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Football at Four: Going Through Any Potential Roadblocks For Eagles Offense · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Football four today, of course, Adam Kapwood on a Friday,
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  Speaker 1: We've got all the buzz leading up to training camp
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  Speaker 1: as the Eagles get ready to get back on the field.
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  Speaker 1: July twenty eighth day report and on the twenty ninth
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  Speaker 1: they will be back on the field. We'll have it
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  Speaker 1: covered for you here on Football four and the guys
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  Speaker 1: over at the Inside the Birds podcast they are breaking
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  Speaker 1: it all down. Top five concerns. So let's take a
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  Speaker 1: look at some of the concerns for the Eagles and
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  Speaker 1: this offense, which is probably the top concern for everything. Right,
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  Speaker 1: you're talking about the Eagles at training camp. The biggest
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  Speaker 1: concerns I think most fans, Adam would all point to
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  Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no question about it. So the Eagles report to
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  Speaker 2: camp Mike and now less than three weeks and Jeff
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  Speaker 2: and I had four shows this week. Over the last
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  Speaker 2: week we've talked about why we're optimistic on offensive defense
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  Speaker 2: is who we're optimistic about, coaches and players, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: not just players and players that coaches we're concerned about
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  Speaker 2: on offensive defense. So and for this one today, Mike,
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  Speaker 2: I'm gonna have special teams on there. I should have
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  Speaker 2: done that before. To be honest with you, I saw
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  Speaker 2: because you know, people comment on this stuff and they said,
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  Speaker 2: you forgot this guy, and I'm like, oh, yeah, you
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  Speaker 2: know that, You're right. We should have talked about this guy.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll talk about one player on special teams, which
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  Speaker 2: is kind of obvious and something interesting or depending on
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  Speaker 2: your point of view. But yeah, the number one concern
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  Speaker 2: for me is Jalen hurts getting your timing down with
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  Speaker 2: a new offense in the passing game. It's just Mike
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  Speaker 2: if he does. And I'm one of the few people
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  Speaker 2: nationally who's actually optimistic because, as you know, greco Sell
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  Speaker 2: works with us and on Inside the Birth we do
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  Speaker 2: the inside the Tape show and Jeff and I and
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  Speaker 2: Greg pointed out several good throws last season. You have
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  Speaker 2: to isolate throws the way coaches do it and executives.
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  Speaker 2: It's not that he can't do it, Mike. He absolutely
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  Speaker 2: could throw on time. He just hasn't done it consistently.
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  Speaker 2: It's not been his thing. But Jalen knows by getting
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  Speaker 2: the playbook early as he did months ago. This offense
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  Speaker 2: is strictly based on timing. We told you this, Mike
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  Speaker 2: when shaw Manni was hired. That's coming. He's got to
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  Speaker 2: do it. And not that every offense doesn't have that,
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  Speaker 2: but this is to the extreme. So he's got to
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  Speaker 2: do it. And Mike, the past blocking is not the problem.
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  Speaker 2: The past blocking is pretty good last season. So if
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  Speaker 2: hurts throws on time, lookout because this thing could look
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  Speaker 2: really good.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I got to imagine, you know, they wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: try to do this that they thought he was incapable.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I know some people think, oh, they stuffed the
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  Speaker 2: stat of his throat. Well, they wanted Sean Manning. They
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  Speaker 2: did their homework. The Eagles have a history of finding
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  Speaker 2: young coaches coaching candidates. Andy Reid came out of nowhere
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  Speaker 2: sort of, and Nick Sirianni was certainly surprising and Sean
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  Speaker 2: Mannion is a guy that just retired three years ago.
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  Speaker 2: Like it's it's certainly a risk. But look the the
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  Speaker 2: Jeffrey loriie and you know, Joe Banner when they had
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  Speaker 2: a hand in John Gruden being hired as an offense coordinator.
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  Speaker 2: You know in his I think he might have been
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  Speaker 2: in his twenties. I mean that's sometimes you just have
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  Speaker 2: to have a good feeling on a coach. But for
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  Speaker 2: it to work, Manyon, and I'll add this in there,
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  Speaker 2: Manny and Hurts have to get on the same page.
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  Speaker 2: Parks Frasier, the the new quarterbacks coach. Parks has been
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  Speaker 2: there before, but now he's going to run a quarterback
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  Speaker 2: room fully for the first time in his career. He's
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  Speaker 2: actually been a play caller, but never run a quarterback
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  Speaker 2: room on his own. So this is going to be
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  Speaker 2: a big deal here. This has all got to come together.
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  Speaker 1: One of the big problems they had last year Adam
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  Speaker 1: Kaplan was the run game. So is that still a
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  Speaker 1: concern and is it at the top of the list.
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  Speaker 2: I'm concerned about it. I've got the Hurts timing thing,
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  Speaker 2: and with the coaching staff getting together, I think that's
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  Speaker 2: number one. Number two is like we could go back
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  Speaker 2: in our minds here of covering the Eagles and go
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  Speaker 2: back decades. I'm sure they had some really bad run
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  Speaker 2: blocking all lines, because they've had plenty of offensive lines
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  Speaker 2: years ago. I'm going many years ago that weren't as talented,
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  Speaker 2: but the drop off they had was so significant. None
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  Speaker 2: of us saw this. To beast with you, Andrew and
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  Speaker 2: I and Jeff god to training camp and you're talking
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  Speaker 2: to people close the situation. No one really saw this.
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  Speaker 2: It's generally Mike not age. It's not like Lane and
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  Speaker 2: Diction and Camp Jurgen's are young or old. They're not.
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  Speaker 2: They're young, but they were not healthy last season. It
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  Speaker 2: showed come back both from surgery. You both had the
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  Speaker 2: medical treatment overseas. The hope is that's going to help.
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  Speaker 2: And obviously Lane Johnson coming back from his coin injury
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  Speaker 2: and everything else that he's been dealing with. So if
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  Speaker 2: these guys are they don't have to be as dominant
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  Speaker 2: as they were one of the best run blocking the
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  Speaker 2: lines in NFL history two years ago. If they could
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  Speaker 2: be fifty percent improve Mike this getting the run game,
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  Speaker 2: helping hurts out with that, getting the balance that they
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  Speaker 2: need Mike, they're going to be way more successful in offense.
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  Speaker 1: I would agree with that. I mean, you said, if
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  Speaker 1: they're even fifty percent better, Heck, I think if they're
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  Speaker 1: even twenty five percent better from what they were right
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  Speaker 1: run blocking a year ago. We had some mailback questions
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  Speaker 1: on this. I want to get your thought on. Somebody
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  Speaker 1: asked if there's somebody to push Steen for the right
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  Speaker 1: guard job, and then I asked the question, was Steen
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  Speaker 1: even the weak link on the line? Last year?
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  Speaker 2: He was okay, He wasn't great, He was okay, kind
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  Speaker 2: of up and down. This is certainly this is the
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  Speaker 2: best season he's had. You know, he's now in year
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  Speaker 2: four of his four year deal. He's actually eligible, by
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  Speaker 2: the way, for an extension. But no, to look, you've
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  Speaker 2: got Michael Jordan. Not that Michael Jordan, this football Michael Jordan,
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  Speaker 2: who's a journeyman who started over three dozen games for
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  Speaker 2: several teams. He's basically, at best, the fourth guard. You
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  Speaker 2: don't want him starting because what happens, Mike, with these
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  Speaker 2: journeymen interior offensive linemen, they show you kind of who
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  Speaker 2: they are after a while. So that would be a
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  Speaker 2: concern here. Miles hitting either cross training at guard. I
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  Speaker 2: mean I've talked to two area scouts over the who
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  Speaker 2: had his draft grade to Turney in, and they both
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  Speaker 2: said there's no way. They just don't see him as
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  Speaker 2: a guard at all. Well, you certainly are trying it
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  Speaker 2: because they want to give him better chance to make
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  Speaker 2: the team. I don't see it. I know they've cross
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  Speaker 2: trained Drew Kennell, who they love is the backup senator
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  Speaker 2: Kim Jergens. He goes love Drew Kennell. I can tell
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  Speaker 2: you that as a fact, fifth round of last year,
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  Speaker 2: he's put on masks on his frame. We saw that
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  Speaker 2: in Otz. He look way bigger physically, not quite as
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  Speaker 2: big as his dad Pete. You might remember from Boston
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  Speaker 2: College and the Jets, but and Seahawks, but overall here, Mike,
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  Speaker 2: I don't see it right now. It's a fair quote
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  Speaker 2: down Michael marsh long term, maybe he's a six round
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  Speaker 2: to Keys. He's ways away. So Barney complete turnaround as
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  Speaker 2: a rookie right now A fair question. It's probably gonna
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  Speaker 2: be Michael Jordan training Campbell. We'll keep an eye on that,
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  Speaker 2: all right.
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  Speaker 1: Adam number three on the list of the top five
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  Speaker 1: concerns for the Eagles offensive special teams coming into camp
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  Speaker 1: this year, last year, in the last couple of years,
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  Speaker 1: you always would start with Brown and Smith. So what
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  Speaker 1: about the rest of this room now with Brown out?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, my kid's not great. They have enough players, that's
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  Speaker 2: not the problem. The problem is the quality of the player.
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  Speaker 2: A couple of things here. The Eagles are super high
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  Speaker 2: and Mackay Levon is gonna be their slot receiver. He'll
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  Speaker 2: do He'll also be able to back up DeVante Smith
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  Speaker 2: at diza position when DeVante should mainly play this y. He'll
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  Speaker 2: play a little bit of the X. He can do that,
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  Speaker 2: but he's really not built for it. Don Tavian Witz like,
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  Speaker 2: here's a guy the key was out of room with
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  Speaker 2: Green Bay. I don't if they didn't trade him, he
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  Speaker 2: would have had a hard time making the team at
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  Speaker 2: the end of all the Packers, so they found a
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  Speaker 2: team that wanted them for obvious reasons due to Sean
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  Speaker 2: Manion and right now, Mike he will be no worse
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  Speaker 2: than their third receiver. They've they guaranteed him nine million
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  Speaker 2: over two seasons. They gave him one year extension. They're
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  Speaker 2: expecting to play a ton of snaps when they go
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  Speaker 2: eleven personnel he could. He's mostly going to play on
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  Speaker 2: the outside at that exposition between Smith and Lemon and Wicks.
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  Speaker 2: Those are the three guys are going to play now.
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  Speaker 2: The only issue this season Mike with with Lemon is
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  Speaker 2: he had the hamsterring injury. Now he's gonna be ready
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  Speaker 2: for training camp as we understand it, but he missed
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  Speaker 2: a lot of time, so he's going to be behind
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  Speaker 2: a little bit. He's got to catch up. Halldwood Brown
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  Speaker 2: we talked about it a lot the last couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Like the Eagles guaranteed him five million, he's just been
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  Speaker 2: on the downward side. I know he had five touchdowns
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  Speaker 2: five touchdowns last season, but why has he not been
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  Speaker 2: as good? He's like, this guy's a former first round pick,
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  Speaker 2: Johnny Wilson coming back from a major injury. I did
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  Speaker 2: watch him at OTZ. He's healthy, he's fine. And our
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  Speaker 2: guy Darius Cooper was a great surprise last season. Elijah
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  Speaker 2: Moore's the air who could play the Z in the
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  Speaker 2: slot position. Again, they have enough players, but it's the quality.
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  Speaker 2: I honestly after DeVante Smith. As you set it up, well,
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  Speaker 2: we'll just assume Makayle Lemon will be good as a rookie,
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  Speaker 2: like he'll get it got to be. But we have
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  Speaker 2: to be patient with everyone here. Wex new to this
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  Speaker 2: football team, Mackay Lemon, new to the NFL. Smith now
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  Speaker 2: will be the number one passing target clearly obviously midsive
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  Speaker 2: and close. You know, Darius Cooper, you know what's his
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  Speaker 2: role going to be? Hollywood Brown? Could he prove himself?
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  Speaker 2: So there are a lot of courses, Mike. What I
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  Speaker 2: think we have to do is, no matter what it
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  Speaker 2: looks like in training camp, once the season gets rolling
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  Speaker 2: and started, just be a little bit patient. It's not
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  Speaker 2: gonna happen overnight with this group.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Adam, let's go to you mentioned Lemon in
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  Speaker 1: the hamstring. What will they get out of this rookie class?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, you know what. I'm glad we're talking about this.
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  Speaker 2: Sorr So. I just talked about Kyle Lemon, and this
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  Speaker 2: is where we have to be patient. Eli Stours has
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  Speaker 2: been a tight end for five years. He's still knew
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  Speaker 2: to the position. He needs to put on weight. I've
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  Speaker 2: mentioned this before. Zach ERT's only played forty one percent
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  Speaker 2: of the snaps in his rookie season. Did fine, and
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  Speaker 2: by the way, but Zach did not block well at all.
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  Speaker 2: Stours is new to he as a former quarterback. Folks,
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  Speaker 2: be patient. We're not expecting to do very much. They
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  Speaker 2: have a lot of tight ends in the roster. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: he's absolutely the future at that ted end position. That's
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  Speaker 2: not in question. But it's going to take a while
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  Speaker 2: before he becomes a major factor like you might see
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  Speaker 2: sporadically he does something might but just be patient. Again,
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  Speaker 2: he's new to the position. Then with Mark kel Bell,
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  Speaker 2: he was not drafted to play left tackle. Our understanding
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  Speaker 2: is he's going to play mostly right. They may cross
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  Speaker 2: train him and training camp to play a little bit left,
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  Speaker 2: but long term, Mic he's a right tackle. He's just
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  Speaker 2: not the athlete. He's huge, Mike, He's a huge, huge
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  Speaker 2: human being. He also needs to get in better physical shape.
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  Speaker 2: I was told at draft time by a couple of
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  Speaker 2: clubs he's just got to get footwork down. He's a
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  Speaker 2: long term project that's very gifted and talented. He could
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  Speaker 2: be Mike. He could be absolutely the future at right
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  Speaker 2: tackle after Lane Johnson retires.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's bounce to you mentioned special teams in
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  Speaker 1: that Yep, there was a guy by the way. I
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  Speaker 1: think this guy was down here in Stone Harbor the
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  Speaker 1: other day. I don't know, so I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: he was working on his kicking accuracy. But what about
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  Speaker 1: Jake Elliott?
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  Speaker 2: Mike, Jake Elliott missed fifteen field goals in just the
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  Speaker 2: regular season, okay, the last two years. He's just not
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  Speaker 2: the same kicker. I know some of our fans, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we see the YouTube comments. It's a great question which
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  Speaker 2: I don't have an answer for. I would it's one
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  Speaker 2: of the few things we don't have an answer for,
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  Speaker 2: but we don't know. Why. Why can't they bring in Look,
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  Speaker 2: he took a small pay cut, but why can't they
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  Speaker 2: bring somebody in to challenge him? Why not push him?
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  Speaker 2: What is wrong with that? He's thirty one years old, Mike,
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  Speaker 2: He's not the same player like that. Think about it.
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  Speaker 2: What happens if he has a couple of games, it's
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  Speaker 2: on the line where he used to be money, Jake,
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  Speaker 2: we he misses well based on what we see in
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  Speaker 2: the last two seasons, Mike, why would you feel any
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  Speaker 2: better about him? I know it's not like two years
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  Speaker 2: ago we were told he wasn't quite healthy enough. They
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  Speaker 2: had a little bit of a lower leg issue, but
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  Speaker 2: there was nothing injury wat that we heard of last season.
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  Speaker 2: What's wrong with them? Is it? We were told when
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  Speaker 2: he came in it was a When the new staff
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  Speaker 2: came in with Sirianni, were reported that they were working
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  Speaker 2: on the operation from the snap to the hold, to
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  Speaker 2: the to the placement to the kick. Well they figured
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  Speaker 2: that out when and he became great again and then
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  Speaker 2: he's lost it. I don't know what's going on, Mike
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  Speaker 2: with him, but that is absolutely an issue. And shame
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  Speaker 2: on us for not making a big deal about this
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  Speaker 2: in the off season. We should have done that. Look,
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  Speaker 2: legals told him that because they made him take a
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  Speaker 2: pay cut to come back, he can't agree to it.
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  Speaker 2: I mean it make him they had agree to it.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if they would have done if he
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  Speaker 2: would have said no. But Mike, that's that's a concern.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 1: We had a mailback question on that last week on
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  Speaker 1: why they didn't bring anybody in to at least push him,
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  Speaker 1: even to give it like the appearance that he was
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  Speaker 1: had to beat somebody out, even if you didn't have
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  Speaker 1: any intention to get rid of him, put the appearance
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  Speaker 1: and put the pressure on him a little bit.
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly it. It just that's it's just one of
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  Speaker 2: these things I don't really have an answer for. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's kind of a weird deal. He was going to
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  Speaker 2: make six million dollars by the way this season. I
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  Speaker 2: don't have it in front of me what it looks
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  Speaker 2: like though, after whatever renegoshen they made. I know it's
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  Speaker 2: out there somewhere that they did something. But bottom line
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  Speaker 2: is Bradon Mansistad should have been a Pro Bowl last season,
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  Speaker 2: but they had too many good punters in the NFC.
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  Speaker 2: So that but Jake Elliott and where he is in
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  Speaker 2: his career, Mike, We're going to keep an eye on
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  Speaker 2: that in training camp for sure.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Of course, all the Eagles action right here
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: on ninety seven three ESPN. It all starts with the
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: preseason and training camp. Training camp July twenty eighth, the preseason.
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  Speaker 1: The first game they kick off, they'll take on the
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens, and you can hear that game right here
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: on ninety seven three ESPN. That will take place in August.
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  Speaker 1: We've got football at four here on the Sports Bash. Adam,
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  Speaker 1: have a great weekend, man, all right, Adam, capling everybody
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: here on the Sports Batch Live for today's football at
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  Speaker 1: four