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Football at Four: Do the Eagles Need to Add More Players Before Camp? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: And Football at four is powered by the Inside of
• 0:02
  the Birds podcast. It's brought to you by BET three
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  sixty five. Whatever the sport, whatever the moment, it's never
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  ordinary at BET three six five. Of course, Andrew to
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  checko on a Thursday, we got a lot to dive into.
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  Andrew's been cranking out some stuff over at Inside the
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  Birds dot com. Make sure you check that out. And
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  he's got his positional previews. And we talked a little
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  bit earlier today about the article over at ESPN dot
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  com where Aaron Shatz mentioned one suggestion for every team
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  to add between now and training camp. Let's first bring
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  in Andrew to check O from the Inside the Birds
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  podcast Inside the Birds dot Com as he joined us
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  on a Football at four Tuesday. Andrew, welcome back, man,
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  how are you.
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  Speaker 2: How's it going, Mike?
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  Speaker 1: Great to be with you as always. Man, it's a
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  fun time. We are getting ready for summer. But inside
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  one month till training camp. That means July twenty second,
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  back out there grinding it out, getting ready for camp.
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  You know, and many people look at this Eagles team.
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  Let's start there, Andrew, do you think this is a
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  finished product before they get to the July twenty second
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  report date.
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  Speaker 2: As of right now, I'm inclined to say yes and listen.
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  I've been a big believer in allowing the players that
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  you've devoted time to developing to go out there and
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  prove it with these events, with these extended opportunities. And
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  then if you're not getting what you see or what
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  you envision from those players, well then maybe look outside
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  and try to get a reinforcement. But that they've dedicated
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  so much time to the different players that we've talked
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  about that maybe a lot have questions about, So I
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  think you want to see what you have there first, all.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Andrew, if they do do something outside of the
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  organization and say, you know what, let's bring in another guy,
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  is there a spot where you would say they don't
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  need to, but if they do, these would be the spots.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So there's really spots, and they're both on defense.
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  I would say at linebacker, extremely light there. At linebacker,
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  obviously jahat Campbell is due on the field sometime in August,
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  and the Kobe Dean has an uncertain timeline. So Mike,
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  they really just have Zach Bond, Jeremiah Troter, Junior, Dallas
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  Ghent and Lance Dixon who's a rookie free agent out
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  of Toledo. So they really need just another body there
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  to handle some of these reps in training camp. You
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  can't go into camp with just four healthy players at
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  that position just for rotational purposes. And then defensive tackle
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  might be a spot where they don't have a veteran.
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  So you kind of look at it and say, okay, well,
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  Moro Jomo is going to take a big leap this year.
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  At least that's what the Eagles are expecting, and I
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  think he will as well. Jordan Davis. There's a lot
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  of eggs in that basket and him being able to
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  play more than thirty seven percent of the defensive snaps
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  which he played last year. But if you need another
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  player to supplement in, especially if you don't believe that
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  Ty Robinson's ready to take on a sizeable workload, well
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  then an experienced defensive tackle just to add depth might
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  make some.
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  Speaker 1: You know interesting. Pro Football Focus just put out its
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  unit rankings. They have the Eagles linebackers number one. I
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  think that's based on the Kobe Dean's grades from last year.
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  And here we are saying, well, they could possibly use
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  another guy there, But a lot of this is predicated
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  on wildcards Dean and his injury, and then of course
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  you got a rookie jo I had Campbell who's also hurt.
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  So while they had had the number one unit last season,
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  it's still a fair question mark.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, And you know, I'm a big
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  na Kobe Dean guy. Many will tell you that C. J.
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  Gardner Johnson was the heartbeat of that defense, or at
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  least that's what they're led to believe, But in my opinion,
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  it was the Kobe Dean. His mentality, his toughness, his
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  vision for what he wants the defense or wanted the
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  defense to look like. That all was exuded through him.
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  He channeled that energy and he talked about all the
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  leadership qualities and what he's able to bring from a
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  physicality standpoint right, attacking the line of scrimmage and really
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  just being that tone setter. I'm curious to see when
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  he works his way back. But to answer your question, yeah,
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  they just don't have a lot of bodies there right now.
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  You don't question the talent, especially Jihad Campbell's, Zach vaugh On, Na,
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  Kobe Dean and Trotter Junior is a player that the
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  Eagles really like, but just for rotational purposes, they could
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  stand to add another player there. Ahead of camp.
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  Speaker 1: Talk with Andrew to Checko Football a four. By the way,
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  Pro Football Focus also ranked the top ten defensive lines
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  in the NFL Philadelphia number two. They lose Milton Williams
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  and Josh Sweat, and it seems that people still are
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  excited Andrew about what's left over. And I say left over,
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  not like these are sparing parts, but I guess the
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  opportunity for some emergence here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a couple of players here that are going
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  to be inheriting more prominent roles, none more than more Jomo,
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  who is entering his third season. He kind of has
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  an undersized bill, but so did Milton Williams, and Milton
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  Williams was effective. Jemo has continuously got better each of
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  his past two seasons. I think year three he's gone.
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  It really hit his stride. Physical player, violent hands, and
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  somebody who can be disruptive along the interior and really
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  put some interior linemen in a bind. But the question remains,
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  can he handle a larger workload without diminishing his effectiveness?
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  Because when he was inserted in the games. He had
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  a lot of bursts and you saw the energy that
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  he was able to sort of showcase out there. So
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  will a larger opportunity this season, will that diminish some
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  of that effectiveness. We're going to learn about that. And
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  then Jordan Davis, that's the big question. The Eagles are
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  banking on him sort of continuing that development what you
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  saw to end the postseason. I don't know if he's
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  ever going to be a pass rush phenom from that position,
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  but I do think that he needs to and he
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  can provide you with a little bit more of a
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  responsibility this year in terms of snapshare.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Angel, checkout football for here on the Sports
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  bats Live. You wrote an article over at Inside the
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  Birds dot Com your position previews, the spot that Aaron
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  Shats over at ESPN, thought that the Eagles could still
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  add to he is Tyler Boyd as a slot wide receiver.
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  Now people listening might be like, hey, Boyd, Bengals, great
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  run there eight seasons. Last year was in Tennessee, wasn't
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  so good, But would that be something that would perk
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  your interest bringing in a player like Tyler board He
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  also mentioned Keenan Allen as a possible fit, But do
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  you think they still should be kicking the tires on
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  a slot wide receiver.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's an interesting concept, but the point remains, how
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  would they fit into the offense? Right, there's only one
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  football They already had a difficult time getting the ball
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  to Dallas Goddard. John Dotson I think is a prime
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  Canada for a bounce back season. And even he, I mean,
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  twenty five thirty catches would be a bounce back because
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  he had just nineteen last season. But I just and
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  Tyler Boyd's a nice player. He's more of a an
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  intermediate route type of player who quarterbacks have really leaned on.
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  He can be a good security blanket, but he would
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  probably be a fourth receiver here. And you have guys
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  like Johnny Wilson and an Ayah Smith and Danny Gray
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  and Terris Marshall, Who's another player that I think you're
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  gonna want to highlight because he has a whole have
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  a decent shot to crack the roster. So they have
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  some bodies there.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know that you.
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  Speaker 2: Make a move at that position, Mike, until you're certain
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  that the players that you have already in the fold
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  aren't able to step off and seize that opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So you got Brown and Smith, we know that
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  Dotson seemingly is the lock to be the number three,
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  and then after that, you've got this whole group of guys.
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  Is there somebody in that group that we don't know
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  a lot about that you are definitely going to be
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  keeping an eye on. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Danny Gray is a player that I've been talking about
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  really since prior to the twenty twenty two NFL Draft.
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  I interviewed him on the Inside the Birds platform for
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  Draft Dreams. I liked him coming out of SMU. He
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  didn't really reach expectations there at the forty nine Ers.
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  He was a third round pick picked one oh five,
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  I believe back in twenty two and injuries played a
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  part of it. But talking to him last year, you know,
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  you got the sense that he had this different perspective,
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  seeing things differently. He mentioned that he probably would have
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  done some things differently or approached it differently with the
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  forty nine ers, and he was really focused on getting
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  better and he has no lack of confidence. He said,
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  if I was here last summer for a training camp,
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  you know, you better believe I would have made the
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  fifty three man roster, and he said, I'm not arrogant.
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  It's just the amount of confidence that I have in
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  my skill set and my ability. And he's also a
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  player that I mean. Folks may not know this, but
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  when he was on the scout team last year, he
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  was often tasked with emulating the top receiver of whoever
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  the Eagles were playing that week, and Jamar Chase was
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  a player that he had to that he had to
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  really study that week for you know, for an example,
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  and he would give the starting secondary fits throughout the
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  season and really prepare them for what was to come.
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  So you see the skills. Maybe he's able to put
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  it all together. Course, now he has that continuity with
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  Kevin Patulo, who was the past game coordinator last year,
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  and wide receivers coach Aaron moorehead the ability, you can't
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  deny it. He runs a four to three to three.
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  He looked pretty good at OTAs. He catches the ball
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  well and he has good quickness. But now it's about
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  where can you showcase your value because they have vacancies
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  at kick returner. He wrapped a kick returner in practice
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  last year. He also did that in practice from what
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  we saw from the media attended OHTA sessions. So maybe
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  if you're able to really showcase your skill in maybe
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  a broader skill set, you can make things interesting there
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  for that fifth receiver spot.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's look at running back you previewed them
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  over at Inside the Birds dot com and ask the question,
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  do they have enough around Saquon Barkley so he doesn't
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  have to get three hundred and fifty plus touches this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Exactly. So one of the primary takeaways, at least
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  from my vantage point from the spring was that Saquon
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  Barki has a new approach to the offseason, knowing that
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  it's okay to balance the training and the rest of
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  the recovery. Where earlier in his career he was helped
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  bent on getting after it and being motivated by you know,
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  other colleagues Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffery posting stuff on
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  social media, and he felt the need that he had
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  to go one up, and that's just that competitive nature.
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  But he tapped into his resources this year, trainers, coaches,
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  fellow running backs, and he now has a different perspective
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  where he knows that it's okay to scale it back
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  and know when to scale it back because you have
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  to prepare for the season ahead. I think for preservation purposes,
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  it would serve Leagles well to mix in some of
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  the other running backs, which I believe they will this season.
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  I think Will Shipley as a complimentary change of pace
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  running back is going to be somebody that Eagles look
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  to this season more kind of maybe even a little
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  bit more than Kenny Gangwell because he can catch the
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  football well. The question with him becomes past protection. And
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  then aj Dillon, of course was signed as a free agent.
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  He has that between the tackles power. He doesn't necessary
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  we have this, so he doesn't have the same burst,
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  but there's a lot of things that he can bring
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  in terms of look at him as a closer and
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  in certain situations where Saquon Barkley was forced to miss
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  a game or two, well, AJ Dillon would be the
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  player who's going to handle the eighteen to twenty two
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  carriers or what have you, because he's more equipped to
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  do that. So they have a lot of good players
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  and pieces there that I think blend well together. And
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  for the offense to ultimately evolve, you have to be
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  strategic and how you utilize Saquon Barkley and really start
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  to tap into that passing game.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Andrew checho football at four yesterday. The tight
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  End University. A lot of stuff coming out of that,
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  and the title was a big question. And then they
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  got Goddard to come back, and you wonder, what kind
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  of evolution do we see in the tight end game
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  with the group of guys that are here now?
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  Speaker 2: Great question, Yeah, and the tight End University. So Dallas
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  Goddard was there, grand Ka Katerra was there. EJ. Jenkins
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  was there, and so was Nick Muse, who actually I
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  wrote this in my story. He was like Joe Stands
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  in that he left on a high note. His best
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  practice was best His best practice was mandatory mini camp,
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  where he had about three splash worthy plays, including a
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  touchdown the red zone and one where he sort of
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  extended like an outfielder and was parallel to the ground
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  from about twenty five yards out. But I really like
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  what they have there. All of a sudden, this is
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  a pretty deep tight end room and versatile and so
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  you see Dallas Goddard and I have to think we
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  say this every year, this has to be the year
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  where he really is a little bit more involved, and
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  if not more involved in terms of volume, maybe they
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  get creative in how they utilize him because the middle
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  of the field has been underutilized, and I think Doddard's
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  ability to stretch defenses vertically and really put that type
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  of unique stress on defenses has been something that the
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  Eagles haven't really turned to. So I'm curious to see
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  under Kevin Batulo if they try to, you know, maximize
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  Goddard's ability because he is one healthy, one of the
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  best players at that position. Then of course you have
• 12:59
  Grant Calcutara, who can catch really well. He's been a
• 13:02
  great story of development. I think you have to give
• 13:03
  credit to Grant, but also tight ends coach Jason Michael.
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  Grant is somebody that Jalen Hurts has trust in. He
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  doesn't give you much as a blocker, though he is willing,
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  but I think right now he's probably entrench in that
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  number two spot. And then they signed two free agents
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  and Harris and Bryant Kylon Grants, and that feel like
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  they're duking it out for what for a position that
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  may or not exist at the number three tight end spot.
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  Because Leagle has had a lot of success last season
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  going with two and then elevating a player from the
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  practice squad.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Andrew to check it, Let's fire off a
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  couple of quick user excuse me, listener questions here of
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  the mailbag edition, we'll do five quickies with Andrew to
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  check o. Here, Andrew, Number one, how much influence will
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  special teams play have on that wide receiver room.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, that's a great one, and that's like music to
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  my ears because this is this stuff that doesn't get
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  talked about enough, and it's going to play a huge
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  factor because you have to look at it in terms
• 13:58
  of how coach are going to view the game day value.
• 14:02
  You can only dress too many players. So for example,
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  someone like an Ania Smith, he's only a slot player.
• 14:07
  And if he's not going to factor into the top
• 14:10
  three or four of the rotation and he can't help you,
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  let's say on punt return or kickoff coverage, well, what
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  will be the purpose of activating him? I think someone
• 14:19
  like a Danny Gray who potentially can return kicks and
• 14:23
  be that vertical threat because speed is at a premium
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  in today's NFL, that's some value. Johnny Wilson playing twenty
• 14:29
  four percent of the special team snaps last year and
• 14:32
  doing the dirty work as a blocker on offense probably
• 14:34
  doesn't get talked about enough, doesn't show up in the
• 14:36
  box score, but that's something that I think could give
• 14:39
  him a leg up over some of those challengers. But
• 14:42
  Terres Marshall is somebody that I mentioned. He hasn't played
• 14:45
  much special teams at all in his career, but if
• 14:48
  he can give you a little bit more of a
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  pass catching up side, I think he can certainly fulfill
• 14:53
  some of the duties that Johnny Wilson had to do
• 14:55
  last year. But it's gonna be really interesting to see
• 14:57
  how this pans out because the X factor here to
• 15:00
  me is a Nias Smith because he was a decorated
• 15:03
  punt returner at Texas A and M. And if he's
• 15:05
  able to showcase that ability and maybe hold off Avery
• 15:09
  Williams in that department, let's say, well, then he will
• 15:12
  have value on game day and he'll be your punt returner.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: A good point because somebody asked this question, Andrew, is
• 15:18
  Avery Williams in your mind the front runner for the
• 15:21
  return jobs.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Right now? I would say yes, But it's also important
• 15:26
  to note that he was sidelined for rots with an
• 15:29
  undisclosed injury. But when you hear Nick Sirianni practically gush
• 15:33
  over this player, which was a pretty innocuous signing, I
• 15:36
  think a lot of us sort of glossed over it.
• 15:38
  And he mentioned he sort of implied that they have
• 15:41
  plans to involve him offensively. Now they're listing him as
• 15:44
  a wide receiver. He played cornerback and running back for
• 15:47
  the Falcons, so he has some some type of explosive
• 15:50
  qualities and I think because of that, he has the
• 15:53
  inside track. But if someone like a Nia Smith really
• 15:56
  emerges and can give you a little bit at receiver
• 15:58
  and flash there, but he can merge as a pump returner,
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  well then I think you can use Avery Williams as
• 16:03
  that kick returner and then sporadically utilize him offensively.
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  Speaker 1: All right, And to check o a couple more in
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  the mailbag here, is there an upgrade on the roster
• 16:12
  to Johnny Wilson or will he be that wide receiver
• 16:15
  for this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question. I see we're getting a
• 16:19
  lot of wide receiver questions, and I think if you
• 16:22
  look at someone who can it's not apples to apples.
• 16:25
  But if you look at someone who can fulfill a
• 16:27
  similar role. Terras Marshall is a bigger, bodied wide receiver.
• 16:31
  I think if he shows a willingness to be able
• 16:33
  to mix it up, play selfless football and do that
• 16:36
  dirty work to free up teammates and things like that,
• 16:39
  he's going to have that shot to step up and
• 16:41
  take that type of role because he gives you more
• 16:44
  as a pass catcher, at least, he's proven that over
• 16:46
  eight hundred receiving yards in his career. And he looked good.
• 16:50
  I mean he looked good in OTAs. He has some
• 16:53
  chemistry with Devonte Smith, looked like jaywhen Hurtz didn't have
• 16:57
  any issues going his way. You know, normally when you
• 16:59
  have a newer target there in the past, Jaywin has
• 17:02
  to develop that kind of chemistry. But that wasn't necessarily
• 17:05
  the case this spring. So I think if there were
• 17:07
  a player, it would be Terras Marshall.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll do one more here on the offensive line, Andrew,
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  do you think Matt Pryor is a bigger a challenger
• 17:15
  to that spot over Kenyon Green for Tyler Steen's spot
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  at the right guard spot.
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  Speaker 2: I absolutely do, because look, when Kenyon Green was acquired
• 17:26
  in that CJ. Gardner Johnson trade. Many just assumed that, okay,
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  he was once a first round pick, a decorated player.
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  The Eagles brought him in for you know, a thirty visit,
• 17:36
  so there's interest there. Well that it's all true, but
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  let's not forget that Kenyon Green was grated as one
• 17:42
  of the worst players at his position in the sport.
• 17:45
  And I mean, Jeff Stalin has his hands full there,
• 17:48
  but he's going to have to work with him a
• 17:50
  little bit. Where someone like Matt Pryor played over one
• 17:51
  thousand snaps last season with the Bears, He's played a
• 17:54
  ton of football. He was running with the second team.
• 17:57
  Take it for what it is in OTAs with second
• 18:00
  team when we last saw the Eagles, and it was
• 18:03
  Kenyon Green who was working on the third team. And
• 18:06
  he can play left or right guard. I mean, best
• 18:08
  case scenario in my opinion, Mike Kenyon Green's sort of
• 18:11
  vying for the Tyler Steam role of last season, where
• 18:13
  it can be that multi faceted guard on game bay
• 18:16
  that you can kind of plug in. But I think
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  Matt Pryor right now is probably the primary challenger to
• 18:21
  Tyler Stein.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: That's answer to Checko everybody. Football at four a little breakdown.
• 18:25
  You can check out all the position previews over at
• 18:28
  Inside the Birds dot com and Football at four. We're
• 18:31
  gearing up for training camp July twenty second. We're inside
• 18:34
  a month. Andrew can't wait for it. Appreciate your time
• 18:36
  as always.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Man, do you bet Mike talks soon? All right?
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: That's answer to checko for Football at four today on
• 18:42
  the Sports Bash Live on ninety seven three ESPN