we care about the Sixers, and really
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: that's about it.
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: But we kind of maybe.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: Take this tone of, oh, he's not an NBA player.
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: You can make a decent living– and see the world
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: playing professional basketball. So, you know, if it's not here,
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: you're going to get eyes from somebody and that is
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: your next opportunity. And that's really what you're playing for
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: is your next opportunity. Where am I going to go next?
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: What part of the world, what, what, not just your,
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: your playing, what, what life experiences am I going to
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: get in a, in a different area? I mean, it's,
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's not the glamor of the NBA. It's
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: kind of exciting to me. I mean, there's a lot of,
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Worse ways to make a living, trust me.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: I can tell you from.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: Experience than being a globetrotting professional basketball player.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: It's not bad.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: All right, buddy, before I let you go, just wanted
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: to talk about really, really quick and get thoughts on
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Lionel Messi's retirement from international soccer, because, and look, I,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: as somebody who's been really trying to follow soccer over
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: the course of the past few years, we've been talking
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: about the Philadelphia union every now and again on the
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: show this year in this season, not so much because
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: they've had a pretty pitiful season and, But in terms
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: of Lionel Messi, I mean, one of the best of
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: all times. One of the best of all times. Played
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: 207 games for Argentina. Finishes as their all-time leading scorer
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: with 125 goals. 21 of them in the World Cup.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: One of the best soccer players in the world. Of course,
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: that rivalry that he's had with Ronaldo, who has 146 goals. uh,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: goals and has yet to announce his retirement. So when you,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: when you retire, or I should say, when you are
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: just at the pinnacle of your sport, Len, like Lionel
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Messi has been for so many years.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: And what is it?
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: 21 years at this point that he's been in, uh, in,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: in soccer and international play and you leave such a mark.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: And then when you leave, it's like, all right, Who's
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: then going to fill that void? Who is going to
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: fill that that void of not only from a leadership standpoint,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: but also just from a OK, the next up and comer?
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: You know, it's going to be interesting to watch. It's
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: going to be interesting to see. But you did. I
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: thought Messi was going to be here forever. Seriously, I
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: thought he was going to be playing till he was
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: like 50 or something like that. He is nine years old.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't know what your thoughts here.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, look, he's a guy who, you know, I
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: would say most people, if you're putting together a Mount
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: Rushmore of soccer players, I think he's probably going to
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: be on.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: If you polled, you know, a thousand people. he's probably
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: at least on 500 of them's Mount Rushmore. Um, I
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: would say, you know, I, and I think you're, you're
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: probably going to take different errors and you're going to
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: take either him or Cristiano Ronaldo, Cristiano.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: I can't talk. I'm tired.
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: You know who I mean?
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: Um, anyway, um, because there is, uh, I've noticed online,
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: there is definitely sniping factions between Ronaldo's fans and Messi's fans. They, they,
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: they always call the other one a baby or whatever.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: So you're, you're going to pick one of those two
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: and you're probably going to leave the other one off.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: But you know, I, yeah, I think most people have
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: him in their Mount Rushmore of soccer players.
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: I think maybe this, this world cup maybe.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Lost a little bit of luster only because of the
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: way the Argentine team played, how it ended, how, their
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: team looked in defeat against Spain, both on and off
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: the pitch. I think the whole Argentine team kind of
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: left a bad taste in people's mouths. I think there
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: was a lot of things like, oh, the refs helped them.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: FIFA wants them to do well. But he got a
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: World Cup championship, so he's got that. And, you know,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: he even mentioned in his statement, he's like, you know,
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: it's time for me to go. There are people coming
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: up behind me. Is anybody going to be on that level?
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: I don't think so, because it's not fair to expect. But,
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: you know, I'm sure that, you know, I don't know
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: the dates of when Diego Maradona retired and when Messi
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: started with Argentina. But I'm pretty sure there was a
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: gap where you didn't have that extreme level of player,
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: you know, there for the Argentine national team. And there
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: may not be somebody right on deck after Messi goes,
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: but he would know better than I what's in the
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: pipeline for Argentina as far as their national program. So
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: maybe there is somebody coming up behind him that's like, okay,
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: that's the next guy. But it's, I think, a little
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: bit unfair to expect another all-time great to just show
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: up right on the doorstep as you're leaving.
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: It's a lot of pressure for whoever the quote unquote
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: next guy in Argentina is. So it'll be tough. But yeah,
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: I mean, what can you say? All time great player.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: A great way to end before we take a break here,
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: my friend. I know you need to get some sleep there.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: And you got any final thoughts before we get to
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: what we're throwing down the table this week?
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: I actually had it up.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: I just wanted to mention real quick, going back to
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: the Phillies thing real quick. I mean, big month ahead
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: in terms of you got the last two games of
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: this series with Arizona.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: Then you've got four at home against the Braves.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: Monumental series, especially if they're going to try to make
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: a late push to overtake Atlanta. Then you've got three
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: at home against Houston, who's still a decent team. Then
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: you go back to Atlanta for three. So you've got
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: seven games coming up against a team that you are
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: directly chasing.
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: They've got Washington, they've got the Mets.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: And then your last two series of the year are
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: homestands against a really, really good Brewers team and a really,
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: really good Tampa Bay team. So this schedule coming up
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: is not easy. If the Phillies are going to continue
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: to be as hot as they were in August, you're
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: going to have to hand it to them and say
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: they earned it because the schedule coming up is not,
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: you know, full of cupcakes, it's going to be tough. So,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: you know, keep that in mind when you're watching this
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: team over the next month, it's, they've got a, they've
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: got a tough road ahead of them schedule wise.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: So keep an eye out for that.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: All right. Great way to end this here. And we
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: are going to take a break.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: And when we get back tons of Philadelphia Eagles talk
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: as the 53 man roster is now set. We're going
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: to talk to our friend OJ Spivey, but we're going
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: to take that break now. We'll be back in just
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: a bit.
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: And now on the table.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: The Philadelphia Eagles season is right around the corner. And
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: now we are going to be diving into what this
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: 53-man roster looks like with regard to certain units. And
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: to do that with us, joining us from the Philadelphia Tribune,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: he's a good friend of the show. Been too long.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: It has been too long. He has been on. Always
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: love talking to him. Our good friend OJ Spivey. OJ,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: thank you so much, buddy, for taking the time to
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: jump on here. I'm looking forward to the discussion here.
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: Well, thank you, Jeff. I always appreciate you having me
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: on the show. We're close to the season, so let's
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: do it.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Oh, let's do it, man.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: OK, we got to talk about, you know, the the
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: major storyline getting into this 53 man roster. A lot
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: of discussion about various positions, but the quarterback position, for
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: the love of God here, the coaching staff keeping four quarterbacks.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: I just I cannot remember necessarily a time when this happened.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: For quarterbacks of the 53 man roster, but I'm not.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know if this was necessarily the best decision
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: in my opinion. Yes, I'm a fan, not part of
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: this coaching staff, not part of this front office, but
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: I look at times at the, not at times, right
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: now at this particular moment in time, the lack of
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: depth at certain positions on this team, namely the safety position,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: which we're certainly going to be getting into in a bit.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that I'm actually buying Howie's rationale just
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: because it's the most important position in sports. Some of
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: the talent having short-term and long-term value.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Et cetera.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I'm not, I'm just not a big fan of this decision.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: I don't, I don't necessarily think that Andy Dalton needs
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: to be on this team. I'm not necessarily sure that
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Tanner McKee needs to be on this team right now. I,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: I just want to get your thoughts here, OJ on
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: why there are four quarterbacks on this 53 man roster
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: heading into this season.
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: Well, Jeff, I think they're being on that. I kind
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: of agree with you for the most part. But I
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: think they're trying to play it safe. And, you know,
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: as Howie, you know, as he mentioned, playing it close
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: to the vest as far as what they're going to
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: do against Washington.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: It's not likely that, you know, either of these guys
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: are going to play. Right.
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: Jalen Hurts gets injured. But I do think he still
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: has something up his sleeve holding on to these four quarterbacks.
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: And I can understand them keeping Cole Payton. and maybe
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: trying to hide him on a practice squad. So it was, um, because,
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: you know, he's another, um, mid round draft pick that
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: they picked up. And I know McCord didn't work out,
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: you know, the previous year. Um, but going back to
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: Dalton and also Tanner McKee, uh, I still look like
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: it still looks to me like, well, who's going to
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: be the odd man out.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: Um, and I do think that, you know, we still have,
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: you know, a little more, a little less than two weeks, uh,
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: to go before the season starts. Um, And see what's
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: going to go on with other quarterbacks in the league. Like,
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: for example, the Miami Dolphins, they only have Malik Willis
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: on his roster. I didn't check to see if they
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: picked up any other quarterbacks on their practice squad. So
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: maybe that might be an ideal situation to say, hey,
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: you know, Miami may work out a trade with the
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: Eagles or so forth or whatever.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: It could be another team.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: Don't they have McCord as their backup now?
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I believe so. I think he is.
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: But the final cut down, you know, was only Malik Willis. So,
• 26:13
  Speaker 6: I mean, I can see them going with McCord, right?
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: But it all depends what.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: They want to do. But, you know, we're just using
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Miami as an example.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: But I do believe that it's quite possible that they
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: may wait for a trade or may for the right
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: deal to kind of, you know, maybe dump Andy Dalton
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: or Tan McKee, who I believe has fallen out of favor,
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: you know, since last season.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: And neither quarterback really stood out.
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: I mean, although Andy Dalton did kind of move the ball,
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: which a little bit of what we saw with the
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: Sean May and offense with a little bit of play
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: action and bootlegging and you know, all those things. But,
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: you know, I can see why Eagles fans wouldn't feel
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: comfortable with either guy as at this point behind Jalen Hurts.
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: But I do think, you know, maybe a trade would
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: be up Howie Roseman's sleeve.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: All right. Sounds good.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, you know, we've got two Super Bowls, you know,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: over the course of, you know, how many years here?
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: I am going to quote trust the process here with this.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: It's just a little bit bizarre to, It may make sense.
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: It is unusual, but I got, I got to think that's,
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: that's something, you know, it's going.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: To happen along the horizon.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Well, let's move to the wide receiver room here, OJ,
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: because the wide receiver room is in the storyline surrounding.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: It is something that I just can't wait to see
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: manifest over the course of this season. Eagles kept six
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: wide receivers. Four of them are new to this team.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: And again, like when it comes to certain talent in
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: the wide receiver room, Elijah Moore, Dontavian Wicks on the
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: field catching balls this season.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: I can't wait to see them.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: But when it comes to Makai Lemon, of course, first-round
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: draft pick, there are certainly some question marks because of
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: his injury in camp and the preseason. I guess the
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: question is, how might he develop this season from what
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: you have seen, from what you have heard? What are
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: your thoughts on this wide receiver room and that chemistry?
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: That chemistry that is always so important, especially to Jalen Hurts.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: And we know that Hertz has definitely developed some chemistry
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: with some of these new wide receivers as well. How
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: do you think that that chemistry is going to manifest itself,
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: not only with some of these new wide receivers, but
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: specifically with Makai Lemon as well?
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I know, you know, some fans were kind of
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: scooped with what they saw in the preseason against Cincinnati.
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: But I put that in perspective because that was Makai
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: Lemon's first live action in the NFL.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: And, you know, he struggled a bit.
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: I mean, he dropped the pass, which ended up being
• 28:50
  Speaker 6: picked off.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: He muffed the punt. So, you know, those are probably
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: some rookie jitters.
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: And, you know, if you want a player to have
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: rookie jitters, you want them to have it in the
• 29:01
  Speaker 6: preseason and not, you know, week one against Washington. But,
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: you know, I would give him a little bit of
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: a little bit of grace from his first time being
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: on the field. And as far as the chemistry, you
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: mentioned it, Jeff. I mean, Jalen worked out with most
• 29:17
  Speaker 6: of these guys in the offseason. And, you know, that
• 29:20
  Speaker 6: says a lot about him to take the initiative.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Knowing that four of the six wide receivers are
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: new guys, right?
• 29:28
  Speaker 6: So, you know, whether it's, like I said, Hollywood Brown,
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: Darius Cooper, Elijah Moore, you know, that's going to be
• 29:37
  Speaker 6: very important.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: It was very important. for Jalen to work out with
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: these guys.
• 29:41
  Speaker 6: And, you know, it's, it's, it's going to be interesting
• 29:45
  Speaker 6: to see, you know, how good these guys are because,
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: you know, as much as we've talked about, you know,
• 29:51
  Speaker 6: AJ Brown over the past few months before he was traded,
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: he's going to be hard to replace.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, everybody can, can agree with that.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: Production with his ability, his athleticism. But I'm really high
• 30:04
  Speaker 6: on Dontavion Wicks. I'm really high on him. I believe
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: that he can plug into that number two, that wide
• 30:12
  Speaker 6: receiver two position. And even though he's not as big
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: as A.J. Brown, I think he does have the strength
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: and some of the abilities that Brown has.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: And I think he's reliable at catching the ball as well.
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: So I'm expecting a lot of big things from And
• 30:29
  Speaker 6: we'll just see if guys like Lemon and, you know,
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: we have still have some speed with Hollywood Brown and
• 30:35
  Speaker 6: then the other guys collectively will be a productive unit
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: because they're going to need to be.
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. They're going to need to be. And speaking of receivers, as.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: We are moving on, I would I'd like to move
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: over to the tight end room and what this room
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: now looks like as we now have this 53 man
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: roster heading into this regular season. I guess another surprise here.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: They kept four tight ends. At least it was for me.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: I'm a bit surprised that E.J. Jenkins made the 53
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: man roster. And look, we know that blocking tight ends
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: are going to be critical in Sean Mannion's offense. But
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I wanted to get your thoughts on this coaching staff
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: keeping four tight ends, OJ. Again, you mentioned earlier what
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: we've been seeing from this offense, a lot of bootlegs
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: and the need and the necessity for some really good
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: blockers within this Sean Mannion offense here.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts on them keeping four tight ends here?
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: Well, for one, you hope that Dallas Goddard stays healthy.
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: This could be his final season here in Philadelphia. And thankfully,
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: they did keep him. And then you have Eli Stowers,
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: who's a high draft pick. But, you know, he hadn't
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: necessarily had a good camp or a good preseason.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: But, you know, I didn't see some people wanted, you know,
• 31:57
  Speaker 6: the Eagles to maybe part with him.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: But that was going to be a realistic move. Right.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: Not for a second round pick.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right. Exactly.
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: So I think they're going to probably bring him along
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: slowly and just see how he evolves with this offense.
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: You don't know or you really haven't seen much about
• 32:14
  Speaker 6: Johnny Munt, but he's known as being a good blocker. And,
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: you know, I'm wondering who that second pass catcher is
• 32:20
  Speaker 6: going to be out of the tight position.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Will that be EJ Jenkins?
• 32:24
  Speaker 6: And that's probably why maybe they kept a fourth tight end. But,
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: you know, so I'm in preseason. I remember him dropping
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: a pass and all. But, you know, I try not
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: to get too. you know, up and down about preseason because.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: It is what it is. Right, right.
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: You know, it's extortion for the fans, but that's a
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: whole other story. But, you know, I could see why they,
• 32:46
  Speaker 6: you know, they kept four tight ends. You know, as
• 32:48
  Speaker 6: puzzling as it was that they kept four robberies, I mean,
• 32:52
  Speaker 6: four quarterbacks, I could see the logic in the tight
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: end position because they definitely needed to draft one. And
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: I know, again, nobody, not everybody's high on Stowers, but
• 33:03
  Speaker 6: hopefully he will come along. And you just hope that E.J.
• 33:06
  Speaker 6: Jenkins will be that second pass catcher for now.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: The transition to the NFL is a tough thing. It
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: is in sports going from college football in certain programs
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: in college to the NFL. it is tough and not
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: everybody is able to make that transition seamlessly at the
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: drop of a hat. So I think that's something we
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: have to keep in mind, OJ. I think that's basically
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: what you're talking about here, especially when it comes to
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Eli Stowers. Uh, but, uh, that being said, my friend, um,
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: let everybody know where they can find you on socials
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: here before we take a break. If you want to
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: get that out there and where they can find you
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: on the interwebs.
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: Of course.
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: Uh, so I'm always on, um, Twitter X, if you
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: will call it that, uh, at OJ Philly and also
• 33:47
  Speaker 6: all the other socials, uh, I'm on threads. I'm on
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: blue sky as well.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Instagram.
• 33:54
  Speaker 6: And you can always find my work at philly trip.com
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: where I'm a sports columnist. And I have a usual
• 34:01
  Speaker 6: weekly column. Do some other things here and there, but
• 34:04
  Speaker 6: you can always find my work at philly trip.com as well.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: A great, great follow on the socials out there, folks.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Always a great follow. Absolutely.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: Just, just search out OJ Spivey on your browser and
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: you're going to find a ton of great stuff. So,
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: All right, we're going to take a break, and when
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: we get back, we're going to talk a little bit
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: more about.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: The offense, O-line depth.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: We're certainly going to be getting into the defense.
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: We're going to talk about the safety position. Stick around.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: We'll be right back.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: All right, we are back with our good buddy O.J.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Spivey from the Philadelphia Tribune, and just search him out online,
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: like we mentioned right before the break.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: Follow him on the socials.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: He is a great, great follow, and as we are
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: moving along with this conversation today, And before moving to
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: the defense, I want to get your thoughts on the
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: offensive line depth, OJ, because I don't think it's a
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: surprise they kept 10 offensive linemen.
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: They usually do.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: It's somewhere in that neck of the woods year after year.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: I wonder what your level of confidence is in the
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: O-line depth of some of the starters like Lane Johnson
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: or Landon Dickerson miss a few games this coming season.
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: Lane Johnson hasn't played a full entire season.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: Regular season in God knows how many years at this point.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: And we know that Landon Dickerson, Cam Juergens were often
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: injured and just dealing with some.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: Stuff last year.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: So what are your thoughts here on the depth and
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: what's your confidence in the O-line depth here if something
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: happens to some of these starters?
• 35:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think having 10 offensive linemen, Jeff, is really
• 35:34
  Speaker 6: self-explanatory because of just what you mentioned. You know, you
• 35:39
  Speaker 6: really can't count on You know, I would say not
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: counting one. Of course, when he plays, he's he's always
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: been elite for the most part.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Lane Johnson. Yep. He misses games.
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: And, you know, more importantly, you know, how does how
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: does Cam Jurgens come back? How does Landon Dickerson come back?
• 35:57
  Speaker 6: Are they fully healed from their injuries? And then you
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: look at the depth.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I'm really high on Marco Bell.
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: I mean, obviously he's a big dude, this huge dude,
• 36:09
  Speaker 6: and he seemed to have held his own during the
• 36:11
  Speaker 6: preseason and in camp. And then you have the other
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: guys such as Morris Kendall, who's familiar, you know, with this,
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: with this franchise, with this team.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: And then you have the.
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: Little guy, Lampkin, who, you know, he, what he lacks
• 36:27
  Speaker 6: in size, he makes up.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: In heart and, and, Such intensity.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. A lot of intensity.
• 36:33
  Speaker 6: And, you know, I felt a little shaky about, you know,
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: what is this offensive line depth going to be as
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: we were playing? as we were going in to analyze
• 36:44
  Speaker 6: a training camp, but I feel pretty good about it.
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: You know, who knows how well they'll do. And they
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: still have Fred Johnson as well. And, you know, I
• 36:53
  Speaker 6: was a bit of surprised for some that he still
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: made the team. But, you know, I feel pretty good
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: about it because obviously we don't know how good these
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: guys will be, but at least they have a plan
• 37:07
  Speaker 6: and they do have some depth and they have some
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: guys who, You know, they could plug in here and there. And,
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: you know, hopefully they will be reliable, at least with
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: Fred Johnson. We'll see how much he has left with Kendall.
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: But again, I'm really high on Markel Bell because he
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: looked like he could be a player. And hopefully, you know,
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: we kind of pray that, you know, perhaps he is
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: Lane Johnson's successor at right tackle.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: That's the hope for sure.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I guess I hadn't planned on asking
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: you this, but we were talking about it on the
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: podcast last week, Eric and I were, when it comes
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: to the development of the offensive linemen, these younger guys
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: that we know are going to need to take some
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: steps forward, perhaps in the future, if they are to
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: remain with this team, it's seen, I do wonder because
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: I haven't heard much about the fact that Jeff Stoutland
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: has not been there and what that has meant for
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: the development of, these younger players on the offensive line, OJ,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: I wonder, you know, it, it seems like it's been
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: a seamless transition perhaps. And maybe that's why we haven't
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: necessarily heard a lot of storylines coming out of camp
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: to say, Oh, wow. Oh, line depth. Things are looking
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: a little rough. Jeff Stoutland's not here.
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: Oh boy.
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: We haven't really heard that at all.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: Do you think not to having Jeff Stoutland there has
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: been an issue? Has it been kind of seamless in
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: terms of the coaching? From the offensive line perspective.
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: Well, I've gone by what what the players have said.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 38:41
  Speaker 6: Johnson, Jordan, my lot, Alain Dickerson and so forth. They're
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: enjoying this change. They're enjoying this switch with Eric Casper
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: as a new offensive line coach. And we may not
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: know a lot about Casper himself, but we know about,
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: we're familiar about the new scheme that they're incorporating.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: It's more finesse. It's more of his own blocking scheme.
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: And, you know, it goes back to, you know, the
• 39:08
  Speaker 6: family Shanahan, you know, Kyle Shanahan. And before that, you know,
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: his father, Mike, you know, who made it famous with
• 39:16
  Speaker 6: the Denver Broncos, you know, you, Think of guys like,
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: you know, Mark Slareff and, you know, back in the day.
• 39:21
  Speaker 6: And they're looking forward to it, even though it's more finesse.
• 39:27
  Speaker 6: They feel like that they have a lot more control.
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: of what they can do on the line and try
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: to mold guys. And again, you know, you just hope
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: that physically they can hold up. But from what they've
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: told us or what they've told the media, per se,
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: is that. this is going to be a blocking scheme
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: or a new blocking philosophy where it could possibly prolong
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: some of their careers.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's fantastic.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: It's great news from what the players are absolutely saying.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: And I'm going to shift gears here and head over
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: to the defense now because a topic we've been.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: Talking about and I've been talking about a lot is
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: the safety position.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: After losing Reed Blankenship last season, in free agency, Andrew
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: Makuba having an up and down rookie season. And then
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: of course getting injured towards the end of last year,
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: there are now only three safeties on this roster. And
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be so incredibly critical for
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: Andrew Makuba to take that next big step in his
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: early career and really help solidify this defensive backfield. And
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: I do wonder OJ, if Howie and the front office,
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: maybe try to bring in another safety at some point
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: to enhance this depth or, to get another maybe top
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: tier type of safety. What are your thoughts on how
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: the safety position has played out and what may come
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: of it this season?
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they probably wouldn't want to go out
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and get another safety.
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: But, you know, you have to ask the question, who's
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: really out there, especially from a top tier standpoint. And,
• 41:01
  Speaker 6: you know, great players usually don't get moved unless there's
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: some type of contract situation or whatever.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: You know, the guy's unhappy and so forth.
• 41:10
  Speaker 6: But you mentioned Makuba having that up and down season and,
• 41:14
  Speaker 6: you know, him coming back from an injury. I mean,
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: he really has to be the leader of that safety
• 41:20
  Speaker 6: core now. Unless, you know, you throw Michael Carter in there, but,
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: you know, he's not.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Expected to be the starter. Actually, Marcus Epps is really
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: the elder statesman.
• 41:30
  Speaker 6: He has the core who actually played well last year
• 41:34
  Speaker 6: when he picked them up, I believe, midseason sort of. But,
• 41:39
  Speaker 6: you know, you do kind of ask the question, can
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: you rely on him for the entire season? So perhaps
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: they may, you know, go out and get a safety.
• 41:47
  Speaker 6: But again, I've asked the question. who's out there. But
• 41:50
  Speaker 6: I do believe Kuba, even though he's on the smaller side,
• 41:54
  Speaker 6: he's a little smaller for my liking at the safety position.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: But he is a playmaker. He is athletic.
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: And let's say if a guy like Marcus Epps can
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: kind of hold his own at one position and, you know,
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: kind of mirror, you know, what you lost and re-blankenship,
• 42:12
  Speaker 6: you just hope that they can, you know, hold themselves together.
• 42:17
  Speaker 6: Because you think... With the cornerback position, you've got Coyne Mitchell,
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: of course.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: Weak Wollin, who I think has the potential to have
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: a really big year.
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's actually a contract-approving year for him.
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 42:30
  Speaker 6: Then, you know, let's not forget Cooper Dejean, even though
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: he is the Eagles' de facto nickel corner. Vic Fangio
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: has all but said if they're in base, well, you know,
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: teams don't play a whole lot of base. But in,
• 42:46
  Speaker 6: you know, situations where there is a base– uh, defense, uh,
• 42:50
  Speaker 6: he will be, he will probably be the other safety,
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: but we'll.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: See what happens.
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: Um, and you know, again, um, how we always have
• 42:59
  Speaker 6: something up his sleeve, but it just all depends on
• 43:01
  Speaker 6: what's available.
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: And, uh, you know, what happens in the secondary is
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: really dependent on what happens on the defensive line at
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: the end of the day.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: And I think when it.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: Comes to this defensive line, you know, whether they're, whether
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: they're clogging the gaps, whether they're trying to get to
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: opposing quarterbacks via the pass rush. There's definitely some dominance
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: on this defensive line, of course, with Jalen Carter, Maura Ojomo,
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: Jordan Davis, just to name a few, of course. But
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: I do wonder if we're going to end up seeing
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: any players, OJ, coming off the edge who could be a, quote,
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: sack threat.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: This coming season.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: And I'm wondering, do you see players like Nolan Smith
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: or J Alex Hunt, or even Jonathan Grenard, when he
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: is able to possibly take the field and it may
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: take some time, you know, for us to see that
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: manifest with him, but really being able to take that
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: next step in terms of being that sack threat.
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts here to close us out?
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's an excellent question, Jeff, because we
• 44:01
  Speaker 6: don't know how long Renard is going to be out.
• 44:03
  Speaker 6: I mean, you know, Eagles haven't told us anything. I mean,
• 44:06
  Speaker 6: Vic Fangio is probably the most honest of the group.
• 44:09
  Speaker 6: He didn't seem very optimistic that Renard is going to
• 44:13
  Speaker 6: be available week one.
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: But in case that he doesn't, I believe in J.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Lux Hunt. You know, I think he's.
• 44:20
  Speaker 6: Played well and he has evolved by being, you know,
• 44:24
  Speaker 6: what many people thought was a project.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Coming out of college.
• 44:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 44:29
  Speaker 6: But I think, you know, mentioned Nolan Smith. He has
• 44:33
  Speaker 6: to have a big year, you know, rushing a quarterback. And,
• 44:36
  Speaker 6: you know, I know he had a bit of a
• 44:39
  Speaker 6: low last year, you know, didn't do too much, but
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: he has to have a big year. And I think
• 44:43
  Speaker 6: there's a contract for him, this contract year for him also.
• 44:47
  Speaker 6: You know, whether he's going to be extended or not.
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: And I don't think they picked up a fifth year
• 44:51
  Speaker 6: option for him yet. I don't think so. They're going
• 44:56
  Speaker 6: to have to get some production from from Nolan Smith.
• 45:02
  Speaker 6: But I do believe in J.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: Look, son. But then you look at their other linebackers, too.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: And the kid. Well, he's not a kid, but, you know,
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: a few years in Buffalo.
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: They're kids compared to us, OJ.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Exactly, exactly. But Epinesa, I think they're really high on him.
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: You know, someone who can maybe come in in certain
• 45:21
  Speaker 6: past situations and, you know, try to rush the passer.
• 45:24
  Speaker 6: I mean, he's more, I guess, been known as a
• 45:27
  Speaker 6: coverage guy. But, you know, it's a reason why they
• 45:30
  Speaker 6: have him on the roster. You talk about roster construction.
• 45:33
  Speaker 6: You know, they kept him too, which is interesting, you know,
• 45:36
  Speaker 6: picking him up from the bill. So we'll see what
• 45:39
  Speaker 6: type of contribution he'll make. But starting with Hunt, Starting
• 45:43
  Speaker 6: with Smith, I believe Hunt will have a good year,
• 45:46
  Speaker 6: but they really need to get the production out of
• 45:48
  Speaker 6: Nolan Smith.
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: Folks, he is OJ Spivey from the Philadelphia Tribune. Search
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: him out on the interwebs if you want to connect
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: with him. He's on Blue Sky Threads, Twitter slash X.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: Just search him out. You're going to find him out
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: there and all of his great work, again, that he
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: does over at the Philadelphia Tribune. My friend, it was
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: so great talking to you. Always enjoy our conversations. Let's
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: do this at some point again down the road. I'd
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: love to have you back on the show.
• 46:15
  Speaker 6: Absolutely, Jeff. Always fun being on the show and my pleasure.
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: And that's going to do it for us this week.
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: Make sure to share the Philadelphia sports table podcast show
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: with your friends and family members who may be Philly
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: sports fans. You can always head on over to Philadelphia
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: sports table.com to access all of our podcasts or any
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: major podcast platform on your device. We appreciate our guests
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: taking the time to join us every week to help
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: make this podcast happen and to give us great content.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: And ultimately we appreciate you take care and have a
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: great week and we'll catch you next time.
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: Thank you.