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Football at Four: Updating A.J. Brown Situation With Eagles and Thoughts on NFL Free Agency · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And Football for is powered by the Inside the Birds podcast.
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  Speaker 1: It's brought to you by our friends at Ocean Casino
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  Speaker 1: Resort and the Fanatics Sports Book. March Madness is on
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  Speaker 1: the way. You can check out all the madness at
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  Speaker 1: the Fanatics Sports Book. Jeff Bocher is on the way
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and he joins me right now on the Sports Bash.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: A week from today, Jeff Moscher will be the start
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: of the legal tampering and we will start to get
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a better picture of what this Eagles roster will look like.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: And everybody wants to know what happens with AJ Brown
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  Speaker 1: and over the weekend and after the combine, have you
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: put together any new thoughts about AJ brown future in Philadelphia.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: It's good to see you, man, I haven't seen you
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  Speaker 1: in a while.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, how about that. Welcome back to this side of
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  Speaker 2: the world. I hope you enjoyed your vacation. Not much
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: has change, Mike since you left for Egypt. To be
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  Speaker 2: honest with you, there's still a lot of AJ.
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  Speaker 3: Brown trade innuendo. And the way it is is this.
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  Speaker 2: The Eagles get there, get an offer that how he
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  Speaker 2: just can't refuse. They'll make a trade. That's what I
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  Speaker 2: truly believe that's what Howie has said, and I believe
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  Speaker 2: him on that.
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  Speaker 1: Like you think he's not.
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  Speaker 3: Gonna give him away, They're not just gonna give him away.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think they want to trade him?
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  Speaker 4: Well, like we're if there were no financial ramifications and
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  Speaker 4: it was just we trade you because we're over this.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I mean no, they want to have him
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  Speaker 2: play and be a productive member of the team. But
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  Speaker 2: they when you say do they want to trade him?
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  Speaker 2: If they were offered a pretty good pick, a first
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  Speaker 2: round pick, a high second round pick, I think yeah,
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  Speaker 2: then they want to trade him to a get that
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  Speaker 2: competition and b.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but they don't want to do that deal. For
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Devonte Smith, well, a little.
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  Speaker 3: Bit of different situation.
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  Speaker 2: Devonte Smith is younger, he doesn't have a chronic knee issue.
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  Speaker 2: He hasn't really been disappointed or at least vocally with
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  Speaker 2: the offense.
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  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, He's he's already made.
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  Speaker 2: Let's see, he's what about to be in the year
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  Speaker 2: three year or two or three of an extension, So
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  Speaker 2: less money is you know, he's not nearly as expensive
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  Speaker 2: as a J.
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  Speaker 3: Brown's cap numbers, So there's a big.
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  Speaker 2: Difference in that Okay, but I think that they I
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  Speaker 2: think that they would just love for AJ Brown to
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  Speaker 2: be absolutely happy, thrilled, healthy all the time and giving
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  Speaker 2: fourteen hundred yard.
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  Speaker 3: Seasons to the Eagles. But that hasn't been the case
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  Speaker 3: the last two years.
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  Speaker 1: So do they want to put would they move on
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  Speaker 1: from him because they're sick of the drama or because
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  Speaker 1: they're trying to get out ahead of the decline?
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  Speaker 2: You know, they would probably they would probably say b
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  Speaker 2: over a because that's great damage control. But obviously, you know,
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  Speaker 2: if a guy doesn't want to be it's kind of
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  Speaker 2: like the Carson Wentz situation, right, well, a little bit
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  Speaker 2: not not exactly the same, but remember when how he
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  Speaker 2: said that, you know, like Carson was like a finger
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  Speaker 2: on his hand, like he can't imagine not having it,
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  Speaker 2: and then he went.
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  Speaker 3: And traded him.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, if a guy doesn't want to play for you
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  Speaker 2: and isn't going to be happy, you don't want that
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  Speaker 2: around your organization.
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  Speaker 3: You'd rather have.
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  Speaker 2: Him wanting to play, wanting to be happy, and believing
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  Speaker 2: he can flourish in your organization.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what. Are we at the point
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  Speaker 1: then where we think aj without saying I want to
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  Speaker 1: be traded, would prefer to be traded.
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  Speaker 3: I think we're at that point.
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  Speaker 1: Well, is it because then Jeff he doesn't want to
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  Speaker 1: be here, He doesn't want to be with the Philadelphia
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  Speaker 1: Eagles because a lot of people just would think, well,
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  Speaker 1: now that they change the offense, is he more excited
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  Speaker 1: about being here that he didn't really like? Not like
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  Speaker 1: like I hate you, I don't like you, I don't
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  Speaker 1: like this guy, I don't like the coach. It was
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  Speaker 1: more I just don't like the offense. Or is that
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  Speaker 1: not accurate?
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  Speaker 2: Now you know some of that stuff. AJ has to
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  Speaker 2: answer for himself. You know, even the closest people to
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  Speaker 2: him are going to come out and reveal that information publicly.
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  Speaker 2: I think he obviously runs the risk, right if you say,
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  Speaker 2: I get me out of here, I want to be traded,
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  Speaker 2: you get you run the rest of getting traded to
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  Speaker 2: the Browns, well, you know, or another team that's not
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  Speaker 2: very good. But the way he's gone about it this offseason,
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  Speaker 2: by being very gentle with his words, and even the
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  Speaker 2: Patriots podcast he did with Edelman got totally blown.
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  Speaker 3: Out of proportion. That was that was kidding around.
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  Speaker 1: And why, like I look at it is like Aj.
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  Speaker 1: It's almost like the Aaron Rodgers stuff. Rodgers just love
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  Speaker 1: the attention and he always likes to kind of get
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  Speaker 1: like everybody talks about him in the offseason. Is he
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  Speaker 1: gonna come back? Where's he gonna go? I feel like
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  Speaker 1: AJ just kind of likes kind of play with people.
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  Speaker 1: He just kind of likes messing with everybody.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
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  Speaker 2: I just can tell that he really The big thing
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  Speaker 2: with Aj Brown is and he even said this after
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  Speaker 2: they won the Super Bowl. For him, it's not winning
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  Speaker 2: is the ultimate thing, but it's also feeling like he
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  Speaker 2: contributed to that win. He wants to feel like he's
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  Speaker 2: getting paid this amount of money and has achieved this
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  Speaker 2: kind of stardom for a reason, and that reason needs
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  Speaker 2: to be part of the blueprint of why a team wins.
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  Speaker 2: I'm careful, I'm straddling on I'm trying to say it's
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  Speaker 2: all about him, because I don't think it is. But
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  Speaker 2: I think that he treated his mind. It is his
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  Speaker 2: job and duty to catch touchdowns and may be impactful
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  Speaker 2: and make a lot of plays to contribute to a
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  Speaker 2: win and winning the way the Eagles have done it
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  Speaker 2: has they've won, but I think he hates the ugliness
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  Speaker 2: of it because he feels like he could do more.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he should be.
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  Speaker 2: It shouldn't be ugly, it should be piece of cake.
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  Speaker 2: If they could get the ball more and do more things.
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  Speaker 1: Well, he had good numbers during a three game losing
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  Speaker 1: streak and they lost three games.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a little bit of a small samples side,
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  Speaker 3: but yes.
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  Speaker 1: Just say, you know, Jeff Boscher for the Inside the
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Birds podcast, You guys are gonna have a busy season
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  Speaker 1: coming off, obviously with re agency starting next week. Do
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  Speaker 1: we think that a decision on AJ Brown will come
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  Speaker 1: during the next week.
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  Speaker 2: Then it doesn't have to That certainly doesn't have to
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  Speaker 2: by the end of the draft, I think is more
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  Speaker 2: more likely to get your point, because teams spend money.
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  Speaker 2: Remember the team that acquires AJ Brown, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: Eagles are gonna have to take the dead cap, so
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  Speaker 2: it's not like it's going to be you know, as
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  Speaker 2: costly for the team that acquires aj And then they
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  Speaker 2: might give him an extension.
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  Speaker 3: Anyway, and that could lower a cap number.
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  Speaker 2: And it depends depends on who's acquiring them and what
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  Speaker 2: kind of business gets done after that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean, so, I guess the question would be,
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  Speaker 1: is it more likely to happen during like this free
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  Speaker 1: agent period because of that or closer to the draft.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I mean that just depends on what teams think that
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  Speaker 2: they can get what they're looking for, you know, whether
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  Speaker 2: or not their first offer, if they make one a
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  Speaker 2: satisfactory to Howie Roseman.
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  Speaker 1: Some reports have suggested a first round pick and then
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  Speaker 1: a top one hundred pick. Does that clue you in
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  Speaker 1: Jeff to say, that's them asking high and hoping they
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  Speaker 1: get something a little bit below that.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely sure, that's what you're supposed to do.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, but so a lot of the people said, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: they've called, and the the ask is unserious, which then
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  Speaker 1: makes you gonna say, well, they don't really want to
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  Speaker 1: treat them. But it's unseerious at first until you make
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  Speaker 1: the second call.
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  Speaker 3: I'll call you, That's what I'm saying.
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  Speaker 2: It's only unserious until you realize that the Eagles aren't
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  Speaker 2: giving them away, and then you got to make your
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  Speaker 2: best deal. And then you get these gms who start
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  Speaker 2: to really think about like, ah, man, I know I'm
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  Speaker 2: getting played here, but but imagine what aj Brown could
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  Speaker 2: do for my team. If I'm like, I don't know
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  Speaker 2: the New England Patriots or the Buffalo Bills.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think, Jeff Mosher that the decline is coming?
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  Speaker 3: Hard to say, You know, we did.
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  Speaker 2: We did some on inside the Birds some investigation into
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  Speaker 2: that this year from an analytics standpoint, and there were
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  Speaker 2: some certain there were some signs including separation yards per target,
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  Speaker 2: like an analytic there that suggests a pretty Actually that
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  Speaker 2: was like a drop off by a yard over two
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  Speaker 2: to three years ago. So there is evidence to suggest
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  Speaker 2: that it's just that it's lacking in I think entirety context.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, he is older, like it's
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  Speaker 2: it's not.
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  Speaker 1: I asked that question. I asked that question with some reason.
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  Speaker 1: You know, he's had a great run. But like many
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  Speaker 1: others Jones and Devonte Adams and DeAndre Hopkins and these
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  Speaker 1: big physical guys go on these like five to seven
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  Speaker 1: year runs. Yeah, and then all of a sudden, it's
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  Speaker 1: like your fifteen hundred yards and then you're four hundred
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  Speaker 1: yards and you never come back.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think he's dropped off that much yet, and
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  Speaker 2: he hasn't taken the kind of abuse that like a
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  Speaker 2: Julio Jones took and I think Hopkins wound up having.
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  Speaker 3: A tear of something at some point.
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  Speaker 1: Well, but that's what happens to these guys, Jeff. They're older,
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  Speaker 1: they get hurt, and then they.
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  Speaker 3: Just can't come back. That's fair.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, that's always a possibility. There's no doubt that
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  Speaker 2: someone that trades for him has to worry about that.
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  Speaker 2: Plus he does have the the issues with his and
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  Speaker 2: in the hamstring that caused him to miss some time,
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  Speaker 2: So there's there's that for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and listen, you you mentioned.
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  Speaker 2: I just I just don't know if the analytics that
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  Speaker 2: I was referring to that sort of showed decline.
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  Speaker 3: You have to take the context of the offense. Excuse me.
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  Speaker 2: If you're running certain types of routes that don't allow
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  Speaker 2: for yards after the catcher separation, then your numbers are
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  Speaker 2: going to be down after that.
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  Speaker 1: I got some text messages. One of them says, the
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  Speaker 1: AJA conversation is so frustrating because AJ is frustrated with
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  Speaker 1: the quarterback play, but no one is willing to admit it.
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  Speaker 1: Is that fair?
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  Speaker 3: What do you mean no one's been We talk about
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  Speaker 3: it all the time.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I don't understand who people think are not willing
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  Speaker 2: to admit that.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we say that throughout the season.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, if you're not happy with the passing offense, there's
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  Speaker 2: one person who's most responsible for it.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Well, then that seems that the Eagles obviously would
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  Speaker 1: pick the quarterback over the receiver. Of course, Well, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know that there's.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know that old right, But I'm saying I
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  Speaker 1: don't know that the fans would be so laissez fais.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, I think there's people out there that would
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  Speaker 1: choose the receiver over the quarterback.
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  Speaker 3: Well that's great, tell me who's going to be the quarterback.
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  Speaker 3: You know, let's be fair.
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  Speaker 2: It's much much much easier to replace an Apperson wide
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  Speaker 2: receiver than it is Apperson quarterback.
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  Speaker 3: That's just the reality situation. Yep.
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  Speaker 1: I bet you if you started a conversation right now
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and said, hey, would you rather Kyler Murray or some
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  Speaker 1: of the guys that might be free, I wouldn't be
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: shocked if there were people listening that would say I
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  Speaker 1: take my chances with somebody different. Not saying I'm not
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: speaking for me to say, do you agree.
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  Speaker 2: That a team would Oh, you mean like a team
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: the Eagles would take their chances with Kyler Murray and.
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  Speaker 3: Key JJ Brown.
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the listeners.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, I mean, I'm sure listen, I've done. There's two
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  Speaker 3: minds that I don't want to be trying to figure out.
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  Speaker 3: I'll speak for and try to figure out. One is
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  Speaker 3: AJ Brown's. The other is the listener.
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  Speaker 2: Whether it's the silent or the loud minority or the
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  Speaker 2: silent Madraw I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: I don't want to be a part of it.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I'm saying the inside of the Bird's podcast listener, the
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: sports bashed listener, people out there saying I'd rather go
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  Speaker 1: with Kyler Murray and keep AJ Brown then stick with
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts and lose AJ Brown.
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  Speaker 2: I would think I'm gonna give a lot of the
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: fans a lot of credit. I would think that that
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  Speaker 2: faction is a lot smaller and less real reasonable than
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: people who are even people who are down on Jalen Hurts.
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  Speaker 2: I think realize how hard it would be to replace him,
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  Speaker 2: as opposed to just getting another good wide receiver in and.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: Becoming a good rushing offense again.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: So maybe you don't need fourteen hundred yards out of
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: your ex receiver.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to say Jared Johnson, by the way,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: another coach that they interviewed for the offensive coordinator job.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: They've got three guys here who they interviewed for that job.
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  Speaker 1: They got off three of them. Does this really hammer
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: home that this offense is about to change? Oh?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think.
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  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think these new additions hammer at home.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's already been hammered home. They're just adding
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: to the coaching staff. But yeah, you're going to see
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  Speaker 2: a different offense. It's already been acknowledged.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Nick and Howie had a session with some Pete reporters
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: before they went to the combine. Then they went to
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: the combine and both spoken, you know, in all the
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: words it comes out. New offense, zone blocking, motion, play, action, marrying.
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  Speaker 3: The biggest thing they want to do, Mike is they
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: still want to.
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  Speaker 2: Be a team that runs the ball a lot and
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  Speaker 2: effectively like they used to.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: But they want to run it.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: They want to have a passing game that works off
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: of it better than it has in the past. They
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: don't want to be run the ball and shot play offense.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: They want to have a nice marriage between the two coins.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe they've had that conversation with AJ. Hey, we
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: brought a new offense in, but don't expect us to
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: throw the ball forty times a game. And then he says, Okay,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: then you can move me if you like.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Now, I don't even know if it's volume.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, like the forty nine Ers run the ball,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: the Vikings ran the ball, and Justin Jefferson still got his,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: and you know George Kittle will still get his.
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  Speaker 3: Like there's room for.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Two guys to still catch a lot of passes even
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: in these uh you know, run heavy or run first
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: type offenses. I mean a couple of years ago when
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: the Niners went to the Super Bowl, I mean you
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: had Debo, George Kittle and Brandon I you all tearing
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: it up so and McCaffrey, right, So there's plenty of
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: room in these.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Real quick, I know, you got to get out of here.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that the running back is more involved
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: in the pass game? Now you just mentioned McCaffrey. He
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: comes from that obviously Shanahan offense.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean one's a good pass catcher when you
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: dump the ball to him.
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  Speaker 3: But he's no Christian McCaffrey. He drops too many passes
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: to be Christian McCaffrey.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: And as everyone routes like Christian McCaffrey, he's above average,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: but he's not.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Like there's very few that are right.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: The Eagles have like what, eight losses over the last
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: three years, and two of them happened to be with
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley dropping a pass that probably would have sealed
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: gains for them. Jeff Boscher from the Inside of the
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Birds podcast. They have plenty set up for free agency,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: which begins a week from today. We'll be all over
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: it right here on the Sports Matter. We'll talk more
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: free agency with Jeff on Wednesday. Thanks man, you got