Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: My Too Early Eagles 53-Man Roster Projection, Part 2 (Defense)

Transcript

The DiCecco Daily: My Too Early Eagles 53-Man Roster Projection, Part 2 (Defense) · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened? Everyone? Welcome into another episode of the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Checko Daily. Andrew de Checko, Eagles Beat Reporter, Friends, Sidethebirds
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: dot Com here, and I hope you enjoyed part one
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: of my Eagles way too early fifty three men roster projection.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I just did the offense yesterday. Today will be about
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the defense, and I have to say there is a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: lot at play here. Some of these decisions were pretty
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: tough for me, especially when I get to the secondary
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and some of those depth pieces. But we'll kind of
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: go through it together here, and I want to start
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: at defensive tackle, where I have the Eagles keeping six
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: right now, and those names being Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Jomo Byron, Young, Ty Robinson, and rookie defensive lineman who
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: are Bernard? Who the Eagles use their International Pathway Player
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: designation on. So that means that Joshua Weiru, another IPP
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: candidate who would have qualified for it, will count against
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the ninety man roster. But I look at who are Bernard?
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: And yes, he's not going to help the Eagles in
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, maybe not in twenty twenty seven, maybe
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: not ever. But given the workout that he had. He's
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: a social media sensation. The league is very well aware
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: of who he is, and all it's going to take
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: is a flash or two in the preseason, and if
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: you were to part with them, I would imagine that
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: there will be teams lining up to bring him into
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: their building and hope that they are the team that
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: can get the most out of them. I don't believe
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the Eagles would take that risk. They are sort of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: hell bent on working with him and developing him and
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: rallying around him, and there's the understanding, of course that
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a bit of a process here,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and because of that, I do have him sticking as
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the six defensive tackle, and the Eagles keep him out
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of harm's way, don't expose him the waivers there, but
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: you'll quickly find that I have some rationale as it
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: pertains to the defensive line. We'll see if it makes
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: any sense, but we'll go with the six defensive tackles there,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Edge Rusher. I have them keeping five Jonathan Grenard, Jay
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Loox Hunt, Noan Smith, Arnold Wakati, and Brandon Graham. Brandon
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Graham is still listed on the Eagles roster, but after
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: June first, I believe that his contract is sort of
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: no and void, but he still was playing at a
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: high level and he wants to play football. Can play
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: defensive tackle, can rush the passer, A great guy to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: have in the locker room, and I believe that he
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: deserves to go out on his own terms. He proved
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: that he still has some football left in him, and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I think on game day you could look at the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: defensive tackle room and depending on where Ty Robinson is
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: in terms of his development, yeah, you still probably want
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: to give him another year. But he was a far
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: cry away from a player that the Eagles could expect
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: to give them production on game day last year. I
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: would imagine that you have U. R. Bernard as an
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: inactive and Ty Robinson, which gives you four defensive tackles.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: You're kind of light there, but Brandon Graham as the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: fifth edge rusher gives you that fifth fifth defensive lineman
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: presence where he can he can double as that he
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: can rush the passer, and I think that kind of
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: gives you some versatility, checks off the boxes and covers
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: a lot of bases. So I'm looking at Brandon Graham
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: sort of becoming the fifth defensive tackle edge rusher by trade,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: of course, But you know, I think you can feel
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: really comfortable with a group that includes Jay when Carter,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Jordan Davis, Moro, Jomo Byron Young, and then depending on
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: what you get out of Ty Robinson this summer. I
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: still have my questions, but I don't know that he's
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: going to give you as much as what a Brandon
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Graham can give you. And Brandon Graham gives you positional versatility.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: So that was my thought process in logic behind the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: defensive line selections. Linebacker. Linebacker is fascinating because they have
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: players who are Etchton Stone and Zach Bond, Jehad Campbell,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Trotter, Junior Smile Mondon in his second season coming
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: out of Georgia. I thought he did some good things
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: in training camp last summer. There were some growing pains
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: in the preseason, but he came on a little bit
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: late in the year on special teams. That's a player
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: that I would imagine the Eagles want to continue to
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: work with and develop. Certainly could do a lot worse
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: as a fourth linebacker. I think he sticks. Now the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: question becomes, will there be a linebacker who warrants the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Eagles going a little heavier at that position, and so
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I look at that room, I look at the players
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: vying for roster spots. As a potential fifth linebacker, Chance
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Campbell is a player that was with Bobby King, the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Eagles linebackers coach in Tennessee. He was a key contributor
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: on the scout team. I think that he will have
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: a shot now that he has a full offseason. If
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: he continues to build on what he was able to
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: do in practice, he can't be counted out and he
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: should be a name to know for those maybe unfamiliar.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: And then I look at Deontay loss In, the linebacker
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: out of Alabama. Started a lot of games at Alabama,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and had it not been for some injuries, he's probably drafted.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I actually had a draftable grade on him, a little
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: bit on the undersized side of things. Six foot three
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: ish two twenty six, he moves well in space and
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: he has that Alabama pedigree. I believe that he'll be
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: one of those guys that has a good preseason, and
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: because he's fresh off this draft class coming from Alabama,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: there may be some suitors if he were to hit
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the waiver wire. I think he sticks around as the
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: fifth linebacker, probably an active on game day more than likely.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: But you also have to look at the future, and
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Trotter junior to me is a player that has
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: starting upside for a lot of teams, and they have
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: stability there at linebacker. But I think you also want
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: to make sure your bases are covered and you have
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: another young developmental piece in the building, and I think
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: that really gives you a pretty strong group of linebackers there.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Then you move on to we'll go corner here. Corner
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I had some difficult decisions and so you have Quinya, Mitchell,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Cooper dejeen rieq Wohen those three are locks. Then you
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: get to the Jonathan Joneses, the mac McWilliams Keeley Ringo.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I think for this season, having seen what Kiey Ringo
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: can do when he's pressed into service as an actual cornerback,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: you need to make sure that you have insurance there
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: and he doesn't have to step in in any defensive capacity.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: And so this is where Jonathan Jones I think really
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: earns his keep as someone who can play multiple positions
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: on the back end. He's an experienced player and has
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: played a lot of football in his career. I don't
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: feel comfortable necessarily locking him into a spot. But again,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: this is May fifth, So yeah, I mean Jonathan Jones.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I'll have him sticking as the fourth corner. And then
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the question becomes do you keep five or six? And
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: who would that be for me? I look at Keeley Ringo,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: he can't play cornerback anymore. For the Eagles, I think
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: that they've given him a lot of opportunities. He hasn't
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: seized it. You know what you have there, stiff in
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the hips, struggles in transition, transition and locating the football,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: and it seemed like he fell out of favor with
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Vic Fangio last season. That being said, he is such
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: a dominant force on special teams and you don't have
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: a definitive option as a gunner. You pars through the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: roster and you'd be hard pressed. I mean you would
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: absolutely have a difficult time replacing him as a gunner.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: And so for those reasons, I have him staying. So
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: there's your five. I still don't feel comfortable with it
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: because mac McWilliams was drafted last season and didn't make
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: much of an impact. But he gives you inside outside versatility,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: he's younger, but he doesn't play on special teams. The
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Eagles put him out there for a handful of snaps.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I can recall one snap in particular where he was
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: aligned as a gunner against the Buccaneers and just got
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: completely manhandled and taken out of the play and kind
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: of like Eli Rix. Eli Rix was on the roster,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: but the Eagles didn't really deploy him on special teams.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Mack McWilliams doesn't really offer seemingly third phase upside, so
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: that was a difficult cut for me. And a name
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: to keep an eye on that I nearly put on
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: this list because he can play nickelback and he can
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: play safety. He's a young player. The Eagles seem to
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: like him a little bit. And that's Brandon Johnson, the
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: second year player out of Oregon. He's fast, he has
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: good short area of quickness. They deployed him as a
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: safety late in the year and he cross trained there.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: He was a nickelback last summer, had a quad injury
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: and missed some time, but you could see the football
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: instincts and the athleticism and how sharp he is to
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: be able to cross train and things like that. So
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: that was a really difficult omission for me, but he
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: is a name to know. I mentioned Chance Campbell. You
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: should be mindful of Brandon Johnson because the safety position
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: there's the locks are few and far between, and he
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: gives you that positional versatility. So I struggled. I wanted
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: to find a spot for him, but I just was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: unable to do so. So he was a difficult cut.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: And then you get to the safety position. Drew mccuba
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: headlines this group. Then you have Marcus Epps, who's a steady,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: if unspectacular veteran. He's played some quality football for the Eagles.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: He's a dependable option, and I think the fact that
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: he is highly intelligent understands the defense, those are sort
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: of valued commodities as it pertains to Vic Vangio and
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: what he looks for at that position. There's not a
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: lot of guesswork there with him. Now, if they were
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: to acquire a safety at some point, Marcus Epps would
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: be the most logical choice to release. He doesn't have
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to clear waivers, he's a vested veteran and put him
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: on the practice squad. Remember he was on the practice
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: squad to begin last season. And so I look at
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: that group, and we're going only with the players who
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: were here. Marcus Epps joins Drew mccuba. Michael Carter the
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Second is a player who the Eagles are going to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: work into the safety mechs this offseason. This summer, they
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: traded for him at the trade deadline. He's a nickelback
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: by trade, but he did play north of sixty snaps.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: I believe it was in the season finale when he
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: came on in relief of Brandon Johnson, who actually started
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: that game, and he obviously fared well enough for the
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Eagles to be compelled to give him a longer look
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: there at that position. So Michael Carter the Second will
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: be the third safety and then the fourth one.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Hey, Philly fans, game day is stressful enough. Parking, traffic,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: long lines, We've all been there, But when it comes
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: to your cannabis, Camden Apothecary makes it easy. This is
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: the dispensary for sports fans, just minutes outside of Philly,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: with plenty of free parking. You'll be in and out fast,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: no hassle, no waiting, and they don't just care about convenience.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Camden Apothecary is all about the guest experience. Their staff
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: makes sure you feel taking care of every time you
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: walk in. Plus, they carry only the best quality cannabis
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: at the fairest prices, so whether you're stocking up for
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the tailgate, the watch party, or celebrating a big win,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: you know you're getting the good stuff without overpaying. They
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: even show love to the community with specials for fans, students,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: service members, and healthcare pros. Cammed in Apothecary, top quality cannabis,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: great prices, and an experience made for Philly fans twenty
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: one and up.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going with Cole was Neski, the safety out of
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Texas Tech. And I say was Nesky because I believe
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni said that when he was talking about some
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: of the draft picks, and I thought that was maybe
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I had to go back. I had to go and
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: look it up to make sure that I wasn't that
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I was pronouncing it correctly or incorrectly, and it's was Nesky.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: I have him sticking around. That's a player that has
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Vic Fangio written all over it. He's a no nonsense
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: type of player, highly intelligent. I wrote a story about
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: him that really illustrates his football intelligence and how he's
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: a little bit more fluid than he's given credit for.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Instinctual player. Those sound like qualities that you could use
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: to describe a re Blankenship. Now it's a little unfair
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: to compare re Blankenship, who started in a Super Bowl
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: for the Eagles and accomplished quite a bit here in Philadelphia,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: but he has a lot of those qualities, and at
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: six foot two hundred and twenty pounds, he can hit.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: He's played a lot of football, he's versed in different schemes,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: and I think he's really going to take to this
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Vic Vangio system. I have him sticking as the fourth
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: and final safety. I still don't know that that room's
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: entirely finished, but right now we're not doing any hypothetical
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: trades or things like that. Special teams. I have kicker
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Jake Elliott, punter Braden Mann, and I don't have a
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: long snap. I have the Eagles waving Roco Underwood and
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: putting him on the practice squad, And you can kind
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: of play the roster game that way. They did it
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: with Charlie Hewitt last season at some point, and that's
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a good way to maximize the roster and then eventually
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: you would have to make a decision and get him
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: on the fifty three, but that buys you some time
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: where you're able to do that. This was a fun
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: but very difficult exercise on the defensive side. Anyway, I
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: had twenty six on offense and you just heard my
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: defensive picks there. That's kind of the way that I'm
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: seeing it right now. And obviously a lot can change.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: We haven't seen so much as a training camp practice,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: but this was just sort of a fun exercise to
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: do post draft, get a good temperature check on the roster,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and this is kind of the way that I'm viewing
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: things right now. There are a lot of intriguing players
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: who I didn't include in this fifty three that I
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: believe could stand a chance when it comes to maybe
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: elbowing their way in the roster. Consider But that's why
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I love training camp as much as I do. That's
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: where you see the team and the visions sort of
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: come together. That's where some players rise from relative anonymity,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: whether it was a Darius Cooper or whomever, a Britain
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: cobby a couple of years ago, a few years ago. Now,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: these things are prevailing themes every summer and I think
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that's that's kind of what makes it really interesting to
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: follow along with. But that's gonna do it for this
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: episode of The check O Daily. I'm Andrew Decheco. We'll
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: catch you all on the next one.