Eagles Season Preview: Jalen Hurts, Jalyx Hunt & The Road To Victory

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1:26Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat cure or prevent any disease. Hello everybody and welcome to our 2026 Eagles season preview. EJ Smith, Anthony Gargano, Brandoffy, Pogwolf, easily the four brightest minds to have ever covered the Eagles. Great to have you guys here. We're almost here this day. Let's start. How I think Phil and off he always wants to start. Let's talk about the deep. We're going to get to the offense. We're going to talk a little schedule. We want to talk about the guys who have come, our expectations, the guys who have lost. How are they going to replace them? But let's start like plunge in some people in the mouth and your expectations for this defense. I'm going to start with you because we don't get to hear from you quite as much on our show. Do you think this can be the best defense in football? What are you most looking forward to seeing from these? Yeah, I will tell you a little snippet into I was having a conversation with so and so with coaches and the hook

2:28inside the coaches room is oh my god, we could be pretty scary. And when they start to ask that question like, oh, like we could be pretty scary with that kind of way, they could be scary. And here's the thing. We haven't seen Bernard. I was like, oh, good. I hear that he's like going to be a perfect fit for them. We talked a lot all really all summer about J. Alex Hunt and how great he looked in preseason. They keep, everybody says Jalen Carter is back to himself like the show there. And then like if you get a Carter head screwed on right healthy, he's just a game record. He's just different. He's scary and different. Jordan Davis off of last year. What we saw the linebackers are deep and good. And like you go back to a secondary that's anchored by Quinion and Cooper. And you add a reek woollen that you know takes the Dory Jackson kind

3:34of thing away from it. I think they have all the recipe man. They have good tackling. They're good against the wrong. They should be able to collapse the middle of the offensive line, particularly against Washington. They will. You got playmakers on all three levels. I love this defense. Yes. Like the Rams are very good. The Jackson's are very good. And I think the Eagles are right there in that conversation. Yeah, we can get, you know, we can get nerdy and into the scheme and all of that stuff. But it can also be as basic as on the defensive line at linebacker in the secondary and each of those levels. They have a guy who could be the best in the entire league at his position. And they also have the coordinator who is probably the best in the NFL at game planning and calling plays. You know, the upside is very high. Let's talk about Uncle Vic for a second because as Joe Buck called him this morning. He the reason why he's bad. There's a reason why he's back. Like, you know, I think if they were in a different spot, besides that, if they

4:38were in a different spot, I don't know that he comes back. Yeah. Yeah. I think he looks at this defense and there's like, he's just gets excited by like, this is the defense he wants. This is the defense that he basically built. And I think he, you know, he's the master of this defense that everybody in the league's plan. I think he's fasting. Yeah. I mean, I think when you're looking at this defense and understanding that it's led by one of the most established defensive coordinators one of the most successful defensive coordinators in football over the last decade plus. There's a reason why they are on the short list of potentially the top defense in football. There's probably three or four defenses. You put in that category going into the season and the Eagles are on that short list because of what you guys have already talked about the fact that you've got blue chippers at every level and you've got one of the best defensive minds in the game. I'm glad we started on defense too because this is what I like to call the neighborhood tests. I walk my dogs almost that try to get my steps in every day. And people will always ask me, how are the Eagles going to look this year? How's the season going to look? And they're always going to ask me about the offense first. You know, what's

5:41going on with Sean Mangy? What's going on with Jalen Hertz? What's the run game looking like? And I always reverse it. I say, you know what guys? I think this defense is going to be really, really good this year. And I think that's that is where it starts. If you look at the Eagles teams and during the Nick Seriani era, the years that they made it to the Super Bowl, the years that they made depot season runs, they finished fourth in EPAPer drive in 2022. They finished second in 2024. Each of the other seasons, they finished outside the top five. I understand, like, of course, you're going to have a talented defense. The years you make Super Bowl runs. But for me, it starts with the defense being able to be dominant. And then it then we start to talk about can the offense play complimentary football around that? Well, I want to ask you about that because last year, I think we think of last year's defense just in our mind because there were really high water marks. Yeah. But over the course of the season, they were, they were just good. You know, they weren't, they were like, you know, eighth in the league. They were not great. How do they get better than they did last year? Is it, you know, Jalen Carter is home. And then ding let's start there, right? I mean, Freddie, think about it. The one game that was eye popping to all of us was the Black Friday

6:44game. The Bears ran all over them. Yeah. And that's when we learned that he had no shoulders. And it starts up from, and always does. And I think when you look at the impact that Jalen can have on any game at any point, and we've seen him do it in the biggest of moments, you know, against the top opponents on the schedule going back to the 2024 season, getting that version of Jalen Carter back is what gives them that ceiling of being that kind of defense. And if he doesn't have that same level of year, then yeah, I don't think they reach that that upper echelon of defense. But you know, you paid him that money. He had a good summer by all respects. So for me, that's the expectation is coming in. Jalen Carter should be one of the most disruptive defensive players in the entire league. It is, it is a core of players who are so young that you expect improvement from most of these guys. It's not like they're guys who are going to just hit an age drop off. And so a guy like Jalex Hunt, who had this amazing summer, it's his third year. It's appropriate that this looks like it could be a breakout season for him. You Jay, there are guys at every level who you expect, even though they've been very good to potentially get even better. Yeah. I mean, it's funny because because I was looking at these

7:47historical precedents, I was thinking about the 2024 defense. And that is a high bar. Yeah. That is as lofty as it gets, honestly. So, but as you're looking at it, it's like, okay, Quinion and Cooper to Jean further along in this system. Quinion in particular to me is someone who I remember that rookie season writing a story about how he wanted more from the defense. He wanted more freedom, more leeway to be able to kind of play football, three, oh, one, instead of one, oh, one in a big fan, geos game. I think he's starting to get there. I mean, we saw him, honestly, add interceptions to his game and training camp. We'll see if he can carry that over to the regular season. But yeah, I think that there, you think about that 2024 team and how young it was a lot of the key components of that defense that are still around. They have kind of gotten to a point where they've got that continuity in this game where, you know, you saw that in training camp, the comfortability they had in the system that Vic Fangio is put in place. And if you think about just the personnel and the off season moves, kind of two starters left, two guys came in. So you talked about Bernard and the expectations for him. He still hasn't practiced yet, but Degos chose not to put him on P.U.P. So they're expecting him to play at some point in the first four weeks

8:48of the season. And then you have Rick Wullen replacing Adore Jackson, which was the weak spot of the secondary last year. And this is a volatile player, cause but player who can make some big place. Well, we talked about how do you get better from last year, right? CB two was a clear weakness, right? Like teams will pick on corners. I mean, you know a friend, like you see a weak spot and guys will go back. They'll like exploit it all day long. Like they'll base it, like that's where you'll go at an attack. I'm hoping that again, like he has these spells where in the past where he falls asleep type of thing. But clearly and physically, it's an upgrade. And if you can just solidify that part because safety, you know, the other safety is a question, right? Like that's an issue. Like I think you're you're better than you were last year with re and that's what you're hoping for too is if you get Jalen Carter and the rest of that for you up is that now the margin for error for the opposing offense is so razor thin that maybe

9:51you can't take advantage of any inconsistencies that Rick Wullen does have. And how do you feel about swapping out if there is a weakness in the secondary swapping it out from CB two to safety two. Yeah, I guess that is probably the biggest question entering the season outside of like the change from the Kobe Dean to jihad Campbell. But I think when you're looking at safety, it is a very important position in this defense because of the fact that there's so much emphasis in the middle of the field. But that's why I'm like, I'm okay with the steady vet in Marcus Epps. And a guy that they've obviously got a lot of faith in in Drew McCuba who it was a volatile start to the season last year. Obviously, there were some ugly moments that Tampa Bay game certainly stands out. But they were kind of teachable coachable moments for him, latent the down like scrambled grill type of situations where he leaves his area of responsibility, overcome that. And I think you're cooking with gas there as long as he's able to stay healthy and that he was unable to do that last year. If he's on the field, I would expect like at least take a solid level of play for him. The other one I want to ask about and you mentioned him, EJ is jihad Campbell and tell me from

10:52talking to people in the building as you do, what do you think the expectations are for him? Because we saw him play in a couple of preseason games, unlike most of the other starters. Obviously, he was overtaken on that job by the Kobe Dean in the middle of the season last year. But athletically, the upside is sky high. Yeah, I think the upside is to be a similar player in terms of use case as Dak Bonn. And obviously, he probably has as much range as any linebacker in the NFL. I think the instincts are where he's going to have to develop. I think that's where you saw in a Kobe Dean step into the into the into the defense last year at like a physicality and an instinctual element to that defense. And I think that's something he'll have to develop. But yeah, I think when you watch him on the field, he can do things that other linebackers can't do. And that's what you'll hear about him is that the upside is there. And really, it wasn't like he was all over the place or struggling last season. It was really just like that, again, that element of instincts and physicality you get from the Kobe Dean. I think Jihad Campbell can provide that. Yeah, to me, he is maybe the key to their ceiling. And if you think about in the middle of the

11:59field, if he and Zach Bonn can be what they hope they are, then that also takes pressure out the safety is because the middle of the field in front of them is taken care of. And if Zach Bonn looks like he did in 2024, that kind of makes Jihad Campbell's job a little bit easier to to me like jihad is kind of a skeleton key to this being the best defense and football. I think that that versatility and that ceiling, I think really make it a really fun topic to discuss. And we talked last week on the show about the versatility in the scheme and how there are certain key players like Cuperdigine is one of them. And I think Jihad Campbell offers that same value in EJ mentioned it the same usage as Zach Bonn a little bit of a different body type. But when you have that level of length with his athleticism, yeah, like right now, especially as a young player and still a relatively inexperienced player, remember, has not played a ton as an off-ball linebacker going back to his college days. He's going to need a caddy early on to make a golf analogy. Like you have someone next to him that kind of point on the right direction. But I think you hope that by the end of this season, he's growing into a more self-sufficient player. And now he is the guy that's going to be in the middle of the action, whether it's run game,

13:01past game, in coverage, as a rusher, he could do so much for you as a defense. So I'm excited to see what he looks like here in your team. So we're very bullish here because is there anything that you're worried about at all those defenses? There was a lot of safety. I agree with Franley with apps like, you know, you got a veteran presence back there and you know, we'll see about Makuba. But yeah, I mean, that's it. You got some depth too, like Trotter Jr. and linebacker give you some depth. I guess, you know, edge depth, if, you know, something were to happen or Jay, we haven't even mentioned Nolan's misname. Yeah, I know we're Jordan Davis. There's a few guys. That's what we met since Jordan Davis. It's like, yeah, such a great year. You're expecting him to build on that. But I guess the depth would be the only, I mean, that's and that's every team. Every team. Yeah. Yeah. Outside corner depth. Maybe, you know, if Quinn Young missed time, I'd be listening. He's the type of player. If you missed his time, any defensive struggle losing a corner like that outside corner, if you told me that they were, if they had Keely Ringo and, you know, Jonathan Jones out there in like week 10, that would concern you. But

14:06again, most teams you feel that way about. I think I might be more scared of the corner depth than the edge depth. I agree. Yeah. I think that just in terms of, you know, knowing like, especially when Bernard's healthy, if you got a top three of Bernard, Jalix and Nolan, you feel really good about that trio. Yeah. Yeah. Ebukati and, uh, and Epinessa better than what they had at those last year. But one quick note on the outside corner depth here. I mean, you could put Cooper to gene out there. Yeah. Michael Carter and the nickel and I'd feel fine about that. I mean, that's a decent trio right there. That's a good trio. Well, that's the thing about having that kind of versatility. Yeah. Yeah. When you got great playmakers, when you got a Cooper and you climbed up to have an, uh, a Campbell and his growth. And what he could be, I think go bring it all the way back to Vic. And he's got the chest pieces that he likes. I think you're right. And he also knows them all better now. Yes. You know, it, it's, it's hard to do better than he did in his first season. And he didn't know those guys as well. But he will tell you that he knows these guys even better now. And, you know, Zach Bond was talking about how he's at a point where he just kind of knows what Vic is going to call based on the situation because he's had so many reps with him.

15:08It's just funny. This conversation is making me realize like, Vic wasn't gonna retire. Like, you just said, the, the, you add, but you're right. That was like, you know, do you want to keep working? Well, not if I got a coach a bad deep. But like, but even, even beyond that, it's, it's the versatile, it's the versatile players like Cooper to Gene, Jihad Campbell's, Ackbond, but it's also like the coach's delight of players where it's like Jordan Davis. Yeah. I think Zach Bond goes in both categories, Quinion Mitchell. It's like, it's just a fun group to, I'm sure it's a fun group to call plays for. Yeah. That's a good point. All right. The defense, fewer questions, questions, how good are they going to be? The offense, all kinds of questions. What's it going to look like? How good are they going to be? What, you know, how pasts have you? Are they going to be? Are they going to throw over the middle of the field so much here? And I think because it's fair to say that Sean Manion, the new offensive coordinator, is kind of like the most interesting guy in Philadelphia. Oh, wow. Right. There are a mystery. And at the key to the mystery is Manion. And what does he bring in his own? Think about it, right? He's at his

16:10own evolution now as a play car. He's the first time play car. Like that alone is a big deal. Let alone, it's continuing to get completely new offense with new verbiage. Everything about it is new. And you know, we know how we are with those seas and we've been through many of them. Right. Yeah. I mean, Jaylin said he doesn't count anymore. That's right. He's had. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's a wild story. It's grabbing everything from what the run game is. Right. Like no style. The old line. What the how all these things fit together. And what it looks like, it's it's a it's going to be a fast saving. And will they have enough metal to not panic. Right. Like if there are turnovers early, like do you make sure you don't go back into a shell? There's a lot like that's a big that's a Nick question. EJ, what's your sense of manion in the building? You know, how he is with players? What the other coaches

17:10think of him? How he's taken on to the forward facing part of the job? Yeah. The thing you'll constantly hear about Sean Manion is that he is the first one in and he's usually the last one out. Players who will get there very early say that the he beats them in like the Vante Smith and Jaylin Herz of mentioned how early he gets into the building. We'll see if that manifests itself into a functional scheme. I mean, that manifests. Manion festive self into a functional scheme. But that's what you hear. You hear a lot about him as a teacher in the room. The vision he has for the offense and how he does a good job of keeping the big picture in mind with everything he explains, but explaining everybody's role in that big picture. So, you know, kind of like keep like focusing on the details, but always driving toward this is how this affects the entire group. You know, I can tell you that the thing for me, the big thing, like if you just dropped back into Eagles world after, you know, an offseason of maybe being away from it all is that the offensive line in the running backs, really the whole offense in general is invigorated by the run game in particular. The scheme

18:11that they have brought in, you know, I pulled this quote from Tyler's team because I think it really does paint the picture for like why the offensive line is so excited. He says the this offense gives a defense is a lot to think about. One minute, you're going wide zone and defense, attack was in defense events are running sideways. The next minute you're going doing you're going downhill. So I think that gives defenders a lot to think about. So it kind of makes the it makes it easier on the O-Liam and it makes it easier for us to get our combo blocks coming to me that that duality of, you know, making defensive lineman go horizontal early in games and then trying to punish them with downhill runs late in games. I think that's like been eye opening for these guys like man, this doesn't have to be as hard as the way we did it in the past. So Fran schematically for the people who are who are brand new to this and maybe checked out during the off season and they're just ready for the start of the season. How different is it going to look and what are the ways in which we will notice it? Yeah, I think that and kind of compound EJ's point. I think that there's nothing siloed about this offense. There's nothing that happens in a vacuum. So, you know, every that no matter

19:11how they line up, whether it's a from a personnel standpoint or formationally under center shotgun, 11 personnel, 12 personnel, you throw all the different combinations out there. They want to be able to attack you in all the different ways possible as many different ways as possible from those looks. So that way you're always kind of guessing and you're not predictable as an offense, as a play collar. And so that's why it will be interesting to watch guys with Sean Manion. There are different levels to that role, right? You've got the idea of instituting the bones of the offense and philosophically what you want to be. But then there's pulling the right levers at the right moments as a play collar. So the two very different aspects of the job. How does he look in both aspects? I think that's going to determine what this offense ultimately looks like. But at the end of the day, the offensive line is going to be extremely important because they need to be able to run the ball. They were not able to do that at a high enough rate last year at a well enough rate last year. So if they can run the ball better here in 2026 and they did in 2025, I think they get a lot closer to what we want this group to look like, which is one of the most explosive and efficient offense is in football. So I expect more under center. I expect more multiple tight end sets who's out there will be

20:14interesting, but the more multiple tight end sets. And I think to me that that is all about trying to disguise your intentions as an offense and really kind of make things easier. Not just for the quarterback, but for everybody. How many times have we heard offensive line? You have Tyler Steein talked about it, but my lot has talked about it. Landon Dickerson's talked about it. Lane Johnson has talked about it. How it's so much easier for the entire offensive line. So when things are easier for the offensive line, things are easier for the quarterback. Naturally, it's just easier for everybody. So I'm excited to see what the final output looks like. I know they've been coy with trying not to show too much, but yeah, I'm excited for what this group will look like. Let me ask friend because I just conversation with ball, leave the other deck. This offense is being played by just about everybody in the league. Right. Like everybody is what's this? Because listen, it's just the only way to get any kind of tell, right? We always talk about cops and robbers and how you adjust the fact that everybody's playing. Where does that kind of leave the Eagles who are you don't want to be on the back end of the trend? I agree with you. I think the fact that Sean Manion is

21:20only two, I mean, he's had two years coaching, right? You are potentially you're swinging for the fences here with the higher, but it's like, all right, that's not a guy that has been around and has been coaching in this tree for a while, right? Where it's like, all right, if he was really good in this role, he would have been picked already to kind of ascend. The fact that Manion is so young to it, that gives you a little bit of hope. Now, I don't think it's going to be perfect right out of the box. I do think that there are going to be rough patches. There's going to be some games where, man, like I didn't really like this or that you didn't like that or didn't, you know, they scored 10 points in the first three quarters and like, what is this group look like? I just think the bones of it seem sound from what we've seen over the course of the summer. Now, I'm, I'm just again, I'm excited to see what it looks like. I do think that there is a little cause for concern. The fact that, you know, maybe you're kind of catching on late, but the fact that they plucked a guy that is so young in the role, I think that's what gives you hope. Yeah, I think they're betting on him. Yeah. Instead of the scheme. Yeah. But you're right. You know, this is, they are not, they are not experts in this organizationally. And so I mean, it's why Manion is such

22:23an important factor and an important figure. And then the other aspect is, all right, who's playing, right? Like we talked about multiple tight ends sets. Yeah. And that's an issue. Yes. Well, that's what it serves for me. The more we have gotten through the summer, and it's like, all right, it's pretty clear that Eli Stowers, the rookie second round pick, probably not going to have that much of an impact as a rookie. Who's going to be the second tight end? It's not about, oh, we want to play 12 personnel or we want to play 13 personnel. It's about, we want to dictate to the defense and not allow ourselves to become predictable. We want to make sure that we are selling the fact that it could be run. It could be passed at any given moment. I'm getting more and more confident that we're going to see like more jumbo sets from this team, you know, because they don't have that ability to push the 12 personnel 13 personnel the way that you got to go stick the alignment. Yeah. You go, you go back to, you know, the Rams have done this in the past. Yeah. Last year, the Texans did this ton Buffalo two years ago. And what we saw those teams do

23:25is we say, hey, this is what we want to be. Phil Safely, this is what we want to be. But we don't have the tight, we don't have the horses of tight end do it yet. All right. We're going to, we're going to stick those extra offensive linemen out there. And then in year two of the system, that's when they go out and they drive, they draft the big blocking tight end, you know, Houston last year, they were one of the leaders in the NFL in jumbo sets. They went out, they kept four tight ends this year and three of them are excellent blockers. They almost kept a fifth one just just for good measure. So I do think there were probably a year away from the Eagles really, you know, pushing the, the man even be here. Well, that's the reason you don't go all in on, you know, investing a lot going all in and get a blocking tight end other than Johnny Monk. And don't think it would have required too many resources. But I'm not here to just, you know, I'm a big fan of a blocking tight end. You know, maybe this is a Willie Lampkin or Mark L Bell role once we get to the regular season. All right. I want to spend some time focusing on the three stars on offense individually. And let's, let's start with Devonte because obviously this is a post a J Brown world, one of the huge losses

24:27for the team roster wise this off season. Devonte stepping into a role, trying to prove that he can be a one A instead of a one B and how high are the expectations and how important is he to this past game being functional? What kind of expectations do you have for Devonte? Listen, he's got to be the man like every aspect of it. Like the offense has to work through him. You we talk about scheming guys. Oh, that's the beauty of this offense, right? It's a quarterback friendly offense. When we talk about hidden yards, all this stuff. Well, this is where Manion has to earn his bones. And he's got a spring Devonte. He's your primary player on offense, your primary weapon. And you know, we've brought up Smith and Jigbang. We brought up Puka and you know, funneling targets. That has to happen. Like I might expect to see this as to be a huge year. Yeah. I mean, we you've got McIleman coming in off of an unfortunate summer where he was dealing

25:27with injuries, but he seems ready to go for the start of the season. Don Tabin Wicks, who the Eagles get from Green Bay, who knows this offense very well. They have high expectations for he's going to be there number two. We'll see what they get from Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore and and Derrius Cooper. But I am so interested, friend, in Is Sean Milt Manion week to week game plan wise, building it with Devonte in mind and putting him in different places to spring him. You know, I've been thinking about it a lot because Sean Manion, I think a lot of people are quick to point to Green Bay because that's the staff that he came from. But to me, a lot of what we're seeing from him has been more reminiscent of like early McVeigh with the ramps. And that's a team that he played for. He was a he played from McVeigh. He was a backer quarter back there. And to me, I think of the way that the Rams who talk about with with Buchenna Coo, mentioned Jackson Smith and Jigba last year going back to the multiple tight end set thing. A lot of the teams when they were get into these multiple tight end sets, it was not about, oh, we want to throw the ball to Terrence

26:28Ferguson or we want to throw the ball to AJ Barner. It's about what are we view how are we using these guys? Spitt again, dictate to the defense. It's a lineup of certain way and then stretch you out to create space for those number one pass catchers and that the target share for those receivers would spike in those out of the out of those personnel groupings. The the Rams would would load up with extra tight end. And it would be we're finding space for Pukinacua. I would expect to see some of those similar things from from the Eagles here from Sean Manion for Devon Tess Smith. I go back to that I think to me the best example of this was that 25 yard catch and run in the second preseason game from Darrius Cooper where it came out of a multiple tight end set and you had Cam Latu, sorry, you Jay. Cam Latu running the vertical route stretching the defense out and you're like, oh, like I tight end running a vertical route. That's not you're not you're not expecting that to be an effective tool. But when you line up that way, you can stress a defense in a lot of different ways. So off that run action, you're sending Latu down the scene. That's going to keep the safety there. And now you've got Cooper coming across the middle of the field.

27:28To me, that's an immediate analog for how I would imagine they're going to try and use Devon Tess. Let's examine what's behind him. All right. Because I don't know what your expectations are. Three you guys were lemon. I you say he's ready to go. I don't ready to play healthy. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what to expect from him. I'm not expecting a lot. I agree with you. Yeah, I don't you're hope your expectations from a guy lemon are that by the end of the season, he looks like a real factor in the offense. I think you have to be patient with him. Yeah, I think you're hoping that he is the offensive version of Cooper to Jean from a few years ago, where maybe he isn't stepping in week one into an expanded role. But as the season progresses, he can grow into it because we talked about this in the pre-Jaff process, Fran, you did extensive work on the guy lemon. And he's not the type of guy you're going to line up and say win one-on-one against press man coverage. He is someone that if you can go to the game film, right? Yeah. And honestly, in the in the preseason, we saw even a few glimpses of that. I think he is a type of player that needs to have a creative role in this offense. We've seen glimpses of it when he has

28:32been out there training camp. He's been in motion a lot. You know, they'll motion into the back field and have him run routes from there. I think that's the ideal version of him as a rookie. But that's going to take time to get down because he's missed so much time in the scheme. It's not like a guy that you're just going to put back out there like Devonte where you're going to put him back out there and say, all right, we're good to go again. I think it's going to take some growing pains. It's going to take some time. I think you're hoping second half of the season he really steps into a bigger role. I think it's going to be really interesting because when I think of other versions of this offense that have hit it at a high, high clip, I think of the Kyle Shanahan offenses with like Debo Samuel and Brandon IU could think of some of the green Bay offenses, the Rams offenses. You had a guy that was a guy. If we're seeing Amanda Man, like this is our guy. And I think that could be Devonte Smith. And if you go down the pecking order, I think Don Tavion Wicks is your man and man coverage beater. Then you say, all right, we're going to be zone. You know, that's like Debo Samuel. That's Jaden Reed. And then that's Pukinakua. Here, I think that my guy's not that ability to be that guy. Obviously, we know Devonte. So Devonte is number one in the pecking order in those scenarios. But you know, Mekai lemon, more of a zone coverage beater,

29:33Don Tavion Wicks, more of a man coverage beater. I think that when you're looking at these guys and their utilization within the offense, I think it's kind of clear cut. But that's the reason why I brought up the fact that people were pointing to green Bay with manion. And green Bay, they was always like extremely spread out. I don't envision no, in the case here with the I don't think it's going to be like, Oh man, like you're really spreading the spread and the wealth. I imagine it's going to be Devonte Smith, Devonte Smith, Devonte Smith, more often than he was on the list. So I do think I think that Jalen already has connects over the Wicks. I think he trusts Wicks. He trusts the body type. Wicks is hands, you know, say him like I could see Wicks having it. We even talked to Eric Lourhead this week. And there was no coinness about it. He just talked about Wicks as the number two. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Jalen has talked about Wicks glowingly too. Talked about like the rage, the internal rage that he shows on the field. There's a mutual respect there for sure. So I could see him having a bigger role than maybe some fans would envision quick on Devonte though. I know like the national buzz has been maybe growing

30:40a little bit, but I think the Eagles expect the their internal view of him to be the national view by the end of the season. The the opportunity that he has in front of him, I think everyone is aware of it. I think Devonte is aware of it. You know, we air more head said Devonte has always viewed himself as a one. It just so happened that they had AJ Brown. So they had two ones is how they phrased it. There's no, you know, there's there's there's ultimate clarity now. Devonte is going to step into this role like target share, catches, perceptions, all those things, whatever the lines are right now, I take the over on all of them. I would also take the over on all the lines for sake one bar clean right now. Yeah. Let's talk about sake one and the running game because you know, he had that monster season in 2024. Maybe the best running back season in NFL history. Little bit down last year in part because the offensive line was not as good blocking. Maybe in part because his body was a little bit banged up. He had more time to recover this off season. He looked great to me in the summer. Absolutely. I think there's a chance that this is once again the league remembering that this guy is one of the best players on the planet.

31:43Well, he finally gets the run with a with the quarterback in front of him, not next to him. I mean, the vision I'm excited to see what he does with that vision eight yards behind Jalen. Like what what does that look like? I think he's going to get more involved in the past game. I think that I'm excited. I think he has a monster here. Everybody says he looks great. He's been fresh. He looks, you know, re-vigorated. Yeah. I mean, I'm excited for sake one. Yeah, he absolutely looks physically fresher. You know, maybe it's the benefit of having an extra month of offseason recovery time. Maybe it's just obviously there was a 2024 was a heavy workload for him. And you know, you could tell the energy, the trash talk on the sideline during training camp. And to your point, because it's been like validating from a personal standpoint for me, like hearing sake one talk about the under center aspect of this run game. Because two years ago, I had conversations with him about like, you know, would you, would you, could you use more

32:44under center looks? You know, could you benefit from this offense being more under center? And sake one was really skeptical about that two years ago. And this summer, it's been a lot more man like he's like his eyes have been open to the benefits of under center, you know. He really has talked about how much of an advantage it's given him. So I think to your point, like he's been reinvigorated like from the scheme. He talked about how he thinks he can do really special things in the scheme. He's been studying Todd Gurley and other running backs who have excelled in it. So yeah, I think it's going to be a big year for him. I feel good about the run game overall and I feel good about sake one Barclay at the center of it. How different is his job in this offense friend? I think, you know, when I think of a lot of the big plays that he made in 2024, a lot of those like pin pull sweeps, a lot of those perimeter type plays. It's not exactly what he's going to be asked to do here with a lot of the stretch zone stuff. But again, getting him to the second level with a full head of steam, getting him out to the perimeter with a full head of steam, that's what he is so hard to tackle. You know, you go back to the numbers. I remember sharing their like on a weekly basis with sake one in that 2024 year was like, all right, he's so far ahead of

33:49everybody when it comes to yards before contact. And when that yards before contact is high with him, his yards after contact is also extremely high because a guy that big and that's strong and that powerful when he's going to agree to the first contact. And so you first play at the NFC championship game like through the house, like those types of plays happen more often when you can just get that guy with a runway. And in this offense and that scheme, he's going to get a runway. And to me, the offense that this goes hand in hand with the health of the offensive line, which is obviously going to be a huge topic. He's going to be getting him to the outside. Like Kenny get to the outside. And that's where you talk about going jumbo a lot because, you know, the tight end, you know, I mean, I concerned about it. Yeah, I mean, look, the Dallas got it was not the blocker last year that he has been in years past. And so he needs to be better than what he was a year ago. If he returns to the level that he was in 2024 and in years prior, we're going to be cooking when they're running behind him. If he's not, it's going to be an

34:49issue unless they're playing Johnny, a lot more than they're probably planning to. So, um, yeah, that is going to be a big topic. All right. We've waited long enough before talking about the most important player on the team. And that is the quarterback. J Q J. Lain Hertz, J Q J. Lain. And, you know, this has been something that we have talked about because and gets a little bit of pushback. And I understand it. But the fact that this is something of a prove it, make or break year for Jalen Hertz. And that's not to say that's not to denigrate any of the amazing accomplishments he has had. Right. But in terms of the way that the organization is planning its future, how Jalen looks this year matters a whole lot. You can, can you speak to that? Yes. And, you know, like I understand why people bristle at prove it, right? It's about investment and it's about future dollars, right? And it's about this is the offense they want to run. This is not going away. Like there's not going to be another oh, seeing and switch offenses. This is going to

35:51be the offense. And they want to see Jalen make strides in it. And two or they give that he has said he wants to have a home offensively. So they're trying to find his marriage. But go ahead. I know. And I'm with you. And I think that's why you see him this year. He's different. He's different. I, he take you talk to this at length. What he's different with his teammates. He's more outgoing. He's really trying to be to kind of be that guy. I think he's embraced this thing wholeheartedly. I respected a lot. Now, you know, you got to see if you can do it. I don't, I don't see, I don't see why he can't, right? Like moving the pocket. Like he's still going to be able to use his legs. Like there's still going to be aspects of it. You know, but he's got, he's got a man. He's a good teacher. I think he respects man. You know, I think the, I, you could see how different in EJ. You know this better anybody. If you trust someone. Yeah. Absolutely.

36:52Right. Absolutely. You get not trust the previous regime. And you got to understand it. Right. Yeah. Jaylin, you'll hear this from so many people who have worked around him that he has to understand the why. And I think that Sean Manion cleared that bar early. You could tell from the way that Jaylin talked about the system that him and Sean Manion had talked about under center, moving the pocket, throwing over the middle of the field. And Sean Manion had done an effective enough job explaining to Jaylin why those things were important to him that Jaylin was all the way bought it until your point because I started. It brings me back to a conversation I had with him at the end of last season where Jaylin has always been so singularly focused on the bottom line of winning. And I think for a long time, he believed that the fourth field that he had around him was conducive to winning and driving him toward winning. I think at some point in the last 18 months, two years, he realized all the guys in this locker room, they need to be rolling in the same direction as me. I need to give them more so that they will go to battle with me and that they can win. You know, they want to win as badly as I do. I think he realizes some point that the connection,

37:56you know, be showing up to things, being more open in the locker room, just having a little bit more personality showing personality more was going to affect the bottom line. And I think once he realized that he has been trying to be more open. And honestly, I think we mentioned the GQ thing. I think that article showed that he wants to be understood. He wants people to know him a little bit more. I'm not sure he always is effective at like fully embracing it because I think that some of those things are probably hard to, you know, to like go. Yeah, but I think that you're starting to see that Jaylin realizes that this version that we've seen this summer is a necessary one for this to continue on and also for them to be successful this year. Yeah, I think of that, uh-huh moment that he maybe had along the way as when you come to the league, Jaylin thinks of it like, okay, I'm a professional now. Everybody here is here to win. Yeah. So I can be siloed on just wanting to win and trust that everybody around me has that same focus. And then the more you do it, the more you realize that that's not really necessarily how locker rooms work. Some of these guys, it's not that

38:58they didn't want to win, but it's not their only focus. They have other things that bring them along. And so Jaylin has to realize that it's part of the onus on him to help re-prioritize those, you know, thoughts for everybody else. Yeah, I mean, it's just about being relatable because Jaylin, it's hard to relate to the franchise quarterback almost in every scenario, but especially with him, he is so singularly focused. I think you have to, like the conversation you have with somebody in the hallway, we've talked about this before. It's, uh, you know, the most important conversation that that person might have in the GQ, in the GQ article, it was mentioned that, um, you know, their, your teammates probably want to know what you think about them. And for Jaylin, the answer is, well, let's win. But I think he realized like that, let's win sentiment. That has to be tied into showing up to things and just have being open in conversation. Win the room. Yeah, absolutely. You have to win the room to be able to win it all. Yeah. Like, you know, I know he had great success and, you know, it was awesome. But, you know, to go forward, I think it's necessary. You know,

39:58I, you see all the quarterbacks who had that. I remember talking to Dan Kleco, who has, had the ability to play with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Yeah. And I remember asking him like, go to like, what, what were they like as far as in the win the room kind of feel? And he's like, Tom would walk into a train to camp and they'll forget we'd all be out like a day off. We'd be at a bar, Tom and walk in and he put money on the bar and go, here you go on me. He would pound the beer and then he would roll Peyton would come in and just hang. And it was like, and both guys were extremely effective at winning the room. Yeah. I think you're right. I think it matters. Now on the field, friend. Yeah. What are the big changes for Jalen and why do you think that he can do those things? Yeah. I think that rewind back to January. You know, down to the

40:58senior bowl, they make the hire for Sean Manion and they said they're going to make this offensive philosophical shift in the days and the weeks following that decision and then going down this path. I did have my doubts. I did have my concerns where it's like, oh, like, it feels a little bit like in 2020 where you're bringing the new outside voices, but it's still going to be a, you know, a mishmash of what you've seen in the past versus what they want to be in the future. And it's not one singular focus. I would say like the spring and then certainly what we've seen in the summer have really kind of eased me back towards the layer of optimism that I now have about this. There's a whole operation. And a lot of it has been from what we have seen from Jalen, what we have heard from Jalen and what we have heard about Jalen and around Jalen over the course of this time. So I'm really excited. I think the biggest changes that you can come to it that we're going to see. You're going to see obviously more under center, which we've talked about. There's been a lot of talk about following his feet and linking up his feet with his eyes. And that's always been a conversation. It's always been a concern. But in this offensive particular,

42:00it's because of like the pure progression nature of it, I think it is even more important, but it also, it makes it easier for him. So as long as he is embracing that, I think that now like you're you're able to kind of hit on all cylinders. So I expect it to look a lot better from that end of it. The other big topic that always comes up is throwing to the middle of the field. And it's funny because you know, it goes to clip on social media. You see a highlight and it's he throws to the middle of the field and everybody on one side is like, see, like he can do it. And it's like, and then there goes as well, we don't see it enough. And I think both are right. He is capable of doing it. And we also haven't seen enough of it. I would say that in the the structure of the previous offense, there weren't enough opportunities where it was clear cut like, yep, here it is in the, you know, in the middle of field and accessing those type of throws. It's not in necessarily in his nature to always want to do that. And so if you're able to kind of build that into the offense and make things a little bit easier, like that Darius Cooper reception that we talked about earlier, yeah, that's that's what the offense can look like. So I expect there to be pretty big changes with how we envision Jalen as a thrower.

43:05I'm excited to see it. I'm really excited. Both sides to it was interesting that Chargers game last year. Yep. And you know, a couple things we go, well, he drew a lot of picks. Yeah. Okay. Yes. But he also had some great balls that he threw anticipation. Yeah. And remember, that was in offense like, let's try under seven. Like that was the best offense that working. Yeah. 11 dropbacks was like, oh my god. I'm like, let's go for it. You know, so this is a dedicated mission that he's on. And my point and bringing that up is you saw him make those throws without being properly prepared for. Yeah. So I would back up with Franny Sam. Last thing on Jalen, EJ, what are your expectations for his legs and how much he's going to use those? Yeah. You know, it's an interesting one. Because all of last season I kept hearing, oh, he's going to do it more. He's going to do it more.

44:06I think they will move the pocket more in this offense. And I think if you can get Jalen in rhythm, comfortable in the system, I think that that stuff will come naturally. I'm less concerned about how many rushing yards Jalen has. I want to see his EPA per scramble significantly higher than it was last year. I want to see him creating out of structure because that is part of what makes him special. You know, I think that this offense, the structure, the in the in sequence stuff can be really, really good. But I think for Jalen, like he is, he's always talked about being the triple threat, being able to beat you with his mind, his arm and his legs. I think that that is when he's at his best. And I still think that, you know, we haven't, again, it's hard to see it in training camp. But I think that is going to be as much as we talk about like Dallas God are being a swing player for this offense. And McKayleman maybe being one, I think Jalen, the out of structure creator is also one when they, when he doesn't have the answers when it's a muddy picture. So that's going to happen. You know, it's, it's the first year in the system to be times where you haven't practiced this play against the coverage you're going to get in game. I want to see Jalen be able to give the offense answers in those scenarios.

45:07Me, what I am most excited to see and I'm hoping that we say it is because we've talked about this a lot of the show in the last couple of years. When things broke down for Jalen last year and go even in 2024 where there were inconsistencies and we don't really ask AJ Brown what's wrong the offense. He says passing when things broke down and you kind of got you got into scramble drill mode. Jalen was not aggressive enough. I think a lot of you think of Jalen and Jalen and it's like, oh, like yeah, he's right. You know, run around and that's not where the big place came in this off. You know, it was everyone's in a while. You saw it. But to me, it was too often. He would break the pocket. He would break this the rhythm of the play and it was a scramble. It was a throwaway. It was a fact. It was a play that went for no yardage or negative yardage. To me, like turning that up a notch and whether that's him scrambling or whether that's him just being on the more on the same page in terms of the scramble drill rules with those guys and it's a little bit better scripted in that way. That is another thing that to me can raise the level of this offense because those plays are going to happen. Like the kids are too good now where they are going to stop your

46:10initial pitch. They are going to force you to lean into the change up. Now what? That is one thing I am interested to see that we didn't necessarily get a chance to see over the course of the song. In general, I think the aggression in the passing game is the biggest question I have about this team because you know, I started the show telling you guys if there are top five defense, they're going to go to the Super Bowl, right? Yeah. And you know, the neighbor test and when they asked me like, well, what are you worried about? Neighbor test. How we say I want to know how this offense responds. If it starts slowly and if there are turnovers in particular in the passing game with the uptick in middle field throws, it's going to happen. We saw it in training camp, you know, Jalen through more interceptions this summer. Then he has in years past how to Nick Sireani and Jalen hurts respond to that. I think that could be one of the determining factors for Alice offense. I know. It's like he can't turn a lot. You got to be able to go through it. Let's spend a minute there because the last main character to discuss is the head coach, Nick Sireani, because and I'm curious if you view this year for Nick as similarly make it or break it as it is for Jalen. I think it's obvious. I think, you know, he's in a weird situation because

47:19he's not the focal point when it comes to coaching. Vic candles all the defense were about great the defense going to be, but he man is the guy on offense. Now how does the CEO coach handle it all? And what do they look like? How buttoned up are they? You know, there's high expectations like Jeffrey Laurie and how he roseman. I have a high expectation and it's got to look a certain way. They did not like the way that offense looked last year. But that's fair. I mean, you know, as bad as they were on offense last year, you know, 18, 19, 20th and the league depending on what you look at the last time, every time under Jeff Rehler, they've had an offense that bad. They have fired the head coach. Now they weren't going to do that to Nick Sireani. You're after you lost a Super Bowl, obviously, but it's always a dog. I mean, let's be real. Right. We showed up with dogs. Right. Like the minute the minute you show you can't be the guy to take you in the future. It's not about what happened in the past. Yep. Exactly. Hey, you're right. You know, thank you. Yeah. It was a lot of fun, but we got to go on.

48:23Yeah, that is that has always been the thing. It's like Jeffrey Laurie is not greeting you off of past performance. And that is I think sometimes fans will have like an emotion, an emotional reaction to saying it's a proof of ear for Nick or Jalen. This is us like reporting. This is us being reporters and being, you know, objective about it and just kind of reading the terrain. I think it is fair to say for both of them. Well, that's why I've made that I made the comparison to that 2020 year, which was Doug's last year, where again, it was kind of like a Frankenstein offense out of real identity. I think I think Nick Sireani deserves a lot of credit for what we've seen up to this point. And again, now everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the face. What happens if you go two and two and Jalen just threw three picks? Like do you turtle turtle up in that way? We'll see. But up to this point, the fact that he has been willing to like swallow the humble pie step aside and say like, yeah, Sean Manning, this is your show. Yeah, I think he deserves credit. I respect that. Yeah. I do. I do. For that. I listen, he's highly likeable. Like, you know, I know he gets his moments and he's, you know, his histrionics, everything else. Well, he's a highly likeable guy. Like, like, you know, he's earnest and you know that he has

49:28them prepared. So there are things that he does very well. That's not about it. Yeah. I thought Josh Grazar gave an interesting answer to this question yesterday. Yeah. He was mentioning that it was a great question about you about how does working with Nick kind of change your perception based off of the fact that most coaches across the league, they know Nick from being the loud guy on the sideline on the other side. And Josh Grazar mentioned that on tape, you could always tell that that was a team that played hard and was fundamentally sound. And he said, once you get up close with Nick and you see that it's not only day one where he's harping on ball security. It's every single day they go through the drills and we've seen it. Like, it'll be like day 12 of a camp and Nick will be screaming at like, you know, one of the long shots for the roster about having the class panned over the ball in a ball security drill. Like he eats leaps and breeze very consistently. The things that he believes affect winning. And to your point about, you know, the to France point about, um, let it like turning things over to Sean Manion. I think that's when Nick is at his best. Like when you look at some of the inflection points of the seasons in the past, his willingness to

50:30kind of set his ego aside, when we know he has an ego, we know that he is a boisterous guy on the sideline when he's been able, when he's been willing to, you know, give up play calling duties or listen to the offensive line in 2024. And so we're going to go run first. I think that that is something that we don't necessarily give him credit for because it's giving something up. Stikin in 21. Yeah, exactly. But I think that that thing shows you. And I think this is why him and Jaylen have gotten to a good place now, a better place. It's very least because they both are so singularly focused on winning and what they believe affects winning. I think it's great. Yeah. That's great point. And like sometimes I, I'm guilty of it. Sometimes I'm like, it's not about, it's always about what he doesn't have. Sure. Like the acumen to, you know, build the offense himself. Yeah. Right. And then, you know, and we get lost. I got lost in that. Like there are times when you have to look past it and go, Hey, you know, there's somebody in the putting up the garment. One of a lot of games and and Harball won a lot of games in those CEO coaches. One game.

51:31All right. Well, speaking of winning games, let's take a look at the schedule quickly. And here's how I want to ask you this question as we take a look at how it all lays out beginning with week one at home against the commanders. Let's think of this like it's a, it's a television show. And I can offer you the opportunity to get a screener. Okay. You get to watch one of these games tonight without knowing what the record. Yeah. I love that. What's the game that you just cannot wait to turn on the tape for and see what it looks like. Yeah. Mine easy to answer in week three. Oh, I'm going to say week four against the Rams. To me, after what happened last year on that Black Friday game against the Bears, seeing what they look like against a team that wants to be physical that is going to try and force turnovers defensively that wants to be able to run the ball. Like that's the, I want to be able to see what they look like. Look, big Sir, he's got Sean McFaase number. This is going to end up with it's going to be a W or regardless. The the the Chicago Bears game, I think is a really interesting litmus test. It is.

52:33I'm actually going to I said a week before against the Rams. I want to see what the offense looks a little bit further into the line. That's how I feel as well. I have something. Yeah, I want to see. I'm taking the Thanksgiving game against the Cowboys. I want to know what that offense looks like. I was going week seven. I want to give them more time. I'm trying to be patient. Try to be patient. Like I'm just really like to me. It was one answer and it was week seven because of this. Well, there's a lot of hype around Dallas. Yeah, yeah. Right. Like there's a lot of time. Like are they real? Like is that defense going to be much improved? Are they a legitimate threat to the Eagles coach? New court? Christian Parker. Yeah. Are they going to be a legitimate threat to the Eagles in the NFC East? So we'll not answer what the Eagles are and the Eagles offense. Yeah. But we'll answer who the Cowboys are. Yeah. If it mid season. Yeah. They should know who they are at this point. Maybe not quite be set by injuries as they might be late in the season. The number one division rival. Yeah. Got a lot of shoes. That's got me fired up.

53:35But I mean, you look at all those games. Like some of the games game is going to be kind of fair. It's like, you know, the bear is one. The bear is one. It's going to be one where all week long, their manhood is going to be questioned on the defensive line. And it is going to be like, come out and punch somebody in mind you. The bear's offense is good. Yes. Yeah. And the bear's the bear is going to put up points early. And that'll be a big showdown because it'll be the bear's offense versus the Eagles defense. Like kind of an early clash of the of the coming to top two units in the league. I mean, week 15 through 17, all box box office games. Yeah. Important games that'll be that'll tell you a lot. Christmas Eve against defense. Yeah. You know, Dmitriko Ryan's and that defense staff. We've got a lot of experience going up against this offense. And obviously that's one of the best defenses in football. That's a really fascinating match up to 15 against the defending Super Bowl champs. And then I also I kind of chuckle at the kind of let down of week two at Tennessee. Yeah. Okay. Great.

54:37Down is always for big one. That's always the they feel like it is always in in December. Yeah. That's easy. Yeah. Sleepy. Yeah. Sleepy. All right. We got the London game. Got the London game. All right. Tally Ho. Yeah. All right. Good stuff, guys. That was a lot of fun. We have course type of covered on ph.o.y throughout the season every day, cousin the morning, us at two o'clock. Stay with us. Let us take you through the season. Let's go here, guys. Let us know in the comments what you are most excited to see about this Eagle season. Check us out. That's all we got. Thank you. Lindsay. As always, we love you.