Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie

You know, there's all these different athletes and players who are at the Super Bowl and they're working radio row, and oftentimes they're they're just to you know, enjoy the week in Arizona. Sometimes they're promoting products, other times they're promoting their foundation, their causes. I wanted to do something different this week. I wanted to have a guest that perhaps no other podcast would have on and it really

was relying on a my relationships around the league. But all so whether or not the guests would be willing to do it. Jeffrey Lourie is the CEO and chairman of the Board of the Philadelphia Eagles. He has been since he purchased team in nineteen ninety four. Since then, the Philadelphia Eagles have been to multiple Super Bowls. They have won one Super Bowl ring and they are back. You see, Jeffrey Lourie lives in Breeds Eagles football. I assumed he did, but I didn't know until we spoke.

We recorded this earlier in the week, and I'll tell you I was blown away with his in depth knowledge of not only how the roster was built and how the hirings have gone as these coaches, but also what makes this team tick, what motivates this group, and what

this team means to the city of Philadelphia. With no further ado, the man in charge of the Philadelphia Eagles and the guy that is looking to bring a second Super Bowl championship to the city of brotherly love to Jeffrey Lourie, I'm ecstatic to introduce our guests for today's podcast. In his twenty ninth year as chairman and chief executive of the Philadelphia Eagles, he is a few days away from yet another Super Bowl appearance, and he is being so cool this time to join us now, Jeffrey Loriie,

Welcome to the season with Peter Schreger. Peter, great to be with you. As always, It is awesome to have you on here. You just got to Arizona. As we record this today, what are your initial feelings as you embark upon another Super Bowl week and another chance to hoist that Lombardi. You know, it's kind of like, you're so excited you have a chance to win another world championship, and you have a chance to lose as well. So it's it's extraordinary difference. And but you know, I'm struck

by it's like just another game week. There's so much going on around it. But really I'm like headed to practice, walk through, team meetings, team barbecue, all that kind of stuff amidst you know, national and global hoopla. Yeah, you know, it's a cool thing with this Eagles team because there is that core. There's seven players who are on the last Super BOWLD championship team and you got that core four of you know, Kelsey and Graham and Fletcher Cox

and there's that group. But there's also getting coach and Lane Johnson, and you got a new coach, got a new quarterback. I think it's a testament to the business as a whole that you guys didn't rebuild necessarily. But this is a different team than the one that was wearing the underdog masks in Minnesota a few years back. Yeah, you know, it's it's been different. I'm proud of the fact that five of the last six seasons we've been

in the playoffs while we try to get better. And you're right, different coach, different quarterback, but same mentality, same culture, same approach to building a roster, a lot of similarities, but it's it's very fulfilling, you know, with a whole different group and we just want to win it for our fans, our players, our coaches, everyone in the building. I mean, you're just so pumped to try to win a super Bowl, you know, another one. It's so cool.

And you know, Sirianni comes in and he's this higher last year where it wasn't a household name to everybody, But you guys must have seen something in the interview process down in Florida when you brought him in. What stuck out from Nick Sirianni's interview with you guys a couple a couple of years ago now, So you know a few things. First of all, starts with football, IQ.

I mean you have to be really quick, really sharp, and really innovative to kind of be considered to be our head coach and aggressive I mean it has to fit the mentality of the organization the way we feel it gives us the best chance of winning. But he connected like no other. I mean not just with us, but we could see the way he connects with anyone

around him and include specially players and other coaches. He's strong, He's has a great combination, and we can see it in the interview process but also researching it where he's just very comfortable with himself, Peter, and yet allows himself to be really strong and very passionate and just smart and you know, and surrounds himself with excellent coaches and you know, wants to be the best. And it's been

an incredible season. He's the coach. One thing that you can never say about the Eagles that they don't have the resources and the aggressive nature in free agency and in roster building. You guys added so many key players this past offseason, whether it be A Hassan Reddick or an A. J. Brown. And Howie Roseman does get his flowers and is respected around the league, but that comes from the top also to say, hey, Howie, go do

what you have to do. Let's make this the best team we possibly can't what's that relationship with as how he's been there now twenty years. Well that you know, Howie is superb first of all and smart, creative, always trying to figure out how to help make the team better.

That's our philosophy. I mean, I think the reason we've worked so well together and now over twenty years, not all with him as the GM, but he's been a key part of what we've been doing is we share that aggressiveness, that think outside the box mentality, whether it's helping choose a new head coach or the kind of players we want, or be aggressive when there's an opportunistic moment in the marketplace to pounce and try to pick up the James Bradberry or make the Garner Johnson trade

or aj Brown situation, you know, things like that. And to me, how he is just ideal for everything we believe in. He's able to execute it, he's smart, and he fits the culture of what we've always been which is don't try to be like you know, everybody else and try to forge your own way. You're going to make mistakes along the way, but go for it, and you know, at the same time, always build for the future. And that's that's you know, it's not full proof, but

that's the plan. No, And it's scary. People look at the Eagles future picks and it's like, well, they're still loaded with the draft, like they still did they didn't mortgage everything to get what they needed. And I think that's a lot about forward thinking business planning. You know, it is interesting. We certainly are loaded with the picks. Also, the top three picks this year, when you look back on it, are really more for the future. Except Jordan Davis has got to play some and he's going to

be a very very good defensive tackle for US. But Cam Jorgens is sitting there because someday we're going to lose our Hall of Fame center. Jason Kelsey might be soon and Nkobe Kob opportunistic and uh you know, terrific young player and sitting there too. So it's it's kind of a combination of always trying to maximize what you got, very opportunistic, I hope, and think outside the box, but also an eye towards next year the year after. And

certainly that was with Jaalen too. I mean, yeah, you know, the whole Jaalen thing was this is a quarterback that is triple threat, big upside and phenomenal character and you got to be patient, and you know, sometimes it pays off,

sometimes it doesn't. But it was kind of a no brainer for myself, Howie, and to take the upside opportunity there, you know, And yeah, it was I know it was how heavily criticized, But I think one of the keys to our success is we just do what we think is right and sometimes we're going to be wrong and you move on. And you know, Jaalen very special individual

and special quarterback. Yeah, I got to know him personally just through my job as a reporter when he came through the draft process and he waited his turn behind Carson. What did you see in Jalen those early months of him being in the building that you can kind of spot weight. This guy's got leadership qualities up and down. You can see it right away, and you know, nothing phased him. Yes, he was sitting on the Carson was starting, but he thought of himself as potentially a star quarterback

in this league. Somebody who even at age twenty two, felt like he could lead others because he always had Alabama, Oklahoma and now an NFL team is just a natural, natural leader and you know, extremely talented. We saw it in practice at times, but had to all like part of the process, you know, learn to get better and attack his weaknesses. And nobody works harder than Jayal And I will say that you grew up loving sports, Boston sports. You listen to the Red Sox on your transistor radio

before you went to sleep. Such a passion for sports. The Eagles situation arises, you get in it. That was nineteen ninety four. When you look back now on this time as the chairman of the Eagles, that going back to those days, did you ever think it would be as rewarding as it is right now? No, you know, you're right. I'm you know, incredibly obsessed with sports, all for major American sports, football number one. But I never think I don't think I ever realized the camaraderie. That's

that's the thing. I mean players would say it, but as an owner, the camaraderie you have as building a football family, you know, for everyone in the building, it's that that high of bringing everyone together is probably the greatest thing of all. And yes, you know you're obsessed with winning. Your ossessed the winning big and yet that camaraderie you have with the players, the coaches, everyone in the building, it takes a village. I mean, it's real

and that I cherished the most. Yeah, And as Nick Sirianni is your current coach, obviously you can't write these scripts. Coach of the Chiefs is the guy that we all love in Big Red. When you hired Andy back then in the late nineties, do you remember those interview processes and where the Andy Reid hire came to be? Yeah, I do, And I really remember how unpopular a decision it was because nobody heard of Andy Reid. Nobody interviewed

Andy Reid except for us. But I had gotten to know Andy at the Combine, interestingly in the early days through Mike Holmgren and Railroads and those guys, and uh, you know, always kind of like hmm heard this guy was a great leader and kept we wanted an offensive coach at the time, develop a young quarterback because we

were about to draft one. And you know, just just you know, first ballot Hall of Fame coach, even better person and a lot of the things we do today are instilled by the culture that Andy Reid helped form. And uh, you know, I love the guy. There's so many former Eagles people in that Chiefs building and they all but they all love their time. And like Brett Beach was raving about it, and Steve Spagnola was raving about it, and you've got even Eric bi Enemy was

a former player in the nineties with the Eagles. It's it's an incredible connection between these two teams. Do you feel as watching these guys in the red and white? Now? I do. And their president as was a senior executive with us, and these are all great people. And Spags, you know, we've stayed in touch. We're both Boston guys. We've stayed in touch. We've gone to Fenway together, you know,

things like that, and uh yeah, there's that. But you know, I think they want to absolutely annihilate us in the Super Bowl and we want to win too, in a big, big way. And but it's a great, great kind of It just shows a little bit about the NFL and football. You can be very close and respectful and feel it throughout, yet you want to beat that other team. You want

to win, so you want to win. This is about winning another Super Bowl championship and for them too, so uh yeah, and Andy's formidable, I mean, offensive mastermind, as I said, first ballot Hall of Famer. And yet you know, we've got a great young coach and great young coaching staff and you know, real good roster, and so do they. So it's it's a great sunday I think for the NFL to have these two teams. Yeah, they get along,

but they're not going to get along on the field. No, there's no, there's not gonna be any nostalgia for Matt Naggie's Eagles days when he's drawing up place here zero zero. Um, your Sunday, any other Super Bowl, you might go to the Commissioner's party, NFL honors, and then when you are the participating team, what is that day like? Well, huh, hopefully you didn't have to take some pill to fall asleep the night before, you know, that's that's uh, I

guess you know. It's it's this weird combination of tremendous excitement and you're filled with anxiety, and so you know, oh, we've got a little visitor here. Who we got, who we got? Syndey come over? Yeah it's okay, Um, yeah, this is this is this is the work from home. Let's go special. Bring her right over then, the official dog of the Eagles. When you know what she thinks she's a dog, she's actually yeah, she's a teddy bear.

Oh my, she is a teddy bearne Sydney like Sydney, Australia. Oh, Sydney, I love it. Like. Okay, she's Sydney. You're gorgeous. She's she thinks she's a dog, but she's she's like a pet teddy bear. That's one of the most beautiful dogs I've ever seen. Sydney. She's awesome. Do you run the forty in Sydney? Six for six? Not bad? She's she's a possession receiver. That's it. Great chasing right over the right.

We can do this interview with Peter. That's Peter. Yeah, just hang in okay, Sydney, Okay, sorry, it's a Super Bowl Sunday. You got all get there, ball kicks off where you at? What's the situation. I know yet Bradley Cooper in the in the sweet last time, but I don't know. Super Bowl might be difference. No, no, he probably he might be there someday. Okay, okay, a long yeah, I mean, you don't have too many people. I'm someone as those that know that sit with the even regular season,

other than halftime and pregame, I don't talk. I'm like, I am so I don't want to dine, and every play, you know, and it's like every play is crucial, and the regular season too. I mean it's not like but the super Bowl it's heightened. And um, all I can say is you're just so wound up and excited but nervous, and you want to you want to win so bad that you just you know, you become like this automaton because you're so focused. You can't really talk to anybody.

So it's it's enjoyable that you're there, but you don't feel the enjoyment, uh, every any moment while you're there. It's a funny thing. When did it crystallize for you the last time around? Was it the sack and the strip? Was it the parade? Were so and Beachie sacked Brady? We got the ball? I thought, well, we've got a chance to win this, you know, finally special not Philly special. I love that, but no, and we practiced that in

the lobby, so we like had to keep that one special. Um, So you know, I think it was obviously the ball dropped in the end zone. You couldn't we couldn't sack Brady on the hill. Mary really wanted to sack him there he got away, Gronk had a free release. I was like, oh my god, this is not happening. Is it where they're gonna, you know, score and then get a two pointer and the ball dropped and it was like, oh my god, we just won the Super Bowl. And

so that's that's the moment. When the ball dropped. I had to look at the time clock to make sure zero seconds left, uh you know, and realized it and oh my god, I think it was with my son hugged him and whoever else was there, my mom was there, and uh you know, and then the parade just culminated. These fans, as you know, phil fans, Philly fans are the most passionate and wonderful. Eagles fans are just, you know, unbelievable. We sometimes feel like even away games, they're almost like home.

Oh yes, so it's it's a wow And yeah, I mean so it really probably was. The ball dropped, looked at the clock zero seconds left, and then oh my god, we won the Super Bowl, and the parade of course, was just the culmination. We're in the ice cold in Minnesota when that's all happens, and I'm I'm saying there as person member of the media, and because it was so cold, we couldn't go out on the street and get a car, get a cab, get a taxi. You get to walk those corridors in Minnesota and the echoes

of the Eagles chants. Yeah. Still I still have goosebumps of it because it's in nineteen sixty and you had great grandfather, grandfather, father son, four generations of Eagles fans just channing fly Eagles fly for a two mile walk together. I could cry. It is one of the most beautiful moments I've had in my career. I can only imagine in the reward it felt for you seeing those Eagles fans finally. Yeah, to be able to fulfill everyone's dreams

like that, including our own, it was unbelievable. Today, it's funny, it's been four plus years, almost five, and I still get people who come up to me crying, you know, grown men, grown women, um crying, And I know why they're crying because it's happened so many times. But then see it come up. I know what you're about to say, you know, and it's it's very rewarding. Uh, and hopefully we can get another one. Yeah. Look, I'm not gonna take up any more of your time, but I think

there's more to the Eagles than just the football. I think what you guys do with autism and autism research is incredible. If you can take just a moment, I know it's a cause that's close to you, and also the organization as a whole, the work that you guys do in that field. So, Peter, you know, we've established Eagles Autism Foundation about five years ago and we've we've tried to make the Eagles as synonymous with autism as

we can. It's the fastest growing developmental disorder, one in forty something births in the United States across the globe, and you know, my brother is autistic. And we've established this foundation that's based on real dynamic research to try to make a huge difference, and it's been wildly successful. In our end zone and all of our home games, whenever there's a field goal, a touchdown, anything going on, it's Eagles Autism Foundation, and it's created it's sort of

an amazing global fundraising. At the same time, scientists are attracted to everything we're trying to do and very proud of it. It's it's going to continue to grow, but it's it's a chance to leverage a sports team with a condition. It's not just a foundation. It's autism and it's it's been you know, it's both rewarding, but the potential of it is spectacular and we just we just want to make a difference. And so yeah, Eagles and autism,

you'll see it. It's it's synonymous. Twenty million dollar in research in five years is an incredible number to any cause, but this one's so unique to the Eagles. And yeah, you know, I tell this story. I remember meeting Jordan by A Latta as part of the international player pathway before the draft. He came on our show Good Morning Football. I said, this is some young man. Let's fast forward

all this time. He's a star, He's a fixture. But the amount of fans that we get who watch our show because of the Eagles and my Alatta from Australia and New Zealand is something I never imagined. That is a real thing. The international fan base around this Eagles. Do you feel it, do you guys sent it? I do feel it. And Jordan is I mean quite a guy, great young player, a great singer and he's mass singer, yeah,

mass singer and Christmas album with the offensive lineman. I mean amazing, great guy, young and his fan base is all of Australia. I think, um, not because of him, but our dog. You just met our Teddy bearrys So his name, his name Sydney same spelling, actually named him because the night I thought of the name was the night Sydney partier died and he was one of my favorite actors of all time. Wow and so and then I love the city Sydney if you ever been up

the great optimistic, upbeat Sydney city. And Jordan played for a Sydney team and that's how we kind of initials. You got it. So, yeah, he's he's awesome and you know the country doesn't quite know him yet in the US, but they will. He's very special. Yeah. And closing, your message to Eagles fans who are either gearing up to come to Arizona or they're ordering their wings and pizza and right to have another all time day, what's your message to them? As we head towards Super Bowl Sunday.

We're in it to win it. We're gonna go for it all. We got a real good team. So to the Chiefs, we highly respect them. We hope we can bring another Super Bowl home to our amazing fans. Jeffrey Lourie, I appreciate you taking the time and what must be a very busy week, you're joining our podcast. It means a lot and UH as always, good luck and thank you for all you do for the league and all all you do for all the different causes that are so close to you. Yeah, Peter, thank you very much.

Great to be on good Luck. Tell you what, it was a pleasure speaking with Jeffrey Lorie. U great, great magnetism to him and truly a great man to be at the forefront of a lot of causes, but also the Philadelphia Eagles. But the highlights to me was getting a chance to see Sydney the Dog. Aaron Kaufman, you're my producer, Aaron. When Sydney the Dog jumps up on Jeffrey Lorie's lap and engages with us, were you in agreement with me? That might be the most beautiful dog

you've ever seen in your life. Hey, yeah, that was a pretty dog. That was good dog. Are you a dog guy? You are loved dogs, grew up with dogs? Allergic? What kind of dog was Sydney? I don't I'm not like, I don't I know him, but uh, some kind of midsized poodle mix. I think the hair is very poodlee gorgeous, gorgeous dog named after Sidney Potier, which I thought was pretty cool. The Eagles are in good hands, Aaron, would you agree? Like incredibly impressive and if I'm a player,

I would love to play for that dude. Yeah, yeah, I mean he was all in on like his rookies and and you know, like it seemed like he was so invested in everyone on the team, just like how he talks about Jalen Hurts and everything was really optimistic and promising, and like, I loved hearing an owner speak about their teammates like that. It was great, very rare

we get owners on a podcast. So I do want to thank the Eagles for help setting that up, and of course I want to thank Jeffrey Lorie for taking some time. I also want to thank you Aaron Kaufman. I want to thank Jason English. I want to thank Matt Schneider at the NFL. I want to thank Jason Kleinman at the NFL, Meredith Batton at the NFL, and Jack Rudd who does our music here. Jeffrey Lorie awesome, awesome interview, and I am so excited to see he and Clark Hunt go head to head in a Super Bowl.

Two of the best teams in football and two of the best run organizations Chiefs versus Eagles. Guys are almost there. The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.