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The DiCecco Daily: Going Inside Eagles Recent Transactions · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: What's happening everybody. Welcome into this edition of to Checko Daily.
• 0:14
  It's Andrew de Checko, and believe it or not, we
• 0:17
  are approaching week two of the NFL season.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: The Eagles on Sunday at four to twenty five will
• 0:24
  face the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium and a rematch.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Of Super Bowl fifty nine. But we have a long
• 0:30
  ways to go.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: We'll have plenty of updates throughout the week as we
• 0:34
  break down the game. But today is more or less
• 0:38
  looking at some of the new addition to the roster
• 0:42
  and sort of piecing together where that might stand. And
• 0:45
  the Eagles are hosting a veteran cornerback today on Monday,
• 0:48
  if you're listening today. But hope everybody had a good
• 0:52
  weekend and was able to enjoy some NFL football.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I was able to make it out to go.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Visit my dad and and spend the weekend there and
• 1:02
  relaxing a little bit with the Eagles not having anything
• 1:05
  going on over the weekend. And make sure you're listening
• 1:09
  to WBCB throughout the season. Tuesday nights at six o'clock,
• 1:14
  me Adam Jeff and there will be a number of
• 1:18
  others who are involved in it, but we'll be hosting
• 1:20
  a one hour show Jeff Adam and myself at different
• 1:23
  points this season and talking Eagles for an hour and
• 1:26
  tomorrow or Tuesday if it wouldn't depending on when you
• 1:30
  hear this, Adam and I will be at the Chickis
• 1:34
  and Pete's inside Parks Casino and Ben Salem. So if
• 1:38
  you're out that way, stop by, give us a shout.
• 1:43
  Happy to have a beer with you after the show.
• 1:45
  We appreciate all the support, but definitely stay tuned because
• 1:48
  we have so much content on the inside the Birth
• 1:51
  platform this year and we are so excited to bring
• 1:54
  that all to you. But let's get to the new
• 1:58
  addition that occurred Friday. I haven't had a chance to
• 2:01
  talk to you all about it, but the Eagles signed
• 2:04
  veteran edge rusher Zadarius Smith. Now he just turned thirty
• 2:09
  three years old. He was a fourth round pick of
• 2:11
  the Baltimore Ravens in twenty fifteen. He also played for
• 2:15
  the Packers, the Vikings, the Browns Detroit. Last season, he
• 2:19
  spent time with the Browns and the Lions, and he
• 2:23
  had nine sacks combined sixty nine career sacks, one hundred
• 2:26
  and seventy three quarterback hits. It's a good signing, especially
• 2:30
  for what's out there now. I always caution because on
• 2:33
  the surface, it always looks like a good signing, but
• 2:35
  until you get the player in the building and see
• 2:37
  him on the field and he gets up to speed
• 2:39
  with the defense and all of that, it's really difficult
• 2:42
  to pinpoint whether or not it's going to be a
• 2:44
  home frunt signing or anything. But all things considered, he
• 2:47
  will be the Eagles third edge rusher once fully onboarded.
• 2:51
  And then you also have josh Usha. It's interesting that
• 2:55
  both Azizo Jilari and obo Okoronqua were inactive for week one.
• 3:00
  We'll have to keep an eye on what the future
• 3:03
  holds for both players. And they also had Patrick Johnson,
• 3:06
  who reverted back to the practice squad.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: He of course, was elevated for week one.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Now, the Eagles roster sits at fifty two right now
• 3:14
  because over the weekend they wavedguard Kenyon Green, So I
• 3:20
  guess the final that fifty three spot is interesting, and
• 3:24
  in my opinion, I think the most logical would be
• 3:27
  to sign Patrick Johnson to the fifty three for a
• 3:30
  number of reasons. They lost Ben van Sumern, who we'd
• 3:33
  learned on Friday suffered a torn Pateeller ten and that
• 3:36
  is completely That's a gut punch and really unfortunate news
• 3:40
  for someone who was he worked his way back, wasn't
• 3:43
  even ten months removed from the knee injury that he
• 3:46
  sustained last season. He was excited about his role this
• 3:50
  season and it's it's tough. Six seconds into the season,
• 3:55
  it's over for him. But Ben was a core four
• 3:58
  special teams player and Okoronkwell played special teams very sparingly
• 4:04
  in his career. The Zijo Julari very little experience on
• 4:07
  special teams, and Zadarius Smith certainly isn't going to play
• 4:11
  special teams, So that begs the question out of that group,
• 4:15
  who can you count on? And I think Patrick Johnson,
• 4:17
  who played twelve snaps on Thursday night, he's playable and
• 4:22
  as the fifth edge rusher, he would be active in
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  playing on special teams and maybe fulfill that void that's
• 4:28
  left with.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Van Sumern's injury.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: So to me, I think Patrick Johnson would make the
• 4:33
  most logical sense to fill.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: That fifty third spot.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Zadarius Smith is an interesting player. Because obviously he's a
• 4:41
  proven commodity. He's a little bit larger than most of
• 4:45
  the defensive ends that they have. He's two hundred and
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  seventy five pounds, really long player, plays with physicality, toughness,
• 4:51
  and violence, and I think that he can be a
• 4:53
  really good addition and a veteran presence to a to
• 4:56
  a youthful and inexperienced room. Now I'm curious to see
• 5:01
  again what becomes of a is he's Ojulari and Obo
• 5:04
  Okoronquo and if that was just part of the game
• 5:08
  plan for week one, or if they maybe factor in
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  down the line, if they have a plan for them.
• 5:13
  Because Vic Fangio historically, or at least here in Philadelphia
• 5:17
  hasn't wanted, hasn't sought that expanded rotation in terms of
• 5:21
  edge rushers. He seems to want to really widow it
• 5:23
  down on game day and that that kind of leads
• 5:27
  into my point. If you're if you're going to go
• 5:29
  light at edge rusher on game day and Okaranquo and
• 5:32
  Ojulari don't really factor all that much on special teams
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  and Usha isn't really a factor there either. Well, Patrick
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  Johnson again would would make a lot of sense, but
• 5:43
  we'll have to wait and see how that goes. But
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  on the surface, a really good signing for Philadelphia and
• 5:49
  the best available pass rusher, and you don't often find
• 5:51
  a player of that caliber around at this time of
• 5:54
  the year. So I assume he had other options, knowing
• 5:59
  what his resume looks like, and he lands with the contender,
• 6:03
  and I believe it once fully onboarded. As I mentioned,
• 6:06
  he's going to be the Eagles third edge rusher, So
• 6:08
  that room is slowly starting to churn and take shape
• 6:11
  a little bit. But the Eagles, and this was reported
• 6:14
  by Jordan Schultz, they're hosting veteran cornerback Mike Hilton. And
• 6:19
  if that name sounds familiar, he's been around for a while.
• 6:22
  Hilton was a undrafted free agent in twenty sixteen. He
• 6:27
  was originally undrafted free agent of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He
• 6:30
  played for the Patriots, the Steelers, the Bengals, and was
• 6:33
  most recently with the Dolphins, though the Dolphins parted with
• 6:36
  him August twenty fifth, just ahead of roster cutdowns. If
• 6:40
  you really want to go back and look about what
• 6:42
  Mike Hilton's all about, I suggest looking at his Steelers
• 6:45
  tape and the Bengals tape because he's five nine, one
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  hundred and eighty four pounds, but he does play with
• 6:51
  pretty good toughness, good instincts.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: He's a veteran, so there's some savviness there.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: But it is interesting that the Dolphins, who didn't fare
• 6:59
  all that well on Sunday and especially defensively, that they
• 7:05
  parted with him and they decided they didn't need him. Now,
• 7:07
  Mike Hilton is a nickel corner. That's important to differentiate
• 7:11
  because what that signing could imply is that maybe the
• 7:15
  Eagles are looking or considering utilizing Cooper de gen Moore
• 7:19
  as an outside corner if they sign Mike Hilton, because
• 7:24
  there's not the startup cost that maybe a mac McWilliams
• 7:27
  would would pose. You know, Mike Hilton has played nickel
• 7:30
  for a number of years in the NFL, and that
• 7:32
  would give the Egle some optionality.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: That's the logic behind the workout.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: We'll have to see what it all means and if
• 7:37
  they ultimately do end up signing him to the active
• 7:40
  roster or if they sign him to the practice squad.
• 7:43
  But interesting, nonetheless, Dori Jackson is a player who obviously
• 7:48
  has gotten critiqued heavily, and that's putting it mildly in
• 7:52
  the days after the game. Look, my response to that
• 7:58
  would be, what did you expect? This is a player
• 8:02
  who's been around for a while, but you kind of
• 8:05
  have an idea of who he is and what he is.
• 8:08
  He is a floor guy, as I like to say,
• 8:10
  you kind of have an idea of what you're going
• 8:12
  to get with him. They're not going to be the
• 8:14
  mental mistakes that a young player may commit here and there.
• 8:18
  But Vic Fangio mentioned that he's going to give whoever
• 8:22
  was the starter a relatively long leash. Now we'll have
• 8:25
  to see if he's saw enough from Adorri Jackson to
• 8:28
  you know, kind of cut the cord or move on
• 8:31
  and maybe insert your Corey and Bennett. But I still
• 8:33
  think it's way too early in the season after one
• 8:36
  game where the defense hasn't had a lot.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Of game reps with one another.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Really, they didn't play at all in the preseason, and
• 8:43
  you know in training camp it's a whole different ballgame.
• 8:47
  I'm curious to see if they roll him out Week
• 8:49
  two against the Kansas City Chiefs and if he struggles,
• 8:52
  if they decide to kind of pull the plug and
• 8:55
  get your Corey and Bennett in there. But if they
• 8:57
  are going to down the road not satisfied with their options.
• 9:01
  Opposite Quenya Mitchell, I think you owe it to Jacorey
• 9:05
  and Bennett before you go outside and try to make
• 9:07
  another maneuver, to see what you have in him first.
• 9:11
  But I wouldn't write off of Dorri Jackson just yet.
• 9:14
  Obviously that was not a good showing, that was not
• 9:16
  a good debut.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: But if we're.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Looking at the first month of the season, which many
• 9:22
  do as an extension of the preseason, and you're sort
• 9:26
  of you're allowing some of those growing pains for other players,
• 9:32
  then I think you also have to allow afford that
• 9:35
  same You have to afford that same luxury or that
• 9:40
  same leeway rather for a Dori Jackson. But again, wasn't good.
• 9:46
  Talk to him after the game. He was accountable. But
• 9:48
  he doesn't get too high, he doesn't get too low.
• 9:51
  He has a really good bounce back mentality as you
• 9:53
  might expect from a veteran corner and we're just gonna
• 9:56
  have to wait and.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: See how that goes.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: But going into the season, obviously cornerback two and edge
• 10:01
  Rusher were two concerns that I and many have expressed
• 10:05
  as a concern. But and you can see by the
• 10:09
  Eagles actions that they're not quite satisfied in that area
• 10:11
  and they're trying to find ways to fortify those areas
• 10:15
  or find a solution, which obviously is exemplified with the
• 10:19
  Zadarius Smith signing. And we'll have to wait and see
• 10:22
  if Jacoryan Bennet gets a look at outside Corner or
• 10:25
  if a Dori Jackson starts to figure it out well
• 10:27
  enough that there's not a deficiency, a glaring deficiency on
• 10:31
  the back end. But that's kind of just my musings
• 10:34
  and my thoughts as we venture into what should be
• 10:37
  another eventful week for the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Again.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I will be with Adam for WBCB at the Chickens
• 10:44
  and Pets and Parks, Casino and Ben Salem, So stop
• 10:48
  on by if you're out that way and you have
• 10:49
  a moment. We'd love to meet you and interact with
• 10:52
  you and talk some Eagles football and keep it plugged
• 10:55
  into the inside the Bird's platform as we have a
• 10:58
  lot of really good content headed your way, as we
• 11:01
  will each and every week throughout the season.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Well that's going to do it.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: For this edition of the Checko Daily, I am Andrew
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  Decheco and I will talk to everybody on the next
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  one