👋 Good morning! 102, 102, 102.

Take that, Dumper.

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Shorter newsletter coming today, we will have two loaded ones to get you to the weekend. I have some thoughts on baseball realignment, just waiting a few days to get those out.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Everybody loves fake trades.

But you know who loves real trades? One Howard Roseman. John Wooden once said “Do not mistake activity for achievement,” but in the case of Howie, the Wizard of Westwood has it all wrong. Howie is both the most active general manager in the NFL — I still will never forget Day 2 of the 2024 draft — and also the best general manager in the NFL. In this case, activity is achievin’.

Howie already made a few deals of note during training camp, first dealing Thomas Booker to Las Vegas for Jakorian Bennett. Bennett seems to have a chance to be the starting corner opposite Quinyon Mitchell. And then Howie traded for John Metchie over the weekend, a deal that involved a pick swap and end-of-roster player (Harrison Bryant) but nothing huge.

But those are not the types of trades I thought Howie would make, as they were mostly player-for-player swaps. The Eagles have a billion draft picks next year, after playing the comp pick game and playing it hard: 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7.

That is at least partially why I enjoyed the final segment of yesterday’s Eagles show, in which Bo and EJ batted around fake trades. The Eagles could push some chips in and not even come close to mortgaging the future. Two that I liked…

(1) Trey Hendrickson for a 2 and Sydney Brown: Seems like the Bengals are kind of stuck with Hendrickson, after paying the quarterback and the two receivers big money. The hold-up is apparently over guaranteed money.

Hendrickson will turn 31 this season, but he had 17.5 sacks last year and edge-rusher is a position that generally ages pretty well. He has played over 15 games in each of the last five seasons. I have no idea how the Eagles would extend Hendrickson at the number he wants (maybe they can’t), but it would be nice to see them get involved here. Hendrickson and Nolan Smith are both super physical players, and that is exactly what Vic Fangio wants at that position. I would feel great about an edge rotation with those two, Jalyx Hunt getting most of the other snaps, and then Josh Uche situationally every now and then.

The Bengals overvaluing Chase Brown’s brother is also some nice fan fiction. Unfortunately, if I was trading with the Eagles, their own second-round pick would not be all that appealing to me. That is probably gonna be in the 50s.

(2) L’Jarius Sneed for Kelee Ringo and a 4: This is assuming the Eagles are both done with Kelee and nobody else has stepped forward at CB2. Kelee is a good special teamer and can provide depth if you are still not sure about him.

I do not know what Sneed is doing on that god-awful Titans team. I mean, I know why, they paid him a lot of money last year. But could he be the perfect Darius Slay replacement at 28 years old? That is a spring chicken in Slay Years! Sneed is not enough to bump Quinyon Mitchell from The Man status in the secondary, but probably provides more competency on the other side from what the Eagles currently have. A better and bigger Adoree’, basically.

Sneed has been on PUP for camp, so the Eagles would obviously have to figure out what is going on there.

Regardless of what Howie ends up doing, I do think reaching into that stockpile of picks to upgrade the 2025 roster would make sense. The Eagles do not have too many holes in the starting lineup (but there are a few!), and just as pressing, there are some real landmines when it comes to depth. Speaking of Hendrickson, bring Fred Johnson home!

And that’s OK, I am not mad about the state of the Eagles roster. Regardless of how well-run your team is, you can rarely put together a flawless roster in terms of stars and depth like we saw last year. The attrition this offseason was in large part to keep the books clean for future seasons. I can buy that from this organization.

But unlike a lot of teams that win titles, the Eagles do have the ammo to make some upgrades. There are other considerations for Howie and co. to deal with (the salary cap, mostly), but I am still thinking big here. My guess is that Howie is, too.

Training camp notes: Do not like that Andrew Mukuba injury one bit. Love a small guy who throws his weight around… but I also am afraid that a small guy who throws his weight around can’t stay healthy!

Harry Potter Night: First things first.

One guy in a full robe costume walking out, one lady in a custom Ravenclaw shirt in my section, and a couple of low-budget skits from The Phanatic. Loved it. Solid B+ overall.

Oh yeah, the game…

Phillies 6, Seattle 4: What a great swing by J.T. He destroyed that baseball.

I lost it on J.T. in the newsy on June 30th. Check your inbox, he grounded out to the shortstop 500 times during a Sunday afternoon game in Atlanta. There were a bunch of Logan O’Hoppe grumbles in late June. No, no, the Phils did OK in that trade. Since that day, J.T. has responded with an .896 OPS in close to two months of action. And if you’ll recall, J.T. has been mashing righties all year. The guy he faced in the 8th (Matt Brash, a righty) has been excellent all year, and J.T. took him deep.

The ballpark, which is just a wonderful place to spend 2.5 hours right now, was rocking after that one. But you know when it was really rocking?

Jhoan Duran: Here is the new entrance, which is goosebumps-inducing. The crowd goes nuts when the Undertaker bells hit and later when Dan Baker introduces him. I was thrilled to see it live.

Two other game balls from the final innings:

The last man standing: Pretty crazy stat from the Sixers show…

John Wall retired yesterday, and honestly, I did not know he was still playing. His last NBA minutes were with the Clippers in January 2023, which was a while ago. PHLY did not even exist back then!

The four all-stars from that 2010 draft: Wall, George, Boogie Cousins, Gordon Hayward. And not only is PG the last man standing, he is owed in the neighborhood of $160 million from your Philadelphia 76ers. Not great, Bob!

Ariana Andonian: The Sixers have bumped up Ariana Andonian to Blue Coats GM in addition to VP of player personnel, according to Mike Scotto.

Andonian replaces Jameer Nelson in Delaware. Jameer got promoted to Sixers assistant GM a few months ago.

Jakob Glesnes re-signed: I feel like Glesnes has been one of the cooler Union players over the past few years. He has scored some absolute bangers in his Philly career, goals that should honestly count for two.

But like the Union as a team last season, the Norwegian defender seemed to take a big step back individually. They kept him around, and he has rebounded in a big way along with the team in 2025… and the reward is a new contract. Good for him.

Training camp is over, just like that. Life comes at you fast, my friends. Today will be the last practice session open to the media, and then they will be relegated to taking B-roll of the players stretching before getting booted to the media hut. As always, the final game of the preseason means a trip to good ol’ East Rutherford to take on the New Jersey Jets. Revenge game for Joe Douglas. #WinItForJoe

Across the street, the Phils finish their series with Seattle. A little Businessperson's Special action! Speaking of that, you ever seen video of an old-timey baseball game? Everyone is wearing a suit in the stands. Back then, every day was a Businessperson’s Special. Love that. Anyway, we got Jesús Luzardo going against Luis Castillo… and no, not the guy who played for Florida and the Mets (1:05 p.m., NBC Sports Philly, NBC 10). Let’s get a sweep!

Your tentative Wednesday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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