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The NFL Draft Is Coming & The Union Are Stinky! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:42
Speaker 1: All right, folks, welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
0:45
Speaker 1: the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world,
0:48
Speaker 1: just about thirteen years we've been doing. This podcast is
0:52
Speaker 1: coming April. It's great to be in your ears. If
0:54
Speaker 1: you're listening listening to the podcast show on whatever audio
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Speaker 1: podcast platform you are listening to us on you're watching
1:01
Speaker 1: on YouTube, Hello to you. Hope you're doing well, Share
1:04
Speaker 1: and subscribe out there. We'd greatly greatly appreciate it. I'm
1:08
Speaker 1: Jeff Warren and we got a bit of a different
1:11
Speaker 1: show this week as we are starting off specifically talking
1:15
Speaker 1: about the NFL Draft coming up, talent within this draft,
1:18
Speaker 1: and we've got one of our great friends from A
1:20
Speaker 1: to Z Sports. He specifically hones in on the NFL
1:23
Speaker 1: Draft NFL content as well, our good friend Joe Dalleone.
1:27
Speaker 1: But my friend, how you doing and thanks so much
1:29
Speaker 1: for jumping on doing great.
1:32
Speaker 2: It's been a little bit slow in the regard of
1:35
Speaker 2: draft commentary, but there's been just so much happening in
1:38
Speaker 2: the NFL world absolutely that has made it super chaotic.
1:41
Speaker 2: As the month of Bark Joways is before the draft
1:44
Speaker 2: kicks off at.
1:45
Speaker 1: The end of April, yep. Absolutely, we're gonna get into
1:47
Speaker 1: a bunch of draft talk, but really quick, and honestly,
1:50
Speaker 1: I didn't give you the topics with regard to free agency,
1:52
Speaker 1: but it's been crazy. Free agency has been absolutely crazy
1:55
Speaker 1: in the NFL this year. I feel like it's been
1:56
Speaker 1: a little more insane, and maybe it's because of the
1:58
Speaker 1: Max Crosby storyline. I just think it's been absolutely insane
2:02
Speaker 1: what's been happening in free agency here.
2:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's been a lot of money spent across the board,
2:07
Speaker 2: and I feel like there's a lot of teams that
2:09
Speaker 2: have been very, very aggressive in trying to address a
2:12
Speaker 2: lot of their needs. I think it's always just really
2:14
Speaker 2: easy for us to see these gigantic deals. But when
2:19
Speaker 2: we can textualize the cap going up as much as
2:21
Speaker 2: it does every single year, it went up twenty two
2:24
Speaker 2: million this past year, yep, it makes sense. And then eventually,
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Speaker 2: once we get that full scope, it's really not much
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Speaker 2: of a you know, large percentage of the cap in
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Speaker 2: the aftermath.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, look, you know, as a Philly sports podcast
2:38
Speaker 1: show here and again the longest running Philly sports podcast
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Speaker 1: show out there, you know, my co hosts, myself, our listeners,
2:44
Speaker 1: we want to make sure that the Philadelphia Eagles are
2:47
Speaker 1: gonna be going back to the super Bowl at some time.
2:49
Speaker 1: Who the hell knows if that's actually going to happen,
2:52
Speaker 1: because man, it's so difficult to remain relevant in the
2:56
Speaker 1: NFL year after year after year. Some teams are able
2:59
Speaker 1: to do it well. Other teams are just trying to
3:02
Speaker 1: get a bite of that apple at times. But to
3:06
Speaker 1: do what teams like the Patriots or teams like even
3:10
Speaker 1: the Broncos at this point and the Eagles have done,
3:14
Speaker 1: you need to have stability at the quarterback position. And
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Speaker 1: I know that sounds obvious to everybody who is listening
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Speaker 1: to this, but it's easier said than done. And right
3:23
Speaker 1: off the bat, in terms of this draft here, Joe,
3:26
Speaker 1: I guess the question on everybody's mind is whether or
3:29
Speaker 1: not Fernando Mendoza is the real deal coming into the
3:33
Speaker 1: NFL when he inevitably is drafted, and if he's going
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Speaker 1: to be able to transition well to the NFL. But
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Speaker 1: I also think that the real question concerning him and
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Speaker 1: even other quarterbacks as well, but particularly with Mendoza, is
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Speaker 1: is he a culture changer? Because that's what teams inevitably
3:51
Speaker 1: need and want with their quarterbacks. We see time and
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Speaker 1: time again quarterbacks drafted who aren't a culture change type
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Speaker 1: of quarterback. I mean, I think we've seen that with
3:59
Speaker 1: Cop Murray. I mean, he's moving on to perhaps greener pastures,
4:04
Speaker 1: maybe his situation wherever he's going to be landed next,
4:07
Speaker 1: which I think maybe Minnesota, maybe that's going to be
4:11
Speaker 1: best for him in terms of culture changing. But I
4:15
Speaker 1: just view NFL quarterbacks anymore as having to absolutely change
4:19
Speaker 1: the culture of an organization, of an offense. Do you think, Joe,
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Speaker 1: that Fernando Mendoza is going to be able to shift
4:27
Speaker 1: the culture to whatever team drafts him, presumably the Raiders
4:30
Speaker 1: as he's being mocked to. What are your thoughts here?
4:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that that's the biggest impact here for
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Speaker 2: Mendozo because a lot of people talk about how he's
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Speaker 2: not as crazy, gifted and talented as a Caleb Williams
4:45
Speaker 2: or cam Ward. Yeah, his upside might not be to
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Speaker 2: becoming a top five quarterback in the NFL, which is
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Speaker 2: usually what you kind of swing forward with a first
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Speaker 2: overall pick, but the bigger benefit is before that he brings,
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Speaker 2: and not only does it come from his accuracy, his
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Speaker 2: decision making.
5:00
Speaker 3: His poise.
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Speaker 2: I feel like it does come from who he is
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Speaker 2: as a leader. It's one of the things that always
5:05
Speaker 2: gets talked about. You just listen to the kid talk.
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Speaker 2: I always love for quarterbacks specifically, I always love listening
5:11
Speaker 2: to press conferences with them because that is very definable
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Speaker 2: on determining how they're going to lead a locker room.
5:17
Speaker 2: Like even guys like maybe that aren't super outspoken, like
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Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson. You listen to him talk and he's you
5:24
Speaker 2: could tell that he's the type of guy that would
5:25
Speaker 2: be incredibly likable, and then his teammates would be really
5:29
Speaker 2: able to rally around him. He brought up Kyler Murray.
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Speaker 2: He's the inverse of this. His interviews leading up to
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Speaker 2: the draft were incredibly concerning. He kind of came off
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Speaker 2: as stand offish and you know, unengaged and almost like
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Speaker 2: he was being forced to be everywhere he was. Mendoza
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Speaker 2: to me, feels like he is excited a million times
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Speaker 2: over to be talking football, to be playing football, to
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Speaker 2: be just around football. He almost feels like one of
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Speaker 2: these dudes that if he wasn't a first overall pick
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Speaker 2: and wasn't a top prospect, who would probably take swing
6:00
Speaker 2: to just find a way to remain around the sport.
6:02
Speaker 2: I think that Mendoz absolutely is that type of guy,
6:05
Speaker 2: and it's what the Raiders need right now. They just
6:06
Speaker 2: haven't had some sort of franchise altering force that at
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Speaker 2: the very least is going to rally the troops and
6:14
Speaker 2: get everybody around him to flow in the right direction.
6:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a great answer. Look as somebody
6:20
Speaker 1: who is a Penn State fan, and I saw what
6:23
Speaker 1: Mendoza did depend State this past year, and just like
6:27
Speaker 1: you mentioned, the poise that he has, I think is
6:30
Speaker 1: pretty special for somebody his age. Usually players like that
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Speaker 1: are able to find some level of success in the NFL,
6:39
Speaker 1: and I think that may be coming his way. But
6:42
Speaker 1: as we look to the talent in this draft as
6:45
Speaker 1: well from an offensive standpoint, hoping we can get into
6:48
Speaker 1: some of these offensive explosive players in this upcoming draft
6:53
Speaker 1: as well. Guys you may have been watching throughout the
6:56
Speaker 1: college football season, folks, I've been players I've been watching
7:00
Speaker 1: throughout this college football season as well. I mean Jeremiah
7:03
Speaker 1: Love from Notre Dame towards the top of this list
7:06
Speaker 1: in terms of explosive offensive players coming out of this
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Speaker 1: draft Carnel tape from Ohio State wide receiver. He's absolutely
7:13
Speaker 1: explosive as well. So I'm wondering which offensive players are
7:17
Speaker 1: those explosive difference makers that we really need to be
7:20
Speaker 1: continuing to keep our eyes on within the first couple
7:24
Speaker 1: rounds of this year's draft.
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Speaker 2: In your opinion, Joe, Yeah, I mean, I think that
7:29
Speaker 2: if we're talking about in terms of like which guys
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Speaker 2: are really offense shifting, that there's really only one player
7:37
Speaker 2: to me that I turned to, and that is Jeremiah Love.
7:40
Speaker 2: He is going to be the most prime desired prospect
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Speaker 2: amongst any of the offensive players. I think that there's
7:47
Speaker 2: a lot of guys across the board that look like
7:50
Speaker 2: that they can be solid, impact full guys, especially a receiver.
7:54
Speaker 3: There's a lot of secondary receivers.
7:57
Speaker 2: There's a lot of guys that are going to be
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Speaker 2: the second option for tea that maybe already has that
8:01
Speaker 2: primary target. But Jeremiah Love is the one dude who
8:04
Speaker 2: is going to maybe reset the course of a franchise's success.
8:08
Speaker 2: I think that a lot of teams in the top
8:10
Speaker 2: ten are going to be considering taking him because you
8:13
Speaker 2: throw him into the mix, it can help a core
8:16
Speaker 2: with a young quarterback and an improving offensive line. Tennessee Titans,
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Speaker 2: to me, are the one team that's the most intriguing
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Speaker 2: for taking him because they have been aggressive a little
8:26
Speaker 2: bit in reworking their defense and making some moves in
8:29
Speaker 2: order to establish an identity around what Rob Styala is
8:33
Speaker 2: trying to build. Defensive minded coaches love running the football,
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Speaker 2: and I would imagine that someone like Jeremiah Love could
8:39
Speaker 2: be that dude who ends up taking them to another level.
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Speaker 2: And it really, to me feels like with all these
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Speaker 2: rest of these offensive skill position prospects, that he should
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Speaker 2: be the guy who ends up leading the discussion for
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Speaker 2: offensive Rookie of the Year.
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Speaker 3: It's just not.
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Speaker 2: A crazy sexy class for playmakers, and Jeremiah Love just
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Speaker 2: makes too much sense off he ends up being healthy
9:01
Speaker 2: and playing a full season.
9:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. Look, as we're moving along here, I wanted
9:06
Speaker 1: to also dive into, I think a theme that may
9:10
Speaker 1: not be getting enough attention. And maybe I'm wrong about
9:13
Speaker 1: this quite frankly, because I think we you know, as
9:16
Speaker 1: football lovers watching this game, we know the game evolves
9:21
Speaker 1: over time, and their differences when it comes to defensive play,
9:25
Speaker 1: there's differences when it comes to offensive play. Over the years,
9:28
Speaker 1: there's adaptations, and we continue to see NFL teams who
9:32
Speaker 1: who dominate in the postseason, who really build towards dominance
9:37
Speaker 1: in the trenches. We certainly saw that with the Eagles
9:40
Speaker 1: and what they did and their Super Bowl run a
9:42
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. The Seahawks did it this past year.
9:45
Speaker 1: I mean, just absolute dominance in the trenches in order
9:49
Speaker 1: to win championships. I mean, the NFL postseason is just
9:53
Speaker 1: trench warfare, it seems anymore. Joe, and I'm wondering, do
9:57
Speaker 1: you think we're seeing somewhat of a transfer of trench
10:01
Speaker 1: based players being more of a priority in the draft
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Speaker 1: than perhaps some offensive skill players than we've seen in
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Speaker 1: previous years. I don't know. Do you think there's that
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Speaker 1: shift in the change of draft strategy with some teams
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Speaker 1: as we're seeing how important the trenches really are and
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Speaker 1: even the depth within those trenches. What are your thoughts
10:21
Speaker 1: on this here?
10:23
Speaker 2: Well, I feel like just generally football, the most important
10:26
Speaker 2: thing has always been the talent that you have along
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Speaker 2: both lines of scrimmage. Having good offensive lineman and defensive
10:34
Speaker 2: lineman is the key to success, and I think that Naturally,
10:37
Speaker 2: the best teams that put together strong cohesive units are
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Speaker 2: going to be the ones that are.
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Speaker 3: The most successful.
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Speaker 2: There's always going to be a premium on making sure
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Speaker 2: that you're going to be able to win along the lines.
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Speaker 2: And I always think, and I always push for, I'd
10:52
Speaker 2: much rather build from the inside out.
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Speaker 3: I think that jumping the gun on.
10:59
Speaker 2: You know, maybe getting a big time running back, a
11:01
Speaker 2: big time receive for tight end, especially on offense, specifically,
11:05
Speaker 2: jumping the gun in that regard before building up your offensive.
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Speaker 3: Line is a misguided approach.
11:10
Speaker 2: You should always try to bolster and build up as
11:13
Speaker 2: much protection as possible. And I think, naturally, the NFL
11:17
Speaker 2: has has its ebbs and flows in play style and
11:20
Speaker 2: approaches for how teams operate, and the most successful teams operate.
11:24
Speaker 2: It definitely feels like right now the best teams in
11:26
Speaker 2: the NFL are the ones that are running the ball
11:28
Speaker 2: really well, that have big, solid, impactful offensive lines.
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Speaker 3: Those are the groups that are finding success.
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Speaker 2: So having those dudes, just as you mentioned the Seahawks
11:38
Speaker 2: easy example, because they draft degree is able last year,
11:41
Speaker 2: I would pay close attention to you know, which teams
11:44
Speaker 2: target vague I on a from Penn State who could
11:47
Speaker 2: have a similar type of an impact. You know, who
11:49
Speaker 2: looks at Spencer Fano or Monroe Freeling. There's a lot
11:52
Speaker 2: of solid offensive linemen this year, and I think that
11:54
Speaker 2: this offensive line class maybe gets a bit mischaracterized that
11:58
Speaker 2: could there's enough players that I think could present an
12:01
Speaker 2: impact that takes a team over the top for their
12:04
Speaker 2: first season in the league.
12:05
Speaker 4: Yeah.
12:07
Speaker 1: Great, great answer to that too, because like, and it
12:09
Speaker 1: just amazes me, Joe, how there are certain teams out there,
12:13
Speaker 1: and one being you know, whether it's the New York Jets,
12:16
Speaker 1: they just can't seem to get it together when it
12:19
Speaker 1: comes to the trenches, when it comes to the stability
12:23
Speaker 1: of what an offense or even a defense really should be.
12:26
Speaker 1: It just amazes me that there are certain teams out
12:28
Speaker 1: there that maybe they try and maybe they miss, but
12:32
Speaker 1: it seems like, man, you're just missing all the time.
12:36
Speaker 1: It different seases to amaze me.
12:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, I think there definitely needs to be
12:40
Speaker 2: more consistency there. And it's one position that you it's
12:45
Speaker 2: one side of the ball, just in a long line
12:46
Speaker 2: of scrimmage, regardless, Like, you can never go wrong adding
12:49
Speaker 2: a good player on your offensive line or defensive line.
12:52
Speaker 1: Absolutely, folks, We're gonna take a break here, but when
12:54
Speaker 1: we get back, we got a lot more draft talk
12:57
Speaker 1: coming your way with Joe. And we're also going to
12:59
Speaker 1: die and do you know what what should the Eagles
13:02
Speaker 1: maybe do in terms of the pass rush as well?
13:04
Speaker 1: Stick with us. We'll be back in just a bit.
13:07
Speaker 1: All right. We are back with our good friend Joe
13:10
Speaker 1: Dalleone from A to Z sports dot com. He really
13:15
Speaker 1: hones in on NFL content and u NFL Draft, And
13:19
Speaker 1: as we are talking about the upcoming NFL Draft in
13:23
Speaker 1: April here combine uh, you know, wrapped up a short
13:27
Speaker 1: time ago here and a lot of us are really
13:29
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, you know, which players are kind
13:32
Speaker 1: of rising up the charts, which players are falling here
13:36
Speaker 1: and I wanted to get your thoughts on this. Again,
13:39
Speaker 1: it's early in this process as we're starting to look
13:41
Speaker 1: at a lot of the talent that's coming out.
13:43
Speaker 2: Uh.
13:44
Speaker 1: But but just wanted to do some spitballing with you
13:47
Speaker 1: here in terms of players and talent whose stock is
13:50
Speaker 1: rising and falling. So I'm wondering which players you know,
13:53
Speaker 1: since the end of the college football season, Joe, up
13:57
Speaker 1: until now, which players stock is row do you think
14:01
Speaker 1: at this point in time.
14:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, the one guy that's rising the most is Monroe Freeling,
14:05
Speaker 2: the left tackle from Georgia. Strong testing performance, he really
14:10
Speaker 2: reminded everybody that he's a big, tall, long athlete, wouldn't
14:13
Speaker 2: typically go in the top ten, I would think in
14:16
Speaker 2: most other drafts.
14:17
Speaker 3: But he's really the most premier.
14:20
Speaker 2: Left tackle this year, and I think he's the most
14:22
Speaker 2: logical guy that could be the first left tackle off
14:26
Speaker 2: the board over Caleb Lomo, who's the Utah left tackle.
14:30
Speaker 2: I think that that combine performance really established and solidified
14:34
Speaker 2: that he will end up going somewhere in the top fifteen.
14:39
Speaker 2: To me, Freeling has been the biggest riser and came
14:41
Speaker 2: out of nowhere that he has moved up boards this quickly.
14:45
Speaker 2: It really wouldn't shock me if he ends up being
14:47
Speaker 2: maybe even a top five pick.
14:48
Speaker 1: Really, Okay, in all honesty, I was thinking, you know,
14:51
Speaker 1: maybe the New York Giants would want to get your
14:53
Speaker 1: beloved New York Giants. Maybe they, I don't know. I
14:56
Speaker 1: feel like sometimes I feel like the Giants are going
14:59
Speaker 1: to end up needings some sort of offensive line help
15:02
Speaker 1: at some point down the road. I don't know what
15:04
Speaker 1: are your thoughts there.
15:06
Speaker 2: Well, they they already they They've got Andrew Thomas and
15:09
Speaker 2: they just brought back Jermaine a luminar.
15:11
Speaker 3: Oh yes, yeah, they brought back Jermain a luminar.
15:14
Speaker 1: They might go guard.
15:15
Speaker 2: I think that somewhere in the in the second round
15:17
Speaker 2: maybe they would consider taking a taking a guard. But
15:20
Speaker 2: right now they've got a lot of needs at at
15:22
Speaker 2: corner and receive, oh absolutely that they need to address.
15:26
Speaker 1: Forgot I forgot that about. I forgot about that that
15:29
Speaker 1: signing right there. But look, I'm wondering what players who's
15:34
Speaker 1: stock at falling right now and especially after the combine.
15:37
Speaker 1: Is there anybody on your radar there? Yeah?
15:40
Speaker 2: The one guy that I'm just a little perplexed on
15:44
Speaker 2: where he's going to go is Jerma McCoy, the corner
15:47
Speaker 2: from Tennessee. Didn't play at all this year, is coming
15:49
Speaker 2: off of an ACL injury that he suffered last offseason
15:52
Speaker 2: last January. It's been a really long time. He didn't
15:55
Speaker 2: do any drills at the NFL Combine. He's supposed to
15:57
Speaker 2: do his pro day. It kind of reminds me of
16:00
Speaker 2: of last year Will Johnson, who was far and away
16:03
Speaker 2: the most talented cornerback in the class. There was no
16:06
Speaker 2: debate his film was the best, but he fell to
16:09
Speaker 2: the second round because of injury concerns and also like
16:12
Speaker 2: a lack of availability during the pre draft process. It's
16:14
Speaker 2: just the inavailability of information pushed down his stock. But
16:22
Speaker 2: I think teams wanted to go with guys that they
16:24
Speaker 2: had a little bit more clarity on, and I think
16:26
Speaker 2: the same thing applies here for Jermond McCoy. Maybe a
16:29
Speaker 2: lot of this could get dispelled during his pro day,
16:32
Speaker 2: but to choose to not participate at the combine I
16:36
Speaker 2: think rose some questions that, hey, is there something we're
16:41
Speaker 2: missing here? Is the recovery timetable been slower? People were
16:44
Speaker 2: hoping that he could have come back during the season.
16:46
Speaker 2: He should have been able to come back during the season,
16:48
Speaker 2: and he was not able to so something. So this
16:50
Speaker 2: seems a little bit weird that it's been this slow.
16:52
Speaker 2: I think McCoy, if there is the one unexpected name
16:55
Speaker 2: that goes somewhere in the second round instead of early
16:58
Speaker 2: in the first, it would probably be him.
17:00
Speaker 1: Very good. As we're moving along here, we love talking
17:03
Speaker 1: about late round gems that sometimes get overlooked in the
17:07
Speaker 1: draft of Philadelphia Eagles, and there are other teams out
17:10
Speaker 1: there as well, been really good over the years at
17:12
Speaker 1: finding these type of players, these Day three players who
17:15
Speaker 1: turn into pretty productive NFL players. So I'm wondering, Joe,
17:19
Speaker 1: you know, which do you think there are any you know,
17:21
Speaker 1: quote Day three players, guys that you've been looking at
17:23
Speaker 1: thus far that you know are going to be you know,
17:25
Speaker 1: maybe six seventh round guys you know that could could
17:30
Speaker 1: actually be gems perhaps in the NFL. Anybody at this
17:33
Speaker 1: point that you have your eyes on.
17:35
Speaker 2: There's two guys that I really like as my kind
17:39
Speaker 2: of later round gems. One is Demand Claiborne, the small,
17:42
Speaker 2: shifty running back from wake Forest. Now, he had a
17:45
Speaker 2: fumbling problem this past year, so he's got to clean
17:48
Speaker 2: that up. He's got to be much better protecting the football,
17:50
Speaker 2: especially if he's gonna be used maybe as receiving space
17:53
Speaker 2: killing type of a weapon to that degree. But Claiborne
17:57
Speaker 2: just has a lot of juice and he's got really
17:59
Speaker 2: great pay and he's going to kill you if you
18:01
Speaker 2: give him space to operate. Not a guy who's going
18:03
Speaker 2: to be an every down running back, but could be
18:05
Speaker 2: just a really nice complimentary piece as a second or
18:08
Speaker 2: third running back in a running back room. The ideal
18:12
Speaker 2: guy for a team that likes to attack space and
18:15
Speaker 2: just get their best athletes, you know, deploy them as
18:18
Speaker 2: creatively as possible. And then I really like Caleb Proctor
18:21
Speaker 2: from Southeastern Louisiana.
18:23
Speaker 3: He tested really well at the NFL Combine.
18:25
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people are starting to become
18:27
Speaker 2: privy to him and what he brings to the table.
18:30
Speaker 2: Leaner defensive tackle prospect, he's been needing to bulk up
18:34
Speaker 2: a little bit. To me, he reminds me a lot
18:36
Speaker 2: of Milton Williams in the regard that Milton Williams went
18:40
Speaker 2: late to the Eagles and became a just a dynamite
18:44
Speaker 2: interurior pass rusher because he was leaner, he was lighter,
18:47
Speaker 2: he was quick, he was flexible, just was so good
18:50
Speaker 2: as a pass rusher. His impact shows up on the
18:52
Speaker 2: biggest stage, and then it gets him a really big
18:55
Speaker 2: contract and then he becomes one of the better defensive
18:59
Speaker 2: tackles in the NFL. Well justified that signing with what
19:02
Speaker 2: he did for the Patriots. I think that if we
19:04
Speaker 2: were talking about like in not two years, if by
19:06
Speaker 2: the time he gets a second contract, Caleb Proctor is
19:09
Speaker 2: one of the highest paid defensive tackles in that free
19:12
Speaker 2: agency class that he's in.
19:13
Speaker 3: It wouldn't shock me. I think that he's got a lot,
19:15
Speaker 3: a lot of talent.
19:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well, buddy, before I let you go here,
19:20
Speaker 1: wanted to dive into some Philadelphia Eagles talk since we
19:22
Speaker 1: are a Philadelphia sports podcast show, and for those of
19:27
Speaker 1: you who are listening and you're gonna be continuing to listen,
19:30
Speaker 1: especially with our next guest, Josh Schuster from Philadelphia Soccer.
19:34
Speaker 1: Now as we get into some Philadelphia Union talk and
19:36
Speaker 1: we just dive into some Eagles, Phillies and Flyers talk
19:40
Speaker 1: as well. I actually recorded that part of our podcast
19:44
Speaker 1: discussion here this week with Josh before Joe and I
19:47
Speaker 1: got on here. And at that point when Josh and
19:51
Speaker 1: I were recording, the Eagles hadn't made any moves, So
19:53
Speaker 1: you're gonna hear a discussion with Josh and I were
19:56
Speaker 1: the Eagles hadn't made any moves and we were a
19:57
Speaker 1: little disappointed. But since the Eagles have certainly made some
20:01
Speaker 1: free agent acquisition moves. But in terms of talking about
20:05
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles and what they're really gonna need to
20:07
Speaker 1: continue building especially from a defensive perspective, because they have
20:11
Speaker 1: lost defensive talent, especially Jalen Phillips lost him in free agency.
20:17
Speaker 1: From a pass rushing standpoint, Joe, the Eagles, they're gonna
20:20
Speaker 1: need to draft and develop young talent in the future.
20:22
Speaker 1: That's obvious here, I think. And they're drafting at number
20:25
Speaker 1: twenty three overall in the first round. They have nine
20:28
Speaker 1: total draft picks here in twenty twenty six, four picks
20:31
Speaker 1: in the top one hundred. I'm wondering, are there some
20:34
Speaker 1: pass rushers and talent that you think the Eagles really
20:38
Speaker 1: could pursue in the draft that would make sense for
20:42
Speaker 1: this team in terms of Vic Fangio, his defense that
20:45
Speaker 1: he's running, and what this team's going to need down
20:47
Speaker 1: the road.
20:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would imagine that. Picking where they are in
20:52
Speaker 2: the first round, they're essentially going to be in a
20:54
Speaker 2: position to just take which of the second tier pass
20:58
Speaker 2: rushers that they like the most, and the guys that
21:00
Speaker 2: are in that group a lot of different body types.
21:03
Speaker 2: Keldric Folk, I feel like wouldn't make as much sense,
21:05
Speaker 2: but there's an argument there to be made. He's very talented,
21:08
Speaker 2: long athlete, wasn't super productive. I think that if you're
21:11
Speaker 2: the Eagles, you want somebody who's going to provide more
21:13
Speaker 2: of an immediate impact than somebody who's more developmental. Romelo height,
21:19
Speaker 2: Cashus Howe and R Mason Thomas fit the designated pass
21:22
Speaker 2: rusher bucket of really explosive athletes that move super well
21:28
Speaker 2: and also have very underrated hand usage, but don't really
21:31
Speaker 2: have the big frames to be every down pass rushers.
21:35
Speaker 2: They're realistically not gonna be able to find like a
21:37
Speaker 2: proven commodity that's got high upside. Yeah, to replace the
21:41
Speaker 2: level of impact that Jalen Phillips had, but they're mostly
21:45
Speaker 2: going to be able to kind of pull from that
21:46
Speaker 2: bucket of designated pass rushers. And then, lastly, the two
21:49
Speaker 2: guys very different players that can be more every down
21:53
Speaker 2: defensive ends pass rushers.
21:56
Speaker 4: TJ.
21:56
Speaker 2: Parker from Clemson has a lot upside, very explosive. He
21:59
Speaker 2: had a really good Senior Bowl, but his production did
22:02
Speaker 2: not step up this past year, very similar to Keldrick Faalk.
22:05
Speaker 3: He needs to play a lot better.
22:07
Speaker 2: Maybe Vic Vangio thinks that they can get something out
22:09
Speaker 2: of him, and I think that the one that might
22:11
Speaker 2: end up making the most sense is a key mesador.
22:13
Speaker 2: The Miami defensive end. He was just so good with
22:17
Speaker 2: using his hands. He is so refined. But he's a
22:21
Speaker 2: much older player. And I think that that's why it
22:24
Speaker 2: fits with what Philly needs, is that you're tapping into
22:27
Speaker 2: a prospect that is ready to go now, can maybe
22:30
Speaker 2: be a seven or eight sac guy or so in
22:33
Speaker 2: his first year, and that type of an impact is huge,
22:36
Speaker 2: or just as a pressure generator, having somebody who you
22:39
Speaker 2: don't really need to come along because he's more developed,
22:42
Speaker 2: because he's an older prospect, fits that need of the
22:44
Speaker 2: Eagles trying to win as immediately as possible.
22:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch for sure,
22:49
Speaker 1: and see what the Eagles do in this first round
22:51
Speaker 1: and just with their first four picks in this draft.
22:54
Speaker 1: For sure, we're going to be talking about it more
22:56
Speaker 1: at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. Well into the
23:00
Speaker 1: future again, folks. He is Joe da Leone from A
23:03
Speaker 1: to E sports dot Com The Joe and Raffino Show
23:06
Speaker 1: as well. I can't believe I forgot to mention that,
23:08
Speaker 1: for God's sake, folks, you gotta go. You gotta listen
23:11
Speaker 1: to them. They're fantastic, great content, great football content. Where
23:14
Speaker 1: else can they find you on the interwebs out there, Joe.
23:17
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, and I just follow me on x at
23:19
Speaker 2: Joe de Leon and you mentioned Raffino and Joe as
23:22
Speaker 2: well as a is E sports. Best pot available is
23:24
Speaker 2: the Draft podcast that I do with my co host
23:26
Speaker 2: Ryan Roberts, and we've got lots of great commentary that
23:29
Speaker 2: we've got for the upcoming draft.
23:31
Speaker 1: So much.
23:32
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Jeff for having me, and it's
23:33
Speaker 3: always great to catch up.
23:37
Speaker 1: All right, We've got our good friend Josh Schuster from
23:39
Speaker 1: Philadelphia soccernow dot com joining us right after our great
23:43
Speaker 1: discussion we just had with Joe da Leone about some
23:48
Speaker 1: NFL draft prospects and what we may be seeing for
23:52
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles and just other teams around the NFL.
23:56
Speaker 1: A lot of great sports talk and we're gonna get
23:58
Speaker 1: into some more again our good friend Josh Schuster from
24:02
Speaker 1: Philadelphia soccernow dot com. We're supposed to talk about the Union,
24:05
Speaker 1: but they're they're ow and three, Josh, I don't even
24:07
Speaker 1: know if we should talk about them. Thanks for jumping on, buddy.
24:11
Speaker 4: Anytime, Jeff. Anytime they yeah, the Union, we'll get into it.
24:17
Speaker 4: I would argue, are actually off to their worst start,
24:19
Speaker 4: worst start ever. But anyway we can, we can talk
24:22
Speaker 4: about that and debate that later.
24:23
Speaker 1: So absolutely, yeah, absolutely, Look, before we get into the
24:28
Speaker 1: union talk, we also wanted to folks kind of discuss
24:32
Speaker 1: very briefly what really has been going on in the
24:34
Speaker 1: world of Philly sports with some of our beloved Philly
24:37
Speaker 1: sports teams, and as I mentioned, I was talking to
24:40
Speaker 1: Joe Dalleone about various draft prospects, you know, and even
24:45
Speaker 1: like who the Eagles might actually want to bring on
24:47
Speaker 1: board because this week has been huge for this team
24:50
Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways. They have lost key
24:52
Speaker 1: defensive players and free agency, as we know, Nakobe Dean,
24:55
Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips read Blank and Ship all gone. I mean
24:59
Speaker 1: we I knew that the losses were going to happen.
25:03
Speaker 1: They stink. We know that they can't pay everybody. How
25:07
Speaker 1: he wasn't able to do that. It's it's the state
25:09
Speaker 1: of the NFL business. We know that, Josh, but man,
25:13
Speaker 1: I was really disappointed with Red Blankenship and Nikobe Dean
25:17
Speaker 1: given what they've meant to this team over the past
25:20
Speaker 1: several years. They wouldn't have won a championship recently without
25:24
Speaker 1: these two guys, and I don't know, I'm disappointed yet
25:29
Speaker 1: I understand the business aspect of this as well. What
25:32
Speaker 1: are your thoughts here with regard to how the Eagles
25:34
Speaker 1: are handling this offseason thus far? And by the way,
25:37
Speaker 1: as of us recording this here on Tuesday, March tenth,
25:42
Speaker 1: they still have not acquired anyone in free agency. I
25:45
Speaker 1: don't what are your thoughts here concerns at all? Or
25:48
Speaker 1: are you just like, Okay, let how he do what
25:50
Speaker 1: he does?
25:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know that. You know, normally when we do this,
25:55
Speaker 4: you'll say something and then I try to sway you
25:57
Speaker 4: more towards my way. I actually agree with the word
26:04
Speaker 4: that you use, and I think that it's very appropriate.
26:06
Speaker 4: I would use the phrase disappointed because I think that
26:09
Speaker 4: when we look like both of us are parents, right,
26:11
Speaker 4: so I'll kind of equate it to this, like we
26:14
Speaker 4: have certain expectations of our kids, and when they don't
26:17
Speaker 4: do that, we get disappointed. We may not get angry,
26:20
Speaker 4: but we're just we're kind of disappointed. I think that's
26:22
Speaker 4: exactly the way to look at this. The way the
26:24
Speaker 4: Eagles offseason has started here, we kind of knew they
26:27
Speaker 4: weren't going to have the money to do what we
26:30
Speaker 4: ideally would like them to do, or maybe what they
26:32
Speaker 4: normally do, but it's been just disappointing. We're kind of
26:36
Speaker 4: living in this different realm, and the reality is, Jeff,
26:39
Speaker 4: when you look at it, this is why in the
26:42
Speaker 4: NFL it is so hard to repeat, even just a
26:46
Speaker 4: second time as a Super Bowl champion, because as soon
26:49
Speaker 4: as whether a team wins or loses the Super Bowl,
26:52
Speaker 4: the value of the players on that team goes up
26:56
Speaker 4: because they've gone through a playoff run. And now you're
26:59
Speaker 4: at point where you know, the NFL cap just continues
27:03
Speaker 4: to rise, and so you're going to have teams that
27:06
Speaker 4: have silly money to spend. And the reality is, I'm okay,
27:14
Speaker 4: I'm one of the few people that didn't want to
27:17
Speaker 4: bring to Kobe Dean back and I say it in
27:20
Speaker 4: the sense that you drafted his replacement in the first
27:22
Speaker 4: round last year. He's often injured. I'm not saying he's
27:26
Speaker 4: not a good player. He's a very good player when
27:27
Speaker 4: he plays, but knowing the money he was going to command,
27:31
Speaker 4: you hit on all of these defensive draft picks, and
27:35
Speaker 4: now it's time to pay the piper. And just looking
27:37
Speaker 4: at it, you invested your first round pick last year
27:41
Speaker 4: in his replacement. You just couldn't pay him, and I
27:43
Speaker 4: didn't want to bring him back. What really was disappointing
27:47
Speaker 4: to me was Reid blanket shit. Yes, he is the
27:51
Speaker 4: leader on that back end, and so now not only
27:55
Speaker 4: do you have a position of a massive hole where
27:58
Speaker 4: you had to bring in apps to kind of handle
28:04
Speaker 4: things and no knock on markets. Absolutely, he's not like
28:07
Speaker 4: an all pro safety that.
28:11
Speaker 1: Was when Andrew went Down's.
28:13
Speaker 4: Correct correct after we went down they needed because they
28:16
Speaker 4: didn't have depth. And that's the biggest problem. And where
28:20
Speaker 4: I'm getting to is that they just this team does
28:23
Speaker 4: not have depth. And so I think my I had
28:27
Speaker 4: started expressing this on postgame shows towards the end of
28:30
Speaker 4: the year last year with you. My concern is that
28:33
Speaker 4: we went from the beginning of the year where we
28:36
Speaker 4: were going to see our first round picks be luxury picks,
28:39
Speaker 4: best player on board in a perfect world, to at
28:44
Speaker 4: the end of the year, I'm going, Jeff, we got
28:45
Speaker 4: it's on holes. I mean, it's nice that they can
28:49
Speaker 4: go on the avenue, but it's also not nice because
28:51
Speaker 4: now we're in a situation where this just isn't good.
28:54
Speaker 4: They have no depth. They have massive holes. And we're
28:57
Speaker 4: talking about treating AJ Green. Oh my goodness, A J. Brown.
29:01
Speaker 4: I don't know where I'm going anyway, A Brown.
29:04
Speaker 1: We got Midnight Green in our brains here.
29:08
Speaker 4: If you're going to trade AJ Brown, you're you're stuck
29:11
Speaker 4: with now creating yourself another whole. I just I don't
29:15
Speaker 4: I don't know what's going to happen. I think that this,
29:19
Speaker 4: if this works out, it will probably be one of
29:21
Speaker 4: Howie Roseman's most successful off seasons because it is just
29:25
Speaker 4: a very complex puzzle puzzle right now.
29:27
Speaker 1: It is look and and how he usually is a
29:30
Speaker 1: quote magician, as we've all known him to be. During
29:33
Speaker 1: the course of the off season, There's still moves that
29:36
Speaker 1: are going to be made. We know that this front
29:39
Speaker 1: office is one of the best in the NFL in
29:42
Speaker 1: terms of managing its money. It's salary cap contracts, moving
29:46
Speaker 1: money here and there. I do expect that as well.
29:49
Speaker 1: But you use the word disappointment. That's where I am
29:52
Speaker 1: right now again, you know, as we're in mid March
29:54
Speaker 1: or March tenth again recording this, that's what That's what
29:58
Speaker 1: I'm feeling right now. We still have the draft coming,
30:01
Speaker 1: that's going to be exciting, But I do have a
30:03
Speaker 1: huge concern about what this defense is going to look
30:06
Speaker 1: like for Vic Vangio. The pass rush, my goodness. I yes,
30:10
Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips. I honestly didn't think that they were initially
30:13
Speaker 1: going to be able to resign him. That was my
30:15
Speaker 1: initial thought. You know a lot of folks thought, yeah,
30:17
Speaker 1: they were going to give him the big payday. I
30:18
Speaker 1: didn't think that was going to happen. That obviously came
30:21
Speaker 1: to fruition as he's heading to Carolina, But I'm worried
30:25
Speaker 1: about what the pass rush is going to look like.
30:27
Speaker 1: So we're gonna be talking about this a lot more
30:29
Speaker 1: here at the PSD podcast show in the future, folks.
30:32
Speaker 1: But Josh and I also wanted to quick touch on
30:35
Speaker 1: a very important, a very important extension that was given
30:41
Speaker 1: to a player on the Philadelphia Phillies, and that's starting
30:43
Speaker 1: pitcher Jesus Lozardo. A five year, one hundred and thirty
30:47
Speaker 1: three million dollar extension. He is going to be, I mean,
30:53
Speaker 1: god willing with this Phillies team until two thousand and
30:57
Speaker 1: thirty one. He was initially acquired via tree from the
31:00
Speaker 1: Miami Marlins last off season, and he has just been
31:05
Speaker 1: fantastic thus far for this team. I think this is
31:09
Speaker 1: a fantastic extension to be given. And I think it
31:14
Speaker 1: goes to show that this front office is still willing
31:16
Speaker 1: to invest, still willing to pay money. I mean, they're
31:19
Speaker 1: not doing crazy stuff necessarily like the Dodgers here at
31:22
Speaker 1: this point, but I'm glad that they're not afraid to say,
31:25
Speaker 1: you know what, this is going to be our guy.
31:27
Speaker 1: We we love what we've seen from him, and we
31:29
Speaker 1: want to make sure we're investing in him.
31:32
Speaker 4: Yeah. And I you know, when I saw this this signing,
31:40
Speaker 4: you've you've met you know, my son Jack. He's going
31:42
Speaker 4: to Lehigh Valley game.
31:44
Speaker 1: Win Toda Iron Pegler yep.
31:46
Speaker 4: Yeah. And one of the players he asks about because
31:49
Speaker 4: he's at at eight years old, he's aware that not
31:52
Speaker 4: everyone is going to be back on the Phillies, right,
31:54
Speaker 4: So he was pretty bummed that Harrison Bader isn't on
31:57
Speaker 4: the Phillies anymore. Weren't we all being yeah, that's a
32:00
Speaker 4: whole separate story, but just being able to tell him that.
32:05
Speaker 4: Because Jack is a lefty, and so he locks in
32:09
Speaker 4: on Christopher Sanchez, he locks in on Jesus Lozardo he
32:12
Speaker 4: was very upset that Rangers Suarez is not on this team.
32:15
Speaker 4: You'll catch a team here. They're all left handed starters, right,
32:18
Speaker 4: and so being able to tell him was great. But
32:20
Speaker 4: I'm also happy for Lozardo. I mean, when Dave Dombrowski
32:25
Speaker 4: made that trade, I really only viewed it as upside.
32:29
Speaker 4: They didn't give up a whole lot to get him.
32:32
Speaker 4: It was kind of the Zach Wheeler situation all over again.
32:35
Speaker 4: Often injured pitcher that they're trusting their medical staff. And
32:39
Speaker 4: you know what, Lozardo pitched great, he was I think
32:42
Speaker 4: he was top five and say young voting like, there's
32:48
Speaker 4: a lot of really good things that have happened with
32:50
Speaker 4: that and for whatever reason, the Phillies medical staff seems
32:53
Speaker 4: to be able to have these things fixed. It's good
32:56
Speaker 4: that we have the Phillies that follow the Eagles in
32:59
Speaker 4: this conversation because they are in one category at Philadelphia Sports.
33:05
Speaker 4: The other three teams are in what I put in
33:07
Speaker 4: the pain category. But you know that both the Phillies
33:12
Speaker 4: and the Eagles are in this. It's not quite their
33:16
Speaker 4: turn yet. You have the Eagles where they have won
33:19
Speaker 4: the Super Bowl, and that's great. The Cowboys are really
33:21
Speaker 4: chasing them down, they're signing defensive players and whatnot. And
33:25
Speaker 4: in baseball it's the Dodgers. And unfortunately, I think the
33:29
Speaker 4: same thing's going to happen this year that happened last year,
33:31
Speaker 4: where the Dodgers the team that, hopefully the Phillies can
33:35
Speaker 4: make a run, because I do think that they can
33:37
Speaker 4: make a run, they would face off against the Dodgers
33:42
Speaker 4: the NLCS again, hopefully, and it's not going to be
33:46
Speaker 4: the same Dodgers team because what the Dodgers are doing
33:48
Speaker 4: is they're paying all these people. When somebody suffers an injury,
33:50
Speaker 4: they just let them sit out for a little while.
33:52
Speaker 4: And it's the same thing as last year. It was
33:54
Speaker 4: the pitching staff the Phillies face was not the pitching
33:58
Speaker 4: staff of the Dodgers throughout the year. Yeah, you know,
34:01
Speaker 4: didn't it come out as the number one seed? Right?
34:03
Speaker 4: So anyway, the Phillies Eagles are in one category and
34:07
Speaker 4: the other teams are in another. But the Hazers LIZARDI
34:10
Speaker 4: Lizardo signing is good news.
34:12
Speaker 1: It really is good news. Look, you talked about you
34:14
Speaker 1: know the pain teams, the pain tier like before we
34:18
Speaker 1: get into the Union, because they're definitely in that tier.
34:21
Speaker 1: The Philadelphia Flyers are certainly in the pain tier.
34:23
Speaker 2: Dude.
34:24
Speaker 1: I just I can't. I can't take watching the games anymore.
34:27
Speaker 1: I can't take it. I want to so bad be
34:32
Speaker 1: invested in this Philadelphia Flyers team and this rebuild. I'm
34:36
Speaker 1: so tired of using the word rebuild, not only on
34:39
Speaker 1: this podcast show, but you just read about it everywhere,
34:43
Speaker 1: and because it's it's all we have, it's all we have.
34:46
Speaker 1: Last week on the show, it was all about the
34:49
Speaker 1: Flyers being in this holding pattern. It was a holding pattern.
34:52
Speaker 1: I'm tired of the holding pattern. And I know that
34:55
Speaker 1: you can't wave a magic wand Danny Breer can't wave
34:57
Speaker 1: a magic wand he's been working at it now for
34:59
Speaker 1: the past few seasons. But we're getting to the point
35:01
Speaker 1: where it's like, Okay, something big has to happen with
35:05
Speaker 1: this team in order for us to believe that there
35:08
Speaker 1: is hope that the Flyers are going to be able
35:11
Speaker 1: to make some postseason noise at some point down the road. Josh,
35:15
Speaker 1: I'm not feeling that. And I'm getting to the point
35:18
Speaker 1: of being a Flyers fan for my entire life where
35:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, this ain't gonna happen anytime soon.
35:24
Speaker 4: I am.
35:25
Speaker 1: We are definitely in that pain category right now, and
35:29
Speaker 1: I'm pretty tired of it. Yeah.
35:31
Speaker 4: You had my buddy Dan Eschan and I hop on
35:36
Speaker 4: his Christmas show and do some writing for his site,
35:39
Speaker 4: and I got an he's forty, Jeff. The Flyers actually
35:42
Speaker 4: haven't rebuilt, and I don't like that people use that terminology.
35:45
Speaker 4: Just because you lose, it does not mean that you
35:47
Speaker 4: are rebuilding. Yeah, the Flyers have been retooling, and that's
35:51
Speaker 4: what they've done. They've had the chance multiple times to
35:54
Speaker 4: be able to actually rebuild, but they chose to sign
35:57
Speaker 4: tk they chose to not trade Sam him, they chose
36:01
Speaker 4: to not trade Tippet, they chose I can keep the
36:06
Speaker 4: list going. Dvorak is another prime example. They decided that
36:09
Speaker 4: they were going to sign him, a thirty year old
36:11
Speaker 4: center that is at best the third line center in
36:14
Speaker 4: all reality. Just because he plays on the first line
36:17
Speaker 4: on your roster does not make him a first line say.
36:21
Speaker 4: They keep doing it, and so they sign into this
36:23
Speaker 4: deal a five mil per season while the CAP's going up.
36:26
Speaker 4: And that's what I keep hearing with all these contracts,
36:28
Speaker 4: and it's like, well, if you keep telling me the
36:29
Speaker 4: Caps going up. Then it doesn't actually work because you
36:33
Speaker 4: can't use that excuse for every contract. The Flyers have
36:36
Speaker 4: not actually rebuilt. A rebuilding team doesn't pick at the
36:40
Speaker 4: highest at number seven, but most of the time winds
36:43
Speaker 4: up in the teams. That's that is a retooling team. Comcast, Unfortunately,
36:48
Speaker 4: I don't think we'll ever let them do what they
36:49
Speaker 4: need to do. Statistically, it has shown with the last
36:53
Speaker 4: number of Stanley Cup champions you need at least two
36:56
Speaker 4: players that you have picked in the top three. Much
37:00
Speaker 4: every single Stanley Cup winning team has done it. The
37:02
Speaker 4: Flyers don't want to do that. I don't know why,
37:05
Speaker 4: and so I have bad news, Jeff. This is going
37:08
Speaker 4: to be what it is. And that's why I say pain.
37:10
Speaker 4: And I'm giving Danny and jonesy until the end of
37:14
Speaker 4: this offseason. They for years have now said the summer
37:18
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty six, the summer of twenty twenty six,
37:21
Speaker 4: well guess what it's time to pay the piper if
37:23
Speaker 4: you don't have a legitimate, legitimate number one center or
37:29
Speaker 4: a legitimate number one defenseman. And I'm not talking where
37:32
Speaker 4: they view someone like Travis Connectney as a top line player.
37:37
Speaker 4: He's not and Team Canada showed you that they didn't
37:40
Speaker 4: even have him on the roster for the Olympics. So
37:42
Speaker 4: he's okay, he can play on the top line, but
37:45
Speaker 4: in a perfect world, he's an excellent second line winger
37:48
Speaker 4: like that. That's the reality of the situation. But because
37:51
Speaker 4: it's the Flyers, he's their best player. I don't know
37:54
Speaker 4: what to tell you. Yeah, it's a lot of pain
37:58
Speaker 4: and the Sixers will just throw them in there because
38:00
Speaker 4: they just they have two players on max contracts. One
38:04
Speaker 4: is suspended, the other one. You're here to be tired here,
38:09
Speaker 4: you're tired of hearing the word. I'm tired of hearing
38:11
Speaker 4: a phrase, and Bead will be re evaluated. We're at
38:15
Speaker 4: the second time now in a short period of time
38:17
Speaker 4: that we've heard this. It's just you got two players
38:20
Speaker 4: that are one is always injured, one is washed. Maxy
38:25
Speaker 4: is playing more minutes than he ever has because Nick
38:29
Speaker 4: Nurse doesn't have anyone other than him and VJ that
38:32
Speaker 4: can play. So they now have fallen down the standings.
38:37
Speaker 4: I think they're at the eighth spot right now, which
38:39
Speaker 4: means that they're going to have to play one of
38:42
Speaker 4: the top tier teams. They're not getting past the second
38:46
Speaker 4: round again, it's the.
38:47
Speaker 1: Same thing, same crap over and over, same crap over
38:52
Speaker 1: and over. Thanks, Josh Harris, appreciate you. Appreciate you concentrate
38:55
Speaker 1: on the command.
38:56
Speaker 4: Fad New Stadium's going real well for you.
38:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. All right, Well, folks, look, we're gonna take
39:02
Speaker 1: a break and when we get back, we're gonna get
39:03
Speaker 1: into some Philadelphia Union talk. Haven't discussed the Union in
39:07
Speaker 1: a while. We're gonna dive into what this twenty twenty
39:09
Speaker 1: six season may look like. Stick with us, all right,
39:15
Speaker 1: We're back with our good buddy Josh Schuster from Philadelphia
39:18
Speaker 1: soccernow dot com, and we'd like to start to get
39:22
Speaker 1: into this Philadelphia Union season. I don't know if we'd
39:25
Speaker 1: like to get into it, but that's what we're gonna do.
39:28
Speaker 4: Something more positive, Yes, Union.
39:31
Speaker 1: Yes, it's only well look look, I mean actually before
39:37
Speaker 1: we even get to the Union and from what we
39:40
Speaker 1: may see from them this season, Josh, you know, I
39:42
Speaker 1: want to get your thoughts on former Union midfielder Derek
39:46
Speaker 1: Jones being banned for life in Major League Soccer after
39:50
Speaker 1: being found guilty of violating the league's gambling policy. My gosh,
39:54
Speaker 1: I mean a kind of a bit of the bit
39:57
Speaker 1: of a shockwave that went through the MLS world. I
40:00
Speaker 1: just think my opinion just in general, and I'm kind
40:03
Speaker 1: of just out there all over the place on this
40:05
Speaker 1: when the gambling world within sports, it's just crazy, as
40:08
Speaker 1: we know, Yeah, I mean it's everywhere. You have FanDuel,
40:11
Speaker 1: You've got DraftKings everywhere promoting everyone and their mother to
40:15
Speaker 1: gamble on sports and of course inside arenas.
40:18
Speaker 4: Yes, you now can't go to games without saying it exactly.
40:22
Speaker 1: And the fact of the matter is, yes, there are
40:24
Speaker 1: varying degrees and there are certainly fine lines with this stuff,
40:27
Speaker 1: and especially for professional sports athletes who are playing and
40:31
Speaker 1: with guard Derek Jones, you know, he and some of
40:34
Speaker 1: these other folks who were found guilty you know, betting
40:37
Speaker 1: on their own teams. Yeah, not great, shouldn't be doing it.
40:41
Speaker 1: But I'm just not surprised anymore when we hear these
40:44
Speaker 1: type of stories because of what the gambling world has
40:46
Speaker 1: become in the world of sports in general. What are
40:50
Speaker 1: your thoughts here.
40:51
Speaker 4: In the situation with Derek Jones, it was just stupid, Yeah,
40:55
Speaker 4: I mean, one, you're betting on the team you are
40:59
Speaker 4: playing on, and two. One of the allegations is betting
41:04
Speaker 4: on whether he's going to get a yellow card or
41:05
Speaker 4: not what And that's so easy to control, Like, I
41:08
Speaker 4: don't part of this is like in life. I look
41:12
Speaker 4: at it and go, sometimes you do something so stupid
41:15
Speaker 4: you deserve to get caught. Like in this case, I
41:17
Speaker 4: really can't feel bad. This isn't a case where you
41:22
Speaker 4: spend a little bit just talking about how betting is everywhere.
41:25
Speaker 4: There are a lot of guidelines, like in the NFL.
41:28
Speaker 4: I know that you're not allowed to bet on NFL games,
41:30
Speaker 4: but you're allowed to bet on other sports outside of
41:33
Speaker 4: the facilities, right, so even leagues aren't even saying, you know,
41:39
Speaker 4: no betting whatsoever, because I think that's unrealistic. I think
41:43
Speaker 4: addiction is a thing. I think players are going to
41:46
Speaker 4: do it. I think coaches are going to do it.
41:48
Speaker 4: I think in some cases it really is a disease
41:51
Speaker 4: that people can't help themselves with unless they get active help.
41:54
Speaker 4: And I hope that they do. But in this case,
41:57
Speaker 4: this is one of them where I'm like, dude, you
41:59
Speaker 4: did it to your off. You kind of deserve it.
42:01
Speaker 4: I don't know what to say. I'm not going to
42:03
Speaker 4: feel sorry for you. The only thing I really feel
42:07
Speaker 4: is at least he's not a current player and not
42:09
Speaker 4: a superstar player where it's going to derail this amazing
42:14
Speaker 4: season the Union.
42:17
Speaker 1: That's a great seguay sarcasm.
42:19
Speaker 4: In case you're not watching and you're listening, they're sarcasm.
42:22
Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, Like I said, a great segue, because the
42:25
Speaker 1: Union are already three games into this season and they're
42:29
Speaker 1: zero to three after losing significant talent during this offseason.
42:34
Speaker 1: We've spoken about some of that talent that's out the door.
42:36
Speaker 1: In my gosh, seeing Typeribo do what he did at
42:41
Speaker 1: the beginning of this season against this Union team. Look,
42:44
Speaker 1: the Union, they're off to their worst start since twenty twelve,
42:47
Speaker 1: you said earlier, probably their worst start ever. They've only
42:50
Speaker 1: got one goal in three matches here. It's pathetic. So
42:54
Speaker 1: let's start the discussion about what our expectations should be
42:58
Speaker 1: for this team here in twenty twenty six. Again, we
43:02
Speaker 1: know a lot of tea, a lot of the talent
43:05
Speaker 1: that was on this team and that was responsible for
43:08
Speaker 1: a lot of their success in twenty twenty five, not
43:10
Speaker 1: here anymore. This doesn't appear to be looking good for
43:14
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. Josh now.
43:17
Speaker 4: But Jess, as you recall last year, we were saying
43:21
Speaker 4: the same thing, It's gonna be a bad season for
43:24
Speaker 4: the Union, YadA, YadA, YadA. I I'm trying to I
43:29
Speaker 4: want to be careful of how I talk about this.
43:33
Speaker 4: I was feeling bad for Carnell and I was wondering
43:36
Speaker 4: what he did to ownership that after last season they
43:42
Speaker 4: did not reward him by giving him a competitive team.
43:45
Speaker 4: But then I heard him talking it pulled up an interview,
43:50
Speaker 4: a postmatch interview from the last game where he's talking
43:52
Speaker 4: about he's excited from what he's seeing from the young kids,
43:56
Speaker 4: and I'm like, dude, if this is your approach, I
43:58
Speaker 4: get you gotta say some but I'm not feeling so
44:01
Speaker 4: bad the way I view it is. I'm going to
44:06
Speaker 4: bring the flyers back into it because a lot of
44:07
Speaker 4: times when I talk soccer, I do try to bring
44:09
Speaker 4: in other sports to help people understand. And I'm going
44:13
Speaker 4: to bring in baseball too. There are teams like the
44:17
Speaker 4: Tampa Bay Race, and that is really what the Union are.
44:24
Speaker 4: When you have a one off where you either decide
44:27
Speaker 4: not to sell a player or you want to see
44:30
Speaker 4: if their values any higher and I'm going to use
44:32
Speaker 4: wrisk the line, and in this case from the Flyers,
44:35
Speaker 4: Danny opted not to move him. Now, I thought that
44:37
Speaker 4: was a really stupid move. His value is never going
44:39
Speaker 4: to be higher ever, but he feels that it can be,
44:42
Speaker 4: and he feels he didn't get what he wants. I'm
44:43
Speaker 4: okay with that because they're not a farm system for
44:46
Speaker 4: the entire NHL. The Tampa Bay Rays very much are.
44:50
Speaker 4: And so what you're going to see is you're going
44:52
Speaker 4: to see players that succeed, they're going to get sold
44:54
Speaker 4: off and that will lead to a good year here
44:58
Speaker 4: and there. You're just going to have to enjoy that
45:01
Speaker 4: good year year here and there. Are you ever seriously
45:05
Speaker 4: going to win a championship? Probably not? And that's the
45:07
Speaker 4: reality of the Philadelphia Union. They literally I mean, I
45:12
Speaker 4: guess I applaud them on capitalizing on selling players, but
45:18
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's the same thing getting them. Where's
45:22
Speaker 4: it getting them? And this is the same thing that
45:24
Speaker 4: I've said again bringing the Flyers back in. I don't
45:27
Speaker 4: want any Brier trading for draft picks because from what
45:30
Speaker 4: he's shown me right now, outside of Porter Martonu, he
45:32
Speaker 4: cannot draft. So a draft pick does me no good.
45:34
Speaker 4: I'll take reclamation pro projects. It's the same thing with
45:38
Speaker 4: the Union. They sell off, they trade away their draft
45:42
Speaker 4: picks for general allocation money, which very quickly. There's two
45:46
Speaker 4: ways to build in MLS, which makes it different than
45:49
Speaker 4: anywhere else. You can either build through the draft, which
45:52
Speaker 4: is the Americanized version. I hate it. I'm not going
45:55
Speaker 4: to get into it. So what the Union do, which
45:57
Speaker 4: I actually like, is they sell off off their draft
46:00
Speaker 4: picks for general allocation money which they can use to
46:04
Speaker 4: go purchase players. Here's the problem. The Union decide that
46:09
Speaker 4: they are the smartest guy in the room, and sometimes
46:12
Speaker 4: this works, but they don't even go to legitimate leagues
46:17
Speaker 4: of soccer. So the one time they've dipped into lower
46:22
Speaker 4: tiers of Germany, they come up with Kay Wagner, one
46:26
Speaker 4: of the best players that has ever put on a
46:29
Speaker 4: Union kit. The problem is that is the exception. The
46:34
Speaker 4: rule is they go to Denmark, they go to insert
46:39
Speaker 4: whatever random country you want, into the fourth or fifth
46:42
Speaker 4: tier with someone who hasn't even started most of the season,
46:46
Speaker 4: and they're pumping a million or two dollars of a
46:48
Speaker 4: transfer fee. It's not working. I'll give you Michael like
46:54
Speaker 4: I can keep going of where this has not worked.
46:58
Speaker 4: Selling players off only works if you're reinvesting that money wisely,
47:04
Speaker 4: and they aren't doing that, or they're pouring money into
47:09
Speaker 4: the development system, and frankly, the development system has not
47:13
Speaker 4: really been producing much doing.
47:15
Speaker 1: It for years. They've been doing that for years, and
47:17
Speaker 1: you're right, it.
47:18
Speaker 4: Has produced over the years, but in terms of last
47:22
Speaker 4: year and this year.
47:24
Speaker 1: But we're talking about that exceptional talent, right and that
47:27
Speaker 1: and that, and that leads me to believe that the
47:30
Speaker 1: expectations for this year probably should be pretty low. And
47:33
Speaker 1: I'm not just saying that because yeah, they're they're zero
47:35
Speaker 1: and three at this point, have only scored one goal
47:38
Speaker 1: in three three matches.
47:39
Speaker 4: I yeah, go ahead, I would, I would. I would
47:42
Speaker 4: just say the reason why I think this is the
47:44
Speaker 4: worst start ever is because the one goal that they've scored,
47:47
Speaker 4: Like I'll be honest with you, it was a pretty
47:49
Speaker 4: penalty kick that they were getting, right, and so really
47:52
Speaker 4: they shouldn't have even had that, And they just look
47:56
Speaker 4: horribly disorganized. Like there's some of that at the start
47:58
Speaker 4: of the season, like the first four weeks the NFL
48:01
Speaker 4: are sloppy and all that. The difference in soccer is
48:04
Speaker 4: when you're bringing in people from other countries. They've been playing, Yeah,
48:09
Speaker 4: they they've been playing. And the Union play a number
48:13
Speaker 4: a number of warm up matches leading up to this.
48:17
Speaker 4: They go away to Florida, they bring in teams from
48:20
Speaker 4: other countries to do scrimmages. That doesn't really fly with me.
48:25
Speaker 4: This is they they came in with really without starting
48:31
Speaker 4: back line. I mean, it's really it's bad. They are
48:36
Speaker 4: really in a bad spot. They sold off half of
48:38
Speaker 4: their defensive line, yes, in Lesnis and Wagner, and replace
48:43
Speaker 4: them with very unproven, very young I don't know what's
48:49
Speaker 4: going to happen players.
48:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, let's move into the biggest strengths on this team,
48:56
Speaker 1: and we're going to be grasping for straws here. I mean,
48:59
Speaker 1: is mean is the biggest strength goaltending at this point?
49:03
Speaker 4: Is it? Is it?
49:04
Speaker 1: Andre Blake? I mean, is it?
49:06
Speaker 2: Is it?
49:07
Speaker 1: Andrew Rick? Is that the biggest strengths on this team
49:10
Speaker 1: that we can really see? And what what are your
49:12
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts here now?
49:16
Speaker 4: Blake? It has been a rough season, yes, not to start,
49:22
Speaker 4: I don't know what's going I would honestly say.
49:25
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying from a historical standpoint.
49:28
Speaker 4: Is he is, but he's he's not. He's not young,
49:32
Speaker 4: I'm not you know. I would say the biggest strength
49:36
Speaker 4: is honestly the support of the fans, because that that's
49:39
Speaker 4: literally like, if we're talking real time, they're going to
49:43
Speaker 4: do well with ticket sales. They have the Sons of Ben.
49:47
Speaker 4: They're going to show up, and Sons of Ben have
49:49
Speaker 4: shown that they aren't afraid to hold the feet to
49:53
Speaker 4: the fire of ownership. And I have a feeling we're
49:57
Speaker 4: going to need that this this year. So I'm gonna
50:01
Speaker 4: give it to Sons of Ben. That's who's getting nice.
50:04
Speaker 1: All right, very good. Well, let's let's flip the coin here.
50:08
Speaker 1: Biggest weakness on and there are certainly plentiful weaknesses. What
50:15
Speaker 1: are your thoughts here? I mean, maybe you have a
50:17
Speaker 1: list of twenty.
50:20
Speaker 4: How much how much more time do we have?
50:22
Speaker 1: Now?
50:22
Speaker 4: I'll just I'll leave it this. I'm gonna try to
50:26
Speaker 4: be nice. I think the biggest weakness is a large
50:33
Speaker 4: level of inexperience.
50:36
Speaker 1: I think that's fair.
50:38
Speaker 4: One one of my frustrations. And I'm gonna bring up
50:44
Speaker 4: Kevin Sullivan again. He has played in a match and
50:49
Speaker 4: he actually did very well, So why is he not
50:52
Speaker 4: playing at the MLS in MLS matches? And so that's
50:57
Speaker 4: my bone to pick with Carnell right now, Like you
50:59
Speaker 4: can only work with the ingredients you're given right as
51:02
Speaker 4: a chef, as a manager, So why aren't we playing
51:06
Speaker 4: him right? Like he already has an agreement with man City,
51:10
Speaker 4: so like we're not going to have him forever, right,
51:14
Speaker 4: It's not like the season is off to this incredible
51:18
Speaker 4: start that we're afraid of starting a young kid is
51:21
Speaker 4: going to totally derail the season. You need to give
51:25
Speaker 4: the fans.
51:25
Speaker 1: Something, Yes, absolutely absolutely.
51:29
Speaker 4: I would just say inexperience.
51:31
Speaker 1: Inexperience, And I mean I think we're already seeing of course,
51:35
Speaker 1: And it seems like stating the obvious because there's a
51:37
Speaker 1: lot of obvious weaknesses. But the defense, holy cow, defense
51:41
Speaker 1: so far not great, not great.
51:44
Speaker 4: I kind of equate it to that. I feel like
51:49
Speaker 4: Carnell is doing the same thing as Tocket, where they
51:53
Speaker 4: have players who have played in certain positions for a while,
51:56
Speaker 4: but they refuse to use them there. It's kind of like,
51:59
Speaker 4: I know, you do the political thing, and you've served
52:02
Speaker 4: on your council for a long time and all of that.
52:05
Speaker 4: But I said, hey, Jeff, that's cool, and I know
52:08
Speaker 4: that we have this open spot here in Cherry Hill
52:11
Speaker 4: on our council. But you know what I want you
52:13
Speaker 4: to do. I want you to go teach my wife's
52:15
Speaker 4: three year old preschool class. And I'm not saying you
52:20
Speaker 4: can't do it right, but I'm saying that's not where
52:22
Speaker 4: you're gonna feel most comfortable. That's not where you were
52:25
Speaker 4: strength is, that's not where your experience is. Yeah, we've
52:28
Speaker 4: not the same We've got two coaches in Philadelphia doing
52:31
Speaker 4: the same thing.
52:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yep. Anyway, well yeah, it's it's it's not
52:37
Speaker 1: great in certain areas. But I think when we are
52:40
Speaker 1: looking at these upcoming matches with the Union, and you know,
52:46
Speaker 1: again due to the talent that they lost in the
52:49
Speaker 1: off season two, we're gonna we're going to want to
52:52
Speaker 1: start seeing those players that need to begin that process
52:56
Speaker 1: of really stepping up more in twenty twenty six, I mean, yeah,
53:00
Speaker 1: developing more defensively. I think we're obviously going to be
53:03
Speaker 1: looking at Frankie Westfield and also from a goal scoring standpoint,
53:07
Speaker 1: Ezekiel Alado. That's how you say his name, right, you know,
53:11
Speaker 1: I mess up names, Yeah, Ezekiel Alado, and I think
53:15
Speaker 1: that that's what we're going to be. I think that's
53:19
Speaker 1: what the theme of this twenty twenty six Union season
53:21
Speaker 1: is going to be, us seeing who is going to
53:24
Speaker 1: be stepping up and who is able to take those
53:26
Speaker 1: next steps to possibly get to any success. What are
53:30
Speaker 1: your thoughts here to close us out on those players?
53:32
Speaker 1: You're going to really be keeping your eyes on to
53:34
Speaker 1: take that next step, Josh.
53:37
Speaker 4: Not to dodge your question, but my answer is anyone.
53:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we're at that point. Yeah, yeah, I
53:48
Speaker 1: don't speechless.
53:50
Speaker 4: I mean you said me these questions like two or
53:53
Speaker 4: three hours ago, and you know the other ones I
53:56
Speaker 4: was able to come home. I don't really have an
53:58
Speaker 4: answer for this one. And I mean that's a good
54:00
Speaker 4: news bad news situation, right it. It's bad that I'm
54:04
Speaker 4: not expecting anything different from some from the very few
54:09
Speaker 4: veterans that they have on this team, even if they're
54:11
Speaker 4: only in their twenties. Yeah, but it can be good
54:18
Speaker 4: because that means that there's a lot of chances for
54:20
Speaker 4: new people to do new things. I yeah, I would
54:26
Speaker 4: just say anyone.
54:27
Speaker 1: Okay, anyone At this point, folks.
54:32
Speaker 4: You know, I'm never shy of words. Just anyone, I anyone, folks.
54:39
Speaker 1: He is Josh Schuster from Philadelphia Soccer Now dot com.
54:45
Speaker 1: That was the best. That was Seriously, it's the best
54:47
Speaker 1: answer at the end of a discussion on the show.
54:50
Speaker 1: Just anyone, stick come on, just anyone.
54:52
Speaker 4: Please, anyone, please do something to pray, anybody with a
54:56
Speaker 4: stick do something anyway.
54:59
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Yes, buddy, it was great talking to you.
55:02
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Hey, let folks know where they
55:04
Speaker 1: can follow you on the interwebs out there if they
55:05
Speaker 1: want to connect with you.
55:07
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, every time you normally cover this for me.
55:09
Speaker 1: I apologize, Yeah I forget, I forgot this.
55:13
Speaker 4: And on top of these things. But yeah, I'm on AX.
55:17
Speaker 4: Not all the time, but I am on there as
55:20
Speaker 4: a fly guy Josh ninety one, So feel free to
55:24
Speaker 4: give me a follow over there. All right, go to
55:27
Speaker 4: Philadelphia Soccer Now and read the good work they're doing.
55:29
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, buddy, come back join us. I love having
55:33
Speaker 1: you on all the time. I love our discussions. Let's
55:36
Speaker 1: talk more Philly sports in the future.
55:38
Speaker 4: Sounds good? Any signed, Jeff, And that's going to.
55:41
Speaker 1: Do it for us this week. Make sure to share
55:44
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show with your friends and
55:47
Speaker 1: family members who may be Philly sports fans. You can
55:49
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55:52
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55:59
Speaker 1: time to join us every week to help make this
56:01
Speaker 1: podcast happen and to give us great content, and ultimately
56:05
Speaker 1: we appreciate you. Take care and have a great week,
56:09
Speaker 1: and we'll catch you next time.