Go birds! What's going on everybody and good morning. Today is Wednesday, April 8th and this is your daily Go Birds Morning Update giving you all the Eagles news you need to know as well as what to keep an eye out for today. We got a big day as you know we are deep into our draft coverage and really it's kind of taken over the whole league too. It feels like all the insiders, all the news programs, all the tweets, they've fully turned to the draft and it makes sense. It's like 16 days away, 15 days away from happening. So we got a packed episode for you today. I try not to do this because I know a lot of you are WIP listeners but Mike Mayock was on the WIP afternoon show on Tuesday and I thought he was awesome. Like talking about the receivers, talking about some of the quarterbacks. I'm going to play that for you guys later in the episode but to start it off, it really feels like the cat is just straight up out the bag on where AJ is going to end up. It feels like people aren't even pretending anymore and like if I'm Howie, if I'm the Eagles and frankly if I'm AJ, and there's no true ten of this, there'd be pushback. But there's not any pushback and why is that? Because AJ Brown is going to end up being a patriot. It is obvious and I thought there was multiple things that happened on Tuesday to back this up. So the first thing that happened was Peter Schreger of I guess NFL Network slash ESPN now, right? I think just straight ESPN but was with the NFL network before put out his mock draft. Now Peter Schreger is one of the most connected insiders there is. I see him at league events like he is as connected to the head coaches and GM's as you know, maybe like Schefter, Glazier, Diana Rossini, like he is in that group, right? And I think maybe even more connected than some of them. He puts out two mock drafts every year. He put out one yesterday and he puts out one today of the draft and in that mock draft, the Eagles selected at number 23 wide receiver Denzel Boston from Washington. Now that guy is number one on my big board. I love Denzel Washington as a player. I think he is the closest thing in the draft to being an AJ Brown replacement. But why did he have them taking Denzel Boston out of Washington? Well he writes, quote, Boston is electric and Washington coach Jed Fish and Eagle general manager Howie Roseman are longtime college buddies. Some NFL sources I've spoken to have Boston as the second or third wide out in this class. And if the Eagles take him, AJ Brown's future becomes all the more interesting and will undoubtedly hit the A block on get up on Friday morning out of the draft end quote. So first it is kind of funny to think they would draft a receiver named Boston and then trade AJ to essentially Boston. So that's kind of funny. But to me, the noteworthy thing is not the player. Well, I love the player. Like I think Denzel Boston is awesome. Six four, not even 23 yet, 209 pounds, big time numbers over the last years with 20 touchdowns. Plays on the outside. He reminds me of a bigger, stronger Chris Olave. I think he has wide receiver one potential. He wins jump balls. Like I'm in on Denzel Boston. What's noteworthy to me is that Peter Steger has them taking a receiver. Like that's the noteworthy thing, right? Because if they're keeping AJ, they don't need a receiver. They have, you know, they would have AJ. They'd have Hollywood Brown. They'd have Devonte. They'd have Elijah Moore like Darius Cooper. So the fact that one of the most plugged in people coming off of two league events has them taking Denzel Boston tells you really what you need to know. And in case that's not good enough on an episode, another mock draft he did that I believe came out Tuesday as well. But this is like a TV one where he's being forced to take place. This is not where, you know, he's doing it himself, but he's, he's doing a mock draft. And the pig number 23 comes up and it seems like it was one of those things where one person picks and the next person goes for the next team, the next person goes for the next team. So it's two guys like going back and forth and alternating teams. So number 23 comes up and I don't know what the draft board was before, but who does Peter Shragger have them taking? He once again gives them a position that AJ Brown plays. Here's what Peter Shragger said. We'll select Jordan Tyson, the wide receiver at Arizona State who to me inexplicably in our draft is falling all the way to 23. That is, it has to be the basement for this guy, I would think. And that would obviously light up, get up first take. And the first segment we do on Friday morning is what does that mean for AJ Brown? Yeah. So when that plane drops him off, are they also picking somebody up to go elsewhere? Is that how that works in Philadelphia? That's what they do. You know, I don't think it's a long flight from Philly to New England. I don't think that's a, that's too long of a flight there. It hasn't happened yet. Yeah. I don't know. Just a thought. All right. So he has them going receiver again after having them take Denzel Boston in the first in the mock draft. He does and he'll have another one coming out in two weeks. And my guess is he'll have them taking a receiver there. And then again, he has him taking Jordan Tyson. Now Jordan Tyson, I think is an interesting prospect. Like you watch the tape and it's super easy to fall in love with them. Like runs a sub four, five, 40, six, two, 18 touchdowns the last two years, not even 22 yet. So definitely means a five emoji player. He's get the tree emoji, the number one emoji, the star emoji, because I like them, the baby emoji, because he's not even 22, but he gets the medical emoji because in 2022 here at his ACL MCL PCL has also fractured his collarbone and had hamstring problems. So there's big time medical concerns with them. But man, you watch him play and he's awesome. So I'm in on Jordan Tyson. But what's interesting is Peter Schreger twice on Tuesday was tasked with predicting the Eagles pick and he twice had them taking a wide receiver and he's not the only one. Daniel Jeremiah, another one of the big time draft people was asked about, you know, it was doing a similar thing where he was on the clock. Number 23, it was with Mina Kimes and he was given the choice. It was between an offensive lineman or Denzel Boston. And here's what Daniel Jeremiah had to say. In this scenario with those two options, I would probably lean towards, oh, gosh, do I have Boston? You hate both of these choices. Okay. No, no, hold on. I have to take one. I would take one. I have Boston. But you're trading AJ. So yeah, AJ is a patriot. You're not doing this unless you're we're we're living in that world where AJ Brown is gone. Yeah. Eagles fans are screaming. He would be a good replacement for him. AJ is a patriot. Daniel Jeremiah worked for the team. I think he's still close with people in the building. He's been at league events. He knows the cat is slowly creeping out of the bag to the point where there will be no putting the cat back in the bag into the point where it's going to start to hurt draft. It's going to start to hurt trade value. And we talked about this in the GoBurts pot on Tuesday, but I'll reiterate it. If the Eagles draft a receiver in the first round, either a, they've gotten the Patriots sworn to a certain draft pick and it's not going to hurt the value or B, they're going to lose major leverage in the trade. Like maybe the Patriots know they're going to get AJ and maybe they've had enough of a conversation with the Eagles where it is. All right. Here's what we're thinking. But once the Eagles draft a receiver, they have to trade AJ. You're not going into next season with a rookie with, with a, your first round pick is the number three receiver with Hollywood Brown on the bench for 5 million with Elijah Moore on the bench wanting to play with an unhappy AJ. If you draft Denzel Boston or Jordan Tyson or, you know, Carnell Tate or whoever, then you are playing that guy and he is playing big time snaps and that won't happen if AJ is here. If they draft a draft, a receiver, they lose the leverage with the trade with the Patriots. So Peter Shregert thinks they're taking a receiver. Daniel Jeremiah thinks they're taking a receiver and said it flat out AJ is a Patriot. The cat certainly seems out of the bag with where AJ will be playing next season. So hate to start the power than AJ thing. I know sometimes people get tired of hearing about it, but that just felt so noteworthy to me and I always want to share with you guys what some, some noteworthy things are. All right. But a non AJ thing, Ruben Frank, I think on the Mount Rushmore of Eagles beat writers put an article out recently, I haven't had a chance to get to it because so many things have been happening, but it was basically his thoughts on all the stuff that happened at the owners meeting and, you know, the jail and articles and all that. And he wrote something that I thought was good. I disagree with it, but I thought it was good and I wanted to share it. And he titled this paragraph, why do the Eagles need a new stadium? Pretty simplistic question. And here's what Rube wrote. It was weird hearing Jeff, Larry speak Sunday about starting the process of researching what a new Eagle Stadium might look like. The Eagles don't need a new stadium. This will be the Eagles 24th year at the link. And unlike the 24th year of the vet, which was 1994, it's an impeccable shape, beautifully maintained, offering all the amenity fans could ever need. Larry said, we want to maximize fan, fan amenities and attract the best possible environment for Philadelphia. They already have that. What could they possibly improve on? Heat lines are great. Concessions are fine. The concourses are nice and wide. There are elevators and escalators everywhere. Parking isn't ideal, but it's good enough. Are we really going to spend 10 billion just to add a few more sweets for rich people and a retractable roof that we don't need so everything costs more? If this is all about trying to lure to get a new Super Bowl to Philly, who cares? We don't need a Super Bowl. How does it serve Eagles fans to spend 10 billion to have the Chiefs and Seahawks playing in South Philly? And if the Eagles happen to be in the Super Bowl when it's when it's in Philly, that's great, but it won't make it any easier for the Eagles fans to get tickets. Really I don't understand all of this. The link is just fine. So Ruben's my guy. I love Ruben Frank. I just disagree with the premise of this. Like, I get what he's saying. The link is not a dump. The link is not a disaster. The link is not ugly. The link is not falling apart. It's clean. He's right. The parking is awesome. It's easy to get around. I mean, I don't watch an Eagles game from the stands because I'm in the press box, but like, I've been to events there and like, it's fine, right? The concourses are wide. He mentions that they do have a lot of parking compared to other stadiums. But as I got into it with Spike, we all know the parking thing. You know, we will have to get into that. But where I disagree with Ruben is this or disagree with Rube. Don't want to call him Ruben. Where I disagree with Rube is the link is not one of the best stadiums in the NFL. It's just not like Rube doesn't travel anymore. I miss him on the road because he's good company on the road. But if you look at other stadiums around the league, the link is becoming one of the bottom half of the league. Like the Ram Stadium, the Cowboy Stadium, the Falcon Stadium, the Viking Stadium, you know, like just all types of stadiums that are new and that have been built before since the link was up. Like MetLife is one of the ones that is ugly for sure. MetLife is worse. But like Jeffrey Lurie is not an owner to have it be fine, which is how Rube describes it. The link is just fine. That's like saying if they have a fine safety, you're not going to go look for an upgrade. And I get the money part of this, right? But like the lease is up in 2032. This is their chance to do it. And while it might be fine now in 2026, like six years is a long way away and it'll start looking older and it'll start looking not to not state of the art. Like I get Rube's point. I think they can host Eagles games this season at the link perfectly fine. Now I am team Roof as we know, but you know, move that aside. The link does serve its purpose. And still I think it hasn't held up well like Citizens Bank. Citizens Bank is still an awesome stadium. The link is just not that. The link is a fine stadium as Rube puts it. But Jeffrey Lurie is not an owner that's in it just to have things be fine. They want to be state of the art. They want to be new. And yeah, I do think hosting a Super Bowl and a final four and all that, like I get the Super Bowl thing, but like having a final four, having a big boxing match, having concerts at it throughout the year, having performers that might not come otherwise, come to Philly, like there are those benefits to it too. So he's right. If the Eagles were to play in Philly at the Super Bowl, it doesn't mean it'd be seasoned ticket holders there. It doesn't like, but what it does mean is it would be awesome. It's just about having state of the art facilities. And I think any owner that cares should want state of the art facility. So love Rube. He's my guy, but I disagree with him on this one. All right. Keep an eye out on your feet today because today I dropped my quarterback big board. It's part of the Go Birds on the clock series where every day up until the draft, we're going to have a new pod out about the draft, big boards, mock drafts, all those fun things. So check that out. It'll be in your feed depending on what you're listening. It might already be there, but if you're listening first thing in the morning, it should be out in a few hours. But on the other side, Mike Mayock of general manager fame of draft fame was on the WIP afternoon show and talked a bunch about the draft. And I thought that's some really good insight on a bunch of different things. So going to play that for you on the other side as I always do when I put audio on the other side of the break. Thank you for listening. I love you all until next time. He's Elliott. I'm James. Talk to you guys later. But first, a word from our sponsors. It is the WIP afternoon show with Ike Spike and Fritz. Who better to kick off draft coverage with than Mike Mayock of Sumer Sports. Mike, thank you for joining us. The show you're doing for Sumer Sports that you can watch on YouTube, the evaluation where you guys go over all the different positions and stuff is great. So you're doing great stuff there. And I'm sure you'll have great stuff with us today. So thanks for joining us. My pleasure as always. So let me ask you this. Is there a point at which going into a draft where you go, okay, I've done all my homework, I think what I think, or does that process of thinking what you think go all the way up until draft? Are you asking me as a GM or are you asking me as a member of the media? As a member of the media. GM, I'm sure it never stops. But member of the media. Is there a time you can put the pencils down and test is over? Now you just know your answers. You know what's crazy is that Daniel Jeremiah has kind of taken my place at the NFL Network and we work together. Before I took the Raiders job and I love DJ and we talk and he does a massive call with media from all over the country every year, which I used to have to do. And when I did it and it was two to three hour media call, when I got done that, I was kind of like, and you didn't know what the order of questions was. It might be a reporter from Utah State asking about a fourth round corner or it might be, you know, Spike Eskins from WIP want to know about the Eagles. And there was no way you could know. You either had to know your stuff or not. And every year when DJ gets through that, I text him and say, dude, you're ready to go. Don't listen to any other crap now. And he responds. I'm chasing ghosts. And what that means is, is that there's these rumors out there now about this guy or that guy that worked out and did this or that. And he's chasing it all down. Because the most embarrassing thing for him or I would be to not know somebody that got drafted. So that's a long answer to your question, but eventually it comes to an end on the media side. Well, I guess the follow up is, and this is, I think a combo question, a GM, a former GM question and a media question. When we hear this stuff about so-and-so is moving up boards and then so-and-so is moving down boards. Is that more of a media creation of discovery of information? Or is it really that players are gaining momentum and going up or losing momentum and going down? I think for the most part, it's media energy. Okay. Now, it doesn't mean that you don't reset things on your board. And there's not, I mean, your final board isn't really even done until about this coming weekend. Everybody does a little bit differently. But right around now is when you're bringing your most trusted people into the building and you're going to close the door and put together that board. And you've got all the coaches input. You got all the scouts input. And it's time for the decision makers to say, okay, we're going one to one 50 or whatever your number is. And we're going to, that's going to be our board. That's going to be the Bible for the three days of the draft. Um, so, I mean, that's what's really going on right now. And there's not a whole lot of, you might get, uh, right now there are medical rechecks in Indianapolis. So there are certain guys that have to go back and you're waiting on medical answers. Guys can go up and down the board a little bit on that. You take a guy off the board. If it comes back really negatively. So there's some things that move around a little bit, but, but at this point, not, not much, but. Yeah. I had to do the recheck thing when you go back to Indianapolis. Yeah. Oh, really? Oh yeah. Was there something on you? Yeah. I had a dislocated shoulder to end the season. And when I did the combine, it was, wasn't completely healthy. So then they made you come back. What is it Mike? Like a couple of weeks afterwards, you come back and do the rechecked to see where it's at. I'm always interested, uh, Mayo in from the GM perspective, how you guys set up your draft board. How much is, uh, evaluated by talent and being ranked versus position and need? Every team is a little different. Okay. And, um, if it's driven by a coach, if the head coach has final say, often it might be a little bit more pointed towards, uh, position orientation. Um, certain teams. There are GM oriented teams that have veteran GMs will always tell you it's best player available. Now the key either way is to meld everything together and come up with a common sense solution. So that, you know, if you need a corner and you're up in four picks and there's a corner up there with a 68 and an offensive guard with a 68 same grade, identical grade, two different positions, you're probably going to lead more towards the position you need and or the position of most value, you know, and often off the ball linebackers, safeties and guards don't have as much positional value. So in the analytics, people have really brought a lot of that stuff to the forefront, even more so than in the past. So, um, a lot goes into the final decision. So Mike, you know, we've heard, uh, I think just in the general draft talk that it's not the deepest quarterback draft. Is there a position or two that you think this draft is particularly deep in? Yeah. Um, I think good news for the Eagles. I think it's a really good draft kind of in the middle rounds for tight ends. You know, typically there's only five tight ends that go in the first three rounds. There's seven, eight guys, probably with grades in the first three rounds. So there's going to be value in round three and four for a bunch of tight ends, whether you're looking for a blocker or a receiver. I think that matters to the Eagles. I think there's some depth to the wide receiver class. Again, a potential issue for the Eagles. I think there's some depth to the defensive end or edge class, which is good for the Eagles. Um, and there's more linebacker off the ball linebacker depth. And I would say top end safety talent. Like usually we don't even average one safety a year. And I think three safeties are going to go in the first round this year. Wow. So yeah. So there's every year is a little bit different. You know, when you look at the off the ball linebackers to me, Sonny Styles is a different dude. And, and to me, he's the new age of off the ball linebacker in the NFL. It's on the, on the field for three downs and can impact all three downs, especially in sub-backages, very similar to R Velries, depending on how you look at them. And there's some really good linebackers in this draft and some really athletic ones too. Down in like the, you know, guys are almost similar to safety size that are linebackers. And you got to figure out how to play them. When you look at this Eagles office of line, Mike, because I've been, a lot of us been talking about do they go take a tackle and if they do, where does he play? You, you think they're set for this year at that office of line position? And do you think would a team take a little line in, in the first round and not play them? Yeah. I mean, here's where I am with the Eagles, O-line. They were starting to get beat up and fall apart a little bit last year. And you guys know it as well as me. Lane Johnson's got maybe a year left land in Dickerson, despite only being in the league since 21, he's beat up. They've got to look at that offensive line really honestly, and they need some quality and they need depth. And I think it's going to be directly tied to last year's draft, where on day three, they took three guys in the offensive line and took a fifth round kid out of Boston college, Kendall, who's a center flash guard. And they took two really, even though they went in the sixth round, two really long, talented, but very raw tackles. Cam Williams in the sixth round and Miles Inton in the sixth round. And I don't know only the people in the building know what they're feeling on those three kids are. And I think if, if they are bullish on those three kids, they might not be as aggressive in the draft this year. If they're not as bullish or they're worried that only one out of three might hit, I think there's a real chance that that offensive tackle is in and maybe even guard if the kid from Penn State's there. But I think offensive line would be in the conversation at 23 for sure. Yeah. Why don't we stay there for a second? Because I want to ask you about guys at 23 for wide receiver, but for offensive line, I've seen a few different players mocked to the Eagles. Who are the few that you think may be around at that spot and that you after watching and evaluating, you think a lot of? Yeah. Um, so a lot of it's tied to whether or not AJ Brown gets traded in my mind, right? Especially before the draft. And are they looking for a big body guy to replace him that is plus or minus similar to what he does from a trade perspective? Um, I mean, my favorite wide out in the whole draft is a little different than most people's. Uh, I love him. A tie lemon out of USC. Now, I'm not sure he's going to match up with what the Eagles want. Number one, I don't think he'll be there. I don't think Tate will be there. Um, I don't think Tyson from Arizona State will be there. Um, so I think what they're kind of looking at potentially, if they sit at 23 is, uh, Omar Cooper from Indiana, um, Denzel Boston from Washington. Uh, and I think Casey concepts young from A&M would be there, but again, he's more of a slot than he is an outside guy. So Cooper and Boston are the two in that draft range that that'll be available. I think that they might be evaluated. Yeah. Boston's a big kid. Good run after the catch. Yeah. Washington. Yeah. You should see Ike's face right now. He's a good one. Yeah. Ike likes him. Yeah. He's a big strong guy back. Yeah. You're right. Ike, back shoulder, big body catches. Um, still he's going to have to learn how to run a routry a little bit, but you're a big strong physical dude. How's your DK? A little bit of DK Metcalf. Yeah. Yep. I agree. Uh, Mike Mayock of Sumer Sports with us now, just because it is a big topic in general, uh, and it's, it doesn't seem like it is a particularly deep quarterback draft. Um, I, I want to know what you think of Mendoza, who is, you know, everybody expects to go at one. And if there are any quarterbacks beyond Mendoza that you think were particularly talented that you watched. So, uh, the Mendoza conversation is the more I watched him, the more I liked him, especially as we got towards the end of the season and the playoffs and the bigger the game, the bigger the situation, the more he embraced it. Um, a little better athlete than he's kind of a gangly, awkward kid, but he's a better athlete than you think he is. Um, and the more I watched them, the more he reminded me of one of my favorite guys coming out of college and that was Matt Ryan. And also kind of a big, long gangly kid who loves football and had, he had the face of a choir boy and, and, and, but he would throw a dagger in your heart to beat you. And I think this Mendoza kid is similar. I really like him. I don't think he's the most talented quarterback I've ever seen, but I really like him and I think the Raiders would take him and they'll do a really good job building around him as their quarterback of the future. Um, I'm not a big fan of taking quarterbacks that are one year starters. The history of that is awful. Ty Simpson's a one year starter and really half a year, a really good productivity. The other half, albeit with injuries or not, the other half was not productive. And, and I, the only one year starter that ever came out and played at a high level with Cam Newton and he started at junior college before Auburn, so it doesn't really even count. Um, so Simpson's a pretty talented kid. I, he's more like to me a second round kind of talent. Um, he may get pushed up boards just because of the necessity of quarterbacks for so many teams around the leg. Um, I think Nussmeyer from LSU, um, he's, he's kind of gained some traction and I like him. I've done a lot of his tape, his dad's an offensive coordinator in the NFL. Um, the kids got some ability and, uh, on top of that, he's smart as hell with football IQs off the charts. I think the kid from Penn State is really physically gifted, but he did not develop the way he should have. And I think the kids from Miami, Carson Beck, um, I wouldn't trust him in big situations. All right, Mike, well, Mike's going to join us every Tuesday of four, leading up to the draft, we just told me, which is great. We love your, your draft stuff, Mike. So we will talk to you next week again, uh, the evaluation and sumersports.com is where you can see more draft stuff from Mike. Thank you for joining us and we'll talk to you again next week. Appreciate it, Mike. You got it, fellas. Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys.
