Go Birds! Daily, Feb. 25th: FULL Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni press conferences at NFL Combine

What's good, y'all? It's Vaughn Miller, Super Bowl MVP, SAG Master, and now your host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets real talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game, from locker room stories to league-wide headlines. You want football IQ, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league? Welcome to Free Range with Vaughn Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Vaughn Miller, wherever you get your podcasts. Go Birds! And we heard from them in two different ways, right? We heard from them, which we talked about on the Daily Pod, from the session with the reporters last week. A lot of good stuff in there. If you haven't had a chance to see it, a lot of the quotes are on my Twitter and my Instagram. And then I spent yesterday's pod Tuesday morning talking about everything Howie and Nick said. But later in the day yesterday, they talked at the Combine. And today, we're going to play that audio for you. Now, I'll give you a heads up. It's hard to hear the questions. I think you can hear him well enough and like you can kind of context clue what they're talking about. But that is the one downside. It's hard to hear. It's hard to hear some of the questions. But in a surprising turn of events, he wasn't really asked about AJ. Nick wasn't. And how he was asked once and he gave kind of the same stock answer. So not a ton of AJ stuff in there. There was some Goddard stuff, Jake Elliott, Brandon Graham, Jalen Phillips, Chris Cooper, the new offensive line coach. So he did get into a lot of topics that weren't, I would say, you know, hot button issues, right? So I think there's a lot to learn from there. I was on WIP when the press conferences happened, and I'll play the part where I react to it. Me and James are going to record a pod reacting to it soon, so that's why I'll give some more of my long-form thoughts on it. But I wanted to play that for you guys. Obviously, the story of the day on Tuesday was Nick saying he can't guarantee that AJ is going to be back. I'll give you my thoughts on that again in case you didn't hear yesterday's pod As someone that was in the room Where the room where it happened as someone that was in the room when uh when nick said it In my opinion nick was asked will aj be here next year and nick didn't want to Say definitely and then a month from now everybody goes well you said he was going to be here So he tried to couch it um, he tried to have some good humor about it with saying, you know that uh that he might not even be the head coach tomorrow. Ultimately, I think what it shows is there is question about if AJ will be back next year. I think Howie has kind of acknowledged that by saying they'll listen offers for anybody. Nick certainly, I think, acknowledged that with his answer. And now we wait. The combine is an important time of the year to find out more information about who's going to be interested. Absolutely killing me. I'm not down there because of the snow, which, by the way, the snow ended up not being that big of a deal. It's basically already gone, at least in Philly. I guess I can't say for everywhere. And hopefully everyone listening has had a good snow experience and hasn't had anything bad happen. But yeah, so here's what we're going to do on today's pod. We're going to play for you the audio of Nick and Howie. You can hear all the answers and you can make some opinions for yourself. And then afterwards we'll play me, Spike, and Ike talking about it. And then, like I said, me and James have a pod talking about it even more. So a lot of Howie, a lot of Nick on today's pod as we heard from them for the first time in a long time. So enjoy the audio. As I always say when we have audio playing, thank you for listening. Love you guys. He's Elliot. I'm James. Talk to you guys later. Enjoy Howie and Nick and the analysis of it. Andy Graham is always welcome in Philadelphia. Obviously, when I think about what he's done for us as a player, as a person, and then last year even when he came back and the versatility that he showed You know, coming in at the end of the year and reducing inside and playing defense tackle. You know, just an all-time Eagles great. And, you know, future Eagles Hall of Famer. Well, we usually take seven or eight guys to camp. We only have three on the roster right now, so definitely think we'll have to address it. So it's a priority position for us, and, you know, we'll just kind of try to manage our own guys, free agency, and the draft to bring the best outcome possible that we can. You know, it always starts up front for us in Philadelphia. You know, I think that Jake has been a tremendous kicker for us since we got him off practice squad in Cincinnati in 2017. tremendously clutch, have a lot of confidence in him as a player, as a kicker, as a person, a captain on our team, and continue to believe in him as our place kicker. I think the more people you interview, just like when you go through this, when you watch a lot of players, it's easy to compare all those guys, you know, and so for us, casting a wide net, being able to hear everyone's vision, have them articulate to us how we fit our players, because it's always about our players. With Sean, it was just the system of play that he wanted to run, how he was going to articulate it, how he was going to do that with all of our players. It was really exciting. I think he's got a tremendous future, and we've got to help him by bringing good players. With the offensive play cards, I was talking about another junior football series about how to evaluate Blake Barham and said during the process you had a really long time to be able to ask him to call him. What's your history with that? Do you think it's like that? Yeah, obviously we have our way of interviewing people. We've interviewed coordinators here a little bit over the last couple of years. Been fortunate to have success and guys leave. And obviously made some decisions here that put us in position to interview some coordinators. And I feel like we have a really good process led by Coach Ceriani on the offense coordinator. He'd probably be the right person to ask the question about interviewing. Hugely important position for the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, I don't think any team in the history of the NFL has benefited more from the backup quarterback position for the Philadelphia Eagles. My bad. My bad. Yeah, I think that when you look at Q and Coop leading that group, two all-pro players, you know, guys who want to be part of Philadelphia Eagles for a long time. Really, Koopke can play anything. He can play outside corner. He can play nickel. He can play at an all-pro level anywhere. So having him gives you some flexibility. And so, you know, we'll go into the offseason and looking to add to that position. Adore did a really nice job for us last year. And it got better throughout the course of the year. And so just like any other position, he's a free agent. And we'll just kind of see how the offseason plays out. With Cooper, I guess, how do you view the value he brings? in the nickel position and compared to somewhere maybe outside? Elite, elite player, elite player at the nickel position. And so when you have someone who's elite at something and you move them, he could be elite as an outside corner too. But when he's able to affect the run game, he's able to affect the pass game, the screen game from there, and you just see the difference that he makes in that role. And then when he plays outside, very little separation. He's obviously got size, speed, unique athletic ability. You know, I joke he could be an elite receiver. He could probably be an elite quarterback, too. You know, I've seen him throw the ball, too. So just an elite athlete with elite character and just happy he's a Philadelphia Eagle. You have players who might be willing to trade it in my heart. Do you try to establish what it would take before you even get those offers? Yeah, you always try to make decisions in calm times. You know, we do the same thing in the draft. We have a value for every player on the roster so that we don't get sideswiped on anything, that we understand what we would do. That doesn't mean we would trade them. But at the same time, we've got to be open to listen on everything that we do here. That's what a lot of this week's about. That's what a lot of the first couple weeks of free agency is about. That doesn't mean there will necessarily be action, but you've got to be willing to listen. We'll do that during the draft as well and decide what's the best for the Philadelphia Eagles. At the end of the day, everything we do is what's best for the Philadelphia Eagles so that we can try to compete and hopefully win another championship. Tremendous player in person for the Philadelphia Eagles. Really glad we were able to figure it out and bring it back to Philadelphia this year for this season and tremendously productive for us. Just a huge asset for our offense to have him on our football team. Again, we've got to put the whole puzzle together. And so to sit here, we've got a lot of other free agents too and say, hey, we're definitely going to get this guy back. When we get this late, obviously the market did taste a lot of that as well, but we'll certainly sit down with his agent here over the next couple of days and have a conversation. I'm very appreciative of Dallas Goddard. I'm doing great, buddy. How you doing? Yeah, I think you got to go back to how you want to build the team first and foremost. You know, what is your priorities in building the team? because when we have this many players coming up for second contracts on their rookie deals, it's going to be hard for us to keep all of them. The good news is we have a compensatory system where we can get some draft picks back in the future for some of these guys who've meant so much to us if we can't sign everyone. But we've got to make priorities, and you can't only do that by playing favorites. You've got to also do it by your vision of how you build the team. And so we'll try to be pretty clear about our vision to the extent that we can and get those guys back and continue to build on top of that. You know, I think it's staying true to your board and making sure that at every position that you're grading them clearly based on their value in the league, what kind of players they are, they're going to be in the league that you project them to be. Obviously, you can't have any guarantees on that. And you stack the board, and then you stack it horizontally and vertically. And as you get into the draft, you look where you are, and then you have those conversations about this or that at every position, including quarterback. Well, he's always continuing to improve work ethic, you know, looking for ways, incremental ways to get better. this system we think is going to be really good for him as well as a lot of our other players. He's always looking for a system of play, and we think that we have that. And so just really excited to get him back in the spring and get the reps and continue to learn the principles that Sean's looking to bring to our offense and go from there. you know, I think that we always look one year out and we always look with optimism, you know, and I think last year at this time, there was probably optimism about this draft and where this draft was going and what it could be. You got to go into each draft, understanding the value of the players that are in that particular draft. And if the value changes at a certain point in time, then I think that at the end of the day, then you can make decisions based on that. Yeah, I think you left that will there, too. I think that, you know, those three guys have complementary skill sets, really talented players, really excited to see what they're going to be able to do in 2026, and feel really confident that they're going to be put in a great position to succeed. I was just laughing because I don't think I used guarantee. I think it was the other guy who's going to get hit with that. It precipitate what happens when it rains I think that at the end of the day you know there's a lot of conversations in the offseason about players on your team, on other teams. You know, that's really the job. That's the fun part about the offseason is the opportunities to improve your team, the opportunities to make trades. but at the end of the day again we're trying to get better and it's hard to do that if you're just subtracting great players we'll do whatever's in the best interest of our team to be better for this year and going forward anything that puts us in position that we think to potentially win another championship so every decision will be made with that no matter who the players you know I think obviously we have a free agent at that position and a guy that we drafted, a guy that we think is a really good player for sure and unbelievable character. And so, you know, all those decisions here will be made in the next couple of weeks. What is your perspective about Reed's development for the course of the last few years? How do you think it's a new defense? Yeah, really proud of Reed, undrafted free agent and played in two Super Bowls, four years, four playoff appearances, was a captain this year for our team. A tremendous player, a tremendous person. And that's how I feel about Reed. You know, I think that for us, that's probably going to be hard to do. We've got a lot of free agents. We're trying to keep a lot of guys together. I think the best way to do that is probably with extensions as opposed to one-year deals. Well, John's a free agent. I think we have a couple young players behind him who have shown flashes of a skill set that we're looking for. And we've got to continue to build that room. And so we'll have opportunities again in free agency in the draft to look at that position and continue to build on it. Well, you certainly see his fit with Coach Fangio and our defense, which a lot of times when you're talking about free agency is a big part of free agency. How is this guy going to fit into our defense? So you see that there. You've been with the guy. He's got tremendous character, tremendous work ethic. And then all the things that you're doing, you're trying to balance the other factors that go along with that to try to come down with the value. And you work with everything just like we're here. Part of being here, part of the benefit of being here is the medical information. You know, we get in situations where we get really excited and then a week from now, you know, we'll have some medical information that will change some of the evaluation. So that's always part of the decision making. Seems like a local. Not a lot of not a lot of. I don't know that you can do anything about. I don't know you can do anything. Not that I don't like seeing you guys again. I don't know. I don't know. I think that, you know, when you draft guys and you see them have success, you want to keep them around. So, I don't know. Maybe we'll see. Maybe. Yeah. I don't know. You know, I can't speak at the ownership level for what they're looking for and who's been hired. You know, I don't know that there's been a tremendous amount of change at the GM level. But, you know, when you talk about those guys and working with those guys and, you know, some of those guys I haven't seen yet, so really excited to see those guys and just proud of them. And it's fun. I think that's part of legacy. I think at this point, you know, legacy is continuing to win, continuing to win at a high level. and then seeing people you care about get jobs that they've dreamed of. And so when you say that, I'm kind of jealous that I wasn't along the row hanging with them while they were doing that. Bob gave me a late tea time. Is that what it is? Late tea time? Yeah, well, I consider all those guys friends, but at the same time when we play them, I hope we kick their ass. Hey, this is Richard Deitch, the host of the Sports Media Podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the Sports Media Podcast has you covered. I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Kopi reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said no. I was booked on the Deitch Podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. I was just going to say, we promise. Well, that's a question. Yeah, I know. We can't hear this question. Yeah, yeah. As far as evaluating them? Yeah, I mean, you go through the process of the interview, and you have different questions that you ask them to be able to take themselves through it. Like, we don't leave anything to chance. Like, we're going to go through our process, and, hey, how are you going to call this situation? How are you thinking about this situation? and you ask them game plan scenarios from games that they've been around. So, excuse me, there's a lot of different ways to do that. You know, obviously I won't get into every way that I do that in an interview, but you go through a process. If I'm hiring a wide receiver coach, if I'm hiring a coordinator, whatever that is, you go through a process to see if you feel like they're going to be good at doing that personal job. Yeah, you always want to, you know, make sure that when you're on the verge of hiring somebody or, you know, or in a final evaluation portion, you're bringing a couple guys back in, you want to reach out to different guys and guys they've worked with, guys that they've played with, guys that they've coached. You know, that's what you would expect. that's what that's a dude to do for you when you go through a job interview it's very similar um and so you're looking for common themes uh and you know it was a common theme of everyone spoke very similar uh about sean and um you can imagine that those were glowing uh you know reviews which is one of the reasons obviously we hired him because we thought he was you know we got to the phone call situations where we're kind of going through that um and everyone had things Everyone had great things to say about him, the person he is, the coach he is, the football mind that he is, and so really excited about that. Yeah, you know, again, there will be some things. That has a lot to – there's a lot of steps to take place before we know exactly what version of this offense is going to be. But obviously, you know, Sean comes from a family of coaches and things that he's done that we really respect, that we know is tough to defend. We know we've done a lot of good things here as well, as far as some of the things we've done that's hard to defend. So being able to sprinkle some of that in. And a lot will be, you know, you've got to go through the process with your players to, you know, get to all those answers. Again, you're constantly going to try to get to where you will be by the end of the season. But really, it's always important at the end of the day that we're able to run the football, be able to do play action off of that, play physical, play with relentless effort, play with great detail, play together. Those will be all things that we're looking to do. Yeah, my experience with great football players is you come in and you're like, hey, Saquon, we're going to run inside zone. He's going to be really good at it. Hey, we're going to run gap schemes. He's going to be really good at it. Hey, we're going to run wide zone. He's going to be really good at it. Hey, we're going to run the option. He's going to be really good at it. Hey, we're going to split you out. He's just a great football player. And so guys that are great football players can fit into a lot of different offenses. And Saquon, regardless of the schemes, I think you saw that in some of the things that we've done. He's been highly productive in many of the schemes, whether it's gap schemes, whether it's inside zones, whether it's pin and pulls, whether it's toss cracks. Every one of these things, I'm picturing him breaking a big runoff on that. And so that's a common theme with good football players. They can fit into a lot of different schemes. So I believe he'll be exceptional at that. Yeah, I think you're constantly evolving in everything. That's why the communication between coaching staff, front office, is so important of, hey, here's what we're looking for. you do that every year. That's one of the things that I think Howie and I do a really good job of with, hey, here's what we're thinking, some of the things that we're thinking, and here's some of the attributes that this player needs to be able to do that. And so, yeah, I think it's always important that tight ends are able to create mismatches in the pass game versus some of the different guys that they get in the inside coverages. it's been our case in the pass game that they're great yards after catch guys. I think you've seen that with Dallas of how phenomenal he is with the ball in his hands and how difficult he is to bring down. And then being able to be effective in the run game. We've been in the top ten or top five in rushing, obviously, in all the years but this year. and it's important that they're highly involved in that and being able to block tough matchups with the defensive ends or linebackers or whoever it may be. Why was Chris Cooper the right to say that's the offensive line? He was really well-star. He was really well-star. He was really well-star. Yeah, again, you go through. You're able to go through and talk to all these different guys and figure out who's best for you. and you know I think as we as we talk to guys we just we're really impressed by by Chris and you know the things that he's done as a player as a coach and his knowledge on the game his knowledge on you know a system that we're you know some of the things that we're going to do from that system you know because there's a lot of intricacies within that and so you know just excited about everything to help bring it's fun you know it's always important for your position coaches to help guys develop fundamentally. I'm always going to, that's always something I'm looking for with position coaches. Can this guy help our guys get better fundamentally? Can this guy add to our scheme? Can this guy hold people accountable? Can this guy, you know, fit in and be a good team player within the staff? Because it's so important that they're together as a staff. And I think the answer, whenever we bring somebody in, we believe that with that group of guys that we brought in, and Chris is no different. Yeah, I think Saquon, I think we saw the athletic ability, the vision, everything with Saquon that we saw when we were watching them with the Giants or what we saw in 2024. And so, listen, as a whole, we didn't reach our ultimate goal of being able to be at the top of the mountain. Only one team was able to do that this year. And so we all have this thing that we want to get back and prove ourselves again. That's what you have to do in this league, right? You don't win, you get back up, and you try to prove yourself again. And I think that's everybody's mindset on this team. I'm excited about when these guys get back into the building. And I know we're going to feel that, like, that just, hey, we're hungry for more. And Saquon's no different. I think that we're all going to feel that way. I'm sorry? You always want the guys that you want to try to bring back as many guys as you possibly can as far as, you know, having good football players, good people around. And so obviously when you ask me this question, whether it be about Josh Sweat or whoever it may be you always want your guys back I think I answered it pretty much the same way all the time You don win as many games as we won together and especially a guy like BG and say no I mean, I think that's not going to say it's a ridiculous question, but of course you want guys back like that. And so I love the guys on our football team. Like I said, we've been through the highest of highs. We've been through lows together. And that's when you come together as a football team and as people. when you're going through the ups and downs together. And so, you know, I love our team. And you name the guy, and I'm going to say, yeah, I want him back. Yeah, I think Christian is a phenomenal football coach that has contributed to a lot of our player development throughout the last two years that he's been here and to a lot of success that we've had through this and, you know, these last two years. And so I think the world of him and wish him the best, exception of two games every year. Oh, no. Yeah. No, I think he continually gets better. I think you saw him have a great year this year. And, you know, even even when a guy prepares not to have as good a year, like you're always you're always looking at it. Like, is this arrow on the rise? Is this arrow on the fall? And even if a guy doesn't have his best year, he still can be on the rise. Well, I think we saw Devonta have a great year, and I think you just continue to see him play better and better. And I think that's a tribute to who he is. Guys that are tough, that love football, that are smart football players, and they're talented, have a tendency to reach their ceiling, God willing. And I think that's what you're seeing. You're seeing them continue to get better. You're seeing him continue to do these things and make plays only that he can make on the football field. And so I just think you continue to see him on the rise and excited about, you know, what he'll look like in this new offense that we'll have. Yeah, I mean, again, that's something that I don't know. How many do you have this year? Yeah, you're trying to get your guys as many targets as you possibly can that are big-time playmakers. I think that's kind of been questions that you guys have asked me. It's like, hey, how come this guy didn't get as many targets, and how come he got too many targets, and there's only one football? And so we understand that that's part of our job, that if Devontae has 112 or 140, somebody else is going to have a little bit less, then it's going to be why did he get more targets. And so we understand that's kind of the flow of how it goes. and, you know, how, like, last year, Smitty was highly productive, but we ran, you know, we ran 24, pardon me, we ran the crap out of the ball, right? And so I think it just all depends. Obviously, we'll do whatever we need to do to try to win each game. Getting Devontae Smith the ball and getting him targets is always going to be important, as long as he's an eagle, to the success of our football team. And so, you know, it's just the way the season goes, the way the flow of a game goes. you know it's important that he's he's getting seeing targets every game um because he does good things when he gets when he when he gets those things so um i don't ever want to say hey this is the number he needs to have this many targets he needs to be able to affect the game each game and and that that number can change each game each year based off of that Yeah, I think there's some things that teams did this year that they did a good job of being able to stop. and we got to get back to being able to, we either have to get back to being able to be as dominant as we were at it, or we find new avenues to be able to convert on third down or in the red zone. And so, you know, that's the fun part about offseason, is to be able to go through those processes. You go through them during the season as well. I think you saw us do some cool things off of it, and you still want to be able to do that. Hey, you're doing that with your entire offense. Hey, here, this play's coming. Just kidding, we're running this play. But, and that's what you're constantly trying to do to put seeds of doubt within the defense. And this play has that ability. And, you know, we know we have to, it took a little bit of a step back, and we've got to coach it better. We've got to execute it better. And, you know, looking forward to seeing where that goes in the future. I'll get you, Jeff. How do you think Joe Casper will fill that role in UCF as someone who has a similar trajectory? Yeah, just really intelligent guys that love football, that are good football coaches, that help players, you know, become the best versions of themselves. You know, I wish you were able to sit in there with me when I'm interviewing, when I'm having an exit interview with a player and be able to let them, you know, hear what they say about their coaches. You know, both guys, their players, you know, rave about them. And, you know, that's my job to be able to bring in coaches that are great coaches. You know, you're a product of the people that you have around you, both players and coaches, as a head coach. And so really happy with the way those guys have worked together. Look forward to, you know, Joe's relationship with Mike and of how we move forward in that room. but just have the utmost respect for both those guys. Say that one more time, Jim. What do you think about the shift? What do you think about the shift? You know what? I guess I didn't really have a feel like I'm like, oh, I felt this way or I felt that way. You know, I mean, you just there's a lot of different things that are proposed and that come up within a year. And your job as a coach is to be able to adapt to the to the role. You know, whether that's the kickoff rule that we had to adapt to this year, that's your job as coach to figure that out. And but you never know what that's going to be until truly until you get to it. Right. Because there's always speculation one way or the other and a lot of different things. but there's things that you don't have to cross that bridge until you get there, and we're not there quite yet, so we'll see. Okay. This one's super catchy. Yeah, it sucks. It's a WIP afternoon show with Ike, Spike, and Frizz. It's 3.30 country. What would I rather listen to, 3.30 country or the combine availability with Howie and Nick Sirianni? Just torture. How many questions about Jake Elliott and Brandon Graham can we squeeze into 30 minutes. It is truly unbelievable. I almost forgot about Jake Elliott. Yeah, Jake's probably like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not make me a topic. Let me just coast into OTAs here. Do Nick and Howie know that it's Caller of the Year voting day one? Do they know? All right. You know, before we get back to Elliott, I do want to let, because Jordan's matchup is today, Jordan Princeton. He was giving his list of the five people in Philadelphia sports he dislikes the most right now. Buzz was on the list. Josh Harris is on the list. Do you want to finish the list real quickly here, Jordan? That was the worst 30 minutes on WIP since Angelo Cataldi used to host the show. Oh, my God. Was that painful. Was that painful? How does no one ask him about Jeff Stoutland? How does no one ask him about anything that's relevant except for players that we don't care about. So I'm going to put that in the past. Go back to the list here because a real caller of the year doesn't get thrown by 45 minutes on hold in the middle of a call. Oh, just do it. I'm here to win. Number three, whoever at NBC Sports didn't renew Taron Hatcher's contract. I'm happily married. Everybody there is happily married. There isn't a man in Philadelphia who roots to the Phillies that didn't like Taron Hatcher in the dugout and on the sidelines. What a terrible decision. If you guys know who that is, send me his name. I'm going to take care of him. Number four, Dave Dombrowski. I don't understand how a GM, a president, baseball, whatever this guy is, how do you make your team this much worse by not doing anything? It is the worst failure of a leader in baseball, the worst offseason in my 40-plus years as a Phillies fan. And number five, and we don't need to spend a lot of time on this one, The worst person in Philadelphia sports, A.J. Brown. You don't want to be here. We don't want you here. We're tired of talking about you. Even when we're not talking about you, in these press conferences, we're still talking about you, A.J. Go get yourself a trade. Go read your book on a sideline somewhere else. There he is, Jordan and Princeton, the seven seed against the two seed. Rios. Rios, right. And his Rios matchup. He's Rios coasting. We haven't heard from him. I know. Jordan, maybe a little regency bias. I'm not saying he's going to upset him. Probably not. It might be closer than people think. Could be close. Could be close. So, Elliot, going back to the conversation that actually matters with Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman, the first thing I mentioned today, and you were in the room, and we didn't get to hear the audio. We just get to read the quotes. One of the things that really stuck out to me, and I look for little ways that people say things, right? And the way he talked about the offensive coordinator interviews, he said, I interviewed 17 people. I did this. And Nick doesn't strike me as somebody who is so media savvy that Howie and Jeffrey Lurie would be leading the interviews and he would go in there and say, I did this, I did that. I really came away thinking, and I'm actually surprised that I think this way, that he actually was the leading voice in hiring Sean Mannion, and he actually is more stable within the organization than I thought going into. And I know it was just a couple of lines, but the way he said it really seemed, and it was the entire offensive coordinator conversation. I want this. I want that. He could be playing 3D chess, but he doesn't seem like that kind of guy. No, I think the AJ quote would tell you Nick's not a 3D chess man when it comes to media. No, I mean, we've talked about this. I think Nick, I think they are running the offense Nick wants to run, and they hired a coach to run that type of offense. And I'd also say I give Nick credit. Like I'm saying, they decided what type of offense they wanted to run during the process, and then they hired a coach that can run that. I don't think Sean Mannion is coming in and saying, I'm running the Sean Mannion offense is the point I'm making. Well, he doesn't have an offense. Well, that's what I'm saying, right. He has an offense he has learned, and they want to run that type of offense, and that is what he will help them coach. I think that's – it sounds like a small difference, but I think it is a noteworthy difference when talking about what the offense is going to look like. And I'll also say that credit to Nick Sirianni, because I think one of the reasons he's successful as a head coach is he is not a guy with a big ego. And for years, he's had to hear Sean McVay's offense, Kyle Shanahan's offense, Mike McDaniel's offense. Meanwhile, he's won more games than them. He scored more points than them. And I would guess it bothers him that those guys are viewed as offensive geniuses, and he's viewed as someone that doesn't know offense. But credit to him for this offseason, putting his ego aside and admitting he's running that offense. And I think one of the reasons he's successful as a head coach is because, despite having a resume where he could have a big ego, he doesn't. And it's not with—he doesn't fight for more power. He doesn't fight for player personnel control. and I think this is another example of him just doing what he thinks is right for the team and not doing what maybe he thinks is right for him. Still need to see it to believe it. See what? See that this isn't going to be a mesh. Oh, it's going to be a mesh. Okay, that's what I'm saying. I just mean the idea of saying you're running a Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay offense to me I think is a noteworthy low ego thing for Nick to do. Yeah, but it's also a PR move. You think? Yes. to make everybody happen. When did this team ever in the life of the Eagles come out and call somebody else's offense out by name? That's what they wanted. They know that's what everybody out here is clamoring and hanging on. New offense. Everybody wants Deshaun McVay. I'm not saying it's a bad strategy or they're not going to use it. I'm just saying them being as open as they are about that, to me seems they want to calm the waters about the offense moving forward. So I would agree that there is a definite win in having this be the message. But I do genuinely think they want to go into this year and try to run a different type of offense. Oh, I agree with you there. I agree with you there. I think the real question is how long of a rope are they going to have? Because they are meshing it all together. And it's all exciting and good until you're 0-1 and you score 17. Like, are you going to stick with it? That's the real question. You're not. That's the way I'm thinking. I like after three or four weeks they sitting at 1 or 2 Oh they 1 I mean you points a game But hold on But let not act like the way the offense looked like the points they were scoring last year are some great salvo for an offense that isn't working. If the offense isn't working, the offense wasn't working last year. Yeah, but I think the main reason the offense didn't work last year is because the offensive line played poorly and Jalen wasn't great. Like, you know, I've been on this island where I don't think Kevin Petula was the problem. I don't think the scheme was the problem. They just didn't play well. Somebody get the statistician for me. I need the numbers worked. What were the numbers when they were 8-1? The biggest difference in points scored. I don't know what that looked like after that when they started. Because I remember some. Go ahead. Here's the biggest difference in points scored after the first four games. And that is the biggest difference. Are you talking about last year or 2024? 2025. The biggest difference in points scored for the Eagles last season was after the first four games. and it is also a precipitous decline in how much Jalen Hurts ran. It was huge. You look at the first four games, he was running 8 to 10 times a game. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it was something like that. Oh, that first game he ran like 15 times, I believe, in that Cowboys game. And they scored points against the Cowboys, they scored points against the Chiefs, they scored against the Rams. I think they averaged 27 or 28 points a game in the first four games, and Jalen was running 8 to 10 times a game. And then immediately, when you look at his rushes per game, You can look at it immediately. It goes down like four, and the points dropped right there. So the big question, like, you can – I think that they are going to have a much longer rope with this. I think that the rope, the short rope, is not with the offense. It's with the quarterback. So I think you can make that argument for 2027, but I am very confident that they will not bench Jalen next year before they change the offense back. Like, I agree with you. If they go four games and they're like, this guy can't run the offense we want to run, that's a 2027 problem. But I think in 2026, they'll just adjust and run the stuff they think he can do and try to win games that way. I don't think they'll bench him in season. I agree his rope is shorter. I just think in season, that would be wild. 215-592-9494. Derek Impaoli, who is a three-seating caller of the year. His matchup today. Derek, you're on WIP. What's happening? What's happening? What's up, Derek? What's up, Dave? Elliot, I ain't hear your song, man. I guess you're no longer sassy no more, man. Well, I think Nick messed that up. Yeah, yeah, he's sassy. Spike's not biting. No, he's sassy. I thought you might have put some respect on it and told them guys, man, cut that sassy check. I mean, that call has been living right for you in my head a little bit. You know what I mean? Yeah. Hey, listen, this is what I want to – I got a couple things on the Eagles offseason, right? So with the Nick Sirianni thing, I felt like that was totally absurd. Like Brandon Graham, great eagle. I don't think nobody's sitting home wondering if he's coming back or not next year now if he had 10 sacks in his return last year different conversation right yeah I think that the people wondering most are probably Brandon and his family and then I think you know and again no of that you know BG I love you no offense to Brandon but as far as questions for next season his whether Brandon is here is not top 10 do you think the Eagles owe it to him to give him a roster spot no if he wants to I think they do. After having him come out of retirement, if he wants to come back, I think they owe it to him. No, they paid him. They owed him what they paid him last year. He didn't play for free. Yeah. Well, I'm saying he came out of retirement. You're right. He got paid. Sorry. Go ahead, Derek. So my thing with the offensive coordinator situation, right? So, I mean, I hear more doubt than I do, like, you know, confident in if Hurts can run this offense. So it's like, how soon do you think it's going to be before Nick? I mean, Nick Ceriani, he's the CEO head coach, right? But he also, he does lose his mind on the sidelines. So when stuff isn't working, right, how long before he starts, like, coming into the meetings and taking them over? Because it feels like even with Kellen Moore, as accomplished as he was, he still had a lot of say. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so I think what you're saying. Even that one play? Yeah, just really quickly, to what you're saying. Like the one play with the defense. Sorry. I don't think the issue is between Nick and Sean. I think the issue would be if Jalen's not running the offense well. Like, I don't think it would be Sean wants to keep running this, Nick's like, no, let's give up on it, is my right on it. Right, yes. They would both know it's not working. Yeah. So my whole thing is, like, so how long do you give – I feel like if I'm a quarterback, right, if I'm Jalen Hurts and I'm a quarterback, if you're bringing in this new high-shot guy and he wants me throwing the ball all over the field, like, how wouldn't he be up for that challenge? You know what I'm saying? because our offense this last year was very, very vanilla. So it's like if I'm Jalen Hurts, why wouldn't he be open to change if it's going to make him look better? You know what I'm saying? Or it may not make him look better. Yeah. I mean, I just feel like after last year, we can't run what we ran last year because of the way that it looked. We can blame it, oh, well, he had to force the ball to A.J. Well, if A.J. not here and then the same thing happens, then what? You understand what I'm saying? Well, it becomes clear that it's Jalen. That's what I'm saying. So, like, I'm willing to give him a little bit more time to, like, grasp this new offense than most because it is going to be a big difference, right? But I also think that the thing with the running, do you really think that Jalen Hurts just says, I don't want to run anymore? That's the part that I'm stuck on. Is he really choosing not to run, or are they telling him to dial back the running? Well, there's no way the coaches didn't want him to run the ball. In my opinion. Like Hurts always says, it's all about winning. I'll do whatever it takes to win. If we have all these numbers that are saying when he runs the ball, the offense scores more points, yada, yada, yada, yada. If that's true, and I love Jalen Hurts. I love him on the field, off the field. But if it's true that he's saying, I don't want to run, I need to know why. Why you don't want to run? I can give you a guess. First of all, he's never going to tell you that. Nobody's going to tell you that, D. So if you're looking for an absolute answer, I don't know how you're going to get that unless Jalen. No, you know. He never says anything. So you know he's never going to tell you that. He's going to say, I do what they asked me to do. Like, that's what he's going to say. He has said that in the past. Now, you're asking Ike, I'll throw out my reckless speculation, is that he's not putting his body in harm's way without due compensation. Without a new deal. Yes. Wow. Which I don't know if I can fully blame him for. Of course I would blame him. I don't know. I don't know if I would blame him for that. This is his chance to get another $100 million guaranteed. I agree. He's got to sit through one year of the team. The Eagles have not paid him since he's won a Super Bowl. I agree. We are definitely going to disagree on this. If your whole thing is, I will do whatever it takes to win, and you will not do whatever it takes to win, then everything you say is valueless to me. He did do everything it took to win a Super Bowl, and they didn't pay him. He is making the six most money of any quarterback in football this year, this upcoming season. There's a lot of money being paid there. He has a guaranteed contract this year. He is under contract. Guaranteed money after this year. He is under contract for two more years. You have to pay me to do what I'm good at? Can you imagine if Matt Stafford got out there and didn't throw because they didn't give him a new deal? You know what the Rams would do? They would pay him. They would pay him, yeah. See, what you're asking him to do is put himself in harm's way by running. Yes. You're asking him to put the team first, which I get in a perfect world is ideal, but it's his career and his body and his chance to make another $100 million. And every other quarterback does it. Well, okay, then we tanked the season because he didn't feel like running. I'm being honest with you. Well, they should have paid him. If this is the reason. No, but you don't really think they should have paid him. Deep down in your heart, you both must have questions about how good he's going to be moving forward. But here's the thing, though. You don't have a better replacement. Yeah, that's the thing. That's the thing. We don't have another quarterback. So he's the quarterback. and if you want him to use all of his skill sets, if I'm in Jalen's shoes and I'm saying, hold on, my future may be in doubt here. I don't know if you guys are actually committed to me moving forward. Then I got to be smart with what I do because you know what? He's not. I shouldn't say he's not because they could still pay a quarterback. But if he were to suffer a severe injury, he's not getting paid. Say he pops an Achilles or he tears his ACL. He's not getting paid next offseason. All that's gone. Well, I can tell you he's also putting himself in harm's way by sitting back there and letting himself get clobbered the third most in football. Well, you got to get rid of the ball. Yeah, but he doesn't. You got to get rid of the ball, yeah. I think this is a little like when Hasan Reddick was upset about his deal, and everybody's like, well, it was only one year, only one year. And he came in, he played, and his career has never been the same since. Like, when the athletes have a chance to use their leverage to get money, I think they should do it. And that's what Jalen is doing. And by the way, they should extend him. Right. or at the very least cut him a check like Saquon no yes absolutely not thank you for the call Derek I just none of us he didn't get paid for winning the Super Bowl and a Super Bowl MVP what quarterback doesn't get paid and everyone else got paid he was not the reason they won the Super Bowl he was okay that season he was okay last season I agree with you there Yeah, he was okay. I don't disagree with you on this. First of all, before Jalen, it had been, what, four years since they won a playoff game, and they won that Super Bowl with the backup quarterback. I'm going to talk about, you can talk about them winning football games. I'm going to talk about how the quarterback played. And they just brought in a new offensive coordinator, and I'm reading, this is from Nick Sirianni. The more I learned about it, the more I talked to different guys about it, that's where I got to. So the answer to your question is yes, I want to have this system. And we all can look at each other in the eyes and say, we are not sure if this quarterback can run this system. I am not. If I were Howie Roseman, I would not say, you know what I'm doing? I'm doubling down on a guy who didn't want to throw over the mill, so he didn't do it, didn't want to run, so he didn't do it, wasn't comfortable with this one. Had the offensive coordinator get fired because he did or didn't want to do? Absolutely not. And if he, I can tell you, I know somebody will pay him at some point, but his future is going to be dependent on whether he can do this or not. So I agree with you on that, and that's all fine from the Eagles' perspective. But from Jalen's perspective, he could sit there and go, so you haven't paid me since the Super Bowl. I have one year of guarantee left on my money. You're putting a new offense in that I know deep down you're skeptical I can run or not, right? So this would be the time for Jalen to try to secure his future. because if he does struggle for six games, then we know they're not going to pay him. And that could be bad for the team. But I'm saying from Jalen's perspective, he used to ask for a new deal. And from the Eagles' perspective, I get the hesitation. But life before Jalen was not as good as people remember. Yeah, I actually don't get the hesitation. Well, the hesitation would be if you're going to run an offense, you don't know he can run. They don't even know what the damn offense looks like. That's fair. That's fair. Well, with him, they don't know what it looks like. But the problem is they don't have any other quarterback where it's going to look good. They can find one. Right. It's going to come down to... Yeah, it's so easy to find a quarterback. The biggest difference they're going to make... The Eagles would be just as good with Mac Jones as they would with Jalen Hurts. There's no way. Yes, they would. They would be just as good with Mac Jones. No, they wouldn't. And I don't even think... Mac Jones doesn't do anything better than Jalen. He throws the ball better than Jalen. No, he doesn't. Yes, he does. I can tell you what he can do. He can run the Shanahan offense because he did it last year. Yeah, because all he has to do is dink and dunk the ball and get it out of his hands. Okay. But that's not being a better thrower than Jalen. Well, they scored more points than we did with Mac Jones. Well, because offensive line was terrible. Okay, well, San Francisco was missing all their wide receivers. I don't know how their offensive line was. I'm saying why the Eagles offense struggled. Yeah, it's the reason why Mac Jones will be a backup quarterback again next year. No, I think the only way that Mac Jones is a backup next year is if the Niners keep him. If they trade him, he is a starter somewhere. And again, not even a big Mac Jones game. Who the hell is trading for Mac Jones? The Jets or Cleveland? I don't know any of the 11 teams that might not even have a quarterback. But if I were to ask you this, if there was a choice to trade for either Mac Jones or Jalen Hurts, who do you think most teams are trading for? I don't know. I think it would be split. Jalen Hurts. I think we all agree to your point. We all agree about Jalen a little maybe more than it seems. There is no shot Mac Jones fetches more in a trade than Jalen. No. No way. I don't even think you get a first-round pick for Mac Jones. First-round pick? I wouldn't give you a third-round pick for Mac Jones. I think you could maybe get a two or three. I think you could maybe get a second for Mac Jones. Like a three that could be a two. I mean, look. What am I missing? Sam Darnold just won a Super Bowl. I think at this point, teams are willing to take chances on guys. But Jalen would fetch more in a trade. All right. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. Not with that big contract you want to give him. 2-1-5, 5-9-2, 94-94. The big contract he should want. Coming. Shut up. Coming up now. Just a hand. Jack the mic. Go Bars!