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The DiCecco Daily: Three Eagles On Offense We Should Be Discussing More · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up everybody?
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Decheco here with another edition of the check O DEII. Today,
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  we're going to look at three offensive players that I
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  view to be under the microscope and the reasoning for that.
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  So we will start with running back AJ Dillon, whom
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  the Eagles signed in free agency to a one year
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  prove it deal to really provide some depth behind Saquon Barkley,
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  but also add a physically imposing element that.
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  Speaker 1: Power runner in the power Runner mold.
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  Speaker 2: And he's somebody that out of his four seasons that
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  he's been healthy, he's eclipsed over six hundred yards.
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  Speaker 1: One year he eclipsed eight hundred yards.
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  Speaker 2: So he gives you a competent level of production there,
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  and he has a really good feel for how to
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  get north and south, how to grind out tough yards,
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  potentially be the closer in games where the Eagles really
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  need to kind of grind out clock and they want
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  to preserve Saquon Barkley. That's probably not the role that
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  you want Will Shipley for.
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  Speaker 1: He's not ideally suited for that though.
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  Speaker 2: I do view Will as the clear cut number two
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  running back. But the reason why AJ dillons under the
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  microscope is he was signed to a one year proven deal.
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  There wasn't, at least from my vantage point, a huge
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  market for him. And one, he's a one dimensional player.
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  He doesn't really offer you much in terms of juice
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  or even pass catching ability. He's more of a punishing
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  type of runner who can close out games, good ball security.
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  He can catch the ball a little bit. But the
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  primary reason why he's on my under the microscope list
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  is because he missed the whole twenty twenty four season
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  with the neck injury, and you don't know if there's
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  gonna be any rust. You have no way of knowing
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  how he going to be able to handle contact until
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  we get to training camp, right, So that is a
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  big question that I have because his spot on the roster,
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  at least going into training camp is sort of fluid.
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  They have a number of other players like Montreal Johnson
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  Junior from Florida potentially vying for that third spot as well.
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  And I mean, obviously I think aj Dillon right now
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  has the inside track, but doesn't have a strong foothold.
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  He's going to have to prove it he can stay
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  healthy and that he is healthy to sort of secure
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  his standing in the pecking order. But to be clear,
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  and I've maintained this really since mark, since they signed
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  AJ Dillon, I believe that Will Shipley is comfortably the
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  number two running back on this football team. But for
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  those reasons, AJ Dillon is the first player that I
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  view to be under the microscope.
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  Speaker 1: Now, let's look at the offensive line.
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  Speaker 2: The Eagles traded for veteran offensive lineman Kenyon Green.
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  Speaker 1: He was part of the CJ. Gardner Johnson trade.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, Kenyon Green is more of a household name when
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  you look at the fact that he was drafted fifteenth
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  overall a few years ago, started a twenty seven game
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  or appeared in twenty seven games, started twenty three, missed
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  his second season, I believe. So obviously there's a lot
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  of he's just twenty four years old.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of intriguing.
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  Speaker 2: Elements surrounding this edition, especially when you look at the
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  Eagles right guard situation and how it may be a
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  little bit unsettled with Tyler Stein there, and I look
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  at it more so that this is Tyler Stein's job
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  to lose. But when you add someone like Kenyon Green
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  into the mix, he's kind of in the mold of
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  a player kind of like Mackai Beckton, where he's a
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  reclamation project, and I think that I summer with Jeff
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  Stoutlin could prove to.
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  Speaker 1: Serve him well.
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  Speaker 2: The Eagles did show some type of interest in Kenyon
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  Greenley into the draft, and so we'll have to wait
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  and see what version they're going to get, because Kenyon
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  green did not have a very promising tenure with the
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  Houston Texans, one of the worst guards in the sport.
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  If you're looking at it from a metrics standpoint, I
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  don't necessarily take all of that into consideration. I look
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  and see what the player can do on the field,
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  and when you work with Jeff Stoutlin, players seem to
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  hit another gear.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll have to wait and see.
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  Speaker 2: If he's not able to kind of evolve under his tutelage,
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  that's going to be problematic.
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  Speaker 1: But right now, the way.
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  Speaker 2: That I see it is obviously there's a spotlight on him,
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  and some may be under the impression that he's going
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  to be vying for the starting job. Obviously, when you
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  bring in a player with that kind of pedigree, that
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  would make some sense.
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  Speaker 1: But all we have to go.
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  Speaker 2: Off of is OTAs and the final day of mandatory
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  mini camp, he was repping with a third team. Now
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  it is important to note that he can rep it
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  left and right. So I think best case scenario for
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  Kenyon Green is he fulfills the Tyler Steen role of
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  last season, where you're active on game day and you're
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  that immediate reserve at guard.
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  Speaker 1: So that's that's a pivotal role.
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  Speaker 2: But until he goes out there and earns that role,
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  that's going to be something that we're going to have
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  to keep an eye on. He's a polarizing prospect and
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  for those reasons, Kenyon Green is a player that's under
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  the microscope for me. The final one that I'm going
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  to talk about today is wide receiver Johnny Wilson. So
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  Johnny Wilson was entrenched as the number four wide receiver
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  last season for the Eagles. And you like the size
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  about six foot seven. His blocking prowess is is you know,
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  it's say he's a plus blocker. He does the dirty work,
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  the grimy work that a lot of players are unwilling
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  to do. And he's young. So they drafted him last
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  season in the sixth round. He appeared in sixteen games,
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  played three hundred and sixty nine snaps and thirty or
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  twenty four percent on special teams, So that helps his
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  case because, let's face it, the reserve receiver roles here
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  in Philadelphia are are fluid aside from aj Brown, DeVante
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  Smith and Johan Dodds, and there's some questions there as
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  to who's going to step up and really emerge as
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  those at that fourth and fifth and maybe even six
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  wide receiver spot. Now, I will say that Johnny Wilson
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  has the upper hand as we look at it right now,
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  because he does offer special teams value. But what I
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  would like to see from Johnny, and this is why
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  I don't think that he is a slam dunk to
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  make the roster. He's under the microscope because for all
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  the things that he did offensively in terms of blocking
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  and freeing up teammates and doing the dirty work and
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  the things that don't necessarily show up on the box score,
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  you want to see someone who is that gifted in
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  terms of a hulking frame and the wingspan, and he
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  obviously played football at the highest level at Florida State.
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  You want to see him sort of tap into his
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  receiving prowess a little bit because is there an injury
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  away from him having to play meaningful snaps at wide
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  receiver if he is the four, and you haven't seen
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  his ability to separate with regularity, nor have you seen
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  his ability to catch the football reliably. So you want
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  to see him make some strides as a pass catcher
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  to compliment what he's able to bring in terms of
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  the blocking element and of course the special teams prowess
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  that he has. But right now, I would say that
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  he feels like a decent bet out of all the
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  other players vying for that role to have the best
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  shot at making it. But he has to go out
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  there and earn it, and he has to really continue
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  to grow and develop.
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  Speaker 1: And offer them something else.
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  Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is, really you have
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  to showcase your value as a pass catcher as well,
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  because you he's too from the player that I saw
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  in college. He's too talented to kind of be a
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  one dimensional component here. When you have players like Danny Gray,
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  who was the third round pick of the forty nine ers,
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  you have an Ayah Smith who really is a predominantly
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  slot player, but he can also help you as a
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  punt returner. Well, I think that those are players Tis
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  Marshall as well. Terris Marshall might be his primary challenger
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  from a body type standpoint. Now he's not six foot seven,
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  but he can block and do some of those gritty
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  type of things. He's also a lot more established than
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  Johnny Wilson. And it was a second round pick a
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  number of years ago of the Panthers. So that's a
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  player that I thought caught my eye.
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  Speaker 1: A little bit.
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  Speaker 2: No TIA's and I believe that Marshall will be pushing
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  Johnny Wilson.
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  Speaker 1: But we'll have to wait and see, because.
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  Speaker 2: You never want to get too far ahead basing things
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  off of spring practices.
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  Speaker 1: What matters is what you see this summer.
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  Speaker 2: And jaywhen Hurts has been an advocate of Johnny Wilson,
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  he's mentioned him a multiple occasions. Johnny has gotten Repps
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  with them the previous offseason. I don't know about this one,
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  but there's something to be said for that. So there
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  you have it. There's my three players offensively that are
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  under the microscope for the Foot of Eagles. I'm Andrew
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  Dichecko signing off today for to check o DELI talk
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  to everybody tomorrow with my defensive selections.