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The DiCecco Daily: More On Eagles Signings Of Dameon Pierce, Stone Smartt · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, Welcome in to another episode of the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Czech O Deeli. It's Andrew de Checo, Eagles be reporter
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: for insidethirds dot com. And on Thursday morning, the Eagles
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: make two external free agent signings. They sign a running
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: back and a tight end, and I'll explain what all
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: that means. First player we're gonna talk about is running
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: back Damian Pierce.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: The team announced the signing.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I guess it was Thursday afternoon, not morning, but it
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: gives the Eagles additional depth at running back behind Saquon Barkley,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Tank Bigsby, and Will Shipley.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Pierce is twenty six years old. He entered the NFL as.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: A fourth round pick of the Houston Texans in twenty
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: twenty two. He went to the University of Florida, and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I remember liking him quite a bit coming out of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the draft. Bigger, bodied guy at about five eleven two fifteen,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: sort of a plotter, but he did have a little
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: bit of wiggle to him. But he rushed for nine
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty nine yards and four touchdowns as a rookie.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: He also had one hundred and sixty five yards and
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a touchdown as a receiver, but he was never able
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: to match that production, combining for just seven hundred and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: nine yards and four touchdowns over his next two seasons,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: so by comparison, that's a pretty steep decline. There was
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I think five fumbles that he had there with the Texans.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Injuries were a big thing with Damian Pierce. They mounted
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: and they sort of hindered his progress, and he ended
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: up being waived by the Texans in November, and he
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: finished the twenty twenty five season on the Chiefs practice squad.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: This signing will have no impact on the Comppick formula
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: because he had been waved already. That's important to note.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: And he's two hundred and fifteen pounds. As I mentioned,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: he's five 't ten, not five to eleven. But he
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: could potentially garner a look as a kick returner, which
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I think is really important to note when you're trying
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to gauge his fit.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: When the Eagles already seemingly.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Have three running backs who all compliment each other fairly well,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and in twenty opportunities all with the Texans, Pierce has
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: rolled up six hundred and fifty six yards and a touchdown.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: When he met with the local reporters today.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: He pretty much said that it wasn't necessarily something that
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: they talked about either side.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: But he said it's always on the table.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: So I'm curious to see if they try to find
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: a role for him on special teams, because, let's face it,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: when you have will Shipley, who is a special team's mainstay,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: a core player returns kicks, you have to find another
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: avenue because Tank Bigsby's entrenches the number two you have
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley. Obviously, the Eagles could carry four running backs.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: They did it last year. Aj Dillon was the fourth,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: and he didn't really factor in after he had the
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: two gaffes in the first matchup with the Giants at MetLife.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: But it's not out of the realm of possibility that
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the Eagles keep four running backs.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Doesn't necessarily have to be Damian Pierce that is that.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Fourth running back, But I think his NFL experience and
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: his youth at twenty six years old gives you a
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: little bit of intrigue there, and I'm curious to see
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: how he looks in a new system in a full
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: offseason that will have with the Eagles, and I imagine
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: that he's going to see a ton of volume in
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the preseason, and he's going to have to make it
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: on special teams.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: As I talked about.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: The other player that I want to talk about here
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: is the Eagles agree to terms with tight end Stones Smart,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and he's twenty seven years old. He has a really
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: interesting backstory. He last season with the Jets pulled in
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: seven receptions for fifty two yards and he appeared in
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: fifteen games, started one.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And he logged eighty five offensive snaps.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: This is important because he totaled one hundred and thirty
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: eight third phase snaps. That's special teams for those who
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: need a little clarification there, and that's important to note
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: because that's going to have to be Smart's path to
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the roster. He's six foot four, two hundred and twenty
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: six pounds. You like the size, but his background is
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: fairly unique. He originally signed as a rookie free agent
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: of the Los Angeles Chargers back in twenty twenty two,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and he was a well traveled collegiate player. He began
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: his career at Northern Arizona. He had a stop in
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: River City, which is a junior college, and then he
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: finished out his college tenure at Old Dominion and in
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: college and really in high school he was a quarterback
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: and for part of his college career and at River
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: City he was named the NJCAA Athletic Bureau Offensive Player
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: of the Year in twenty eighteen. Jeff Mosher got a
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: kick out of that, but that just to add a
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: little bit more of a background to it. And he
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: threw for two thy seven hundred and fifty four yards
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and thirty one touchdowns, and he added five hundred and eighty.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Three rushing yards.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: But he would convert to wide receiver in twenty twenty
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: one at Old Dominion and he ended up with one
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty seven receiving yards on seventeen, so he
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: didn't have a large sample size as a pass catcher.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: There becomes a tight end at the next level. Signs
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: with the Chargers as a rookie free agent in twenty
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: twenty two, and for the three seasons that he was there,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: he appeared in thirty eight games, six starts. He had
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: thirty one catches for three hundred and eighty yards and
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: a touchdown. He played the most of his career in
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, when he played just over three hundred
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and nine snaps, which was twenty eight percent of their total.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Doesn't have an illustrious resume when it comes to receiving,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: but you like the.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Body, the frame.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: He kind of reminds me of Tyree Jackson if you
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: remember him, the former quarterback in college at University of Buffalo,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: if I recall, and the Eagles looked at him as
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a developmental prospect and he actually got into some games,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: suffered some injuries there. But I think last I looked
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: he's still in the league. He was last with the Giants.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he's still there, but good story
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: of development. Perhaps they're able to get Stone smart who
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: has to play at this level. Let's not forget and
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: find a role for him.
• 6:06
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  Speaker 2: The Eagles have a crowded house at tight end.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: All of a sudden, they go from having essentially no
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: players in that room to now having an abundance of players.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: But as we often say on Inside the Birds, depth
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: is not about the amount of players that you have.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: At one position.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: It's about the quality of those players and I don't
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: think that this should preclude nor do I think it
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: will the Eagles drafting a tight end. Because this is
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the draft to get a tight end. They have a
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: number of different players with different skill sets. I like
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: someone like a Sam Roush where you can get him
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: on probably early Day three, and he gives you blocking upside,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: and he also gives you a receiving element that adds
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: some physicality. If you watch his if you go back
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: and watch any of his highlights, and I watched a
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: lot of Stanford football, he's really tough to bring down
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: after the catch, and he plays the game with such
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: ferocity and tenacity when it comes to blocking and really
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: after the catch, he seeks out contact. The Eagles had
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Ryan Myers actually on hand at Stanford's pro day, which
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: is notable. There's a lot of there's other players who
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: are draftable, of course from Stanford, but Sam Roush being
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the tight being a tight end, being someone who I
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: think would fit well with what the Eagles are expected
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to do offensively, would be a really good fit there.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: In fact, Sam Roush is one of my favorite tight
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: end prospects in this draft class. Not overly flashy, but
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: he brings a lot of physicality and a lot of
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I guess in tangibles you could say with just talking
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: to him at the NFL Scouting Combine at the podium.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: And so stone Smart joins this room, and it's a
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: roundabout way of me saying that he's going to have
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: to impress in the preseason on special teams, where he's
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: logged over one hundred special team snaps each year that
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: he's been in the league, and that's going to have
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: to be his path to a roster spot. But I
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: look at this as sort of a low risk. You
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: take a flyer on someone who's played in the league
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and maybe you're able to get the most out of them.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: And they have a lot of different players in this room.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Remember they signed Johnny Munt in free agency. He's known
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: for his blocking prowess. But I think that there's a
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: lot of balance there to this room. Grant Kakatera, of course,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: resigned Dallas Goddard as well, and the room is really interesting.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So I look at the Damian Pierce and the Stone
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Smart signings as depth pieces who are going to have
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: to earn a roster spot. They're not going to be
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: assured anything. And when you have to bring ninety players
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: to training camp. Those are the kind of players that
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: you want to take that look at that second tier
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: free agency, bring them in and maybe you're able to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: tap into something there, but you never want to get
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: too carried away with either signing. I think Damian Pierce
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: probably has a better path to the roster if he's
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: able to really impress as a kick returner, because other
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: than that, the Eagles have, as I mentioned, three running
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: backs that all have pretty clear cut roles going into
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: the season, one would think, but you never quite know
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: how a coaching staff views these players or what their
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: plan is for each respective player. And so I think
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Damian Pierce and I always wondered why he never really
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: was able to replicate that rookie success, and there are
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: reasons injuries as I mentioned, and things like that lack
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: of consistency there overall. But maybe in Philadelphia with the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: clean slate we talk about Hollywood Brown, who also was
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: introduced to the Eagles Nation on Thursday morning. These are
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the kind of players that you bring in and they
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: have a lot to gain in a new opportunity here
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: in a new offen that I think is really going
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: to be fascinating to see how they envision utilizing all
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: these different pieces and what the offense ultimately looks like.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: We have visions of what we expected to look like,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: knowing that Sean Mannion has these influences that he's coming
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: into Philadelphia with, but until we see it enacted on
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: the field, we really have no idea of what they're
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: going to do.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I do expect to see a heavy dose of twelve personnel,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: but we'll have to see how everything starts to pan
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: out here.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: But those are the two signings. There's some updates there.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: It was a very newsworthy day there as far as
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the Philadelphi Eagles go, and there's certainly never shortage of
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: news when you cover that team. But I want to
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: give you guys just some background on both of those
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: signings in this episode, and with that, that's going to
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: do it for this episode of the Czech O Daily.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Deceeko and I'll catch you all on the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: next one.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: O