Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: More Developments For Eagles Offensive Staff
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? Welcome into another edition of the check
- 0:12Speaker 1: O Daily. It's Andrew Decheco here, Eagles beat reporter for
- 0:15Speaker 1: Inside the Birds dot Com. And I know yesterday we
- 0:18Speaker 1: spent a lot of time talking about Chris Cooper, the
- 0:22Speaker 1: Eagles newly appointed offensive line coach, who, of course is
- 0:25Speaker 1: filling the shoes of the iconic Jeff Statlin, who held
- 0:28Speaker 1: that role for thirteen seasons in Philadelphia. But we now
- 0:32Speaker 1: have further clarity as to how the offensive staff is
- 0:36Speaker 1: coming together. As first reported by Jeff McClain the Philadelphia Inquirer,
- 0:41Speaker 1: the Eagles will be retaining assistant head coach, slash running
- 0:44Speaker 1: backs coach Jamal Singleton and wide receivers coach Aaron moorehead
- 0:48Speaker 1: for the twenty twenty sixth season. With Singleton, he came
- 0:52Speaker 1: in with Nick Sirianni in twenty twenty one and he's
- 0:55Speaker 1: held that title ever since. And that is a very
- 0:58Speaker 1: smart retention, not only for continuity purposes, when you look
- 1:01Speaker 1: at the players that he's developed, whether it was Miles Sanders,
- 1:03Speaker 1: DeAndre Swift, Kenny Gamwell, Boston Scott. Of course, he oversaw
- 1:09Speaker 1: the historic twenty twenty four season that Saquon Barkley had
- 1:13Speaker 1: and whenever I talked to a running back over the
- 1:16Speaker 1: years during my time covering the team, you'd be hard
- 1:19Speaker 1: pressed to find one who didn't have something glowing to
- 1:22Speaker 1: say about Jamal Singleton, his leadership, his coaching ability. He
- 1:26Speaker 1: fixates on details and fundamentals in practice. He's very active
- 1:30Speaker 1: with his group, He's very involved with the ball security
- 1:34Speaker 1: part of practice, and then he's vocal. He has a
- 1:37Speaker 1: lot of energy, and so you take all that into consideration,
- 1:41Speaker 1: and coaches like that aren't easy to swap out. So
- 1:45Speaker 1: I think that that was a very smart retention to
- 1:48Speaker 1: keep him on staff, continue to build with the group
- 1:51Speaker 1: that they have there Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby, will Shipley,
- 1:55Speaker 1: and have a familiar face, someone who has commanded a room,
- 1:59Speaker 1: and he's been a mainstay on that staff. Previously before
- 2:02Speaker 1: the Eagles, he spent a two year coaching stint coaching
- 2:06Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals as their running backs coach, and he's
- 2:11Speaker 1: had a long standing coaching career, but he has established
- 2:16Speaker 1: some longevity here in Philadelphia.
- 2:18Speaker 2: In that role.
- 2:19Speaker 1: But when it comes to Aaron Moorehead, I've seen a
- 2:23Speaker 1: lot of outrage on social media, which to me, screams,
- 2:27Speaker 1: it's merely having outrage just to have outrage without having
- 2:31Speaker 1: the understanding what he brings behind the scenes, how the
- 2:36Speaker 1: team views him. I don't think it should be lost
- 2:38Speaker 1: on anyone that he was a wide receivers coach in
- 2:41Speaker 1: twenty twenty under Doug Peterson. He hit it off with
- 2:44Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni. He made an impression on him, and he's
- 2:47Speaker 1: been there ever since. The Eagles now have stability at
- 2:50Speaker 1: the wide receivers coach position. Let's not forget they went
- 2:53Speaker 1: through years where it was Greg Lewis. Then they had
- 2:56Speaker 1: Mike grow Gunter Brewer came over from the college ranks,
- 2:59Speaker 1: Carson Walsh. They've just been swapping them out year after year,
- 3:03Speaker 1: and they finally land on a coach that they like.
- 3:06Speaker 2: His ability to teach and the.
- 3:11Speaker 1: Longevity that he's been able to carve out here in Philadelphia.
- 3:15Speaker 1: I don't think that that should be just cast aside.
- 3:17Speaker 1: He's here for a reason. You can certainly point to
- 3:21Speaker 1: the players under him and their development. He inherited Aj Brown, Well,
- 3:26Speaker 1: he didn't inherit AJ Brown was already a prolific player
- 3:29Speaker 1: when he arrived at the Eagles. Devonte Smith, he worked
- 3:33Speaker 1: with him from day one. Davante Smith was already a
- 3:35Speaker 1: high caliber wide receiver. Not sure that he can take
- 3:38Speaker 1: credit for that, but I look at most recently Darius Cooper,
- 3:41Speaker 1: the undrafted rookie receiver who emerged from seemingly nowhere out
- 3:45Speaker 1: of Tarletan State, had a really good training camp. He
- 3:48Speaker 1: played more as the season went on, developed nicely as
- 3:51Speaker 1: a blocker and sort of carved out a role there.
- 3:53Speaker 1: I look at Quez Watkins, who was a six round pick.
- 3:56Speaker 1: Say what you will about Quez Watkins, but he's still
- 3:58Speaker 1: in the NFL. He was a starter on this team,
- 4:01Speaker 1: played meaningful snaps. He was in the Super Bowl for
- 4:05Speaker 1: this team. And you don't often see six round picks
- 4:08Speaker 1: that are able to have that kind of staying power
- 4:10Speaker 1: in the NFL. The Has there been a glossary of
- 4:15Speaker 1: players that you can point to and say that he's developed.
- 4:18Speaker 2: No, but it goes beyond that.
- 4:20Speaker 1: I would say elevate the conversation here and you talk
- 4:23Speaker 1: to any wide receiver. In fact, Johan Dotson most recently
- 4:26Speaker 1: talked about how much he learned from Aaron moorehead coming
- 4:29Speaker 1: here from Washington, thinking that he quote unquote knew everything
- 4:33Speaker 1: and Aaron Moorehead helped shape his shape his game, along
- 4:36Speaker 1: with playing with great players like AJ Brown and Devonte Smith.
- 4:40Speaker 2: But Aaron Moorehead is a good teacher.
- 4:42Speaker 1: And I believe that when you're you have a coach
- 4:45Speaker 1: like that who's been through a lot. He's been through
- 4:49Speaker 1: many years here, he has an understanding of his personnel.
- 4:53Speaker 1: He's very good at communicating, and he's receptive.
- 4:56Speaker 2: That's what I've noticed. He's receptive.
- 4:58Speaker 1: So I would have to imagine that Sean and who
- 5:01Speaker 1: met with all of those coaches already when he was hired,
- 5:04Speaker 1: got the sense or got the impression that Aaron Moorehead
- 5:07Speaker 1: is going to be able to coach the receivers in
- 5:10Speaker 1: the way that he's looking what he's looking for from them.
- 5:15Speaker 1: And again I go back to the continuity piece. You
- 5:19Speaker 1: don't want to constantly uproot everything in one offseason. That
- 5:23Speaker 1: is a drastic that's drastic change, and there's already enough change.
- 5:28Speaker 1: I think having a coach there who I mentioned, like Singleton,
- 5:31Speaker 1: has commanded a room, he's respected. Nick Sirianni really likes him.
- 5:36Speaker 1: He was a holdover from the Doug Peterson staff, and
- 5:39Speaker 1: I've gotten really good feedback from players. Now you could say, well,
- 5:42Speaker 1: what are the players supposed to say? Sometimes in some
- 5:45Speaker 1: cases they've gone out of their way to highlight what
- 5:49Speaker 1: Aaron Moorehead has brought to the room. And I'm not
- 5:51Speaker 1: sitting here championing and Aaron Moorehead or anything like that.
- 5:54Speaker 1: I'm trying to provide a little context, a little perspective,
- 5:57Speaker 1: because I think some of the hate that he he's
- 6:00Speaker 1: getting on social media is hardly warranted, and I think
- 6:04Speaker 1: it's really misguided. I think a lot of these position coaches,
- 6:08Speaker 1: there's many people who have strong opinions about them, but
- 6:11Speaker 1: they don't necessarily know what value they bring to the room,
- 6:15Speaker 1: how they're viewed inside the building, and how their players
- 6:18Speaker 1: feel about them. In many ways, I've heard whether it
- 6:21Speaker 1: was even Tight Ends coach Jason Michael, different players have
- 6:25Speaker 1: talked about how they've had an impact on their game.
- 6:28Speaker 1: So I think that that was another really good retention.
- 6:31Speaker 1: And also this is a point that I think should
- 6:35Speaker 1: really be driven home here. Sean Mannion is thirty three
- 6:38Speaker 1: years old. He's only been coaching the NFL for two seasons,
- 6:41Speaker 1: so presumably he doesn't have this rolodex of coaches that
- 6:45Speaker 1: he can call. Now that's not to suggest that Howie Roseman,
- 6:48Speaker 1: who's really good at identifying coaches who would be a
- 6:51Speaker 1: good fit, wouldn't be able to help him out there.
- 6:54Speaker 1: But he doesn't necessarily have a number of coaches to
- 6:57Speaker 1: call on. It also shouldn't be lost on everyone that
- 7:00Speaker 1: Ryan Mahaffey, who's now overseeing the running game and he's
- 7:03Speaker 1: coaching the tight ends, was the receivers coach for Green Bay,
- 7:07Speaker 1: so he has that background as well. I think they're
- 7:11Speaker 1: gonna be okay there, So breathe easy. It's gonna be okay.
- 7:15Speaker 2: Now.
- 7:16Speaker 1: The other part of this podcast that I wanted to
- 7:18Speaker 1: talk about where a couple of free agents that I
- 7:21Speaker 1: think should be or I think that they would be
- 7:25Speaker 1: intriguing to the Eagles when you look at safety and
- 7:29Speaker 1: wide receiver. So there is one safety in particular that
- 7:32Speaker 1: I wanted to bring up because I do follow the
- 7:34Speaker 1: Maryland football program very closely. I've gone through their pro
- 7:37Speaker 1: days for a number of years now, and a player
- 7:40Speaker 1: who I really liked and I followed his career in
- 7:43Speaker 1: the NFL is Nick Cross, who isn't even twenty five
- 7:47Speaker 1: years old yet he's a strong safety. He's appeared in
- 7:50Speaker 1: sixty seven games, started thirty eight five career interceptions. This
- 7:56Speaker 1: is an impact type of player. I like his size
- 7:59Speaker 1: at six foot two, two hundred and twelve pounds. He's athletic,
- 8:02Speaker 1: he's a very consistent tackler, and he's young. I think
- 8:06Speaker 1: he gives you a little bit more of a dynamic
- 8:08Speaker 1: quality at the safety position to pair with Drew mccouba,
- 8:12Speaker 1: who's coming off the fractured ankle late in the season.
- 8:16Speaker 1: If you're trying to make the defense as good as
- 8:19Speaker 1: it can be. And I'm not discounting red blanket Ship
- 8:22Speaker 1: by any means, he should have his handful of suitors.
- 8:25Speaker 2: I think.
- 8:27Speaker 1: You liked the story of development. He's a team captain,
- 8:31Speaker 1: he's a traffic cop back there. He's highly intelligent. Vic
- 8:34Speaker 1: Vanjo really likes him. But I do think that he's
- 8:38Speaker 1: a player that you don't necessarily want to break the
- 8:40Speaker 1: bank for, especially if you have better alternatives, whether it
- 8:43Speaker 1: be through the draft or and free agency. And I
- 8:46Speaker 1: like Nick Cross quite a bit the past two seasons.
- 8:49Speaker 1: In twenty twenty four, he had one hundred and forty
- 8:51Speaker 1: six tackles and a sack, six tackles for loss, and
- 8:55Speaker 1: he had one hundred and twenty tackles last season two
- 8:57Speaker 1: and a half sacks, and he's all over the field
- 9:01Speaker 1: whenever you watch the Colts. I've always liked his game.
- 9:04Speaker 1: He had a really good Pro Day, and I'm not
- 9:06Speaker 1: trying to oversell it here or be especially bullish on
- 9:10Speaker 1: this player, but when you look at the age and
- 9:12Speaker 1: how he could potentially fit in this defense, I think
- 9:15Speaker 1: that he would be an appealing option. But given his
- 9:19Speaker 1: age and his ability, I think he's still has yet
- 9:22Speaker 1: to reach his full potential. There's going to be a
- 9:26Speaker 1: lot of other teams that I would imagine are going
- 9:28Speaker 1: to be in his trying to acquire his services, maybe
- 9:32Speaker 1: even the Colts.
- 9:32Speaker 2: So he may not even get to the open market.
- 9:35Speaker 1: But I look at that safety position and I do
- 9:37Speaker 1: think for as much as highly as I think of
- 9:40Speaker 1: Reblanket Ship and his contributions and how highly his teammates
- 9:44Speaker 1: speak of him, I do.
- 9:45Speaker 2: Think that you can upgrade at that position.
- 9:47Speaker 1: If you have the opportunity to upgrade, I think you
- 9:50Speaker 1: do it every time the other player and I kind
- 9:53Speaker 1: of mentioned him, I think on ninety seven to five
- 9:56Speaker 1: the fanatic before Sean Mannion has even appointed the Eagles
- 10:02Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, because I kind of said it in an
- 10:05Speaker 1: offhand comment, Well, if you're going to play a low
- 10:07Speaker 1: volume pass if you're going to implement a low volume
- 10:12Speaker 1: passing game, do you really need to you know, prolific
- 10:16Speaker 1: wide receivers or could you get by with Devonte Smith?
- 10:20Speaker 1: And I said, I'm just throwing a name out here,
- 10:22Speaker 1: Romeo Dobbs, because I knew he was going to be
- 10:23Speaker 1: a free agent. Well, Romeo Dobbs, who was a fourth
- 10:28Speaker 1: round pick in twenty twenty two. He started fifty of
- 10:31Speaker 1: his fifty nine career games. He's had over six hundred
- 10:34Speaker 1: receiving yards three out of his four seasons, twenty one touchdowns.
- 10:39Speaker 1: That's good production from a number two wide receiver, especially
- 10:43Speaker 1: if you're going to be an offense that is going
- 10:46Speaker 1: to have a revamp rushing attack presumably where you're going
- 10:50Speaker 1: to be able to accent what sa Kwon Barkley and
- 10:52Speaker 1: Tank Bigsby do. Well, are you going to be this
- 10:55Speaker 1: prolific aerial attack. I I'm not sure that they will be.
- 10:59Speaker 1: There's no evidence to suggest that they will. I think
- 11:02Speaker 1: you're going to see more innovation in terms of the
- 11:03Speaker 1: passing game. I think you're going to see better spacing
- 11:06Speaker 1: and areas of opportunity to create yards after the catch.
- 11:09Speaker 1: But I don't know if there are all of a
- 11:10Speaker 1: sudden going to be a team that drops back thirty
- 11:12Speaker 1: five forty times a game. So the point remains, can
- 11:16Speaker 1: you get by with a Romeo Dobbs as your number
- 11:18Speaker 1: two wide receiver?
- 11:19Speaker 2: I say yes.
- 11:21Speaker 1: There's also the connection, as I mentioned with Sean Mannion
- 11:24Speaker 1: who's familiar with him, but also Ryan Mahaffey, who I
- 11:26Speaker 1: mentioned coach wide receivers last season. He's the Eagles run
- 11:30Speaker 1: game coordinator and their tight ends coach, so that familiarity
- 11:33Speaker 1: maybe counts for something.
- 11:35Speaker 2: This is all way early.
- 11:37Speaker 1: Before free agency, and I know that there's going to
- 11:40Speaker 1: be other teams in on these players. The Packers may
- 11:42Speaker 1: well want to retain Romeo Dobbs, but they also have,
- 11:45Speaker 1: you know, Christian Watson, they have Jalen Jayden Reid, and
- 11:50Speaker 1: so you know you can't afford everybody. So it's something
- 11:53Speaker 1: that would make a lot of sense. And I do
- 11:55Speaker 1: believe that he's a solid number two receiver and he
- 12:00Speaker 1: does some good things from a blocking perspective.
- 12:02Speaker 2: I like his size at six two two oh four,
- 12:06Speaker 2: and who knows if.
- 12:08Speaker 1: You're able to bring in somebody like that who has
- 12:10Speaker 1: familiarity obviously with the system that I expect the Eagles
- 12:14Speaker 1: to implement under Sean Mannion. Perhaps he can help teach
- 12:18Speaker 1: that he can he can kind of really take charge
- 12:21Speaker 1: in that area. And if aj Brown is an Eagle
- 12:25Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six, which right now on February tenth,
- 12:30Speaker 1: I'm leaning yes he will be. But there's still a
- 12:32Speaker 1: lot of the offseason left to go. You still need
- 12:35Speaker 1: a third receiver, so I mean, Johan Dotson's likely not
- 12:39Speaker 1: going to be returning, and I think you could upgrade
- 12:41Speaker 1: at that third receiver role and then you worry about
- 12:44Speaker 1: how everything else shakes out after that.
- 12:46Speaker 2: But you owe it to the.
- 12:48Speaker 1: Team, You owe it to Sean Mannion, you o ite
- 12:49Speaker 1: to Nick Sirianni, everybody involved to make the roster as
- 12:53Speaker 1: strong as possible. And if you have the opportunity, if
- 12:58Speaker 1: the financial aspect of it makes sense, I think he
- 13:01Speaker 1: would be a really good fit here in Philadelphia.
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- 16:22Speaker 2: Twenty one in Philadelphia. So just some of my thoughts here.
- 16:26Speaker 1: I wanted to update you all on the offensive coaching
- 16:29Speaker 1: staff and how that's shaping up. And then just kind
- 16:32Speaker 1: of my free agent thoughts here. Free agencies not even
- 16:37Speaker 1: a month away yet, it's over a month away. We
- 16:39Speaker 1: haven't even gotten to the combine yet, but just thoughts
- 16:41Speaker 1: as they race through my mind.
- 16:43Speaker 2: I appreciate everybody who tunes into the podcast.
- 16:46Speaker 1: If you want to ask me any Eagles related question,
- 16:49Speaker 1: you can email me at ad to check O five
- 16:50Speaker 1: at gmail dot com or Inside the Birds at gmail
- 16:53Speaker 1: dot com with the subject questions for Andrew, and I
- 16:57Speaker 1: will get to as many as I can, and I
- 17:00Speaker 1: look to continue to bring you guys Eagles content each
- 17:05Speaker 1: and every day, not only throughout the offseason, but three
- 17:08Speaker 1: sixty five. That's what we do here Withinside the Birds.
- 17:11Speaker 1: But for now, that's gonna do it for this edition
- 17:13Speaker 1: of The Checho Daily. I'm Andrew Decheco, and I'll catch
- 17:17Speaker 1: you all on the next one.