The Eagles had a very special guest speaker in their Microsoft Teams virtual meeting on Thursday.
Legendary NBA head coach Phil Jackson popped in for some words of wisdom.
"It was just cool because that's a legend right there," Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said on a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday afternoon.
Jackson, 74, has been back in the public recently thanks to "The Last Dance," the Michael Jordan documentary in which Jackson has a ton of screen time. Jackson is an 11-time NBA champion coach. With the Eagles, Jackson talked about the documentary but also gave some advice.
So what words of advice did he offer to the Eagles?
He just talked about how we persevered last year and pretty much, you gotta have those moments where you stay in games," Graham said. "When things go wrong, you gotta be able to keep the spirit up. He was just talking about some of the guys that kind of went unnoticed on the team that kind of kept them together. Everybody gotta know their role and enjoy your role because if we're a team, everybody has a place and everybody has a job.
"Whatever job is issued to you, that's what you gotta accept until things change because injuries happen, all kinds of things happen. But how you handle yourself as a teammate is very important. I think that's going to translate to us real good, especially hearing it from him."
Jackson coached the Bulls to six NBA titles and then coached the Lakers to five. In Los Angeles, of course, Jackson coached the late Kobe Bryant, who was a huge Eagles fan. Bryant, who died earlier this year, spoke to the Eagles while in Southern California during the 2017 season.
From time to time, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson likes to bring in a guest speaker to address his team. That's something his mentor Andy Reid has also done during his coaching career. During this past Super Bowl week, Reid had Donovan McNabb come and speak to his Chiefs team.
Philadelphia Eagles
Complete coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and their NFL rivals from NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Pederson likes the idea of getting a fresh voice to speak to his players. Getting one of the greatest coaches of all time in Jackson is a pretty good one.
Subscribe and rate the Eagle Eye podcast:
Apple Podcasts / Google Play / Stitcher / Spotify / Art19
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.
