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The DiCecco Daily: Updates From Wednesday's Eagles Practice In Preparation For Chiefs · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 2: What's happened? Everybody.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Welcome into this edition of the check O Daily. It
• 0:13
  is Andrew de Checo and again we are just inching
• 0:18
  closer towards Eagles Chiefs kickoff set for four to twenty five,
• 0:22
  a highly anticipated matchup, and Wednesday was the first day
• 0:26
  that the team was back on the practice field. So
• 0:28
  there's obviously a ton of news to get into as
• 0:32
  it pertains to your Philadelphia Eagles, and as I always
• 0:35
  like to do, I like to keep everyone informed. So
• 0:38
  let's first start with the observations from practice. This will
• 0:42
  be a sort of a quick podcast, but we'll move
• 0:45
  through it, and we'll have to start with the injury
• 0:48
  report because there are some key names on here that
• 0:53
  we're gonna have to get to that could impact the
• 0:55
  game on Sunday. So injury wise, not practice today. Tight
• 1:01
  End Dallas Goddard with the knee. We'll get back to
• 1:03
  that in a second quarterback Tanner McKee with the right thumb,
• 1:06
  and running back Will Shipley oh bleak. It was cited
• 1:10
  as a ribs injury after the game, but on the
• 1:13
  injury reports it specifies obleak for Will Shipley limited guard
• 1:18
  Landon Dickerson with the back and outside linebacker Jaylyox hunt
• 1:22
  with the hip. So for Dallas Goddard, that's obviously a
• 1:27
  very critical one. It's putting his Week two status in jeopardy.
• 1:33
  He suffered the knee injury. I guess he took a
• 1:35
  hit to the knee in the game Thursday night. And
• 1:38
  this is a player that when you hear Nick Sirianni
• 1:41
  talk about the aerial attack, obviously it runs through aj Brown,
• 1:45
  Devonte Smith and Dallas Goddard. So do not at least
• 1:48
  potentially have your top tight end someone who I believe
• 1:51
  is really primed for a big season here and has
• 1:55
  developed a really nice rapport with Jaywhen Hurts. You saw
• 1:57
  that manifest on the field Thursday night in the opener.
• 2:01
  Seven catches on seven targets for forty four yards.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Not a great output there, but the volume.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Is what's key, and Dallas Goddard and Jalen Hurts have
• 2:10
  sort of carried over what they established in training camp
• 2:13
  into week one and week two. There was going to
• 2:16
  be and there could potentially still be an opportunity for
• 2:19
  godd Or to really make his mark and add to
• 2:23
  his total and really start to cement his status in
• 2:26
  this offense. This Kevin Patulo offense, but also factor in
• 2:30
  as a red zone option, And if there's any question
• 2:34
  has to where he stands in the pantheon of NFL
• 2:37
  tight ends right now, I think Dallas Goddard deserves to
• 2:40
  be certainly among the top. I don't do rankings, but
• 2:44
  if he's not able to play Week two, there's a
• 2:47
  big hit to the offense there. So that would be
• 2:50
  Grant Kakatra would elevate.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: To the tight end one role.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Tight End two would be Kylon Granson who made the
• 2:57
  team this year. He's played in a ton of games,
• 3:00
  has a lot of experience. When Ben Van Sumerin left
• 3:03
  the game injured, they utilized Kylon Grantson as a fullback
• 3:08
  of sorts, and that's something that he has a lot
• 3:09
  of experience. And Kylon Granson has played h back, he's
• 3:12
  played fullback, he's lined up in the backfield, he's split
• 3:15
  out wide, he's.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Done it all.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: So that's certainly an option to keep an eye on.
• 3:20
  But that leaves the Eagles really thin and lacking for
• 3:24
  a blocking tight end, and it kind of affects the
• 3:27
  way that they're able to approach it from a personnel standpoint,
• 3:31
  and Goddard affords them so much versatility and flexibility of
• 3:35
  what they can do.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: But we'll have to wait and see.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: It's just Wednesday, where there's a couple more days before
• 3:42
  there's any sort of decision to be made there or
• 3:46
  any cause for concern. But obviously right now with the
• 3:50
  knee injury that that's certainly not good for Dallas Goddard
• 3:54
  that bears watching in the coming days. Landon Dickerson encouraging
• 4:00
  that he's back out there. Landon Dickerson is tough as nails.
• 4:03
  Just when you think that he's going to be sidelined
• 4:05
  for a few days, maybe a week, maybe miss a game,
• 4:08
  he's out there and he's battling through it. Now he
• 4:10
  was a limited participant, but just the fact that he's
• 4:13
  out there and has battled through as much as he
• 4:15
  has in college but in his NFL career and to
• 4:19
  start the season, I think that should be commended. He's
• 4:23
  instrumental to what the Eagles do from an offensive line standpoint,
• 4:27
  establishing that line of scrimmage and imposing his will. And
• 4:31
  if you're looking for a player who would replace him,
• 4:35
  I think we got our answer Thursday night. That would
• 4:37
  be Brett Toath, but this is an encouraging development for
• 4:40
  Landon Dickerson. He was out there for Will Shipley. That's
• 4:46
  an injury that I'm expecting. I can't say with certainty
• 4:49
  because it's just Wednesday, but it certainly sounds like that's
• 4:52
  something that could keep him out Sunday.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Against the Chiefs.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: But the Eagles added running back Tank Bigsby, which I've
• 4:58
  written about and I talked about on the previous podcast,
• 5:01
  So that adds some more depth there. AJ Dillons there
• 5:04
  that really shouldn't impact them as much in the immediate future,
• 5:08
  but will add such a different dimension to that offense,
• 5:11
  being that pass catching option out of the backfield. He's
• 5:14
  become a trusted option for Jalen Hurts. He has good
• 5:17
  quickness after the catch, probably just not a volume runner,
• 5:20
  and we've kind of already talked about that at nauseum
• 5:24
  throughout training camp and even in the offseason. He's a
• 5:27
  good in game compliment to Saquon Barkley. But if Saquon
• 5:30
  were to miss a game or have to be sidelined
• 5:33
  for an extended period of time or even a series
• 5:35
  or two, the most logical replacement would always be aj
• 5:38
  Dillon because he's best equipped to handle that volume and
• 5:42
  Tank Bigsby as well. This is a player who last
• 5:45
  season for the Jaguars total seven hundred and sixty six
• 5:48
  rushing yards, so that's certainly something that they pounced on
• 5:52
  and took advantage to stockpile the backfield. So that shouldn't
• 5:55
  hurt them as much right now. But the one to
• 5:57
  keep an eye on is going to be Dallas Goddard
• 6:00
  as we move forward through this week, and then Tanner McKee.
• 6:03
  He's still working his way back from that right thumb
• 6:05
  injury that he suffered in training camp. Still wasn't throwing,
• 6:09
  it's he didn't practice, so that certainly indicates that he's
• 6:13
  likely not going to be a go for Sunday, which
• 6:16
  would likely put Sam Howell back in the number two
• 6:19
  quarterback spot.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: If McKee can't go, how it would be the number two.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: And for McKee, it doesn't feel I mean, I never
• 6:28
  got the sense that that's something that's going to bleed
• 6:30
  too far into the season, But one or two weeks
• 6:33
  was kind of my estimated timeline, just based on the
• 6:36
  nature of the injury and the information that we've received.
• 6:40
  Once it was known that he was going to have
• 6:42
  to miss some time. But those are the three injuries
• 6:48
  and updates there to add some more color to that.
• 6:52
  But in the absence of fullback band Van Sumer and
• 6:55
  we talked about Kylon Grants and moonlighting at fullback in
• 6:57
  the opener, but offensive coordinator Kevin Batulo on Tuesday indicated
• 7:02
  that the role will still exist, but interestingly including another
• 7:05
  player worth monitoring, and that is tight end Cam Latu,
• 7:10
  who was a third round pick of the forty nine
• 7:12
  ers just a couple of years ago. Didn't really have
• 7:16
  a big training camp. Remember the Eagles had about seven
• 7:19
  tight ends in training camp, but he did some really
• 7:21
  good things that caught my eye as a blocker. I
• 7:24
  referred back to my notes after Bittulla made those comments,
• 7:27
  and it makes a lot of sense because I look
• 7:29
  at what Johd Campbell was able to do attacking downhill
• 7:33
  and just mauling.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: These tight ends, particularly Grant Calcatara and Nick Muse come
• 7:37
  to mind.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: But the one who wasn't able to who was able
• 7:41
  to hold his ground better than the others was Cam Latu,
• 7:45
  And I thought for someone who didn't get a ton
• 7:47
  of reps in the summer, he really acquitted himself well
• 7:50
  in those opportunities, So it made some sense when he
• 7:52
  said it. But then I'm at practice and the players
• 7:56
  are warming up and going through stretches on a far field,
• 8:00
  and I'm looking and then I'm seeing Latsu who was
• 8:03
  previously issued number eighty seven, and I took a picture.
• 8:06
  It's on my ex account at Andrew Decheco and he's
• 8:10
  wearing number thirty six. A day after Kevin Petula made
• 8:13
  those comments, and for clarity, when asked about the Van
• 8:16
  sumer En role and if that would still exist, if
• 8:18
  they were still going to keep those packages in and
• 8:21
  if Kylon Granson could be that player, Kevin Petula said
• 8:25
  he can fill that role, and Cam Lattu he can
• 8:28
  fill that role as well. We have guys that can
• 8:30
  definitely fill that role, and I think that's I think
• 8:32
  it's something we can continue to do.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: So today was.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Cam lat who's first day playing fullback. I spoke to
• 8:39
  him very briefly in the locker room. Basically the sentiment
• 8:42
  that he echoed is he's new to the position, but
• 8:45
  he's willing to do whatever.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: To help the team. He played linebacker. Very briefly.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I asked him about that because Van Sumern also was
• 8:53
  a linebacker, and if there's any sort of anything you
• 8:58
  can take away from playing that and how that might
• 9:00
  change your approach in terms of defeating blocks and how
• 9:02
  to kind of really attack that.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Position, and he did mention. He gave a decent answer.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: There are some similarities and some things that you can
• 9:10
  take and apply that to the full back position, but
• 9:13
  again brand new to that role. But what I also
• 9:15
  noticed is that he was on the first team kick
• 9:19
  return unit, blocking for Tank Bigsby and John Metchi, who
• 9:23
  were the first returners up. Tank Bigsby was the first
• 9:26
  returner up, but he was also back there with John
• 9:28
  Metchi the wide receiver. So in all likelihood, those are
• 9:31
  going to be your two players who are going to
• 9:34
  be returning kicks. But keep an eye on Cam Lattu
• 9:36
  in terms of practice squad elevations, because for one, Dallas
• 9:40
  Goddard doesn't seem like he's on track to play Sunday,
• 9:43
  and then you don't have Van Sumer and you just
• 9:46
  heard the quote that I read you from Kevin Patulo.
• 9:48
  It seems like they're going to still keep those plays
• 9:52
  and the full back position ingrained as part of the offense.
• 9:55
  So perhaps you see Cam lat too get elevated, and
• 9:58
  that would make some sense from a special team standpoint,
• 10:01
  but also from the fullback standpoint to keep things rolling
• 10:05
  in the absence of Van Sumron. That that was one
• 10:08
  of my observations. Zadarius Smith also spoke in the locker
• 10:12
  room today and he mentioned that he almost signed with
• 10:15
  the Eagles prior to Week one, but he was kind
• 10:17
  of weighing his options. He talked to Obo Okoronkwoll, who
• 10:21
  is an Eagles veteran pass rusher. They overlapped in Cleveland
• 10:25
  and Obo told him about the culture here and briefed
• 10:28
  him on Philadelphia. He mentioned that he loves Big Dom,
• 10:32
  so this felt like a place that he really wanted
• 10:34
  to be. He did say that he should be ready
• 10:37
  for week one and he's excited to kind of get
• 10:40
  after it. But I thought that was that was interesting.
• 10:43
  He said he still has gas left in the tank.
• 10:46
  That's a player that once fully onboarded. As I mentioned,
• 10:49
  he should be the number three edge rusher and that
• 10:52
  really doesn't sound like it's going to take a whole
• 10:55
  lot of time for him to get ramped up and
• 10:57
  contributing defensively again.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Veteran plays thirty three years old.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: He's played in a number of different schemes, but it
• 11:03
  was good to meet him. Tank Bigsby also spoke, though
• 11:06
  when Tank was speaking, I was talking to Jahad Campbell
• 11:09
  for a while, so I was not in there for
• 11:12
  the Tank Bigsby one, but Sadarius Smith's some good things
• 11:15
  there all of I'll obviously have the Rookie Diary for you.
• 11:19
  I'll be speaking with Mac McWilliams on Thursday, and plenty
• 11:23
  of Eagles content throughout the week on the Inside the
• 11:25
  Birds platforms, on Inside the Birds dot com, and of
• 11:28
  course right here on the Czechodaily. This has been to
• 11:31
  check Odaily. I am Andrew Dechecko and I'll catch you
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: On the next one.