Speaker 1: It's really hoping I didn't have this opportunity again for
Speaker 1: a long time. Good to see you, guys. Just wanted
Speaker 1: to start out saying on behalf of the Eagles organization,
Speaker 1: we were really sorry to hear about the sudden passing
Speaker 1: of Tao. You know, a young guy gone too soon,
Speaker 1: so best to his family thinking about him. At this time.
Speaker 1: This morning, we completed a trade with Miami Dolphins. Jay
Speaker 1: GI's Philadelphia Eagle. We're excited to add him to our team,
Speaker 1: to our running back collection. We think he's a good
Speaker 1: player who adds to our group. We're excited about that
Speaker 1: and having him here going forward questions. You know, it's
Speaker 1: one thirty five right now, and we're gonna look at
Speaker 1: everything that's our job right to do at this time
Speaker 1: after today, it's kind of waiver wire and practice squad,
Speaker 1: so we're doing that, but without predicting the future. You know,
Speaker 1: we feel really confident about our team and comfortable for
Speaker 1: a rap. Jay was the workhorse in Miami. Do envision
Speaker 1: him having that role here. We like our running back group.
Speaker 1: You know, this was an opportunity that came to us
Speaker 1: that we thought was a good player who could add
Speaker 1: to our team. A young player who's under contract for
Speaker 1: the next couple of years. And at the same time,
Speaker 1: everyone's seeing the way La Garrett's run when Dell's had
Speaker 1: really good games for US. Corey. We brought Kenyon back
Speaker 1: as well, So it just adds to the group and
Speaker 1: all that stuff playing time is sorted out by the coaches,
Speaker 1: but La Garrett continues to be our starter and just
Speaker 1: really excited to have that group and add a good
Speaker 1: player three in the Miami Harold however that this year
Speaker 1: he even after wins, if he didn't get enough touches,
Speaker 1: he would get upset and cause a friction in the
Speaker 1: locker room. Is that something you guys can found out
Speaker 1: during your evaluation And do you think that was isolated
Speaker 1: to that to that team and to that experience. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we do a lot of research onto players before we
Speaker 1: trade for them. Not only do we do a lot
Speaker 1: of research for a guy like this before when he
Speaker 1: comes out in the draft, but we do that here
Speaker 1: before we make a deal. And really in this league,
Speaker 1: you do business with people that you trust, and we
Speaker 1: feel like we have a good understanding of what was
Speaker 1: going on there, and we also have a good understanding
Speaker 1: of what we have in our locker room and the
Speaker 1: chemistry that we have on this team, and we weren't
Speaker 1: going to bring anyone here that with disrupt team chemistry.
Speaker 1: And we feel very confident and comfortable about the player.
Speaker 1: Reports out of Miami that the Dolphins were concerned about
Speaker 1: his knees and his long term health. How extensive did
Speaker 1: you guys look at that? And what's your level of
Speaker 1: comfort with his knees? Yeah? The beautiful thing is that
Speaker 1: we do physicals on players, and you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: a doctor, and we have a lot of faith in
Speaker 1: our medical staff and our trainers and doctors, and we
Speaker 1: share that information before we make a trade like this,
Speaker 1: And I'm not concerned about any reports other than the
Speaker 1: ones given to us. You feel that Garrett will feel
Speaker 1: go after run that deadline? Yeah? Again, I don't think
Speaker 1: we felt compelled to do anything here. We thought this
Speaker 1: was a good opportunity to improve our football team, not
Speaker 1: only this year, but going forward, would remain the starter.
Speaker 1: And if so, what why is that the case? Oh,
Speaker 1: Garrett's been productive when he's gotten the ball. He's a warrior,
Speaker 1: he's a two time Super Bowl champion um and we're
Speaker 1: really glad to have him so, UM, you know, I
Speaker 1: really shouldn't get into kind of starter roles. That's really
Speaker 1: up to the coaches. But um, we're counting on the
Speaker 1: garret here going forward. This is no reflection of any
Speaker 1: of those running backs. This was a good opportunity for
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles and our job is to add good
Speaker 1: players who fit what we do. And um, we believe
Speaker 1: that Jgi does that. It's clearly at seven and one,
Speaker 1: it's it's clearly a rare opportunity. How much did you
Speaker 1: have to motivate you act? Well? I think you take
Speaker 1: into account where you are. You know, it's certainly different
Speaker 1: when you're seven and one than if you are having
Speaker 1: a losing season. Um. But at the same time, we're
Speaker 1: not gonna do anything that puts us in a bad
Speaker 1: spot going forward. Um. Again, a big part of this
Speaker 1: trade is the fact that this is a twenty four
Speaker 1: year old back who's not just on a one year deal.
Speaker 1: But if there are opportunities to improve our team and
Speaker 1: improve where we're at, we have responsibility to the people
Speaker 1: on the field, the people off the field, our fans
Speaker 1: to evaluate everything and that's our job and that's what
Speaker 1: we've been doing here. Really throughout the course of the season.
Speaker 1: How long did this trade come come about? Here? Was
Speaker 1: this something that have been quick right at the deadline?
Speaker 1: Was is something that you guys have been in communication
Speaker 1: about for a while. Yeah, so we still have some
Speaker 1: time before the deadline here, but it came together fairly
Speaker 1: quickly yesterday. And I think that's a testament to the
Speaker 1: relationship we have with the Dolphins organization and kind of
Speaker 1: the trust that goes back and forth on both sides.
Speaker 1: And we saw the player, you know, we had the
Speaker 1: player here in Philadelphia on our field and he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys that when we came back after those practices,
Speaker 1: we said, you know, that's our kind of guy. He's
Speaker 1: got the mentality that we're looking for. He brings the
Speaker 1: kind of presence and he plays the kind in a
Speaker 1: way that we want to play and that we want
Speaker 1: to represent our football team with and our fans with.
Speaker 1: So um, we had done work on him. That's one
Speaker 1: of the benefits to having these practices, these scrimmages and um.
Speaker 1: You know, so when it came the opportunity came about,
Speaker 1: we had done our homework last year just watching the build.
Speaker 1: What have you seen for the reasons for that, Well,
Speaker 1: I think you look at the Chargers game in the
Speaker 1: Falcons game, and you could argue you put the team
Speaker 1: on his back. That's this season. Obviously, last year he
Speaker 1: had a tremendous year, twelve hundred and forty nine yards
Speaker 1: averaging almost five yards to carry. But this a physical
Speaker 1: downhill running back who can pick up yards after contact.
Speaker 1: He can make people miss. He had fifty two catches
Speaker 1: his junior at boise Um again twenty four years old.
Speaker 1: But when you watch him and if there's an alley,
Speaker 1: he's getting something and Um he's also he's going to
Speaker 1: impose his will and defenders, so protection he's done well,
Speaker 1: you know, and sometimes in past protection you don't know
Speaker 1: the responsibilities, the assignments. I think that's one of the
Speaker 1: hard things about scouting is we don't know the play
Speaker 1: call Um, We don't know any of where the line shifting.
Speaker 1: And but we have background on him. We've spent time
Speaker 1: with him, we interviewed him at the combine. And again,
Speaker 1: when you make these trades, you trust the people that
Speaker 1: you're dealing with. Him are always up front with the
Speaker 1: people we trade with, and Um we have the same
Speaker 1: relationship with the Dolphins. Yes, we've had a great reserience.
Speaker 1: It hasn't caught a lot of balls in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But like you said, he did in college, do you
Speaker 1: feel like he could be more productive as receiver than
Speaker 1: he has been? Sure? I think that's one of the
Speaker 1: things maybe going into this year that they were working on.
Speaker 1: I know when they were here there they were working
Speaker 1: on getting him more involved in the passing game. And
Speaker 1: you know, all that stuff comes, but we go on
Speaker 1: what we've seen, and what we've seen is a tremendously
Speaker 1: productive guy who's twenty four years old, and you know,
Speaker 1: we think he'll fit right into the culture and the
Speaker 1: team that we got going on here. Le Garrett's awesome.
Speaker 1: You know, he wants to win. He's won. He's all
Speaker 1: about winning. Um, he's been in situations before that they
Speaker 1: have been productive backs on the team. Um. He's been
Speaker 1: a tremendous team guy since he's walked in the building
Speaker 1: and a leader for this football team. And um, nothing
Speaker 1: changed today. You have done some work on him this
Speaker 1: summer when they were here. Did you have a sense
Speaker 1: back then that he might be available? No, not at all.
Speaker 1: You know, when other teams come in here are scouts
Speaker 1: and certainly led by Joe Um, they evaluate every player
Speaker 1: that's out there for the week. That's one of the
Speaker 1: benefits of getting through them. You look, you look at
Speaker 1: every player and it helps you through cuts. It helps
Speaker 1: you when you're in a situation like this where you
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of time. UM. So our scouting
Speaker 1: department writes up every player that's here based on their
Speaker 1: week of practice. UM, and we're observing them. We have
Speaker 1: guys at every position group and it's a testament to
Speaker 1: our scouting staff that they do this homework on them
Speaker 1: and puts us in a position right away where we
Speaker 1: can make a move like this downhill running ability. How
Speaker 1: does he do laterally on stretch players. I think that's
Speaker 1: a part of their offense. Is that correct? Yeah, And
Speaker 1: you just got to look at his ten plus carries
Speaker 1: that he's had over the last two years and um,
Speaker 1: certainly when he gets out in space, he's a force
Speaker 1: to be reckoned with with not only his power but
Speaker 1: his speed. Um. I mean, it's it's hard to rush
Speaker 1: for two hundred yards three times last year he ran
Speaker 1: against Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Yeah, that's a hard thing to
Speaker 1: do in the National Football league, and he does against
Speaker 1: good competition and tough environments, and again we think he's
Speaker 1: gonna fit right into the group. How much do you
Speaker 1: like your draft picks? How uncomfortable are you right now
Speaker 1: with what you have heading into twenty eighteen draft. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about it. You know, we'd like to
Speaker 1: have more picks, but at the same time, we want
Speaker 1: to get good players. And you know, that second round
Speaker 1: pick was a payment for Carson. That third round pick
Speaker 1: is for Ronald Darby, you know, a guy we thinks
Speaker 1: a good young corner in this league. And we still
Speaker 1: have two fourth round picks, and we traded a fourth
Speaker 1: round pick for a guy with we thinks a good
Speaker 1: young player in this league too. So when you look
Speaker 1: at the percentages on hitting unpicks, you try to balance
Speaker 1: that by the same token, we have a lot of
Speaker 1: confidence in our scouting abilities, our scouting staff, and um
Speaker 1: we want to give them more and more resources. But
Speaker 1: um we felt like this was the best move for
Speaker 1: our football teams. Contract. Isn't your long term thinking a solution?
Speaker 1: I'd have a position, Well, I don't necessarily know that
Speaker 1: there's a problem that we need a solution, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: I think that when we look at our running game,
Speaker 1: it's been pretty successful of us for the season. Um,
Speaker 1: we think we got good players there. But um, when
Speaker 1: you look at having the stable backs, when you look
Speaker 1: at playing in December in tough conditions, um, and bringing
Speaker 1: those guys coming off the bus, you know, it's something
Speaker 1: that we're excited about. Um. You know, we draft and
Speaker 1: developed players and v was probably one of the most
Speaker 1: improved players on our football team during training camp. And
Speaker 1: you draft those guys, you develop them, you put them
Speaker 1: through the program so that they get opportunities like this,
Speaker 1: and we have a lot of confidence in him. Um.
Speaker 1: And the rest of the offensive line is intact, and
Speaker 1: we have some veteran players behind that that have started
Speaker 1: games and been successful in the National Football League. So,
Speaker 1: I guess to answer your question good, just before the season,
Speaker 1: you said that you felt you had eight starters on
Speaker 1: the offensive line. Is that why we haven't seen a move,
Speaker 1: you know, to get a tackle in here after Jason
Speaker 1: Peter's injury. Well, I think we're comfortable with our group too.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's not so easy, you know, just
Speaker 1: to go and get good players in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not like Um, there's a treat they
Speaker 1: just pick tackles off of and you say, let's just
Speaker 1: grab that guy. So, Um, you know, we went into
Speaker 1: this with our roster knowing we would have some injuries. Again,
Speaker 1: we draft players so that we can develop them, and
Speaker 1: we're excited about seeing those guys in action, and we
Speaker 1: still feel like we have some starters in reserve too.
Speaker 1: Of your expectations so far, Sevenday one in the southern one.
Speaker 1: At this point, you know you're making a trade to
Speaker 1: get a running back over the top. You know, my
Speaker 1: expectation is every week that we got an opportunity to
Speaker 1: win another game. We got a long way to go
Speaker 1: in this season. Um, we're just trying to do whatever
Speaker 1: we can from our perspective to improve the football team.
Speaker 1: One make you approach the trade deadlining differently, Um, I
Speaker 1: think similar to how I answered that before. Certainly your
Speaker 1: perspective is different based on what your record is, but
Speaker 1: by the same token, you know, we're not sitting here
Speaker 1: and saying we don't care about our draft picks or
Speaker 1: the future. You know, we got twenty four year old
Speaker 1: quarterback and we want to be in a position to
Speaker 1: consistently compete. Thanks,