The All-Pro Philly Players Show w/ Fred Johnson -- 10/7/24

Jerrold Colton and Dave Spadaro are LIVE from Chickie's and Pete's in Marlton, NJ and are joined by #Eagles OL Fred Johnson! Fresh off their bye week, they talk all things #Eagles vs #Browns this Sunday!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Coming to you live from Chicky's and Pete's in Marlton,
New Jersey, every Monday night. It's the all Pro Philly
Players Show. Now here are your hosts, Gerald Colts and
then Eagles inside of Dave Spidero.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
And everybody in Ruckland and we all prow Philly Players
show live from Chickens in Marlon, New Jersey and Fox
Sports a Gambler and streaming on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
You are catching us every Monday here and during the
football season. Just thrilled to be here. Now, I will
say we usually have victory Monday after a nice Eagles
win on Sunday, but we had a bye week. But
it's still victory Monday in Philadelphia on a glorious day
in the Delare Valley after great Phillies win yesterday.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
But day before I throw it. How can I do?

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Want to introduce our guests for you today, really special guests,
and we appreciate everybody who comes out here to Chickis
and Pete's and join us. And we are joined by
a guy who's really played a significant role in the
Eagle seasons so far.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Very versatile players.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
He's seen good duty at both left tackle and right tackle,
and that is number seventy four from.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
The University of Florida.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
Fred john fih Johnson Johnson Johnson.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Good, welcome man.

Speaker 5 (01:17):
How are you? How you doing?

Speaker 6 (01:18):
God?

Speaker 5 (01:19):
How was the by week two?

Speaker 7 (01:20):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (01:20):
The body was good.

Speaker 6 (01:21):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:22):
I spent some time with my son and then I
went to Atlanta to visit my brother and some friends.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
So it was very, very, very good use of time.

Speaker 5 (01:31):
Are you are you somebody Fred who watches football?

Speaker 4 (01:34):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (01:35):
Not? When we're not.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Like I catched the game.

Speaker 7 (01:39):
I didn't watch the games, but I wasn't like, oh
my god, I have to watch this game right now.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
I was like, oh, the games are wrong. Turn the
games on.

Speaker 5 (01:45):
It's a time for you. I mean, people go out.

Speaker 6 (01:47):
It's only been four games, but it's really been three
preseason training camp, three preseason games, and four regular season games.
It's it's a great time to get away. Do you
benefit more physically, do you think or.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
Mentally from what we just getting?

Speaker 7 (02:02):
I mean, like some people use it to get their
bodies back, right, So people use it to you know,
like get away and relax, like you know, put their
mind at ease. I think I benefit a lot from it,
just because, like you know, you don't have to wake
up early.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
You don't have no like people to go like run
through or anything like that.

Speaker 7 (02:18):
So I think by week is very essential and like,
uh like just getting your mom back right for the
work week and the rest of the season, whatever your
bye week is.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
This is probably the earliest week.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Four.

Speaker 5 (02:31):
Yeah, it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 7 (02:32):
Five more games and yeah, it's nuts.

Speaker 6 (02:36):
But I felt like it was Gerald, you and Fred
you're in the locker room. It was a good time
for this team after a tough loss in Tampa Bay
with all the injuries.

Speaker 5 (02:46):
It was it came at a good time. You feel that.

Speaker 7 (02:49):
Yeah, I mean it's you know, by weeks or weeks
they don't like I think they're just automatically put into place.
But I think the bi week definitely fell at the
right time, you know, for us to you know, re
uh reconvene and re charge up for the rest of
the season.

Speaker 5 (03:04):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (03:04):
You know, a lot of the guys was dinged up,
a lot of people, you know, we're out, and I
just think now that you know we had that time
to you know, re rehabilitate, everybody's ready to go.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
So I'm very excited for the rest of the season. Credits.
It's interesting because Dave's point was good.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
When I first saw your schedule, like, wow, you know,
after four games, you're having to buy week and normally
you kind of like to get it later when the
bidy needs a little more healing.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
And then to me, it did turn out to be
the perfect time.

Speaker 5 (03:31):
It was.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
You know, the last game wasn't great.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
There were a lot of banged up and things, and
you know, you mentioned how guys use it for different ways,
but it seemed like everybody kind of could use a refresher,
like a restarted everybody.

Speaker 7 (03:43):
You know, everybody. Everybody goes about it their own way.
Some guys stayed in town, some guys left, you know, uh.
Some guys she was, you know, spending with their family,
and you know that just what they do. They came
at the perfect time, I think, and I think now
that you know, we have this week, we had the
bonus day to day. I think now we had this
week to you know, go after the next you know
milestone in the season, which is the Cleveland brown stuff.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
All right, but but a lot of guys go like
back to college, go to one of their college No
Gator game for you, I mean.

Speaker 7 (04:13):
You got to think about the Gainesville in the middle
of it's so like trying to fly in the floor,
Like try to fly into Gainesville.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
It's a private airport.

Speaker 7 (04:22):
Like it's a small airport, so like you have to
fly to Orlando or Jacksonville and then drive two hours.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
I was like, I'm good, I'm not gonna do that.

Speaker 6 (04:31):
You know what we're flying these days anyway? With what's
going on. Man is destruction down there. I'm really sad,
really scary. Yeah, and then they got another one coming out.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (04:40):
I just pray for everybody go through it, and I
wish the best hope.

Speaker 6 (04:46):
Wait is a sports show here. You're wearing the Phillies jersey,
very nicely jacket there. It speaks, it speaks to what
an amazing sports town. This is two games at Citizens
Bank Park Saturday, Mets win and then you streat an
incredible win.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
Derald, I know you're as deep as it goes Man.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
Well, it's really interesting, Fred.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
I've spent my whole life here and I am a
supporter of all the Philadelphia teams. It is quite obvious,
and you might not quite feel because you're so immersed
in Eagles, but it is an Eagles town. It's Eagles
number one twelve months a year. But the other teams,
there's passion.

Speaker 7 (05:19):
I go like every team I've been on, I've went
to every other game like every like I've been to
the Flyers, I've been to the seventy six is, I've
been to the baseball games multiple times, and I've always
tried to get like a jersey or something with like
you know, the custom jerseys day sell And we got
good logos here. Yeah, Philly's a good merche has good
logos and.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Good color waves. I love it so so for me.
That was another part Dave about the bye week. You
never know what the schedule is going to be for
baseball playoffs, and it just turned out we had Phillies
games Saturday and Sunday afternoon on gorgeous, gorgeous days. So
I spent my weekend at since the Bank Park and
yesterday's game. It's so different than football. And I've been
at some incredibly nerve wrack games and you're too. The

(06:01):
Eagles to Super Bowls both fifty two and fifty seven
were unbelievable back and forth allway. But there's nothing that's
really racking as baseball because it's a piece of the
game and it just it just drives you crazy. For
a guy, might it's probably dangerous for my health.

Speaker 5 (06:15):
Well, do you understand the whole game like I did?
Were you in a box?

Speaker 4 (06:19):
You're in a sweet Let's define whole game all right, now.

Speaker 5 (06:22):
From the first pitch to the end of the game.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
Were you there for the end of the game.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
No.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
I left my wife And that's why I.

Speaker 5 (06:31):
Went to one game.

Speaker 7 (06:32):
I went to one game this year and my bad
one game this year and literally, like I guess they
have like an accelerated pitch clock mount. Yeah, and like
it was like the first game I went to one,
like a couple of years, like a baseball game, and
like I want to go get a hot dog.

Speaker 5 (06:46):
And I came back and it was like three innes
later yesterday. It was like a three and a three
hours plus game.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
It was a very tense game with a lot of breaks.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
But but Dave, I pretty much the tire ballpark was
standing pretty much all games.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, it was cool. What was what was it? Was
it a walk off?

Speaker 3 (07:05):
What?

Speaker 4 (07:06):
What was it?

Speaker 5 (07:06):
It was?

Speaker 4 (07:07):
It was Nick Castiano's came and the game.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
The game was crazy because the Phillies were winning one
nothing going into the eighth inning on Saturday after an incredible,
incredibly pitched game by Zach Wheeler, and the bullpen didn't
hold it, and they wanted to lose.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
That game six to two.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
And and truly it was it was a depression. I
mean you've experienced after the Eagles. Was this whole area
gets depressed after tough losses. Yeah, And and this Phillies
team has been on the cusp for three years. And
to make matters worse, it's playing the dreaded New York Mets.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
It's it's the biggest rival.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
You have or baseball anything New York in Philadelphia. In football,
the Cowboys have a special place, but it's New York
Philadelphia in general. So it was just such a tough loss.
And you come back twenty four hours later. Because it's
so different than football football, you got a week to
shake it off.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
In baseball, it's right back the next time.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
And they fell down three nothing, battle back, tight end three,
fell down again, four to three.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
It's battle back to tie, then.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Filled out six to four, and and it wound up
having a great in the bottom of the knighte Nick.

Speaker 5 (08:08):
Right, Well, they tied it up.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
The Mets tied it up the Met's the Mets to
run Homer in the knife and then the Phillies win.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
Seven, were up six four, and then Mets tied it
up and then Nick.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
So we rolled in sixty four and I'm thinking, all right, then,
you know.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
What, I actually screwed that up.

Speaker 5 (08:22):
You're exactly Phillies.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
Phillies went up.

Speaker 6 (08:24):
But it was like as a player friend, and we're
gonna get into your amazing story. But what eye witnessed
when the when the Mets went up, the stadium kind
of sagged for a bit and kind of the energy drained,
and then the fans picked it back up.

Speaker 5 (08:37):
And I know at our.

Speaker 6 (08:38):
Games when we aren't playing well that the energy drains.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
Do you feel it? You feel it?

Speaker 7 (08:44):
I mean, obviously the atmosphere plays a big role in
every game, like whether you're a home or away, the
atmosphere is key. And you know things like you know,
you can't hidra mostly as a fan, You're you're there
to support, You're a supporter, and you know, our fans
are one of the greatest you know, in the world
that I've been on. And you know, you feel the energy,
like if something goes wrong or something like that, you

(09:05):
feel the lull of the crowd, you know, and it's
not golf like fans are cheering and stuff.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
So something goes wrong, they go quiet as for a reason,
you know.

Speaker 7 (09:13):
And then that just you know, takes a different scope
if you're actually playing on the field and say you're
the player that made a bad play, but you definitely
feel it. You definitely feel an every game, like the
fans in New Orleans when we was down there, the
fans when we started, like when Saquan had that touchdown,
it felt like a home game. Yeah it had pros,
Yeah it has it. Yeah, it has it pros, It

(09:35):
has its pros and cons.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
But as a fan, by the way, because you mentioned that, obviously,
Eagles fans travel so well, and I can hear them
on TV, David, and you were at the games all
the time, but I hear Eagles fans on TV. You
see them on TV. He's supposed to a very different sport,
different pace, and but this is New York Philadelphia, so
there was a lot of hostility, a lot of.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
And I'll I'll be up the city field day on
the fields reper Joe Philly and hopefully be careful.

Speaker 6 (10:02):
Credit in New Orleans when you went in and played
right tackle, maybe the loudest dome stadium in the in
the in the league.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
Can you hear Jalen at all? I promise you. I
don't think I heard him.

Speaker 7 (10:15):
Like when they got real crazy in there, I don't
think I heard him. I was just looking for the
key of the sending and stuff like that. I don't
think I even tried.

Speaker 5 (10:24):
Is it hard to hear the call in the hudd?

Speaker 7 (10:26):
You a call in the huddle because you got your
you got your ear to like you have your ear
to the door, like you're trying to hear something. He like,
you hear everything and then you double check on the
way to the line of scrimmage and then you go
from there. So yeah, I couldn't hear Dalen at all.
After like we got to the line, they started cheering
and stuff.

Speaker 4 (10:41):
Fred.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
That's I mean, that's such an interesting point there that
Dave brings up and you said, hey, you got to
look in.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
So here you are. You're throwing out a tackle.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
You're replacing Hall of Famer Lane Johnson in a hostile
environment like that, And I can't imagine how much you
have to do mentally and physically.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
This is why I love offensive lineman there the.

Speaker 5 (10:59):
Most rolling, they are the most intelligent.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
They really are. But I can't imagine being that pressure situation.
You're looking for ques and what is exactly are you
looking at? While at the same time you have to
fulfill your assignment.

Speaker 5 (11:18):
You have a job.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
You have a job to do. You have a job.

Speaker 7 (11:21):
Whether you laid off the ball or you you know,
before the snap and they don't call it, you have
a job to do. And that's you know, what you
get paid for, and that's what you signed up to do,
as like the backup role and you know, backing up
Malata and and you know Jordans and you know you
can't do that if you don't have trusting your teammates
and the team that's not trusting you. So that goes

(11:41):
to like tylish name who jumped in there with who
got in before I got in And you know, I've
seen how he was, you know, unfazed, you know, cool,
calm and collected, and that like motive that gave me
confidence like Okay, we're good, We're gonna be fine.

Speaker 6 (11:52):
It's also you have to know during the week, you
gotta do your classroom work. You have to be on
top of every single call, every adjustment, every audible, every
every bit of communication, even when you're not necessarily getting
the reps on them. There's a big jump from Is
that the big difference college to the NFL?

Speaker 7 (12:10):
College to the NFL? Yeah, I mean college. You gotta
think about it, like mostly everybody were started. It's probably like, uh,
you know, college, you get your reps like how you
would as the ones here like in the NFL, and
I mean NFL is just so much fast faced, like
everybody's not going to get that rep. Everybody is not
going to see like you might see a play in

(12:32):
the meeting room and they run it one time that
week and then they're calling like the NFL is real deal,
fast face, fast learning, on the fly everything, And uh,
I think that's that that honestly, like just the difference
between the speed of the game is crazy.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Fred on the on the subject of that, and you know,
you you you're replacing my Lotta on one end and
Lean Johnson on the other left side versus right, your
versus all that has been a real benefit to you,
but it also requires you to do a lot of work.
So how different is it playing the left tackle versus
the right tackle?

Speaker 4 (13:09):
The guard versus a tackle.

Speaker 7 (13:10):
I mean, I play. I played guard in college all
of college. Like my only snaps were at right guard.
I think I played a little bit of right tackle
and like my freshman year, but the rest of it,
the rest of my rest of the time in college.

Speaker 5 (13:23):
Was at right guard.

Speaker 7 (13:24):
I made it in the league at right guard. Like
this what the Steelers, I don't know if you know,
and I mean a difference to the Bengals to the
difference between it. I mean, honestly, it's the same for
left guard the right guard, left tackle, the right tackle,
Like it's just the way you go about, Like, you know,
some people have their comfortability, Like I feel like I'm

(13:46):
more fluid on the left side, but I feel like
I right tackle more technically, sound like I'm more aware
of what my body doing when it doesn't you know
what I'm saying. So, you know, people have their preference,
and I don't really think like as a backup, you
can have that preference because if you get thrown into
the whole opposite role, like you have to be able
to embrace it. And you know, if you automatically thinking

(14:06):
in the back of your head, like I don't want
to do this like I'm not like, I'm not signed
up to do this, like you're gonna you know, it's
not gonna it's not gonna benefit you will. So I
don't really tend to think too much about it. I
just though your path.

Speaker 6 (14:18):
Is an amazing when we're gonna talk about it in
a bit, when you were out playing against the Saints,
when you're playing against Tampa Bay. You know what I thought, Fred,
You know what the thought that I had in my head,
Fred Johnson is making a lot of money for himself.

Speaker 7 (14:32):
Yeah, I don't know, I don't going on and a
lot of things I feel like I let myself not
accomplish or not show. And you know when I went
out there and played like I had a little chip
on my shoulder, I don't want to prove like you
know youll guys made the wrong decision.

Speaker 6 (14:46):
Your story is one of give give something a chance
in high school. It is one of uh, don't you know,
shy away from changing your dream. It is one of
do not allow people to tell you no in life
because you can acomplished what you put your mind to accomplish.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
It is you.

Speaker 6 (15:03):
It has been quite a journey and look forward to
getting into this for the next forty five minutes.

Speaker 5 (15:06):
With Gerald right, let's do it.

Speaker 6 (15:09):
Okay, we got the great people here at Chickens and
pizez here in Marlton and uh watching a little baseball
baseball fan at all.

Speaker 7 (15:15):
Oh yeah, I watch baseball. I don't want to. I
have never played baseball. I barely played football.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
I know.

Speaker 5 (15:22):
Baseball.

Speaker 7 (15:23):
I don't think I could ever play baseball. I mean
I've never even tried to swing get like a real
fastball ever.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
You know, by the way, just going back to the
Phillies for a second, Well, Saturday behind me in sweets
above me where it was a lull in the game,
and it's just funny the reaction. Big Dom came.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
To the edge and the crowd. I mean he is
the biggest celebrity and filler Fletcher Cox was there to
a lesser extent. He got a crowd.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
I mean that potential Hall of Fame. We're definitely Eagles
Hall of Favor someday. And then your head coach, Nick
Sirianni got like no reaction. It was very funny.

Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well, once we get.

Speaker 6 (16:01):
Rolling here after Sunday, when the Browns come to town.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
It's week to week. There's no question about it.

Speaker 6 (16:08):
That's what it is in sports is play to play,
and that's where it makes Philadelphia said a great sports town.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
But let's let's go back to high school.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Okay, you said you barely played football, so let's talk
about the young Fred Johnson.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Obviously you look like a football player.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
Believe when I when I saw you come, you come
through the doorframe here, chickens and peach. That's a football player.
Tell me what first got you involved in football?

Speaker 7 (16:33):
I mean, like, you know, my family used to play
football growing up, like just you know, you know, off
like street football, you know football, like pick up football
with my brothers and cousins and stuff, and that was
a lot of us.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
So you know, it was something to do, something that
was fun.

Speaker 6 (16:48):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
I got into football my senior year of high school.
And that's what you wanted you to play before that
wanted they.

Speaker 7 (16:54):
Wanted me to play. My freshman year, I went out,
I think I rolled my ankle or something, and I
was like, I'm done. I don't to do this no more.
And then my junior year, coach Kent He he was
like the officer coordinator at the time, and I was
walking into the library to like play video games or something,
and I had to duck through the mediates in the door.

(17:15):
And when I duck through the door, I walked in
and it was like testing or something, so everybody was quiet,
and he was like the mediator like.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
Stepping like filling in for somebody.

Speaker 7 (17:24):
And he just looked at me and like gritted his
teeth and like you get him, like Fred come here,
like yelled it.

Speaker 5 (17:30):
And I was so scared. I was like, what.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
To cut this football coach? You want with me right now?
What did I do?

Speaker 7 (17:36):
I'm thinking of everything I did that day, Like am
I in trouble?

Speaker 4 (17:39):
What did I do? And he just looked at me.

Speaker 7 (17:42):
He was like, Rered, just come out one day, like
I don't want you to do nothing else. I talked
to your mom. I talked to whoever. You got to
just come out to the football one day. If you
don't like it, you don't got to stay.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
And I was like, no, you don't.

Speaker 7 (17:51):
Got her talk to my mom like we don't go.
I was like I'll come out there. I come out
there one day. And you know, I went out there
one day and I tried to quit and I was
like I don't want to do that.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
What didn't about it.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
I don't know. I wanted to play I wanted to
play basketball.

Speaker 5 (18:03):
I wanted to play basketball.

Speaker 7 (18:04):
My uncle oldest, he was in the he played for
the Rockets when they won the championship.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
Older Store.

Speaker 7 (18:09):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's I wanted to play basketball. I
wanted to go out to where he lived and learned
from him and play basketball. But you know, life has
a funny way of working, and uh, I kind of
you know, stayed around, you know, my hometown, and uh that,
Like I said, I want out to play play football.

(18:30):
I tried to quit. Nobody let me quit. Like I
seen my teammate, like one of my teams, he was
like the powerlifter of the school, like the strongest dude
on the team. And he seen me walking to the
buses one day and he's like, where you going.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
I was like, I'm going home.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
He's like, no, you're not. And I was like, Okay,
I'm not going home. I'm gonna going to practice.

Speaker 7 (18:48):
And then like since then, I like since that, like
going into my senior year, I just kind of like, uh,
embraced the grind. It was the first time I really
had like true like teammates. I was ever a part
of something, you know, bigger than myself. And I loved
that summer because all we did was workout, work hard,
go home, and do it again the next day, and
you couldn't. It was just like second nature. And then

(19:09):
my senior year we played and we were doing pretty good.
We went like third round in the playoffs, so lost
to a state championship team. Were you off I was
also a lot Yeah, yeah, but I was. I looked
like a tight end. I was so skinny. Yeah, it
was so bad. We lost to a state championship team,
like in the third round of playoffs. And then from there,
like I had a couple offers, like seven offers or

(19:31):
something at the end of my senior year and it
was just a grind from then on to like actually
get to college. So like I think from the last game,
it was like in November, early November or something, and
I think like two weeks before graduation, I was on
a computer making up all the classes I had missed,
like I had failed prior because you know, my freshman

(19:52):
sophomore year, I didn't really do nothing. My junior year, when
I was going back out of football, I actually started
trying to care started trying to like apply myself and
all the way up until like two weeks before graduation,
I was on the computer making them classes. We'redoing SATs acts,
everything under the under the sun. And you know, Doug
Neusmeyer was the one who recruited me out of high school,

(20:15):
all that quarterbacks coach.

Speaker 4 (20:17):
He was the one who recruited me out of high school.

Speaker 7 (20:19):
And he came to me like like at the end
of like February or something, and he was like, yeah,
I don't think you'd be able to come to Florida
with these with this GPA and this test scores and
stuff like. He's like, I thought you was like basically
telling me I might had to go to juco route.
And you know, he left the room, and my head
coach at the time, Willie buayno, let me have it.

Speaker 5 (20:41):
He let me.

Speaker 7 (20:41):
He gave me a piece of his mind, and uh
nuts walked back in and I told him I got
like sixty points more on a test and nes Meyer
was like what And I was like, yeah, I got
sixty points more on the writing test.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
I forgot to tell you that before you walked out.

Speaker 7 (20:55):
And I just looked at my head coach like, uh,
you know, and and that was like one of my
first childs and stipulations, like to really see if I
wanted to do this football stuff because I didn't know
where it was gonna take me.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
I didn't think.

Speaker 7 (21:08):
I wasn't even thinking nothing about NFL or the Eagles
or anything like that. I just was like, how do
I get out my current situation? How do I, you know,
do something that nobody's done in my family before.

Speaker 6 (21:19):
Fred and I have gone out in the community a lot,
and it's always a great and we've the kids that I've.

Speaker 5 (21:24):
Been with Fred, it's been very they're very, very very young.

Speaker 6 (21:27):
But the story that you have, the message that you
have to think people middle school, high school, what is it?

Speaker 7 (21:35):
My messagees never stopped believing in yourself just because you
know your your environment doesn't dictate who you are. The
environment doesn't have to be just what you see every day.
You can always, you know, apply yourself and chase your dreams.
And you know, if nobody else believes in you, you know,
contact me. I believe in you because nobody believed in
me when I was gonna do it, you know, because.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
That's that's an incredible message. And we're going to take
breaking in.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
I want but I want to close this segment on
this because I believe a coach can make such a
difference in a young man's a young woman.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
I don't want to be sexist because which are so great.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
For women as well. And obviously that coach made a
huge difference in your life, Saza. So if you had
not decided to play football given to that pressure, it
sounds like both hearing from above.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Where was Fred Johnson heading in life? That's the thing
about it. I don't know.

Speaker 7 (22:28):
I had no plans, I had no goals, I had
no aspirations. Somebody came and offered me from Marshall. Uh,
I forgot the coach named orline. Coach offered me from Marshall.
I haven't played a snap of football, and I was like,
what is this? I had to ask my coach what
does I offer me? I didn't know, and he was like,
you could go to college for free. And I was

(22:49):
like what, Like, I don't know what that means. I
asked my parents. Pama never been to college, my dad
didn't go to college. My granddad didn't go to college.
So I was like, what does that mean. He's like,
He's like, you don't you ain't gonna have to worry.
You go go get an education for free. I ain't
say nothing about the NFL or nothing that is like that.
He's like, you could do something that your family never done.
You know, my uncle went to college, but that was
you know, that was we way back in the that

(23:11):
was back in the days. I mean, like, honestly, I
have no idea what I would have been. I probably
been working at Walmart or something, you know, those people,
those people, but like you know, I would have made
a living out of doing something, you know, like working
at the post office or something like that. Like I
had no aspirations at all, and I'm just grateful that
you know this, this this game of football taking me
to places I would never imagine, you like walking out

(23:34):
of walking into the Brazil to the Brazil stadium when
we play that, I was like this, this is crazy.
I never would imagine this ten years ago.

Speaker 5 (23:41):
That that's the story right there.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
Actually don't know one ever imagined period, but.

Speaker 6 (23:48):
That is that is the story right there, That that
you can accomplish anything and sometimes listen to people because
they have your best interest in their heart, and and
to trust somebody like that, it takes a lot, Fred, Yeah,
you know, because people know who's trying to take advantage
of you or who's got the right intentions in mind.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
Yeah, but you did it, but it.

Speaker 6 (24:07):
Kept working and then really you're talking about football. Football
is not fun when you're practicing and it's to grind.

Speaker 7 (24:12):
Yeah, grind, But it's about the people who you have
with you. Like, my teammates got me through my first
football summer, my first football year last and we were
both offensive linemen and he was a five star, number
one recruit. It's like, we need all martez Ivy. Shout
out to Martez. He's my best friend now, but we

(24:34):
need all martez Ivy.

Speaker 5 (24:36):
And I was like why.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
I was like, I was like, who's martez Ivy?

Speaker 5 (24:39):
I was like, what is mine?

Speaker 7 (24:40):
I'm Fred Johnson. I want to make a name for myself.
So I was like, I'm going to Florida. I'm gonna
compete with him, and we ended up being best friends.
It's about the people you have around you.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
You know, this game is this game.

Speaker 7 (24:49):
Workouts are hard, practice is hard, but your teammates, your
teammates mean a lot more than anything, you know what
I'm saying. And the guys that we have in all
locker room or wanted you know they're second or not,
they're so special and then you know, and that's just
that's a goal to show you like the type of
guys that you know the Eagles bring into the organization.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
Everybody's a good place.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yet, Fred, when we come back, I want, I want
to continue on that, because I mean, there's so much
I love about football, but I really love that it's
the ultimate team sport and there is no more selfless,
team oriented position than offensive line.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
You did get to touch the ball this year, right,
you got? I think you recover the funnel?

Speaker 5 (25:26):
Did me? I think I did?

Speaker 4 (25:28):
I think there a couple of fall and I got
a hit on my hip that hurts so bad. I'm
sil from doing this again. It's it's better to be
on the offensive line.

Speaker 7 (25:37):
And then I can't imagine running with a ball and
somebody hitting you full force.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
Listen, we are just underway, but time is flying. We
are Chickis and pizza and Marleton. You can come here
and watch the Guardians play Detroit in the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (25:50):
There will be a Monday night football game on later.
It's a good one.

Speaker 6 (25:53):
It's New Orleans and Kansas City and then there's more
baseball tonight right the al the Yankees and the hosting
then City Rose.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
And you can't get enough baseball, can you?

Speaker 5 (26:02):
D can he I'll go all the way to the
eighth inning and I'm out to Jesus.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
It's where the players go.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Fred Johnson, the philip Eagles is sharing time with us
today and just great stories and great path and what
led him to be a significant member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Dave Speneria Eagles insider Gerald Colton. We are on Fox
Sports and Gambler. We'll be back right after this come

(26:33):
back Chickens Up Deep.

Speaker 4 (26:34):
And Marlton Jersey and the All Pro Philly Players show.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
I'm Girl Culton with my co host, Eagles insider Daves Peder.

Speaker 6 (26:42):
That's cool about this show is people come up get
an autographed say hi you picture with the player.

Speaker 5 (26:48):
It's a really nice, nice part of coming out supporting
the show. You're All Pro Philly show. Uh, It's cool.

Speaker 6 (26:53):
It's like the players love interacting with them fans, and
the fans clearly love it.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
Clearly a lot of people loving meet and you Fred
and all these pretty women come and taking pictures with you.

Speaker 5 (27:03):
So it's I think I just photo bom got one,
so if you want to get another picture.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
We are here also with our special guest, Fred Johnson,
Eagles offensive line and it's just the second season with.

Speaker 6 (27:12):
Eagles and we're loving, loving having How how old were
you when you signed your first autograph?

Speaker 4 (27:17):
My first autogram? Yeah, that was probably what eighteen at Florida.
Have you have you since then? Have you practiced your autograph?

Speaker 5 (27:26):
Yeah? I changed my auditor.

Speaker 7 (27:27):
My autograph is like it used to be my whole name.
But the fan daid, all the Gator fans will come in.
It'll be like over two hundred people. So I just
started just doing my initiate And.

Speaker 5 (27:36):
What what jersey numbers? You were in college? Seventy four?
Oh wow, seventy three?

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Special? Tell us tell us why it's special for you? Special?
My Uh, like it wasn't special growing up.

Speaker 7 (27:47):
Like I got it in college and I was like, okay, cool,
and then you know in the league, I still had
it when I went to my different teams and then, uh,
my granddad passed away on my birthday a couple of
years ago, and he would have like two weeks later.
He would have been seventy five. So he died on
my birthday at seventy four. So it's just one of

(28:07):
those things. I was like, you know, okay, now this
number means something to me. And then when I came
back from my second year with the Eagles, I was like, hey,
I want seventy four. I was like, you gotta earn
it made the team. You know, you'll get the number.
What were they giving you before that?

Speaker 4 (28:22):
I have fifty?

Speaker 5 (28:25):
A linebacker is so bad.

Speaker 6 (28:28):
But the bigger question of all this is, Fred, did
you ever take Otis Thorpe, your uncle one of the
great I think it was a great NBA player, right,
it was a really good power forward. And could you
ever take him? I'm not even sure how old Otis
is right now, Like take him?

Speaker 5 (28:44):
Like what? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (28:46):
I mean he was way older than he was part
of the ninety four and now I don't think that's
that much older.

Speaker 6 (28:51):
Like I believe that if I like, if you played
me at the Sporting Club one night, I can realize.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
He wasn't he wasn't in.

Speaker 7 (28:57):
He wasn't in his playing is by the time I
got to like sixteen seventeen, we are old.

Speaker 8 (29:03):
We are.

Speaker 5 (29:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (29:06):
He would give us pointers and stuff when we played basketball,
but he was never like playing with us.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
Did you were you aware of how great he was?

Speaker 8 (29:14):
Not?

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Really?

Speaker 7 (29:14):
No, I looked up his highlights like when I got it,
Like when I got like fifteen or something, I realized
that it was pretty pretty good.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Did you grow up for a huge sports fan?

Speaker 7 (29:24):
I would watch like all like granted we watched sports
all the time. Like, I had a couple of teams
I liked, not really like the biggest sports fan like.
I wasn't like a raging fan of anybody. I loved
the Celtics because they had the Big Three. You know,
they had Reality Ragon Rondo and Paul Pierce.

Speaker 5 (29:41):
You're talking about Kevin McHale, Robert Patterson.

Speaker 7 (29:46):
I was alread they had the big three Kevin Garandad
Reality and Paul Pierce and stuff. So I loved I
loved that group of people, but not really like I
was fan of Cincinnati because their colors like Ulto, they
had so so.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
Literally, by the way, Otis Thorp is two months younger
than my son my mom.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
My mom is the youngest out there the siblings. So
and he had a he did have a really really
good NBA.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Career seventeen thousand, six hundred points and it lasted a
long time, like seventeen years of the league and won
those championships the Houston Rockets in ninety four ninety five with.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
What player around him to state it with Sam Cosell
now also.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
But my guy, Sam Canzell and Kenny Smith and a
whole bunch of others on that anyway, back to football,
back to Frank, we started talking about your journey which
the football on the football field started. And I guess
as a teenager in the West Palm area in Florida, right,
that's which is a great area.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
But but when you say you weren't a big you're
saying no, you're making a.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
Good far so far.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
Okay, all right, but it's the it's still home. I
love my city and I love I love our weather.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
He or September in October, would come come January, febr
I wouldn't mind being a West Ponm. But that's a
different story. Let's go about about your your path in football.
So there you are, you don't know the direction you're going,
and you had to raise your schorores. But you go
to the University of Florida, just a great starters program, good, no, no,
go ahead. But it's also a great academic school.

Speaker 4 (31:21):
And I mean so many people that is it?

Speaker 6 (31:23):
Really I didn't I never knew Florida was a great
academic school. I know it's a great Gainesville is I'm
not really anicitary guy, but Gainsville is known as a
great cocktail party or big cocktail.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
No, no, no, that's that's the Florida Georgia Georgia.

Speaker 7 (31:36):
Yeah, Jacksonville, that's the It's like the big the biggest
cocktail party ever something like that.

Speaker 5 (31:40):
So academically it's known academically.

Speaker 4 (31:43):
Florida is no.

Speaker 7 (31:43):
Academically sports, no, Florida's no. Florida's definitely the University of
Florida for reason.

Speaker 6 (31:50):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (31:51):
What was cool and it's I mean, it's very insive school.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Though you know, the cocktail party might be something to
go for all you see where dude is, so go
to this school. But talk about your experience as a
college football player at Florida in the SEC and I
know you did some stuff off the field, because I
want to talk about next.

Speaker 7 (32:10):
My experience was yeah, like like like we got thrown
into the fire. It was me, uh, my best friend,
Like I said, Wants and another tyler, Jordan. We all
got thrown into the fire.

Speaker 5 (32:21):
We didn't red shirt.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
We was you know, made available right away to the team.
And you hadn't played much.

Speaker 7 (32:27):
I didn't played much football at all. It's like my
first training camp. I really got welcomed into that. I
definitely didn't play that much football. But you know, I
had I had an edge to me and I had
like a tip on my shoulders, so you know, I
wasn't you know, just getting thrown around or something like that.
I just didn't know how to go about to get
like practices and games and stuff like that, like at

(32:49):
a high level. So I was figuring out on the fly,
and I had my teammates, like I said that, you know,
hell guide me. My experience was fun.

Speaker 6 (32:55):
Man.

Speaker 5 (32:56):
I loved Florida, Florida.

Speaker 7 (32:57):
It was Florida's home, you know, the University of you know, thanks,
thanks for the opportunity to go there. You know, do
what I gotta do. But uh, you know, I wouldn't
change nothing for the world. The games are electric, the
fans are electric. The city you know, is amazing, you know,
even though people say it's in the middle of nowhere,
because it is but it's just you can't. It's a
college town, you know, you can't. Can't, nothing can't, nothing

(33:19):
can beat it.

Speaker 6 (33:19):
I'm sorry, Fred for fans who don't really know, they
would look at you go, hey, wow, you're so big,
you must be a football player. But I'm I'm certain
that a coach looked at you and saw your feet
and how well you moved, and.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
That's what made you such a good prospect. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (33:39):
I'm trying to think of the coach name. I think
it's Crystal Ball or something. My first offer from Marshall,
the old line coach from.

Speaker 5 (33:45):
Precell not Mario Crystal Balls.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
He's a short old line coach. I don't don't quote me.
I forgot his name.

Speaker 7 (33:51):
He was the coult of Marshall and Marshall O Line
twenty fourteen and he came out to practice.

Speaker 4 (33:56):
I had no snaps in the game, no anything.

Speaker 7 (33:59):
He just heard that there was this six seven dude
walking around that you know, had no offers, and he
came down and he asked me to pull around the
corner and like hit a bag. And he picked the
biggest dude out the old line to like to hold
the bag. And my old line coach Rob will Gore.
He came to me and he was like, you better
run through him. He's like, oh, you're gonna be doing uptown.

(34:23):
So that's what I did, and I got an off
on the spot. Yeah, so that that was my first.

Speaker 5 (34:27):
Real open thing. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 6 (34:30):
How much technique did you I mean you're starting at
ground zero, right, Like, yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
I was a ground zero. I didn't. I didn't. I
didn't have a technique in high school.

Speaker 7 (34:36):
Like we played uh who played the smaller brother Bosa
Nick and like what like in the third round of
playoffs and I was just run blocking every player. I think,
I believe I wasn't even trying to kick set or
anything like that. So I had to learn that on
the fly when I got to Florida, and uh, like
when I got to the league, it was still it
was still a working progress.

Speaker 6 (34:56):
And when did you think you had a chance to play?
You go through your experience with Florida. Did you go
to the combine?

Speaker 5 (35:02):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (35:02):
Yeah, I went to the combin. I didn't do anything.

Speaker 5 (35:04):
No, I didn't do anything at all.

Speaker 7 (35:06):
I was overcoming an injury I had sustained like my
first day training for the combine, So I didn't do
anything at the combine gret thankfully. Like you know, I
was healed up and I was ready to go, but
I didn't want to risk anything. So did you expect
to get drafted?

Speaker 5 (35:20):
I wanted.

Speaker 7 (35:20):
I wanted to get drafted so bad. But I didn't
do no senior didn't know senior camps. I didn't do
any combine drills. I did stuff at Pro Day, but
you know, it wasn't really my best. So I was
expecting to get drafted. I was hoping to get drafted.
And then the draft went by and my family's just
looking at me, and I'm looking at that though, and
I was like, I don't know, I don't know what

(35:42):
we're gonna do it.

Speaker 5 (35:43):
Well, what happened?

Speaker 6 (35:44):
Because Gerald's a sports agent, and I wonder like if
you guys, like what how does an agent sports agent
find friend?

Speaker 5 (35:50):
How do you find your guy? How's it worked?

Speaker 4 (35:52):
Well?

Speaker 3 (35:52):
Well, first of all, you know of Fred Johnson was
starting at University of Florida, so he's he's he's raised,
he's you give scout friends, you have, other people will
give you information and you know that this guy is
a prospect. But then the an agent's job has a
lot of different tentacles to it, but one of the
most important thing is when even Fred Johnson, who is

(36:12):
a great prospect but doesn't participate in those things, picking
the right place.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
Is a free agent is a very critical thing at that.
So I know you and your agent then signed with
Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't even I don't remember. I haven't.

Speaker 7 (36:27):
I think I did, but I don't think I went
through my agent to the side because I think right
when the draft ended, I like went to the bathroom
of Crock get drafted. And my problem is the guy
I went to the bathroom to cry, Like, you know,
you got your family there in the living room with
you waiting on a call, and you know, your phone
start ringing, and then when you pick up the phone
and it's like a telemarketer or something like a rowboat caller,

(36:48):
and everybody's excited and you're like, nah, that's not it.
And then the draft goes by, like I went to
the bathroom cry and uh, and that's when like five
teams call my phone back to back and uh, Mike
Thomas got on the phone, and you know, I think
that was I think that was it.

Speaker 4 (37:01):
I was like, all right, cool, I'm coming coming to Pittsburgh.
So the time was a tough guy to say no
to him. What a great guy to play for now.
Unfortunately you didn't spend that much time, but you did
make the opening day roster, which is really hard to
talk about that experience like that camp.

Speaker 7 (37:17):
That camp was probably true worst than anything I've done
in college at all. I'm talking about like it was
like things are flying around and you don't know what's
going on, and uh, you know, I think I think
that that that organization for the opportunity to go there
and show what I can do, because you know, like

(37:38):
I said, I had a lot to prove.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
I said, I had a lot, a lot left in
the tank and I still do now.

Speaker 7 (37:44):
And I just went there and I put my head
down and I said, I'm not gonna worry about what
tomorrow brands, don't worry about what I could do today.

Speaker 5 (37:50):
Was TJ Watt there?

Speaker 6 (37:51):
Yes, how would you take reps against him?

Speaker 8 (37:56):
No?

Speaker 7 (37:56):
I was at guards at hangywhere And that's when hard
Grave was there. That's when Hart was there. They had
uh to it Stefan and they was just all those
guys and I was just like I was just like
in the rinker. Like I was constantly a rookie. You
just know, you just going in whenever you got to.
And you know, they had VET days all I had

(38:18):
VET days. I didn't know what that meant until I didn't. Like,
we went to practice one day and they was like
Fredie went on. I was like, what I represented got you?
Rookie Clinch by the way, Mark Robinson Robinson and he's
still there is in year three there.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 5 (38:31):
That's good. N So they put the younger guy.

Speaker 7 (38:34):
It was just like it would just be like walk
through and stuff that we'll have to go and stuff
like that, we'll get more reps than we usually do.
But they had this like one specific day of training
camp where they go to like a high school and
the vets On practice like a scrimmage against like all
the like all the two's and three scrimmage. Oh my god,
if that was the day, I was gonna quit football

(38:54):
that well, Dave.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
They still do what the Eagles used to do and
all the teams did, and they practic for the college.
They're out of the trop Pennsylvania and now that you
just do it and do overcare. But they used to
be at Lehigh and a whole bunch of other places.
How was that experience? Do you like being out there
with I mean.

Speaker 7 (39:10):
I was I mean, like I said, it was my
rookie years, so I didn't really know what was going on,
you know. Uh, you know, I was just I was
just happy to be there. I didn't really care, like
I had a roommate and I didn't I did in mind.
I just wanted to go to work and get you know,
get work over with for the day.

Speaker 4 (39:23):
So from there you stayed in the division.

Speaker 5 (39:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
I went to the Bangals. Yeah. Yeah, and and and
that's where your your NFL career started flourish.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
I went to the Bengals, man, and like they moved
me to tackle, and I was like, what is going
going on?

Speaker 7 (39:38):
Uh? You know, and I think that organizations thought that,
all the organizations that took me in, you know, like
let me go out and try to make a name
for myself.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (39:47):
The Bengals organization, you know, they welcomed me into the
new role, new position, and uh they had faith in
me since day one.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
Uh. And you know, like I'm a contract ended, so
you know, I tested free agency and what's.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Somewhere else except wait, I just want to make sure
I read this right, because this is an agent question. Dave. Here,
you were a restricted free agent, right hindered you and
you signed, and then you became free agent again, and
then I.

Speaker 7 (40:12):
Became a regent again because I don't know, like it
was just you know, something with the organization and like
you know, me with you know, the politics of this stuff,
and I was just like, you know, it's time to
sign a test your agency.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
It's time to you know, go somewhere new. With the
first start.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Before you asked your question there, I just want to
add as an agent, and my first client was guy
named Boomer Sash and it was a star quarterback for
the Bengals at the time. I really cut my teeth
that way. And I used to say the Bengals were
the thirty second best team in the league to deal with.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
So you running, they good people. They made people's that
Taylor don't make good people. And you went to the
super Bowl. Yeah we went to the Super Bowl. Yeah
that was fun.

Speaker 7 (40:52):
And then the next year I was with Tampa Bay
and they got waged and it came to Philly on
a practy squad and then we went to I was
like one of my teammates was like one of my
old teams with college, like, Fred, you gotta be the luckiest.

Speaker 5 (41:06):
I'm curious why six seven is a really really tall guard.

Speaker 6 (41:12):
Did you feel all along the way that maybe you
would be better served at tackle.

Speaker 7 (41:16):
I kind of knew that I'll be at tackle someday.
I didn't know what day, but I think, you know,
when I got moved to tackle, I was like, okay,
I've never moved back to God, like you know, like
it's just it's just not I just don't see the
see the see the benefit, and be going back to
God because you don't getting old and you know, you know,
stuff start, you know, her stuff start hurting a lot

(41:37):
more than what it used to when you was seventeen.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
So I mean, I went back to tackle, and I
feel like I'm at home at tackle. I don't.

Speaker 5 (41:42):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (41:43):
I don't plan on going better guard.

Speaker 6 (41:44):
In times, we have caught up your you are a
tackle with the Philadelphia tell us about the tackle.

Speaker 5 (41:48):
Position, Fred, what are you seeing? How fast is it?

Speaker 6 (41:50):
Try to like break it down in the layman's terms
for people who might not understand just how difficult it
is when these guys are coming and they are blazing
off the edge or they're running games on you.

Speaker 7 (42:01):
And I mean it's it's athletes all on the defensive
side of the ball. The tackles are athletes. Edge rushers
are athletes, outside linebackers and athletes. Like it's never a
dull moment. And then if uh, you know, because you
got turn it all around. And I just think, you know,
like the speed of it tackle is more different than
the speed of that guard. Like guard, everything's right in

(42:22):
front of you, tackle you when you went you're on
an island essentially, like you know, like how they say
cornerbacks be on islands and stuff, tackle you on the
island sometimes if you don't have to sly help or
you on the man side of a protection. And I think,
you know that just that gets a lot of people,
you know, that keep people up at nice sometimes, you know,
especially you're going against elite pass rushers and things of
that nature. And I think just the just the just

(42:44):
the speed of you know, being comfortable on that island
like by yourself with no help and having to block
somebody who's you know, somebody running forward. You're backing up
like it's it's it's definitely a different type of animal
than somebody moving side to side to get that somebody's
running straight forward at you to get around you or
go through your Your.

Speaker 5 (43:03):
Job is to make Jeff Stotlin happy at all times.

Speaker 3 (43:07):
And I wouldn't answer you that because because Shotlan is
renowned as one of the best offensive line coaches in
the NFL.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
So so talk about him? What you mean, like, just
what about him?

Speaker 5 (43:16):
Like what makes you so great?

Speaker 7 (43:18):
I means very detail oriented. He knows what he wants,
and he knows how to you know, he knows how
to get the best out of his players. And I
mean obviously that comes through it taking this a lot
of a lot of reps in Indie and you know,
working the same craft. Like he's all big about ten
thousand kicks, you know, like you're not like like just
just just a repetition and you know, perfect in your craft.

(43:40):
And that comes with a lot of practice, That comes
with a lot of extra work being put in. And
you know, he's very, very smart, very very humble guy,
very you know, just loves the game. Like you know,
you ever seen somebody who just you know, eats, breathe
sleeps football.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
That's him.

Speaker 6 (43:58):
Last question before we go to break and this is
this is perhaps an ignorant question. What's more important? So
don't don't hold it against me. What's more important your
feet or your hands? To be a great I don't.
I don't think you need all of it. I don't
think you have one of the not being efficient.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Ada have both?

Speaker 5 (44:17):
Well, I mean you get step on the football field,
you have to have both.

Speaker 4 (44:20):
You have to have two arms.

Speaker 5 (44:25):
Target you wanted? Is there a target for your hands?
I mean on the breastplate?

Speaker 7 (44:29):
I mean not really, you just really that's that's given
a lot of information away. We got the brownst you
try to hit the numbers and stuff like that. But
different cultures teach different things, and you know stout and
there's you know, one of those. So I'm not gonna
really give it away. But yeah, it's definitely it definitely works.

Speaker 6 (44:51):
Scared, If you're after we got something for you, you
should be here at Chickens and Peak having a great
crab price and all the other stuff.

Speaker 4 (44:58):
Chickens and Peach.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
The players when we are here every Monday night in Marlton,
New Jersey, we are joined. It's Dave Spanero, myself, Gerald
Colton and Eagles offensive tackle Fred Johnson, We're going to
close up when we come back, but come join us
every week here and it's great to have you and
hopefully you're enjoying yourself in the crowded's constances. When we
come back, we're going to finish up and look forward

(45:20):
to the Cleveland Browns game against phildelph Eagles next week.

Speaker 4 (45:23):
You are listening to you all pro Philly players show
on Fox Sports A gambler.

Speaker 8 (45:41):
Well, welcome back to Chicking Beats and Marlton, New Jersey,
where there's a whole lot of Eagles fans here to
say hello and what's up? And weis good luck to
Fred Johnson of the Eagles who has joined us for
this hour.

Speaker 4 (45:52):
Dave Spero, Eagles Insider, and Gerald called the locks.

Speaker 6 (45:55):
So before we leave, I have this weird question Fred,
You're on field goal protection, right, So what the heck is.

Speaker 5 (46:01):
Going on in the NFL?

Speaker 6 (46:03):
We block a field goal returning for a touchdown. It
happened twice yesterday.

Speaker 4 (46:07):
I think, Yeah, there were so many blocks and special
team plays that matter.

Speaker 5 (46:13):
I have Where are they attacking? What? I think?

Speaker 7 (46:16):
Uh, every team has a fish? What I was special
teams coach calls it, what did you fish? Every every
like a fish is who they go after, like who's
the week one on the on the line or whatever,
and uh, you know, I think that's what teams target.
And then sometimes you know, it works, sometimes it doesn't,
or sometimes they try to like do something to like course,

(46:38):
like uh, like somebody on the field goal team to
like do something out of character and like disregard their
whole all the responsibilities. And then that's how you know,
people get through and stuff like that.

Speaker 6 (46:48):
And it speaks to the importance of special teams, how
it can turn a game around.

Speaker 5 (46:53):
At what point in your career.

Speaker 6 (46:54):
Did you like accept that, realize that, and address the
importance of being on special teams.

Speaker 7 (46:58):
I think it was when I was in Tampa Bay
and all those special teams and uh, I like messed
up one play and like the special teams closed shoot
me out and I was like, Okay, I think I
got to take it serious.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
So yeah, I think it was.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
It was.

Speaker 4 (47:12):
It was like a couple of years ago.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
But Fred, I know from all my offensive line and
friends in client no offense, so I'm in like special
Like if you'll go protection.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
I mean, you don't mind it oh mind.

Speaker 7 (47:24):
I mean, like somebody gotta do it. I'm not gonna
make Lane go out there and do it, like I'm
not at all, not one bit. But uh yeah, no
I don't. I don't mind it. It's it's it's it's
a it's a job, it's something at the TD. So
you know, I have no problem doing it, all right.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
So this week the Eagles are back at it today
kind of getting getting the rust off and then turning
attention to the Cleveland Browns. Have you started watching the
Browns defense, which up until yesterday had been really outstanding.
Miles Garrett, of course, is the headliner there. Have you
watched the film on him? You know, well we like,
I mean we played him in was in sensive. You know,

(48:01):
he's always to talk about what is what? What is
what makes him so great?

Speaker 5 (48:05):
For I mean, have you watched of course I have.

Speaker 4 (48:08):
Have you seen he doesn't he's a great player, man,
He's like, he's definitely a Hall.

Speaker 7 (48:14):
Of Famer, definitely, SA definitely, you know, probably the most
athletic dude on any defensive front.

Speaker 4 (48:23):
And he's just you know, he's just a game changing
so you know, you got to definitely print plan for him.

Speaker 5 (48:27):
Prep for him.

Speaker 7 (48:29):
Uh, today we went over just the basics. You know,
it's just a bonus stage. So we're kind of brust
into everything and uh, you know as we go through
the week, we start game playing essentially, you know more
and more, so you know, hey, it's a great, great opportunity,
great great game on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (48:45):
So speed, the power, Speed and power we don't watch.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
We don't watch them specifically. He was just watching general.

Speaker 5 (48:52):
I'm just curious about what what separates.

Speaker 7 (48:54):
Him from I mean, he's I mean, look at he quick,
he's scrolln he's fast. He's stupid, stupid fluord Like he
hit like I remember I wasn't guard like I think
my last game at guard was when we played him
U Thursday Night Football, like the second game of the
twenty twenty season, and they moved me to guard. I

(49:15):
was like right guard and he hit me with like
a eurostep and got like a shrip sack and I
was like what was this like? And like we went
and watch him, but the like like my team is
just like I don't know how you don't see that
as him going underneath you And he just stopped on
the dime and just went around with no like with no, no,
no problem.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
And I tell that story to this day that I
was probably the scariest.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
Moment bred It's it's a first because talking about that
that bye week Eagles are two and two, could have
gone either way with all those games. So but right
there and in the league where no one's separating themselves,
the divisual of those separating themselves personally, I like one
o'clock hole.

Speaker 4 (49:56):
Games now I play.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
You haven't had any yet, so it might be nice
to get in the rhythm and have you know, the
whole support of this town, the tailgate and the good
and then have step out there.

Speaker 7 (50:08):
I mean, like when you drive in a city like
I love I Love, I Love Downtown, and when you
drive to the stadium, I take I take like the
I don't know what highway it is, no, no, no,
I take the highway. I take the highway as ninety
ninety five is by the bridges, right, yes, so I
take ninety five. And like when you when you're going
up to the stadium, you can see everybody tail getting

(50:29):
and stuff. It gets you hype a little bit. You
get hype and you get you know, you get ready
for the game and stuff. So you know, anytime, anytime
the game is like even preseason games.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
People tell games.

Speaker 7 (50:38):
So it's like, you know, it's just fun to see,
you know, fun uh trying to be a part of
and uh just the fans, you know, they're just remarkable.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
You know they come out every time.

Speaker 7 (50:47):
You know, rangely the snow it could be twenty degrees outside,
the fans are definitely gonna be in the stadium.

Speaker 6 (50:52):
You said earlier, Fred, as we wrap this up kind
of full circle, that you had a chip on your
shoulder when you first started playing.

Speaker 5 (50:59):
You're such a nice guy or a smart guy, your
thoughtful guy.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
What how do you change?

Speaker 5 (51:03):
How do you turn it?

Speaker 6 (51:04):
What is what happens to your brain? Like how do
you get into the hype? How do you get into
what is your mindset when you're playing? Like when I play,
when you're playing, when you're on the field, are you violence?

Speaker 7 (51:14):
Your personality on the field is differently your personality you're
off the field. I think you know everybody ain't the
same person on and off because you don't get to
play football.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
You got to be a little different. The play football,
you have to be a little different.

Speaker 7 (51:23):
You can't be the same person because you know, everybody
needs you, and everybody need like like like you're not
just a single person, you know, you know, you're not
a box or you're not an artist. You know, everybody
depends on you to do your job and do your
job well. So I think like the change is just
like you know, you're becoming more locked in and more serious,
and you like, you know, you're starting to like you know,

(51:44):
unwind and stuff like that. And then you play, and
you know, you play well, you get hyped, you get excited,
you get you know, like you know stuff like that,
and uh, you know, you just try to help your
team do the best. So I think I think it's
just a different mindset like when you're playing versus when
you off the field.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
Love it if you have been on the sideline for
many of an NFL game as as by you a
lot more. But I've never stepped across to his white line,
and every player I know has kind of switch in
their head that he is different than off the field.
But Fred is such an offensive lineman. You're smart, you're nice,
you're engaging. We even loved our hour with you. But

(52:19):
the guy that you are here is definitely different than
number seventy four. When he steps across this life.

Speaker 4 (52:24):
And I definitely like like like joking and stuff.

Speaker 7 (52:26):
I like being like, you know, somebody to bring people's
spirits up, you know, because you never know what somebody
going through. They never know what somebody you know, thinking
about and stuff like that or you know what they
got to deal with all the fields. So I try
to be the guy that be funny all the time
and stuff and uh and just like you know, just
dealing with uh, you know, your own personal struggles you
to you to you could either you know, choose to
dwell in them or choose to uplift others that would

(52:47):
you know, uplift yourself in return.

Speaker 5 (52:49):
So that's what I do. I just I just want
to be here to try to be fun.

Speaker 4 (52:52):
Who's that good looking little guy?

Speaker 5 (52:54):
Is my son right here?

Speaker 4 (52:56):
His name is Jack's Jacks Johnson. So you got to
spend the time with him.

Speaker 7 (53:00):
Yeah, I gotta s miss the time on this this
by we you know, he's a I got to take
him to school for the first time.

Speaker 4 (53:04):
Yeah, daycare, so you know it was a f very fun.

Speaker 7 (53:09):
It's all about it's all about it's all about family.

Speaker 5 (53:12):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (53:12):
Well, Fred, you've already lasted the curve of a three
year NFL career and truly making a roster outlast thing
under the free agent curve. Just a whole lot more
to go. Jason Peters just signed. I think he's eighty
six years old.

Speaker 6 (53:24):
He just.

Speaker 4 (53:27):
Forty two. He signed, So anyway, listen, thank.

Speaker 5 (53:29):
You so much. Problem having Fred Johnson.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
Fred Johnson, number seventy four of the Philadelphia Eagles, so gay,
looking forward to game Sunday against Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (53:40):
Yeah, and we'll be back here next Monday, hopefully for
another victory.

Speaker 5 (53:43):
Sir, Go Phillies, Go Eagles.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
All right, we got that Schobert's our pregam director back
at the studio, John Janssen here, Thanks John, Mike Powers
and all the great staff of Chicky's and Pete on
behalf of my partner, Dave Banara, the Eagles insider. I'm
Dreyl Calm. Thank you, Fred Johnson, all the people are
chicken peace for joining us. We'll see you next week
on the All Pro Philly Players Show.