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The DiCecco Daily: My Favorite Eagles Training Camp Memories As A Beat Reporter · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: When Welcome in to another episode of The check O Daily.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It's Andrew de Checko Eagles beat reporter Friendsidethebirds dot Com
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: here with you, and today's podcast is going to be
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: about me sort of taking a walk down memory lane
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and discussing some of my favorite training camp memories covering.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: The Philadelphia Eagles.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Those of you who know me, you know that training
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: cast is my favorite part of the NFL calendar, where
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you get to see a team come together. Sometimes oftentimes
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: you'll see players emerge from relative obscurity, like Darius Cooper
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: most recently, and all of a sudden they're in contention
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to make the fifty three men roster. Just the element
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of surprise, the unpredictability of training camp, and also the
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: excitement that typically accompanies the dawn of a new season
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: are things that I very much enjoy, and I'm very
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: appreciative for what I do, and I'm grateful for what
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I do. And training camp is just the first phase
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: of the NFL season and something that I very much enjoy.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So with that, I'll go back to the twenty twenty
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: one summer where Jalen Rager makes just a tremendous one
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: handed catch in the back of the end zone, and
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: it was big because Jalen Rager of course didn't have
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the the best Eagles career and it was something that
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: maybe when he makes that catch, is the light coming
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: on for him?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Is this a sign of things to come?
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Ultimately it wasn't, but for that moment, Jalen Rager making
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the highlight reel play something that I still think back
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to whenever I think of training camps is something that
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: for me is in my memory.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: It's ingrained in my memory.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: And it was just a really nice catch, good body control.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: It was in the back of the end zone, and
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: so something that you probably couldn't have predicted because it
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: showcased the confidence, the hand eye coordination, and.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Just the awareness to get his feet down.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And to me, that was something that I'll remember because
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: it was from an unlikely contributor, but it also foreshadowed
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: potentially that Jalen Rager was maybe coming into his own
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: settling in, growing into his role. That didn't happen, but
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: it was certainly something that I will always remember. I
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: also think back to the twenty twenty two training camp.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: It was the first look at aj Brown and just
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: seeing how he approaches practice, He's just built different. He's
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: a physical specimen and when he goes out there, you're
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: seeing him just dominate defensive backs regardless of who's in
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: front of him. And the late hands is something that
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I haven't hadn't really seen prior to that, and it's
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: something that Aj has sort of majored in. But just
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: seeing someone who had been sort of a household name
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: with this time in Tennessee coming into Philadelphia, there was
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of excitement from the fans that were there
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: seeing him in person and then watching him just dominate
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: practice and win his matchups, coming up with contested catches.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: The connection that he had with Jalen Hurts was a
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: site to behold, and there was just a lot of
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: anticipation seeing AJ Brown in person, and for me, that's
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: something that I won't forget. And I think while we're
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: on that similar topic, I would also say Saquon Barkley
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, when Saquon Barkley arrived in Philadelphia,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: that was a blockbuster signing and while he didn't have
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: a ton of success with the New York Giants, he
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: was certainly someone who was widely viewed as a superstar.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Much like aj Brown, and so to get eyes on
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: him in person and watch him maneuver in the open
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: field and just the physicality that he brought, the explosiveness,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: and at that moment, you had no idea of knowing
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: that he was going to rush for two thousand yards
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: north of two thousand yards, but you could see the vision.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: You could see the fit, and it's one thing to
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: imagine what that fit's going to look like. It's one
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: thing to see the signing and say, oh, the Eagles
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: really swung for the fences here. But then when you
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: see him in person and you see him in practice
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and how much volume he was commanding the receiving element
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: of his game, and it's sort of with me, it's
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: sort of I guess put in my mind that he
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: was going to have a hugely critical role for this team,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: even as a receiver.
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  Speaker 2: Now, that didn't quite manifest. Briefly.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: It did in that game in South pallow where he
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: went up there and got the football in a wheel route.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: But when you're seeing him in person for the first time,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: he can't really put it into words because you don't
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: really know what to expect. But he was as advertised,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: and I didn't cover the Eagles when too was there.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Jeff would be the person to ask about that, but
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I imagine it was something pretty similar. And while it
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: wasn't the same as Lehigh where there's a number of
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: fans there and you could feel the energy, you could
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: still feel the energy was certainly palpable when Saquon Barkley
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: took the field and was going through his first training
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: camp with the Philadelphia Eagles. There's also moments that stick
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: out to me from joint practices, and joint practice are
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: are my favorite part of the summer. Call me crazy.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: It's not vacationed, it's not beach time. It's joint practices
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: because that's where you see the intensity. That's where you
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: see the competitive juices flowing. Teams are sort of chomping
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: at the bit to go against another opponent. Starters don't
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: often play in the preseason, but in joint practices, that's
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: where you're in a control environment. That's where you get
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: to dictate the terms and you're seeing the starters get
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: fifty sixty seventy reps. And the first part of it
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: would be the Cleveland Browns and I distinctly remember whether
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: it was summer of twenty twenty four, it would also
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: pertain to the summer of twenty twenty five. But Miles
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Garrett just wrecking practice so much so that the Eagles
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: couldn't really get a snap off. He was dominating off
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the edge, didn't matter who he was going against, the
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Eagles couldn't get a playoff. And it just really put
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: into context how dominant of a force Miles Garrett is.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: And you see him on Sundays, you hear about him,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: you read about him. But then when you see Miles
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Garrett in front of you and you just see his
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: ability to it wasn't like he was even doing all
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: that much.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: He's just such a physically gifted player.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: And to see him give someone like Jordan my lot
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: of fits, Lane Johnson fits. And there were many times
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: where he would have gotten into the backfield for a sack,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: but they let the play go on because if not,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the Eagles offense wouldn't have gotten many plays off. But
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: to see a single player be so disruptive to a
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: practice was certainly something that I really hadn't seen before,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: at least in my time covering the Eagles and the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Miles Garrett. I mean, it wasn't just twenty twenty four
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: or whatever it was. I'm sorry, twenty twenty three. It
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: was last summer as well. He's just that kind of
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: presence and he was felt on every single snap that
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: he was out there. There was another play in particular
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: where the Eagles defense was just besting the Cleveland Browns
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: offense and Deshaun Watson was the quarterback. I believe it
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: was twenty twenty three, Yes, it had to have been
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, and the practice was capped with Josh
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Joe picking off Deshaun Watson in the end zone. I
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: think DeShawn Watson was throwing the Cedric Tillman and he
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: just didn't stand a chance.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: All practice, the Eagles had a beat.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: On whatever he was trying to do, and Deshaun Watson
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: was picked off by Job and then just seeing the
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: defense swarm and converge him and celebrate with him.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty interesting.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: And then Darius Slay after that practice talked about how
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: excited he was for Job because I think he I'm
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: sure there's a little truth to this, but he was
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: saying that he had probably the worst hands in the
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: defensive back room and said he was like a proud
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: father watching him come up with the play in that
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: kind of moment, and it really he called game on
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: that play. Now, I think Blankenship had an interception in
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: that practice, but that one in particular stands out because
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: it came from an unlikely source. And then when you
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: see how enthusiastic and jazzed up his teammates were for
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: him and listening to Slay after practice, that was there
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: was a lot of it there and it just felt
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: like from the moment practice began, the Eagles defense was
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: just all over Deshaun Watson and for that it had
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: to be one.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Of my most memorable training camp moments.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: The joint practices against the New England Patriots or something
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: for me that I very much enjoyed.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: That was the summer of twenty twenty four, and it
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: was also the first time that I actually visited Boston,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: believe it or not, and no, well, I went to
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Foxborough for the season opener in twenty twenty three, but
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: to go to Boston proper after the practice was pretty cool.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: But beyond that, it was the atmosphere at the Patriots
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: practice facility there. I think the starters had about seventy
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: snaps really quality work that was the first practice that
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Cooper dejen got out there. If you remember, he had
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the hamstring injury and hadn't practiced to that point, and
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: that must have been early August, and then he eventually
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: played in the final preseason game. But when I'm watching it,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing just the dominance from a Quinnon, Mitchell, DeVante
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Smith had a really productive practice.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts was dialed in.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: But it just speaks to the quality of work that
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: you can get in those kind of settings that you
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: can't get otherwise. Not saying that you're not going to
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: get it every day in a regular training camp setting,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: but those joint practices there and being away from the facility,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I think really brought that team together and it kind
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: of foreshadowed the season that they were going to have.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: It was evident then that they had a tight knit
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: unit that was prime to do something the collection of
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: talent that.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: They had if they were able to put it together.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: And remember that was Kellen Moore who was there, so
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: it was the Kellen Moore offense. You got a chance
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: to see what that offense was going to look like
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: against another team for the first time. From a starter's perspective,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I remember there being a scuffle on a Kenny Gainwell
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: kick return. EJ Jenkins and a bunch of players were
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: in on it, and it just became sort of a
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: converging of.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Both teams at midfield.
• 11:12
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• 12:13
  Speaker 1: The way that practice is set up for them. They
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: have two practice fields. You're really watching from a hill
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and you can't get up to the up to the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: line up to the practice field quite like you can
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: at the Jefferson Health Training Complex. But I thought it
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: was just a really cool environment and they had a
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: ton of fans there. They were getting after it. It
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: was a hot day, and you know, I thought the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Eagles defensive line did some really good things. Especially that
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: was a practice where Bryce Huff did you know, made
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: some waves for really the first time all summer.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: And I always remember that.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: And then I go back to the must have been
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four where the Eagles Nick Sirianni decided to
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: have a competitive period.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: It may have been on the last day of train
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: That may have been.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: On the last day of training camp, but he was
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: calling different players to go against one another. So like,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: for example, I remember ty Davis Price, the running back
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: was called on to in a pass blocking drill for
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: might have been Nolan Smith. But the final rep was
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: fascinating to me, and it was they called linebacker Ben
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Vansumer and he was a linebacker at the time, and
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: they called safety Andre Sam to the forefront. They lined
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Van Sumerin up as a receiver and Andre Sam was
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: there to defend. Vansumerin runs a nifty route, hits Sam
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: with a head fake, shakes him a little bit, breaks
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: to the sideline, is open, but then Kenny Pickett delivers
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: a pass that is wide of the target and falls
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: out of bounds. But the route that's Van sumer and
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: put on Andre Sam is something that I'll never forget
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: and it was really unlikely, and as it turns out,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: that was sort of the beginning of the Eagles looking
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: at Van sumer in a different capacity beyond linebacker. You
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: could see the athleticism. And Van Sumerin was a wide
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: receiver in high school and one of the more athletic
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: players on the Eagles roster. Believe it or not, you know,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: he played running back at Michigan linebacker at Michigan State.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: He's a full back now.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: So that play right there was something that I thought
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: was pretty cool, and I'm sure there's a number of
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: other plays and moments that I'm not necessarily remembering. The
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: first Vic Fangio training camp press conference was pretty cool
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: seeing a legend out there orchestrating his defense, giving you
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: a first glimpse of what to expect. Quinnon Mitchell first
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: repping at Nickel and going head to head with AJ Brown,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: talking trash, not backing down AJ Brown, respecting the competitiveness there,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and quinnyon got the best of them a couple of
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: different times, and then AJ more often than that was
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: winning that.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: But right then and there, I saw the emergence.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Of a young corner who was primed to do some
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: really good things and then to see where his career began.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: And I look at it sort of as at the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: starting point what I'm outlining, to see where he is
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: right now and all pro and a top five corner
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: in the NFL.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: A lot of that was sort of.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: It was the origins from that were on the practice
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: field going against AJ Brown. Cooper Degene will tell you
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: the same thing if you ask him how much AJ
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: has helped him, He said as much before. But it
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: was good to see good on good iron sharpening iron.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: You know the cliches, But I do remember Quinya Mitchell
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: eventually moving to the outside, which was expected, and those
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: reps against AJ Brown were fantastic. Theater those are just
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: some of the moments that I could think of off
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the top of my head. I'm sure there's many others
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: that have escaped me at this point of the recording
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: of this podcast, but something that I wanted to revisit
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: now that we're two weeks away from training camp right now.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Believe it or not, but.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of The
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Checko Daily. I'm Andrew de Checko and I'll catch you
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: all
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: On the next one.