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ITB: With Camp One Month Away, What Are The Biggest Storylines Around The Eagles? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Inside the Birds is back. What's going on, everybody. It's
0:15
Speaker 1: Jeff Moser and I am joined by Inside the Bird
0:18
Speaker 1: dot Inside the Birds Dot COM's Andrew de Checko, And
0:22
Speaker 1: you know, Andrew and I talked about this. We want
0:24
Speaker 1: to do something a little bit different here during what
0:26
Speaker 1: we call the dead period of the NFL. And even
0:30
Speaker 1: though Andrew does is to check O Dailies and me
0:32
Speaker 1: and Adam have our Inside the Birds series right now,
0:35
Speaker 1: we're doing the NFC East preview with Greg Osel, we
0:38
Speaker 1: wanted to put a little break in between and just
0:41
Speaker 1: have Andrew and I kind of discussed training camp, which
0:45
Speaker 1: is really owned less than a month, well about a
0:47
Speaker 1: month away now, and what our biggest question mark for
0:52
Speaker 1: storylines going into camp will be. We now know, Andrew
0:56
Speaker 1: that camp will be July twenty eighth, and we know
0:58
Speaker 1: that those four weeks ago by quick. We also know
1:01
Speaker 1: that we probably pretty much reached the point where, barring
1:05
Speaker 1: something crazy like a Max Crosby trade or Steph Diggs
1:09
Speaker 1: signs with some team or Keyton Allen, that the Eagles,
1:13
Speaker 1: like most teams, are pretty much set with their roster
1:16
Speaker 1: until whatever happens in camp. So now it's a pretty
1:18
Speaker 1: good time to look into it.
1:19
Speaker 2: Are you?
1:20
Speaker 1: Are you kind of excited about this little exercise that
1:22
Speaker 1: we put together here?
1:23
Speaker 2: I am.
1:24
Speaker 3: It was very difficult to widow it down to just three.
1:27
Speaker 3: But to be clear, these are our three storylines, not
1:31
Speaker 3: necessarily concerns, but something that we are keeping a watchful
1:35
Speaker 3: eye on trending towards training camp.
1:38
Speaker 1: Yeah. I like that better storylines, and so I specifically
1:41
Speaker 1: asked Andrew to send me his three before we record it,
1:44
Speaker 1: but I didn't send him mine because I just wanted
1:47
Speaker 1: to see if there would be some overlap. All right,
1:49
Speaker 1: and as we record this, Andrew still has no idea
1:52
Speaker 1: what my three storylines are, which makes this more fun.
1:56
Speaker 1: And oddly enough, I thought there might be more. There's
1:59
Speaker 1: really one overlap. So we'll start right now with a
2:03
Speaker 1: storyline that I think our audience will not be surprised by.
2:08
Speaker 1: But it's very pertinent and certainly I didn't even ask
2:12
Speaker 1: you to rank it, but this would be number one
2:13
Speaker 1: for at least me and probably you know you on that,
2:17
Speaker 1: if not top two. And that's the health of the
2:20
Speaker 1: offensive line. And as you mentioned in your right up
2:23
Speaker 1: to me, you know, even if the offense comes as advertised,
2:27
Speaker 1: if Sean Manion's a genius, it won't matter, right if
2:30
Speaker 1: the offensive line isn't a healthy and be effective. Right.
2:36
Speaker 1: So I mean, because they could be healthy as far
2:38
Speaker 1: as passing physicals, as far as not having a specific injury.
2:43
Speaker 1: But if a guy like Landon Dickerson or even Cam
2:47
Speaker 1: with the back, you know, if they're just not the
2:50
Speaker 1: player that they used to be, you wonder, as you wrote, Andrew,
2:55
Speaker 1: can this offense be what it needs to be? Forget
2:57
Speaker 1: about like any discussion we have about the off whether
3:00
Speaker 1: it's Jalen Hurts, whether it's the receivers, the running game, right,
3:04
Speaker 1: is all going to be an extension of this part
3:07
Speaker 1: of the offense, the offensive line being able to do
3:09
Speaker 1: its job.
3:10
Speaker 3: The offensive success is largely predicated on the health of
3:14
Speaker 3: the offensive line. You can have the greatest play caller,
3:17
Speaker 3: you can have the greatest play schemed up in the world,
3:19
Speaker 3: but if you don't have it blocked up properly, it
3:22
Speaker 3: doesn't much matter, right, And I think what we saw
3:24
Speaker 3: last season foundationally, as we know, the Eagles want to
3:27
Speaker 3: run the football. They want to set the pace and
3:30
Speaker 3: get Saquon Barkley going and be able to do things
3:32
Speaker 3: off of that, but clearly that wasn't the case last season.
3:35
Speaker 3: And I think everything that I've gathered, everything that I've seen,
3:40
Speaker 3: suggests to me that while the passing game is been
3:44
Speaker 3: the primary focus, I think everything revolves around the running
3:48
Speaker 3: game Saquon Barkley, and if the offensive line is able
3:51
Speaker 3: to stay healthy, I think the Eagles will continue to
3:54
Speaker 3: be able to play that bowie ball style and control
3:58
Speaker 3: the clock, and then you're able to kind of open
4:01
Speaker 3: things up in the passing game.
4:02
Speaker 1: Off of that last year was wonky Andrew. I've never
4:07
Speaker 1: seen a situation where an offensive line struggled so much
4:12
Speaker 1: in the run game but really didn't in the past
4:16
Speaker 1: blocking scenario. Most offensive line will tell you pass protection
4:20
Speaker 1: is harder than running because you're moving backwards, you're in
4:23
Speaker 1: a defensive posture, you're in a vertical set as opposed
4:27
Speaker 1: to a jump set. Right right from the start you're
4:29
Speaker 1: running the ball, you get to lean forward, you get
4:32
Speaker 1: to dictate the tempo. And yet the Eagles were so
4:35
Speaker 1: much better at the more difficult part of the blocking
4:39
Speaker 1: in pass pro than they were in the run game.
4:43
Speaker 1: And you know, watching Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens really
4:48
Speaker 1: struggle to make angle blocks to execute the basic motions
4:54
Speaker 1: that were almost second nature to them. I mean we
4:57
Speaker 1: would watch tape and not you wouldn't even point it
4:59
Speaker 1: out if they made good combo blocks or jump into
5:03
Speaker 1: the second level because for I don't know, ten fifteen years,
5:06
Speaker 1: for as long as that one's been the old even
5:08
Speaker 1: going back to want Castile, the Eagles always ran the
5:10
Speaker 1: ball and and they read. The Eagles ran the ball
5:13
Speaker 1: well and didn't really up up in maybe other than
5:16
Speaker 1: like that year where Nick Coole and Kyle Van and
5:20
Speaker 1: Matt Yeah, Max g and Gillis and then later on
5:24
Speaker 1: with Kyle Devan and then some of the other guys
5:26
Speaker 1: Andrew Gardner.
5:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
5:28
Speaker 1: Right, all we've known is an Eagle's offensive line that
5:30
Speaker 1: could set the tone. So last year was really strange in.
5:33
Speaker 3: That regard, and you mentioned angle blocks. That's going to
5:36
Speaker 3: be imperative that they're able to execute those capably with
5:39
Speaker 3: the wide zone and the schematic changes that Sean Mannion's
5:44
Speaker 3: bringing in the way the offensive line coach Chris Cooper's
5:47
Speaker 3: teaching it. There was a significant drop off in Cam
5:50
Speaker 3: Jurgen's play last season, and there's reasons for that. He had
5:53
Speaker 3: offseason back surgery, and that takes quite a bit of
5:56
Speaker 3: time to revert back to your usual form, and he
6:00
Speaker 3: was hindered in his ability to get to the second
6:02
Speaker 3: level and doing some of the things that his athletic
6:05
Speaker 3: traits suggest that he should be able to do that
6:07
Speaker 3: we've seen him do before. So I think that he
6:10
Speaker 3: is a prime candidate for a bounce back candidate as
6:13
Speaker 3: long as he's able to stay healthy and that the
6:15
Speaker 3: offensive line, the health there is going to be key.
6:18
Speaker 3: That's not even to we haven't even mentioned the depth
6:20
Speaker 3: behind those players, where there leaves a lot. There's a
6:23
Speaker 3: lot of questions. It leaves a lot to be desired
6:25
Speaker 3: from an experienced standpoint. Right, you have Drew Kendall, you
6:29
Speaker 3: have Miles Hinton, you have Jake Major's, Willie Lampkin, you
6:33
Speaker 3: do have Fred Johnson. But there's a lot of questions there.
6:36
Speaker 3: So who exactly are would be replacing these players should
6:40
Speaker 3: they have to leave due to injury?
6:42
Speaker 1: Sure? Sure? Something I wonder also, Andrew is the intent
6:46
Speaker 1: of Sean Mannion and the wide zone that he's going
6:49
Speaker 1: to bring. And again, we don't know how No team
6:52
Speaker 1: runs one scheme of run, right, no style of run.
6:58
Speaker 1: It's not like you're never going to see in side zone.
7:01
Speaker 1: It's not like you're never going to see gap or
7:03
Speaker 1: power or the team doing some RPO stuff too, but
7:07
Speaker 1: there will be some wines on. Everybody has collectively said
7:10
Speaker 1: that they're practicing it, so they expect to do it.
7:13
Speaker 1: I wonder if, even though that they're not doing it
7:17
Speaker 1: with the intention of this, I wonder if a byproduct
7:20
Speaker 1: is making it easier on the health of the old
7:23
Speaker 1: line because I had a conversation with Jordaniy Allotta at
7:26
Speaker 1: the end of last year on cleanout day, and I
7:29
Speaker 1: was asking him if he felt like the tush push
7:32
Speaker 1: and it's just the overly physical style of play that
7:35
Speaker 1: the Eagles have had over the last three or four years,
7:38
Speaker 1: you know, running the ball lot inside, up the gut,
7:41
Speaker 1: big running backs like Saquan has also led to a
7:46
Speaker 1: wear and tear on the offensive line that in retrospect
7:49
Speaker 1: makes it seems obvious. And he didn't. I expect him
7:52
Speaker 1: to be like, nah, no, because you know, offensive linemen
7:55
Speaker 1: especially don't want to like ever relent to that. But
7:59
Speaker 1: he did say that it could be. He left the
8:01
Speaker 1: door open that their physical, brutal style of punishing teams
8:06
Speaker 1: with the inside zone and the pushplay could have taken
8:10
Speaker 1: a toll, which makes sense. They're at the bottom of
8:12
Speaker 1: a pile all the time. They're blocking these massive dts
8:16
Speaker 1: all the time. So I do wonder if this style
8:19
Speaker 1: of blocking wide zone, which is essentially horizontal, I don't
8:23
Speaker 1: want to say that it's not as physically demanding, but
8:26
Speaker 1: I do think moving horizontally as a post always upfront,
8:31
Speaker 1: and instead of blocking a three technique or a zero
8:34
Speaker 1: straight on, you're moving east west. I wonder if that
8:37
Speaker 1: will take it a little easier on this offensive line
8:40
Speaker 1: and enable them to stay a little healthier.
8:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up what Jordan Mylata had
8:45
Speaker 3: to say when you asked them that, Jeff, because I
8:47
Speaker 3: think going into last season, so much was made about
8:50
Speaker 3: how that attrition would affect Saquon Barkley, that style of play,
8:53
Speaker 3: that grinding style where they relied so heavily upon Saquon
8:57
Speaker 3: and the offensive line, how that was going to affect Saquon,
8:59
Speaker 3: But it wasn't taken into account enough about the wear
9:03
Speaker 3: and tear and how that was going to affect the
9:06
Speaker 3: offensive lineman.
9:07
Speaker 2: And you saw that throughout the season.
9:09
Speaker 3: There were players who made themselves available, but they had
9:12
Speaker 3: to go through quite a bit throughout the week to
9:14
Speaker 3: make themselves available, and they weren't nearly at full strength.
9:18
Speaker 3: But to your point, this new style with the angles
9:21
Speaker 3: and things like that, moving horizontally and stretching teams that
9:23
Speaker 3: way as opposed to being the roadue graders and punishing
9:27
Speaker 3: teams and moving forward, I do think that's going to help.
9:30
Speaker 3: And that was really conveyed whether you're hearing Lane Johnson
9:33
Speaker 3: talk about it at the podium Cam Jurgens talk about
9:35
Speaker 3: it at the podium, Lane Johnson mentioned that this will
9:38
Speaker 3: be the first time in his career and it's not
9:40
Speaker 3: going to be every time, but he's going to get
9:42
Speaker 3: some guard help where if he loses one on one,
9:44
Speaker 3: the guard will be there to kind of help back
9:47
Speaker 3: him up. There Cam Jurgens, you could just see how
9:50
Speaker 3: refreshed and eager they are anticipating this new scheme and
9:53
Speaker 3: how that's going to help them from just an availability
9:57
Speaker 3: and preservation standpoint.
10:00
Speaker 1: Sure. And also, and this is the last point I'll
10:02
Speaker 1: make on sort of the blocking scheme element of it.
10:04
Speaker 1: If you go look at the teams that run the
10:07
Speaker 1: Shanahan McVay style of offenses, they they're constantly kind of
10:11
Speaker 1: going through offensive linemen who are day two, day three guys.
10:16
Speaker 1: I mean, take the Packers, right, their left tackle for
10:18
Speaker 1: the last few years was Rashid Walker, a Penn State
10:21
Speaker 1: guy who was a six round pick. If they let
10:23
Speaker 1: him walk, he's now. I think with the Dolphins, they've
10:26
Speaker 1: had they've had Sean Ryan, a backup guard center, having
10:29
Speaker 1: a start at center and guard because they're their first
10:33
Speaker 1: round pick. Whose name is is it Jordan Mogan, Jordan
10:36
Speaker 1: Morgan or yeah, Jordan Morgan. I'm sorry, I was getting
10:39
Speaker 1: Morgan Moses and Jordan Morgan confused, but yeah, Morgan. He
10:43
Speaker 1: has not been healthy, right. They've take Elkton Jenkins and
10:47
Speaker 1: they moved him from guard to center to tackle. And
10:50
Speaker 1: then you look at the forty nine ers. After Trent Williams,
10:53
Speaker 1: they've had just a bunch of guys like nobody can
10:56
Speaker 1: really name the center of the guard the right tackle
10:58
Speaker 1: for the Niners. And the same thing with the Rams.
11:00
Speaker 1: They take guys who are oddly shaped like Alaric Jackson
11:04
Speaker 1: and you know, Steve Alvula, right, third round pick. Like
11:09
Speaker 1: these teams that run these offenses seem to intentionally not
11:12
Speaker 1: feel like they need first and second round picks all
11:15
Speaker 1: over the line because they feel like the scheme itself
11:18
Speaker 1: does the work. So if I'm Sean Mannion, I'm thinking, man,
11:23
Speaker 1: even if I'm not getting peak prime Lane Johnson, peak
11:28
Speaker 1: prime Cam Jurgens and peak prime Landon Dickerson, even if
11:32
Speaker 1: I'm getting like seventy percent of them, that's probably better
11:35
Speaker 1: than what some of these other teams are running this
11:37
Speaker 1: scheme with. So I have to feel like encouraged by that.
11:41
Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely.
11:42
Speaker 3: And to add to your point, Jeff, I do believe
11:44
Speaker 3: that with this coach, with this coaching staff, you're going
11:47
Speaker 3: to see more cross training so that you don't leave
11:50
Speaker 3: yourself shorthanded.
11:51
Speaker 2: And I've even seen it a little.
11:53
Speaker 3: Bit in the spring where there's Shrew Kendall getting some
11:55
Speaker 3: opportunities at guard. You know he can play center, but
11:58
Speaker 3: now it's about getting him those reps at guard so
12:00
Speaker 3: that he can be that verstual interior lineman Mark hell
12:04
Speaker 3: Bell working at left and right tackle. I think that's
12:06
Speaker 3: something that's going to be hugely important. Fred Johnson can
12:09
Speaker 3: play multiple spots, and even Miles Hinton, who is a
12:13
Speaker 3: tackle by trade, has been largely working at guard. So
12:16
Speaker 3: I think You're going to see a lot of that
12:18
Speaker 3: throughout training camp to better equip this offensive line to
12:21
Speaker 3: to withstand some of those those injuries and have them prepared.
12:25
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah. There's a lot of bodies on this whole,
12:28
Speaker 1: more than I can ever remember. I mean, and almost
12:30
Speaker 1: all of them are homegrown. A lot of them are
12:32
Speaker 1: Day three guys, but nonetheless they're they're homegrown. There's a
12:36
Speaker 1: lot of work there. For Chris Cooper, there's I mean,
12:38
Speaker 1: there's a lot of paint on this easel to work with.
12:40
Speaker 1: It's just you know, is it is it going to
12:42
Speaker 1: be a Rembrandt or is it going to be a
12:43
Speaker 1: finger painting? Is is a question with some of these guys,
12:46
Speaker 1: and we'll we'll just have to see. Uh, let's go
12:50
Speaker 1: on to your number one. Because I purposely didn't go
12:55
Speaker 1: with what you're about to mention because I figured you
12:58
Speaker 1: might and also I want this to be far reaching
13:01
Speaker 1: our storylines here, and I had a feeling that out
13:04
Speaker 1: of the discussion of the offensive line, you're what you
13:09
Speaker 1: have as number one was going to develop, so I
13:11
Speaker 1: didn't put it. So you're number one. Talk about that
13:13
Speaker 1: right now.
13:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's about how will Jalen hurts take to this
13:18
Speaker 3: new scheme and how different will it ultimately look And
13:21
Speaker 3: from a big picture of view, Kellen Moore was brought
13:24
Speaker 3: in to implement a lot of the changes that we're
13:26
Speaker 3: expecting to see with Sean Mannion, and for about a
13:30
Speaker 3: month you saw some of that. I don't think it
13:32
Speaker 3: was fully imagined through his vision, and then they had
13:36
Speaker 3: to scale it back. Turnovers mounted, and the offense just
13:39
Speaker 3: was not esthetically pleasing, it wasn't sustainable. And now you're
13:42
Speaker 3: bringing in Sean Maddion to bring in a scheme that
13:46
Speaker 3: you know at the top of the organization they prioritize it.
13:50
Speaker 3: And I think it's something to keep an eye on
13:53
Speaker 3: and keep keep in mind because it seems like this
13:56
Speaker 3: is what they want to do. They're they're rolling with this,
13:59
Speaker 3: and you know, it's kind of the station. The trains
14:02
Speaker 3: at the station get on board because it's leaving, and
14:05
Speaker 3: so you look at how that could affect Jayalen Hurts.
14:08
Speaker 3: Jyalen Hurts, to be clear, has done all of these
14:11
Speaker 3: things before. It's not about that, it's about doing it
14:14
Speaker 3: consistently and adapting to the changes. And it doesn't seem
14:19
Speaker 3: like they're going to waiver too much from it seems
14:21
Speaker 3: like they're really committed to to seeing this through.
14:24
Speaker 1: It's going to be really fascinating this year, especially Andrew,
14:27
Speaker 1: to see certain quarterbacks, Hurts being one of them, sort
14:31
Speaker 1: of adjust to these radical offensive changes that are intended
14:36
Speaker 1: to make the quarterback do something differently than the quarterback
14:39
Speaker 1: has done in the past. Hurts is one. I think
14:42
Speaker 1: the marriage between Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel is going
14:46
Speaker 1: to be sort of fascinating because what Mike McDaniel does
14:50
Speaker 1: well and the schemes are supposed to be quarterback friendly,
14:53
Speaker 1: but I don't know that that's always been the way
14:56
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert has operated, right, So we'll see. I think
15:00
Speaker 1: that there was what's the like Brian Dabele and cam
15:03
Speaker 1: Ward will be really interesting because cam Ward has such
15:06
Speaker 1: a big arm, but can he use the whole field
15:08
Speaker 1: the way Dable Dabel has worked with these athletic quarterbacks
15:12
Speaker 1: like Dart and Josh Allen, right, guys who can make
15:15
Speaker 1: second reaction plays and built an offense around that Ward
15:18
Speaker 1: can run, but he really doesn't, you know. He's more
15:21
Speaker 1: of a pocket guy with a big arm. So I'm
15:23
Speaker 1: sort of fascinated to see that marriage but I also
15:26
Speaker 1: think when we talk about Jalen and the Eagles and
15:29
Speaker 1: what to expect. You know, last year, Liam Cohen took
15:33
Speaker 1: over the Jaguars and he brought in his He worked
15:36
Speaker 1: under McVeigh, and he brought in his scheme. And if
15:39
Speaker 1: you remember, the Jaguars were really ugly offensively for the
15:42
Speaker 1: first six or seven weeks of the season, and it
15:45
Speaker 1: wasn't really until the second half of the year did
15:48
Speaker 1: everything start to really pick up. You know, Thomas started
15:52
Speaker 1: to catch more passes, Parker Washington as a middle of
15:55
Speaker 1: the field guy really evolved to where Lawrence felt really
15:59
Speaker 1: comfortable for rowing it to him. You started to see
16:01
Speaker 1: Lawrence use his movement, athletic movement more, And I do
16:04
Speaker 1: wonder if that'll be kind of a similar brueprint for
16:08
Speaker 1: how things start with Jalen Hurts. He's got new receivers
16:11
Speaker 1: just like Lawrence had, right, he's got a new scheme.
16:14
Speaker 1: Can he bring his athleticism back into the scheme. I
16:17
Speaker 1: don't know if they're gonna be running the ball a
16:19
Speaker 1: lot in a design way with Jalen anymore, but will
16:23
Speaker 1: there be opportunities for him to pick his spots like
16:26
Speaker 1: when we saw Lawrence run for that touchdown against the
16:29
Speaker 1: Chiefs on the final play of the game when that
16:30
Speaker 1: big upset. I think it was Sunday night or Monday
16:32
Speaker 1: night my game. All this to me makes me wonder
16:36
Speaker 1: because he was of a tough schedule at the start
16:38
Speaker 1: right to get like the Rams and the Bears back
16:40
Speaker 1: to back. Yeah, is it gonna be a little ugly early?
16:43
Speaker 1: But then eventually Jalen, like you said, he's made these throws,
16:46
Speaker 1: will it eventually become a little bit more comfortable for him?
16:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's about consistency and instead of pointing to the
16:54
Speaker 3: Steewers game or the Vikings game, it's about doing it
16:56
Speaker 3: on a weekend, week out basis.
16:58
Speaker 2: And I think the running game that's going to be
17:02
Speaker 2: at the crux of everything right here.
17:03
Speaker 3: If the Eagles are able to capably execute that, I
17:06
Speaker 3: think the passing games with under center and the play
17:09
Speaker 3: action everything's going to you're going to see an ideal
17:12
Speaker 3: marriage between the two. And it's more important that they're
17:15
Speaker 3: working on it now and installing it now because if
17:17
Speaker 3: your remember back to last season against the Chargers, they
17:21
Speaker 3: started to implement some of those things. But when you're
17:24
Speaker 3: not doing it in the in training camp and in
17:26
Speaker 3: the spring, it's kind of hard to scrap what you're
17:29
Speaker 3: doing and adopt a drastically different scheme. So I think
17:33
Speaker 3: Jayleen has proven throughout his career that he's willing to
17:37
Speaker 3: embrace change. He's dealt with different position coaches and play callers.
17:42
Speaker 3: But now it's about just really taking to it, because
17:45
Speaker 3: it feels to me that the Eagles are fully committed
17:49
Speaker 3: to implementing this scheme to take this offense further than
17:52
Speaker 3: where it's gone, because I think last season, as you saw,
17:55
Speaker 3: it looks like teams caught up to what they were doing,
17:58
Speaker 3: and the NFL is all about evolution and this is
18:01
Speaker 3: a part of it.
18:02
Speaker 1: The question I have about this adjustment to the scheme
18:05
Speaker 1: for Jalen, who loves to throw the ball deep right,
18:08
Speaker 1: is can they generate explosives again like they used to?
18:12
Speaker 1: And it really fell off last year because now you
18:15
Speaker 1: don't have aj Brown. Davante Smith can give you DeVante
18:18
Speaker 1: Smith explosives, but you need more than just I would
18:21
Speaker 1: say you need more than just one guy. Is there
18:25
Speaker 1: another guy or two who steps up and gives you explosives?
18:28
Speaker 1: Or can the Eagles follow the Seahawks blueprint and just
18:32
Speaker 1: basically ride Davante like Jackson Smith and Jigba and have
18:36
Speaker 1: this guy account for like seventy percent of the explosives
18:40
Speaker 1: eighty percent of the pass offense. And if that's still
18:42
Speaker 1: good enough to be a really good offense and win
18:45
Speaker 1: a championship.
18:47
Speaker 2: It's a great question.
18:48
Speaker 3: And I think Hollywood Brown fits the bill in terms
18:50
Speaker 3: of a player who can create explosives.
18:52
Speaker 2: I don't think that he's his.
18:54
Speaker 1: Career hasn't suggested that, right right.
18:56
Speaker 3: I think he's averaging just a tick over twelve yards,
19:00
Speaker 3: you know, averaging twelve yards of reception. But Jamen Hurts
19:03
Speaker 3: does throw a nice deep ball. That's been a big
19:05
Speaker 3: part of his game. So in theory, you have someone
19:08
Speaker 3: like Hollywood Brown who offers a unique skill set where
19:10
Speaker 3: he can stretch teams vertically and force defenses to account
19:14
Speaker 3: form when he's on the field.
19:15
Speaker 2: It opens things up for teammates.
19:16
Speaker 3: But apart from that, don Tavan Wicks is not an
19:18
Speaker 3: explosive play guy. He's more of a short intermediate receiver
19:21
Speaker 3: who can separate and make some of those contested catches
19:25
Speaker 3: that you like Mkai Lemon. He can create yards after
19:28
Speaker 3: the catch, but he's more of a interior receiver, who
19:32
Speaker 3: can you know, do some of the dirty work there
19:34
Speaker 3: and move the chains. I guess you're gonna have to
19:38
Speaker 3: maybe look at the running back situation. Are you going
19:40
Speaker 3: to get them involved in the passing game? And I
19:41
Speaker 3: see a smiling and it's because we have this conversation
19:44
Speaker 3: seemingly every offseason.
19:47
Speaker 2: But you know, it does raise the question because in an.
19:51
Speaker 3: Offense like this, where you have to get the ball
19:53
Speaker 3: out quickly to make life easier for your quarterback, you
19:56
Speaker 3: want to have those built in options, and what better
19:58
Speaker 3: than having the running back. But I don't think the
20:01
Speaker 3: Eagles took that out of the offense because they wanted to.
20:04
Speaker 2: I think it was due to preference.
20:06
Speaker 3: And you know, I'm curious to see if Sean Mannion
20:08
Speaker 3: decides to work this in a little bit more because
20:10
Speaker 3: Saquon Barbie is a capable pass catcher and Will Shipley's
20:14
Speaker 3: a very good pass catcher when utilized to that area.
20:17
Speaker 2: So they have some options.
20:19
Speaker 3: But in terms of pure explosive players, aside from Devontae Smith,
20:23
Speaker 3: there's not a ton that you can point to. There's
20:26
Speaker 3: dynamic players, but not of the explosive variety.
20:29
Speaker 1: Andrew I still don't know how Seattle did it. I
20:31
Speaker 1: mean they had a top They had our eighth ranked
20:34
Speaker 1: total offense, they had the eighth ranked passing offense. They
20:37
Speaker 1: scored twenty eight points per game, which was third best
20:40
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I get that the defense helps you
20:42
Speaker 1: and you can flip the field and you can put
20:44
Speaker 1: the offense, but like they really just did it with
20:47
Speaker 1: Jackson Smith and Jig But it makes me just wonder, like,
20:49
Speaker 1: is that the kind of year that DeVante Smith is
20:52
Speaker 1: going to have to have for this team to really
20:53
Speaker 1: go where it wants to go? Because they really we
20:57
Speaker 1: could talk about Marquise Brown and Wicks and got here
21:00
Speaker 1: sort of who had a nice year last year, but
21:02
Speaker 1: he's not exactly a field stretcher. He's a contact through
21:05
Speaker 1: contact player. But can they do that? Can they Koube
21:09
Speaker 1: acted such an amazing job, and does does Manion Havin
21:13
Speaker 1: in him to be able to replicate that? Well?
21:15
Speaker 2: Will they feed Davante enough for that to even occur?
21:19
Speaker 2: Don't they for that to come to fruition?
21:21
Speaker 3: Because the way that I anticipate this offense going is
21:24
Speaker 3: being one that facilitates the football and involves a lot
21:27
Speaker 3: of different receivers versus you know, sort of force feeding
21:32
Speaker 3: certain players, and I think if the offense is running
21:35
Speaker 3: as expected, that's what you're going to see. But you know,
21:39
Speaker 3: DeVante Smith's a pretty damn good receiver and has accomplished
21:42
Speaker 3: a lot in his career. You want to get him
21:43
Speaker 3: the football as much as possible. But if you look
21:46
Speaker 3: back on what the Packers did and what the you know,
21:50
Speaker 3: the the well, the Rams are a different story because
21:52
Speaker 3: they have Pooka and Nakua, but you know what I mean,
21:54
Speaker 3: and that and those offenses they tend to to really
21:57
Speaker 3: spread the ball around, so sure that that could make
21:59
Speaker 3: things even a little bit more challenging potentially.
22:02
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, we've gotten dangerously close to sort of
22:05
Speaker 1: sneak creeping into your number three. And I don't want
22:07
Speaker 1: to get full rever yet. Okay, I want to shift
22:11
Speaker 1: gears and give you what my number two is because
22:14
Speaker 1: this might surprise you a little bit. This is a
22:16
Speaker 1: storyline that is big for me. It's really it's about
22:22
Speaker 1: Jahad Campbell's development as a starting off ball linebacker because
22:27
Speaker 1: and I think this is a huge storyline Andrew, because
22:31
Speaker 1: I really truly believe with what Vic has on defense
22:34
Speaker 1: and what the Eagles have depth talent standpoint that if
22:39
Speaker 1: Jahad Campbell can play like a first round pick and
22:44
Speaker 1: really develop, I think this can be easily the number
22:47
Speaker 1: one defense in the league.
22:48
Speaker 2: Right.
22:49
Speaker 1: They've got studs in the secondary, they got studs at detackle,
22:53
Speaker 1: they got studs at edge, they got another stud inside
22:56
Speaker 1: linebacker already in Zach Bown. So they could be the
22:59
Speaker 1: number one defense in the league whether or not Campbell
23:02
Speaker 1: makes a big year two leap or not. But if
23:05
Speaker 1: he definitely does, then I think you're talking about a
23:08
Speaker 1: defense that could be so special. And what I mean
23:11
Speaker 1: by that is there's no question that a you saw
23:16
Speaker 1: the benefit of his athleticism when he had to start
23:18
Speaker 1: for the first eight weeks. He can run with tight ends,
23:20
Speaker 1: he can run with running backs, all right. But there's
23:22
Speaker 1: also no question that when he came out and Nikobe
23:25
Speaker 1: Dean went in, the Eagles defense picked up another level.
23:29
Speaker 1: You know. I think about those Detroit and Green yet
23:31
Speaker 1: Bay games back to back where they didn't even give
23:33
Speaker 1: up more than fifteen points in either game, right, and
23:38
Speaker 1: I thought think about how Nikobe's ability to play downhill,
23:42
Speaker 1: to be the fourth rusher in a sim pressure and
23:44
Speaker 1: just blow up a running back and disrupt the quarterback
23:47
Speaker 1: by sacking him or getting in his face. How smart
23:50
Speaker 1: he played, and how he was able to help the
23:53
Speaker 1: secondary stop having to be like like read blankchef stopped
23:58
Speaker 1: having to be a traffic cop for everybody. He could
24:01
Speaker 1: just worry about the secondary, don't have to worry about
24:03
Speaker 1: the linebackers. Yeah, like he did in the first eight
24:05
Speaker 1: weeks of the season, trying to help line up Campbell.
24:07
Speaker 1: If Campbell can play close to that level, I think
24:11
Speaker 1: this defense is almost going to be untouchable. And he's
24:14
Speaker 1: the one I've got squarely looking at because he's got
24:18
Speaker 1: the ability. He's got so much athletic ability. He just
24:21
Speaker 1: has to learn those other elements of the game that
24:23
Speaker 1: Nikobe mastered because he didn't have that kind of athletic ability.
24:28
Speaker 2: That's a great point. And to add to that, I
24:30
Speaker 2: would also say, Drew maccouba.
24:31
Speaker 3: Those are two players that you've seen, but you haven't
24:35
Speaker 3: have you seen enough to give you that kind of
24:37
Speaker 3: confidence that they're going to be able to capably fill
24:39
Speaker 3: in for the players that they're replacing and allow the
24:42
Speaker 3: defense to continue on their trajectory that they're on. Jehad Campbell,
24:46
Speaker 3: I thought that he was playing. I thought he played
24:48
Speaker 3: well as a rookie, and Vic Fangio doesn't rotate linebackers,
24:52
Speaker 3: but there's there was a trust and a confidence that
24:55
Speaker 3: Nikobe Dean was going to be able to step in there,
24:57
Speaker 3: play that hard nose style, be assignments sound the quarterback
25:01
Speaker 3: of that second level, and you didn't have to worry
25:04
Speaker 3: about any kind of growing pains. He's always going to
25:06
Speaker 3: be in the right place at the right time. So
25:08
Speaker 3: I don't know that it was necessarily anything Johi Campbell
25:10
Speaker 3: did or didn't do that you know, took snaps away
25:14
Speaker 3: from him as much as it was his bullishness in
25:16
Speaker 3: what the Kobe could provide. But that being said, the
25:20
Speaker 3: Kobe was a thumper in the run game, and I
25:24
Speaker 3: noticed that when Jahi Campbell was in it wasn't necessarily
25:26
Speaker 3: the same. So I know that he provides pass rush
25:31
Speaker 3: upside Jahi Campbell. He gives you length and range and coverage,
25:35
Speaker 3: and he really is built and has the skill set
25:38
Speaker 3: of a modern day NFL linebacker. But there are certain
25:40
Speaker 3: qualities that n Kobe brought to the defense that we're
25:44
Speaker 3: not going to know how Jehi Campbell's able to to
25:47
Speaker 3: kind of check those boxes off until we see him
25:49
Speaker 3: out there. But it is a fair question to having.
25:51
Speaker 3: You also have to worry about the durability. I know
25:53
Speaker 3: you can look at the Kobe Dean and say, well,
25:55
Speaker 3: he was often injured as well. But Jahi Campbell's a
25:58
Speaker 3: young player, first round pick. They have a lot invested
26:01
Speaker 3: in him and a lot sort of riding on his
26:05
Speaker 3: rise in year two.
26:07
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I think about how Vic used to Kobe
26:12
Speaker 1: as a big part of his pressure packages. Those sim pressures, right,
26:15
Speaker 1: were just so important to what Vic wanted to do
26:19
Speaker 1: because Vic does not want to rush five. He doesn't
26:21
Speaker 1: want to get all Brian Flores, Todd Bowles like. He
26:24
Speaker 1: wants to be able to disrupt quarterbacks, but he knows
26:27
Speaker 1: he can't do it just by rushing the same four
26:30
Speaker 1: guys every time. Too. No team can do that, no
26:33
Speaker 1: matter how good your front four is. You've got to
26:35
Speaker 1: be able to mix it up. And there were times
26:37
Speaker 1: where he would rush to Kobe just two or three
26:40
Speaker 1: times again, and all those two or three times, Nikobe
26:43
Speaker 1: knew how to get where he needed to go. And
26:45
Speaker 1: there's a time he blew up David Montgomery, who's one
26:47
Speaker 1: of the best in passpro. There was a time he
26:49
Speaker 1: blew up Josh Jacobs, one of the best in passport.
26:53
Speaker 1: I mean, he's blown up guys who are bigger than
26:55
Speaker 1: him and hitting quarterbacks and causing disruption. And even Campbell
27:01
Speaker 1: is a good pass rusher from Alabama, being an edge rusher,
27:06
Speaker 1: I need to see him be able to do that
27:09
Speaker 1: in Vic's defense as an a gap rusher, you know,
27:12
Speaker 1: which is a different animal. And he certainly has the
27:15
Speaker 1: athleticism speed, but some of this also takes some know
27:18
Speaker 1: how to catch a guy off balance. There were times Andrew,
27:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't believe that they didn't see this coming,
27:24
Speaker 1: because this is what Vic's been doing week after week.
27:27
Speaker 1: He's gonna blow mess up your protection scheme. You're gonna
27:30
Speaker 1: you're gonna think Nikobe's not coming. Then he's gonna come
27:33
Speaker 1: late and nobody's blocking him, or you're your running back
27:36
Speaker 1: is too late. By the time he gets in a position,
27:37
Speaker 1: he's blown up. And yet it worked, and it was
27:40
Speaker 1: like essential to how Vic wanted to build his game
27:43
Speaker 1: plan around on third down. And if he doesn't trust
27:46
Speaker 1: Jahd to do that, will he be able to find
27:50
Speaker 1: somebody else who does. I don't know, because he's not
27:52
Speaker 1: gonna blitz like eleven different guys. So I just feel
27:55
Speaker 1: like this could be the difference between being so dominating
28:00
Speaker 1: that you're a little bit like Seattle. I hate to
28:01
Speaker 1: keep going back to Seattle, but like you're just so
28:03
Speaker 1: much better than everybody else, or you're really good, but
28:07
Speaker 1: you'll have your moments. Last year they were really good,
28:09
Speaker 1: but they had some moments and including in the playoffs,
28:12
Speaker 1: where they just weren't as sound as I think wanted
28:14
Speaker 1: them to be.
28:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's a good point.
28:16
Speaker 3: I mean, Nikobe is a highly highly intelligent football player,
28:21
Speaker 3: plays with exceptional instincts and anticipation, which sort of atones for,
28:25
Speaker 3: as you alluded to Jeff his lack of prototypical athleticism
28:30
Speaker 3: that you look for at that second level, and he
28:32
Speaker 3: was forklifting running backs and just always having a good
28:36
Speaker 3: read on what the offense's offense is we're trying to do,
28:40
Speaker 3: and so that's hard to replace. But they do have
28:44
Speaker 3: if you're looking at it from another angle, they do
28:46
Speaker 3: have a lot more athleticism that they're gaining with Jahied Campbell.
28:50
Speaker 3: So it is going to be a question because you
28:52
Speaker 3: have to account for some of those lapses in coverage
28:56
Speaker 3: or some of those you know, missed assignments that Ni
28:59
Speaker 3: Kobe was just so he was just so consistent in
29:02
Speaker 3: doing that. And then with the Cuba mccooba on the
29:05
Speaker 3: back end taking on a much more critical role in
29:08
Speaker 3: this defense. As we all know, to be a safetier
29:10
Speaker 3: linebacker in a FIC Fangio defense, you have to be
29:13
Speaker 3: able to be assignment sound and be well versed in
29:17
Speaker 3: the fundamentals and and that's that's a that's a huge spot.
29:20
Speaker 2: For Drew mccouba as well.
29:23
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff, let's go back and let's finish
29:25
Speaker 1: off with your third one. We started to touch on
29:27
Speaker 1: this a little bit, Yes, then I had I had to,
29:32
Speaker 1: you know, make sure we didn't go full throttle.
29:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
29:34
Speaker 3: So it's how do the Eagles go about replacing AJ Brown?
29:40
Speaker 3: The production from AJ Brown and Davante is gonna take
29:44
Speaker 3: on a much larger role, but a lot of what
29:47
Speaker 3: the Eagles have remaining, there's optimism, but it's largely a
29:51
Speaker 3: projection right now.
29:52
Speaker 2: Dan Tavian Wicks is an X.
29:54
Speaker 3: Factor here because clearly the Eagles are telling you that
29:58
Speaker 3: they have a lot of confidence and entury in him,
30:01
Speaker 3: especially when you look at what Sean Mannion and Ryan
30:03
Speaker 3: Mahaffey having spent time with him for a couple of
30:05
Speaker 3: seasons in Green Bay, they have a unique insight as.
30:08
Speaker 2: To what he can provide. And you would think that
30:10
Speaker 2: they think he can do more with a larger role,
30:12
Speaker 2: but he hasn't done it yet. He's never had more
30:14
Speaker 2: than thirty nine catches in a season.
30:16
Speaker 3: He's the Eagles big bodied receiver, and so when you
30:20
Speaker 3: take you know, you look at what AJ Brown was
30:22
Speaker 3: to this offense. He's no one can replace Aj Brown,
30:25
Speaker 3: But don Tavian Wicks is someone that they're going to.
30:28
Speaker 3: There's going to be a lot riding on his impact
30:31
Speaker 3: and the Makai Lemons a rookie, while his skill sets
30:35
Speaker 3: would seem to translate favorably to this kind of offense,
30:38
Speaker 3: this true West Coast offense. That slot receiver, precise route runner,
30:43
Speaker 3: tough after the catch, can move the chains. Sometimes the
30:47
Speaker 3: learning curve could be steeper, and he didn't have the
30:50
Speaker 3: full compliment of spring practice with the hamstring. So to
30:53
Speaker 3: kind of just pencil him in as someone who's going
30:55
Speaker 3: to give you sixty receptions and be that chain mover
30:59
Speaker 3: right off the that I mean, that's a projection. Then
31:02
Speaker 3: you have other players like Hollywood Brown and you move
31:05
Speaker 3: down the roster. I mean, in theory, those pieces are
31:08
Speaker 3: gonna fit, but again, you're banking on some of those
31:12
Speaker 3: players sort of immersing into this offense and taking their
31:17
Speaker 3: game to another level.
31:18
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think about this schematically a lot, and because
31:22
Speaker 1: it's not just about replacing the numbers, but it's also
31:25
Speaker 1: about the presence. And say what you want about AJ
31:28
Speaker 1: Brown's last two years. I know they weren't as fruitful
31:31
Speaker 1: as his first two years of an Eagle, but I
31:34
Speaker 1: can think of so many instances, so many third downs
31:39
Speaker 1: where he lines up as either the number one on
31:43
Speaker 1: the outside is an AX the true X right, or
31:46
Speaker 1: you're one by three and all he basically it's him verse.
31:50
Speaker 1: When it's one by three and the defense is playing
31:53
Speaker 1: towards the passing strength, sometimes all he has to do
31:55
Speaker 1: is just beat the corner five yards on that third
31:59
Speaker 1: and five a hitch and catch the ball. I know,
32:01
Speaker 1: I know that makes everybody wins, But as much as
32:04
Speaker 1: they were overdoing it on the hit the hitch routes,
32:07
Speaker 1: there's a reason he would catch a ton of those
32:09
Speaker 1: on third down and just turn him into either first
32:12
Speaker 1: downs at the six or you know how strong he was, right,
32:14
Speaker 1: he would bully his way for more yards. And then
32:16
Speaker 1: there were the times where because they're playing that, he
32:21
Speaker 1: beats him upfield, down the sideline and reels in the ball.
32:25
Speaker 1: Like we can crap on him all we want for
32:28
Speaker 1: the last years for not being great, but like you're saying,
32:31
Speaker 1: he definitely served a purpose and he was Jalen Hurtz's
32:34
Speaker 1: favorite target outside the numbers. And they just don't have
32:38
Speaker 1: a player who a defense on third and five is
32:42
Speaker 1: going to play ten yards off of because they're not
32:45
Speaker 1: sure that that guy is either going to turn a
32:47
Speaker 1: small hitch into a first out or beat them down
32:49
Speaker 1: the sideline. Someone's gonna say, yeah, they got DeVonta Smith. No,
32:52
Speaker 1: he's gonna be on the other side of the field
32:53
Speaker 1: playing the Z. He's not gonna play the X very
32:56
Speaker 1: much because he's just not built like an X receiver.
32:58
Speaker 1: There was a physical and a presence that was unique.
33:04
Speaker 1: A skill set that goes with it that was unique.
33:06
Speaker 1: Is Dantavian Wicks, tall and strong. Sure that doesn't make
33:10
Speaker 1: him aj Brown and it doesn't mean the defenders are
33:13
Speaker 1: going to play him the same way that they played
33:15
Speaker 1: AJ Brown just because they're lining up in the same spot.
33:18
Speaker 1: And though third down to me becomes really big on
33:22
Speaker 1: where Jalen Hurts goes to the ball, when Davante Smith
33:26
Speaker 1: on the other side of the field is probably going
33:28
Speaker 1: to see a safety, NA corner, maybe bracket coverage, They're
33:31
Speaker 1: going to do everything. They kind of take him out
33:32
Speaker 1: and say, now, go find somebody else to win.
33:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, Aj, The mere presence of AJ Brown commanded attention
33:40
Speaker 3: from defenses and it opened things up for Devonte Smith
33:44
Speaker 3: and Dallas Goddard. And he was winning so frequently on
33:47
Speaker 3: those hitch routes. That's where winning, being able to win
33:50
Speaker 3: one on one is so essential, and that's why the
33:52
Speaker 3: Eagles implemented that as often as they did. Those bang
33:56
Speaker 3: eight routes. Those are game changing type of routes when
33:59
Speaker 3: you get the ball in eight J Brown's hand that
34:00
Speaker 3: he can do.
34:01
Speaker 2: Now.
34:03
Speaker 3: I don't know that these receivers are going to be
34:05
Speaker 3: forced to win one on one, because I do imagine
34:07
Speaker 3: this scheme is going to find ways to scheme these
34:10
Speaker 3: players open and the route concepts will be a little varied.
34:15
Speaker 2: I think that's fair.
34:16
Speaker 3: And but still, who's going to step up and help
34:20
Speaker 3: atone for the loss there of aj Brown that you know,
34:23
Speaker 3: the thought process, I can understand they They've added a
34:26
Speaker 3: lot of different pieces with different skill sets and different abilities,
34:30
Speaker 3: But until you see it all fuse together, it's really
34:34
Speaker 3: hard to look at it and say they have their
34:36
Speaker 3: answers and the passing games going to you know, going
34:39
Speaker 3: to be you know, yeah, it's going to keep it's
34:42
Speaker 3: going to keep marching on.
34:43
Speaker 1: I love one of them. I don't know if I
34:45
Speaker 1: came up with this expression, but something I like to
34:47
Speaker 1: say all the time is in the NFL, third and
34:49
Speaker 1: six is third and six. So like, you can have
34:52
Speaker 1: this wonderful scheme and all this great marriage of your
34:54
Speaker 1: play action and your run game and bunch formations and
34:58
Speaker 1: condensed formations that are all supposed to be like look
35:01
Speaker 1: like runs but could be passes, but eventually you're gonna
35:04
Speaker 1: go to third and six and that's not gonna work.
35:06
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to like play your one by threes
35:08
Speaker 1: and your two by twos and figure out a way
35:10
Speaker 1: to move the chains. And that those are the areas
35:12
Speaker 1: where I say, I'm I'm curious about how it's all
35:16
Speaker 1: gonna work out with the Eagles in the post Aj
35:18
Speaker 1: Brown era, because those are gonna be the more difficult
35:21
Speaker 1: times for Jailing to find somebody when when DeVante Smith
35:25
Speaker 1: is locked down.
35:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, in the past, it was like where's Aj. Let's
35:28
Speaker 3: get the Okay, AJ's cover, Let's get it to DeVante.
35:31
Speaker 3: And now you know DeVante is stepping into that top role.
35:36
Speaker 3: He's gonna command a lot of attention from defensive backs
35:39
Speaker 3: and defenses in general. They're gonna find ways to combat
35:41
Speaker 3: what he does so successfully. And then you have to
35:44
Speaker 3: look at it and say who's stepping up from this group?
35:47
Speaker 3: And right now it's hard to look at it and
35:49
Speaker 3: say there's a definitive option. I think there's intriguing options.
35:53
Speaker 3: And I certainly believe that Makai Lemon, if this offense,
35:56
Speaker 3: if this passing game sort of fulfill his expectations, he
36:00
Speaker 3: going to be a high volume inside type of receiver who.
36:03
Speaker 2: Can create yards after the catch. But you know a
36:07
Speaker 2: lot of it.
36:07
Speaker 3: Sometimes these things take time, and for Jalen Hurts, when
36:11
Speaker 3: there's unfamiliar past targets, sometimes that takes them a little
36:13
Speaker 3: bit of time to really establish that rapport and trust.
36:18
Speaker 2: So I mean it is a legitimate storyline going into
36:21
Speaker 2: training camp.
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Speaker 1: one and up. All right, so I'm gonna finish it
37:23
Speaker 1: off my last storyline here. Going into Camp I find
37:27
Speaker 1: like mildly interesting without trying to overdo it is the
37:32
Speaker 1: jailing Carter situation. You know, the fact that he didn't
37:36
Speaker 1: participate in team drills during camps might very well be
37:40
Speaker 1: just because he's still coming back from the shoulders that
37:43
Speaker 1: he's working on. It also might very well, sort of,
37:49
Speaker 1: I guess, be a harbinger for camp and maybe I'll
37:52
Speaker 1: hold in if the contract situation isn't done. And I
37:57
Speaker 1: when he was hurt last year, Andrew I spoke to
37:59
Speaker 1: a couple of orthopedis for Philly Voice for a story
38:01
Speaker 1: I was working on, you know, not ones that work
38:04
Speaker 1: on him, but just sort of philosophically about the shoulders
38:08
Speaker 1: and the PRP treatments, which, by the way, have been
38:11
Speaker 1: not They're not like in the medical community considered like
38:15
Speaker 1: be all sand Alls. There's actually these orthopedis told me
38:18
Speaker 1: that there's no empirical proof that PRP injections definitely definitively work.
38:23
Speaker 1: You know what happens is you get them, they kind
38:26
Speaker 1: of make you feel better. You take time off like
38:29
Speaker 1: he did three or four weeks, and you feel better.
38:31
Speaker 1: But nobody can say if you feel better because of
38:33
Speaker 1: those are because you took four weeks off, right, Like,
38:35
Speaker 1: there's just not enough scientific and medical data to say
38:40
Speaker 1: that these things are effective, and then so they thought
38:44
Speaker 1: he would probably have a surgery in the off season,
38:47
Speaker 1: which he didn't have to our knowledge, He's just been
38:50
Speaker 1: working on strengthening them.
38:51
Speaker 2: Yes, So if you have a.
38:53
Speaker 1: Guy who's going into camp who still has some shoulder concerns, right,
39:00
Speaker 1: and then the contract hovering and then he's not playing,
39:04
Speaker 1: I just think this whole thing, it just it's not
39:08
Speaker 1: right yet, you know, like it doesn't feel right yet,
39:10
Speaker 1: and I don't know if it will until we get
39:12
Speaker 1: it all situated.
39:14
Speaker 3: It's fair and when you look, I go back to
39:16
Speaker 3: that Chicago game, Jeff, when Chicago rushed for I believe
39:20
Speaker 3: it was two hundred and eighty one yards or whatever
39:22
Speaker 3: it was one hundred, I don't remember, but they ran
39:25
Speaker 3: for a ton of yards in that game. And that
39:28
Speaker 3: was an instance where Jalen Carter was moving horizontally and
39:33
Speaker 3: the Chicago Bears offensive line was sort of having their
39:36
Speaker 3: way with him.
39:36
Speaker 2: And I've never seen Jalen Carter be handled the way
39:39
Speaker 2: that he was in that game.
39:40
Speaker 3: And then after the game he alluded to doing with
39:43
Speaker 3: something and then as we come to find out, it
39:45
Speaker 3: had to do with the shoulders. And that's a problem
39:48
Speaker 3: if that continues to persist, because it impeded his ability
39:52
Speaker 3: to get up the field to be that dominant force
39:54
Speaker 3: in the middle of that Egos defensive line, and he is.
39:58
Speaker 3: You could argue he's the centerpiece for the Eagles defense
40:00
Speaker 3: and how they're ultimately going to go. And I think
40:03
Speaker 3: that it's legitimate to have I think it's fair to
40:06
Speaker 3: have those questions about his health and once you have
40:09
Speaker 3: to start getting, you know, on the field, when the
40:11
Speaker 3: pads come on and your striking offensive linemen, is he
40:15
Speaker 3: going to be able to hold up?
40:16
Speaker 2: Is it going to flare up again? Is that going
40:18
Speaker 2: to be.
40:19
Speaker 3: Something that becomes a prevailing theme throughout the season. We
40:22
Speaker 3: have to learn a lot more, of course, but I mean,
40:25
Speaker 3: if you saw that version of Jalen Carter against the
40:27
Speaker 3: Chicago Bears, I mean that you can't have that.
40:30
Speaker 1: Right right And like kind of like I said with Campbell,
40:33
Speaker 1: like the difference between being maybe the best defense in
40:36
Speaker 1: the NFL a truly super special group could also be
40:40
Speaker 1: Jalen Carter being the Jaillen Carter we saw like year one,
40:45
Speaker 1: first half or two, or the Jaillen Carter that we
40:47
Speaker 1: saw last year, which was a good player still that
40:50
Speaker 1: every team would want to have, but not like a
40:53
Speaker 1: game wrecking Aaron Donald guy or Jeffery Simmons type of
40:56
Speaker 1: guy that we talk about. So I think it's I
41:00
Speaker 1: think it's hovering over the team. If they signed them
41:04
Speaker 1: to an extension soon, then you'll feel like the team
41:08
Speaker 1: is okay with everything going on. Knows about the shaw lights,
41:11
Speaker 1: the progress. If this thing leaders in the camp and
41:14
Speaker 1: he's not playing because either it's injuries or they're saying
41:17
Speaker 1: that but it's really contract, it just kind of puts
41:19
Speaker 1: a damper on things.
41:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he is such a critical piece of this defense,
41:25
Speaker 3: and you can look at the contract situation and perhaps
41:29
Speaker 3: that will get worked out before the season. The Eagles
41:31
Speaker 3: typically don't do in season extensions, but I understand why
41:37
Speaker 3: there would be some pause because he's coming off a
41:40
Speaker 3: down season. You want to see how he responds from
41:43
Speaker 3: the PRP, from the extended rest with the shoulders, and
41:46
Speaker 3: if he's still if he returns to form to the
41:48
Speaker 3: player that he was in twenty twenty four and really
41:51
Speaker 3: all of his career prior to last season. It's fair
41:54
Speaker 3: to have those questions going into and going into the season.
41:57
Speaker 3: You want to see it before you make that kind
41:59
Speaker 3: of I would imagine absolutely.
42:02
Speaker 1: All right, this was great, It was fun. I think
42:05
Speaker 1: we took some really good topics and even some topics
42:07
Speaker 1: we've discussed, but got deeper into it and really talk
42:11
Speaker 1: shop here from an ex's and O standpoint, always fun
42:15
Speaker 1: to catch up with you and talk a little ball.
42:16
Speaker 2: Andrews likewise, man likewise, look forward to doing it again.
42:20
Speaker 1: All right, everybody, please continue to catch the Checko daily
42:23
Speaker 1: pretty much every day h on the Inside the Birds platform,
42:27
Speaker 1: read his work on Inside the Birds dot com. It's
42:31
Speaker 1: Andrew Checko and that's gonna do it for this episode
42:34
Speaker 1: of Inside the Birds, the leading podcasts and Eagles Intel,
42:37
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42:39
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