Welcome to NFL Daily, where we enjoyed Nadalcatraz while it lasted Nadalkaaz. I don't beyond lucky today to be joined by Bo Wolf of p h l Y, a tennis player like myself. He embarrassed me at the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. A lot coming up on today's show. We got some news. We're gonna add to do some Eagles talk, little deep dive, and then we'll play a game, Bo where I ask you how concerned you are about various factors of the NFC East. Welcome to NFL Daily for the first time.
Thank you for having me. You did a good job with phl Y. You've been working on that. I appreciate that.
I like to say, I mean, come on, I couldn't have thought of a different name that you have to spell it out.
It's very hard. It's hard, I think. Yeah, I don't blame me. You worked on it, you work shopped it. I would say. Once a teammate, always a team.
But it's nice to feel like even more of a teammate of of Jordan Rodrigue again.
So I'm happy to be here.
Oh yeah, I love having Jordan Una. I'm glad you mentioned her. She will be out at Rams Camp. We'll tape there on Thursday, but we're gonna do news, you know, rest of the league stuff other than just RAM stuff.
But she'll be there to help us out there.
And yeah, I apologize if I'm distracted today. Apologize to you bo, Apologize to Randy who's producing the show, the listeners, because my tortoise is missing right now.
Your tortoise is missing.
Yeah, I let I let her out in the backyard and as I do sometimes usually pretty you know, get her some exercise, have some have some fun. Norri it's her name, as Randy knows. And yeah, I couldn't find her. I couldn't find her, and it was time to do a show. And you know that's how much I value NFL daily that we're here, we're taping. Who knows, maybe my my tortoise is out on the streets selling her body for money.
Yeah, but I mean it's got to be a slow getaway, right you're and have some time to catch up there.
There is no real escape. So that's why I feel pretty safe, and I felt comfortable. You know, she likes to Maybe she dug a hole somewhere that I can't find Usually, I know where all of her hiding spots are, so I will be thinking about that.
And yeah, if.
If if I seem a little distracted, she's you know, she's one of the loves of my life.
Nori.
Well, I feel like I consume a lot of Greg Rosenthal content and I didn't even know that there was a tortoise here, So this is this is news to me. I hope, I hope I see her him or her. I guess, yes, poking around in the in the background, and I can let you know.
Yeah, it would be funny if she she opens the door to the garage and just climbs up them.
It'll be better if she appeared on my end, an amazing trick. Let's do some news. Let's get going.
Yeah, if I keep this show shorter than usual, that's why I gotta get out there and save my girl. Not a ton of news today, But DJ Moore signed a four year, one hundred and ten million dollar contract eighty two zero point five million guaranteed.
On that deal, he.
Already had a couple of years left on his old deal, so that they were getting work done early.
The Bears just keep making smart moves.
I don't kind of know how to deal with this world bo Wolf where the Bear seem like they're a well run organization.
Suddenly, Yeah, it's interesting.
And all the talk of like Caleb Williams entering the league with as good a situation as you could expect for a number one quarterback, I think is fair. It also makes sense from a like a planning standpoint. You've got a dunze on the rookie contract, Keenan Allen's not going to be there forever, so you get Dj Moore
locked up. I was also just thinking about Dj Moore and like the impressive run he's had four thousand yardra seasons in six years with like the most missmash group of quarterbacks you could imagine, like the six quarterbacks He's had six different guys. You've got an end career Cam Newton,
right steep decline Cam Newton. Then it goes Kyle Allen, Ye Boy, Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold, Baker, Mayfield justin fields like to overcome that group of six quarterbacks and be as productive as he has been, Like Caleb Williams is in a good situation now, DJ Moore is in a good situation with a real quarterback.
Right, and who knows, maybe the numbers won't even go up. He was ninety six for one, three hundred and sixty four yards less and eight touchdowns. He said he immediately was talking to the front office and people around the building to get Keenan Allen signed up too long term. I think they want to wait and see you with Keenan Allen. Not that they wouldn't trust it, but one
year left. You can only pay everyone so much. And it's one of those things where it's twenty seven million dollars in new money average, but if you spread it out, it's it's quite a bargain. It's something like twenty million dollars a year. I now value contracts of did they make more money than Isaiah Hartenstein in the NBA because people are always like, wow, like this money's crazy, and it's like, well, actually it's less than Isaiah Hartenstein. Like
Jordan Love signed the same contract as Ognnnobi. You know, if you could play basketball, I would suggest do that.
Yeah, I think that's it. I think that's good. Yeah. DJ Moore young too, so it seems like a good investment.
Yes, Sneaky Young somehow only twenty seven years old for all the production that he's had. Let's go to New England where they signed Devon Gotcha to a new contract, while Matthew Judon, who've talked about a little bit on this show, is staying away from the Patriots. And there was a report from the Athletic that they had offered him a new deal, and he immediately went on Twitter and said, they have not offered me a new deal.
They're trying to make me look bad.
And then another report came out from the same reporters, Diana Rossini, who said, well, they actually offered him something before camp and everything. So a lot of drama going on there in New England. It's different. But the drama I wanted to hear from you about is about the quarterbacks, because apparently, ever since I got excited about Drake May on the first couple of days of non padded practice,
he has not played very well. Jacoby Brissett getting more and more of the first team reps and just the fact that Drake May has not played well generally is the notion ben Volan and I think he's trying to get some engagement here. I don't mind taking shots at reporters. He said, Joe Milton's looked more consistent and better at campus, like Joe Milton's playing with the fourth stringers come on. But all reports do indicate that May has been quite erratic and there might be a little bit of a gap.
Here between Jacoby Brissett and Drake May.
I was talking about this on our show with Zach Berman today about I think sometimes we lose context of the difficulty of the backup quarterback position in training camp because if you think about it, like most defenses play with rotations, right, So the second team defensive line are guys who get on the field. The second team secondary are guys who get on the field. The second team offensive line is usually guys who are not that good. The second team wide receiver options are guys who are
not that good. So the deck is usually stacked against the second team quarterback. I think it's a thing to keep in mind. But Drake made doesn't look good. He doesn't look good. I'm excited the Eagles have a joint practice against them next week, so I'll get eyes on him for.
You answer early, some really good young quarterbacks have struggled early in training camp and then had great rookie seasons. Obviously there's a million that have struggled early in training camp and had great careers. But even sometimes you see him bounce back later in camp. But yeah, I listened to Tom Curran, who's great in Phil Perry and they just said just just not consistently accurate, tough, you know, just taken a while for him to make his decisions.
And yeah, we could be looking at Jacoby Versett. I'm not. I won't. I won't hate that. I like Jacoby well.
Plus you got Devon Gonshaw locked up long term, so all things are all things are looking up.
I don't know how Devon Gotcha's got so many contracts and he was upset about his deal, wanted it closer, and then he had he kept practicing, and so I don't know if it's how the reason, how he decided to handle this or just his situation. Drew Rosenhouse showed up to practice, and Drew Rosenhows always gets deals done.
He's more of a run stopper.
Matthew Judon is is a little older and is probably trying to get money into the future. Is my guest, and he's thirty two years old, and they don't want to deal with it.
I like the idea that it's like a spike contract they're giving out, Like, well, let's send a message to Matthew Judon that if he practices, he's going to get a contract. So let's just give Devon gotcha a tiny little raise, just as a shot across Judon's bow.
Yeah, I should have mentioned, Yeah, you have a daily Eagles podcast, which is a Mutz listen for Eagles fans or for just fans of the league.
The banter is so hardcore.
You should feel guilty Bo for having the best straight man in the business. You're a funny guy, and Zach is just like a perfect straight man because he either doesn't get the jokes or he's just I don't know, it's perfect.
Nobody works harder than Zach. He's a wonderful partner. And we welcome you to the daily podcasting world.
Yeah, it's a lot, a lot of planning. Sole a couple more stories. The Dolphins. I wanted to talk about just that. There's been a collection of stories, and I heard from our friend Handsome Hank Henry Hodgson who was surprised the Dolphins didn't get mentioned in our segment we did on teams we haven't talked about. I do want to get to the football of it all, because this is a very interesting team, but it's it's more of the off field stuff that I want to mention in
today's news. Just a collection of stories I've noticed, and like one after another, I was like, okay, this is too much. Number One, there was that Jordan Poyer quote. He's a safety on the Dolphins now, and he was talking about when he was with the Bills and he was saying, you know, when we played against this team in the past few years, you get a sense that, like, this team's gonna fold if you get ahead of them. This was kind of a soft team. So I came
here to change that. It's like, okay, that's your safety. First of all, there was a lot of great back and forth Dolphins Bills game, including a playoff game where Skyler Thompson almost beat the Bills and a game in the snow where it was like a classic. So I pushed back on the accuracy of that. But it's funny that he's telling his teammates that they always would fold.
Then at Tuesday's prand also, I'm the guy who's going to fix that for you like Bills.
Fans will tell you that Jordan Poyer is not coming off great year, and I know he got top hundred ranking and a lot of people kind of raise their eyebrows at that. The top one hundred players, the players are always a couple of years behind what's going on on the field. Then yesterday Tyreek Hill said that this fight that they had at practice, which was significant, said the fight was amazing, that we need that teams I've been on and that have won. They fought that they
haven't had enough fighting in Miami. And then Jalen Ramsey at the end of practice had this conversation talking to the whole team say again, kind of encouraging them, saying it was good, saying they need to be the bullies, and all this talk about like we need something about that worries me. I have another one, but I want you to get in here.
Like something about that.
If you're coming into camp in your main messages, the thing that's going to get us over the top is we got to talk about that we're tough guys.
Now, I feel like that's a bad sign.
Well, I also have to say, without getting too into it, that the idea of Tyreek Hill of all people. Saying that like relationship chips depend on fighting is a little bit awkward to hear.
That is fair.
Mike McDaniel also mentioned coming into training camp that the focus for him and didn't want to forget the big picture is that this organization has not won a playoff game in twenty four years, which is wild. That's that's insane, And you know they've only made it twice with McDaniel. The first year was a great season by them to even make the playoffs. So I do not give them any penalty for losing that game. Last year they lost
to the Chiefs. But he changed the clock, or not the clocks, but he changed the meeting times throughout the offseason to be at seven to twenty four am or three twenty four am or five twenty four pm or whatever it's going to be to remind him how it's been twenty four years and somehow when I add up all these stories, I feel like this is a team that's in their own head a little bit.
I don't like it.
Yeah, Like I think Mike McDaniel's a smart guy. I'm sure he knows and has thought a lot more about this messaging than I have. But yeah, like the leaning into oh man, we have really sucked for a long time is always a bit of a bit of a red flag for me. So you know, I hope it works out for them. It certainly seems like this is a team with a lot of pressure on them to
get over that hump, right. That's yeah, like this group, this core, like that their best players are not going to last forever, right, and how many chances are they going to have?
It's it is.
It does seem like a team that is very much well like in its own way, a little.
Bit right in its own head. I have a theory it applies to the forty nine ers. It would have applied to the Celtics if they had lost the NBA Finals. Again, I thought that was why I was so important they
got this one was. I think the worst thing you can be in sports is the team that has all the bad things that coming along with winning the championship, like that you had a championship or else, or it doesn't feel good all this pressure, the disease of more, everyone wanting more money, all of this stuff happening, but you didn't actually win anything, Like Yeah, at least you need to have won it, to have to go through that, and so if you get keep getting close and close.
And the Dolphins are like the worst version of that, which is they haven't even won a playoff game. But I still feel like they're in their own head and they are having some of the issues that people that the teams that come up just short have and yet you know they're they're kind of like a borderline playoff team.
Well, it's also funny because the Jordan Poyer of it all, like it seems like very similar to what they were dealing with with the Bills, right, Like the Dolphins were looking in the division and like, oh, we need a little bit of that all or nothing anxiety and h and Jordan Poyer has brought it.
Okay, some quick injury news just before we take a break and then talk some Eagles. Nick Bolton and Kadarius Tony got injured at Chiefs practice on Wednesday. The Bolton was an elbow injury. Tony was an ankle injury. I don't know if Kardarius Tony makes this team. I know he had that moment against your Eagles where he broke my heart. I don't know if he broke your heart. Do you have to pretend like you don't care if the Eagles win the Supernut Bowlers.
There's attending at all. I'm a objective as it gets. Although I will say that year we would have at least had a like the Athletic was going to put out a like a commemorative issue of our articles, So that was the one thing. And also Zach I think maybe had a book deal in place, so that was he might have been rooting harder than I was.
That's amazing. Well, I have to I don't try to pretend either. I was rooting hard for that Eagles team. I really enjoyed them. But I don't know if Tony makes that team. It didn't sound great with Bolton, but with all these injuries, we have to wait and find out. But he's obviously very important for them. We were at Chargers practice earlier this week Junior Colson, who they think might start as a rookie at middle linebacker off the
NFI list. I mentioned Roman Wilson, the receiver for the Steelers, still had an ankle injury. It's week to week, so maybe not quite as bad as they feared, but also not great. And then yeah, a reserve tackle the Broncos. Quinn Bailey fractured his ankles and had to be taken to the hospital today, which is a tough scene.
So hopefully he gets better.
But we're going to take a quick break while I actually leave you, and through the magic of pod casting, I'm gonna go find that that damn tortoise. No, no, how did how did Randy make a graphic already? That's next level? That is actually Norri. I recognize her. We'll be back after this, back on NFL Daily. Didn't find her? Uh throw that graphic up again. Randy gets Producer of the Day award for finding a picture of Norri apparently on my other podcast jr VP reddit board. I miss you, girl.
Oh we'll find it.
I want to talk about the Eagles. We want a deep dive. We're making a big board bow of all the teams. We're gonna deep dive throughout the preseason and into the season. Eagles one of the first teams I wanted to hit. And no better person to talk to you than you, including Zach Berman, who you host, to show it. You know, I made a choice. I think I think you're a better choice. And let's start with Jalen Hurts. Let's let's be obvious. You like on your
show to talk about like the third string pass rushers audience. Yeah, this is right, okay, And yeah, Zach likes to talk about the big names, and you know, I'm a basic and you're right, this is this is for the national audience.
I think Jalen Hurts is one of the most fascinating players in the league this year because he went from one of the best Super Bowl performances of all time in my mind, yeah, and getting MVP votes to this offseason being about QB thirteen or fourteen in most people's minds, like that that ESPN thing where they talk to the executives QB thirteen went to Stephen Ruiz on ESPN QB thirteen and it's like everyone thought Jalen Hurts is one season was this fairy tale, but that there are evaluations
of him coming into the draft were kind of bogus and now they've proven him right. That annoys me, But it's a new offense. I've heard that he's looking pretty good at training. King give me, give me the state of Jalen Hurts right now.
Well, the other thing you forgot is the big long off season conversation of the relationship with Nick Sirianni and the like passive aggressive talking past each other that happened in a couple of their their.
Press seems like a real thing. I don't think it was a media creation.
No, and there are you know, like every now and then there will be a little correction sent to the reporters because Jalen Hurts, for instance, is talking about the players that he threw within the off season and forgot one guy. He doesn't want to leave anybody out. But when he says the ninety five percent of the offense is new and you know, doesn't necessarily take up any of the sort of softball question opportunities to defend Nick Sirianni,
there are no such corrections made. I think those things are notable. But listen, like the quarterback and the head coach don't have to be best friends for them to be successful. You know, look a look at New England, right. I think the Jalen Hurts what is so difficult when
you are evaluating him is disentangling all the variables. Right, Like he had that unbelievable season in twenty twenty two, that Super Bowl, he was amazing, but he also had maybe the best weapons in the league and the best offensive line in the league, and it was the first time in the past like eight years of his career when he had the same play caller for the second season in a row. All of those things coalesced and
he looked awesome last year. You know, new play caller and the offense gave him no answers, right, And it's very clear in what the Eagles did this offseason and sort of taking the offensive play calling and structure away from Nick Sirianni, that they viewed that as probably the main problem. You know, they did not provide him a ton of answers against the Blitz. You know, there was no They were the thirty second in the league in motion, They were dead last in a lot of these sort
of structural categories. But there are also things that Jalen hurts himself needs to do better, and I think it's going to be interesting to see in the Kellen Moore offense. He has looked good the first week of camp, which comes after he didn't look so great in the spring. The ball was not coming out super on time. It looked like there were a lot of moving parts in terms of him learning the offense.
The problem with a daily podcast though, Like you guys, I'm not blaming you, but it's tough to it's tough to get take too much away from oth's in mini camps. I fall I fall into that trap too, But saying anyone was good or bad in OTA's mini camps is tricky.
No, but it's contextual in that when he came back for like the first week of camp, things did look different. The ball was coming out on time, He looked better. He has looked very good. The other thing from last year that we haven't even we haven't talked about yet is, you know, his his running superpower was not as much of a part of the offense. You know, there was there's the tush push, yeah, but he was not as
dynamic in the open field. There were a lot of times when he would just sort of scramble around and then just throw the ball away, which he did not do in twenty twenty two. He has looked sprier this year. The Eagles are also seem to be incorporating, like day one stuff quarterback run as part of the offense. So it seems like that's going to be in the offense, and I think it has to be. That's what makes Jillen Hurts as good as he was in twenty twenty two.
That it changes the math on offense, it changes everything that they have around him. So there's no doubt that like Jalen Hurts is the most important person in the organization as to their success this year. So far, so good, but we will see how it goes.
That is big news if they follow through with that in terms of his running, and yeah, he wasn't healthy one hundred percent last year and I've seen how high he's getting taken in fantasy leagues. They're not worried about the Jalen Hurds type. Like he's still going third fourth round like as a third quarterback, and he needs to run to make that worth it. But he's still got
maybe the best collection of scale players. The offensive line has taken a couple hits, but you would still assume that it's an asset versus you know, average or anywhere below that. I would assume that. And if you've got age, I mean, if you've got a j. Brown, Goddard, DeVonta Smith and Saquin Barkley on the same team, that almost there isn't a team out there I don't think that can quite match that or it's going to be close.
And it makes me happy because I do not want the Carson Wentz thing to happen, because because it is kind of crazy how they really are reliving, I mean, with slight variations, the whole you know, tracking of what happened after they won their first Super Bowl the next year similar ish ish. I mean, they actually look pretty good in the playoffs that year and could could have gone further that the year they were defending the title.
But they give once the big contract and it's just like the slow little decline and they never quite quite respond.
I don't know, I hope yeah.
I mean you would have to think if it goes that way, which you know it probably won't. But then all of a sudden, like what is it about the organizational structure that that allows that to happen? If it happens twice, you know, it's maybe it's not on him, it's on us.
Well, I want to get to that. Maybe it's on the fans. I blame the Philly fans for a lot. The front office dynamic is weird. Howie Roseman has obviously done a really good job on balance and the talents obvious, but when they're out publicly saying more or less that he chose the coaches, that's weird.
That's a little weird to me.
And he I noticed what he was saying, how they're hoping to play young players this year more often, which are you know, how he's players and so it's a weird And Vic Fangio as the coach, who's not a guy who necessarily plays young players, So that dynamic to me is strange that Nick Sirianni is there, but the front office is really running the show in a way more obviously than most places.
Yeah, I'm of two minds here.
On the one hand, I don't think it's that big of a deal that like Howie Roseman would be the one making the connections for bringing in Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore. Like, if you just think about it, he has been around the league longer, he has more connections. Nick Sirianni sort of exhausted his connections, his you know, his top guys both left in Shane Stikeen and Jonathan Gannon.
That we have seen this over the years, it's very difficult to replenish your like coaching pipeline but there's also no.
Doubt bring in some fresh vines like Matt Patricia into the organization exactly, so give me a break.
But there's no doubt that Howie Roseman is the most like, most powerful person in the organization, and much more so than than Nick Sirianni. There was the you know, there was the the the big report from Seth Wickersham and in ESPN about their flirtation with with Bill Belichick, which
I think was was very real. And there's the characterization that that I do think is fair that you know, Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Leary are to some degree sort of like art collectors of the NFL, Like they like bringing in these these people who have been in the zeitgeist, and so like the Vic Fangio defense. They have Jonathan Gannon, who seems like he's trying to run the same thing. Last year, they bring in Sean Decai, who who worked
under Vic Fangio. This year they actually get the guy Vic Fangiel, like they got the original Rembrandt that they were looking for. But there is a bit of a tension between Fangio and and Howie in terms of their like philosophies because the like the Howie Roseman defensive foundational philosophy for so long has been as many pass rushers as possible. We want to rotate these guys, keep them fresh, so that they're fresh at the end of the season. You know, it goes back to the Andy Reid fastballs
that that Eagles fans are familiar with. But Vic Fangio is not of that. Ilk Like, he wants to play his guys at a high percentage. Christian Wilkins last year played more snaps than any defensive tackle in football. I asked Howie about this at the the first press conference of training camp and he said, yeah, like, we are gonna have to be a little bit different. Like in the past we would have guys play like fifty five percent of the snaps and it might need to be
more like sixty five seventy. And so, you know, Jalen Carter, who could be awesome, but he's gonna have to play a lot more snaps. Jordan Davis is gonna have to play a lot more snaps. Those guys, It's going to be interesting, especially because last year I think that was a big factor in why their defense was so bad. At the end of last year, the guys were exhausted, so there's been a lot of talk of extra conditioning
this season feels a little bit overcorrecting to me. But the Howie of it all, like, if this season goes wrong, Nick Sirianni is going to be the one who enters for it. You know, Jeffery Learry is not going to look at this roster and think, well, the roster wasn't good enough. It's gonna fall on.
Nick, right, And you mentioned Davis and Jalen Carter. To me, if I had to pick one thing on the defense, I guess, but one thing on this team that's like are they going to be better than people think or worse than people think? It might just be those two taking a step up each, Like not that Jordan Davis needs to be an All Pro, but Jordan Davis needs to be more consistent and a plus starter that can handle a big workload and make it through the season.
And Jalen Carter goes from a really good player to like an All Pro player. Because if that happens, everything else I feel like on the defense will fall enough into place. But there are a lot of questions to me on this defense, And you mentioned how they didn't have answers for hurts, and you know, it did get ugly at the end, and that the playoff game was flat out embarrassing. Really the last month was insanely embarrassing
for them. But the offense was good the whole year before that, Like, the offense was legitimately good.
It just works three quarters of the season and.
Okay, well that's three quarters of the season. They would have, you know, loaded up on wins. But even when they were struggling, it was like, okay, they fell back down to averager below when the defense stunk the whole time. Is my point is it felt to me like it was more about the defense. And now a little worried that Fangio coming off of down year and maybe the league has caught up a little bit to what he does.
What have you seen so far at training camp that that's caught your eye for the defense and just how do you think this defense goes?
Yeah, I mean it's interesting because the other thing that is a little bit different about it from a Howie Roseman archetype standpoint is there's so much more deep in the secondary and they have always been built front to back, and it seems like the way that they went about building it this offseason is a little bit more back to front. Quinn and Mitchell, the first round pick, Cooper Dejeane,
the second round pick. Dejane's been out, has not practiced yet, is sort of week to week, but kiey Ringo, who was a fourth round pick last year, is competing to start opposite Darius Lay. Isaiah Rodgers, the guy who was suspended for a season, has actually looked really good and is also competing. They brought back CJ. Gardner Johnson at safety, so they seem much more deep in the secondary than
they have ever been. But you're right that it does really come down to either Jalen Carter or Jordan David has to take some kind of leap, I think, and I think it's more likely to be Jalen Carter. I think there's a chance that he could be one of the best defensive tackles in football as early as this season. They're trying to figure out what they're going to do at linebacker, which is the case every summer with the Eagles.
It's Devin White and Nikobe Dean.
Yeah, I've got I've got a bone actually for your your Eagles linebacker coverages co which is always like you talk about linebacker and you're like, well, they got Devin White locked in.
We know where we're going to get out of him. Oh and then.
Whether we're going to get out of it, whether it's Zach Bond or Niakobe Dean next to and I'm thinking, like, Devin White is the last guy in the NFL almost you know what you're gonna get out of. He drove his coaches crazy, and those are good defensive coaches. He basically I think Todd Bowles like lost years off his life for coaching Devin White, not just last year, really the last couple of years ever since they won the
Super Bowl. And so he got that contract and I thought, well that that's an interesting fit there with with Fangio and I don't know they It's the one thing that the analytical precepts we talked about three or four years ago of like not paying off ball linebackers has not come out well in the wash. Right now, it feels like every good defense has great off ball linebackers, and teams like the Eagles or the Cowboys that don't get absolutely destroyed because of them in the playoffs.
I will not sit idly by and let you paint me as the Devin White defender. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. And it's to the art collector thread. They went out like the additions this offseason. The Eagles added five different first round picks, Devin White, Makai Beckton, Kenny Pickett, Like I mean, you go, John Ross, but oh yeah.
Give me your your picket quarterback battle.
And these guys, like you think about these guys, they're gone their first round picks with the same regimes. Like those guys are gone for a reason, Like Makai Beckton in theory is a good answer at right guard. But you know, don't the Jets need offensive lineman, don't, couldn't. Couldn't the Bucks need Devin White? But yeah, my picket thought. And that's why I brought up the thing at the top about how difficult it is for this number two quarterback.
But I have not been impressed with Unny Picketts so far. And I actually really do like Tanner McKee, who is the number three quarterback, who was their sixth round pick last year. He's getting the ball out much quicker, much more on time, much more accurate.
I have been underwhelmed with pickets. Oh, I love it.
I'm sorry for cutting you off in the middle of trying to defend Devin White. Yeah, a lot of just a lot of questions. And they bring in Bryce Huff. You I know you've you've kind of had your eye caught by Jylex Hunt. They're they're a little flash, They're a little thinner there.
In terms of passers, they kind of need.
I would say they basically need Bryce Huff to work, not not be a star. He doesn't need to be as good as Hassan Reddick, but he needs to at least be what he was for the Jets or a little better.
Yeah.
I mean, he was very efficient last year, and so if he's even a little bit less efficient than that, but with more volume, that would be a good sign. Vic Fanjo didn't necessarily gass him up a ton in his first press conference. He said he hasn't yet proven that he can be a three down player. But I think that's just kind of a nice, you know, crusty old defensive coordinator answer. The other guy involved there is Nolan Smith, their second first round pick from last year, who had a.
Very underwhelming rookie season.
If it's not Bryce Huff taking a leap or Josh Sweat looking like he did, you know, the first half of last season. It needs to be Nolan Smith being playable because last year he wasn't. And to be fair, that's sort of like the Howie Roseman thing about play these young guys, Like if Nolan Smith and Keey Ringo had gotten on the field a little bit more last year, maybe they would be in better position this year.
And they got a lot of guys. They got a lot of names.
I think if you pulled just average NFL fans and you named all the players on the teams, like the Eagles would be among if not the league leader, and just names that you recognize, even guys like Kiely Ringo who were famous in college. And you know, we didn't mention Jason Kelsey's God of course that's important. But they have a guy that's that's been there a couple of years.
It's ready to go and take the spot in Cam Jurgens. Overall, to me, they have more talent than the rest of the division, and I think the expectations actually should be pretty high for this Eagles team. It's weirdly not because last year ended at least nationally because last year ended so ugly. But the roster is as good or better to me as it's been the last two years, and they're the ones that blew it last year. To me, the expectations should be like Super Bowl contender. I don't
see why now in the NFC like that. They're one of the top two or three contenders. But I don't get to feel it that people see them that way.
I think that's right.
When you look at the roster and you look at the division, which which I know we will get to, it's underwhelming. The only thing that you know is the contrarian in me that is a little bit wary is two new coordinators is often more difficult than it looks on paper.
That takes some time.
And then on offense, like they need to be awesome, they need to be a top five offense, and I think I think Jiyalen Hurts is ready for that. But if the offensive line goes from one of the three best in the league to like the eighth or ninth best in the league, that makes a big difference. And they're very top heavy, you know, they're they're a little
bit more deep on defense. On offense, it's kind of like Stars and Scrubs, Like their number three receiver right now is maybe Paris Campbell, maybe John Ross, maybe a six round pick Johnny Wilson.
And I know that Ross, and I know that is not making that team don't invest too much.
Yeah, that's what I think. That's that's most likely, right.
But I I like, I know that if you looked at every roster in the league and you're like, well, who's their number three receiver, that it would be nobody's going to blow you away. But they have been very lucky with health for aj Brown and DeVante Smith over the past two years. I don't think that they are well suited to replace those guys. I think internally they would say, if something happens early, maybe they can make a trade. You know, they've got extra pick investment from
this year. I would I would be surprised if they, you know, enter the second half the season with this exact wide receiver corps.
But they didn't. Necessarily.
It was the one thing of the offseason that surprised me that they did not address sort of the fourth option in the passing game a little bit more.
Now maybe you mean.
Maybe, well, yeah, but that's another one where having been through this a lot over the past decade, like oh, this is this is the year we're going to throw to the running back, it doesn't usually pan out that way. That said, Jalen Hurts has looked more comfortable throwing to the running backs this summer than he has in years past. The Eagles have thrown to running backs less often than like any team in the league over the past couple of years. It seems like that's probably more of a
Jalen Hurts thing than an offense thing. But maybe it's as simple as well. Jillen Hurts didn't want to throw the ball to Kenny Gainwell, but it's Saquon Barkley, so he'll throw him the ball.
Yeah, I'm excited. I think Saquon played much better a year ago than the numbers would indicate, and behind this offensive line, I just think it's going to be very different. Even if it is the eighth or ninth best offensive line, that's way better better than he's ever played behind with the Giants. So I think they've got everything they need. But you're right, the coordinators are high, high ceiling, and maybe a low floor for both of them. Like Kellen
Moore could be great. Vic Fangio could be great. It could be the Vic that we've we've had in our minds the last few years, the one they had in their minds when they brought them in before the Super Bowl and then they had the worst defensive performance they had all year and they blew their chance.
To win a championship.
Let's do let's do a segment here, Let's play a little game before we go and go a little more big picture in terms of the NFC East. I want you to rate one to one hundred on a level of like Philly angst. I'm going to give you different aspects of the division. One being we're climbing grease poles, it's the day after the super Bowl and you're calling in to the you know, Phoy, you know, everyone's happy. And then one hundred being basically any other day in Philly sports.
Hisstory.
Yeah, so all right, let's start with Joe Shane, his front office moves and yeah, the front office of the Giants.
I do have to say that this Hard Knocks.
I think it's the best content the NFL has ever produced, aside from this podcast. Wow, it is so good, and it's so good at like laying bare. How silly the like gatekeeping of all information is when everything they're showing is so mundane and it's like Brian Davile's talking about he's going to hire this defensive coordinator. Well, look you, it was like eighth in the rushing yards allowed last year.
Like that's as deep as it's going. But the Shane stuff, to think of it through the prism of everything they're showing has been approved by the Giants and they are just letting him out to dry and making him look like such a boob. Like the Saquon of it all, It really does feel like if Saquon has a huge year with the Eagles and the Giants are bad, that's going to be the thing that that hangs him, like
he's he's going to be let go. But my other takeaway here is, I know you and I were texting about the the performance of Joe Shane's son, you know, telling him, yeah, be aggressive, go go go get the quarterback.
Here, that's your assistant, that's your GM right there. If Shane's not pulling it this year, bring the sun in.
But the son needs to be put to work in another way, because it really has gotten to me the the the big player acquisition messaging that Joe Shane has strength, toughness, determination. Yeah, a fourteen year old has gotta tell you, Dad, that's STD. Like our whole our whole thing is STD. We gotta we gotta watch out for this. Just flip it around. It could be TDS. It's like touchdowns? What Dad?
Want to be too hard on Shane? Like he seems like a very good guy. He seems like a very nice guy. But I have talked to a few people and the conversation is kind of like, is there more going on there?
Right?
Are there deeper conversations that we aren't seeing? And the that's what I'm asking And the response is that I've gotten is like, no, that's it.
That is It's crazy to me how surface level all the conversations are. And I have thought about this, We were joking about this on our show about the idea of Howie Roseman. Watching this to me is so fascinating because I know that it's a little bit played up. But like the surprise of Joe Shane the first like five minutes of free agency, when all these prices are different, like the information game in the NFL between the GMS, and the agents and the insiders, like Howie Roseman's been
playing this game for so long. I think he would tell you that, like he takes pride in being as in this as anybody, Like he says, the thing that keeps him up at night is the idea that somebody might be available and he doesn't know about it. The idea that the first ten minutes of free agency would go by and the cost of the players he wants would shock him is insane to me, And it like, it really does seem like Joe Shane is not altogether like knowing what is going on at all these different levels.
I hope, I hope NFL Films is not listening because I agree it's it's been some of the best content, and not just because we're having a little fun with it.
Here.
You are seeing some moments and interactions and how things work that we just haven't before because we haven't seen this type of hard knocks before. And I don't think it's bad for the Giants, but I guess if you listen to this segment, they probably wouldn't be a big fan.
Let's say a lot.
I love the mundanity though, of like the how the trades that, like, you know, it's just oh, well, he's he's friends with Dan Morgan, Like, hey, what do you think about.
What do you think we talk about that? I'm like, it's crazy. Let's stick with the Giants. Actually, well, let's go through the rest of these fasts. But I want to I want to give something positive about the How about the level of concern one to one hundred the Giants' defensive line going up against this this Eagles group now a little bit more of a fair fight.
It's a good question. I didn't give you the number on the last one. I would have said like ninety eight or something like that. But I think for this one, I think the Eagles offensive line in particular is maybe a little bit less worried. But that defensive line looks awesome. So I think I think Eagles fans would tell you this is like a twenty five, but I think most opposing teams would would give it like a ninety. I mean, Dexter Lawrence is is as good as it gets at
defensive tackle. Now that Aaron Donald's gone from for a nose tackle to be as productive as he is against you know, rushing the passer. Brian Burns On the outside is awesome. As much as we sort of poke fun at Joe Shane, it does feel like he like accidentally backed into a lot of the right decisions. Like I think the Burns trade is good value and it's well right.
They didn't show much about the Burns trade, and ultimately that was the biggest move they made. I mean, they did talk about how the trade came about, but they clearly prioritized that, and I think overall that was considering their options was the right move, and they.
Had when they first brought it up, they talked about they've been you know, if it would cost a first right, and so they got it for as much better price like the Saquon thing. I actually think they probably did the right thing in letting him go. I think Malik Neighbors is awesome. So they sort of backed into a lot of what looked like the right decisions to me.
But Yeah, that defensive line.
It's it's obviously what that entire defense is going to be built upon. It's the only unit on that team I think that you would look at and say it's definitely above average league wide.
All right, went to one hundred.
Jayden Daniels pulling like an RG three rookie year performance against the Eagles where I believe he had won incompletion and four touchdowns and ran all over him.
I think that's that's like an eighty five for the Eagles because you also have to keep in mind that Sam Howell diced up the Eagles, so they have not had a lot of luck against those rookie Washington quarterbacks.
But you know, the Devin White of it all that we're talking about, like the middle of the field for the Eagles, the linebackers are not going to be great, and so if Jade Daniels is as explosive as a runner as he was in college, then yeah, that's the That's definitely something that that will concern them.
Justice for Eric B.
Enemy, by the way, like Sam Howe has gone to Seahawks camp and like I supposedly, just is brew absolutely brutal and they made it. They made him look pretty good. I thought I thought both Scott Turner and Eric Enemy were kind of underrated with with what they did well, speaking of you know, I mean, yeah, one to one hundred, Dan Quinn and Cliff Kingsbury as a competition, that's a one.
I mean, oh wow, that's rude.
I mean one to one hundred that that Vic has lost his fastball totally. Vic FANGI this is really still in the team.
But yeah, I think that's I think that's a reasonable eighty eighty five. I mean, especially those first years. If you look over you know Fanjo's recent history, the first years have not been great in Denver, even in Chicago, and last year in Miami. My my my case on on Fangio has been that he was brought in to provide a higher floor, like just a level of competence that they did not have last year with Shawn de
sayon Matt Patricia. They only need them to be a top twenty defense and they need the offense to be top five. But I think there's I can't imagine their defense is gonna be worse than it was last year, but it could certainly be below average.
It could be not good.
You mentioned being top heavy. There there are numbers to back you up there. They actually are second in the league. I saw this year of if you take the top five players on the team average salary, they're over one hundred and fifty million, and that's number two in the entire NFL. Miami actually was one, So.
Just on offense or on the whole.
Now overall pay and most of that is on offense. Again i'd push back, but you're right, mostly the money is into the offense, and it is better talent.
I think that.
I think that's an above average talent to defense. I think that's like a top that should be a top twelve to thirteen defense something like that with a good coordinator. Wrap up with the twenty twenty four Dallas Cowboys, they just stay totally vague with them. You can take from an Eagles perspective, yes, one, yeah, concern.
I mean, I think Eagles fans are enjoying the drama of it all and how how cheap the Cowboys have been not not paying their players. But I mean, I think they're still the best competition in the division. I think there is the the contrarian in me that that wants to say that the Cowboys could even be the favorite because they have the carryover and some of the best players in the division.
Like there's a little bit more variance with the Eagles.
I think I think the Cowboys will be good, but certainly it's it's very funny to watch as all the quarterbacks and the receivers get paid, and you know, DAK is being talking about, well, it might be nice to be somewhere else, and they're not paying anybody else. And Sam Williams goes down, and so all of a sudden, what looked like their best unit on defense is a little bit depleted and they're gonna have to lean more
into to Mic on the outside. But for Eagles fans, I would say they're they're enjoying this na of Cowboys fandom.
Yeah, the Eagles are barely favored to win the division. Relatively, they're like, you know, minus won twenty five. The Commanders, I mean, the Cowboys are like plus one sixty five.
So it's not a huge gap.
But between the two, the Cowboys to me seem like the boom or bust team.
In the NFL.
DAK is good enough, and the in Parsons and their best players are good enough, and we've seen them be good enough under McCarthy. That thirteen wins with the out of division schedule isn't bad here because you guys get to play the NFC South. I think the Eagles play three NFC South teams before September is over, which is a nice way to start the season after that that Brazil game. So you could tell me they could win thirteen games. I don't think that's that crazy for the Cowboys.
But you could tell me they won five, and I don't think that's that crazy. I think they're pretty high on the list of teams that are favored to make the playoffs. That could absolutely implode in many ways. And it's because they're a little top heavy. It's because of the dynamics with the coach and just the everything going on. I could see that going wrong, at least.
In some timelines.
There's also the concern from Eagles fans that Kellen Moore is a sleeper agent for the Cowboys, kind of like Orlando Scandrick was a few years ago, and maybe we'll just.
Rip more would make more sense because he was there for a decade. He seemed like he was Jerry's guy.
Yeah, yeah, he was, so he wasn't until he wasn't. Yeah, there you go, you're you're my guy.
Bo Wolf does a great job.
Like I said, p hl y podcast, Eagles podcast, it's daily, they're getting after it, training camp reports. I find it's it's the best way to follow a team, and obviously we're an Eagles fan. You should check it out, but anyone would enjoy the banter and uh yeah, Bo, thank you very much.
Go get that tortoise.
I know, Nori, I'm coming to save you. We'll be back to wrap up the week on Friday. We'll be at RAMS camp, but we'll talk about all the stuff going around in the league and get some interviews there. I'm looking forward to that. Until then, for Bold Wolf, see you next thing.
Slow and steady, m hm
Hm hm