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Football at Four: Updating Eagles Offensive Player Development in Camp · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Where do things stand with this new Eagle offense?
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: We're going to break it down right now with Adam
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Kapan from the Inside the Birds podcast, who joins me
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: now for today's edition of Football at Four on the
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Sports Pass Live on 97.3 ESPN. Adam, it feels like
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: it's been a while, my friend.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: How have you been?
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: Good, Buck. How are we doing? Well, yeah, it was
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Andrew and I were in New England last week, and
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: we were able to see the practices. The two which
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: were very interesting, to say the least, Mike. And the
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: biggest development to me, and there are some other really
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: good developments in terms of what the Eagles are looking
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: for in their offense, but it's Tamaki clearly took the
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: lead for the two practices and obviously the game. Randy
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Dalton's inefficiencies, particularly with his arm strength and his ability
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: to get the ball downfield, showed up. But look, they
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: traded for him for a reason. He's played in the
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: West Coast system before. Not this exact one, because this
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: is a blend of a couple. but of the three-quarter
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: but actually the four quarterbacks he's one of the system
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: so that's why they acquired him as we first reported
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: at the time the trade with carolina the it how
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: he wrote the try to find them three years ago
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: i would you go to eagles or panthers the last
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: minute he changes my words linked with the eagles and
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: how he got his man but karen mckee had a
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: really good weekend i think what happened with carol if
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: you just thinking too much because it's a new system
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: that the verbiage system that's this west coast system at
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: its wording not numbers And he struggled with it, but
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: he's come on up late, and last week he was really,
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: really good.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, one of the things we talked about with Jeff
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: yesterday is what are the Eagles looking for from the No.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: 2 guy?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Do they want Andy Dalton, the guy who knows it
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: and kind of be a mentor to Hurts, through rough times,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: or do they want the better player?
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Well, no, they want the better player, obviously. I mean,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: you always want the better player with your No. 2 because...
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: You don't want to take– remember when Will Greer was here?
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Will Greer was here because he was a German No.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: 4 quarterback who's coaching now.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: West Virginia baby. Yep.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: He was here to help them with the system because
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: he knew it. He knew the system that Kellen Moore
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: was going to use two years ago. But you're not
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: going to move him to the No. 2 spot because
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: he's not good enough. Yeah, you always want the better player.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: That's not even something they thought about.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: And that's a fair answer, and that's the answer everybody
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: should be waiting for, which is to say then, Tanner
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: McKee then should win this job and that Dalton's kind
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: of here to get you through training camp and kind
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: of help you learn this offense.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Right now, but truth be told, Tanner just was, the
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: coaching term was letting it rip. He wasn't overthinking. He
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: wasn't driving the football when, the thing that I've learned
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: about this quarterback position, I don't care how strong your
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: arm is, if you're overthinking and you're not playing within
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: timing or rhythm, it makes your arm strength look poor.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Because you're not driving it. You're hesitant. Well, he wasn't
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: hesitant last week. Particularly the latter half of the first
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: practice on Wednesday and Thursday he was fine. In the
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: game you saw what he did. Now listen, some other checkdowns,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: design screens, half of them were of the completions, but
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: he had some good throws. One of Darius Cooper, which
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: was really good over the middle. Yeah, barring a shock,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Tanner McKee will be the number two.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Alright, so we think that the quarterback backup spot Looks
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: like it could be resolved based on the play, obviously.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Dalton's been terrible, 3-for-10 last game. McKee looked pretty sharp.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: The running back was interesting. Obviously, Carson Steele comes out
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: as a big game, and now it's like, whoa, what
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: about him?
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: How do you get touches even for the second and
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: third guy, let alone the fourth guy?
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: So what about this running back rotation?
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: All right, so we came into camp. Shipley was a
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: clear favorite, but they did bring in Damian Pierce, who's
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: a veteran. He's played in the West Coast system before.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: It doesn't really match. He's not a zone-cut runner. He
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: doesn't really match the system, plus he's been hurt. You
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: mentioned Carson Steele. Then Elijah Mitchell was brought in here,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: and unfortunately he's been injury-marred, and he got hurt, so
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: he's off the roster. And then Shipley just had a— honestly, Mike,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Will Shipley, to me, had the best week he's had
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: in three years as an Eagle. He was phenomenal in
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: the two practices, particularly the first one, and he ran
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: with more power than I remember. Then he did in
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: the game against the wing when I get it against
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: the backers, but I don't care. He was physical. He's
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: never been like that. That's been the biggest knock from
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: a scouting standpoint was great long speed, not physical. You
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: can't expect him to be anything more than a low
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: and number two back, but he took a big jump
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: last week. We don't want to overrate it, but we
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: saw things we've not seen from him. He had a
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: really good week, and The Eagles run... You and I
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: haven't talked. The Eagles' running game was phenomenal Wednesday's practice.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: In fact, I talked with some of the Patriots. They're
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: very complimentary how the Eagles ran on them.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Well, the rotation at running back will be very interesting
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: to see if there are more touches for the other
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: guys this year, right? I mean, last year, it seemed
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: like there wasn't any touches for anybody but Barkley. But
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: when Bigsby got him, he was.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Productive, right?
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: He's a two, yeah. There's never any competition. He's a two,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Shipley's a three. Shipley may be one of their kickoff attorneys. So, again...
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: This is a big week for clarity. Some things really
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: did clear up. In fact, a lot cleared up on
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: the offense, which is not what I was expecting. But
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: certain things, look, you've got to go with what you know,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: what you see, what you're told, what you hear. That's
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: what happened, and we'll get to the rest of it
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Well, did Lemon getting back to practice today, what has
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: that done for the receiver room, which I guess still
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: has some questions to be answered.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he got back on Monday, and they gave him
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: a lot of work. You know, I watched him, Mike,
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: do individual work on Thursday, was it? Was it on
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: a separate field? And he was moving really well in
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: his first full practice since the first day of training camp. And,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: you know, he went really hard yesterday. Good news. He's
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: going to be their starting slot receiver. Now the question is, Mike,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: and they don't know this yet, how many snaps could
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: he handle against Washington?
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: 20? 30? 50?
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: They have no idea yet. He's got to not have
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: a setback. Remember, it's the same hamstring which he injured
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: early in OTAs. He's missed... almost all the practices since
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: he was drafted. So they've got to really make up
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: for as much lost time as they can. And this
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: is a big deal because Devontae is back. He missed
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: two weeks of practice, which has been a great story.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Those are the unquestioned top three receivers. Cooper's the four-ish
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: with Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore. We'll see if Moore
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: makes a team, but... The good thing is Lemon's back.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Let's hope for the Eagles' sake he doesn't have a setback.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know Lemon being back.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: You know, he did say this is the same hamstring
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: that kind of bothered him back in the OTAs. That's
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: concerning a little bit. But what's his role? I mean,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: we'll see. He returned three weeks of practice.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: He has missed.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Do they have a big thought for him? Are they
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: going to go take him through slowly? A couple years ago,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Cooper DeGene missed the first four weeks. He was legitimately out.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Does Lemon have to play week.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: One in their mind?
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: So it's playing but again because i just said he
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: did the questions they don't know yet how many steps
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: you can handle and here's one thing i'll add to
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: what i said a couple minutes ago now i feel
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: they're starting slot receiver he can play on the outside
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: yes majority of the steps of the professional go for
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: will be inside that obvious that's why it was a
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: first-round pick that's why the steelers love them talk to
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: them i know i've got a pretty good idea how
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: they're going to play and they're going to play them
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: inside and outside but his primary position is a slot
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: receiver Smith will be the Z. Wicks will be the X.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: And those are your three. And then they've got, you know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: they don't have a lot of size in back of Wicks.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: And Wicks is their biggest receiver, and he's not quite 6'2.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: It's kind of weird. Like, this is the smallest group. Cooper,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: now Cooper, by the way, Mike, has really built his
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: body up, but he's not tall. So they don't have
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: very many. Really, they're actually a smaller average group, really,
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: looking at it.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: All right, Adam, let's look at the tight end spot here.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: How clear is that? is this position now after two games?
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: All right, so we need to see more out of
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Johnny Martin training camp. He's the unquestioned two. Goddard, you know,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: is the starter. Eli Stowers is the three. Now here's
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: what that means. He can't block yet. I mean, he's
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: just a ways away from being able to do that.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: He's got to build his body up. That's going to
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: take some time. I'll just mention this now for like
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: the 20th time. Zach Ertz only played 41% of the
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: snaps as a rookie in 2013. I'd be very surprised
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: if Mutt and Goddard are healthy. If Stowers plays more
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: than 41%, I don't see it. Now, he's a matchup guy.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: Dalton missed him. Stowers won the route. He had leverage
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: on the defender. And in the game, Dalton overthrew it.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: And you can't do that. But he did get open.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: And Cam Lott, the question is, do they keep four? Now,
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: with Calcaterra, he's sort of an insurance policy. If Goddard
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: got hurt, he could run. He just can't block very well.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: And Lott could do it all.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: it let's put it this way on the sixty nine-man
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: roster the fifty-three put sixteen not at least four if
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: not five they're gonna have definitely a four-and-a-six-time a roster
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: earlier five that's the question so it it just comes
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: down to mike what do they do it a lot
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: to in calcaterra my sense is calcaterra there are no
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: locks in this one but uh... i feel strongly he'll
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: somehow be able to see that i'm a roster at
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: the very.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Least right uh... obviously uh.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: We imagine that Goddard will be the key cog at
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: that tight end position, but there's some news around him.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: I thought one of the storylines, Adam, I'm driving home.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: The other night I watched the game in the car
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: on YouTube TV, and I'm watching it and said, man,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: these young offensive linemen, it looks like there's some depth here.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is another one, Mike, that again, yes, things
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: were progressing before they went to New England, but not
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: to this degree. Willie Lampkin did really well, number 61
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: at center. He started at center. Jake Major's been a
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: good story at center.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And guard.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Drew Kendall, they already know is their backup center. Well,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: they cross-train him at both guard spots because they don't
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: really have any developmental guards until you really look at
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: the fine print and go, you know what? Drew Kendall's
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: probably going to be that guy because they've cross-trained him.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: So he could play guard or center. They have Micah Morris,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: you know, he's a six-rounder of Georgia. But the good
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: thing is, Mike, that Kendall, Majors, and, of course, Markel Bell,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: who's the backup to Lane Johnson, the right tackle. John Ojukwu,
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: who got hurt with a pectoral. The good thing is
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: he started working on Monday. And Willie Lampkin has been
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: a great story. He could play center or guard. Now,
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: he's under 5'11, Mike. That's just not ideal. But the
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: guy is super strong. I mean, his lower body is
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: incredibly strong, Mike. Just over 290, but shorter than 5'11.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: I have Lampkin on my 53. Majors, I don't know yet.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: I haven't made a decision yet. But it's finally, Mike,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: they've got these developmental offensive linemen. It's been a long time.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Well, they missed on a couple guys in the draft
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: two years ago.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, the kid, Dylan McMahon, was a bad mess.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Andrew and I were laughing. We thought he was a fullback.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: There's no way this guy makes it, and he got cut.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: But the bottom line is, Mike, they finally have some.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: That's great news. They have legit four backups who are
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: young who deserve to be on the football team.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Right, and, you know, I thought the second unit and
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: the third unit. In fact, I think Sean Mannion, you know,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: said that that was something that stood out to him
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: was the depth of the offensive line.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: The funny part is, though, Adam, last year they signed,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: you know, Matt Pryor.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: They had some veteran guys, and it was on this day,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I think we're talking about this earlier, it was on
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: this day last year that they finally decided we need
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: to make a trade. They went and got Fred Johnson.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: They told you they thought their depth was a problem
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: last year.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: Always, no matter what they say, what a South Pal,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: it's what they do. It's a great one from South. Well,
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: they told you they weren't comfortable at left tackle, so
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: they traded for Fred Johnson. Markel Bell right now is
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: the backup right tackle. Fred could play right or left tackle.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: And they've got Kendall. They've got Majors. They've got Lampkin. Now,
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I understand this is not regular season games. I get that.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: But it's tackle football. And they've got to be encouraged.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: In fact, I know they're encouraged. This is good. Now,
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: what we don't know is if Dickerson couldn't play or
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Steen couldn't play. Would they move Juergens over to guard?
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: Because remember, he started his career off as the right guard.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: So we'll see what happens. But, again, they're in good shape.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Friday they'll play the Bengals. We'll see on Friday what
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: spots are still up for grabs. We've got some interesting
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: storylines leading into the last preseason game. And then they'll
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: all start to count here on Football at Four. Adam Kaplan, everybody,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: from the Inside the Birds podcast, which you can get
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: on all podcasting platforms here on Football at Four. Thanks, man.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Thank you.