Daily Ticket Open: Eagles Trade C.J. Gardner-Johnson to Texans - 03/11/25

Sean Brace opens the #DailyTicket talking about the free agency plundering the #Eagles have taken over the last few days... and that includes trading C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the #Texans on Tuesday.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Number one on your car radio preset hand the new
and improved Diehard Radio, w D A Yes, and w
D two seven three Deep Philadelphia is Fox Sports Radio
The Gambler. There's no found foul and three that's it.

(00:28):
The rapper Terriers aren't going dancing, baby Yeah. Wofford downs
fourbanon ninety two eighty five. Let's go Good afternoon, everybody,
Daily ticket coming your way, show race rid in solo
for now. We got a lot to get to opening

(00:49):
up the show with Wafford. I'm not sure that that's
ever happened in our five plus years of existence here
on the Gambler. Yes, we did that for a reason.
Because the madness is here. Ladies and gentlemen, Are you ready?
We'll be filling out that bracket on Sunday. We got
auto bids happening all over the place to last night.

(01:12):
Four championship games going off this evening. We're gonna be
all over the madness for you right here on the Gambler.
I'll have Ryan beef Coyle joining me at four thirty.
Take a look at some of the games that matter
the most this evening. Fast forward and start looking at
some of the bigger conference tournaments that are taking place
starting today as well more so tomorrow than ever with

(01:34):
the Big East and Villanova closing up shut well well,
not trying to predict the loss by the Cats just yet,
but they are playing tomorrow, so we'll see how that
one plays out for all things Big East coverage. But
we got a lot to discuss as far as the
madness and again selection Sunday. We'll be live on Sunday night.
I'm sure everybody will be. But if you've been paying

(01:56):
attention to what we've been able to do here, we
got some really good brains in the world of college
football college basketball, So putting those to use and see
if we can get a little bit of an advantage
as the numbers will be fresh on Sunday evening. Fire
up DraftKings Sports Book. Make sure you just braces the
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Fun show coming your way first and foremost. At three

(02:17):
thirty Phillies own Zair Franklin will be joining me. Zaire
Franklin is a bad dude on the football field. Anytime
you could finish a full season and say I led
this season in tackles, I feel like those are stats.
I feel like sacks, tackles, force fumbles. If you lead

(02:43):
the NFL in either one of those categories, I think
you can go to the offseason with a smile on
your face if your team did not win it. Zaya
Franklin balled out for the Indianapolis Colts. He's joining us.
He's got a lot going on. Man, this is an
interesting dude. I'll tell you right, really cool stuff reading
up on Zay years. He's gonna join us. He's got

(03:03):
our foundation function coming up here on Friday. We'll hear
a little bit more. He's also involved in the flag
football world. He's got some really good things. Graduated from
Syracuse in finance. Smart dude has a podcast, made a
little bit of some made a little waves out there
in indian in the podcast world. But I don't know

(03:26):
if we'll get into all that. We're just gonna have
some fun here. But this guy is super impressive from
what's on his resume. And I think we're gonna talk
a little bit about Zach Bond because I think there
are some similarities there to a point. I'm just curious
if he pays attention as far as other linebackers at
at his position across the league. So we'll have some fun.
And of course here what's happening over there with z

(03:47):
your Franklin's Foundation. More to come, that's coming up at
three thirty. All right, we got to open up with
some football talk though here on March the eleventh. Oh,
by the way, my anniversary eight years married to my
lovely lady. Congratulations, Sean, thank you, thank you very much,
three eleven, seventeen. It's been a hell of a ride.
It's been a lot of fun. Been a lot of battles,

(04:11):
but a lot of fun. Love my lady. We're gonna
do some habachi tonight. Hey, haven't been in the habachi
game for a minute. I'm looking forward to catching one
of those shrimps in my mouth. My daughter's first hibachi
experience tonight, so it should be fun. All right, We're
gonna open up with some NFL conversation, and of course
the story here in Philadelphia is Howie Roseman and how

(04:37):
we re trust this general manager that everybody was saying
for the last few years. Man, nobody's better at their
job than how we I'm wearing a Super Bowl shirt right,
super Bowl champions Man. Howie Roseman has been just doing
it and doing it right. We can't second guess Howie

(04:57):
Roseman and how we we trust? You can't say that
one off season, or when the off season starts to
take form, or when the Eagles finally finished their celebratory
parade down Broad Street. Oh, whatever happens in the NFL draft,
whatever happens in free agency, how we we trust? Until

(05:19):
he trades your guy, until he trades a player of
substance of importance, until he gets a little return back
from that player that leaves you scratching your head? Wait? What? Who? Why? Yeah,
we don't have the answers just yet, but we all

(05:39):
were puzzled, to say the least, when it came down
to Adam Schefter's tweet about ten thirty this morning. Houston
is acquiring Veterans safety CEJ Gardner Johnson from the Eagles
in exchange for former first round pick Canyon Green. Trade
includes a swap, the Eagles getting a twenty twenty six

(06:02):
fifth round pick and the Texans getting a twenty twenty
six sixth round. So we'll just discuss the player that
we know more so than mister Green from the Houston Texans, CJGJ.
For my money. And if you heard me, I said

(06:25):
this during the playoff run, I believe during the La
Rams game. I tweeted it out in the playoffs and
I said, save your tweets if you're gonna tell me
Jalen Carter, because we already know Jalen Carter is the
most important piece on the defensive side of the ball.
Now that the season has been over and we can
entertain these conversations a little bit more, not to say

(06:46):
that we weren't talking about, you know, important matters leading
up to the NFC Championship game where the super Bowl
it was just it was just, you know, a lot
of rush, a big party over those two three weeks.
But I said that CJGJ for me, if you did
not include Jalen Carter up front, and this includes Zach Bond,

(07:09):
this CJGJ might be the most important piece on the
defense side of the ball now. If I had to
give that take right here, right now, today, even or
yesterday when CJ was still with the Birds, and maybe
he did know about it because he did have a
nice graphic ready to go, I highly doubt that his

(07:30):
people are ready to work like that at a moment's notice. Today.
I think that they kind of knew that this trade
was going down. I don't know one man's take. I
would probably say Zach Bond needs to be in that conversation,
possibly slightly ahead of CJ. But there is no doubt
in my mind that were splitting hairs. CJ was worth

(07:51):
worth what he was paid, and then some we saw
what this defense was without him the season before, and
we saw what this defense was with his return. Now,
he is not the end all be all. Of course,
coaching matters. Mcfangio is not the head coach the previous season. Correct.
I say, we just went over the list of Zach Bond,

(08:13):
you get those rookies. It was a total team effort
on the defensive side of the ball this year, no
doubt in our minds. But how many times did CJGJ
find himself around that ball? And that's what I love
about Chauncey is that he has awesome ball skills. He
has a knowledge for the game, where is it going?

(08:36):
He was constantly of all around those plays, big time plays.
Remember the Falcons play when he made that stuff up
the middle, not afraid to put his helmet in there,
not afraid to shake it up Super Bowl, challenging Travis
Kelce right from the jump pick six against the Cowboys,
Like and you go back to the two years ago

(08:58):
when he was with the Eagles, and I think he
led the team in interceptions that year could be mistaken six,
I want to say he had, Like we know how
good CJGJ is and he's twenty seven years old. I
am wondering what the hell is going on. There's no

(09:19):
doubt in my mind that the majority of Eagles fans
are with me on that. There are some out there
that are saying, well, you gotta trust how we no
matter what. There are some out there talking about the contract,
and when CJ's will be up, there will be other
players that will be a little bit more important. So
how he's getting in front of them. Sure, there's all

(09:40):
sorts of rhymes and reasons at this point in time,
But when it comes to losing a player like CJ
was for this defense last year, and oh, by the way,
getting a guard who PFF. I believe PFF had ranked
fifty eighth out of fifth ninth last season, you just

(10:04):
have to scratch your head and wonder the why. And
we there's a lot of blind trust these days and
whether we're talking about the reality of real life issues
with what's going on with Elon Musk and now you ever,
you gotta trust Elon. You gotta trust him. He's rich,

(10:27):
he doesn't need the money. You gotta trust I'm blind loyalty,
it's all you're here. Okay, we'll see. I'm not in
a position of matter here, I can't you know. It's
one man's opinion, one man's take. The decision makers decided
to roll with blind trusts for this guy. Cool, all right,
we'll see what happens. I hope for the best here

(10:48):
we are right now. Elon to Howie, Howie to Elon kid.
I'm just wondering. It's like we have this blind trust,
but on the surface, I just don't see the connection.
How he it's early free agency just started. How He
has come out and said, Hey, it's gonna need Eagles

(11:11):
fans to have little patience. Things are going to take
some time to fill in some of the roster holes
that they are going to have over the first few weeks.
Because this is what happens when you have the team's
success that the Eagles just did. You got these vultures,
these teams out there right looking down upon us, just

(11:36):
trying to pick any and he scraps from the championship
team that they could possibly find. Cjgj's not scraps. Milton
Williams not scraps. Josh Sweat not scraps. Thereius Slay not scraps.
There good players and that defense as a whole, which
we knew they were going to lose players, has taken

(11:59):
a significant hit over the first two days of free agency.
My guess at this point in time, and I would
love to know your thoughts out there at Fox Pho Gibler,
My thoughts at this point in time are this when
it comes to CJGJ, we know what type of personality

(12:22):
he is. Hell, there's some back and forth going on
right now with Darius Slay and of course CJ. Well
documented on the Gambler Instagram pages. Those two guys were
sitting next to each other at the Philly Show. I
would just say that the majority of the time, when
you get those type of personalities in your locker room
again hashtag one man's take here, it's better to have

(12:47):
those guys and cut ties a little earlier than to
have them hanging around later. As great of a player
as CJGJ was last years, out of a player I
believe he will be next year as much as a
fan favorite he has become. I do believe some of

(13:08):
that is true here, and probably part of the reason
that how he is saying, you know what, maybe it's
time to move off of a guy like that and
see what else we can get in here, whether it's
draft or were doubting his drafting capabilities. No, I don't
think so, but I think some part of that is true.

(13:32):
I have a hard time believing that this is just
based off of, well, we're buying low on mister Green
from Houston and we're selling high with CJGJ at this
point in time, because I don't really read that as
selling high on the bare bones, just the basics of
that trade. There's something else going on there. Fifty three

(13:57):
men make a roster. There's a lot of personalities in
that room, no doubt about it. It takes another type
of dude to shine to shine through when it comes
to those personalities. And anyone gonna second guess me on
that one. As far as CJGJ and the attitude he
has and it makes him who he is on the field.

(14:19):
There's no doubt about it in our minds. But if
I'm the general manager, maybe that's playing into some of
my decisions, that's all. And is he right with looking
at it like that? We'll see. He knows what he's
doing when I'm talking about how He Rosemand here. They
just won the Super Bowl. They've been in the running

(14:39):
for the division year after year. This is a winning
is a great franchise since Howy Roseman has taken over.
Can't jump off the ship now? Can we over this move? No?
Nobody is, but everybody on the timeline is wondering what
exactly is going on and what truth will we get?

(15:02):
We'll see now. I do want to put this out
there because CJGJ, as I said, did release a statement.
And it is interesting when you know, you get a
guy like the move just went down and here he
is going, yeah, we're gonna go ahead and put out
this this graphic here. And it's not to say that

(15:25):
those things don't happen, but it was pretty funny to
me how fast it did happen. That's all. Let's see here.
Thank you, Philly Man. I gotta break up my readers
for this one. Thank you. Philly, forever number eight in
your corner. You've been more than a city to me.

(15:45):
You've been a home. From the moment I stepped on
to Linking Financial, I knew I'd find a place where
passion isn't just celebrated, it's demanded. Who I like that line,
Damn Hollie, and I gave everything, every snap, every hit,
every ounce in my bones. This decision wasn't mine, but

(16:06):
I walk away proud of what we built together, becoming
a two time NFC champion and Super Bowl champion. The
force fumbles and game ceiling interceptions, those moments belong to us.
This is good. Whoever wrote this, this is really good.
You taught me that greatness isn't just about highlights. It's
about clawing back harder and fiercer, just like this city

(16:30):
does every day. To my teammates, brothers, we bled, cursed,
and laughed through it all. To the coaches and front office,
thank you for trusting a kid from Florida with a
chip on his shoulder to lead this defense. And to
the Philly faithful. You're unmatched. You embrace my edge and
fire for this game. Even when I got too hot, Philly,
you helped me carve my name into this league. But

(16:52):
this isn't goodbye, it's thank you. That's good. That's really good.
I get it. I don't know who helped him write that,
if he wrote that, not trying to take anything away
from him, but I would assume that people did help.
When we get throwing round of applause, nice work, Chauncey
Gardner Johnson. Yes you will, you will be remembered. That's

(17:15):
all I could say about that. What a dynamic personality
and a hell of a player on the field for
the Eagles. All right, again, love to know your thoughts
on it and where we act, because it's it's it's
stirring some things up in the timeline. I had somebody
tweet me, oh, who are you to talk about offensive?
I'm not. I'm not Jeff stoutlin I don't want to

(17:36):
talk offensive lineman. I don't. I try not to get
into that world. Leave that to the baldies, leave that
to the you know, the the wit words. There's plenty
of people that can give Jeff Schwartz, there are plenty
of offensive linemen that can go ahead and and break
that down x's and o's. I'm just speakly speaking from
looking at the locker room type of personality, the stuff

(17:58):
that is happening right now. And oh, by the way,
and this will be a challenge for the Eagles, how
do you stay away from getting fat? You know, you're
on the celebrity tour and I don't think we're nowhere
near this conversation. I'm not not trying to to have

(18:18):
it right now on March the eleventh. But it often
does come back to the two thousand and eight, two
thousand and nine run for the Philadelphia Phillies and when
they won that World Series. There are expectations for the
champion of that said league to be doing things. It's
called the circuit, whether you're out there and being rewarded

(18:41):
with some awards or you know, sponsors coming in. Like
the Eagles are rock stars right now and they deserve
every minute of it. Let them get out there, shine
as bright as they want. Eventually that time will call
in the summertime and when it's ready to put the

(19:01):
helmet back on shoulder pads. And last year was last year.
I thought the Chiefs always did a good job with it.
But that's got to be challenging. It's got to be
challenging from a championship perspective. To get those rings to
drop the banner, you got to put all of that
stuff behind you because it's new and this is the

(19:23):
team you just did it for, so it's like it's
somewhat new, but man like, it's hard to not enjoy that,
and you should be able to enjoy it. But there's
a fine line between doing things over the top, getting fat,

(19:44):
blowing your head up, taking the foot off the gas pedal,
and then versus being ready to go for a new
season where essentially everybody is zero and zero oh and oh,
we're not there, long way to go. But it did
hit me when we were at the Philly show specifically

(20:05):
about Cooper Degen because my man is about as how
as it gets Cooper. His stock is through the roof.
Cooper Dejane was signing autographs while Chase Sutley was there,
and with all love and respect to the great one
Chase Sutley, there weren't many people there that were lining
up specifically for Chase. One man's opinion, there were plenty

(20:28):
of people there, don't get me wrong, but Cooper was
Cooper's the rock star right now, and again he's a
rookie so he'll learn. Hopefully the vets are gonna be
in his ear a little bit. We got to bring
him back down to Earth come around May or something
like that. Again, it's it's march. Enjoy this. I hope
those guys continue to party. Enjoy this so much. But
it does make you think a little bit. Because of

(20:50):
the time of year it is. Right now, a lot
of these teams are hitting the reset button. A lot
of these teams are continuing to do the right things
in their minds. We'll see what takes place throughout the
course of seventeen games. But man, some of these rosters
are starting to take shape, and somebod these teams are
getting better at this very moment. Specifically the Washington Commanders.
They look good. They're trying to protect their number one

(21:11):
product down there in Jayden Daniels. Well, now they went
out there and made two moves for offensive linemen. That
can only help you out. You need some depth there.
Nobody's making it through a full season these days, so
I like what DC they're putting together. Long way Togo.
Are there any free agents of substance that have caught
your attention that have ended up in a new spot

(21:34):
One for me, and that's DeVante Adams, Davonte Adams with
the La Rams, tremendous on all fronts. Nice work by
the agent and Davonte to say, you know what, our
next best stop for us is in LA You're talking
about a gentleman who could very well have been discussed

(21:55):
as the number one wide receiver, was discussed as the
number one receiver one season, maybe two, maybe three. There
were plenty of people there that had him ranked as
the number one overall wide receiver. And then he became
his own worst enemy by chasing the money. Easy for
me to say, going to the Las Vegas Raiders and then, oh,
by the way, following his boy Aaron Rodgers to the

(22:17):
New York Jets, and he became somewhat of an afterthought,
somewhat of where we're talking about some other receivers that
are free agents, potential trade options, so on and so forth,
and we're wondering when you stacked up a DK Metcalfe,
Chris Godwin, you know at DeVante Adams, where are we

(22:38):
ranking mister Adams thirty two years old. It's important for
him to get this one right. And not only did
they get it right, that's a grand slam. That is
an offense that we know what they're capable of. The defense.
They have young guns over there. We saw that with
their own eyes, and in January when the Rams came

(23:00):
to town, that defense was stout. That defense was really
good in my mind. Offensively, you got Pooka and he
got Adams on the outside, decent run game, McVeigh as
the play caller, and you're still able to roll through

(23:21):
with Stafford the Rams. Again, nobody's winning anything. You don't
get any banners, you're not getting any rings for offseason moves.
But they have put it together and then some I
like what the Rams have going on right now, and
I thought the move of so far free agency with
Adams going there was clearly number one. We've still got

(23:41):
a lot of big names that are out there. Of course, quarterbacks.
Where will Aaron Rodgers end up? That's a fun one.
Could it be the Pittsburgh Steelers. We'll see. I wouldn't
mind seeing Aaron Rodgers calling a career with Mike Tomlin.
They should do it. Why not. Supposedly they were in
on the Sam Darnold deal. He chose to go to Seattle.
All right, if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now what don't

(24:04):
run it back with Russ. You can't do that, can't
do that, need to make something happen. Seems like they're aggressive.
Go ahead and bring Rogers in. Why not? Why not?
Him and Tomlin do have that respect for each other.
So maybe you can get him to cool down some
of the podcasts and stuff like that. We'll see. But

(24:25):
at the end of the day, I still think Rogers
has plenty of talent left in that arm mentally, can
he get it together and of course can you keep
him upright? That's the number one concern when it comes
to Aaron Rodgers at this point in time of his career.
We'll talk more NFL. We got plenty to discuss as
far as free agency is concerned. Who's doing what, Whether
we've had any any odds movements because of some of

(24:48):
these moves. We'll discuss all that. Fire out DraftKings sportsbook.
Make sure you use brace as the promo code. But
coming up here at three thirties A. You're Franklin Local,
cat West, oak Lane, LaSalle. Heist now tackling anybody and
everybody for the Indianapolis Colts. He's doing some good things
in the community here in Philadelphia, and then some very

(25:10):
impressive young man. Can't wait to talk to mister Franklin
on the other side, He's going to join me talk
a little bit about Shalisa's Angels, all that and more.
As I said, Ryan Beef is going to join me
at four thirty five o'clock Picks and Roll All Things
NBA with Sean Bernard Man. I watched that Sixers game
last night just so defeating, so deflating, whatever word you

(25:33):
want to use, just tuning in and watching that Drek
and I know the tank is on, so essentially they
accomplished what they were going out to do last night.
But how the hell did we get here? It's the
daily ticket, plenty to do. Don't clieve were