Jihaad Campbell’s rookie season with the Eagles did not follow a conventional trajectory.
The first-round pick out of Alabama was touted as a versatile defensive weapon who offered the Eagles the ability to line him up in multiple spots. He could align inside or outside, off the ball or on the ball. Nakobe Dean’s injury rehabilitation, however, meant Campbell worked exclusively inside during training camp and started there next to Zack Baun for the first seven games of the season.
Then Dean returned, forced himself back into a permanent role, and the Eagles toyed with Campbell on the edge a little more, at a position that lacked depth, before eventually cutting his playing time when reinforcements emerged. Then Campbell was back to starting inside after Dean suffered a hamstring injury in Week 16. Overall, it’s hard to judge how the 21-year-old’s season with the Eagles went.
“Some adversity points,” Campbell said when asked to summarize his season Monday as the Eagles cleaned out their lockers after their playoff exit. “But when you look back at it, the only thing I can think about is being grateful, being thankful for the opportunities that I learned throughout the season, and just being able to be utilized and be trusted to be on the field.”
Campbell, who’s from Erial in Camden County, played in all 17 games and started 10 of them. He accumulated 80 tackles and had one interception to go with a fumble recovery and one forced fumble. Pro Football Focus graded him as the 13th-best of 88 linebackers. He excelled in pass coverage and was solid against the run.
Campbell is embarking on his first real NFL offseason, and it is an important one. He likely will be, as he said, utilized and trusted more next season because Dean is a pending free agent whose return to the Eagles seems unlikely. The Eagles paid Baun a premium price and have Campbell on a rookie deal waiting in the wings to replace Dean.
“Just hungry,” Campbell said of his offseason approach. “Of course, I’m going to give myself some grace and relax and get my mind off of things, but stay sharp spiritually, stay sharp physically, stay sharp mentally, and really do what I have to do to be the best absolute version of myself so when I come back I’m making sure that I’m staying on top of everything I have to do.”
Jihaad Campbell’s fumble recovery against the Bills was one of his highlight reel-worthy moments of 2025.
Campbell said he wasn’t given specific things to work on from the Eagles’ coaching staff, but he planned to work on “everything.” There were things he learned with the Eagles and from Vic Fangio that he “never really knew.” He learned plenty from Dean, too.
“That’s a damn good football player,” Campbell said. “I learned a lot from that guy, man, in the run game, blitzes, in the passing game. Really just being a baller, a person who knows football in general. It’s hard to come around guys who really know football and really dissect it in a simple format. That’s what he does, and that’s why he’s one of the best linebackers in the world.”
Campbell took his midseason demotion in stride. He said in November that his focus was on helping the Eagles win games in whatever way he could and staying prepared for when his number was called. The Eagles needed him to start their final two regular-season games. He was credited with two quarterback pressures in each of those games and had seven tackles vs. Buffalo and 10 vs. Washington.
How did Campbell handle the ups and downs with ease?
“I think it’s just all about controlling the things that you can control, and only that,” he said. “I make sure that I come in this building every day with a smile on my face, with a getting-to-work mentality, whatever it is.”
Jihaad Campbell’s role increased during the latter stages of the season.
It was unsurprising, then, that Campbell didn’t put himself in a box when asked Monday about his positional future. Nine months ago, the Eagles lauded his ability to be a chess piece at different spots. Where does Campbell see himself long term?
“I think it’s all about the value and how good you can be at anything you can be put in, whether that’s being an R3 or L3 on kickoff or punt return or any of those things on special teams,” he said. “For me, it’s all about just being trusted and being able to be utilized in this scheme wherever they want me to be at, whether that’s inside linebacker, outside linebacker, just making sure that I’m on top of my things and having continuous improvement.”
As he did this past season, Campbell seems content to go with the flow.
HARRISBURG — State Treasurer Stacy Garrity has been the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for governor since September, but few candidates have stepped up to run alongside her for lieutenant governor.
Only two candidates have officially thrown their hats in the ring for Republican lieutenant governor, as Garrity faces the uphill battle of running against a popular incumbent in Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. And despite amassing unusually early support from the state party, recruiting someone to run as her No. 2 has proven challenging, as some potential candidates have declined to run.
Garrity said Monday at the Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon she’s in talks with “a lot of people,” and she’s confident she’ll find a running mate “perfect for the ticket.”
But time is of the essence, as she has less than a month until the state GOP meets for its winter meeting, where the party is expected to endorse a lieutenant governor candidate. Whomever she picks is likely to get the nod.
“In many respects, it’s up to Stacy Garrity,” said GOP strategist Charlie Gerow. “The lieutenant governor candidate has to not only be a good political fit, but has to be a good personal fit for her. Otherwise, the ticket falls apart before you get to Election Day.”
So far, the only two GOP candidates to formally announce their campaigns for lieutenant governor are State Sen. Cris Dush (R., Jefferson), who is one of the most conservative members of the Senate GOP caucus, and Bucks County businessman and political newcomer Brian Thomas. Dush said he’d likely pursue the GOP primary nomination even if he isn’t endorsed by the state party, while Thomas announced his candidacy last week in a press release and said he is now reaching out to party leaders seeking their support.
And more far-right Republicans have publicly floated a run, teeing up a potential battle among some of the state’s most conservative members to run alongside Garrity on the November ballot.
In Pennsylvania, candidates for lieutenant governor face their own primary races separate from the candidates for governor. After the primary, the winners are joined onto one ticket and run together in the general election.
Former State Rep. Rick Saccone, who previously ran for lieutenant governor and was on U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot but did not face criminal charges, has publicly stated his interest in the role. Saccone said he would not enter the race if the state party backed another candidate.
And State Sen. Doug Mastriano, a far-right Republican who lost to Shapiro in 2022 and last week ruled out a second run for the GOP nomination, later claimed on a local radio station that Garrity would need him as her running mate if she wants to win.
Few more moderate options have emerged.
Montgomery County Commissioner Tom DiBello, a Republican from Shapiro’s home county, said in an interview that he had been approached about pursuing the role. DiBello said he received a positive reception when he traveled the state contemplating a run, but he implied Monday that he’d moved on. On Tuesday night DiBello lost his bid to be the next chair of the county party to his former running mate, Liz Ferry.
“I had a lot of support out there as far as potentially running for lieutenant governor, but I’m right now very dedicated to Montgomery County,” DiBello added.
A number of other officials are rumored to have withdrawn themselves from consideration or are still in talks with Garrity’s campaign, several Republican insiders said.
This time around, the sense among Pennsylvania state party members is that Garrity should be given leeway to choose her running mate and party faithful will endorse her choice.
Many hadn’t even heard who might be in the running. But several Republicans who spoke to The Inquirer said they think Garrity needs to pick someone who will appeal to Democrats and independents who voted for Shapiro four years ago.
“We’re a purple state, and my sense is a more moderate candidate that appeals to a bigger swath of the electorate would be, if I were selecting, would be a preference here,” said Jason Richey, the chair of the Allegheny County GOP.
Or, as Val Biancaniello, a Republican state committeewoman from Delaware County, put it, a candidate needs “statewide appeal.”
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity greets supporters following a campaign rally in Bucks County on Sept. 25, 2025. The GOP gubernatorial candidate visited the Newtown Sports & Events Center, in one of Pennsylvania’s top swing counties.
DiBello argued that Garrity’s running mate needs corporate and government experience, though he refused to name anyone else being considered behind the scenes. Garrity said she believed that DiBello was no longer “in the mix” for the job, but she did not expand further.
“I’m not putting my finger on the scale,” DiBello said before joking: “I’ve heard this Montgomery County commissioner would be awesome. I’ll put my finger on that scale.”
Garrity largely declined to comment on the candidates whose names have been circulating for her running mate, except for Mastriano.
“I didn’t even know he wasn’t running for governor until last week,” Garrity told reporters, noting her friendship with Mastriano. “We’re in discussion with a number of people, and I know that we will have the absolute best partner as lieutenant governor when the time is right.”
In his campaign launch Thursday, Shapiro tied Garrity to the extremes of her party, asking voters to choose between “getting stuff done” and “chaos.” A far-right running mate will make that message easier for Democrats as they work to secure the governor’s mansion for another four years.
Despite this, Mastriano was bullish Friday morning speaking on WEEO News Talk 103.7 FM in central Pennsylvania.
“That’s a possibility,” Mastriano said about a potential lieutenant governor run. “To be honest, that probably [is] the only way to generate some excitement for the Garrity ticket, and we know Garrity being on top of the ticket, that’s probably the only way the party would win if I did that.”
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said repeatedly over the offseason that bringing back Realmuto, who has backstopped the team since 2019, remains a priority. And that isn’t just the sentiment in the front office. Shortly after Kyle Schwarber signed his own five-year extension in December, he shot a text to Realmuto to try to coax him to do the same.
“He’s one of the best catchers in the game,” Cristopher Sánchez said in September. “We’re basically nothing without him.”
Five years ago, when Realmuto signed his last contract with the Phillies, they didn’t come to an agreement until Jan. 26. But if the sides don’t reach a deal this time, what happens at catcher?
Here’s a breakdown of the Phillies’ options behind the plate if they don’t reunite with Realmuto:
Rafael Marchán made just 30 starts as the backup to J.T. Realmuto last season.
Option 1: Internal
Entering the 2025 season, the Phillies anticipated giving Realmuto, who will be 35 in March, more time off to prioritize his health. In spring training, manager Rob Thomson even floated the idea of Realmuto seeing time in left field, since the designated hitter spot was taken by Schwarber.
That suggestion never went anywhere. And in fact, rather than cut back, Realmuto played 134 games in 2025 and avoided spending any time on the injured list. Of those games, 132 were behind the plate, which tied him with 26-year-old Patrick Bailey of the Giants for most defensive games played as a catcher in the National League.
That also meant that backup catcher Rafael Marchán made only 30 starts.
The Phillies agreed to terms on 2026 contracts with Marchán and Garrett Stubbs this offseason, and they are the only catchers on the Phillies’ 40-man roster. If bringing back Realmuto isn’t in the cards and the Phillies stick with the status quo, it likely would mean a large increase in workload for the 26-year-old Marchán, who also has an injury history.
Marchán, a switch-hitter, had a .210 batting average and .587 OPS in 118 plate appearances last season. He was solid defensively in a small sample size, with a 96th percentile pop time of 1.88 seconds and catching four runners stealing above average.
In 2024, Marchán was limited to 55 games between the minors and majors because of lower back and shoulder injuries.
Stubbs saw more consistent at-bats in triple A, where he spent most of the season before being called up in September when rosters expanded. He hit .265 with a .754 OPS for Lehigh Valley, where he also developed a rapport with top pitching prospect Andrew Painter.
Neither has played more than 54 major league games in a season. It would be a significant gamble for the Phillies to rely on a Marchán-Stubbs tandem without bringing in an external option.
Stubbs and Marchán are out of options in 2026, and the catching depth beyond them is thin. To bolster it, the Phillies signed Mark Kolozsvary to a minor league deal in December and René Pinto to a minor league deal last week. They likely join Paul McIntosh and Caleb Ricketts as depth options in the minors next season.
Kolozsvary, 30, played 30 games last season between the Boston Red Sox’ double-A and triple-A affiliates and landed on the full-season injured list in June. He hasn’t made a major league appearance since 2023.
Pinto played 19 games for the Rays in 2024, hitting .214 with a .721 OPS. The 29-year-old spent the majority of last season in triple A between the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays organizations. He slashed .259/.309/.498 in 64 games.
Veteran catcher Victor Caratini posted 0.9 WAR with the Astros in 2025.
Option 2: Free agency
Realmuto remains the top catcher available in free agency ranked by wins above replacement (2.5 bWAR in 2025).
Several other options are off the board in an overall thin market for catchers this winter. Danny Jansen signed a two-year contract with the Rangers, and James McCann signed a one-year deal with the Diamondbacks.
After Realmuto, Victor Caratini, 32, is one of the more established names remaining. The switch-hitter slashed .259/.324/.404 in 114 games for the Astros in 2025 with 12 homers. He posted 0.9 WAR in 2025.
Jonah Heim is another veteran option after he was nontendered by the Rangers in November, two seasons removed from being an All-Star selection and Gold Glove winner in 2023. He hit .213 with 11 home runs in 124 games and posted 0.4 WAR last season.
Heim averaged minus-1 blocks above average and caught minus-1 runners stealing above average.
Option 3: Trade
The most likely path to find a catching replacement comparable to Realmuto would be via trade. There’s already been some movement elsewhere, with the Nationals acquiring the Mariners’ top catching prospect, Harry Ford, in exchange for reliever José A. Ferrer in December.
There hasn’t been much buzz lately around the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman, who was the subject of trade rumors after Baltimore signed top prospect Samuel Basallo to an eight-year extension in August.
Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias told reporters at his season-end news conference that “Adley’s the guy. He will be our front-line catcher.”
The Twins have so far retained catcher Ryan Jeffers, who is entering his final season of team control. But dealing the 28-year-old could be a way for the Twins to recoup some assets as they continue building for the future after their trade-deadline fire sale in 2025. Jeffers hit .266 with a .752 OPS in 119 games last season.
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson, 29, also becomes a free agent in 2027 and could be a trade chip for Cincinnati, which has some flexibility at the position. The Reds have locked up Jose Trevino as their backup and also claimed Ben Rortvedt off waivers from the Dodgers in November.
Stephenson hit .231 with a .737 OPS over 88 games in 2025.
When Cherelle L. Parker was a City Council member, she championed a strict residency rule that required city employees to live in Philadelphia for at least a year before being hired.
Amid protest movements for criminal justice reform in 2020, Parker said stricter residency requirements would diversify a police force that has long been whiter than the makeup of the city, and ensure that officers contribute to the tax base.
“It makes good common sense and good economic sense for the police policing Philadelphia to be Philadelphians,” she said then.
But today, under now-Mayor Parker, more police live outside Philadelphia than ever before.
About one-third of the police department’s 6,363 full-time staffers live elsewhere. That share — more than 2,000 employees — has roughly doubled since 2017, the last time The Inquirer conducted a similar analysis.
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Today, the percentage of nonresidents is even higher among the top brass: Nearly half of all captains, lieutenants, and inspectors live outside the city, according to a review of the most recent available city payroll data.
Even Commissioner Kevin Bethel keeps a home in Montgomery County, despite officially residing in a smaller Northwest Philadelphia house that he owns with his daughter.
Most municipal employees are still required to live within city limits. Across the city’s 28,000-strong workforce, nearly 3,200 full-time employees listed home addresses elsewhere as of last fall. Most of them — more than 2,500 — are members of the police or fire departments, whose unions secured relaxed residency rules for their workers in contract negotiations. About a quarter of the fire department now lives outside the city.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel speak before the start of a news conference.
Proponents of residency rules in City Hall have long argued they improve rapport between law enforcement and the communities they serve, because officers who have a stake in the city may engage in more respectful policing.
But experts who study public safety say there is little evidence that residency requirements improve policing or trust. Some say the rules can backfire, resulting in lesser quality recruits because the department must hire from a smaller applicant pool.
A survey of 800 municipalities last year found that residency requirements only modestly improved diversity and had no measurable effect on police performance or crime rates.
“It’s a simple solution thrown at a complex problem,” said Fritz Umbach, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It doesn’t have the impact people think it will.”
Parker, a Philadelphia native who lives in the East Mount Airy neighborhood, says she would still prefer all municipal employees live in the city.
“When I grew up in Philadelphia, it was a badge of honor to have police officers and firefighters and paramedics who were from our neighborhood,” she said in a statement. “They were part of the fabric of our community. I don’t apologize for wanting that to be the standard for our city.”
‘Where they lay their heads at night’
What qualifies as “residency” can be a little pliable.
Along with his wife, Bethel purchased a 3,600-square-foot home in Montgomery County in 2017 for over a half-million dollars. Although he initially satisfied the residency rule by leasing a downtown apartment after being named commissioner by Parker in late 2023, he would not have met the pre-residency requirement the mayor championed for other city employees while she was on Council.
Today, voter registration and payroll data shows that Bethel resides in a modest, 1,800-square-foot rowhouse in Northwest Philadelphia, which he purchased with his daughter last year. While police sources said it was common for Bethel to sleep in the city given his long work hours, his wife is still listed as a voter in Montgomery County.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel speaks during the 22nd District community meeting at the Honickman Learning Center on Dec. 2, 2025.
Sgt. Eric Gripp, a spokesperson for the department, said in a statement that Bethel is a full-time resident of Philadelphia, and that while he owns a property outside the city, his “main residence” is the home in Northwest Philly.
Although sources say it was not unheard of for rank-and-file officers to use leased apartments to satisfy the requirement on paper, Gripp said “only a small number” of residency violations had required formal disciplinary action following an investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs Division.
That likely owes to officers’ increasing ability to reside elsewhere legally. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, which represents thousands of active and retired Philadelphia Police officers, won a contract provision in 2009 allowing officers to live outside the city after serving on the force for at least five years.
The union didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Few of the cops who left the city went very far.
While Northeast Philly and Roxborough remain the choice neighborhoods for city police, the top destinations for recent transplants were three zip codes covering Southampton, and Bensalem and Warminster Townships, according to city payroll data.
A few officers went much farther than the collar counties.
Robert McDonnell Jr., a police officer in West Philadelphia’s 19th district with 33 years on the force, has an official address at a home in rural Osceola Mills, Pa., about 45 minutes north of Altoona in Centre County.
A person who answered a phone number associated with McDonnell — who earned $124,000 last year between his salary, overtime, and bonus pay — declined to speak to a reporter.
Asked about the seven-hour round-trip commute McDonnell’s nominal residence could entail, Gripp said the department doesn’t regulate the manner in which employees travel to and from work.
“Our members serve this city with dedication every day,” he said, “regardless of where they lay their heads at night.”
A long and winding history
Versions of residency rules can be found as far back as the 19th century, when police recruits were required to live in the districts they sought to work in.
But when Mayor Joseph S. Clark pushed to reform the city charter in the 1950s, he sought to abolish the rules as an impediment to hiring, saying “there should be no tariff on brains or ability.”
Instead, City Council successfully fought to expand the restrictions. And, for more than five decades, the city required most of its potential employees to have lived in Philadelphia for a year — or obtain special waivers that, in practice, were reserved for the most highly specialized city jobs, like medical staff.
Many other big cities enacted similar measures either to curb middle-class flight following World War II or to prioritize the hiring of local residents. But the restrictions were frequently blamed for causing chronic staff shortages of certain hard-to-fill city jobs.
Officers Azieme Lindsey (from left), Charles T. Jackson, and Dalisa M. Carter taking their oaths in 2023.
Citing a police recruit shortage in 2008, former Mayor Michael A. Nutter successfully stripped out the prehiring residency requirement for cadets. Recruits were required only to move into the city once they joined the force.
A year later, the police union attempted to have the residency requirement struck from its contract entirely.
Nutter’s administration objected. But an arbitration panel approved a compromise policy to allow officers to live elsewhere in Pennsylvania after five years on the job. By 2016, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies secured similar concessions.
But experts say there’s little research showing that to be true.
“I am unsure if requiring officers to reside in the city is a requirement supported by evidence,” said Anjelica Hendricks, an assistant law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who worked for the city’s Police Advisory Commission. “Especially if that rule requires a city to sacrifice something else during contract negotiations.”
FOP leaders have long opposed the rule and said it was partly to blame for the department’s unprecedented recruitment crisis and a yearslong short-staffing problem that peaked in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, facing nearly 1,500 unfilled police jobs, former Mayor Jim Kenney loosened the prehire residency rule for the police department again, allowing the force to take on cadets who lived outside the city, so long as they moved into Philadelphia within a year-and-a-half of being hired.
Since then, recruiting has rebounded somewhat, which police officials attribute to a variety of tactics, including both the eased residency rules and hiring bonuses. The force is still short 20% of its budgeted staffing and operating with 1,200 fewer officers than it did 10 years ago.
Umbach, the John Jay professor, said the impact on recruiting is obvious: Requiring officers to live in a city where the cost of living may be higher than elsewhere amounts to a pay cut, which shrinks candidate pools.
“Whenever you lower the standards or lower the appeal of the job, you’re going to end up with people who cause you problems down the road,” he said. “A pay cut is just that.”
The news was expected to come at some point after the Eagles were knocked out of the playoffs by San Francisco on Sunday.
Two days later, the team announced that Kevin Patullo had been removed as offensive coordinator after one season. But it’s possible that Patullo could remain on the staff in another role.
Patullo has been with the team since coach Nick Sirianni was hired in 2021. He went from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator a year ago after Kellen Moore left to become the coach of the New Orleans Saints.
Now, the Eagles’ next offensive coordinator will be the seventh play-caller Jalen Hurts has had in the NFL in what will be his seventh season in the league. So who might the Birds target as the next offensive coordinator?
Well, there’s no shortage of strong candidates to help fix a star-studded offense, and maybe they’ll look to hire an outside voice, considering that Sirianni’s last two internal promotions — Patullo and Brian Johnson — were finished after one season.
Eagles linebacker Jihaad Campbell started 10 games in his rookie season.
Jihaad Campbell was touted as a versatile defensive weapon who offered the Eagles the ability to line him up in multiple spots. But he saw more opportunity inside during Nakobe Dean’s injury rehabilitation, which led the rookie to start next to Zack Baun for the first seven games of the season.
The Camden County native, a first-round pick out of Alabama, played in all 17 games while starting 10 of them. He excelled in pass coverage and was solid against the run. With his first season in the books, Campbell will likely be utilized and trusted more next season because Dean is a pending free agent whose return to the Eagles seems unlikely.
What we’re …
🤔 Wondering: What folks are saying about the Eagles parting ways with Patullo as the play-caller.
📖 Reading: The viral 11-year-old Eagles fan Sam Salvo wanted Patullo flipping burgers. He says “it worked.”
🏒 Learning: Pro hockey is returning to Trenton after a 13-year hiatus and the new minor league team officially got a name.
Jesús Luzardo made 32 starts and worked 183⅔ innings in his first season with the Phillies, both career highs.
Jesús Luzardo hasn’t spoken with the Phillies yet about a contract extension.
But it’s a conversation he would like to have.
“It’s not something that I’m closed off to,” said Luzardo, appearing as a guest this week on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “I just got married and hopefully eventually have a family, and just being stable in a certain place, knowing that you’re comfortable within an organization … it’s something I would be really interested in.”
Sixers guard Kyle Lowry receives an ovation in what could be his last game in Toronto, where the Raptors legend won an NBA title.
Tyrese Maxey told Lowry at the start of Monday’s matchup against Toronto that his Sixers teammates would “do whatever we’ve got to do to get you in tonight.”
Maxey kept his word and allowed Lowry to check in late, as the 39-year-old soaked in potentially one last ovation from an adoring crowd that watched the North Philly native become a six-time All-Star and 2019 NBA champion. It was a joyous curtain call and “probably one of the greatest basketball moments of my personal career.”
Flyers right wing Nikita Grebenkin was one player who looked to provide energy on Monday.
After two straight sobering losses to perennial powerhouse Tampa Bay, the Flyers need to refocus if they want to stay in playoff contention in the hotly contested Eastern Conference. Here are three lessons that they learned and need to carry with them as they move through a gauntlet before February’s Olympic break.
Rick Tocchet believes the Flyers need to simplify. The first-year coach believes his team, which is considered the fourth-youngest team in the NHL, is trying to make the perfect play too often instead of making the right reads. So he says, “We’re going to have to really dummy it down a little bit.”
Sports snapshot
Since the transfer portal opened, 22 former Iowa State players, including quarterback Rocco Becht, have followed Matt Campbell to Penn State.
Big swings: Penn State and Temple have leaned on the transfer portal to shape their football rosters for next season.
Mourning a coach: Temple assistant men’s basketball coach Bill Courtney, 55, died suddenly, the school announced Tuesday.
Former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel (left) shown with Eagles coach Nick Sirianni after their matchup in 2023.
Kevin Patullo isn’t the first person to experience the downside of this city’s manic emotional instability when it comes to professional sports. But my point here isn’t to shame anybody. Actually, my point is to lobby the Eagles to spend whatever it takes to hire Mike McDaniel as their offensive coordinator. The Eagles need to bring in a fresh set of eyes and a proven track record of inventive run-scheming. They need to reinvent this offense, and McDaniel is the perfect mind to do it, writes columnist David Murphy.
🧠 Trivia time answer
Who has the most wins in the playoffs as coach of the Eagles?
C) Andy Reid with 10 wins — Mike R. was first with the correct answer.
What you’re saying about A.J. Brown
We asked: What do you think about the prospects of the Eagles trading A.J. Brown? Among your responses:
Possibility is high they try to trade him even if all they can get is a bag of footballs in return. If they can’t trade him they should just cut him. A malcontent is nothing but a cancer on the team and his on the field efforts are highly questionable right now. Can anyone say “Ricky Watters?” — Bob A.
I wish our fans would stand by the team win or lose. That’s what most parents of young athletes do. Pretend it’s your kid out there playing for the Eagles. What would you say when they lose? We are not going to win the Super Bowl every year. But every year we, as fans, get to show our love and support for them. — Cindy F.
It’s time for A. J. to take his show elsewhere. Once upon a time we had another star who also thought he was bigger than the game itself. When he short armed a pass in 1995 his response was “for who for what.” Ricky found out that afternoon what Philadelphia fans were all about. Never happened again and he had 3 super years with the Birds. There’s only 4 reasons we lost that game to the 49ers’ and none of them fall on coaching. The 3 catchable balls A. J. dropped and the extra point Elliott blew. He makes that kick and we’re 3 down. We kick a 20 yard field goal with 5 seconds to play. Games tied and who knows what could happen in OT. Now if AJ catches any one of the three drops and we’re in the Red Zone and no one’s better in the Red Zone than us. The kicker has to go and the dead cap $ will unfortunately keep AJ around for another season. He’ll be a free agent after next season so maybe he’ll be playing lights out for a free-agent contract and leaves his EGO at the door. — Ronald R.
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown can’t pull in a pass in the playoff loss to the 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
The Eagles have multiple problems. 1. Sirianni. He is going to be fired this time next year. To be honest, Nick is not smart. 2. AJ Brown. If he was correct criticizing the play calling, then keep him. 3. Patullo should never have been handed the OC position for a SB team. Nick, again, showing his lack of maturity in hiring an unqualified friend. 4. I read once a coach say, “Every season we change our entire offensive scheme.” Nick hasn’t changed anything in years. This is an abomination of dereliction of responsibility as the head coach. The question is either Nick is lazy, or he is incompetent. 5. Hurts. He is a below average QB if he will not run the ball. Hurts cannot read the field quickly. He simply doesn’t process the coverage. He refuses to throw to where the receiver will be. He waits until the receiver is already there and then passes. — Jack D.
Going to be a long off season, but don’t worry about anything, just put your trust in Howie. Not sure who is ready to deal for Brown, but I think it is time for the Eagles to part with him. An outstanding receiver who needs to play in a Vince Lombardi culture where he knows what the boundaries are. Mike Tomlin and the Steelers can handle him, but would they want him? — Everett S.
It is always easy to trade someone, the key question is who will replace him and will it be an upgrade. — Gary P.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jeff Neiburg, Olivia Reiner, Gina Mizell, Jonathan Tannenwald, Jackie Spiegel, Gustav Elvin, Lochlahn March, Ariel Simpson, Gabriela Carroll, Devin Jackson, David Murphy, and Greg Finberg.
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Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Wednesday. Kerith will be back in your inbox with tomorrow’s newsletter. — Bella
Philadelphia was the first place many early Irish immigrants saw when their long journey ended. The Port of Philadelphia was the gateway to their new world.
Irish workers built Pennsylvania’s canals, its railroads, and its industries. Irish families helped shape its neighborhoods and the civic institutions where they found their home. Irish solidarity and resilience became part of the life fabric of Philadelphia.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and State Sen. Sharif Street wear green during the annual Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 16.
This transatlantic exchange of ideas continues to define our relationship and enrich our two countries to this day.
Ireland and the United States now share one of the world’s most dynamic relationships: economically, culturally, and politically. Across the 50 states, more than 780 Irish-founded companies employ over 200,000 people, bringing skills, entrepreneurship, and a global outlook to local economies nationwide. In Pennsylvania alone, 29 Irish companies support 12,000 jobs. Foreign direct investment from Ireland into Pennsylvania is growing across critical sectors, including pharmaceuticals, business services, and industrial equipment.
Today, the United States remains Ireland’s largest trading partner and its leading source of investment. American companies have long recognized Ireland as a trusted partner in Europe and a place where global businesses can thrive, innovate, and access the barrier-free single European Union market of 450 million consumers.
My hope is that America 250 will not only commemorate the past but will inspire the future, encouraging new generations of Irish Americans to continue to weave this rich transatlantic tapestry.
Geraldine Byrne Nason is the ambassador of Ireland to the United States.
HARRISBURG — As the rural reporter at The Inquirer for about the last decade, I’ve cuddled bear cubs, rattlesnakes, and alligators, trembled in fear at horses, and been punched by the scent of deer urine farms.
Still, nothing scares me more than the mushroom burger at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
I haven’t really missed a show since I began covering rural Pennsylvania, and I probably never will, regardless. If you’ve been there, you know. If you haven’t, take my advice from last year: Pull your kids out of school, and go there this week. The show runs through Saturday at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg, and it’s free to get in. It’s an agricultural spectacle you’ll never forget, a place to see show rabbits, hogs, goats, and cows, all while learning where your food comes from.
It’s also a place to eat, with a gargantuan food hall filled with offerings I’m still uncovering. Shannon Powers, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture I pester often during the show, smartly said she didn’t have a favorite meal there.
“But on a cold day, a cup of trout chowder hits the spot,” she told me.
Trout stew? Who knew? There’s also goat stew.
There’s a mind-boggling number of things on the menu at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.
I do have favorites, though, including the sugared German almonds I end my day with every year. I went on opening day, Saturday (never go on opening day), and took my daughter, sampling some old standbys and interviewing folks about some popular foods there.
4-H brisket sandwich
As a man of tradition, if I like a certain item on a menu, I’ll get it over and over again, for the rest of my life. I still have dreams about the ’90s-era Wawa hot roast beef and cheese sandwiches I ate religiously.
Anyhow, I get a brisket sandwich every year from a 4-H stand that’s actually not in the food hall but rather the main hall, where the famous butter sculpture is. Get a map, seriously. You’ll need it.
Look for the pig in the Main Hall, and you’ll find the 4-H brisket sandwich, plus pork chops on a stick.
Brisket has a special place in my heart. I ate it for Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, and this year, I paid $14 for thick-sliced brisket on a roll, which I slathered in BBQ sauce, while squatting on the floor.
Then, I followed it up with a flu shot, another Farm Show tradition.
This sandwich was not better than my holiday briskets, but I’m easy. Almost everything I’m willing to eat is “pretty good.”
I assumed proceeds of the sales go to Pennsylvania 4-H clubs. The folks cutting the brisket didn’t know, though my receipt credits the Pennsylvania Livestock Association.
If you want to save a few bucks at the 4-H booth, the pork chop on a stick is $8.
Mushroom burger
I know mushrooms grow underground, and that Chester County is one of the nation’s top producers, but I assumed they come from even deeper places.
Pennsylvania is the nation’s top producer of mushrooms, most of them coming from Chester and Berks Counties.
I’m not a fan and can’t be convinced, though I did have somewhat of a revelation about the mushroom burgers for sale at the Mushroom Growers of Pennsylvania booth.
They are “blended” with beef, specifically for big babies like me.
“It’s an introduction, an easy introduction. It’s 75% ground beef and 25% chopped mushrooms,” said Gale Ferranto, of Mushroom Farmers of Pennsylvania. “Would you like to try one?”
I declined.
There are more mushroom offerings, too, something called a “mushroom salad,” which I probably wouldn’t eat for less than $500.
“Somebody back home in Philly wanted the mushroom salad. She’s pregnant, like 7 months pregnant, so you have to do what she says,” said attendee Mark Soffa.
Grilled cheese
The Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association offers up a lot of food during the week, and when I saw grilled cheeses — a parent’s best friend — I grabbed one for my daughter, along with a chocolate milk.
The combo is wallet-friendly, too, just $7.
“Chocolate milk comes from brown cows,” I told my daughter.
She’s too smart for that joke and rolled her eyes, like her mother.
The PA Dairymen’s Association sells grilled cheese, cheese cubes, and, of course, the ubiquitous milkshakes.
The grilled cheese crew actually had crockpots full of melted butter, slathering white bread before sending it off to the grill. You can choose American or pepper jack.
“We’ll at least make a few thousand today,” the cashier told me. “We made 500 yesterday, and that was a half day.”
My daughter’s verdict: “Very gooey.”
Pierogies and sweet potatoes
I’m cheating a bit here, including two items from the PA Cooperative Potato Growers, Inc., which is the oldest potato cooperative in the United States.
I planned on focusing entirely on the sweet potato, which is swimming in butter and brown sugar, with some cinnamon on the side. It’s basically a dessert.
The sweet potato at the Pennsylvania Farm Show is basically a dessert.
My Polish heritage requires that I never turn down a pierogi, though, or never fail to mention their wholesome goodness. I grew up on them, in the way other folks may have grown up on mac and cheese or PB&J. I actually prefer mine fried a bit, but the Farm Show serves them drowning in butter and onions: 5 for $4.
You can’t really mess up a pierogi, particularly in the Keystone State.
“These aren’t like Maryland pierogies,” a woman from Maryland told me.
The potato growers told me they sell 6 tons of baking potatoes at the show, plus 8 to 10 tons for french fries, and about 1.5 tons of sweet potatoes.
Plus, there are potato doughnuts.
The milkshakes
The most well-known must-have item at the Pennsylvania Farm Show are the milkshakes offered up by the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association since 1953.
Three generations with 10 milkshakes at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
On Saturday, the lines were a bit bonkers, more than 100 deep on each of the dozen or so cash registers in the various locations where they’re sold at the farm show complex. I’ve had them before, and I’ll say they are “thick and creamy” as advertised.
Are they different than any other soft-serve-style milkshake in America? I have to work with these people, so yes, I’ll say they’re different.
A colleague who had a milkshake at the Farm Show told me she didn’t “get the hype.”
I ran into a mother and daughter who had ordered 10 of them.
Either way, you have to have one while you’re there.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
While Jones says the Flyers are still focused on building something “sustainable,” he did say the players deserve to be rewarded for their strong start and that the team needs to “enhance what they’ve done” as they push for the playoffs.
Jones called Denver Barkey one of the organization’s biggest bright spots in the prospect pool, and also mentioned Porter Martone, Oliver Bonk, Alex Bump, Jack Berglund, and Heikki Ruohonen as others who are making strides.
While Matvei Michkov’s decreased usage and lack of production have been hotly debated, Jones believes this season and the lessons he is learning will be invaluable to his ultimate ceiling in the future.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
Q: Close to the midway point. How would you assess things so far?
A:It’s been a really good, basically, first half of the season for us. Players have advanced, and have kind of fit in and found chemistry, which you figured would take a little bit of time with the number of new faces that we added. The coaching staff has done an excellent job of trying a few different combinations and then figuring out what worked and sticking with it. I think it’s been, from that perspective, a really good beginning to this season.
Q: What have you liked so far about Rick Tocchet as a head coach with the Flyers?
A: A lot. I like the way he communicates with his players. I like the way that he is straightforward, honest, doesn’t allow things to fester, addresses things immediately, and then works really hard to, from a game-to-game basis, improve on things that we may have struggled with in the previous game. His practices or his video [work] with his assistant coaches are very focused on correcting and encouraging, and I think that’s really important, especially with a young team.
Q: When someone is writing a TV script for a series, they sometimes write the ending in advance. Outside of winning the Stanley Cup, what does the end goal look like?
A: The only plan would be to create something that’s sustainable. And there are all kinds of variables, with any professional sport; injuries play a major part. So you can plan all you want and have things that just kind of change those plans, but overall, our goal is to become a playoff team that is a sustainable one. Not just a one-and-done.
So you build that through the foundation of your team, and I’m really pleased with what Danny [Brière] has done, along with Brent Flahr, in starting to really build up our prospect pool. We’re starting to see a couple of those guys arrive, and others getting closer to arriving. And it’s always good when you can have players develop together, build those relationships that can last them a decade or more, playing in the same organization, and that’s what we envision.
Keith Jones believes this season of learning will be good for Matvei Michkov in the long run.
Q: So you prefer to hold on to the assets right now?
A: Yes. In general, we’re not going to mortgage the future in order to have one year and say, ‘Oh, we figured this out. We’re a playoff team.’ So that’s still something that I know Danny’s very focused on and [governor Dan Hilferty] and I will encourage him to stay on that path.
Q: Is there anyone in the prospect pool who stands out to you?
A: I would have liked to tell you it was Denver Barkey, but he’s already arrived on the scene. We’re obviously very happy with the way that he’s progressed. And Oliver Bonk has started to get into form now with the American League team in Lehigh, and it’s been fun to see that team have some success as well.
Alex Bump continues to push and develop … And then we have Jack Berglund, watching him perform extremely well, which we expected at the World Junior tournament. … [With] his size, he has the ability to play in front of the opposition’s net, so he’s very good on the power play in that regard. So, as you build a team, you’re looking for pieces that can take over roles that you feel are necessary in order for you to advance. And he’s one of those guys.
Porter Martone, obviously, is very similar in that regard. He’s an outstanding playmaker for a player of his size, great set of hands. Another leadership type personality. … Heikki Ruohonen is doing an outstanding job for Finland, learning his way at Harvard, which is awesome.
Keith Jones believes Jack Berglund can be a big part of the Flyers’ future.
Q: Matvei Michkov is always a hot topic. How would you evaluate his season thus far?
A: I think it’s going to be a very important year in his career. I think that there’s going to be a lot of development. I think he’s doing a great job of working on the things that he’s being asked to work on. I love his level of compete. I love his ability to stay in there, stay in the fight, and I’m really pleased with the way he’s started to pick things up lately.
His attitude’s been outstanding, and I think when he looks back on his career in 15 years, he’s going to be pretty happy about some of the things that he went through this year in order to get to where he needs to go.
Q: The free agency market is so different today, with so many players already locked up. And you’ve previously discussed the need to upgrade at center. Is it more via trades now?
A: Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it. You can see what Danny did this offseason, really calculated, smart additions to the team. And then you get to know the players even better when they’re under your watch. So a lot that has to do with internal growth and then also having the ability, whether it’s cap space, whether it’s prospects, whether it’s draft choices, to jump and go after something that’s really enticing. So we’re always looking.
Q: Can you just take us quickly through the Trevor Zegras trade and how you think his season is going thus far?
A: He’s done a great job. And it’s really proof of Danny’s willingness to wait for the right time, and he was really patient on this one with Anaheim. It’s been well documented that it was a long process. Trevor kind of fit what we were looking for, and he has been all that and more with what he’s done for us. So I give Danny a lot of credit on that one as well as he waited for the right time to find the right deal that worked for both teams at that time, and we’ve been able to really see the benefits of that in our lineup.
The Flyers have been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season with a 22-13-8 record and are seeking a first postseason appearance since 2019-20. With the midway point of the season having just passed, Jackie Spiegel recently caught up with Flyers president Keith Jones to discuss the team’s strong start, timeline for contention, Matvei Michkov’s development, and more.
Note: This interview, which was conducted on Dec. 31, has been edited for brevity.
Q: Close to the midway point. How would you assess things so far?
A:It’s been a really good, basically, first half of the season for us. Players have advanced, and have kind of fit in and found chemistry, which you figured would take a little bit of time with the number of new faces that we added. The coaching staff has done an excellent job of kind of trying a few different combinations and then figuring out what worked and sticking with it. I think it’s been, from that perspective, a really good beginning to this season.
Q: What have you liked so far about Rick Tocchet as a head coach with the Flyers?
A: A lot. I like the way he communicates with his players. I like the way that he is straightforward, honest, doesn’t allow things to fester, addresses things immediately, and then works really hard to, from a game-to-game basis, improve on things that we may have struggled with in the previous game. His practices or his video [work] with his assistant coaches are very focused on correcting and encouraging, and I think that’s really important, especially with a young team.
Q: You talk about staying in the moment, but you are sitting in a playoff spot. Are you still looking at things through the glass, that this is still a rebuild?
A: I think we’ve been clear that the players will decide. So obviously, it’s a very important stretch over the next six to eight weeks of play. And the players have done a really good job of putting themselves in a position where we’re going to look to enhance what they’ve done. Previously, that was not the approach. It’s really important that we reward our players for playing so hard for one another and for us.
Keith Jones and Danny Brière say that the team’s rebuild and no upward trajectory has been a collaborative effort.
Q: Two years ago, management had a similar statement about the players deciding the approach. But then Sean Walker was traded, and things kind of fell apart. Do you use that as a warning now?
A: I think it’s just a different time for us now in our development. So I think it’s a combination of things. I think looking back on what we did there was the right thing to do, and that’s why we did it. Same as last year. But this year feels different. And we’re a couple more years into what we’re trying to eventually accomplish. So it’s just about being there for one another to remind each other where we’re at in this process, and having the support of [governor] Dan Hilferty and [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts on top of that, really makes it a job that we want to get right.
Q: When someone is writing a TV script for a series, they sometimes write the ending in advance Beyond winning a Stanley Cup, what’s the end goal here look like?
A: The only plan would be to create something that’s sustainable. And there are all kinds of variables, with any professional sport; injuries play a major part. So you can plan all you want and have things that just kind of change those plans, but overall, our goal is to become a playoff team that is a sustainable one. Not just a one-and-done.
So you build that through the foundation of your team, and I’m really pleased with what Danny [Brière] has done, along with Brent Flahr, in starting to really build up our prospect pool. We’re starting to see a couple of those guys arrive, and others getting closer to arriving. And it’s always good when you can have players develop together, build those relationships that can last them a decade or more, playing in the same organization, and that’s what we envision.
Q: Do you look at things from the perspective that the first step is playoffs, and then being a sustainable playoff team, and then, after all that, building a Stanley Cup contender? Or does it all happen at once?
A: If you’re a consistent playoff team, you’re a contender in my eyes. There are always tweaks that can take place when you’re in that position. You’ll see teams that are there right now; they’ll trade some of their draft equity and younger players in order to really enhance their opportunity of winning. So eventually we’ll get to that place. We’re not there right now, but I look forward to when we are there.
Q: So you prefer to hold on to the assets right now.
A: Yes. In general. We’re not going to mortgage the future in order to have one year and say, ‘Oh, we figured this out. We’re a playoff team.’ So that’s still something that I know Danny’s very focused on and [Hilferty] and I will encourage him to stay on that path.
Could St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas be the type of player the Flyers cash in some of their future chips for?
Q: In working with Brière, how much is it his vision or is it a team vision with you, Hilferty, and him?
A: Well, he’s the general manager. When it comes to players and acquisitions, that’s Danny’s job. My job is to help him with that, enhance that, give him the resources that he needs to make that happen. But Danny’s a general manager, and he’s a really good one.
Q: Is there anyone in the prospect pool who stands out to you?
A: Yeah, I would have liked to tell you it was Denver Barkey, but he’s already arrived on the scene. We’re obviously very happy with the way that he’s progressed. And Oliver Bonk has started to get into form now with the American League team in Lehigh, and it’s been fun to see that team have some success as well.
Alex Bump continues to push and develop … And then we have Jack Berglund, [we’ve been] watching him perform extremely well, which we expected at the World Junior tournament. He’s the captain of Team Sweden, and he’s producing at a high rate. That’s really exciting for us. With his size, he has the ability to play in front of the opposition’s net, so he’s very good on the power play in that regard. So, as you build a team, you’re looking for pieces that can take over roles that you feel are necessary in order for you to advance. And he’s one of those guys.
Porter Martone, obviously, is very similar in that regard. He’s an outstanding playmaker for a player of his size, great set of hands. Another leadership type personality. He is the captain of the Canadian team. It’s a great honor for him, and we’re thrilled about that.
Just like Denver Barkey, he was the captain of the London Knights that won the Memorial Cup. Oliver Bonk was an assistant captain. These are the type of players that we want in our organization. That’s a handful of them. Heikki Ruohonen is doing an outstanding job for Finland, learning his way at Harvard, which is awesome.
Q: Max Westergård has also looked impressive at World Juniors. What have you seen from him?
A: Yeah, he can fly. Brent Flahr shines in the fifth round. He’s had some great fifth-round picks.
Q: Speaking of the fifth round, let’s talk Alex Bump. Why wasn’t he the one to get the call-up recently?
A: He just needs more seasoning, that’s all. There are just little parts of the game that he’s going to figure out, and it’s much easier to figure out down there before you come up here. He’s doing everything we’re asking him to do. He continues to improve. He’s done some amazing things offensively, which we know he can do, and he’s not far off. But he’s an exciting prospect for us.
He’s showing great patience as well. He demonstrated that last year at the end of his college season, not burning a year on his entry-level contract and electing to go down and play in the American Hockey League. He’s sharp. He gets it. And he’s going to be rewarded for his patience, and we will be for ours as well.
Rookie Alex Bump, who is second on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms with 20 points in 28 games, could be close to earning an NHL debut.
Q: How do you balance development then? Using Alex Bump as an example. He’s building his game, and maybe he is finally ready to make the next step, but there’s no room. How do you balance that?
A: You want the player to force you to make room, so that’s affecting his game in the minors to the point where you can’t keep them down there anymore. So they’ll let you know, just like our team up here lets us know where they’re at. Just by observing and watching, and paying attention, the players will tell you when it’s time to come up.
Q: Matvei Michkov is always a hot topic. How would you evaluate his season thus far?
A: I think it’s going to be a very important year in his career. I think that there’s going to be a lot of development. I think he’s doing a great job of working on the things that he’s being asked to work on. I love his level of compete. I love his ability to stay in there, stay in the fight, and I’m really pleased with the way he started to pick things up lately.
His attitude’s been outstanding, and I think when he looks back on his career in 15 years, he’s going to be pretty happy about some of the things that he went through this year in order to get to where he needs to go.
Q: How would you gauge your defense now with Rasmus Ristolainen back?
A: Solid’s a good word. Underrated is probably another good word too. There’s a really good mix of intelligence and athleticism, size. I like the balance that’s there.
And I like having the option of Noah Juulsen there as well; I like that he brings physicality, has a tremendous attitude, and doesn’t change whether he’s in the lineup or not. He’s a really good team guy, and those are important parts of the puzzle, too, because there are not enough chairs when the music stops on a nightly basis. So you need players who are not so much accepting of that, but are willing to do whatever it takes to get back in the lineup.
Q: Are there any areas you want to improve on with the roster?
A: As it jumps out to me right now, there’s nothing immediately. We’re always looking to get better. If something’s there, we’re going to do it to get better.
Q: The free agency market is so different today, with so many players already locked up. And you’ve previously discussed the need to upgrade at center. Is it more via trades now?
A: Yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it. You can see what Danny did this offseason, really calculated, smart additions to the team. And then you get to know the players even better when they’re under your watch. So a lot that has to do with internal growth and then also having the ability, whether it’s cap space, whether it’s prospects, whether it’s draft choices, to jump and go after something that’s really enticing. So we’re always looking.
Q: How do you handle the salary cap rising? Does it change things?
A: We love it. We think it’s great. I wish it would go up another 50 million. But we’re lucky, because we have great ownership, that’s the one huge advantage that we have. So we welcome it.
Flyers forward Trevor Zegras has been a revelation in his first season with the team.
Q: You were the team’s president when Travis Sanheim almost got traded to the St Louis Blues. He was just named to Hockey Canada’s roster for the Olympics. What’s it been like watching his development and growth, and looking back, are you happy you didn’t make that trade?
A: It’s been awesome. The only reason you would ever make a trade like that is because you’re getting a boatload back, and depending on where you’re at in your evolution, those trades sometimes do happen. But are we surprised that Travis is doing the things that he’s doing? No. So we’re really pleased for him. He’s obviously a huge minute-muncher for us on the back end. It’s a joy to watch him skate and come barreling up the ice. He’s just a super good kid, and we’re all really proud of him.
Q: Brière seems to be finding diamonds in the rough. For example, there was Walker, Ryan Poehling, and now Carl Grundström. Can you explain what Danny Brière is doing?
A: He’s very patient and methodical, thoughtful, and there are 1,000 phone calls a day that he’s making. So it’s from a relentless work ethic and a really high level of intelligence in the hockey world. Yeah, not surprised that he’s doing as well as he is.
Q: Can you just take us quickly through the Trevor Zegras trade and how you think his season is going thus far?
A: He’s done a great job. And it’s really proof of Danny’s willingness to wait for the right time, and he was really patient on this one with Anaheim. It’s been well documented that it was a long process. Trevor kind of fit what we were looking for, and he has been all that and more with what he’s done for us. So I give Danny a lot of credit on that one as well as he waited for the right time to find the right deal that worked for both teams at that time, and we’ve been able to really see the benefits of that in our lineup.
Q: Can you just expand on what you mean by he fit what we were looking for?
A: You’re always looking for high skill level, talented players, and at the time, he was a distressed asset. So that’s what you have to do. You have to be thoughtful and a little bit lucky, and provide an environment where the player can shine. Our players help in that regard, too. So it’s a full organizational effort, starting at the top.
Q: What would be your message to the fans right now?
A: First of all, thank you. I see our fans all the time, and I appreciate them supporting us. I think that we’re trying to get it right for them. We’ve [Danny and I] played in front of them, in playoff positions, and we want our guys to experience that as well because I know they’re just terrific hockey fans that can really bring you to another level when you play in front of a packed house, and that’s what we’re working towards.
I thank them for continuing to come out to games, follow the team, and I just would let them know that, which we do often when we see them, we’re going to do everything we can to try to get this right.
Donald Trump said the only restriction on his power is his own morality. The law, the courts, the Constitution, and the Congress cannot limit his authority or power. This is what a dictator believes. What does Trump’s moral restraint look like? It permits him to have adulterous affairs. It allows him to brag about being able to grab women’s private parts with no consequences. Falsifying financial statements for financial gain is fine. Creating the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen is justified by his need to stay in power. Sending a violent mob to assault the U.S. Capitol and Congress is necessary. Asking his vice president to ignore the Constitution and refuse to certify the vote is just his interpretation of the law. Watching as the mob beats law enforcement officers and then praises them as great patriots and finally pardons them is the right thing to do.
In his second term, Trump has increased his power immensely, thanks to a GOP-controlled Congress that has allowed him to select a cabinet of largely unqualified individuals who are willing to accept his every order. He has eliminated the agency that provided food and medical assistance to those in need around the world and severely limited medical research. He has used the U.S. Department of Justice to persecute officials who previously performed their duties by seeking to prosecute Trump for his crimes. Trump has no morals and no shame. His malicious actions are too numerous to list and too un-American to believe.
William J. Owens,Hammonton
Two shootings
On Jan. 6, 2021, Ashli Babbitt entered the U.S. Capitol as part of a mob and tried to break into the room where members of Congress were trying to be kept safe. She was shot and killed. In May, the Trump administration paid a $5 million settlement to her family, and some consider Babbitt a hero. Judicial Watch has filed a $30 million lawsuit over the killing. On Jan. 7, Renee Nicole Good tried to drive away from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and was shot dead. Vice President JD Vance says she brought it upon herself. That really is all one needs to know.
Robert Franz,Plymouth Meeting
Rush to judgment
For most of my four decades as a lawyer, I have practiced criminal defense. Spontaneous shootings in the street demand the most searching, rigorous analysis of distances, angles, location of shooter and target, time intervals between actions and reactions, and a host of other variables, including motives, agendas, and personal histories. Video helps, but the investigative necessities remain the same. Any conclusion as to the shooter’s culpability depends on such work. No political leader or agency chief can fairly exonerate the shooter without such painstaking analysis, much less blame the victim.
Justin T. Loughry, Haddonfield
Rules of engagement
No warrants. No Miranda rights. No due process. No phone call. No legal representation. No accountability. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bars government representatives from visiting detention facilities. Basically, ICE just disappears you. Separates families. Incarcerates children. And now they shoot you without cause.
Patrick Thompson, Media, pthompson612@gmail.com
Stand for freedom
At an “ICE Out for Good” protest in Philadelphia this weekend, I found myself surrounded by a diverse group of peaceful, patriotic people. Some signs made me laugh; some chants brought me to tears. Outside in the rain, I felt at home. I served for 14 years as a foreign service officer, a role that limited personal political activities. As a diplomat to a kingdom during the 2016 election, I was congratulated by locals; Donald Trump’s disregard for human rights resonated there.
I felt a sense of homesickness for the freedoms of my citizenship, which grew as I moved to countries that were more dangerous and less free. From one U.S. embassy compound, I could hear the government keeping protesters at bay with water cannons and live fire. I’ve seen masked security forces, abductions, communication blackouts, crowds tear-gassed, shipping container piles blocking roadways. To protect and expand our freedoms, we need to keep hold of our democratic experiment and fight for this country to live up to its promises. I know what state-sponsored repression looks like; we’re at a precipice, and we have everything to lose.
Maura O’Brien,Ardmore
Free pass
The Inquirer is to be commended for keeping the spotlight on the corruption, dishonesty, divisiveness, and authoritarianism of the Trump administration. However, the resulting destruction of our democracy, social stability, and relationships with the rest of the world would not occur were it not for the abdication of responsibility by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and his Republican colleagues in Congress. On every issue, McCormick is either silent or supportive, never critical. As such, he is complicit in all the madness that is going on. The Inquirer should not let the senator get a pass on his failure to live up to his constitutional responsibility to be a check against this runaway presidency.
Donald Kelly,Havertown
Factually speaking
I write in response to the recent letter to the editor in which the writer reprimands those of us who are not appropriately celebrating the invasion of Venezuela by crafting an argument devoid of a basis in facts. I doubt there are many, if any, people who view Nicolás Maduro as a legitimate leader who gives a whit about the Venezuelan people. He is a dictator who rigged his supposed election and is an alleged drug trafficker. We (as the writer called us) “pearl-clutching and bedwetting” Democrats, independents, and likely a fair number of Republicans, can all agree that any country deserves to be out of the clutches of a fascist, corrupt president. Many of us are feeling some kinship with the Venezuelan people and other oppressed citizens as we watch our own democracy being taken over by a similarly disturbing authoritarian regime.
To address the factual disinformation in this letter, the author states that Maduro is “responsible for magnitudes more American deaths than Osama bin Laden.” Really? Venezuela’s impact on drug deaths in the U.S. has been minimal. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl, the primary cause of overdose deaths, does not come from Venezuela at all. Fentanyl is almost entirely produced by and transported to the U.S. by Mexican criminal cartels, which get needed chemicals primarily from China. Venezuela is used as a transit region for cocaine from Colombia headed for Europe.
As for the comparison between Maduro and bin Laden, the latter founded the violent terrorist group al-Qaeda and launched attacks in multiple countries to further his goal of destroying America. From the late 1990s, al-Qaeda carried out attacks on American interests, including our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. His reign of terror reached an apex of horror with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed thousands of men, women, and children going about their ordinary lives. The attempt to paint Maduro as more dangerous to America than bin Laden is utterly fallacious, especially since Donald Trump has openly acknowledged that this was all about oil, which he intends to keep. The letter writer says we need to “get with the program” and applaud an imperialistic anti-constitutional invasion and a violation of international law. Isn’t this exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin has done to Ukraine?
Diane C. Lucente,Delran
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
ARIES (March 21-April 19). You don’t waste time envying what a friend has when you can simply go out and get your own. It’s when you see something in the world that is not accessible to you that the pangs persist and then turn into something else entirely — motivation, then pure drive.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20). A daily ritual is so much a part of feeling like yourself that if you were to skip it, all else would feel slightly askew. This is your ideal moment to level up the practice with a small improvement. It ripples out to the rest of your life.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21). If you thought the gray areas were complex, wait until you get into the rest of the crayon box. But you’re the artist of this life. You know that every color can have its place and use in the picture — some you use a lot, some just a dot. You can make this work.
CANCER (June 22-July 22). There’s little to do but plenty to adjust to, which is the harder task. Flexibility is its own form of strength. Give yourself credit for your ability to adapt and settle in.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Just as nutritional needs vary from person to person, so do other needs such as novelty, social interaction, creative generation and physical exertion. So, don’t go by anyone else’s prescription. Only you know what feels right.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Knowledge is as bright as sunbeams and just as tricky to deliver. You can’t hand someone a sunbeam. When you organize your ideas around what lights you up, others come closer to absorb what you know.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You have an instinct about who you can trust, and it’s not always the one who is the right pick on paper. How you feel around people is more important than how their profile reads.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). In the echo chamber of the internet, with its crowdsourced consensus and recycled takes, you have a chance to offer something that wasn’t there before. People are hungry for what isn’t being said. You’re well positioned to say it.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). A well-supported idea in both therapy and relationship research is this: Psychological safety shows up as not having to perform your mood. In other words, the people who let you be you no matter what it looks like at the moment are treasures, and you really feel that today.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your vitality makes you courageous, and your courage fills you with vitality, so the cycle keeps looping until your head hits the pillow tonight. By then, you’ll have a few stories to tell about this day, which is the happy consequence of your daring.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Maybe you’ll notice that you are the thing that is “not like the others” today, but that’s a good thing. Everything that is different about you is an asset, not a liability. You’ll elevate the scene you’re in just by being you, with minimal filtering.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). As spiritual awareness expands, the ego naturally contracts. Perspective grows and self-importance fades, replaced by curiosity, humility and connection. Today, there will be less of a need to prove, protect or perform, and yet you are more fully yourself.
TODAY’SBIRTHDAY (Jan. 14). This is your Year of Beauty Gone Wild in which you revel in the natural gifts around you. It manifests in enhanced vitality, in profoundly peaceful moments in travel, hobbies and habits. You were never more aware that you, too, are nature’s child empowered to accept what grows and flows through your world. More highlights: You’ll accomplish award-winning feats in a diverse team, you’ll do business all over the globe, and a special relationship will glow up your days. Leo and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 30, 2, 21, 14 and 8.
