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ITB: What Is The Biggest Concern About The Eagles' Offense? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Inside the Birds is back.
0:13
Speaker 2: What's going on? Everybody?
0:14
Speaker 1: It is Jeff Mosher and Adam Kaplan and we continue
0:18
Speaker 1: to preview Eagles training camp. It's now getting closer and closer,
0:22
Speaker 1: just a few weeks away. At the end of this month,
0:25
Speaker 1: it will begin. And what we did in our last
0:27
Speaker 1: podcast series was go through some things that we're very
0:31
Speaker 1: optimistic about with the Eagles. One podcast devoted to offense,
0:35
Speaker 1: the other was devoted to defense, and what we said
0:38
Speaker 1: is we should balance it out and do a few
0:40
Speaker 1: things that were skeptical about as the Eagles get ready
0:44
Speaker 1: for training camp in their twenty twenty six seasons. So
0:46
Speaker 1: we will start another two two part podcast series right
0:50
Speaker 1: now with things that we're a little It could be
0:53
Speaker 1: skepticism over injury history, it could be fear of regression,
0:58
Speaker 1: it could be scheme for any one of those. Just
1:00
Speaker 1: some things that Adam and I have been thinking about
1:03
Speaker 1: that we're a little bit skeptical about headed into training camp.
1:06
Speaker 1: And hey, listen, it could be nothing that could wind
1:09
Speaker 1: up being fine, or we can be validated. You know,
1:11
Speaker 1: we've got a lot of history as reporters and understanding
1:14
Speaker 1: of who has worked out in the past, who hasn't
1:17
Speaker 1: worked out in the past, and why so we'll start
1:20
Speaker 1: this one with offense, Adam, and this one's a little
1:22
Speaker 1: easier than defense, because you have so much change. You
1:25
Speaker 1: have a change in offensive coordinator, you have a first
1:28
Speaker 1: time play caller, You've got guys coming off injuries, you
1:31
Speaker 1: have so many new faces. And also, over the last
1:34
Speaker 1: two years, the Eagles offense, their passing offense especially has
1:38
Speaker 1: regressed to the point where it needed to make all
1:41
Speaker 1: of these changes. So there you can understand why be
1:43
Speaker 1: there be more skepticism on this side of the ball.
1:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it is it players. Your coaching issue is
1:49
Speaker 3: to combine like, what's the problem?
1:51
Speaker 2: Why is it?
1:52
Speaker 3: We pointed about Hurts, We've pointed out about the russion
1:56
Speaker 3: there in the passing game with his inability to play
1:59
Speaker 3: with timing, and then we would isolate when it was good,
2:01
Speaker 3: when the timing was good. And that's that's you know,
2:04
Speaker 3: that's what's part. That's why we're doing this series, Like
2:06
Speaker 3: what's the problem.
2:08
Speaker 2: What needs to be done? Uh? Is it? But is
2:11
Speaker 2: it a coaching issue? Hurts?
2:12
Speaker 3: As we've talked about how many coordinators having different play college,
2:15
Speaker 3: having different quarterback coaches, that matters right. I know that
2:18
Speaker 3: Scott Leffler and Jalen obviously worked together well because Jalen
2:22
Speaker 3: had was working with him individually away from the club
2:25
Speaker 3: before OTA started, right, And Leffler, I know talking to
2:29
Speaker 3: people that know him, he thought he had a good
2:30
Speaker 3: chance to come back.
2:31
Speaker 2: So why do they make that change? What do they
2:33
Speaker 2: expect to be different? For sure?
2:36
Speaker 1: For sure? And I'm glad you mentioned this because we're
2:38
Speaker 1: not limiting our categories or our selections here to just players.
2:43
Speaker 1: That could be coaches, it could be position groups, it
2:46
Speaker 1: could be a concept like depth. So with that being said, well,
2:50
Speaker 1: let's start with your first thing that you're skeptical about
2:53
Speaker 1: offensively because I love it. I think it's fair, and
2:57
Speaker 1: introduce it to our crowd, our audience.
2:59
Speaker 3: It's less, it's skepticism and concerns are a little bit different.
3:02
Speaker 3: They're the same tree, but a little bit different. Call
3:05
Speaker 3: these concerns.
3:07
Speaker 2: Okay.
3:08
Speaker 3: Uh. The offensive line was interesting last year because as
3:13
Speaker 3: a pass blocking unit they were really good.
3:15
Speaker 2: Like tape.
3:16
Speaker 3: The tape was actually very good that that that you
3:18
Speaker 3: could have seen that like that. In terms of regression,
3:21
Speaker 3: they didn't regress for people thought, oh they regressed.
3:25
Speaker 2: It wasn't on tape. They did not.
3:26
Speaker 3: You did not see them regress on tape as a
3:28
Speaker 3: pass blocking unit, but as a run blocking unit. It
3:32
Speaker 3: was clear that it was health related. Clearly, Greg Go's
3:35
Speaker 3: hell tells us. He said Jergons had problems even betting
3:39
Speaker 3: over like just getting into a crouch. Like he just
3:42
Speaker 3: based on tape study he can go by the Greg
3:44
Speaker 3: would not know anything else about him, but just watching
3:47
Speaker 3: this tape, he said he didn't look right, looked different.
3:49
Speaker 3: We know Dickerson was clearly not right. Considered retirement now.
3:54
Speaker 3: There's no way to measure how healthy they're going to be.
3:58
Speaker 3: You know, Cam and uh And and Dickerson talked about
4:01
Speaker 3: the treatment they got overseas.
4:02
Speaker 2: That's great.
4:02
Speaker 3: Let's hope not only for now, but for their longevity
4:07
Speaker 3: and then their quality of life.
4:09
Speaker 2: It's better, which Cam talked about in terms of run blocking.
4:12
Speaker 3: Getting back to what we're trying to figure out here,
4:15
Speaker 3: We're not gonna go for a while in training camp.
4:18
Speaker 2: First of all, there's really no tackling.
4:21
Speaker 3: You've got the thud, which is an elbow here, a
4:25
Speaker 3: shove here, a push here, but you're not tackling to
4:28
Speaker 3: the ground. The threes do for some reason, Sirianni's done
4:33
Speaker 3: this over the years. Like the threes might for five
4:35
Speaker 3: minutes or something. You know, you see that as kind
4:38
Speaker 3: of colmic might be in the h might be at
4:41
Speaker 3: the at the lenk when they have the fans there.
4:43
Speaker 3: They seem to do that. But again, the ones that matter,
4:45
Speaker 3: the starters, they don't tackle the ground, so you're not
4:48
Speaker 3: really gonna know. But you want to know is what
4:51
Speaker 3: kind of physical shape they're in, Like there's certain things
4:53
Speaker 3: we'll look for in training camp. But is absolutely concern
4:57
Speaker 3: because this offense has no chance to succeed if they
4:59
Speaker 3: can't run. If they can't run block, and they made
5:02
Speaker 3: the playoffs, great, that's They're not about just making the playoffs, right,
5:06
Speaker 3: there's a competing for Super Bowl. If they can't run block,
5:09
Speaker 3: they can't win, period of the story.
5:11
Speaker 1: Agreed. I mean, the whole purpose of this offense is
5:13
Speaker 1: to function off of a strong running game and then
5:16
Speaker 1: incorporate your downhill under center play action, which the Eagles
5:20
Speaker 1: have not done a lot of and just introduced last year.
5:23
Speaker 1: But it can't it can't all happen unless the offensive
5:28
Speaker 1: line is healthy, and it can't really happen at its
5:31
Speaker 1: best right, unless the guys who were hurt last year,
5:34
Speaker 1: Lane Johnson Dickerson at left guard and Cam Jurgen's the center,
5:39
Speaker 1: who I said in the last pot or two go
5:41
Speaker 1: that I'm optimistic he'll be healthier this year. But you
5:44
Speaker 1: know that's just optimist, not just me thinking optimistically. But
5:47
Speaker 1: this can't happen if those three guys are not healthy,
5:51
Speaker 1: and even if even if you got to play backups.
5:55
Speaker 1: The Eagles are usually pretty strong at backup, but they
5:57
Speaker 1: got a lot of young, unproven guys in that area,
6:00
Speaker 1: so the health has to be the number one A on.
6:02
Speaker 3: That health is right, health is and the ability to
6:07
Speaker 3: run block at a high level. So it's it's going
6:10
Speaker 3: to be interesting to see what happens, no question about it.
6:13
Speaker 1: So I love that you did that because your one
6:16
Speaker 1: is very similar to my one as well, and I
6:19
Speaker 1: would think one A and one B. Whereas health of
6:22
Speaker 1: the offensive line, I also have a degree of concern
6:27
Speaker 1: that I think anybody would normally have when you start
6:30
Speaker 1: to do something differently than the way you've done it
6:32
Speaker 1: talking about run blocking and running for so many years
6:36
Speaker 1: the Eagles. My one A or one to go along
6:39
Speaker 1: with yours was just the overall run scheme that they're implementing.
6:44
Speaker 1: It's going to be different. They've talked about more wide zone.
6:49
Speaker 1: I have discussed in the past that Saquon Barklay's running style,
6:54
Speaker 1: and you know Greg Cosell's pointed this out. It's much
6:58
Speaker 1: more of a lance style or like a shutter and
7:03
Speaker 1: stutter step style, where he's finding the hole by being
7:09
Speaker 1: He actually said this. Saquon said, I'm used to putting
7:11
Speaker 1: both feet in the ground. I'm I'm not a one
7:14
Speaker 1: foot planter all the time. He said, I've used both
7:17
Speaker 1: my feet. Whereas when the wide zone, you get the
7:20
Speaker 1: ball a little bit differently, you're angled differently. He discussed
7:23
Speaker 1: all this in his first press conference. I'm not making
7:26
Speaker 1: this up. This isn't my opinion, right, this is what
7:28
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley himself said. He'll have to get used to.
7:31
Speaker 1: When you're under center, you get the ball differently than
7:33
Speaker 1: when you line up next to the quarterback. You're behind
7:36
Speaker 1: the quarterback, so the ball comes at you, you're angled,
7:38
Speaker 1: you're not square to the line of scrimmas. You're angled,
7:41
Speaker 1: and you're going in a direction already predetermined based on
7:45
Speaker 1: whether you're going left, wide or right. Wide, so all
7:48
Speaker 1: this will be new, and then on top of that
7:52
Speaker 1: you have an entirely new run designer in Ryan Mahaffey
7:57
Speaker 1: and the Eagle he's not as proved clearly as someone
8:01
Speaker 1: has Jeff Steltlin, and I just go back to the
8:04
Speaker 1: fact that the Eagles are built and have been built
8:07
Speaker 1: to run the ball the way they've done it the
8:09
Speaker 1: last four or five years, which is inside zone duo
8:13
Speaker 1: up the gut, that is the massive offensive line with
8:16
Speaker 1: a really strong, lightning freelancing running back in Saquon Barkley,
8:20
Speaker 1: and it really worked well up until last year. And
8:23
Speaker 1: the reason it didn't work last year was because guys
8:25
Speaker 1: were hurt for the most part. So now they're changing
8:29
Speaker 1: up a lot of it. And I'm not sure if
8:32
Speaker 1: they're going to be predominantly wide zone, if it's going
8:34
Speaker 1: to be a mixture of inside outside. I have no
8:36
Speaker 1: idea what it's going to look like, but I do
8:39
Speaker 1: know that they're going to be doing it differently than
8:42
Speaker 1: the way they've done it over the last four or
8:43
Speaker 1: five years. And for the most part, the way they've
8:45
Speaker 1: done it for the last four or five years even
8:47
Speaker 1: longer has been really good and really successful. So That's
8:51
Speaker 1: where I have concern, like, how is it going to
8:54
Speaker 1: look now that you're trying to I don't want to
8:56
Speaker 1: call it reinvent the wheel, but you're making a big
8:58
Speaker 1: change in how you go about doing the.
9:01
Speaker 2: Footwork, techniques, set second level blocks. Everything's different. It's going
9:05
Speaker 2: to look different now.
9:08
Speaker 3: Lane Johnson said, how could actually helped his career in
9:11
Speaker 3: terms of how they're going to help how two guys,
9:15
Speaker 3: two guys be around more instead of just him on
9:18
Speaker 3: an island. It's great, but it's going to look different
9:20
Speaker 3: and they have to get it. I mean, it's just
9:22
Speaker 3: going to take some time right and the the and
9:27
Speaker 3: I certainly I clearly could have put Chris Cooper on
9:31
Speaker 3: my list, which I actually will do now. Chris Cooper
9:35
Speaker 3: is along with that list.
9:36
Speaker 2: He has to be.
9:37
Speaker 3: And my biggest concern with Chris Cooper is his lack
9:41
Speaker 3: of player development. It's not no one's developed under him.
9:44
Speaker 3: Some players have, but you're talking Jeff Staltlin's one of
9:48
Speaker 3: the all time best in player development at any position.
9:52
Speaker 2: Just he is.
9:54
Speaker 3: It's really remarkable starting with Lane Johnson and Stout and
9:58
Speaker 3: lane first year together with their Stout's first year with
10:01
Speaker 3: Chip Kelly's staff. And look, you, just because the guy
10:05
Speaker 3: was a first round pick doesn't mean he's gonna be
10:06
Speaker 3: a great player.
10:08
Speaker 2: That doesn't guarantee anything.
10:09
Speaker 3: It's it's based on upside and potential that he's got
10:12
Speaker 3: to be coached, particularly that position with technique, footwork, hands,
10:19
Speaker 3: the mental part of it and and everything. And is
10:22
Speaker 3: uh Trey Thomas told to remember Trey when he worked
10:25
Speaker 3: with us, tell us about the catch technique with with
10:27
Speaker 3: the hands, the way that Stout would do it. He
10:29
Speaker 3: did it differently than most coaches, right yep. So now
10:32
Speaker 3: now now he has to unlearn that. And the other guys,
10:36
Speaker 3: by the way, have to with Stout. Okay, all these
10:38
Speaker 3: guys that all the stars will work with Stout now
10:41
Speaker 3: they got they have to do it the West Coast.
10:43
Speaker 2: Way with with Cooper and what he wants. So it's
10:46
Speaker 2: it's not gonna be easy.
10:47
Speaker 3: And I just wish though, overall, that you could sit
10:50
Speaker 3: point to like five or six players that you absolutely
10:53
Speaker 3: know became studs under this guy. Not It's hard to say.
10:56
Speaker 3: Darrisoul Christian Darrisol has had some injuries, but a good player.
10:59
Speaker 3: But some people would debate how much compreed to do
11:03
Speaker 3: with it, but uh, we'll see, all.
11:06
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, no, no doubt about it. I mean, you
11:07
Speaker 1: got a new run game designer with Mahaffey, a new
11:10
Speaker 1: O line coach with Chris Cooper, so there's just gonna
11:13
Speaker 1: be I would not surprise me if some of the
11:16
Speaker 1: things that are trying to do that are new are
11:18
Speaker 1: a little clunky to start with. I think you mentioned
11:21
Speaker 1: that it's gonna take some time, and that could just
11:24
Speaker 1: be the symmetry between the blocking and the running backs
11:27
Speaker 1: and and all that, the quarterback and having his feet
11:31
Speaker 1: in the right rhythm with the play call. But I'm
11:33
Speaker 1: really focusing more on the running game too, and the
11:35
Speaker 1: offensive line and the play calling in that regard, and
11:39
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna take some time. I definitely agree
11:41
Speaker 1: it'll take some time, and unfortunately, affillyate in a place
11:44
Speaker 1: where you know, you get the people, people feel like, ah,
11:48
Speaker 1: it's just this or it's just that, no big deal.
11:50
Speaker 1: If you lose two games in the first four weeks,
11:53
Speaker 1: everybody's got to be fired. So there's gonna be that
11:55
Speaker 1: added on to it too.
11:56
Speaker 2: It's like me with a Phillies ballput.
11:58
Speaker 3: I want everyone gone except for uh kirk Ring and Durando.
12:04
Speaker 1: You might be right about that.
12:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, well no, but s the unfortunately, but saying this,
12:07
Speaker 3: since the beginning, I knew Seth Johnson was a hard
12:09
Speaker 3: for hour, but that doesn't maybe you're a good, good
12:12
Speaker 3: relief pitcher.
12:12
Speaker 2: You got to have a second pitch and the third pitch.
12:15
Speaker 2: Jovian Bolan's learning that, as I drigress here a little bit.
12:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, has been better. But yeah, they're they're They're obviously
12:21
Speaker 3: their way. Everyone knows this is an Eagles fan knows this.
12:24
Speaker 3: They're way more questions on offense than defense. Sure, but
12:28
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of coaching changes in offense,
12:30
Speaker 3: significant changes. But and the big one is the scheme
12:34
Speaker 3: change and whether these guys can get it down fairly quickly.
12:38
Speaker 1: So, sticking with the theme of coaches, there's another coach
12:40
Speaker 1: you had that you you felt a fair amount of
12:42
Speaker 1: either concern or skepticism about.
12:44
Speaker 2: What not skepticism at all. It's concerned.
12:47
Speaker 3: Skepticism would be a guy can't coach. That absolutely not
12:50
Speaker 3: the problem I've talked to coaching.
12:52
Speaker 1: I would call skepticism saying a guy can't do it.
12:54
Speaker 1: If you're skeptical, you're just not sure.
12:57
Speaker 3: I think, well, again their foot I see these as
13:01
Speaker 3: farther apart, at least with this discussion.
13:04
Speaker 2: Okay, the question isn't whether.
13:05
Speaker 3: Park's Fritick could coach. I've talked to coaches, work with him,
13:07
Speaker 3: and have done a lot of work background on him.
13:09
Speaker 3: Very smart, well thought out guy, but being smart doesn't
13:13
Speaker 3: not make you a great football coach.
13:14
Speaker 2: Can you reach your player? Can you get him to
13:17
Speaker 2: do what you need him to do? Hurts As we've
13:20
Speaker 2: seen with a lot of veteran.
13:21
Speaker 3: Quarterbacks over the years, as a mind of his own,
13:24
Speaker 3: at some point, you just you have to be able
13:29
Speaker 3: to reach him to get him to do what you
13:30
Speaker 3: need him to do. And Parks Frasier has called plays before.
13:34
Speaker 3: He's been a past game coordinator, but he's never been
13:37
Speaker 3: a full time quarterback coach. Based on my research and
13:39
Speaker 3: talking to people, he's been assistant quarterbacks coach. He's called
13:42
Speaker 3: plays before. It's important, that's great, but to run a
13:46
Speaker 3: room where you've you've got to reach this player. And
13:51
Speaker 3: like Sean Mannion, this is his third year in coaching,
13:54
Speaker 3: that's a you know, I'm more optimistic. It's just the
13:59
Speaker 3: ability for Parks Fraser because they've worked together. The Parks
14:02
Speaker 3: has been on staff for a couple of years, so
14:03
Speaker 3: he knows Hurts, but that doesn't guarantee you anything. If
14:07
Speaker 3: Hurts had been well, still you need you would like
14:10
Speaker 3: the veteran coach getting hurt this year.
14:11
Speaker 2: But now that's not the issue.
14:12
Speaker 3: The issue is that Hurts as a veteran, he's been
14:15
Speaker 3: stubborn at times, as we've come to understand, and he's
14:18
Speaker 3: been in this regression and Kenny reach them and just
14:20
Speaker 3: gonna be able to reach him. So it's something we're
14:22
Speaker 3: going to monitor. We'll, you know, we'll check through the
14:24
Speaker 3: usual challenge to find out. It's not just getting along.
14:26
Speaker 3: They don't have to be friends, it doesn't matter, it's irrelevant, right,
14:28
Speaker 3: They just have to be able to reach him, connect,
14:30
Speaker 3: just get him to do what you need to do.
14:32
Speaker 2: That's it.
14:33
Speaker 1: It's also interesting, you know, the Eagles brought this guy
14:35
Speaker 1: in but not to be I guess, not to coach quarterbacks,
14:38
Speaker 1: but they brought Gerard Johnson in from the Texans as
14:41
Speaker 1: an offensive analyst. And he's a guy that they had
14:44
Speaker 1: their eyes on, interviewed for the offensive coordinator position more
14:47
Speaker 1: than once and eventually wound up taking him from Texas.
14:52
Speaker 1: Who I guess didn't renew his contract, right, I mean,
14:55
Speaker 1: he's he's kind of in that Chris Cooper role or
14:57
Speaker 1: where the team that was on didn't want him back.
15:00
Speaker 1: And honestly, the Texans have seen their quarterback play regress
15:03
Speaker 1: over the last two years, so they bring in draw Johnson.
15:06
Speaker 1: I just wonder how much of bringing him in is
15:09
Speaker 1: to help out with the court. Even though he's called
15:11
Speaker 1: the offensive analyst. Is he there as sort of a
15:14
Speaker 1: pseudo assistant QB's coach. It'll be interesting to see what,
15:18
Speaker 1: if any kind of role he has with the quarterback coaching.
15:21
Speaker 2: I don't yeah, I don't know if at all, because
15:23
Speaker 2: the thing that you want to avoid.
15:24
Speaker 3: We talked about this many years ago, many years ago
15:28
Speaker 3: with Wentz actually because that was the infancy of our
15:31
Speaker 3: our our company and our show, and after d Flippo
15:34
Speaker 3: and Reich left, there are just seemed to be too
15:36
Speaker 3: many coaches and excoose me and Wentz's ear that wasn't
15:40
Speaker 3: the only There were a lot of reasons for Wentz's regression.
15:43
Speaker 3: That's just dropping the bucket.
15:44
Speaker 2: But that matters though.
15:45
Speaker 3: If you have too many guys in the year of
15:46
Speaker 3: the quarterback, you don't want that because that's what Peterson
15:50
Speaker 3: did really well. Is it was de Filippo was in
15:53
Speaker 3: was in Wentz's ear pretty much primarily like off the field.
15:56
Speaker 1: Is more you want too many cooks. Yeah, absolutely right.
16:00
Speaker 3: One guy in Reich who helped him mature a little bit.
16:04
Speaker 3: That that mattered, and you had deflip from the techo
16:06
Speaker 3: standpoint where draw Johnson. By the way, also special projects
16:10
Speaker 3: that's important for for that's this other part of his job.
16:13
Speaker 2: Like that was Press Taylor's job under Reich and de Filippo.
16:22
Speaker 3: One year two right, Yeah, he outstanding it, right, these
16:24
Speaker 3: quarterbacks and special projects. Yeah, and that to be able
16:28
Speaker 3: to research and find like Press Taylor found the Philly
16:30
Speaker 3: special play from the Bears, like he because he was
16:33
Speaker 3: given that find me some I forgot what Doug said,
16:35
Speaker 3: but in paraphrase, so it was like, finally some some
16:37
Speaker 3: good stuff could be from the college level or other
16:40
Speaker 3: teams and anyway. So that yeah, it's just and this
16:44
Speaker 3: is what I talked about though after the season and
16:47
Speaker 3: during the season when it happened in the Buffalo game.
16:50
Speaker 3: Is that one of the mistakes that Sier and he
16:53
Speaker 3: made last season. And I still don't agree with it.
16:55
Speaker 3: He doesn't have that veteran, that veteran like offense of
17:01
Speaker 3: assistant head coach, like one of those older guys Kevin Stefanski.
17:05
Speaker 2: Told me he brought in was Kevin Rodgers. Was this
17:06
Speaker 2: guy he brought in from with.
17:08
Speaker 3: Him from Minnesota, you know, just that older guy who
17:11
Speaker 3: could help him settle down a little bit or what
17:13
Speaker 3: to make another set of eyes, just to help the
17:15
Speaker 3: head coach. This is what happened in that Buffalo game
17:18
Speaker 3: when Nick said, oh, you know, I'm too busy doing this,
17:21
Speaker 3: and I'm like, wow, you guys got to meet. He's
17:22
Speaker 3: got a challenge him that that's I get it, but
17:24
Speaker 3: that's not acceptable.
17:25
Speaker 1: I mean, I think, you know, I know that there
17:27
Speaker 1: was some rumor like Greg Olsen would be perfect for
17:30
Speaker 1: that role.
17:30
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I know. He's can throw a lot of.
17:33
Speaker 1: One hundred percent the guy you'd want there in that
17:36
Speaker 1: kind of role.
17:36
Speaker 2: But he's a West Coast guy. By the way, he
17:38
Speaker 2: lives on the West Coast. So right anyway, all right, so.
17:42
Speaker 1: I don't know the guy I'm going to talk about
17:45
Speaker 1: next is it's it's a skepticism about just where he fits,
17:49
Speaker 1: how he fits, especially based on the the contract that
17:53
Speaker 1: he signed in the off season. But I really really
17:57
Speaker 1: not sure mark of Marquist Brown's role within this offense.
18:01
Speaker 2: I know what he can do.
18:03
Speaker 1: I know he has speed. I know that he has
18:06
Speaker 1: struggled to really translate that speed into a great role
18:12
Speaker 1: for the last few years. Obviously he's had injuries. Did
18:15
Speaker 1: have a nice year many years ago with the Ravens,
18:18
Speaker 1: but then wound up going to the Cardinals where he
18:21
Speaker 1: just wasn't a huge factor. That he went to the
18:24
Speaker 1: Chiefs where he struggled with injuries, and even last year
18:26
Speaker 1: is healthy, just never carved out the kind of role
18:29
Speaker 1: that I thought he would have in an offense with
18:32
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes and all the other weapons that they had,
18:35
Speaker 1: and obviously Patrick got hurt last year also, But I
18:38
Speaker 1: just you know, I look at the Eagles and I think,
18:40
Speaker 1: twelve personnel you're gonna want, You're gonna want DeVante Smith
18:44
Speaker 1: out there, Wicks, you might have some opportunities even in
18:48
Speaker 1: twelve personnel to play Mikayle Lemon on the outside. Eleven personnel,
18:54
Speaker 1: those three guys I just mentioned. I just I don't
18:57
Speaker 1: know what they want from Marquith Brown and what he's
19:00
Speaker 1: going to deliver to this team when there's already three
19:04
Speaker 1: guys that I can see ahead of him, and I'm
19:07
Speaker 1: a little bit, probably more bullish than some on Darius Cooper.
19:11
Speaker 1: I'm really interested to see what he does in year two,
19:13
Speaker 1: the physicality that he can bring. So I just don't
19:16
Speaker 1: know at one year and five million what to expect
19:21
Speaker 1: or why Marquise Brown is gonna be honest to He's
19:25
Speaker 1: gonna be on team because his salary, but what he's
19:28
Speaker 1: going to bring to the team, I think that's all
19:30
Speaker 1: And listen, it could work out. I just you know,
19:33
Speaker 1: we talk about this a lot. Howie Roseman's one year signings.
19:36
Speaker 1: He's got a few of them that really popped, like
19:38
Speaker 1: a Makai becked in right, a Zach Bond. But he
19:41
Speaker 1: has so many of them, especially the names that didn't
19:45
Speaker 1: work out, that I would not be surprised if Markus
19:48
Speaker 1: Brown was really a not not the factor that people
19:51
Speaker 1: think he might be.
19:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, this one's totally skepticism for me. I am skeptical
19:55
Speaker 3: of the five million dollars I think they guaranteed in signing.
19:57
Speaker 3: They fully guaranteed it. I just I'm like, okay, he's
20:01
Speaker 3: absolutely not starting now, Okay. It gives you the ability
20:05
Speaker 3: with Wis. We may be talked about him soon and
20:08
Speaker 3: others to play eleven personnel when they just you know
20:10
Speaker 3: they're gonna be I see them being a big balanced
20:13
Speaker 3: team of eleven and twelve. Plus they want to be
20:16
Speaker 3: a run team anyway, So you're gonna play plenty of twelve,
20:20
Speaker 3: and coaches will tell you we play to the strength
20:22
Speaker 3: of our personnel. If if Wicks and Brown aren't factors,
20:26
Speaker 3: you're playing a hell of a lot of twelve. In fact,
20:28
Speaker 3: you may play a lot of thirteen, which you haven't
20:31
Speaker 3: really talked about. I mean, no one had talked about
20:33
Speaker 3: mcgah playing.
20:34
Speaker 2: Thirteen because he never did it before, and then all
20:36
Speaker 2: of a sudden, now the boys started doing it.
20:37
Speaker 3: Obviously he had a plan for it. There was a
20:38
Speaker 3: reason why. Great by the way, yes, crazy of all
20:43
Speaker 3: of all coaches. This is why he can never be
20:46
Speaker 3: one hundred percent certain. Kashan's talking about that. He's talked
20:49
Speaker 3: about that for years. How you could have every data
20:52
Speaker 3: point and then for some reason a team does some
20:56
Speaker 3: unscattered look that you never.
20:57
Speaker 2: Saw on defense. They never show this before, right you know, so, yeah,
21:02
Speaker 2: but I'm with you totally. He he would be, but
21:06
Speaker 2: it's it's such a small deal. It's he's he's a backup.
21:09
Speaker 3: But man, five million full guaranteed for a backup receiver, right,
21:13
Speaker 3: and he hasn't really been a factor, he said one.
21:17
Speaker 3: Marquise Brown has had one year over nine hundred yards.
21:20
Speaker 3: That was all the way back at twenty twenty one
21:22
Speaker 3: mm hm. He's mid significant time with injury, significant time
21:27
Speaker 3: with injury. And the Chiefs, the Chiefs who were hurting
21:30
Speaker 3: it wide receiver last season big time, right, I mean
21:33
Speaker 3: he had he had, he had under six hundred yards. Now,
21:36
Speaker 3: obviously Mahomes' injury didn't help. But he hasn't been a
21:39
Speaker 3: factor a while.
21:40
Speaker 2: That's the issue.
21:41
Speaker 1: And think about like what Marquise Brown is as an
21:44
Speaker 1: NFL receiver. He's five nine, so he's he's not an X.
21:48
Speaker 1: I mean you can put him there occasionally, just like
21:51
Speaker 1: you can with anybody Deshaan can everywhere life. Yeah, you
21:54
Speaker 1: don't want himpressed. He's not your physical you know one
21:57
Speaker 1: by three receiver who's going to get open on the
21:59
Speaker 1: on the slant or the dig because he can beat
22:02
Speaker 1: fend off the front. He's not a J Brown.
22:04
Speaker 3: We know that.
22:04
Speaker 1: That's obvious. So he's more of a move Z. But
22:07
Speaker 1: that's Devonte Smith's position, right, and when Davante's moving around,
22:10
Speaker 1: you could play Lemon Mackay Lemon your first round pick
22:13
Speaker 1: at that position. So where he's not a slot receiver
22:16
Speaker 1: either naturally a vertical So so I can see him
22:21
Speaker 1: being a factor in kind of like trips and bunch
22:23
Speaker 1: formations when which will be a probably a part of
22:26
Speaker 1: this offense where you're just creating space with route deception
22:30
Speaker 1: over the middle. But again that what's what is that
22:33
Speaker 1: fifteen of the offense? I don't know, So I just
22:37
Speaker 1: that's that's leads to my skepticism of I don't know
22:39
Speaker 1: where he fits within the offense and with what they
22:42
Speaker 1: want to do when there's other guys who have other
22:46
Speaker 1: natural tendencies to play certain positions ahead of him.
22:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, Honestly, if it works, if.
22:53
Speaker 3: Davant stiff can play the expeditious not like you can,
22:56
Speaker 3: it's not ideal for him at all. Right, from a
22:58
Speaker 3: physical standpoint, theoretically, anyone could play the exposition, as I've learned.
23:03
Speaker 2: Over the years.
23:04
Speaker 3: Sure, but to do it well, you would really like
23:06
Speaker 3: sowing with some size because it's a single side generally
23:09
Speaker 3: position you got to win on the outside, not that
23:12
Speaker 3: DeVante can't, but honestly, if Wix works out and Lemon
23:15
Speaker 3: works out, and as a rookie, how much is It's
23:19
Speaker 3: not that you're going to play any ten personnel anyway,
23:21
Speaker 3: You will play some, but very little. It's what as
23:24
Speaker 3: a rotational player. Okay, we've talked about this when he signed.
23:28
Speaker 3: You go with the speed package, get got it out there,
23:30
Speaker 3: because he's he could run for a size Smitty obviously Brown. Okay,
23:35
Speaker 3: there's Eli Stowers if they trust him, who could run.
23:39
Speaker 3: But I don't playing time wise to justify the five million,
23:43
Speaker 3: everybody's healthy and playing well, he probably won't play more.
23:46
Speaker 1: Than thirty percent, right right, And again, if you're not
23:50
Speaker 1: a top three receiver, right you're four or five, you're
23:53
Speaker 1: asked to play special teams. Is he going to return punt?
23:55
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's very interesting to me, and I
23:59
Speaker 1: really do think that if Coop Darius Cooper takes a
24:02
Speaker 1: nice year to leap after what we saw last year,
24:04
Speaker 1: you got to figure out a way to get him
24:05
Speaker 1: on the field more. And he does have natural X tendency,
24:09
Speaker 1: so that that's another guy that you're trying to play
24:12
Speaker 1: ahead of a veteran Marquise Brown who may not be
24:15
Speaker 1: bringing to you what you want.
24:16
Speaker 3: And one thing on Hollywood Brown, like his yarn per
24:21
Speaker 3: catch average is so bad for guy as fast as
24:23
Speaker 3: he is, which we've talked about before.
24:26
Speaker 2: It's actually hard to believe that it's eleven point six
24:28
Speaker 2: for his career.
24:28
Speaker 3: But you also have to look at he was with
24:31
Speaker 3: Lamar in the infancy of Lamar's career, sort of like
24:33
Speaker 3: the just as he started to take off, he wanted
24:35
Speaker 3: out so went to Arizona. Kyler Murray is a run
24:39
Speaker 3: around quarterback. He's got armstrong for a little guy, you know,
24:44
Speaker 3: at five foot.
24:44
Speaker 2: Ten, but inconsistent quarterback right.
24:47
Speaker 3: And then you know the last couple of years when
24:50
Speaker 3: Mahon after Mahomes had his MVP run, Mahomes and the
24:57
Speaker 3: Kansas City passing game became shorter, they became more condensed
25:01
Speaker 3: because they lost Tyreek Hill. M m Andy changed things up.
25:05
Speaker 3: So I think that's been part of it because you
25:06
Speaker 3: always have to look at We always looked for We
25:08
Speaker 3: have the answers, but we want to know the why.
25:11
Speaker 3: And the why is you have to look at a
25:13
Speaker 3: the structure of the offenses he played in and also
25:17
Speaker 3: the quarterbacks. And then the other thing is, which is
25:19
Speaker 3: less important, but you have to mention it is does
25:23
Speaker 3: he run as fast?
25:24
Speaker 2: Is he as explosive? Well?
25:25
Speaker 3: I asked Greg co Sell that when we have him
25:28
Speaker 3: on before the season started to look at last year
25:31
Speaker 3: when they took shot plays.
25:33
Speaker 2: Was it a timing issue between him and mahomes right?
25:36
Speaker 2: Was he hurt?
25:36
Speaker 3: Did he look the same like Greg said, Aj looked
25:40
Speaker 3: just a little bit, a little bit not quite as
25:43
Speaker 3: explosive as this before A J. Brown And the tape
25:47
Speaker 3: tells you a lot. It doesn't tell you everything, but
25:48
Speaker 3: it tells you a lot.
25:49
Speaker 2: So we'll find out.
25:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you just nail. One of my big
25:51
Speaker 1: points is that he's been on three teams and none
25:53
Speaker 1: of the three have figured out a way to unlock
25:56
Speaker 1: the blinding speed right and turn him into a bit
26:00
Speaker 1: deep threat guy. So that would be my other guy.
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Speaker 3: All right, I've mentioned Dan Tavian Wickson passing. Yeah, so
27:09
Speaker 3: you know they did this one year extension. That's signing
27:12
Speaker 3: the fully guaranteed nine million seven this season, two million
27:16
Speaker 3: in cash next year. Look, you could after one season
27:21
Speaker 3: and him earning seven million. If he stinks you just
27:24
Speaker 3: you eat two million next year. You cut him, try
27:26
Speaker 3: to trade him. Good luck if he has a bad season.
27:28
Speaker 3: I mean the fact that the Packers found someone to
27:30
Speaker 3: take them because they're they're overloaded receiver. Wickx would have
27:33
Speaker 3: had a hard time making it anyway. And he's he's
27:36
Speaker 3: with manning the Mahafey, he knows the offense. It all
27:40
Speaker 3: sounds nice. He's back with these Packers coaches. But to
27:44
Speaker 3: be honest with you, he was very inconsistent with the Packers.
27:49
Speaker 3: Greg Oshal told us about the one year at Uva
27:51
Speaker 3: was great and then I guess they had problems the
27:54
Speaker 3: next year.
27:56
Speaker 2: I mean a fifth round pick, Like, how much do
27:58
Speaker 2: you expect them form a fifth round pick?
27:59
Speaker 3: But the guy talented, right, But overall they obviously have
28:05
Speaker 3: big plans for him. I am a skeptic of him
28:09
Speaker 3: a little bit. I need to see it to believe it.
28:13
Speaker 3: That's kind of where I am with him. That's fair,
28:15
Speaker 3: That's where I am with him.
28:16
Speaker 2: There's ability there. I'm not Marquise Brown. You nailed it.
28:21
Speaker 3: There's there's a there are a lot of There are
28:23
Speaker 3: a lot of like you list, there are like five
28:26
Speaker 3: three to five issues, depending on what you want to believe,
28:29
Speaker 3: what you buy into, what you listen to, But you
28:31
Speaker 3: can go up to five of them with with with Wix,
28:33
Speaker 3: he's not fast hands are inconsistent. Why what he was
28:37
Speaker 3: given chance after a chance with Green Bay, why couldn't
28:40
Speaker 3: he be better?
28:41
Speaker 2: And then you know that that would be it.
28:43
Speaker 1: I mean, it's certainly fair. I think people have been
28:45
Speaker 1: wondering or had been skeptical since he didn't have the
28:48
Speaker 1: second year after a really nice rookie year that he
28:51
Speaker 1: had in Green Bay, and then even last year was
28:55
Speaker 1: sort of on the same, like plateauing instead of going
28:58
Speaker 1: up or going down. It's just, you know, will this.
29:01
Speaker 2: Change of scenery be right? Yeah?
29:04
Speaker 1: Change the sceneries work for guys, but they really don't.
29:07
Speaker 1: They don't. They don't always some guys do, but for
29:10
Speaker 1: the most part, they don't.
29:12
Speaker 3: Like with Hollywood Brown, why does he keep moving on? Okay, injuries,
29:16
Speaker 3: quarterback play, the numbers aren't.
29:18
Speaker 2: There, but how how he has always had this thing
29:23
Speaker 2: for speed at that position.
29:25
Speaker 3: It's why he kept bringing to Shawn Backson back DeShawn
29:27
Speaker 3: Jackson back. Right, He's had this thing with speed. He's
29:30
Speaker 3: had guy now we say that he's had guys who.
29:33
Speaker 2: Are not fast but could play football.
29:37
Speaker 3: You know, it's just but he's had this thing, as
29:39
Speaker 3: we've understood understood it for years and we've talked about
29:41
Speaker 3: it many times. He's always looking for that home run
29:44
Speaker 3: for it. But we haven't seen with Hollywood Brown. We
29:47
Speaker 3: just haven't although that one really good year in Baltimore,
29:51
Speaker 3: So we'll see. I'm curious because Hurts such a great
29:54
Speaker 3: deep ball, can they get on the same page. Look
29:57
Speaker 3: out if Hurts is in Hollywood, Bob Hollod Broun does
30:02
Speaker 3: not have to have a thousand yards. Let me just
30:03
Speaker 3: clarify one thing. Correct, It doesn't need to have a
30:06
Speaker 3: thousand yards to be this worth a five million.
30:08
Speaker 2: Correct.
30:08
Speaker 3: He had five touchdownslat year. You wouldn't know that now
30:11
Speaker 3: that it's a great total. But for smaller players not bad.
30:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, But if he's.
30:14
Speaker 3: Got six or seven hundred yards but a lot of
30:16
Speaker 3: big plays, then then it works and you're stretching the
30:18
Speaker 3: defense it helps you.
30:20
Speaker 2: So we'll see.
30:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agreed on that, all right. My last guy,
30:25
Speaker 1: Adam is so you probably could have guessed this based
30:28
Speaker 1: on my reaction to your using your being optimistic about him,
30:32
Speaker 1: and I was like, I don't know, was Dallas Goddard?
30:35
Speaker 1: I just you know, at his age, he's coming off
30:39
Speaker 1: a year in which he had a career year in
30:41
Speaker 1: touchdowns eleven. Let's not measure him against that because I
30:44
Speaker 1: don't think that that's that's fair to hold him to
30:46
Speaker 1: a standard. He's coming off a career season, I believe
30:49
Speaker 1: in catches as well. He had more catches last year
30:54
Speaker 1: than in his career. It was something like, yeah, it
30:56
Speaker 1: was sixty catches, So that was the most of his
30:58
Speaker 1: career thirty years old. So he's going to be in
31:02
Speaker 1: his age thirty one season. He actually already is thirty one.
31:05
Speaker 2: He's thirty one.
31:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's thirty one. New offense, new scheme. Just like
31:10
Speaker 1: we're talking about other guys, how are you going to
31:11
Speaker 1: adjust everything new around you?
31:14
Speaker 3: I just.
31:15
Speaker 1: I am more prone to think that watching his blocking
31:19
Speaker 1: fall off, that he's starting to really enter the downside.
31:22
Speaker 1: And sometimes sometimes when you enter the downside the cliff,
31:26
Speaker 1: you fall off the cliff a little bit, and then
31:27
Speaker 1: you take an even bigger decline, you know. And I'm
31:31
Speaker 1: just not not really thinking this is going to be
31:35
Speaker 1: that kind of year like last year for him this year.
31:38
Speaker 3: So the only part with God, I'm skeptical about is
31:42
Speaker 3: how the hell does he go from three touchdowns three
31:44
Speaker 3: touchdowns two to eleven? Right, I understand we've got the
31:50
Speaker 3: pop pass, the end around. There's count you know as
31:54
Speaker 3: as passes technically, but eleven was just I.
31:57
Speaker 2: Mean, he's seemed to be such money inside the ten.
32:02
Speaker 2: But the concern is nine point yard nine point nine
32:06
Speaker 2: per catcher. Ten.
32:09
Speaker 3: Really, nine point nine is a career low for him.
32:11
Speaker 3: Ten was the previous low and twenty three per catch
32:14
Speaker 3: yards per catch.
32:15
Speaker 1: And it was two yards below twenty twenty four when
32:18
Speaker 1: he was at eleven point nine. So I mean he
32:20
Speaker 1: he rose, that's two yards a major.
32:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know I understand it, but I thought
32:24
Speaker 2: he he did look good. He was a factor.
32:28
Speaker 3: If they could if Johnny Munt could actually be a
32:31
Speaker 3: good why where he's not gonna play eighty percent at
32:33
Speaker 3: the time, if you could play forty percent and lots,
32:36
Speaker 3: who makes it? Who boy is a nice story. He's
32:40
Speaker 3: way better and he showed last year it's a way
32:43
Speaker 3: better athlete than mount Right. If whoever's going to be
32:46
Speaker 3: their why to help God her run routes, I think God.
32:50
Speaker 2: It could be will be really good. Actually it can
32:52
Speaker 2: be better.
32:52
Speaker 3: Not in touchdowns maybe six or seven or eight, but
32:56
Speaker 3: more more stretched the field place where he's an absolute beast.
32:59
Speaker 2: You know, his using his arm.
33:01
Speaker 3: So yeah, and this offense, he should get opportunities in
33:04
Speaker 3: West Coast first the ball quickly.
33:07
Speaker 1: The fact that he was out there in free agency
33:09
Speaker 1: coming off a year of eleven touchdowns and sixty catches
33:12
Speaker 1: and he just didn't get that contract he was looking for.
33:17
Speaker 1: It just added to my skepticism, Like the NFL for
33:20
Speaker 1: some reason doesn't think God is that was worthy of
33:25
Speaker 1: either a two year deal or more money than the
33:27
Speaker 1: Eagles gave him. So there's just something there that gives
33:30
Speaker 1: me a little pause.
33:32
Speaker 3: Well, it's like interesting two years ago when they told
33:35
Speaker 3: him to come back, he needed to take a pick cut.
33:37
Speaker 2: There was a lot of interest we were told in him.
33:40
Speaker 3: One of the things we learn and I do believe
33:42
Speaker 3: it had it connected with this one too, is he
33:45
Speaker 3: really likes living here where. I don't know where he
33:46
Speaker 3: lives or New Jersey, but he's in South Jersey, right,
33:50
Speaker 3: Celter's okay, he really likes being here.
33:53
Speaker 2: Now, seven million for guy's come off a career year.
33:56
Speaker 3: He can't get ten million, which what he got, That's
33:59
Speaker 3: what he was cut down on the last year.
34:01
Speaker 2: It's kind of weird. I'm with you.
34:03
Speaker 3: I would like to know a little bit more about that.
34:05
Speaker 3: Did you have anything out there for ten million or
34:07
Speaker 3: nine and go? You know what, I'd rather get here
34:09
Speaker 3: guarantee all my money. That way, I know I'm going
34:11
Speaker 3: to be here for sure, and I'll take till me
34:13
Speaker 3: unless maybe who knows, there could be some other reasons.
34:16
Speaker 3: But having him back though is to me critical because
34:20
Speaker 3: you trade AJ Brown and the run game went south
34:24
Speaker 3: last season.
34:25
Speaker 2: If they can block, if everything overall block and watch
34:29
Speaker 2: run and passes, good.
34:31
Speaker 3: God is going to be a factor because their past
34:34
Speaker 3: our group without AJ Brown is DeVante Smith and we'll
34:37
Speaker 3: see that's whereth.
34:38
Speaker 1: They're Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
34:41
Speaker 2: All right.
34:41
Speaker 1: So that is our look at offensive players for the
34:45
Speaker 1: Eagles that we either have concerned about or skepticism about,
34:49
Speaker 1: or you know, just not sure what their role or
34:52
Speaker 1: impact is going to be in twenty twenty six. In
34:55
Speaker 1: the next episode, we'll do the same for defense, which
34:58
Speaker 1: is tough because it seems like they are loaded at
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Speaker 1: every single position. But we'll have some you know, listen,
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Speaker 1: Adam and I are good at this. We'll put our
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Speaker 1: heads together and we'll come up with some good ones
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Speaker 1: for you. That's gonna do it. For this episode of
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Speaker 1: Inside the Birds, the leading podcast and Eagles Intel, and
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Speaker 1: as always, we thank you for flying with us inside
35:17
Speaker 1: the bird. Be sure to check out our friends at
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