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  • Ranking the NFL color analysts: Tom Brady shines while Tony Romo struggles (just like old times)

    Ranking the NFL color analysts: Tom Brady shines while Tony Romo struggles (just like old times)

    Tony Romo, as quarterback of America’s Team, went 0-2 head-to-head against Tom Brady.

    Brady, as quarterback of the best team in NFL history, finished his career with seven Super Bowl rings in 10 trips, nine of them with the New England Patriots. Romo never even made it to a conference final.

    When they retired, to the delight of Eagles fans who hated them with equal vigor, each took his fame and fortune and headed to the broadcast booth.

    There, Brady still dominates Romo.

    That was never more apparent than Sunday, when Romo ruined the broadcast portion of an already ugly AFC championship game on CBS. Immediately afterward, Brady burnished a brilliant NFC title game for Fox. As on the field, the contrast in the booths was hideously stark.

    Howie Roseman will have a role in remaking the Eagles offense. Here’s his offseason to-do list.

    With only one game to go, it seems like a good time to review that most controversial of TV entities: NFL in-game analysts. Mike Tirico, broadcasting’s version of the vanilla milkshake, and Cris Collinsworth, who’s my No. 3, will present Super Bowl LX in two weeks on NBC. It will be fine, but it will be hard.

    Color commentary is vastly more difficult than you can imagine. I’ve done it a few times as an emergency replacement for a basketball broadcast, and, in the parlance of social media, I sucked.

    The job requires research, alertness, rhythm with a partner, familiarity with every coach, and mastery of the game’s history. It requires knowledge of rules, of strategy, of game-day procedures, of tendencies, of strengths and of weaknesses.

    Then, in real time, you have to explain what’s happening to millions of mildly inebriated fans, most of whom wouldn’t know a naked blitz from a naked blintz.

    It’s like a cardiologist describing heart surgery to Grey’s Anatomy fans.

    Tony Romo (left) turned heads early in his broadcast career, but his strengths have become less evident.

    The bashing of NFL booth analysts has become a weekend sport on social media. Keyboard warriors armed with pimple patches and analytics dissect every misspoken word or overlooked strategy, and they attack with verve and glee.

    That said, for years we were spoiled by masters of the craft, none better than Pat Summerall and his partner, the granddaddy of authentic commentary, John Madden, unburdened by the precision of high-definition television and, for the most part, by replay review. It was a simpler, better time.

    My job keeps me busy most football weekends. As a result, I’m not free to watch many other NFL games, and so I am less familiar with the flat-screen visitors to man caves and dens on weekends and Monday nights. However, thanks to Thursday Night Football, other prime-time and Sunday-morning broadcasts, and the Eagles’ recent abrupt exit from the playoffs, for the past few months I’ve been able to catch a few games.

    And … man, was I disappointed.

    Your updated guide to the 2026 Eagles offseason: A new coaching vacancy, and the search for the next OC

    Expectations

    I covered Romo and Brady extensively as players. It was hard to dislike Romo and impossible to like Brady. Now, it’s hard to listen to Romo and impossible to dislike Brady.

    I expected Romo to be a star.

    Having covered him extensively and having found him to be comfortable, affable, and knowledgeable, I was delighted with his “Romo-stradamus” debut with CBS in 2017. He seemed to correctly predict every big play call, then offer pointed commentary as to why it worked or why it didn’t.

    He seldom does that now. Instead, he constantly offers banal observations in the most excited of tones, often contradictory and seldom helpful. It’s just a lot of hyperbolic blather, never worse than in the moments after he talked over Jim Nantz following Patrick Mahomes’ game-winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl LVIII.

    On the other hand, I expected Brady to be a flop.

    I covered Robo-Tom in four of his Super Bowls, as well as many other big games, including the Battle of the Unbeatens in Indianapolis in 2007, when he and Randy Moss beat Peyton Manning. I was embedded in New England before the AFC championship game after the 2017 season. Never once did Brady give me any reason to expect he would be anything more than a wax statue in the broadcast booth.

    Wrong.

    Eagles offensive coordinator search: New names hit the list of candidates

    Excellence

    It pains me to say that after an uneven debut in the 2024 season, which culminated with an unremarkable Super Bowl LIX broadcast of the Eagles’ win, Brady is getting better every week. As part of Fox’s first team, he often will correctly identify a penalty in real time so, when the play ends, he immediately reports who committed the penalty long before the official announces it. Troy Aikman used to do this with regularity, less so now. Collinsworth and Kirk Herbstreit often get this right, too.

    Brady’s voice sounds like it belongs to a JV basketball player, but he gets his point across. Brady just seems to know more about the game than the rest of the color commentators; or, at least, Brady seems to care more about teaching the game to viewers.

    His concise, clear dissertation on throwing techniques in windy conditions during the Eagles’ windy wild-card loss Jan. 11 was perhaps the best explanatory moment in the history of NFL broadcast booths.

    He was equally brilliant with his explanation Sunday of why Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s route-running is so efficient: “He maintains the same shoulder plane when he runs his route, so it’s really hard for any defensive back to get a bead on what he’s doing.”

    Madden, a college lineman and then an offensive line coach, introduced America to the intricacies of trench warfare. Collinsworth is great at diagnosing coverages. Romo, meanwhile, seldom provides a level of detailed technique insight for any position, much less quarterback, receiver, and defensive back, the positions with which he should be most familiar.

    Should Tom Brady’s ownership stake in the Raiders be an issue in his broadcast work?

    Why these two?

    Why does any of this matter? Why pick on Romo, in particular?

    Because Romo is in the middle of a 10-year, $180 million deal that expires after the 2030 season, which makes him the second-highest-paid NFL analyst. CBS reported that it just enjoyed its best season ever, and the network debunked rumors that his future might be in peril. So, at 45, he isn’t going anywhere.

    Fox, meanwhile, was roundly criticized for giving Brady a 10-year, $375 million contract that began in 2024, which made him the highest-paid booth analyst in sports despite his complete lack of experience.

    They’re at the top of the food chain. At least Brady belongs there.

    A former St. Joe’s walk-on won $1 million picking NFL games while ‘changing diapers’

    Incredibly, this was just his second season in the booth. Brady still lacks the strategic chops of, say, Greg Olsen, whom Brady replaced as Fox’s No. 1 color commentator last year, but Brady’s already better than Romo ever was.

    Should Brady continue to be allowed to own part of the Las Vegas Raiders while acting as an analyst? That’s an entirely different conversation. Have at it. I generally figure that leagues can do whatever they want, within the constraints of the law. Besides, any insider information Brady gleaned during his weekly preparation as a Fox analyst certainly didn’t help the Raiders much. They went 7-27 the last two seasons.

    As for his primary vocation: Will Brady, who is 48, be the G.O.A.T. in the booth, as he was on the field?

    Probably.

    Even some of those who disliked Troy Aikman (left) as a player can begrudgingly acknowledge his strengths as a color analyst.

    The ranking

    Madden remains unmatched.

    ESPN’s Aikman remains the best and easiest listen in my book, and has been for most of the last 25 years. Then, Brady.

    Collinsworth annoys people, but I think that’s a byproduct of his natural smarminess, because he’s a perfect complement to Tirico’s earnestness.

    I think I’m in the minority when I say I enjoyed Herbstreit on Amazon Prime, at least I did early this year. In the fourth year of a five-year deal, the college football mainstay seemed to come into his own as an NFL commentator this fall. However, he routinely travels thousands of miles every week covering both pro and college ball, and the toll began to show in his commentary later in the NFL season. He’s a free agent after next season, and he’ll be 57. Hopefully, Herbstreit will dial things back and concentrate on the NFL.

    Romo now comes in last.

    This feels a little like punching down. Romo seems to be doing his level best. Maybe he’s a victim of the lofty expectations his early years created. Maybe he’s been coached to be more expressive and less technical.

    Romo’s current slump reminds me of the point in his career when, after a promising first six seasons as a starter, he led the NFL in interceptions in 2012. Romo then had his best season in 2014 before injury forced him to the booth.

    Maybe he can rebound in this career, too.

    But, as in the NFL, Romo will never catch the G.O.A.T.

  • Howie Roseman will have a role in remaking the Eagles offense. Here’s his offseason to-do list.

    Howie Roseman will have a role in remaking the Eagles offense. Here’s his offseason to-do list.

    Diversification should be the operational word for Howie Roseman and his front office this offseason.

    You’ve heard it said that the Eagles have more talent on their roster than any team in the NFL. The claim is more often than not the source of the shade thrown at Nick Sirianni and his coaching staff. When the Eagles win, it is because of their overwhelming talent. When the Eagles lose, it is because of how their overwhelming talent is coached.

    That claim wasn’t true at the end of the 2025 season, and I’m not sure it was true at any point. The Eagles were getting less than 100 percent of Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens and zero percent of Lane Johnson. Even if A.J. Brown was 95 percent of the player he had been over the previous three years, that missing five percent is often what distinguishes very good players from unstoppable ones. Same goes for Saquon Barkley, whose name popped up on the injury report late in the season and who lacked at least some percentage of the lateral improvisation and finishing abilities that he’d displayed during the Eagles’ 2024 championship run.

    All of these things could prove to be temporary, the result of the shortened recovery period that comes as a result of a season ending in mid-January rather than early February. It stands to reason that those most impacted would be players whose competitive advantage lies in their sheer physicality. Johnson, Brown, Barkley, Dickerson, and Jurgens weren’t as physically capable as they were in 2024. Yet, here we are, fixated on the play-calling.

    Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is knee-deep in preparations for the draft and free agency.

    That’s not to say the Eagles offense won’t benefit from a new strategic direction. But their problems clearly are not singular in nature, given the depth and breadth of their issues. For three seasons, the Eagles’ scheme was the logical conclusion of their personnel. They went to two Super Bowls and won one in a blowout because their talent allowed them — heck, required them — to keep it simple.

    What we saw this season was a team whose elite performers could be mitigated enough to place the onus on those operating in their shadow. This reality expressed itself most clearly in the form of Dallas Goedert. He scored eight more touchdowns and averaged nearly as many targets per game as he did in 2022, when he averaged 59 yards per game and arrived at the Super Bowl being compared to Travis Kelce. But, this season, Goedert averaged just 39.4 yards per game, his lowest output since he was a rookie.

    Eagles need more than a new coordinator to revamp their offense

    If the path forward for the Eagles is a scheme that does not rely as heavily on the singular abilities of players like Johnson and Brown and Barkley — and it almost certainly is — the path forward requires a roster that allows for such a scheme. It is a roster that has a third wide receiver with much better ball skills, and/or physicality on routes, than Jahan Dotson brings. It is a roster that has a second tight end who brings positive value as a run blocker and makes a catch or two a game. It is a roster that has a change-of-pace back who adds a different dimension from Barkley.

    Let’s address those in order:

    1) Fix the tight end position

    Tight end is as important as it has ever been. Among the 13 highest-graded run blockers at the position according to Pro Football Focus, only two played for teams that missed the playoffs.

    All three Eagles tight ends ranked among the 15 lowest-graded run blockers at the position (among 94 total).

    Goedert’s future isn’t the only question. He’ll be a free agent after playing 2025 on a one-year deal. But the Eagles also need to find a TE2 who can complement the starter.

    Grant Calcaterra and the Eagles tight ends came up short as blockers.

    The Eagles were one of only five teams in the league that didn’t have a second tight end with at least 100 yards receiving. That’s partially due to the presence of two top-end wide receivers who were targeted on nearly half of Jalen Hurts’ pass attempts. But there is also a chicken-and-egg component to the Eagles’ narrow pass distribution. Would Hurts distribute the ball more evenly with a wider set of options? The Rams had four tight ends with at least 200 receiving yards despite Puka Nacua and Davante Adams combining for nearly half of the team’s targets.

    The Eagles missed out on last year’s bumper draft crop at the position. They are missing what they once had in Goedert — a young, three-dimensional player who is poised to step up the way he did alongside of and then in place of Zach Ertz. They have no choice but to focus on the free-agent market. Jake Tonges is likely to return to the 49ers as a restricted free agent. The Ravens’ Isaiah Likely is unrestricted, but is likely to have a significant market. The Eagles need to find this year’s version of Colby Parkinson and move aggressively the way the Rams did post-2023.

    2) Replace Jahan Dotson

    A lot was made of the non-pass interference call deep down the left sideline in the Eagles’ playoff loss to the 49ers. But a receiver needs to earn those calls. Dotson has not.

    In the entire NFL, there was only one wide receiver who caught fewer than 29 passes while playing at least 575 snaps. It was Jahan Dotson. He caught 18.

    Eagles wide receiver Jahan Dotson caught only 18 passes this season.

    The Eagles’ fourth-leading receiver was Saquon Barkley with 50 targets, 37 catches and 273 yards. Dotson was behind him with 36 targets, 18 catches and 262 yards.

    Only three playoff teams didn’t have a fourth pass-catcher with 300-plus yards: the Eagles, the Seahawks, and the Panthers. Of the 14 teams that made the playoffs, eight had at least five players with 300-plus receiving yards, including six of the eight teams that advanced to the divisional round.

    That doesn’t prove anything, of course. There are lots of different ways to operate a functional passing offense. Nobody is saying the Seahawks would be better off if more of Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s targets went to Elijah Arroyo. But even the Seahawks’ pass distribution was fairly broad beyond their top three target-getters. They finished the season with eight players who had at least 22 targets and 144 receiving yards. The Eagles had five players with more than 13 targets and 92 receiving yards while throwing the ball about as often as Seattle (slightly more, in fact).

    Nick Sirianni’s forceful vote of confidence from Howie Roseman

    Let’s not forget the whole point of this exercise. While functional NFL passing offenses take all sorts of forms, the Eagles’ passing offense was not functional. Assuming Brown returns and continues to draw the same coverages he and DeVonta Smith faced this season, the Eagles need a third wide receiver who can actually take advantage of the lack of attention paid to him.

    3) A change-of-pace back

    The Eagles need their version of the Ravens’ Justice Hill, a player who can take a screen pass 20-plus yards or gash a defense on the infamous third-and-long Will Shipley draw. Tank Bigsby was an excellent find by Roseman, but he brings a similar dimension to Barkley. The goal here is to find a veteran back with quickness and pass-catching ability who can be more than a lesser version of the lead back.

    Long story short, the Eagles either need to upgrade the breadth of their skill sets behind their Big Three (Brown, Smith, Barkley) and/or find a fourth player who brings his own dynamic skill set that can exploit the defense’s focus on the stars.

    Sure, they need a play-caller who can enable their skill players to fully express themselves.

    They also need the skills.

  • ‘Not elite’ Bryce Harper might lose his No. 3 spot in the Phillies lineup, flip with Kyle Schwarber at No. 2

    ‘Not elite’ Bryce Harper might lose his No. 3 spot in the Phillies lineup, flip with Kyle Schwarber at No. 2

    Maybe giving Bryce Harper better protection will return him to “elite” status.

    The most intriguing tidbit the Phillies provided Tuesday in their Hot Stove state of the union news conferences concerned how the run-it-back lineup will be organized.

    The Phils led the National League in batting average and finished second in OPS as they won their second consecutive NL East title. That offense was led by a lineup that generally featured Trea Turner leading off, Kyle Schwarber batting second, and Harper batting third. Harper has spent most of his career batting third.

    This year might be different.

    “Yeah, I’ve got some ideas,” said manager Rob Thomson. “I’ve got to talk to the players about it, but you could see a change this year, flipping those guys around a little bit.”

    Are the Phillies ‘running it back’? Maybe, but that’s not the most important question for 2026

    Asked later if the changes could involve Harper moving out of the three-hole, Thomson said, “Yes.”

    A change might do him good.

    A wrist injury and a steady diet of breaking balls — a career-high 41.3% — led to Harper’s worst season since 2016. His .844 OPS was 22nd in baseball and more than 50 points below his .911 career OPS entering 2025.

    This dip in production led Phillies president Dave Dombrowski, in his postseason news conference in October, to cast Harper as “a quality player” who didn’t “have an elite season like he has had in the past.”

    This upset Harper, who, nine days later, told The Athletic he was “hurt” by the comments and the resulting fallout. That included speculation that the Phillies might be better off trading Harper — media-fueled speculation, and something the Phillies never considered.

    Dombrowski has said he had a conversation with Harper in November and emerged from that discussion believing that their relationship was fine.

    Then, on Dec. 26, Harper posted a TikTok video of himself hitting in a batting cage while wearing a sweatshirt that said, “NOT ELITE.”

    He doesn’t seem fine.

    Simmering

    Harper had announced via social on Dec. 23 that he plans to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in March.

    Thomson said Tuesday that Harper had been hitting in late December, earlier than usual, to better prepare for the WBC … and, maybe, to make Dombrowski eat his words.

    “I think he’s motivated. I really do,” Thomson said. “I think he’s motivated to play for his country, and I think he’s motivated to win a world championship.”

    Marcus Hayes: Dave Dombrowski says ‘we’re content’ despite big-name free agents still available. ‘Not elite’ offseason continues for Phillies.

    Will Harper be motivated to move from the No. 3 spot?

    His career OPS while batting second is .791 in 1,010 plate appearances, though those numbers reflect him as a much younger player. In his most recent stretch of hitting No. 2 — 14 games last season — Harper’s OPS was .900.

    Schwarber, meanwhile, has a career OPS of .882 when batting second and .816 when batting third, though he only has 209 plate appearances batting third. For what it’s worth, Schwarber’s OPS in the cleanup spot is .937 in 475 plate appearances.

    Fair point

    Dombrowski might have put his foot in his mouth in October, but he’s right. Harper’s production lagged in 2025. He’s 33 this season.

    A lineup change might be just what the Topper ordered.

    This isn’t the first time Harper’s spot in the lineup has come into question with spring training looming. In fact, this time last year nobody knew who would hit where, exactly. The three previous seasons, Schwarber had been an unusual leadoff hitter — low-average, high-power, few RBIs.

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    The Phillies were eager to harness Schwarber’s power (they did: he led baseball with 132 RBIs last year) and replace him up top with Turner or Bryson Stott. If that didn’t work, they hoped their best hitter since ,might be willing to do the job.

    Harper was not interested in that.

    “Obviously, I’m a three-hole hitter, and I have been, but whenever they’ve told me to hit two or four, I’ve done that in the past,” Harper said last spring. “I like to see pitches before I hit, seeing what the guy’s going to do.”

    It’s unlikely Harper will be asked to hit leadoff this season, considering last year Turner won both the job and the NL batting title, hitting .304.

    David Murphy: Mets take aim at Phillies with Freddy Peralta and Bo Bichette, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves

    But it seems extremely likely that Harper and Schwarber will switch, at least occasionally. Both bat left-handed, but Schwarber hit 23 homers off lefties last season with a .962 OPS, both records for left-handed hitters. Of course, he did this with Harper usually standing in the on-deck circle.

    And when Harper came to bat, pitchers knew the No. 4 hitter wasn’t much of a threat. Usually, it was a right-hander like Nick Castellanos, J.T. Realmuto, or Alec Bohm, all of whom struggled in 2025. Early in the season, it was Schwarber.

    Who now?

    This season, $10 million free agent Adolis García will probably get the first chance. He’s hit mostly cleanup the past four years. He’s a right-handed hitter. He has power potential, averaging just over 30 home runs for the Rangers from 2021-24.

    No other player makes sense, especially since Thomson will want to maximize the number of appearances for his would-be elite players, Schwarber and Harper.

    ‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Jesús Luzardo on J.T. Realmuto’s impact, his WBC decision, and more

    So, ultimately, who will protect whom? It will be one of the more interesting story lines at spring training.

    It also might not be determined by the end of the Phillies’ preseason. The WBC could occupy Harper for two full weeks right in the middle of spring training.

    That might be irrelevant. In a make-or-break season for a Phillies core that has underachieved the past three years, it sounds like Thomson might juggle the lineup every day of the season if he feels like it, preference and feelings be damned.

    His current philosophy:

    “Whoever’s hitting good — protect them.”

  • There’s a mystery candidate for the Eagles’ offensive coordinator job. Here’s how the interview went.

    There’s a mystery candidate for the Eagles’ offensive coordinator job. Here’s how the interview went.

    “Hey, Howie, thanks for making the time.”

    “You got it. Have a seat. How’s your day been so far?”

    “Good. Just finished up with Mr. Lurie. I’m very appreciative that you all were willing to have me in to talk.”

    “Of course!”

    “I mean, it’s not often you see an NFL FRANCHISE SEEKING OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR posting on LinkedIn. And I wasn’t even sure if that Easy Apply link actually worked!”

    “Hey, you never know where you’ll find the right candidate. We like to cast a wide net. So why don’t you tell me why you think you’re the right person to be the next offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.”

    “Sure. Well, I think I have the experience necessary to thrive in the position.”

    “How so?”

    Mike McDaniel (left) is off the board and Brian Daboll seems unlikely, but head coach experience might still be on the Eagles’ OC checklist.

    “I mean, my resumé kind of speaks for itself. I’ve been a quarterbacks coach, a wide receivers coach, and an offensive coordinator. I’ve called plays. I’ve been part of winning organizations. I know you respect the coaches and offensive minds I’ve worked for and learned from.”

    “True. That’s absolutely true.”

    “And, to be frank, Howie, I’m open to exploring a new role that will allow me to flex my coaching muscles in a way that I haven’t in a long time.”

    “Totally get that.”

    “And the idea of taking on this particular role with the Eagles would be a challenge that I’d relish.”

    “You want to take on all the challenges and problems and obstacles that come with this job?”

    “Definitely.”

    “We have a quarterback who seems like he doesn’t want to run the ball anymore, even though running the ball was a big part of what has made him really good — even great — when he has been really good.”

    Can the Eagles’ mystery OC candidate devise a plan to get the most out of Jalen Hurts’ legs?

    “I know. I’ve been watching Jalen. I think I can help him. I think someone has to help him.”

    “He doesn’t throw the ball over the middle of the field, either.”

    “Seen it. Thought about it. Have plans to change it.”

    “What about the pressure that comes with this job? I mean, you saw what happened to the last guy, right?”

    “I did. Hey, Philadelphia is a passionate sports town. Nothing better. My kids and I already have tons of Phillies and Sixers apparel. We’re in.”

    “As I’m sure you know, we cannot guarantee you egg-free housing.”

    “I know.”

    “It’s one of the … charming consequences, I guess you’d call it … of being an Eagles coach.”

    Have the Eagles found the offensive coordinator candidate with a proper understanding of the fan base’s passions?

    “Oh, you don’t have to tell me. I’ve coached at the Linc often enough to get a sense of it. Even had some spirited conversations with some fans about it. The atmosphere around here can be intimidating, I know, and man, those folks can say some things that get your back up. But I’m at the stage of my career where I think I can handle it.”

    “All right. Well, as you know by now, I’m sure, we operate a bit differently from a lot of other teams around the league.”

    “You sure do.”

    “We view the head coach as more of a conduit between those of us at the top of the leadership pyramid and the locker room.”

    “Yep.”

    “Our head coach doesn’t call plays, for instance. That will be the new OC’s responsibility.”

    “Well aware.”

    “I mean, we’re not inherently opposed to the idea of having a head coach call the plays for the offense. But we’ve realized over the last few years that investing our coordinators with a lot of say-so over the direction of their units is the way to go. Look at Vic. Look how that’s worked out. Our goal is to find someone who fits that mold. There’s a certain … gravitas … that comes with being a coordinator here in 2026. You call the formations and plays. You oversee that side of the ball with near-unfettered discretion. In some ways, whoever we end up hiring as our new OC will have more power than our head coach.”

    “That’s one of the reasons I want the job.”

    “I can understand that. And I have to say, your resumé and experience show that you’re willing to be flexible. You definitely do what’s asked of you.”

    “I try.”

    “OK. So, Jeffrey and I will talk. We’ll ‘confab,’ as it were. Lots to get to in the meantime, of course. Draft prep. Free agency prep. Super Bowl week — San Fran! Are you going? The chowder in a bread bowl at Hog Island is a must-do. And don’t fret. When we reach our decision, we’ll let you know.”

    “I understand. Thanks so much for the time, Howie. I’ll talk to you soon, I hope.”

    “You got it, Nick.”

  • Mets take aim at Phillies with Freddy Peralta and Bo Bichette, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves

    Mets take aim at Phillies with Freddy Peralta and Bo Bichette, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves

    Well, it finally happened.

    The Mets made a move that makes sense.

    Freddy Peralta is the kind of acquisition who can change expectations in a hurry. The Phillies know it as well as anybody. They’ve scored three runs in four starts against Peralta since 2022. Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Trea Turner are a combined 2-for-26 with 10 strikeouts against the veteran right-hander in that four-year stretch. They’ll go from facing him once or twice a year to potentially three or four times now that the Mets have shipped a couple of top-100 prospects to the Brewers in exchange for the 29-year-old Peralta, who had a 17-6 record last season, with a 2.70 ERA and 204 strikeouts in 176⅔ innings.

    Phillies re-sign lefty reliever Tim Mayza; Weston Wilson claimed by Orioles

    Wednesday’s trade is the second straight salvo the Mets have fired in the Phillies’ direction. The first was a gut-punch in the form of a three-year, $126 million contract signed by Bo Bichette. The Phillies thought they were about to land the former Blue Jays star on a seven-year, $200 million deal. Instead, the Mets unveiled their unique and devastating spin on the notion of addition by subtraction. Needless to say, it has been a rough week for the Phillies’ NL East odds.

    But let’s not go overboard here. While Major League Baseball doesn’t hand out trophies for sensibility, it also doesn’t hang banners for offseason champs. Offseasons are pretty much the only thing the Mets have won in the 40 years since the ’86 Amazin’s did their thing. They are going to need a lot of things to break right for that to change this year.

    It should be almost impossible for a team to enter spring training with a projected $360-plus million payroll and Jorge Polanco batting cleanup. Yet that’s exactly where the Mets find themselves with three weeks to go before pitchers and catchers report. The Mets can argue all they want that Polanco is a much better value on a two-year, $40 million deal than Pete Alonso would have been on the five-year, $155 million deal that he signed with the Orioles. But Alonso has hit 72 home runs over the last two years, while Polanco has hit 72 over the last four.

    Kyle Schwarber is one of several Phillies who have not fared well against Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta.

    And what about the five-hole? Right now, you’d probably pencil in Marcus Semien there. Which would be great, if “right now” was 2023. But Semien has looked nothing like the guy who finished third in MVP voting for the Rangers during their World Series campaign. In 2024 and 2025, the 35-year-old infielder slashed .234/.307/.379 for a .686 OPS that was almost exactly league average. Semien, whom the Mets acquired from Texas in a trade, is making $26 million this year.

    Luis Robert Jr. could work his way up in the lineup if he hits like he did over his last 35 games last season (.819 OPS, six home runs, 140 plate appearances). Or, he could be a $20 million eight-hole hitter if he hits like he did over the last two seasons overall (.660 OPS, 28 home runs, 856 plate appearances).

    ‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Jesús Luzardo on J.T. Realmuto’s impact, his WBC decision, and more

    There’s no question the Mets have succeeded in building themselves a different lineup. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto are the only name-brand holdovers from a year ago. Brett Baty figures to start at designated hitter after the former top prospect rescued his career with a .311./.372/.500 batting line and seven home runs in his last 42 games. Mark Vientos can only hope to factor into the equation after a season in which he failed miserably to follow up on his 2024 breakout. Again, there are things that can break right. But a team’s win total usually has a negative correlation with the number of “ifs” it brings to spring training. And that likely would have been the case with the Mets, until Wednesday.

    In Peralta and second-year sensation Nolan McLean, the Mets will have the kind of 1-2 punch atop their rotation that can carry a questionable lineup a long way. In two starts last year, McLean held the Phillies to one run and 14 base runners in 13⅓ innings with 11 strikeouts. Combine his numbers with Peralta’s against Schwarber-Harper-Turner and you get 3-for-40 with 14 strikeouts. If Sean Manaea can get back to his 2024 form (3.47 ERA in 181⅔ innings) and Kodai Senga can stay healthy, the Mets could be a big problem for opposing lineups. And that’s assuming they don’t make another late splash (Framber Valdez, for instance).

    But, then, there’s that pesky little word again. The Mets may yet salvage their offseason and move the needle in a more decisive manner. For now, Phillies fans shouldn’t be too hard on Dave Dombrowski’s roster. It’s still better than the Mets, for about 80% of the price.

  • Reports: Top OC picks Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll spurn Eagles. Are they ‘dumb,’ ‘stupid,’ or justified?

    Reports: Top OC picks Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll spurn Eagles. Are they ‘dumb,’ ‘stupid,’ or justified?

    Jake Rosenberg is Howie Roseman‘s former salary cap wizard who left the Eagles two years ago for greener pastures. Rosenberg now is a consultant for college athletes and administrators, as well as a headhunter for doctors. Quite the CV.

    He’s also a hardy tweeter.

    On Tuesday night, after Brian Daboll interviewed with the Eagles for the vacant offensive coordinator position, Rosenberg quote-tweeted a report from The Athletic’s NFL reporter, Diana Russini, refuting her answer to a question posed during her appearance on 94-WIP’s afternoon show that painted the Eagles’ job as unattractive: “I think coordinators on this list are aware that navigating Philly is difficult.”

    Rosenberg, a fiery sort, called both the question and the answer “dumb,” as he issued what you would have to assume was a state-sanctioned response, with a list of nine reasons.

    Cleaned up from its Twitter-speak abbreviations, the post read thus:

    “Ask dumb questions get dumb answers. …

    “1. Talent at skills positions and quarterback. 2. Market. 3. Head coach with five straight playoff appearances and two Super Bowl appearances. 4. Two offensive coordinators who got head coaching jobs. 5. Best GM in league. 6. Max prime-time games. 7. Offensive line. 8. Draft resources. 9. (Generous) Ownership.

    “I’m sure an OC wouldn’t want this job. So stupid.”

    Marcus Hayes: Sean McDermott’s firing could make Eagles’ pursuit of Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll for OC much harder

    Minutes before Rosenberg’s post, Russini, among others, reported that Mike McDaniel would take the Chargers’ OC job if he didn’t get one of the head-coaching jobs still in play.

    A league source said Wednesday that McDaniel made his decision after a lengthy virtual interview with the Eagles early this week.

    On Wednesday morning, Russini, among others, reported that Daboll would take the OC job in Tennessee if he wasn’t hired as Sean McDermott’s replacement as the Bills’ head coach. Whatever happened in Philly on Tuesday convinced Daboll by Wednesday that Nashville and Buffalo were better places for him.

    If the reports are correct, it’s a scathing indictment on what appears to be a prime NFL job. Until you look a little closer.

    Then you see the cracks in the Eagles’ foundation, and you realize:

    Maybe it’s not so prime.

    Counterpoints

    The QB

    The Eagles aren’t the only team with QB talent. Bills star Josh Allen and Chargers starter Justin Herbert are simply better than Jalen Hurts. Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick by the Titans in 2025, has a much higher ceiling than Hurts has ever displayed.

    Yes, Hurts is the reigning Super Bowl MVP, but he has arm strength that is no better than average. After five seasons as a starter he’s shown himself to be slow to process what defenses present him, and often he is blind to open receivers. After several injuries including a late-season concussion in 2024, he is ever more reluctant to run, which, in his first four seasons, was his superpower. Also, in an era of 6-foot-4 passers he’s just 6-foot-1. As we all know, every inch counts.

    The Philly experience

    Yes, Philadelphia is a big, vibrant market, but lately that passion has boiled over into abuse. The environment for any coordinator or head coach in Philadelphia is especially toxic. It takes a thick skin to survive a fan base that has treated the last two defensive coordinators and two of the last three offensive coordinators horribly. A few days after a Black Friday home loss, Eagles fans egged the house of former offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.

    Eagles’ key offensive players were better (or worse) than you might have thought, the advanced stats say

    The toxicity is driven by two sports talk radio shows and endless podcasts and local TV shows, an ecosystem of which I am a part as a host on 94-WIP. It also is driven by a print and online press corps, also of which I am a part. Finally, it is driven by a hot-take national media industry, mainly podcasts and analyst gaggles, populated mostly by retired athletes and coaches who recklessly farm engagement.

    The combination creates a stressful situation that would affect any human being, as well as his family. None of that is going to change, but, given a choice, you can understand why some candidates would decline to engage with the unique Philadelphia experience.

    The GM

    Roseman might be the best GM in the NFL over the last nine years, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to have the best roster in 2026. Any top OC candidate is looking at the Eagles job as a one-year stepping stone to the 2027 cycle of head-coaching vacancies. The 2026 Eagles are richly talented on paper, but they are saddled with far more questions than answers.

    Which Eagles should Stay or Go next season? Swipe and decide.

    Further, the Eagles could not land their top candidates when they hired both Nick Sirianni in 2021 and Doug Pederson in 2016. One big obstacle: Eagles head coaches have little say over roster construction, and Roseman can be difficult to work with.

    Why would this matter to an offensive coordinator hire? Because, if the offense shines in 2026 but the team does poorly, Sirianni could be fired. His OC would be considered for the vacancy — a vacancy made less attractive by Roseman’s imposing presence.

    Head coach

    While Sirianni has made the playoffs in each of his five seasons in Philly, he’s also suffered unceremonious defeats in three of those playoff trips. He also has displayed an inability to control his emotions, which causes distractions, whether it’s with his players, like A.J. Brown or Jalen Carter, or with fans, both home and away.

    And, while it might have been entertaining, pairing Sirianni with a combustible coach like Daboll would have been like smoking a cigarette in a gunpowder factory.

    Offensive line

    When healthy and rested, left tackle Jordan Mailata, left guard Landon Dickerson, center Cam Jurgens, and right tackle Lane Johnson are the best combination in the business. However, Dickerson, Jurgens, and Johnson have lingering, if not chronic, health concerns.

    The owner

    Jeffrey Lurie is generous and supportive, but he can be … a lot.

    Mostly through Roseman, Lurie monitors the day-to-day machinations of the team more closely than most owners, more often than not watching practice at Roseman’s hip. Also, after every game, Lurie talks with Sirianni and sometimes with other coaches, very extensively, usually before Sirianni addresses the press — a delay of an hour or more from the game’s end.

    Mike Sielski: Nick Sirianni may have figured out how to last as the Eagles’ head coach. Here’s his secret.

    Other owners talk to their coaches, too, but not to this degree.

    Again, for better or worse, anyone who succeeds Sirianni as head coach will be subjected to these weekly postgame interrogations.

    Other issues

    Brown might be the best receiver in Eagles history, but he is, without question, the most distracting. His constant public complaining the past two years, especially on social media, prompted Lurie to publicly reprimand him during a practice in November.

    Also, Brown often did not complete routes and did not make catches he usually makes, particularly in the wild-card playoff loss to the visiting 49ers.

    When asked last week if he planned to trade Brown, Roseman did not say that he would not, despite the crippling salary-cap repercussions that would accompany any trade or cut.

    Regardless, the new OC will inherit the fallout of Brown’s seasons of discontent.

    Other issues include the drop-off in production from Saquon Barkley and the fact that the Birds have no frontline tight end under contract, but these are issues that will accompany most positions.

    The rest of the issues?

    They paint a much less appealing picture.

  • Dave Dombrowski says ‘we’re content’ despite big-name free agents still available. ‘Not elite’ offseason continues for Phillies.

    Dave Dombrowski says ‘we’re content’ despite big-name free agents still available. ‘Not elite’ offseason continues for Phillies.

    In October, in his season-ending news conference following a third consecutive playoff collapse, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski observed, correctly if not wisely, that Bryce Harper did not “have an elite season like he did in the past.”

    Harper took offense. Phillies fans generally sided with Harper, who, on the day after Christmas, posted a video of himself on TikTok taking swings in a batting cage wearing a sweatshirt that said, “NOT ELITE.”

    On Tuesday, in a hot-stove news conference after whiffing on top-level free agent Bo Bichette and instead re-signing J.T. Realmuto, Dombrowski observed, correctly if not wisely, “I think we’re content where we are at this point.”

    This time, every Phillies fan took offense.

    For days, the Phillies had the baseball world on their side. From Thursday at about 4 p.m. until midday Friday, they believed they’d come to a verbal agreement to land Bichette for seven years and $200 million. After Bichette backed out and signed with the New York Mets, the sports world sympathized with Dombrowski, who, in the middle of that same Zoom news conference Tuesday, said:

    “It’s a gut punch. You feel it. You are very upset.” Another top Phillies official said he was “furious.” They were justified, and baseball commiserated.

    But then, with free agents like Cody Bellinger and Framber Valdez still available, Dombrowski dropped “content” … and, well, Phillies nation, still stinging from playoff disasters, was not pleased.

    The Phillies were ‘very close’ to getting Bo Bichette and ended up with J.T. Realmuto. Here’s how it happened.

    With one simple sentence, Dombrowski and the Phillies went from being the victims of Bichette’s treachery to being the club that sat on its hands while its chief rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mets, spent ever more lavishly to pursue winning.

    That’s mostly true. Still, context is important.

    First, as it regards trade targets, Dombrowski can’t say he’s pursuing another team’s player. That’s tampering. Second, tipping his hand regarding any remaining free agents would be poor strategy. Third, he said, “I think.” The phone could ring at any time, be it a general manager proposing a trade or an agent proposing a deal.

    Still, what Dombrowski said imparts a certain finality.

    Or, if you’re a hopeful fan, a certain fatalism.

    Which is fair.

    The Phillies brought back Kyle Schwarber with a five-year, $150 million contract, their biggest move of the offseason to date.

    Dombrowski noted that the Phillies spent money and made moves to remain competitive. Kyle Schwarber re-signed for five years and $150 million, Realmuto re-signed for three years and $45 million, and reliever Brad Keller (Brad Keller?) signed for two years and $22 million. They also traded reliever Matt Strahm for reliever Jonathan Bowlan (Jonathan Bowlan?).

    But are they, as a whole, better?

    No.

    By no stretch of the imagination are they better than they were this time last year, when Zack Wheeler was healthy and Ranger Suárez was on the team.

    And no, they’re not better than they were after they lost Game 4 of the NLDS, when they had Suárez and center fielder Harrison Bader.

    They’re not better. They’re different, but not better.

    They will gamble on outfielder Adolis García, whom they gave a one-year, $10 million deal in the hopes that, at 33, he will improve his .675 OPS and 44 home runs over the last two seasons. Those numbers are chillingly similar to those of the player he will replace, Nick Castellanos, who is one year older (he will be 34 in March), and managed an OPS of .719 and 40 homers in the same time span.

    They will gamble that speedy rookie Justin Crawford can handle center field after acknowledging last year that Crawford might be better served playing in left. They will gamble that hard-throwing rookie Andrew Painter will relocate the command he lost in the minors in 2025 after elbow surgery in 2023 cost him two full seasons.

    Prospects don’t necessarily make teams better; several studies reveal that more than half of the top 100 bust, and of the other half, only a handful make a significant impact. That’s fine. Unless you’re the Dodgers, with their unlimited budget, homegrown talent is the most efficient method to fill the roster.

    J.T. Realmuto is glad to be back with the Phillies and believes he can bounce back at the plate

    The Phillies’ bullpen might be the one unit that is better than it was at the beginning and end of 2025. José Alvarado, who lost time to a PED suspension and an injury, will be back, paired with 100-mph closer Jhoan Duran, Dombrowski’s best deadline addition in years.

    But the Phillies’ starters? Hardly.

    Wheeler is the best Phillies pitcher since Steve Carlton. Since 2021, Suárez ranks seventh in Wins Above Replacement, at 17.7, ahead of Gerrit Cole and Valdez, but still almost 10 behind Wheeler, the leader. Wheeler and Suárez will be replaced by Painter and Taijuan Walker.

    The lineup won’t be better, just older. The principals — Realmuto, Trea Turner, Schwarber, and Harper — will all be at least 33 by the end of the season. Thirtysomethings seldom improve with age. They just age.

    Would Bichette have made the Phillies elite? No. Not elite like the Dodgers, who signed Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal. That deal is what spurred Bichette to back out of his agreement with the Phillies, who, in turn, refused to even consider the opt-out years the Mets gave Bichette — a structure that puts all the risk on the team and none on the player. Dombrowski did the right thing, even if he said the wrong thing.

    Bichette wouldn’t have made the Phillies elite. But he would have made the Phillies better, and he’d have made Dombrowski’s offseason “elite.”

    Instead, Dombrowski is “content.”

  • The argument for Brian Daboll — and Zac Robinson (and even Matt Nagy) — as Eagles’ next play-caller

    The argument for Brian Daboll — and Zac Robinson (and even Matt Nagy) — as Eagles’ next play-caller

    An observation about the Eagles’ offensive coaching staff: 2025 was the first year Jalen Hurts wasn’t surrounded by former quarterbacks.

    It’s something the Eagles should keep in mind, especially if Brian Daboll and Mike McDaniel both land head coaching jobs … or if they both opt for one of the other 73 coordinator positions currently open across the league. (ESPN reported Tuesday night that McDaniel is expected to be hired as the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator.) Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore were both Division I starters in college. They both had assistants who were NFL backups. Under both, Hurts finished with a passer rating above 100 and went to a Super Bowl.

    Correlation doesn’t equal causation. Nor should it equal a strike against Daboll or McDaniel as the Eagles look to hire an offensive coordinator who can revitalize their stagnant scheme. Neither man came up as a quarterback. Daboll played safety at Rochester. McDaniel was a wide receiver (at Yale), just like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay and Josh McDaniels and Joe Brady (and Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo). Andy Reid was an offensive lineman. Bright offensive minds come in all shapes and sizes.

    But I’m not necessarily talking about scheme here. I’m talking about the other important parts of coaching: teaching, explaining, understanding, conveying. McVay and Shanahan are outliers, given their upbringing, which was so rich it barely needs introduction. (McVay, the grandson of 49ers executive John McVay, was once hired by Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s father.) Otherwise, it’s only natural that former quarterbacks would have an edge in understanding how a current quarterback sees the field. Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, Kevin O’Connell, Sean Payton … all former quarterbacks.

    Former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is a candidate for the Eagles’ job at offensive coordinator, although they have not spoken to him yet.

    Again, nothing against the wide receivers (or safeties). McDaniel is clearly the guy every team should have at the top of its list for lead play-calling duties. He went 31-24 with Tua Tagovailoa as his starting quarterback. Nobody schemes the running game better. The Eagles have yet to corral him for an interview, and maybe they won’t. But only because he has better opportunities.

    As for Daboll, he would be an easy choice to snicker at. Hard Knocks did him no favors. But the former New York Giants head coach would make a lot of sense. He is still well-regarded in Buffalo, where he oversaw Josh Allen’s transformation from a raw, erratic bust-in-waiting to one of the most singularly impactful quarterbacks in the game. He also could be around for a while if he misses out on a head coaching gig in the current cycle.

    Both Daboll and McDaniel bring with them the kind of experience that the Eagles lacked in 2023 and 2025 with first-time play-callers Patullo and Brian Johnson (the latter a former quarterback). The biggest weakness of this year’s coaching staff wasn’t just a lack of experience on Patullo’s part: It was a lack of experience behind him, particularly at the game’s most important position.

    Eagles need more than a new coordinator to revamp their offense

    Eagles quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler never took a snap in his four years at Michigan during the mid-’90s. Passing game coordinator Parks Frazier attempted 127 passes at Murray State. Quality control coach Montgomery VanGorder attempted 275 at Youngstown State. Combined, that’s a grand total of two seasons of lower-level collegiate starting experience and zero snaps at the FBS level.

    Compare that to Hurts’ support system in the halcyon days of 2022.

    Steichen played four years at UNLV (465 pass attempts). Johnson played four years at Utah (1,017 pass attempts). Alex Tanney spent nine years as an NFL backup after starring at Monmouth.

    Two years later, the Eagles turned their offense over to Moore, a former Heisman Trophy finalist who starred at Boise State. Quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier spent five years as an NFL backup after winning the Walter Payton Award, as the most outstanding offensive player in what was then known as Division 1-AA, at Idaho.

    Former Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson is expected to have several offers.

    The Eagles were behind the eight ball when Moore left to become the New Orleans Saints’ head coach and took Nussmeier with him as his offensive coordinator. Thanks to their Super Bowl run, Sirianni and Howie Roseman had a thin market in which to find their replacements. The same thing happened on the defensive side of the ball post-2022 when Jonathan Gannon left for Arizona. Underlying the cliché and mythical Super Bowl curse are some very real variables.

    This time around, the world is the Eagles’ oyster. They’ve already interviewed Mike Kafka and Zac Robinson, both former NFL draft picks at quarterback. Neither has the sort of profile that fans are coveting, but Robinson in particular has an intriguing background. The Atlanta Falcons played some surprisingly competent football this season, scoring 24-plus points in nine games, two more than the Eagles. They finished ahead of the Eagles in yards per play and net yards per pass attempt in each of the last two seasons that Robinson spent as offensive coordinator after his stint on the staff of kingmaker McVay.

    Nick Sirianni’s forceful vote of confidence from Howie Roseman

    Robinson will presumably have multiple offers. There are plenty of intriguing situations out there: the Chargers under Jim Harbaugh and with Justin Herbert unless McDaniel has already taken that job, the Baltimore Ravens with Lamar Jackson, the Tampa Bay Bucs with Baker Mayfield and a deep offensive depth chart. Never before has the NFL seen this level of upheaval in a single offseason. Half of the league has an opening at offensive coordinator.

    Which makes Matt Nagy a guy the Eagles should talk to.

    He certainly wouldn’t win the headline battle. But he’s a former quarterback (Delaware) with plenty of experience who got a bit of a bum rap during his four-year stint as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Nagy went 25-13 in the 38 games that Mitch Trubisky started for him. That looks even more impressive in hindsight than it did at the time.

    Whomever the Eagles hire, their top priority should be bolstering the experience of the staff beneath him. Coaching can overcome personnel issues only to a certain extent. But Hurts isn’t going anywhere, and we’ve seen way more out of him than we saw in 2025. The right guy for the job isn’t just a great schemer. He is a communicator and an edifier, and he’ll know how to build a support system that is heavy on both traits.

  • Fran Dunphy speaks for the first time about how the NCAA point-shaving scandal touched La Salle

    Fran Dunphy speaks for the first time about how the NCAA point-shaving scandal touched La Salle

    Fran Dunphy sat at a long table inside La Salle University’s athletic center early Monday afternoon, his body turned toward a wide window on the other end of a conference room, as if the difficult discussion topic pained him and he was trying to shield himself from the hurt.

    A 70-page federal indictment had dropped Thursday accusing more than 39 college basketball players of fixing games and shaving points during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Dunphy had read in disbelief as La Salle was mentioned more than once. One of his team’s games was the target of an alleged fix, and one of his former players, Mac Etienne, appeared in the indictment 28 times for shaving points at DePaul University in ’23-24, the season before he came to La Salle. Etienne reportedly reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on Dec. 8.

    La Salle released a statement Thursday noting that no one now connected to the university was charged and that the school would cooperate with any investigation. No one has accused the university’s administrators or coaches of any wrongdoing, and everyone who knows Dunphy knows that his integrity is beyond reproach. Still, there’s no getting around the disturbing implication of the La Salle-related details within the indictment.

    Two of the alleged fixers, Jalen Smith and Antonio Blakeney, “attempted to recruit” La Salle players to shave points in a Feb. 21, 2024, game against St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies were favored in the game’s first-half spread by 5.5 points, and the fixers “placed wagers with various sportsbooks totaling at least $247,000 on St. Bonaventure to cover” that spread. The Explorers led, 36-28, at halftime and won, 72-59.

    “We did our job that day,” Dunphy, who retired from coaching after last season, said in his first public comments since the indictment’s release. “I felt good about that — that there was nothing there, that we had won the game. I truly liked coaching those guys on that team. That was a good win for us.”

    But the fact that the bets failed and the fixers lost doesn’t answer an unsettling question: Why would the defendants have wagered nearly a quarter of a million dollars on a middling Atlantic 10 game if they didn’t already have reason to believe they’d win the bet — if they didn’t think they had someone inside working to help them?

    “I couldn’t tell you,” Dunphy said. “Again, I didn’t go down that path even a little bit. I just thought about my team, the fact that we had played fairly well that day, and I was just surprised and disappointed that anybody even thought we were involved in any of that. That was my disappointment.”

    Has he been thinking about that team, that season, and asking himself if such a scenario — one or more of his players shaving points — was possible?

    “Well, we were about a .500 team,” he said. “It wasn’t like we were superstars. But we had a good group of guys who wanted to work their ass off. That’s how I looked at it. Did I go back to the guys who played a lot of minutes? Yeah. That wasn’t their M.O. That would have been really surprising to me if any of those guys thought that [shaving points] would be something beneficial to them or anybody. …

    “Just surprise, disappointment, a bit shocking. Just, how did this happen? Where do we go with it?”

    Mac Etienne (21), who began his career at UCLA before transferring to DePaul and then to La Salle, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on Dec. 8.

    As of Monday afternoon, he had neither rewatched the St. Bonaventure game nor reviewed the box score for anything curious or alarming. He hadn’t thought about the incident in those terms, he said, and perhaps he could not bring himself to think about it that way. How many times had he watched one of his players make a silly, stupid mistake during a game, and how many times had he yelled, What the hell are you doing? “I didn’t think twice about it,” he said. Was he supposed to have considered that a player screwing up like that was doing it on purpose, that the kid was on the take?

    Hell, in the Explorers’ 81-74 victory last March over St. Joseph’s, in the final win of Dunphy’s career in his final home game, Etienne had scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 36 minutes. “Just a phenomenal game for us, and he was very much a part of it,” Dunphy said. “He was a very interesting guy to coach. Talented. A worker. And he seemed to care very much about his teammates. … He never complained about minutes or any of that.” But now Dunphy was remembering Etienne’s recruitment, the coaxing it took to get him to transfer from DePaul to La Salle, with the hindsight that Etienne had thrown games before he ever showed up and settled in at 20th and Olney. Now Dunphy was searching for signs and tells in retrospect.

    “You’re running through every guy who’s hitting the portal,” he said. “‘What do we need? This guy, does anybody know him?’ Some of the staff members knew him, knew about him.

    “Years ago, the portal wasn’t like it is. You’d recruit a kid in his sophomore, his junior year. You’d get to him. You’d get to know the parents, get to know his coaches. The coaches tell you what the kid is like, some of the idiosyncrasies. We don’t study that much anymore. There’s not as much vetting in today’s world. But that’s the way it is. It’s a challenge, and you try to meet that challenge.”

    Fran Dunphy (right) described Mac Etienne (defending St. Joseph’s guard Xzayvier Brown on March 13) as “a worker” in the time he coached him.

    College basketball has had plenty of point-shaving scandals throughout its past, of course; one of the biggest, in 1961, involved St. Joe’s. But it’s so easy now for gamblers to contact players and for anyone to place a bet — just a few taps and swipes on a smartphone — that even if law enforcement authorities keep catching the fixers, the credibility of college basketball and sports overall still will be in peril. The more arrests, the less the public will trust what it sees on the field and the court. The corruption can appear total and endless, yet so many stay strangely silent about it.

    Look around. Listen. Who are the giants of college basketball, the big-name coaches, who are speaking out about this scandal, who are sounding bells and alarms about the sanctity of their sport? “Nobody ever talked about this among my fellow coaches. Nobody,” Dunphy said. “It’s just not something that you talk about because you don’t believe it’s happening. You hear these stories that tell you it is, but you just say to yourself, ‘I don’t know how this could happen.’”

    The rot may have spread to his program, and Fran Dunphy doesn’t have to be the loudest voice calling for everyone to open their eyes, including his own. He just had to do what he did Monday. He just had to be one of the first.

  • Sean McDermott’s firing could make Eagles’ pursuit of Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll for OC much harder

    Sean McDermott’s firing could make Eagles’ pursuit of Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll for OC much harder

    In the past week, the Eagles have made it known to sources around the league that hiring former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as their new offensive coordinator is their No. 1 offseason priority. That includes fired New York Giants coach Brian Daboll, who is expected to interview for the position this week. Virtually no amount of money, literally no amount of autonomy, and no fear of conflict would deter the team from signing McDaniel, a respected offensive innovator.

    McDaniel and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio endured a rocky year together in 2023, when Fangio worked for McDaniel as his defensive coordinator in Miami, and their split, while couched as a mutual parting of the ways, was not without acrimony.

    At any rate, league sources indicate that even though Fangio’s work the last two seasons has been integral and possibly unmatched around the league, if the Eagles were somehow able to hire McDaniel, they would not be deterred by any possible discomfort from Fangio.

    Which Eagles should Stay or Go next season? Swipe and decide.

    Of course, the actual hiring of McDaniel in Philadelphia would be an unexpected coup for the Birds. Right now, he’s a hotter commodity than Venezuelan oil.

    He got even hotter Monday morning.

    The Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott on Monday. McDaniel is sure to be a candidate for that job. So will Daboll, who worked with superstar quarterback Josh Allen as the Bills’ offensive coordinator from 2018-21. And McDermott immediately becomes the top head coaching candidate in the league.

    There’s also a chance McDermott blocks McDaniel from a head coaching position, which pushes him back into the OC market, to the Eagles’ benefit.

    The merry-go-round ever swirls.

    Stay tuned.

    One thing is certain: McDermott’s firing immediately makes the Eagles’ quest for their top two candidates much less likely to succeed.

    McDaniel already has interviewed for head coaching vacancies in Tennessee, Baltimore, and Cleveland, was scheduled to interview in Las Vegas on Monday, and is expected to be interviewed a second time by the Browns this week. He interviewed with Atlanta, too, but the Falcons have already hired Kevin Stefanski, whom the Browns just fired.

    Who are the Eagles looking at for their next offensive coordinator? Here are some of the candidates.

    A report last week indicated that McDaniel would consider taking one of the premier offensive coordinator positions in favor of a bad situation as a head coach.

    To that end, McDaniel has interviewed with the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The former is reportedly closing in on a deal with Arizona’s Drew Petzing. The latter offers a head coach in Todd Bowles whose future beyond next season is unsure, and the Bucs are as fervent pursuers of McDaniel as the Eagles.

    After he leaves Las Vegas — or, if he leaves Las Vegas, which owns the No. 1 overall pick and would be an enticing rebuild — McDaniel is expected to interview for the Los Angeles Chargers’ vacant OC job. There, McDaniel would coach Justin Herbert, who, like Lamar Jackson in Baltimore and Allen in Buffalo, is a more enticing option than the QBs on the other teams.

    And yes, that includes Jalen Hurts.

    However, in Philadelphia, McDaniel would have the best offensive roster of any of the other stops. That is, unless you believe: right tackle Lane Johnson is too old, left guard Landon Dickerson never will be healthy, Hurts will never develop past his current skill set, and A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley, both 28, have lost a step.

    Nick Sirianni (right) and the Eagles reportedly have not yet convinced Mike McDaniel to interview for the offensive coordinator position.

    League sources say the Eagles have not yet convinced McDaniel to interview, which offers a glimpse into how he considers the Philly job. That said, don’t expect money to be an obstacle. Sources say that, for McDaniel, the position could be worth as much as the $6 million annual salary the Raiders gave Chip Kelly, who then was fired just 11 games into 2025, his first of three seasons under contract. At the end of the season head coach Pete Carroll also was fired, which created the current vacancy.

    The Eagles have already interviewed former Falcons OC Zac Robinson, Indianapolis Colts OC Jim Bob Cooter (who does not call plays and therefore can leave), and former Eagles backup QB Mike Kafka, who was Daboll’s offensive coordinator with the Giants. They are expected to interview fired Bucs OC Josh Grizzard on Monday, and have expressed interest in Dolphins passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik, fired Washington Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury, and former Ole Miss OC Charlie Weis Jr., who was scheduled to follow Lane Kiffin to LSU.

    They’re wise to cast their net wide, because, as of Monday morning, it looked like no amount of money or power will be enough to land their two biggest fish.