Philadelphia Eagles sideline reporter and 94WIP host Howard Eskin provided context on a variety of recent reports about the team, most notably stating that Fletcher Cox was the main player who spoke to Jalen Hurts about his leadership.
On Craig Carton's comments on the Eagles' culture problem:
"It was a total exaggeration," Eskin said. "What has occurred in that situation I believe, what he's trying to imply, is Jalen Hurts, we know his personality it's got to take a step up. I don't know how you change that. I mean it was the same personality when you got to the Super Bowl, but when they're not playing well you try to find reasons. So a few players have talked to Jalen Hurts about, 'Hey listen, you've got to connect more, you've got to be more emotional on the sidelines, you've got to be more apart of us.' A few players have done that. The one player that's probably more—I think the word demonstrative is probably too much of implying what's going on—was Fletcher Cox. Fletcher is a stern guy and he was not happy with his emotion, but other players were the same way.
"So Fletcher is the guy, and this is why this makes sense from what I've been told—Craig Carton said, 'There is going to be a prominent player that may not be with the team next year because of this.' Well Fletcher Cox has basically already said that he's done...So Craig is going to say, 'Well, I told you a player wasn't coming back.' It was not a fight, it was not a screaming match, it was not any of those things and he's just one of the players that has talked to him. But he doesn't it in a sterner fashion...and other people from the team have talked to Jalen Hurts about that. Now, let's be clear, the team was not good enough."
On the current relationship between A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts:
"Do they see eye to eye, are they on the same page all of the time? No. But is that the issue? No, that's not the issue," Eskin said. "Winning changes, boy that cures a lot of things. Are they as close as they were? Maybe not, but it's not a problem."
On the Derrick Gunn report that Nick Sirianni needed Big Dom on the sideline to prevent sideline confrontations:
"There were people on the team that felt him not being there maybe hurt the team a little bit, but that's another story that's out of control," Eskin said.
"I was there on the sidelines. I don't see everything, but I see a lot. Nick Sirianni is an emotional guy and I'll say this about Big Dom, he really keeps things together. He is really good for that team, not just on the bench, just in the building, he's really, really good. I didn't see a lot of that. Does Nick get over the top? Does every once in awhile does he say, 'Nick just slow down.' Did he get on players? Sure he does...I didn't see really a lot of that, but again, does Dom help that before it gets to that point? The reality is that's an overstated story too. I had heard about people felt that Dom was missed...but I didn't think it was big enough to really talk about because again, I didn't see a lot of that stuff. But Dom is really important, no question about it, but that is out of control too. That story is so over the top too, ridiculous."
On the most recent post from the X account @1kalwaysopen_ on the Philadelphia media, which was formerly A.J. Brown's account and may still be:
"He actually makes a good point," Eskin said. "The media is different now than what it is. A newspaper story a writer used to have two sources, now they have no sources and there's quotes that are just made up. There are stories that are embellished and it is for clicks...I don't totally disagree if it is him."