December 5, 2023 • 54 mins
Peter starts this week off with thoughts on Jake Browning, the Bengals’ backup QB, and the state of the AFC playoff picture. With Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh all now battling with backup QBs— is there a window for Josh Allen and the Bills into the tournament, after all? Peter and Aaron discuss the current state of the Patriots and how the franchise is on the cusp of a major sea change. Connor Barwin had a 10-year career in the NFL and is now in his fourth year working with the Eagles front office. When he’s not developing young players, he’s producing holiday albums with Jason Kelce. “A Philly Special Christmas Special 2023” features songs sung by Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, Jordan Davis, Howie Roseman, and more. The album is a labor of love and hopes to raise millions for local Philadelphia charities. Barwin also discusses his life post-football and how his time at Wharton Business School can be applied to his NFL daily life.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody? This is
Peter Schreger. This is the Season with Peter Schreger. I
(00:28):
am joined by my lovely podcast producer, slash Wingman, slash engineer,
slash everything mister Aaron wang Kaufman, also joined by Jason
English from the iHeartMedia team. In the house here in
New York City on a Tuesday morning, and we're coming
off a dramatic victory for the Cincinnati Bengals to keep
(00:50):
their season alive against all odds, where Jake Browning went
into Jacksonville as a double digit underdog and was able
to get the best of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were
coming into the game with thoughts of a one seed
and a bye and home field throughout the playoff. The
Bengals win, they go to six and six, they're in
(01:11):
last place in their division, and yet they're very much alive.
They're the eleven seed right now. And above them are
the Bills, who are a similar six and six, the
Broncos a similar six and six, the Texans a seven
and five, and then this glut of teams, Steelers, Colts, Browns,
who are all seven and five, but all have backup
quarterbacks in at the moment I see Browning and he
(01:35):
was electric. He looked like he belonged out there. And
I did a little work on Jake Browning before he
started last week against Pittsburgh, and Aaron I could tell you.
Everyone I spoke to was like, oh, no, no, he's
ready for this. We'll hear that all the time. He's
ready for this. Jake Browning was awesome at the University
of Washington. His sophomore season, he threw forty touchdown passes
(01:56):
for the Huskies and then was finishing sixth in the
Heisman ballot. That was in twenty sixteen. All Right plays
a couple more years ghost un ends up in Minnesota,
where he was with the Vikings for several seasons, couldn't
get on the field. Eventually is signed by the Cincinnati
Bengals and beats out Trevor Simeon for that backup role
(02:18):
to Joe Burrow. Burrow goes down, they throw Browning in.
But the key was this past offseason. I'm told that
Jake Browning this past offseason, knowing he was gonna be
playing with the Cincinnati Bengals, and knowing that Joe Burrow
and he were already developing this great relationship. He ended
up working with Jordan Palmer, the same quarterbacks coach who
works with Joe Burrow. Those guys got together this offseason
(02:40):
and if you watched on Monday Night, I'm sorry if
him just being too poetic or what. Jake Browning looks
like Joe Burrow, everything about him, the throwing motion, the confidence,
the moxie, and then we get to Good Morning Football
on Monday and it's this great story. I think the
stat and I might be wrong on this, but I
think he was like either signed to a practice squad,
(03:01):
cut released all this stuff twenty different times in his
NFL career already, meaning he's been bounced from active roster
to practice squad, to one team to another. So think
about all those little paper cuts and to finally get
a chance to be an NFL player, like you are
ready to go. And when you get that opportunity, sometimes
you lose sixteen to ten to the Pittsburgh Steelers in
(03:22):
that first debut and everyone says the season's over. And
the second time, it's on Monday Night Football, you're a
double digital underdog and you look like as you're as
good as any NFL quarterback on the field. And get
on Good Morning Football and we start talking about it
and it kind of hits like Gatorade Player of the
Year in the state of California. Okay, that's a big deal.
(03:43):
Goes University of Washington, where he starts three years for
the Washington Huskies, a big program, a state school, a
massive So you're the big man on campus in high school,
you're the big man on campus in college. You get
humbled a little bit, but you are an NFL player
and then you get thrown into the fire and it's like, oh,
this guy was made for this. He is ready his
(04:03):
whole life, he's been that dude. And he gets to
go in about swagger and leadership and poise and whether
the guys can respond. You saw those Bengals players responding
to him. Bring all this up because we go around
the AFC specifically, and you're looking at teams and you've
got to it with the Dolphins, got Lamar Jackson with
(04:24):
the Ravens. You've got obviously Mahomes with the Chiefs, and
then you look at the other teams playing for the
playoffs right now. The Jaguars, well, they're gonna be without
Trevor Lawrence, So does CJ. Bether have it to get
him a few wins? Can c J. Bethard be that dude?
The Steelers there without Kenny Pickett? Can Mitchell Trubisky be
that guy? The Colts there without Anthony Richardson? Minchew's been
(04:45):
an amazing story? Can he be that guy? The Browns.
They're on to their second third quarterback in Joe Flacco.
And then there are those two teams that we were
talking about earlier, two teams that are sitting right above
the Bengals. One of them's got a super Bowl winning
quarterback in the Denver Broncos who has been there and
done that, and a super Bowl winning coach and Sean
(05:06):
Peyton who has been there and done that. And then
there's that sweet little ten seed out of the sixteen
teams in the AFC, a six and six team that
nobody's talking about because everyone's written them off and they've
got an impossible schedule up ahead. Aaron, you know who
I'm talking about. Talking about the Buffalo Bills. You've got
a bunch of backup quarterbacks limping into the playoffs. The
(05:29):
Buffalo Bills have Josh Allen coming off a week thirteen
by in the Kansas City Chiefs up ahead. I am sorry,
if I'm just banking on yesteryear or I'm looking at
the Madden cover, you can't tell me that this Buffalo
Bills team with Josh Allen and an AFC that is
just riddled with backup quarterbacks at every position, can't make
(05:50):
a run. I'm looking at the Buffalo Bills schedule right now.
They've got the Chiefs where they've won before an arrowhead
in the regular season. That's this weekend. Okay, next weekend
they host the Cowboys. Following weekend they go to La
for a Peacock NBC streaming against the Chargers. Then they
end with the Patriots and the Dolphins. That's about as
(06:11):
tough as schedule you're gonna get.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
As you're saying, the AFC's glittered with backup quarterbacks, we're
not facing any of them, I mean, except whatever is
happening in New England at the time. That's the only one.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Though.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We still have to face Mahomes, still at the face
Dac still at to face Herbert and Tua, and so
I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I've got this Bill's Chiefs game circle. The Chiefs come
in after a terrible loss in Lambeau and everyone can
point to the officiating, and they did on Monday morning,
and that was overshadowing what Jordan Love did. And also
just how inept the Chiefs receivers look week in week out.
We thought we broke through with Rashi Rice. It wasn't
happening this week. I'm sorry. I'm looking at this playoff picture.
(06:53):
It is so wide open. And if you were to
tell me today that the Bengals, the Bills, the Broncos,
or the Texans are going to make that playoffs instead
of the Steelers Colton Browns, I would say possible, and
almost like it will happen on those teams will get in.
The NFL expanded the season to eighteen games, but they
also expanded the playoffs to seven teams. It makes for
(07:14):
these next few weeks to be just downright wild. Just
for your knowledge, here, we're looking at this thing. We
are now going into what week fourteen, That's what we're
headed towards. There has been just one of the thirty
two teams eliminated. The Carolina Panthers. Right now as we
sit here, the two and ten Patriots have a path
to the playoffs. The three and ten Cardinals, they have
(07:37):
a path to the playoffs. Seven seeds per conference. Not
everyone can make it, but quite a bit can. And
I look at the Buffalo Bills with that ten seed.
If they beat Kansas City, you better believe they're going
to be the team de jure. And there's suddenly a
seven and sixteam coming out of the bye, rested, ready
to go. And if they lose, I'm not ready to
(07:58):
say their season's over either. That is just how long
this NFL campaign is, all right? That's my thought on
the Jake Browning experience and what we've got in the AFC.
Real quick. On the NFC, I gotta say an apology,
and that apology goes to everybody in Los Angeles. I
have been the biggest Rams supporter for years, since McVeigh
(08:20):
got the job in twenty sixteen. I've known Sean, you know,
if you listen to the podcast for several years before that.
Dear friend, this is the first year I ever didn't
pick the Rams to go to the playoffs. I just
didn't think there was a chance there's just too much
young talent the Rams. They are six and six, they
are on the bubble. They're the first team out of
(08:40):
the playoffs right now. They are winners of four straight games.
They are red hot, and they have a game in
Baltimore this weekend. You better believe the Rams are coming
in with a full head of steam and they think
they can get this thing done. Yes, Nikouah got banged
up a little bit. I think he's gonna play. Yes,
we saw you know. Obviously, some younger players make have
the games of their lives the last few weeks. Can
(09:01):
they keep it going? We'll see. Bottom line is this
when it gets down to the nitty gritty. I just
talked about Josh Allen. Quarterbacks matter, and Matthew Stafford is
playing really well, and head coaches matter, and Sean McVay
can coach the hell out of the game. A couple
of years back, when the Rams won the Super Bowl
that year, they went into a rainy Baltimore and Odell
Beckham had the game of his career, just making clutch
(09:23):
pass and clutch catch after clutz catch late in the season,
and the Rams were able to beat the Ravens that
day and that set them up for a nice little
situation in the playoffs seating wise, Can they do it again?
Can the Rams go into Baltimore and beat the Ravens,
the Ravens who are coming off of buye and are fresh.
I love the NFL season always, but this is where
it gets real. It's post Thanksgiving and it's when each
(09:46):
game matters and we start looking at the geometry of
it all and who's going to get in and who's
going to be left sitting at home? The Rams. Beyond
this game, which is obviously a tough one, you're going
up against the NFL's you know, maybe most potent offense
with what you've got in Baltimore. They host the Commanders,
they host the Saints, they play the Giants, and then
they play the Niners. There's a legit path that the
(10:08):
Rams can win ten games this season. You win ten
games the NFC, you're in. So this is when it
comes to my apology. I didn't think they were gonna tank.
I just didn't think this was the year I left
the Rams out of the playoffs for the first time
ever since mcvay's been the coach. And here I am
on a first week at December, and I'm regretting that
decision before the season. Aaron, who were your Super Bowl
(10:31):
picks before?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
My see, before this season, I did Eagles Bengals.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, I'm gonna let you do a do over right now,
or you can stay the same and double down Eagles.
Are you keeping with the Eagles or would.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You change after this weekend? I think you have to
go to San Francisco. They looked I think the first
two drives. I was texting my friend Bennaton, who's the
Eagles writer, and I was like, man, the Bills were
doing more against the Eagles than the forty nine ers are.
And then then the forty nine ers woke up and
they were unstoppable and Debo can do anything off to
(11:09):
the side, and Kittle's making catches and CMC's breaking runs
and Ayuka is getting open, and it's like, how do
you withstand them? I don't understand. I don't get it.
You just have to score more than that. I mean,
that's that's a dumb way. That's how football works. You
just score more than the other team. But I think
the forty nine ers are incredible, and I think that
they are my number one, so they would replace the
(11:31):
Eagles Bengals.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
We know they just wanted to said this beautiful SOILOQUI
about Jake Browning, who, by the way, is the man.
I watched this post game press conference like I kind
of want to run through a wall for Jake Browning.
That said, you could move off from the Bengals. You
could pick any other team right now as we head
into Week fourteen. Who you rolling with in the AFC.
I don't know that's fair. I appreciate that, dude, because
(11:53):
the Dolphins just lit up another bad team and it's like,
what do we do with that?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And the Ravens, as good as they've been. The Mark
Andrews loss is huge. Like Mark Andrews is the Kelsey
for Baltimore. He is so important. So lamar say, Flowers
looks great, although Beckham's making catches. I still am holding
out hope that Rashad Bateman will someday live up to
his first round draft pedigree. But the Ravens look great.
(12:19):
Their defense is good. I just I don't know how
they do it without Andrews, and I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Baltimore also loses in the playoffs a lot. Harbaugh won
a Super Bowl ten years ago, and since then, there's
been a lot of questionable playoff losses. The one of
the Titans at home when they were the one seed,
the trip to Buffalo where they did't show up on
a Saturday night, and of course you go to the
Patriots games where they had fourteen point lead in Foxborough.
So it's like, yeah, I get it, and you mentioned
the Chiefs. Yeah, I like.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Kelsey is still an incredible player, but I don't know
if he is head and shoulders above everyone else anymore
in the way that like he just Pacheco looked amazing,
like he just looked great, but our Checho and Kelsey
enough like they the receivers, like you were saying, where
she Rice was getting going? And then still there's just
(13:13):
there's a lot that Mahomes is not that Mahomes is
leaving on the table, but the receivers are leaving on
the table for Mahomes. Everyone's that's the same message everyone has.
That's nothing new, But I have yet to be Usually
I feel like I watch a Chiefs game and I'm
just like, yeah, it doesn't matter, they're down in the
third quarter, they're gonna win, and they win and I
have yet to have that feeling this year.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I think I uh said it on the show a
couple of things. One last year, we all were saying
the same thing, and then they all figured it out.
Like in the Super Bowl, Caadarius, Tony and Sky Moore
were making big plays, and in the AFC Championship Game,
Marcus Valdez Scantling had the game of his life and
Juju was so good at some point hasn't happened yet
for these guys. I look at zach Ertz as a
(13:57):
big wild card, like where's zach Ertz gonna end up?
Because I think he is still a very viable pass catcher.
And obviously there's a lot of ties to Philadelphia, and
obviously Baltimore needs a tight end. As we record this
Tuesday morning, zach Ertz has yet to sign, I said
on Fox on Sunday, because I've heard that there has
been some conversations. The Chiefs make so much sense to me.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I can see that. I think he would be great.
I mean, like they need just a pass catcher, you see.
I know they have a lot of tight ends and
catches stuff for them. I think Ertz would be a
safety valve. I think is the wors you used on
Good Morning Football today, and it's perfect.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I chose the Chiefs and the Niners before this season.
I will not move off the Niners. Tempted to move
off the Chiefs, and the team I would move off
for would actually be the Miami Dolphins. I just think
they're so electric and last week what they did to
watch them before the Jets, like, you cannot here's what
you can only drive the car to the keys that
(14:57):
you're given. Yeah, that makes sense. So like the schedule,
they've played three really good teams at the times they
played them, including the Bills, and they've lost those games.
But you can't slight them for beating, you know, bad teams.
The last few weeks. They've got the Titans on Monday Night.
No one's gonna crown them for that. They've got the
Jets the week after. No one's gonna crown them for that.
(15:18):
Dallas comes to town on Christmas Eve, which is actually
a really fun game. I'm assuming that's a Fox Burke
cart Olsen game. That's great. And then they finish with
the Ravens in the Bills. So we're gonna know. We'll
know Christmas Eve, New Year's eve and we'll know January
seventh when they play the Bills, like is this team
for real? But until then, you're probably gonna have the
same thoughts you have on them no matter what they do.
But I would probably just stay with the Chiefs. I'm
(15:40):
cool with my Niners Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
And it's wild because I would assume Monday morning a
lot of people were throwing Jacksonville in there with how
they're playing, and then obviously.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Lawrence goes back and.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
They don't win at home, like and their defense just
gave up.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You name the team, I'll pick it up part like
a carcass other than the forty nine ers right now.
Last thing, the draft. If the draft were to day,
the Patriots would have the second overall pick. To see
the Patriots lose six nothing in those Patriot pat red jerseys,
and then to see the draft order and the Patriots second,
and then to see the Patriots playing the Steelers. Those
(16:21):
are two like those are blue chip, those are like,
you know.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Us steel versus you know, the the Rockefellers, Rocke Carnegie.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
You know, like what a game that's gonna be? Steelers Patriots? Sorry,
I know Amazon. I think Amazon's a sponsor of the podcast.
I think I'm just allowed to say it, Like we
all looked at that as oh my god. Week fourteen
they gave Amazon Steelers Patriots. I don't know what happens
(16:54):
in New England over the next six weeks, but I
will say this, You're gonna likely draft a quarterback so
you have a new face of the franchise. If I
were to say right now, if I thought, and I
don't know if this, you know Simons always talks about
the aggregators and they pull content. I don't think Bill
Belichick's going to be the coach next year. I don't
(17:15):
know how it goes down yet. I'll get all the information.
I'm sure I will work on it, but like I
don't see him coaching the New England Patriots next year.
I mean, whether he walks away, whether he's fired, whether whatever,
I don't know. I don't know how that is where
he's going to be. Does he step away, I don't know.
Let's just say from the just look at like on paper,
if I'm saying this new quarterback, new coach. If Belichick leaves,
(17:38):
that means new decision makers, meaning the front office. Either
if someone's elevated and is now the new GM and
the final say so you're talking about potentially three different
major changes in New England, which would be such a
title wave. But yeah, I don't think Mac Jones or
Bailey Zappi is the quarterback next year. I don't think
(17:59):
Bill Belichick's coaching the Patriots next year. And I don't
think whoever is drafting that quarterback is necessarily the same person,
which is Belichick or people that were drafting the last
few draft classes. So that could be just a massive
change in the NFL. And I said earlier this week,
like I remember when Parcelles came and drafted Bledsoe and
(18:20):
they got new uniforms, and Crafts was a new owner
and they got the new stadium a couple of years later,
Like that was a major c change and the Patriots
became the Patriots. It's been thirty years. I feel like
there's big changes in New England, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Do you think that New England job is that one
of the assuming everything goes the way you said, where
they're they're gonna be taking a quarterback, Belichick's gonna be out,
There's gonna be a new GM, a new coach, maybe
a whole overhaul the front office. Is that the most
attractive potential coaching gig? Last week we talked about all
the potential coaching things like I don't want.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
To speculate too much, but like you look at some
of the quarterbacks who could be I talked about Bryce
Young last week. I think it's really attractive to want
to coach Bryce Young. Maybe not as attractive as some
of the other names that you hear tossed around, like
Justin Herbert is an incredible young quarterback. If you're a
young offensive coach, or if you're even an offensive coach,
(19:16):
or if you're an old time coach who's being rehired
or a retread like if Staley loses his job, that's
a really attractive, really attract job. But you look at
that Patriot logo, you look at the ownership, you look
at the stability, you look at what the fan base is. Yeah,
I think New England would be a really intriguing job.
I don't know if they hire from the outside, though,
(19:36):
I think that might be. That could be Mayo. Gerrod
Mayo is the name you hear a lot, But I
would think that would be a really really cool job
to have to work for the Crafts would be it
would be something because that's just I don't know that
there are resources and everything. There's stability and that fan
base and just the history of the franchise. It's legit.
(19:57):
Washington's interesting if Rom loses his job, because you're then
on like the upswing with new ownership and a new
fresh start and a new building. And that's the debate
for a later date. We'll get there as we go.
But today's guest works for the Philadelphia Eagles. He used
to play for the Houston Texans. He used to play
for the Eagles, used to play for the Rams, and
(20:20):
the end of his career at the Giants, and now
he's doing cool stuff with the Eagles. He went from
just being like in the front office to now kind
of spreading his wings a little bit more. I think
you're going to really like his story and you're really
going to like to get to know him. Our guest
this week on the season is Eagles front office member
Connor Barwine. I'm excited about this week's guest. He's a
(20:48):
former second round pick in the NFL who would go
on to have a decade of a career where he
was one of the better linebackers of his generation, and
then post career bounced around a little bit what I
want to do, became the special assistant to the general
manager in Philadelphia, and now a couple of years after
doing that, Connor Barwin his title is the director of
(21:09):
player Development for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he is joining
us today on the season with Peter Sugar. What's up, Connor?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
What's up? Peter? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah, I love having you on. One of the main
reasons we're doing this and we're linking up is because
of this Philly Special Christmas Special of twenty twenty three.
Now you might, as listeners, have heard about this. This
is the brainchild of not only Connor Barwin, but of
Jason Kelsey. And if you're not aware of what it is, Connor,
(21:39):
why don't you give us just an idea of what
the Philly Special Christmas Special is?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Yeah, So two summers ago, I was in the locker
room and Kelsey's you know, Kelsey and Lane were there
and they said, you know, maybe maybe maybe sometime we
should make a Christmas record and I was like, guys,
we should do it right now.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
In the middle of the summer.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I was like, I was like, that's a good idea.
Let's just do it right now. You Lane in Jordan
my life. You guys can all sing. And so I
called Charlie Hall from the War on Drugs and he
was like, yeah, I can help you guys do it.
Long start short, We got together and so we put
out this record last year you can see, and I
(22:25):
was hoping like people would like the music and maybe
we would raise fifty thousand dollars to charity.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
And that was it. Like when we first met.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
They were like, let's make let's make it serious and
make like really good music. Let's have a lot of
fun doing it, and then let's do something good with
it around the holidays.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
And so I was like, oh yeah, fifty thousand.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Dollars, that'd be awesome cool going Fast Forward. People loved it.
The Eagles had a great season that helped. We obviously
lost in the Super Bowl, but we sold, you know,
over twenty thousand records and we donated over one almost
one point three million dollars to Philadelphia organizations, and so
(23:05):
Fast Forward were like, well, we should do this again.
And now this second volume is out, which is eleven Songs.
An original song written by Jason, and we've already doubled
all our sales from last year and they're still on
sale now.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
All right, you just kind of blew past the first part.
You're like, Yeah, So I called Charlie Hall from The
War on Drugs, which is you know, if you're not familiar,
go find them on Spotify wherever one of the most
popular bands of the last ten years. Like, you mustn't
have had a relationship with him. Are they Philly band?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, they're Philly band. I knew Charlie. So my background.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
I have a foundation in Philly and I started in
twenty thirteen, and I have a show every summer, and
The War on Drugs played MTWB my benefits show in
twenty It's actually play It was twenty seventeen. It was
the year I left Philly. I was playing in Los Angeles.
It was the one concert Wherever had where I wasn't
(23:59):
physically there, but I had booked it a whole year
ahead of time. So anyways, Charlie. That's how I got
to know Charlie and the whole band and became friends
with Charlie, and I just knew how connected he was
in the music scene in Philadelphia. This, Philly has a
really big music scene, a great music scene, great music history,
and he was the perfect person to call to make
(24:22):
this happen. I mean, he could put it all together.
He has sort of the vision, and then he knew
all the musicians to call to help make it happen.
So it would not have happened without Charlie All.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, you've got a really cool history with Kelsey. You
guys went to college together at Cincinnati and you played
ball with him. Obviously, now people's sexiest man, the whole thing.
His brother's Dayton Taylor Swift, but you know Kelsey from
his teenage years. Talk about your friendship and kind of
the man that he's become, and how you've seen him
grow and mature, and the two of your friendship now
(24:55):
as you're working for the Eagles now for four years
and he's still one of the star players.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I'm really happy for him and his family.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
He you know, I don't want to say he hasn't
changed from when he was a walk on at U See,
because he's definitely changed and grown, but he is still
sort of fundamentally the core person that he was when
I met him. This like smart, creative, articulate, extremely hard worker,
humble like all of that, from when he was a
(25:26):
walk on at uc to getting a scholarship to winning
a super Bowl with the Eagles to you know, putting
out you know, a movie last year, to the number
one podcast. I mean, all all those things.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
He hasn't changed.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
But so happy for him, his family, and you know,
we were working on stuff together. I mean we we
started a record label together to make this this record.
We started a production company to sort of put out
his his document film last year. So the guy is
super smart, really creative, like I said, and it's been
(25:59):
it's been, you know, a pleasure for me to sort
of work with him and help him sort of take
these these ideas he has, uh in turn them into
something something real.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You've always been such a big thinker, but also I
would say a renaissance man in a way. Like I
remember when we interview you and you were on the
Texans You're always doing stuff in that community with the Eagles.
I remember there's a lot of stuff you did with
like the playgrounds in Philadelphia that was a big initiative
of yours. You always seem to get it. When you
were a current player. Where does that come from? How
did you always know that this is more than just
(26:29):
a sports and I'm gonna use this platform to do
bigger and better things.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
I mean my parents were sort of like always engaged
and pushed us, pushed me and my brothers to do stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
I just.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
You know, I love football, like I still spend all
my time on people, and it's the greatest. But I
do think doing other stuff outside of football compliments my
ability to sort of be good at football, even in
my post playing days. Like I think having sort of
(27:06):
some business stuff going on keeps my mind sort of
energized and creative and all of it. You know, it
all sort of works together and fits together. So I'm just,
you know, trying to find opportunities to create things that
you know, people enjoy, and you know, in the end,
I think it benefits you know what I do, you know,
(27:27):
day to day still being involved in football.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
If the listeners are like I remember, kind of you
were awesome, Like twenty eleven, you were a defensive Player
of the Month in November that season, you had eleven
and a half sacks. You played in all sixteen games,
and these were Texans teams that were going to the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Every we were rolling back.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
That was JJ Wats's first couple of years. Brian Cushing,
Demico Ryans, and Larryl Williams, they remembers the Letterman jackets.
That was my dumb ass and Sean Cody bringing the
letterman jacket we.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Went to So is that your idea? The history goes,
you guys are going up to Foxborough, it's a big
game against the Patriots. Patriots and Brady Daman, the whole crew,
whole crew, they're loaded, and you guys show up in
varsity jackets and then they kicked your ass on a
Sunday night. If I remember what what was the is
that the story or I haven't pretty much summed up right?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I mean it was it was.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It was me and Sean Cody and look at like,
I'm like, I'm not ashamed of the Letterman jacket. We
weah like we we were a connected team, like and
like those little things on teams are fun.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
And me and Sean.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Were like, yeah, like this is like we felt like
a high school team, which is why we were so good.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I mean we were eleven and one.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
We would to go play them and the funny part is,
I cannot believe we convinced sixty guys to buy I
went back and like everybody bought their own Letterman jacket
and they are sweet, and so we all wore them,
you know, because it's hot in Houston, so we need jackets.
To go down New England. We thought we were gonna
whoop their ass. They whooped our ass. But yeah, it
(28:57):
was People still bring it up to remind you what
actually happened was we went there eleven and one.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
We lost.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Yeah, we came back and I think we had to
win two of the last four to have the number
one seed, and we went one in three down the stretch,
we lost the number one seed, had to go back
to New England in the playoffs and lost again. So
everyone talks about the Letterman jacket. But I'll uh, I
(29:25):
will say when I when I stopped playing, my wife
asked all my former teammates to like send little videos
in every single guy from Houston made a little video
and they like pulled out their like Letterman jacket jacket.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, so there's At the time, it was who are
these pun All the talk shows They're like no, it
was a cool memory. Something we all have together.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Oh exactly. It ended up being a cool memory there.
We still mess around.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
About, joke about you guys were rolling and then you
signed with the Eagles in twenty thirteen. Was that Chip
Kelly Eagles? What team was that?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Those Chips and Chips first year?
Speaker 4 (30:03):
So we did, you know, everybody knows history, I think, well,
if you don't know, Chip came for three years. The
first two years we won twenty games, and then the
third year so everything fell apart. And then I was
here with Doug Pearson's first year, and then I left,
and then Doug won the Super Bowl the year after, and.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
You go to coach with play for our mutual friend
Sean McVay. I only say mutual friend. I'm at mcvay's
wedding and who's there across the table from me, mister
Connor borrowing And we were hanging there, and I remember
when you got to LA they were like this guy,
this guy's going to be a coach or a GM
or be the commissioner. I mean I remember Sean was
just blown away with the professional that you were.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yeah, well, you know, I would have loved to win
a super Bowl with Eagles that year. But I am
so thankful that I got to go out there and
play with Sean, and with and Aaron and I mean Jered,
I mean so many good guys on the team.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
This was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Got to know you out there, so you know, it
was really I mean, if you remember, we were a
really good team that year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
We lost in the playoffs. Falcon Pharaoh Cooper. It's up, Pharaoh,
you know, I hope you're doing well.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
We had two turnovers on special teams and like we
defensively couldn't get the ball. It was just I still
I still say to people that was probably one of
the best team of my ten years. That was that
might have been the best team. That was the best team.
That was the best team.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I was on Saturday night playoff game. The Falcons had
just been to the Super Bowl, but they got back,
and it was that year that it was like everything
was clicking for the Rams. You're right, Pharaoh had a
couple mistakes on special teams and then I think Julio
killed you guys, like you just kept on making it
a bit, one big play after another. And that's a
team that no one remembers because the following year or
two years later they go to the super Bowl and
then they finally win one. But like that first year,
(31:41):
the first McVeigh year, you were there for that run.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
I mean Todd had an insane year. Todd Gurley was
like unstoppable. Yeah, it was at the Coliseum Saturday night.
We lost the Falcons. Yeah, we defensively wouldn't good enough.
But I think I think the Rams went to the
Super Bowl the following year and lost.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Was it mcgas o year? And then the next year
they won the Super Bowl or two years.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Later lost it? They went they went back down and
then they came back. Yeah, they lost to the Packers
in a playoff game of COVID. They won. But you
were there for the start of it Giants for a year.
And then you're like, I'm done, right is that in
my career? And then it's what now?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah? So then I sort of I always knew.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
I wanted to be close to football, just like I
love Like I said, I mean, I love football, but.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I always know I want to do some other stuff.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
And so how he you know, said hey when he
cut me, he said, hey, when you're done playing, come
work for me. And so I did that, and so
I started working full time with the Eagles in twenty twenty,
and then at the same time I went.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
To Warton and got my MBA.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, during the COVID season, you're working for the Eagles
in the building or remotely in the building during.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
The COVID season.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Congress, you know, credit to Roger Goodell and everybody that
we like, we did it during cold It was crazy.
But yeah, I was in the building in twenty twenty
and I started business school the year after in twenty
twenty one.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And you're going to classes physically at Wharton at University
of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah on the weekend, on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
What's the NBA? What was it for?
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Just so I could figure out how to put out
a Christmas record?
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Successful? You know.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
So I just still imagine you were interacting with incredible
classmates and peers, but probably we're learning from just you know,
leaders of the industry.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Yeah, it was, It was. It was an unbelievable experience.
So many great professors, so many good friends.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Now, it was. It was probably the hardest thing I
ever did in my life. It was. It was harder
than my rookie year it was actually yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I mean it was so what like group projects? What
are we talking about? You always hear about these players
going back to school, and I'm like, oh, but like
to go to Wharton. It's not like I'm getting my
degree on University of Phoenix dot com or something. This
is like the real deal. You went and got an
MBA from Wharton.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Yeah, like like tests, I mean like microeconomic tests and
like accounting tests and research papers and yeah, I mean
I think the group stuff. I thrived in the group settings,
like I know how to work with the team and
what my strengths are there, Like I think I think
I helped some of my other classmates and those sort
(34:15):
of environments. But no, it was like I don't know
how to do math. You know, you gotta I gotta
learn how to do math. So but happy I did.
I mean it's I got to get you know. Annie
Wilson was a marketing professor. I took consumer behavior class
and the rollout of this record, from the art work
(34:37):
to how we put it out. I just like copied
everything I learned from that class into into that record.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So, uh, just those lessons, What was it you need
to have? Because like the album cover if you're listening
and not like the album cover almost looks like a
Peanuts cover. It's got an animated three faces, it's my a,
Lota Kelsey and Lane Johnson. And then it's got a
Christmas tree. But there's more to just the album art.
There's a rollout and promotion And what did you learn
(35:03):
from Andy Wilson.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Annie Wilson, I mean, it's it's combination of things.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
I mean, on the rollout you sort of which she
sort of taught us, was first sort of like the
slowly dripping out the content creating the story, the sort
of three tier pricing. People you know probably don't want
to hear about this, but how you anchor somebody interest, Yeah,
you anchor somebody on something. For example, we charged people
three things last year, and again this is all for charity,
so I felt like it was a good thing.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
So for.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
You could buy magnets of the guys, but we said
they cost twenty five dollars to buy.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
It really cost us like a couple of dollars to make.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
But in your mind you're like, oh, that's worth twenty
five dollars. Then you charge a record, you know, the
final record seventy five, and so people are, all right,
that's worth seventy five.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
And then you put a bundle together.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
People don't realize when they go to Costco and it's
all just bundling, and then you sort of like and
then we had that, we had something really expensive, and
then we sort of brought it together and people think like, oh,
I'm gonna buy that because I'm saving all this money together.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
He just made it all up.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
And it's all for charity. So it's great, But like
that kind of stuff where it's not just all right,
here's a vinyl record fifty dollars and here's a picture
of my alta on the cover. Boom go by it
like there's an actual process.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Well even even more so, what I was really getting
to is we studied this like cool framework.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
If you go to some business.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Schools, they teach you like what cool is, and this
is sort of like being able to pull from, you know,
the most famous iconic record cover but not infringe on
any of sort of their ip is like if people
ever study Supreme, like that's what Supreme did. They stole
all of that from now we wouldn't say stole.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
But still inspiration.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
So like This was all.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
Like inspired by the Charlie Brown Christmas, which I would
have never thought of unless I took that class.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
So okay, Kelsey Lane and mylotta you said that Kelsey
performs his own song. It's called He Pended Himself. It's
called Santa's Night.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Did you.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Because it's not a goof This is not an Adam
Sandler doing like goofy tunes. This is like actual Christmas carols.
And the guy's voices sound wonderful. And I saw the
Jordan Davis clip. He sounds like, yeah, you know, it's beautiful,
like it's Sunday choir. Did you know these guys could sing?
How did it come about?
Speaker 3 (37:26):
I knew.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
I knew Jason could sing. I knew Jason, you know.
I just I didn't know he would write a song.
I knew Jordan could sing because we're on the Mass singer.
I knew Lane. Lane is like a freakly talented person.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Just like in all ever. I think Alane, he's in
a cabin somewhere in Oklahoma and like that's like and
then he comes out and he can do just anything
he needs to do in that moment, like.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
We were, he can like like this he can like
do an impersonation of anybody. He can like look at
someone and do this like crazy like look alike. He
just like he'll pull things from movies from fifteen years ago.
So like that sort of genius. But I knew, I
knew they all could sing. I knew Jordan Davis could
(38:10):
sing just from the draft like in my role. Now
I'm involved in sort of the draft process, and like
I knew the bat music background with him, and this
year we sort of wind up to sort of open
it up and get more people involved. And it was
really cool to have him involved in And you heard
his voice, it's it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Well let's stop you right there, because while we have
you on the podcast, Connor, here is Jordan Davis's version
of have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Here we are as a golden dame, happy golden dame.
Oh your.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Faith friends who are near to us, never near to us,
once small through the years, we all woll to get.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
If the face.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Shine and feel self a very little Christmases.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I see Jordan Davis three hundred and forty pounds player,
How did you know he had that voice?
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Just interviewing them and reading up on them and the
whole process.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
I mean, we get to.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
Know you know, these guys really really well, and I think,
you know, organizationally not to get in my role too much,
but we believe the football season is long and hard.
We want to embrace these guys other interests, right, because
think of like the great athletes you've been around, they
(40:15):
usually have something else that they're interested in. You know,
obviously sports is the main thing, but they have something
some sort of creative outlet or you know, s an
outlet from football that they go to and sort of
brings them joy and confidence. And so we try to
you know, encourage the guys to lean in on that
(40:35):
a little bit. And like getting Jordan to lead in
on is sort of you know, what he likes to
do around music.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
In this way with this record was a really really
good opportunity.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
What is the role you do now because you go
from as system to the general manager to more of
a I must think of it. And there's so many
great guys in your role around the league. But it's
not like a camp counselor of sorts. But you're the
mentor in the building who I played the game, but
I can also be you know, this your sounding board,
and I'm also still deployed by the team. It's kind
(41:07):
of this weird bridge, right.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
Well, so you're thinking I'm in a player engagement role
with different role, but but I work hand in hand
with player engagement and those people in those roles are awesome.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
They do exactly what you do.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
But you what you said, I you know, I'm a player,
a deveoloument, which is something how we started six.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Or so, So what is player development? Because I don't
even know that title.
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Yeah, it's like a secret in Philadelphia. Yeah, so I
can't give you all the deed, I can't give you
everything we do.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
But yeah, I mean we're.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
I'm focused my focus in collaboration with the coaches, the
performance staff, how he everyone is I would say, sort
of the bottom part of our roster. Whereas if you look,
you know, in the NFL, everybody is so focused.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
On the guys that are playing.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
And we are here obviously of course, but sort of
me and a group of people, well, we're sort of
trying to sort of build a little bit from the
bottom up and make sure those guys that aren't playing
are getting the same attention. Coaching feedback support that we give,
you know, the forty five guys that are playing on Sunday,
so you know when they're ready, when their opportunity comes,
(42:23):
you know they're ready to step in and play and
take advantage of the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
You've been there since twenty twenty, so you were there
for the entire Jalen Hurts rise to start them. You're
there every day with him. He doesn't give much to
the media. He doesn't really do the look at me,
look at me, Instagram Live, Facebook live, all that stuff.
What kind of guy is Jalen Hurts And what have
you seen as far as leadership qualities go.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Well, Jalen's obviously awesome.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
I think Jalen is a perfect example of what we
try to do, what you want everybody to do, you know,
and that's sort of understanding sort of small gradual improvements.
People ask me about Jalen, I say, it's just like
he is an example of compound interest. Like I was
(43:10):
here with him for two years and the guy and
nothing me. I mean, he just had it, like he
was just so focused that every week he got a
little bit better.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
Every month, every month he's been here, he's.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
Got a little bit better and sort of you saw
last year it just sort of it was going, it
was going, and then it went like this, and like
that's what happens if you can sort of have sort
of this short term focus. I'm getting just a little
bit better every day every week while having sort of
a long term vision of where you want to go
and stick to it. You know, anybody you know can
(43:43):
really it'll pay off after, you know, after some time.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
And he's a great example of that.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Last year you guys went to the Super Bowl, you
come up just short. This year you start off red hot.
We're recording this after the San Francisco game. What makes
this team different from last year's team, because I know
everyone just looks at it and it's like, oh, well
the Eagles, same squad. But every team we know in
every locker room is different year to year. What is
kind of the defining quality of this year's Well.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
I think we're just getting into it, you know what
I mean, I think you said it, and there's a
lot of different players, different people. I mean, the cores,
the core is still here, but I mean this is
the part of the season when you when you find
out so you know, best record in football right now.
But now now it's like, you know, the season starts here,
(44:29):
so we're excited. We got Dallas this weekend.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
One more question about the album before we let you go.
The first album included a dramatic reciting of a Night
before Christmas by Meryl Reese, who's the voice, who is
the voice of the Raid of the Eagles. And then
he had Zach Miller of Doctor Dog on piano and
that came out last year. This year the twenty twenty
(44:56):
three album, and like, the timing couldn't be more I
would almost say eerie Jason and Travis Kelcey covering The
Pogue's fairy Tale of New York. Of course, the Pogues
leads singer, Shane McGowan just passed away last week. Kind
of eerie, almost poetic, and yet we've got Jason and
Travis singing a poge song on an album that's coming
out the same week that the lead singer just passed away.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
It was eerie, and you know, it was really it
was really nice that Shane.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
This was crazy in here.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
His last public tweet was about the cup you know,
which the rewrite that Shane and Kelsey or Kelsey Jason
and Travis did about a sort of iconic Christmas song
and him sort of like supporting it, which was so cool.
The song is it's like on top of a bunch
(45:50):
of different charts right now.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
People are loving it.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
So yeah, it was it was really cool to get
his approval on that and then.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Sort of hear that he liked it before he passed.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
But I think obviously Shane's a legend, and so to
get that from him was incredible. And then I have
to say a you know, on the record, there's uh,
you know, we have the Dradel song coming out.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Talk about it, We talk about it. I think it's
important from my from my fellow Jewish listeners.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Howie Roseman is on the song.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
And this is Dredl Dreidl dred It's the.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
Best music you've ever heard of the Dradel song.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Who performed it?
Speaker 3 (46:27):
I mean, there's too many musicians to name it.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Really, it's just like a live aid thing, Like everyone
got together and performed on this.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
Every song is like live Aid. There's a whole band
for every song. But yeah, the Dreidl is like is Jason,
Jordan Lane and Howie doing gang.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Vocals on the whole thing, get out of here. You
could hear how he's voice, and then we have.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
Little Dicky does a little intro. It comes out Dave Bird.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Yeah yeah, it comes out on Thursday or Wednesday night,
first night of Hanaka. I believe it was Thursday night,
Happy earl Hanukah and uh so that's a highlight coming up.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
So it is a little Dickie rapping on it.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
He just does like an intro, but he does full intro.
If you want to hear the full intro, you gotta
buy the vinyl. There's a longer.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Extended because I saw on Spotify the song is out.
It's like a little snippet of it, but I couldn't
hear how he's voice on it. I got to download
the whole big or buy the whole album.
Speaker 4 (47:18):
Yeah yeah, you got to buy the vinyl so you
hear the whole thing, or this the little pick. He'll
be a little bit on the digital release on Hanikah.
So that's a cool part. The Santa's Night thing. Everybody,
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
So he pens he pins a Christmas Carol.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
I mean, guy, like the season ends right and it's
like cold and philler low siuper Bowl and he tells
the story and he's sitting there with his youngest and
he can't get her to stop crying. And then he
starts thinking about Sannah, like, man, what suck to be
Santa on Christmas Night? Like I gotta deliver a presence
to everybody in one night, Like that's gotta be That's
(47:54):
no fun. And so he writes this song about how
it is to be Santa on Christmas Night, but but
correlates it to like being a football player and a
parent and saying it's all worth it in the end
because of the joy.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
It's like this, it's beautiful, and it is beautiful about
the sacrifice that you guys make, you know, not only
in your careers, but like at the house and not
being around for a lot of key moments. And I'm
sure you've missed a million key moments, but you're doing
it for the greater cause.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Yeah, And he just for me.
Speaker 4 (48:26):
It was probably in I don't know, may I'm in
the locker room in the summer. He's here working out
in the morning. He's like, hey, Connor, I wrote a poem,
like maybe maybe it's a.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
Song, but probably not. And I'm like, all right, well,
let me, let me, let me hear it.
Speaker 4 (48:40):
And he's literally it's just me and him sit in
the locker room and he's like hitting up a box
like to give it like the melody, and he and
he just sort of says it and sings it, and
I'm and.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
I was like, are you kidding me? Dude?
Speaker 1 (48:54):
You just it was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Yeah, I knew right away. I was like, did you
just wrote like a beautiful Christmas song? I don't know
how you did it, but that's amazing. So people can
hear it now. Santa's Night, Sam.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
This Night written and performed by Jason Kelsey.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
Yep. Yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Connor, before we let you go, tell us more about Vera,
Why record label, and the production work that you're doing,
because I feel like this is just the start.
Speaker 3 (49:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (49:19):
Yeah, it's it's sort of again, you know, I don't
really know what I'm doing, just trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
That's very humble when you've got the Wharton NBA, You've
got two hit albums like you did it all right?
Speaker 3 (49:30):
Yeah yeah, I just I know that I got a
lot to learn.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
But yeah, so so you know, we had to own
the the you had to have a company, and so
we started a company, me and Kelsey Vera is my
daughter's name, Kelsey's first daughter's.
Speaker 3 (49:44):
Name, Wyatt so Vera.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Why that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (49:47):
But yeah, we're working on this record, We're working on
a show, We're working on a movie. So there's there's
there's a lot sort of in the pipeline right now
that I'm really excited about. We'll talk about it off
off air because you've may.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Be able to h I definitely can help guys, everyone
who wants to get this A Philly Special Christmas Special
twenty twenty three. The Philly Special Christmas Team last year
raised one point two five million dollars for local Philadelphia charities. Connor,
I think it's awesome work. But I also think you're
(50:19):
an awesome guy and a great representative of the NFL
and for the holidays, of course, but the fact that
you're always working and trying to expand things and give
players a bigger opportunity to show their talents and be
able to provide for charities is just cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (50:33):
Peter.
Speaker 4 (50:34):
I appreciate that you do an awesome job, and you know,
I think you sort of hit it like that's for me.
Speaker 3 (50:39):
I think I've been my whole ten years I played.
Speaker 4 (50:42):
I just appreciated how awesome the people in the NFL are.
And you know, Jason has been one person I worked
with a lot, but it's it's laying to it's Jordan's,
it's other people and just trying to help them sort
of like do sort of the creative things they have
in their mind, like bring them to fruition. So it's
(51:03):
been it's been fun for.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Me to try to do that.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
Let's sell a lot of these albums, let's help charities.
And I look it, I'm as I'm not biased here,
but if the Drader song becomes the hottest single in
the country, I'm not gonna be angry about this.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
It's good. Listen. I did a lot of research listening
to a lot of Drado songs. Yeah, not a lot
of great trail songs sort of like this you call
it in a little bit for kids.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
This one, Like the music is just like sort of
Bo Diddley sort of thing here that we got going
on is fun, like you want to dance when you
hear it?
Speaker 3 (51:35):
Like it? It is awesome.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
I can't wait, all right, Connor Barrowing, thanks for joining
the podcast. Man, This is awesome. Thanks peer, Connor Barwin
was great. Aaron, You've got a musical background. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
Yeah, I also have a behavioral econ background. And so
him talking about like price anchoring and all that, I
get off on all of that.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
That is, as soon as he said anchoring, I was like,
all right, I'm in on this. He's a Wharton grad.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Yeah, we got it. He talks about the professor and
her name is obviously Annie Wilson. We find out everyards.
I'm like, oh Andy Wilson, Like no, no, no, Annie Wilson.
But like he kind of buried that in the day
that like, oh, I went to Wharton and got it.
I mean for the listeners if you don't know, it's
the number one business school in the world. And I'm
sure he've roben elbows with hedge fund managers and people
who are running Spotify or whatever else. So I like diverse, interesting,
(52:33):
curious guests. And I think Connor's story is so unique
and is different, and the fact that he's now still
with the Eagles, and this, what I would say, is
almost sounds like a shady job, like he didn't want
to explain what he does.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
He was very coy.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
He's like, it's just similar.
Speaker 2 (52:50):
I can't talk about it.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
Take all that, take all that, you know, fight club
somewhere else. We're on the podcast talking about your Christmas album. Dude,
I really like Connor and I've gotten to know him
a little bit, and obviously we hope that the album
sells well. That's that. This is delivering results presented by
Uber eats. It's time for delivering results where we give
it to the best player of the week. I'm gonna
(53:12):
give it to Deebo Samuel. Deebo Samuel had three touchdowns.
He had two of them, receiving one of them rushing.
He also talked a bunch of smack leading up to
the game and then backed it up and was the
best player on the field. He got my game Ball
on Good Morning Football. And he's also getting this award here.
When you talk about that game and all the build
up and all the chatter, like for Debo to come
out there and be as tough as he was and
to be as strong as he was and to back
(53:35):
up every last second of it, that's pretty impressive. That
was the delivering results presented by uber Eats. We can
get almost almost Anything, the official on demand delivery partner
of the NFL. Order Now, Aaron, we got a great
week ahead, Eagles, Cowboys Week, Chiefs, Bills Week. I'm here
for it. This is we've turned the corner, you know,
(53:55):
the dog days of that stretch, like before Thanksgiving. We
are here. The playoffs basically are starting, and I love
sharing it each week. It is the Season with Peter Schrager.
Aaron won Offman, Jason English, all the folks out in
la our music maestro, the great Jack Rudd. This is
a joy to do and we'll be with you guys
(54:15):
next week. All right, thanks for listening. The Season with
Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL and partnership
with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody? This is
Peter Schreger. This is the Season with Peter Schreger. I
(00:28):
am joined by my lovely podcast producer, slash Wingman, slash engineer,
slash everything mister Aaron wang Kaufman, also joined by Jason
English from the iHeartMedia team. In the house here in
New York City on a Tuesday morning, and we're coming
off a dramatic victory for the Cincinnati Bengals to keep
(00:50):
their season alive against all odds, where Jake Browning went
into Jacksonville as a double digit underdog and was able
to get the best of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were
coming into the game with thoughts of a one seed
and a bye and home field throughout the playoff. The
Bengals win, they go to six and six, they're in
(01:11):
last place in their division, and yet they're very much alive.
They're the eleven seed right now. And above them are
the Bills, who are a similar six and six, the
Broncos a similar six and six, the Texans a seven
and five, and then this glut of teams, Steelers, Colts, Browns,
who are all seven and five, but all have backup
quarterbacks in at the moment I see Browning and he
(01:35):
was electric. He looked like he belonged out there. And
I did a little work on Jake Browning before he
started last week against Pittsburgh, and Aaron I could tell you.
Everyone I spoke to was like, oh, no, no, he's
ready for this. We'll hear that all the time. He's
ready for this. Jake Browning was awesome at the University
of Washington. His sophomore season, he threw forty touchdown passes
(01:56):
for the Huskies and then was finishing sixth in the
Heisman ballot. That was in twenty sixteen. All Right plays
a couple more years ghost un ends up in Minnesota,
where he was with the Vikings for several seasons, couldn't
get on the field. Eventually is signed by the Cincinnati
Bengals and beats out Trevor Simeon for that backup role
(02:18):
to Joe Burrow. Burrow goes down, they throw Browning in.
But the key was this past offseason. I'm told that
Jake Browning this past offseason, knowing he was gonna be
playing with the Cincinnati Bengals, and knowing that Joe Burrow
and he were already developing this great relationship. He ended
up working with Jordan Palmer, the same quarterbacks coach who
works with Joe Burrow. Those guys got together this offseason
(02:40):
and if you watched on Monday Night, I'm sorry if
him just being too poetic or what. Jake Browning looks
like Joe Burrow, everything about him, the throwing motion, the confidence,
the moxie, and then we get to Good Morning Football
on Monday and it's this great story. I think the
stat and I might be wrong on this, but I
think he was like either signed to a practice squad,
(03:01):
cut released all this stuff twenty different times in his
NFL career already, meaning he's been bounced from active roster
to practice squad, to one team to another. So think
about all those little paper cuts and to finally get
a chance to be an NFL player, like you are
ready to go. And when you get that opportunity, sometimes
you lose sixteen to ten to the Pittsburgh Steelers in
(03:22):
that first debut and everyone says the season's over. And
the second time, it's on Monday Night Football, you're a
double digital underdog and you look like as you're as
good as any NFL quarterback on the field. And get
on Good Morning Football and we start talking about it
and it kind of hits like Gatorade Player of the
Year in the state of California. Okay, that's a big deal.
(03:43):
Goes University of Washington, where he starts three years for
the Washington Huskies, a big program, a state school, a
massive So you're the big man on campus in high school,
you're the big man on campus in college. You get
humbled a little bit, but you are an NFL player
and then you get thrown into the fire and it's like, oh,
this guy was made for this. He is ready his
(04:03):
whole life, he's been that dude. And he gets to
go in about swagger and leadership and poise and whether
the guys can respond. You saw those Bengals players responding
to him. Bring all this up because we go around
the AFC specifically, and you're looking at teams and you've
got to it with the Dolphins, got Lamar Jackson with
(04:24):
the Ravens. You've got obviously Mahomes with the Chiefs, and
then you look at the other teams playing for the
playoffs right now. The Jaguars, well, they're gonna be without
Trevor Lawrence, So does CJ. Bether have it to get
him a few wins? Can c J. Bethard be that dude?
The Steelers there without Kenny Pickett? Can Mitchell Trubisky be
that guy? The Colts there without Anthony Richardson? Minchew's been
(04:45):
an amazing story? Can he be that guy? The Browns.
They're on to their second third quarterback in Joe Flacco.
And then there are those two teams that we were
talking about earlier, two teams that are sitting right above
the Bengals. One of them's got a super Bowl winning
quarterback in the Denver Broncos who has been there and
done that, and a super Bowl winning coach and Sean
(05:06):
Peyton who has been there and done that. And then
there's that sweet little ten seed out of the sixteen
teams in the AFC, a six and six team that
nobody's talking about because everyone's written them off and they've
got an impossible schedule up ahead. Aaron, you know who
I'm talking about. Talking about the Buffalo Bills. You've got
a bunch of backup quarterbacks limping into the playoffs. The
(05:29):
Buffalo Bills have Josh Allen coming off a week thirteen
by in the Kansas City Chiefs up ahead. I am sorry,
if I'm just banking on yesteryear or I'm looking at
the Madden cover, you can't tell me that this Buffalo
Bills team with Josh Allen and an AFC that is
just riddled with backup quarterbacks at every position, can't make
(05:50):
a run. I'm looking at the Buffalo Bills schedule right now.
They've got the Chiefs where they've won before an arrowhead
in the regular season. That's this weekend. Okay, next weekend
they host the Cowboys. Following weekend they go to La
for a Peacock NBC streaming against the Chargers. Then they
end with the Patriots and the Dolphins. That's about as
(06:11):
tough as schedule you're gonna get.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
As you're saying, the AFC's glittered with backup quarterbacks, we're
not facing any of them, I mean, except whatever is
happening in New England at the time. That's the only one.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Though.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We still have to face Mahomes, still at the face
Dac still at to face Herbert and Tua, and so
I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I've got this Bill's Chiefs game circle. The Chiefs come
in after a terrible loss in Lambeau and everyone can
point to the officiating, and they did on Monday morning,
and that was overshadowing what Jordan Love did. And also
just how inept the Chiefs receivers look week in week out.
We thought we broke through with Rashi Rice. It wasn't
happening this week. I'm sorry. I'm looking at this playoff picture.
(06:53):
It is so wide open. And if you were to
tell me today that the Bengals, the Bills, the Broncos,
or the Texans are going to make that playoffs instead
of the Steelers Colton Browns, I would say possible, and
almost like it will happen on those teams will get in.
The NFL expanded the season to eighteen games, but they
also expanded the playoffs to seven teams. It makes for
(07:14):
these next few weeks to be just downright wild. Just
for your knowledge, here, we're looking at this thing. We
are now going into what week fourteen, That's what we're
headed towards. There has been just one of the thirty
two teams eliminated. The Carolina Panthers. Right now as we
sit here, the two and ten Patriots have a path
to the playoffs. The three and ten Cardinals, they have
(07:37):
a path to the playoffs. Seven seeds per conference. Not
everyone can make it, but quite a bit can. And
I look at the Buffalo Bills with that ten seed.
If they beat Kansas City, you better believe they're going
to be the team de jure. And there's suddenly a
seven and sixteam coming out of the bye, rested, ready
to go. And if they lose, I'm not ready to
(07:58):
say their season's over either. That is just how long
this NFL campaign is, all right? That's my thought on
the Jake Browning experience and what we've got in the AFC.
Real quick. On the NFC, I gotta say an apology,
and that apology goes to everybody in Los Angeles. I
have been the biggest Rams supporter for years, since McVeigh
(08:20):
got the job in twenty sixteen. I've known Sean, you know,
if you listen to the podcast for several years before that.
Dear friend, this is the first year I ever didn't
pick the Rams to go to the playoffs. I just
didn't think there was a chance there's just too much
young talent the Rams. They are six and six, they
are on the bubble. They're the first team out of
(08:40):
the playoffs right now. They are winners of four straight games.
They are red hot, and they have a game in
Baltimore this weekend. You better believe the Rams are coming
in with a full head of steam and they think
they can get this thing done. Yes, Nikouah got banged
up a little bit. I think he's gonna play. Yes,
we saw you know. Obviously, some younger players make have
the games of their lives the last few weeks. Can
(09:01):
they keep it going? We'll see. Bottom line is this
when it gets down to the nitty gritty. I just
talked about Josh Allen. Quarterbacks matter, and Matthew Stafford is
playing really well, and head coaches matter, and Sean McVay
can coach the hell out of the game. A couple
of years back, when the Rams won the Super Bowl
that year, they went into a rainy Baltimore and Odell
Beckham had the game of his career, just making clutch
(09:23):
pass and clutch catch after clutz catch late in the season,
and the Rams were able to beat the Ravens that
day and that set them up for a nice little
situation in the playoffs seating wise, Can they do it again?
Can the Rams go into Baltimore and beat the Ravens,
the Ravens who are coming off of buye and are fresh.
I love the NFL season always, but this is where
it gets real. It's post Thanksgiving and it's when each
(09:46):
game matters and we start looking at the geometry of
it all and who's going to get in and who's
going to be left sitting at home? The Rams. Beyond
this game, which is obviously a tough one, you're going
up against the NFL's you know, maybe most potent offense
with what you've got in Baltimore. They host the Commanders,
they host the Saints, they play the Giants, and then
they play the Niners. There's a legit path that the
(10:08):
Rams can win ten games this season. You win ten
games the NFC, you're in. So this is when it
comes to my apology. I didn't think they were gonna tank.
I just didn't think this was the year I left
the Rams out of the playoffs for the first time
ever since mcvay's been the coach. And here I am
on a first week at December, and I'm regretting that
decision before the season. Aaron, who were your Super Bowl
(10:31):
picks before?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
My see, before this season, I did Eagles Bengals.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, I'm gonna let you do a do over right now,
or you can stay the same and double down Eagles.
Are you keeping with the Eagles or would.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You change after this weekend? I think you have to
go to San Francisco. They looked I think the first
two drives. I was texting my friend Bennaton, who's the
Eagles writer, and I was like, man, the Bills were
doing more against the Eagles than the forty nine ers are.
And then then the forty nine ers woke up and
they were unstoppable and Debo can do anything off to
(11:09):
the side, and Kittle's making catches and CMC's breaking runs
and Ayuka is getting open, and it's like, how do
you withstand them? I don't understand. I don't get it.
You just have to score more than that. I mean,
that's that's a dumb way. That's how football works. You
just score more than the other team. But I think
the forty nine ers are incredible, and I think that
they are my number one, so they would replace the
(11:31):
Eagles Bengals.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
We know they just wanted to said this beautiful SOILOQUI
about Jake Browning, who, by the way, is the man.
I watched this post game press conference like I kind
of want to run through a wall for Jake Browning.
That said, you could move off from the Bengals. You
could pick any other team right now as we head
into Week fourteen. Who you rolling with in the AFC.
I don't know that's fair. I appreciate that, dude, because
(11:53):
the Dolphins just lit up another bad team and it's like,
what do we do with that?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And the Ravens, as good as they've been. The Mark
Andrews loss is huge. Like Mark Andrews is the Kelsey
for Baltimore. He is so important. So lamar say, Flowers
looks great, although Beckham's making catches. I still am holding
out hope that Rashad Bateman will someday live up to
his first round draft pedigree. But the Ravens look great.
(12:19):
Their defense is good. I just I don't know how
they do it without Andrews, and I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
I got it.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Baltimore also loses in the playoffs a lot. Harbaugh won
a Super Bowl ten years ago, and since then, there's
been a lot of questionable playoff losses. The one of
the Titans at home when they were the one seed,
the trip to Buffalo where they did't show up on
a Saturday night, and of course you go to the
Patriots games where they had fourteen point lead in Foxborough.
So it's like, yeah, I get it, and you mentioned
the Chiefs. Yeah, I like.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Kelsey is still an incredible player, but I don't know
if he is head and shoulders above everyone else anymore
in the way that like he just Pacheco looked amazing,
like he just looked great, but our Checho and Kelsey
enough like they the receivers, like you were saying, where
she Rice was getting going? And then still there's just
(13:13):
there's a lot that Mahomes is not that Mahomes is
leaving on the table, but the receivers are leaving on
the table for Mahomes. Everyone's that's the same message everyone has.
That's nothing new, But I have yet to be Usually
I feel like I watch a Chiefs game and I'm
just like, yeah, it doesn't matter, they're down in the
third quarter, they're gonna win, and they win and I
have yet to have that feeling this year.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I think I uh said it on the show a
couple of things. One last year, we all were saying
the same thing, and then they all figured it out.
Like in the Super Bowl, Caadarius, Tony and Sky Moore
were making big plays, and in the AFC Championship Game,
Marcus Valdez Scantling had the game of his life and
Juju was so good at some point hasn't happened yet
for these guys. I look at zach Ertz as a
(13:57):
big wild card, like where's zach Ertz gonna end up?
Because I think he is still a very viable pass catcher.
And obviously there's a lot of ties to Philadelphia, and
obviously Baltimore needs a tight end. As we record this
Tuesday morning, zach Ertz has yet to sign, I said
on Fox on Sunday, because I've heard that there has
been some conversations. The Chiefs make so much sense to me.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I can see that. I think he would be great.
I mean, like they need just a pass catcher, you see.
I know they have a lot of tight ends and
catches stuff for them. I think Ertz would be a
safety valve. I think is the wors you used on
Good Morning Football today, and it's perfect.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I chose the Chiefs and the Niners before this season.
I will not move off the Niners. Tempted to move
off the Chiefs, and the team I would move off
for would actually be the Miami Dolphins. I just think
they're so electric and last week what they did to
watch them before the Jets, like, you cannot here's what
you can only drive the car to the keys that
(14:57):
you're given. Yeah, that makes sense. So like the schedule,
they've played three really good teams at the times they
played them, including the Bills, and they've lost those games.
But you can't slight them for beating, you know, bad teams.
The last few weeks. They've got the Titans on Monday Night.
No one's gonna crown them for that. They've got the
Jets the week after. No one's gonna crown them for that.
(15:18):
Dallas comes to town on Christmas Eve, which is actually
a really fun game. I'm assuming that's a Fox Burke
cart Olsen game. That's great. And then they finish with
the Ravens in the Bills. So we're gonna know. We'll
know Christmas Eve, New Year's eve and we'll know January
seventh when they play the Bills, like is this team
for real? But until then, you're probably gonna have the
same thoughts you have on them no matter what they do.
But I would probably just stay with the Chiefs. I'm
(15:40):
cool with my Niners Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
And it's wild because I would assume Monday morning a
lot of people were throwing Jacksonville in there with how
they're playing, and then obviously.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Lawrence goes back and.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
They don't win at home, like and their defense just
gave up.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
You name the team, I'll pick it up part like
a carcass other than the forty nine ers right now.
Last thing, the draft. If the draft were to day,
the Patriots would have the second overall pick. To see
the Patriots lose six nothing in those Patriot pat red jerseys,
and then to see the draft order and the Patriots second,
and then to see the Patriots playing the Steelers. Those
(16:21):
are two like those are blue chip, those are like,
you know.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Us steel versus you know, the the Rockefellers, Rocke Carnegie.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
You know, like what a game that's gonna be? Steelers Patriots? Sorry,
I know Amazon. I think Amazon's a sponsor of the podcast.
I think I'm just allowed to say it, Like we
all looked at that as oh my god. Week fourteen
they gave Amazon Steelers Patriots. I don't know what happens
(16:54):
in New England over the next six weeks, but I
will say this, You're gonna likely draft a quarterback so
you have a new face of the franchise. If I
were to say right now, if I thought, and I
don't know if this, you know Simons always talks about
the aggregators and they pull content. I don't think Bill
Belichick's going to be the coach next year. I don't
(17:15):
know how it goes down yet. I'll get all the information.
I'm sure I will work on it, but like I
don't see him coaching the New England Patriots next year.
I mean, whether he walks away, whether he's fired, whether whatever,
I don't know. I don't know how that is where
he's going to be. Does he step away, I don't know.
Let's just say from the just look at like on paper,
if I'm saying this new quarterback, new coach. If Belichick leaves,
(17:38):
that means new decision makers, meaning the front office. Either
if someone's elevated and is now the new GM and
the final say so you're talking about potentially three different
major changes in New England, which would be such a
title wave. But yeah, I don't think Mac Jones or
Bailey Zappi is the quarterback next year. I don't think
(17:59):
Bill Belichick's coaching the Patriots next year. And I don't
think whoever is drafting that quarterback is necessarily the same person,
which is Belichick or people that were drafting the last
few draft classes. So that could be just a massive
change in the NFL. And I said earlier this week,
like I remember when Parcelles came and drafted Bledsoe and
(18:20):
they got new uniforms, and Crafts was a new owner
and they got the new stadium a couple of years later,
Like that was a major c change and the Patriots
became the Patriots. It's been thirty years. I feel like
there's big changes in New England, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Do you think that New England job is that one
of the assuming everything goes the way you said, where
they're they're gonna be taking a quarterback, Belichick's gonna be out,
There's gonna be a new GM, a new coach, maybe
a whole overhaul the front office. Is that the most
attractive potential coaching gig? Last week we talked about all
the potential coaching things like I don't want.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
To speculate too much, but like you look at some
of the quarterbacks who could be I talked about Bryce
Young last week. I think it's really attractive to want
to coach Bryce Young. Maybe not as attractive as some
of the other names that you hear tossed around, like
Justin Herbert is an incredible young quarterback. If you're a
young offensive coach, or if you're even an offensive coach,
(19:16):
or if you're an old time coach who's being rehired
or a retread like if Staley loses his job, that's
a really attractive, really attract job. But you look at
that Patriot logo, you look at the ownership, you look
at the stability, you look at what the fan base is. Yeah,
I think New England would be a really intriguing job.
I don't know if they hire from the outside, though,
(19:36):
I think that might be. That could be Mayo. Gerrod
Mayo is the name you hear a lot, But I
would think that would be a really really cool job
to have to work for the Crafts would be it
would be something because that's just I don't know that
there are resources and everything. There's stability and that fan
base and just the history of the franchise. It's legit.
(19:57):
Washington's interesting if Rom loses his job, because you're then
on like the upswing with new ownership and a new
fresh start and a new building. And that's the debate
for a later date. We'll get there as we go.
But today's guest works for the Philadelphia Eagles. He used
to play for the Houston Texans. He used to play
for the Eagles, used to play for the Rams, and
(20:20):
the end of his career at the Giants, and now
he's doing cool stuff with the Eagles. He went from
just being like in the front office to now kind
of spreading his wings a little bit more. I think
you're going to really like his story and you're really
going to like to get to know him. Our guest
this week on the season is Eagles front office member
Connor Barwine. I'm excited about this week's guest. He's a
(20:48):
former second round pick in the NFL who would go
on to have a decade of a career where he
was one of the better linebackers of his generation, and
then post career bounced around a little bit what I
want to do, became the special assistant to the general
manager in Philadelphia, and now a couple of years after
doing that, Connor Barwin his title is the director of
(21:09):
player Development for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he is joining
us today on the season with Peter Sugar. What's up, Connor?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
What's up? Peter? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah, I love having you on. One of the main
reasons we're doing this and we're linking up is because
of this Philly Special Christmas Special of twenty twenty three.
Now you might, as listeners, have heard about this. This
is the brainchild of not only Connor Barwin, but of
Jason Kelsey. And if you're not aware of what it is, Connor,
(21:39):
why don't you give us just an idea of what
the Philly Special Christmas Special is?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Yeah, So two summers ago, I was in the locker
room and Kelsey's you know, Kelsey and Lane were there
and they said, you know, maybe maybe maybe sometime we
should make a Christmas record and I was like, guys,
we should do it right now.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
In the middle of the summer.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
I was like, I was like, that's a good idea.
Let's just do it right now. You Lane in Jordan
my life. You guys can all sing. And so I
called Charlie Hall from the War on Drugs and he
was like, yeah, I can help you guys do it.
Long start short, We got together and so we put
out this record last year you can see, and I
(22:25):
was hoping like people would like the music and maybe
we would raise fifty thousand dollars to charity.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
And that was it. Like when we first met.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
They were like, let's make let's make it serious and
make like really good music. Let's have a lot of
fun doing it, and then let's do something good with
it around the holidays.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
And so I was like, oh yeah, fifty thousand.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Dollars, that'd be awesome cool going Fast Forward. People loved it.
The Eagles had a great season that helped. We obviously
lost in the Super Bowl, but we sold, you know,
over twenty thousand records and we donated over one almost
one point three million dollars to Philadelphia organizations, and so
(23:05):
Fast Forward were like, well, we should do this again.
And now this second volume is out, which is eleven Songs.
An original song written by Jason, and we've already doubled
all our sales from last year and they're still on
sale now.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
All right, you just kind of blew past the first part.
You're like, Yeah, So I called Charlie Hall from The
War on Drugs, which is you know, if you're not familiar,
go find them on Spotify wherever one of the most
popular bands of the last ten years. Like, you mustn't
have had a relationship with him. Are they Philly band?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, they're Philly band. I knew Charlie. So my background.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
I have a foundation in Philly and I started in
twenty thirteen, and I have a show every summer, and
The War on Drugs played MTWB my benefits show in
twenty It's actually play It was twenty seventeen. It was
the year I left Philly. I was playing in Los Angeles.
It was the one concert Wherever had where I wasn't
(23:59):
physically there, but I had booked it a whole year
ahead of time. So anyways, Charlie. That's how I got
to know Charlie and the whole band and became friends
with Charlie, and I just knew how connected he was
in the music scene in Philadelphia. This, Philly has a
really big music scene, a great music scene, great music history,
and he was the perfect person to call to make
(24:22):
this happen. I mean, he could put it all together.
He has sort of the vision, and then he knew
all the musicians to call to help make it happen.
So it would not have happened without Charlie All.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yeah, you've got a really cool history with Kelsey. You
guys went to college together at Cincinnati and you played
ball with him. Obviously, now people's sexiest man, the whole thing.
His brother's Dayton Taylor Swift, but you know Kelsey from
his teenage years. Talk about your friendship and kind of
the man that he's become, and how you've seen him
grow and mature, and the two of your friendship now
(24:55):
as you're working for the Eagles now for four years
and he's still one of the star players.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I'm really happy for him and his family.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
He you know, I don't want to say he hasn't
changed from when he was a walk on at U See,
because he's definitely changed and grown, but he is still
sort of fundamentally the core person that he was when
I met him. This like smart, creative, articulate, extremely hard worker,
humble like all of that, from when he was a
(25:26):
walk on at uc to getting a scholarship to winning
a super Bowl with the Eagles to you know, putting
out you know, a movie last year, to the number
one podcast. I mean, all all those things.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
He hasn't changed.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
But so happy for him, his family, and you know,
we were working on stuff together. I mean we we
started a record label together to make this this record.
We started a production company to sort of put out
his his document film last year. So the guy is
super smart, really creative, like I said, and it's been
(25:59):
it's been, you know, a pleasure for me to sort
of work with him and help him sort of take
these these ideas he has, uh in turn them into
something something real.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You've always been such a big thinker, but also I
would say a renaissance man in a way. Like I
remember when we interview you and you were on the
Texans You're always doing stuff in that community with the Eagles.
I remember there's a lot of stuff you did with
like the playgrounds in Philadelphia that was a big initiative
of yours. You always seem to get it. When you
were a current player. Where does that come from? How
did you always know that this is more than just
(26:29):
a sports and I'm gonna use this platform to do
bigger and better things.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
I mean my parents were sort of like always engaged
and pushed us, pushed me and my brothers to do stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
I just.
Speaker 4 (26:46):
You know, I love football, like I still spend all
my time on people, and it's the greatest. But I
do think doing other stuff outside of football compliments my
ability to sort of be good at football, even in
my post playing days. Like I think having sort of
(27:06):
some business stuff going on keeps my mind sort of
energized and creative and all of it. You know, it
all sort of works together and fits together. So I'm just,
you know, trying to find opportunities to create things that
you know, people enjoy, and you know, in the end,
I think it benefits you know what I do, you know,
(27:27):
day to day still being involved in football.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
If the listeners are like I remember, kind of you
were awesome, Like twenty eleven, you were a defensive Player
of the Month in November that season, you had eleven
and a half sacks. You played in all sixteen games,
and these were Texans teams that were going to the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Every we were rolling back.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
That was JJ Wats's first couple of years. Brian Cushing,
Demico Ryans, and Larryl Williams, they remembers the Letterman jackets.
That was my dumb ass and Sean Cody bringing the
letterman jacket we.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Went to So is that your idea? The history goes,
you guys are going up to Foxborough, it's a big
game against the Patriots. Patriots and Brady Daman, the whole crew,
whole crew, they're loaded, and you guys show up in
varsity jackets and then they kicked your ass on a
Sunday night. If I remember what what was the is
that the story or I haven't pretty much summed up right?
Speaker 3 (28:15):
I mean it was it was.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It was me and Sean Cody and look at like,
I'm like, I'm not ashamed of the Letterman jacket. We
weah like we we were a connected team, like and
like those little things on teams are fun.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
And me and Sean.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
Were like, yeah, like this is like we felt like
a high school team, which is why we were so good.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I mean we were eleven and one.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
We would to go play them and the funny part is,
I cannot believe we convinced sixty guys to buy I
went back and like everybody bought their own Letterman jacket
and they are sweet, and so we all wore them,
you know, because it's hot in Houston, so we need jackets.
To go down New England. We thought we were gonna
whoop their ass. They whooped our ass. But yeah, it
(28:57):
was People still bring it up to remind you what
actually happened was we went there eleven and one.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
We lost.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Yeah, we came back and I think we had to
win two of the last four to have the number
one seed, and we went one in three down the stretch,
we lost the number one seed, had to go back
to New England in the playoffs and lost again. So
everyone talks about the Letterman jacket. But I'll uh, I
(29:25):
will say when I when I stopped playing, my wife
asked all my former teammates to like send little videos
in every single guy from Houston made a little video
and they like pulled out their like Letterman jacket jacket.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, so there's At the time, it was who are
these pun All the talk shows They're like no, it
was a cool memory. Something we all have together.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Oh exactly. It ended up being a cool memory there.
We still mess around.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
About, joke about you guys were rolling and then you
signed with the Eagles in twenty thirteen. Was that Chip
Kelly Eagles? What team was that?
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Those Chips and Chips first year?
Speaker 4 (30:03):
So we did, you know, everybody knows history, I think, well,
if you don't know, Chip came for three years. The
first two years we won twenty games, and then the
third year so everything fell apart. And then I was
here with Doug Pearson's first year, and then I left,
and then Doug won the Super Bowl the year after, and.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
You go to coach with play for our mutual friend
Sean McVay. I only say mutual friend. I'm at mcvay's
wedding and who's there across the table from me, mister
Connor borrowing And we were hanging there, and I remember
when you got to LA they were like this guy,
this guy's going to be a coach or a GM
or be the commissioner. I mean I remember Sean was
just blown away with the professional that you were.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yeah, well, you know, I would have loved to win
a super Bowl with Eagles that year. But I am
so thankful that I got to go out there and
play with Sean, and with and Aaron and I mean Jered,
I mean so many good guys on the team.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
This was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Got to know you out there, so you know, it
was really I mean, if you remember, we were a
really good team that year.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
We lost in the playoffs. Falcon Pharaoh Cooper. It's up, Pharaoh,
you know, I hope you're doing well.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
We had two turnovers on special teams and like we
defensively couldn't get the ball. It was just I still
I still say to people that was probably one of
the best team of my ten years. That was that
might have been the best team. That was the best team.
That was the best team.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
I was on Saturday night playoff game. The Falcons had
just been to the Super Bowl, but they got back,
and it was that year that it was like everything
was clicking for the Rams. You're right, Pharaoh had a
couple mistakes on special teams and then I think Julio
killed you guys, like you just kept on making it
a bit, one big play after another. And that's a
team that no one remembers because the following year or
two years later they go to the super Bowl and
then they finally win one. But like that first year,
(31:41):
the first McVeigh year, you were there for that run.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 4 (31:43):
I mean Todd had an insane year. Todd Gurley was
like unstoppable. Yeah, it was at the Coliseum Saturday night.
We lost the Falcons. Yeah, we defensively wouldn't good enough.
But I think I think the Rams went to the
Super Bowl the following year and lost.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Was it mcgas o year? And then the next year
they won the Super Bowl or two years.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Later lost it? They went they went back down and
then they came back. Yeah, they lost to the Packers
in a playoff game of COVID. They won. But you
were there for the start of it Giants for a year.
And then you're like, I'm done, right is that in
my career? And then it's what now?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah? So then I sort of I always knew.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
I wanted to be close to football, just like I
love Like I said, I mean, I love football, but.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I always know I want to do some other stuff.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
And so how he you know, said hey when he
cut me, he said, hey, when you're done playing, come
work for me. And so I did that, and so
I started working full time with the Eagles in twenty twenty,
and then at the same time I went.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
To Warton and got my MBA.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, during the COVID season, you're working for the Eagles
in the building or remotely in the building during.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
The COVID season.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Congress, you know, credit to Roger Goodell and everybody that
we like, we did it during cold It was crazy.
But yeah, I was in the building in twenty twenty
and I started business school the year after in twenty
twenty one.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And you're going to classes physically at Wharton at University
of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah on the weekend, on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
What's the NBA? What was it for?
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Just so I could figure out how to put out
a Christmas record?
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Successful? You know.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
So I just still imagine you were interacting with incredible
classmates and peers, but probably we're learning from just you know,
leaders of the industry.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Yeah, it was, It was. It was an unbelievable experience.
So many great professors, so many good friends.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Now, it was. It was probably the hardest thing I
ever did in my life. It was. It was harder
than my rookie year it was actually yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I mean it was so what like group projects? What
are we talking about? You always hear about these players
going back to school, and I'm like, oh, but like
to go to Wharton. It's not like I'm getting my
degree on University of Phoenix dot com or something. This
is like the real deal. You went and got an
MBA from Wharton.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Yeah, like like tests, I mean like microeconomic tests and
like accounting tests and research papers and yeah, I mean
I think the group stuff. I thrived in the group settings,
like I know how to work with the team and
what my strengths are there, Like I think I think
I helped some of my other classmates and those sort
(34:15):
of environments. But no, it was like I don't know
how to do math. You know, you gotta I gotta
learn how to do math. So but happy I did.
I mean it's I got to get you know. Annie
Wilson was a marketing professor. I took consumer behavior class
and the rollout of this record, from the art work
(34:37):
to how we put it out. I just like copied
everything I learned from that class into into that record.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
So, uh, just those lessons, What was it you need
to have? Because like the album cover if you're listening
and not like the album cover almost looks like a
Peanuts cover. It's got an animated three faces, it's my a,
Lota Kelsey and Lane Johnson. And then it's got a
Christmas tree. But there's more to just the album art.
There's a rollout and promotion And what did you learn
(35:03):
from Andy Wilson.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Annie Wilson, I mean, it's it's combination of things.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
I mean, on the rollout you sort of which she
sort of taught us, was first sort of like the
slowly dripping out the content creating the story, the sort
of three tier pricing. People you know probably don't want
to hear about this, but how you anchor somebody interest, Yeah,
you anchor somebody on something. For example, we charged people
three things last year, and again this is all for charity,
so I felt like it was a good thing.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
So for.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
You could buy magnets of the guys, but we said
they cost twenty five dollars to buy.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
It really cost us like a couple of dollars to make.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
But in your mind you're like, oh, that's worth twenty
five dollars. Then you charge a record, you know, the
final record seventy five, and so people are, all right,
that's worth seventy five.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
And then you put a bundle together.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
People don't realize when they go to Costco and it's
all just bundling, and then you sort of like and
then we had that, we had something really expensive, and
then we sort of brought it together and people think like, oh,
I'm gonna buy that because I'm saving all this money together.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
He just made it all up.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
And it's all for charity. So it's great, But like
that kind of stuff where it's not just all right,
here's a vinyl record fifty dollars and here's a picture
of my alta on the cover. Boom go by it
like there's an actual process.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Well even even more so, what I was really getting
to is we studied this like cool framework.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
If you go to some business.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
Schools, they teach you like what cool is, and this
is sort of like being able to pull from, you know,
the most famous iconic record cover but not infringe on
any of sort of their ip is like if people
ever study Supreme, like that's what Supreme did. They stole
all of that from now we wouldn't say stole.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
But still inspiration.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
So like This was all.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
Like inspired by the Charlie Brown Christmas, which I would
have never thought of unless I took that class.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
So okay, Kelsey Lane and mylotta you said that Kelsey
performs his own song. It's called He Pended Himself. It's
called Santa's Night.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Did you.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Because it's not a goof This is not an Adam
Sandler doing like goofy tunes. This is like actual Christmas carols.
And the guy's voices sound wonderful. And I saw the
Jordan Davis clip. He sounds like, yeah, you know, it's beautiful,
like it's Sunday choir. Did you know these guys could sing?
How did it come about?
Speaker 3 (37:26):
I knew.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
I knew Jason could sing. I knew Jason, you know.
I just I didn't know he would write a song.
I knew Jordan could sing because we're on the Mass singer.
I knew Lane. Lane is like a freakly talented person.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Just like in all ever. I think Alane, he's in
a cabin somewhere in Oklahoma and like that's like and
then he comes out and he can do just anything
he needs to do in that moment, like.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
We were, he can like like this he can like
do an impersonation of anybody. He can like look at
someone and do this like crazy like look alike. He
just like he'll pull things from movies from fifteen years ago.
So like that sort of genius. But I knew, I
knew they all could sing. I knew Jordan Davis could
(38:10):
sing just from the draft like in my role. Now
I'm involved in sort of the draft process, and like
I knew the bat music background with him, and this
year we sort of wind up to sort of open
it up and get more people involved. And it was
really cool to have him involved in And you heard
his voice, it's it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Well let's stop you right there, because while we have
you on the podcast, Connor, here is Jordan Davis's version
of have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Here we are as a golden dame, happy golden dame.
Oh your.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
Faith friends who are near to us, never near to us,
once small through the years, we all woll to get.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
If the face.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
Shine and feel self a very little Christmases.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I see Jordan Davis three hundred and forty pounds player,
How did you know he had that voice?
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Just interviewing them and reading up on them and the
whole process.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
I mean, we get to.
Speaker 4 (39:53):
Know you know, these guys really really well, and I think,
you know, organizationally not to get in my role too much,
but we believe the football season is long and hard.
We want to embrace these guys other interests, right, because
think of like the great athletes you've been around, they
(40:15):
usually have something else that they're interested in. You know,
obviously sports is the main thing, but they have something
some sort of creative outlet or you know, s an
outlet from football that they go to and sort of
brings them joy and confidence. And so we try to
you know, encourage the guys to lean in on that
(40:35):
a little bit. And like getting Jordan to lead in
on is sort of you know, what he likes to
do around music.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
In this way with this record was a really really
good opportunity.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
What is the role you do now because you go
from as system to the general manager to more of
a I must think of it. And there's so many
great guys in your role around the league. But it's
not like a camp counselor of sorts. But you're the
mentor in the building who I played the game, but
I can also be you know, this your sounding board,
and I'm also still deployed by the team. It's kind
(41:07):
of this weird bridge, right.
Speaker 4 (41:08):
Well, so you're thinking I'm in a player engagement role
with different role, but but I work hand in hand
with player engagement and those people in those roles are awesome.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
They do exactly what you do.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
But you what you said, I you know, I'm a player,
a deveoloument, which is something how we started six.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Or so, So what is player development? Because I don't
even know that title.
Speaker 4 (41:28):
Yeah, it's like a secret in Philadelphia. Yeah, so I
can't give you all the deed, I can't give you
everything we do.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
But yeah, I mean we're.
Speaker 4 (41:40):
I'm focused my focus in collaboration with the coaches, the
performance staff, how he everyone is I would say, sort
of the bottom part of our roster. Whereas if you look,
you know, in the NFL, everybody is so focused.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
On the guys that are playing.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
And we are here obviously of course, but sort of
me and a group of people, well, we're sort of
trying to sort of build a little bit from the
bottom up and make sure those guys that aren't playing
are getting the same attention. Coaching feedback support that we give,
you know, the forty five guys that are playing on Sunday,
so you know when they're ready, when their opportunity comes,
(42:23):
you know they're ready to step in and play and
take advantage of the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
You've been there since twenty twenty, so you were there
for the entire Jalen Hurts rise to start them. You're
there every day with him. He doesn't give much to
the media. He doesn't really do the look at me,
look at me, Instagram Live, Facebook live, all that stuff.
What kind of guy is Jalen Hurts And what have
you seen as far as leadership qualities go.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Well, Jalen's obviously awesome.
Speaker 4 (42:47):
I think Jalen is a perfect example of what we
try to do, what you want everybody to do, you know,
and that's sort of understanding sort of small gradual improvements.
People ask me about Jalen, I say, it's just like
he is an example of compound interest. Like I was
(43:10):
here with him for two years and the guy and
nothing me. I mean, he just had it, like he
was just so focused that every week he got a
little bit better.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
Every month, every month he's been here, he's.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
Got a little bit better and sort of you saw
last year it just sort of it was going, it
was going, and then it went like this, and like
that's what happens if you can sort of have sort
of this short term focus. I'm getting just a little
bit better every day every week while having sort of
a long term vision of where you want to go
and stick to it. You know, anybody you know can
(43:43):
really it'll pay off after, you know, after some time.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
And he's a great example of that.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Last year you guys went to the Super Bowl, you
come up just short. This year you start off red hot.
We're recording this after the San Francisco game. What makes
this team different from last year's team, because I know
everyone just looks at it and it's like, oh, well
the Eagles, same squad. But every team we know in
every locker room is different year to year. What is
kind of the defining quality of this year's Well.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
I think we're just getting into it, you know what
I mean, I think you said it, and there's a
lot of different players, different people. I mean, the cores,
the core is still here, but I mean this is
the part of the season when you when you find
out so you know, best record in football right now.
But now now it's like, you know, the season starts here,
(44:29):
so we're excited. We got Dallas this weekend.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
One more question about the album before we let you go.
The first album included a dramatic reciting of a Night
before Christmas by Meryl Reese, who's the voice, who is
the voice of the Raid of the Eagles. And then
he had Zach Miller of Doctor Dog on piano and
that came out last year. This year the twenty twenty
(44:56):
three album, and like, the timing couldn't be more I
would almost say eerie Jason and Travis Kelcey covering The
Pogue's fairy Tale of New York. Of course, the Pogues
leads singer, Shane McGowan just passed away last week. Kind
of eerie, almost poetic, and yet we've got Jason and
Travis singing a poge song on an album that's coming
out the same week that the lead singer just passed away.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
It was eerie, and you know, it was really it
was really nice that Shane.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
This was crazy in here.
Speaker 4 (45:29):
His last public tweet was about the cup you know,
which the rewrite that Shane and Kelsey or Kelsey Jason
and Travis did about a sort of iconic Christmas song
and him sort of like supporting it, which was so cool.
The song is it's like on top of a bunch
(45:50):
of different charts right now.
Speaker 3 (45:51):
People are loving it.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
So yeah, it was it was really cool to get
his approval on that and then.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Sort of hear that he liked it before he passed.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
But I think obviously Shane's a legend, and so to
get that from him was incredible. And then I have
to say a you know, on the record, there's uh,
you know, we have the Dradel song coming out.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Talk about it, We talk about it. I think it's
important from my from my fellow Jewish listeners.
Speaker 3 (46:16):
Howie Roseman is on the song.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
And this is Dredl Dreidl dred It's the.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
Best music you've ever heard of the Dradel song.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Who performed it?
Speaker 3 (46:27):
I mean, there's too many musicians to name it.
Speaker 1 (46:29):
Really, it's just like a live aid thing, Like everyone
got together and performed on this.
Speaker 3 (46:33):
Every song is like live Aid. There's a whole band
for every song. But yeah, the Dreidl is like is Jason,
Jordan Lane and Howie doing gang.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Vocals on the whole thing, get out of here. You
could hear how he's voice, and then we have.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
Little Dicky does a little intro. It comes out Dave Bird.
Speaker 4 (46:52):
Yeah yeah, it comes out on Thursday or Wednesday night,
first night of Hanaka. I believe it was Thursday night,
Happy earl Hanukah and uh so that's a highlight coming up.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
So it is a little Dickie rapping on it.
Speaker 4 (47:04):
He just does like an intro, but he does full intro.
If you want to hear the full intro, you gotta
buy the vinyl. There's a longer.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
Extended because I saw on Spotify the song is out.
It's like a little snippet of it, but I couldn't
hear how he's voice on it. I got to download
the whole big or buy the whole album.
Speaker 4 (47:18):
Yeah yeah, you got to buy the vinyl so you
hear the whole thing, or this the little pick. He'll
be a little bit on the digital release on Hanikah.
So that's a cool part. The Santa's Night thing. Everybody,
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (47:31):
So he pens he pins a Christmas Carol.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
I mean, guy, like the season ends right and it's
like cold and philler low siuper Bowl and he tells
the story and he's sitting there with his youngest and
he can't get her to stop crying. And then he
starts thinking about Sannah, like, man, what suck to be
Santa on Christmas Night? Like I gotta deliver a presence
to everybody in one night, Like that's gotta be That's
(47:54):
no fun. And so he writes this song about how
it is to be Santa on Christmas Night, but but
correlates it to like being a football player and a
parent and saying it's all worth it in the end
because of the joy.
Speaker 1 (48:09):
It's like this, it's beautiful, and it is beautiful about
the sacrifice that you guys make, you know, not only
in your careers, but like at the house and not
being around for a lot of key moments. And I'm
sure you've missed a million key moments, but you're doing
it for the greater cause.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Yeah, And he just for me.
Speaker 4 (48:26):
It was probably in I don't know, may I'm in
the locker room in the summer. He's here working out
in the morning. He's like, hey, Connor, I wrote a poem,
like maybe maybe it's a.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
Song, but probably not. And I'm like, all right, well,
let me, let me, let me hear it.
Speaker 4 (48:40):
And he's literally it's just me and him sit in
the locker room and he's like hitting up a box
like to give it like the melody, and he and
he just sort of says it and sings it, and
I'm and.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
I was like, are you kidding me? Dude?
Speaker 1 (48:54):
You just it was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Yeah, I knew right away. I was like, did you
just wrote like a beautiful Christmas song? I don't know
how you did it, but that's amazing. So people can
hear it now. Santa's Night, Sam.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
This Night written and performed by Jason Kelsey.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
Yep. Yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Connor, before we let you go, tell us more about Vera,
Why record label, and the production work that you're doing,
because I feel like this is just the start.
Speaker 3 (49:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (49:19):
Yeah, it's it's sort of again, you know, I don't
really know what I'm doing, just trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
That's very humble when you've got the Wharton NBA, You've
got two hit albums like you did it all right?
Speaker 3 (49:30):
Yeah yeah, I just I know that I got a
lot to learn.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
But yeah, so so you know, we had to own
the the you had to have a company, and so
we started a company, me and Kelsey Vera is my
daughter's name, Kelsey's first daughter's.
Speaker 3 (49:44):
Name, Wyatt so Vera.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Why that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (49:47):
But yeah, we're working on this record, We're working on
a show, We're working on a movie. So there's there's
there's a lot sort of in the pipeline right now
that I'm really excited about. We'll talk about it off
off air because you've may.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Be able to h I definitely can help guys, everyone
who wants to get this A Philly Special Christmas Special
twenty twenty three. The Philly Special Christmas Team last year
raised one point two five million dollars for local Philadelphia charities. Connor,
I think it's awesome work. But I also think you're
(50:19):
an awesome guy and a great representative of the NFL
and for the holidays, of course, but the fact that
you're always working and trying to expand things and give
players a bigger opportunity to show their talents and be
able to provide for charities is just cool stuff.
Speaker 3 (50:33):
Peter.
Speaker 4 (50:34):
I appreciate that you do an awesome job, and you know,
I think you sort of hit it like that's for me.
Speaker 3 (50:39):
I think I've been my whole ten years I played.
Speaker 4 (50:42):
I just appreciated how awesome the people in the NFL are.
And you know, Jason has been one person I worked
with a lot, but it's it's laying to it's Jordan's,
it's other people and just trying to help them sort
of like do sort of the creative things they have
in their mind, like bring them to fruition. So it's
(51:03):
been it's been fun for.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
Me to try to do that.
Speaker 1 (51:06):
Let's sell a lot of these albums, let's help charities.
And I look it, I'm as I'm not biased here,
but if the Drader song becomes the hottest single in
the country, I'm not gonna be angry about this.
Speaker 3 (51:17):
It's good. Listen. I did a lot of research listening
to a lot of Drado songs. Yeah, not a lot
of great trail songs sort of like this you call
it in a little bit for kids.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
This one, Like the music is just like sort of
Bo Diddley sort of thing here that we got going
on is fun, like you want to dance when you
hear it?
Speaker 3 (51:35):
Like it? It is awesome.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
I can't wait, all right, Connor Barrowing, thanks for joining
the podcast. Man, This is awesome. Thanks peer, Connor Barwin
was great. Aaron, You've got a musical background. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
Yeah, I also have a behavioral econ background. And so
him talking about like price anchoring and all that, I
get off on all of that.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
That is, as soon as he said anchoring, I was like,
all right, I'm in on this. He's a Wharton grad.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
Yeah, we got it. He talks about the professor and
her name is obviously Annie Wilson. We find out everyards.
I'm like, oh Andy Wilson, Like no, no, no, Annie Wilson.
But like he kind of buried that in the day
that like, oh, I went to Wharton and got it.
I mean for the listeners if you don't know, it's
the number one business school in the world. And I'm
sure he've roben elbows with hedge fund managers and people
who are running Spotify or whatever else. So I like diverse, interesting,
(52:33):
curious guests. And I think Connor's story is so unique
and is different, and the fact that he's now still
with the Eagles, and this, what I would say, is
almost sounds like a shady job, like he didn't want
to explain what he does.
Speaker 2 (52:46):
He was very coy.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
He's like, it's just similar.
Speaker 2 (52:50):
I can't talk about it.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
Take all that, take all that, you know, fight club
somewhere else. We're on the podcast talking about your Christmas album. Dude,
I really like Connor and I've gotten to know him
a little bit, and obviously we hope that the album
sells well. That's that. This is delivering results presented by
Uber eats. It's time for delivering results where we give
it to the best player of the week. I'm gonna
(53:12):
give it to Deebo Samuel. Deebo Samuel had three touchdowns.
He had two of them, receiving one of them rushing.
He also talked a bunch of smack leading up to
the game and then backed it up and was the
best player on the field. He got my game Ball
on Good Morning Football. And he's also getting this award here.
When you talk about that game and all the build
up and all the chatter, like for Debo to come
out there and be as tough as he was and
to be as strong as he was and to back
(53:35):
up every last second of it, that's pretty impressive. That
was the delivering results presented by uber Eats. We can
get almost almost Anything, the official on demand delivery partner
of the NFL. Order Now, Aaron, we got a great
week ahead, Eagles, Cowboys Week, Chiefs, Bills Week. I'm here
for it. This is we've turned the corner, you know,
(53:55):
the dog days of that stretch, like before Thanksgiving. We
are here. The playoffs basically are starting, and I love
sharing it each week. It is the Season with Peter Schrager.
Aaron won Offman, Jason English, all the folks out in
la our music maestro, the great Jack Rudd. This is
a joy to do and we'll be with you guys
(54:15):
next week. All right, thanks for listening. The Season with
Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL and partnership
with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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