Some Former NFL Players Told Me Their Sports Talk Radio “Thoughts”

I had the pleasure of hanging out with some former NFL greats at the Brian Dawkins “Driving Impact Foundation Golf Tournament” at the beautiful Penn Oaks Golf Club on Monday afternoon. It was a great day for a fantastic cause and the conversations around the course were fantastic. Throughout the course of the day I had the opportunity to discuss my career with the ex-players. I took the time to ask them what they thought when they listen to sports talk radio.

They had far different opinions from when they were playing and what they think about it today after their careers. Some have even dipped their toes in the media pool. I wanted to share the prevailing opinions that were shared (without direct attribution) on sports radio from an athletes perspective.

This one had a very consistent answer. They loved getting to know what the fan base was thinking and feeling when the team was on a roll. The front runner aspect of listening was clear. When things are going good the players told me they were far more likely to tune in. They loved hearing the passion of the fans and how excited the city would be getting after every win.

A few players even said that it helped to fire them up and to understand the mentality of the city. It was clear that those who had played for the Eagles loved this fan base and are appreciative of it still today.

There were a few answers offered but the one that got the most traction was when they heard a host or caller start referencing how they had “played the game”. The chuckles that happened when they heard a host or caller talk about their understanding of the game from their playing days in high school or childhood caused many to roll their eyes.

I asked one player if they understood why we or callers might be prone to do that and they did. They just wondered whether we all realized how completely different it is to play the game at the highest level. I asked if there are things in common and the overwhelming answer was in broad terms yes, but in reality it’s not comparable.

This was one of the most humorous responses that I received. The prevailing response was “who is this guy that is criticizing me?” asking what their qualifications are to do it.

This one I completely understood. I would believe anyone who is a professional in their field would find it frustrating to hear others discussing their field of expertise as if they truly understood it. They sized up hosts by their commentary and most importantly level of vitriol. The players found it outrageous with the amount of name calling and what they perceived to be personal attacks from hosts.

One thing was clear. The hosts they felt were the most outrageous rarely showed their faces in clubhouses or at press conferences.

I was surprised to hear how many players still listen to sports talk radio today. I was happy to hear that most feel that the quality of the product has greatly improved in recent years. The thing they liked the most was hearing ex-players or current players interacting with hosts.

The thing they liked the least was hearing the same callers over and over on a daily basis. Im thrilled that our show doesn’t cater to that as I find it tiresome myself at times as a fan of the industry.

I learned a lot about my field and how it is perceived and consumed by players in a very relaxed setting. It is a great honor to get to do this job. With that honor comes responsibility. It’s clear that the players feel they don’t see enough of that from my industry. That needs to change.

The 2024 Eagles Schedule is out. We have known who they would play since the end of the season. We also knew where they would play each team. They even gave us the week 1 opponent already with that game taking place in Brazil. But now we finally know the full 2024 Eagles Scheule.

Last year the Eagles got the short end of the stick when it came to the schedule. They wound up with a brutal gauntlet in the middle. Dolphins, Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, 49ers, Cowboys, Seahawks, all in quick succession.

The baffling part is they survived that period. They won the first 4 of those games, including a Commanders game in the middle of all that. They started the season 10-1, even if those 10 wins were shaky.

Even after closing out that gauntlet going 0-3, they were still in decent shape to win the division, with an "easy: final 3 games. Two vs the Giants, and 1 vs the Cardinals. But they went 1-2, lost the division, and then got blown out by a mediocre Bucs team in the playoffs.

It turns out the schedule was not their problem, they were their own problem. Their defense collapsed onto itself, and the offense went stale.

They hope a busy offseason and two new coordinators will right that ship. They are certainly a much better team on paper. Howie Roseman gets high grades for his offseason but championships aren't won on paper.

They will likely be relying on a lot of inexperienced or unproven players on defense again. If those young guys, like Quinyon Mitchell, Nolan Smith, Cooper DeJean, and Nakobe Dean, step up, it could be a completely different defense. But we might not know until the games started being played.

Some games still do not have times announced, and those could always be subject to change with how the NFL loves flexing games.

The Eagles begin their season by getting the honor of playing the first NFL game ever in Brazil. But did it have to be the Packers? That is such an important game. For all we know this game could be the difference in NFC seeding at the end of the year. Now they lose their home-field advantage against the Packers and have to play them in week 1 when neither team is at their best.

For the 3rd straight season, the Eagles will have their home opener in week 2, on Monday Night, vs Kirk Cousins. In each of the last two seasons, they hosted the Vikings in week 2 on Monday Night. This year they avoid the Vikings, but still get Kirk Cousins.

Even if they did spend the 8th overall pick on someone who won't help them until 2026 at the earliest, Cousins still could make them a formidable team. Kirk's career vs the Eagles has been a bit all over the place. He was 2-2 against them with the Vikings and 4-3 with Washington. He has some great weapons around him in Atlanta, but they had that with the Vikings too, and the Eagles beat him the last two years.

What is tough is the wait between that Week 1 Friday night game and then the Week 2 Monday night game.

In week 3, the Eagles will head down south to take on the Saints. Likely a road trip many Eagles fans will have circled on their calendar. The Saints are still going with Derek Carr after a rough first season.

But Carr has done some damage vs the Eagles in the past, including completing 31 of 34 passes against Sirianni's Eagles in his first year as the coach. Carr is inconsistent but capable of having great games. The Saints went 9-8 last year, and are 16-18 in the Dennis Allen era. he got a pass his first two seasons, but this will likely be the year where the pressure is on Allen and Carr to turn things around.

Of note, New Orleans is also the location of the next Super Bowl. So hopefully it will be the first of two trips there for the Eagles.  

The Eagles played the Bucs twice last year. In the regular season, they dominated them, but in the game that mattered more, in the playoffs, the Bucs crushed them. That Eagles team was broken. It wasn't because the Bucs team was great, it was the Eagles having no fight in them.

How the Eagles handle the Bucs in week 4 will be a good barometer of whether they have fixed their issues.

I hate having the bye week this early. Almost every team that wins the Super Bowl, has their bye week later in the season. After 4 games you don't need a bye week. You need it after 8, 9, or 10 games.

It doesn't mean they can't win. But it puts them at a huge disadvantage.

That said, they travel a lot in the first 4 weeks, including going to another country. So an early bye week may help a bit.

The Browns, with backup QBs, were a tough team to beat last season. They made it to the playoffs but then got blown out by the Texans. DeShaun Watson, despite all his many issues, has been an MVP caliber QB at times. The team around him is very good. The Browns could be a tough beat.

The Giants were in prime striking range to get a QB if they wanted one this year. They opted to stick with Daniel Jones. They might have added a very talented WR in Malik Nabers, but he has no one to throw the ball to him, and Jones has no one to protect him still.

The Giants also lost a couple of key players, Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney, and their only notable addition was Brian Burns, who they paid A LOT of money to, for a guy with only 1 10-sack season.

I don't think the Giants will be good this year. It's a division game, so you never really know. But on paper, the Giants won't be a tough matchup.

Something to note, this will be Saquon Barkley's first game back in MetLife Stadium.

The Bengals were without Joe Burrow last year but still did somewhat well for themselves considering. Now that Burrow is back, they should be a formidable team again, even with a few key free agents walking. Burrow is one of the elite QBs in the NFL, any game against him, especially on the road, will be a test.

Doug Pederson's first year went great in Jacksonville. Year 2? Not so much. This is a very important year for him, and Trevor Lawrence. No more excuses for either of them. But until we see if they have fixed any of the issues that plagued them last season, it is hard to judge how tough this game will be.

The Cowboys will be an interesting team to watch this year. Cap issues kept them from doing pretty much anything this off-season. Their offseason moves look like an airport that only has departures but no arrivals. Tyrone Smith, Tyler Biadasz, Tony Pollard, Jonathan Hankins, among others all left, with Eric Kendricks being the only notable signing.

They should still be a formidable team, but they have sprung a leak, giving the Eagles a chance to take advantage.

Also Eagles-Cowboys on CBS is weird. It means we get Tony Romo, for a Cowboys game... gross.

Washington is tough to judge on paper. They went out and added a QB. We saw last year with the Texans the right Qb can change a team. is Jayden Daniels the right QB? He certainly has a good track record. Usually, it takes QBs a season or 2 to really break out, but we have seen more and more QBs transform their team during their rookie season. So until we see Daniels on the field, it is tough to judge the Commanders on paper.

The Rams are tough to read. They were a mess last year, but they were battling many injuries. So we don't know what type of team they will be this year. They are not too far removed from being a Super Bowl-winning team. They lost many of the guys on defense that got them there, but with Stafford, and a couple of very good WRs, they are still a team to be wary of.

The Ravens are obviously one of the tougher games on the Eagles schedule. That has not translated to great playoff success, but this is a regular season game, and the Ravens have been a great regular season team. Especially with it being in Baltimore, this will be one of the toughest games on the Schedule.

The Panthers were the worst teams in the league. they had a decent draft on paper, and changed head coaches, but will it be enough to get them out of the basement? That will depend on Bryce Young. We will have a better idea of who this team is once we see Young in year 2. But the roster around him is still not that great. On paper, this feels like one of the easiest games on the Eagles' schedule.

Russell Wilson is not the guy he once was. He struggled his last two seasons with the Broncos. Will a switch to the Steelers help? He will be better coached at the very least. Tomlin may not have earned much hardware these past several years, but he has done more with less than most coaches. He has taken some very mediocre rosters and managed to get winning records with them. So don't count them out. That said, on paper, the Eagles are a much better team.

We think of Divisional series as splits. But the opposite has been the case between the Eagles and Commanders. Since 2015 the two teams have only split once, and that was the year the Eagles most recently went to the SuperBowl. Other than that, the Eagles swept 5 times, and the Commanders swept the Eagles 3 times.

It is common to just predict a split between the Eagles and Cowboys. That is what happened in 4 of the last 5 seasons. The two teams have split 10 times in 13 seasons since 2010. Nick Sirianni's first year as the coach is the last time the Cowboys won both games. They also did it in Andy Reid's last season. 2011 is the last time the Eagles won both games. Other than that, they have split the series every other season. So it is probably safe to presume they will do that again.

Unlike the Cowboys, the Eagles have swept the Giants a few times over the years. In the 2022-2023 season, they beat the Giants 3 times. The Giants have only beaten the Eagles 4 times since 2014. That includes 6 sweeps.

That could change given this is a week 18 game. It is possible the Eagles have nothing to gain or lose in week 18. But if the game matters, recent history suggests they win this one.

BTW, this also means they don't have to leave the East Coast for the final 6 games of the season.