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Football at Four: Explaining What We Look For During Eagles OTAs · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Football and four powered by the Inside of the Birds podcast.
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  Speaker 1: Eagles OTAs are back, they are on the field this week.
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  Speaker 1: Nick Siriani, we'll talk tomorrow. Jalen Hurts, We'll talk tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: And of course Football at four is powered by the
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  Speaker 1: Inside of the Birds podcast, which you can get on
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  Speaker 1: all podcasting platforms. It is brought to you by Ocean
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  Speaker 1: Casino Resort, the Fanatics Sportsbook to go to game day destination.
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  Speaker 1: And of course Adam Kaplan is back on a Tuesday
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  Speaker 1: with the Birds are back on the field and all
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  Speaker 1: week long this week and next week the Eagles will
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  Speaker 1: be back and we're gonna tell you a little bit
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  Speaker 1: about what they will be doing, Adam Kaplan as they
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  Speaker 1: are back for you know OTAs organized team activities. What
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  Speaker 1: exactly are these organized team activities?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, Mike, they've really changed over the years.
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  Speaker 3: So when we have the old CBA right before twenty eleven,
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  Speaker 3: the offseason programs are much longer. The players wanted shorter,
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  Speaker 3: they wanted a shorter off season. They did not want
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  Speaker 3: the coaches to talk to them when they were coming
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  Speaker 3: in a workout. So basically what the league said is Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Well we'll do that. No problem.
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  Speaker 3: But you know this is part of that CBA in
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  Speaker 3: twenty eleven. They did that and there were certain parts
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  Speaker 3: of that, certain givebacks at the clubs got and everybody
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  Speaker 3: was happy with that. The players got what they wanted,
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  Speaker 3: shorter off season, they wanted more time with their families
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  Speaker 3: in the off season, work out on their own like that,
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  Speaker 3: which is what they can do. But now what happens is.
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  Speaker 2: Coaches had to learn. As I have been told many.
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  Speaker 3: Times, they had a coach differently when it comes to
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  Speaker 3: the Eagles who were going to practice today and tomorrow
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  Speaker 3: and then Thursday and then next week Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
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  Speaker 2: You noticed they're not doing over the weekend. They're not
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  Speaker 2: doing Wednesday.
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  Speaker 3: You could have up to ten mandatory ten okay practices,
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  Speaker 3: and you could have one mandatory camp which could consist
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  Speaker 3: of the three days.
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  Speaker 2: Equals are going to have two.
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  Speaker 3: Days, not three days for the mandatory camp, which is
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  Speaker 3: the following week on the.
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  Speaker 2: Ninth and tenth.
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  Speaker 3: So they've decided that they're just going to have these
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  Speaker 3: six practices and they're going to go from there and
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  Speaker 3: they're very light mic. You should understand this is phase three.
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  Speaker 3: The practices in the mandatory camp are exactly the same
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  Speaker 3: in the OTAs. There's no difference. It's just that everyone
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  Speaker 3: has to be there. That's the only difference. As coaches
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  Speaker 3: have told me over the years, the media makes way
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  Speaker 3: too much.
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  Speaker 2: Of it, but you have to be careful. There are
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  Speaker 2: some things that you should know.
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  Speaker 3: If any position change, you should absolutely note. And we're
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  Speaker 3: going to note.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to talk.
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  Speaker 3: About Cooper de Gene, which we didn't talk about last
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  Speaker 3: time we were on what kind of shape these guys are
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  Speaker 3: in who looks so explosive and not explosive, But very
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  Speaker 3: little of what we see in OTAs has anything to
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  Speaker 3: do with what you're going to see in the season.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, most likely, you know, we will be taking a
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  Speaker 1: look at stuff and that will be a quick little,
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  Speaker 1: you know couple. What's today, today and tomorrow. As you said,
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  Speaker 1: they're off on Thursday, they'll be back on Friday, and
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  Speaker 1: then Monday, Tuesday next week, and then Thursday of next week.
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  Speaker 1: Then they have a mandatory mini camp that is coming
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  Speaker 1: up on June ninth and the tenth. That I would
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  Speaker 1: imagine by the time that mandatory mini camp gets around
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  Speaker 1: at them, we're going to have a finality on this
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  Speaker 1: AJ Brown thing.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, June second, Mike, is the first day they
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  Speaker 3: can do this from their standpoint for cap management, so
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  Speaker 3: they can use a post to one designation to get
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  Speaker 3: two of them. They could spread the cap hit over
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  Speaker 3: two years, not one.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: If for some reason the trade is not done by
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  Speaker 3: June second, there's no timeline, and you could do it
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  Speaker 3: later in.
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  Speaker 2: The off season. You could do it, you know, you
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  Speaker 2: could do it right.
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  Speaker 3: For a trend camp, but it would tell you they
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  Speaker 3: don't have what they want, which is a first runt pick.
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  Speaker 3: I just don't see it being done without one. That's
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  Speaker 3: been what we've heard from other teams on inside the Birds.
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  Speaker 3: So that the Patriots happen and are clearly the.
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  Speaker 2: Favorite, nothing's changed.
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  Speaker 3: I'd be surprised if it changes by next week in
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  Speaker 3: terms of.
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  Speaker 2: Who the favorite is.
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  Speaker 3: But I'm telling you, though, if a trade is not
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  Speaker 3: done by June second, it's not how Hallie Rosemond does
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  Speaker 3: not have what he wants, and that's when other teams
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  Speaker 3: could come into play.
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  Speaker 1: All right, So that's obviously something we're going to be
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  Speaker 1: keeping an eye on here. What else do we look
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  Speaker 1: forward during these practices in terms of any of the
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  Speaker 1: players and some of the things that we should be
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  Speaker 1: paying attention to.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not worried about performance because, folks, unless you're talking
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  Speaker 3: to the coaches or phone offic executives, because the practices
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  Speaker 3: are so late, you don't really know what you're looking
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  Speaker 3: at when you're trying to break down this guy practice
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  Speaker 3: well how you would not know. For the most part,
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  Speaker 3: you would not know unless you talk to somebody. I've
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  Speaker 3: covered this business for twenty seven years. I've been through this.
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  Speaker 3: What you look for is what any one should look for.
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  Speaker 2: A goes to practice height, wait lands like.
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  Speaker 3: My perfect example of this was Jordan Mailata in twenty eighteen.
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  Speaker 3: Saw him at the rookie camp and saw him in
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  Speaker 3: the OTAs. I was blown away by his movement. That
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  Speaker 3: meant something to me.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't know that. Look, we know he was row.
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  Speaker 3: He didn't have to play football. You had to learn
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  Speaker 3: how to put a helmet on. But you not in
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  Speaker 3: scouting that heat has what they call unusual or rare
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  Speaker 3: athleticism for a guy's size, and size is an attribute
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  Speaker 3: that's something that you want to have. It's it's it's
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  Speaker 3: something that you love to find. So so that to
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  Speaker 3: me meant something I did keep that, you know in
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  Speaker 3: my head like wow, I got to see over months
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  Speaker 3: and years, does this mean anything?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it sure is.
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  Speaker 3: How meant something because they coached him up. Jeff Jeff
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  Speaker 3: Stalin coached him up. He was big into him being
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  Speaker 3: drafted because he was working at the at the at
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  Speaker 3: the at the at the academy where he was working out,
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  Speaker 3: and that meant a lot. Like that that your first impressions,
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  Speaker 3: I'll give you another one, Donald Pumfrey when it's when
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  Speaker 3: it's a negative. Donald Pomfrey looked really small in the
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  Speaker 3: twenty seventeen OTAs he was a rookie. As one Eagles
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  Speaker 3: person told me, he's small and he looks small. Okay,
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  Speaker 3: that's not whereas you have you have Darren Sprault who's
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  Speaker 3: small but he plays bigger.
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  Speaker 1: Are was a third round pick, right.
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  Speaker 3: Fourth fourth out of San Diego State, leading Russia in
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  Speaker 3: San Diego State history.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that was vividly Yeah, his mind. His numbers
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  Speaker 2: were incredible. But look, they they missed on that one.
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  Speaker 3: Because they they they looked at the numbers and he
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  Speaker 3: had certain analytical data that was good. But you have
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  Speaker 3: to watch the tape and he's so small physically, he
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  Speaker 3: never really made it. He went to Lions, he never
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  Speaker 3: really made it. I don't think he even played in
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  Speaker 3: a regular season game.
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  Speaker 2: That was a bad miss.
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  Speaker 3: But so that that's the kind of stuff I look
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  Speaker 3: at and position changes that that because that that matters. Absolutely,
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  Speaker 3: position changes like that, that's hard news, that's hard information.
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  Speaker 3: When Vic Fangio broke the news last week with Cooper
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  Speaker 3: Degene changing positions, he's not gonna play corner anymore, that
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  Speaker 3: was that.
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  Speaker 2: That meant something.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's dive a little deeper into that. What
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  Speaker 1: do we make all of those comments from Cooper dejene
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  Speaker 1: because a lot of times in the nick goal he
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  Speaker 1: will shift to the slot.
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  Speaker 2: Correct.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so when you looked at Cooper Dejene, right, we
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  Speaker 3: have to go back to the twenty twenty four draft.
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  Speaker 3: As we told you Mike on your show, Well, they
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  Speaker 3: drafted him be a corner, but we didn't know that
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  Speaker 3: the hamstring injury, then another minor injury would.
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  Speaker 2: Set him back.
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  Speaker 3: Where Vic fanger said, you know what, we're not going
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  Speaker 3: to play him a corner right now, We're gonna train
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  Speaker 3: him at nickel. Well let him learn there. Well, Also,
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  Speaker 3: what they didn't know is he'd be great as a
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  Speaker 3: rookie then become an All Pro in year two. To
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  Speaker 3: the point vis and we've had questions about this, and
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  Speaker 3: we've told people we're not totally sure that Vic sees
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  Speaker 3: him as a.
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  Speaker 2: Corner long term.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Fanjo gave out the news last week.
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  Speaker 2: Dejeene is not going to play corner.
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  Speaker 3: He's going to play nickel and safety, safety and bass
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  Speaker 3: now is Jeff pointed out to us last week.
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  Speaker 2: He made a good point. Yes, in the years.
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  Speaker 3: Past, he would play, he'd play corner and bass. Well,
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  Speaker 3: that's one position, but it's safety. Because Mike, so many
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  Speaker 3: teams now are playing twelve personnel with two ten ends
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  Speaker 3: to two receivers, there may be not as much of
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  Speaker 3: a need for him to play nickel anymore. So he'll
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  Speaker 3: pro in fact that he'll play more nickel than safety,
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  Speaker 3: but it could be a sixty to forty split. Mic
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  Speaker 3: We pointed out that the Rams were the heaviest eleven
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  Speaker 3: personnel team for years, not anymore. They're a big thirteen
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  Speaker 3: personnel team with three tight ends.
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  Speaker 1: Right, so, you know, because that's the thing they don't play.
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  Speaker 1: They haven't played a lot of base defense in there
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  Speaker 1: in the past because of the way offenses kind of
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  Speaker 1: line up against you, you're not in your base defense
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  Speaker 1: as much. You're thinking that that might not be the
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  Speaker 1: case as much this year. So with them playing more
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  Speaker 1: on it, right, by them playing more base defense, you
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  Speaker 1: will see him line up as a safety.
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  Speaker 2: Boar. Well, here's the thing.
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  Speaker 3: So if you right, if you look at the eleven
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  Speaker 3: personnel right, the Washington could play both or what's called
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  Speaker 3: it balanced eleven and twelve. They're changing their offense completely
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  Speaker 3: to Ben Johnson's disciple, David Blouse gonna run his version
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  Speaker 3: of Ben Johnson's offense with Washington Tennessee is with Brian Dable.
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  Speaker 2: He likes to play eleven personnel. But he's got enough players.
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  Speaker 3: And by the way, they have Wandel Robinson who's gonna
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  Speaker 3: be their shlot receiver. So now that that's a game
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  Speaker 3: that's a team that will play that, you'll play play
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  Speaker 3: a lot of nickel. Week three and four, you're gonna
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  Speaker 3: see Degene play eight ton of safety, probably more than
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  Speaker 3: nickel than safety. Bears are going to move to a
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  Speaker 3: lot of twelve personnel that remember they traded uh right
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  Speaker 3: DJ more excuse me, the their top receiver to uh.
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  Speaker 3: They traded him away to Buffalo.
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  Speaker 2: They have to.
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  Speaker 3: They have too many toen ends. That means they're gonna
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  Speaker 3: play a lot of twelve personnel.
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  Speaker 2: The Rams.
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  Speaker 3: They started playing a ton of twelve and thirteen personnel
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  Speaker 3: last season. Forget about eleven personnel the Jaguars. They could
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  Speaker 3: play both. Carolino B twelve, Dallas could play both. Washington again,
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  Speaker 3: the Giants will do both. They could play eleven N
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  Speaker 3: five more twelve Steelers. They're gonna play a lot of
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  Speaker 3: eleven because they have They wanted McKay lemon. They didn't
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  Speaker 3: get them, but they drafted Jeremy but the Jeremy Bernard. So, Mike,
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  Speaker 3: you're gonna he's going to play safety more, don't we think? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think that's a good thing with his skill set, right,
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  Speaker 1: you agree?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Honestly, we kind of hit it this last summer when
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  Speaker 3: re Blanketship wasn't getting his job. I mentioned on our show,
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  Speaker 3: if re blank Chip does not return, Cooper Degene could
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  Speaker 3: play a part in it, because Vic sees him potentially
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  Speaker 3: as a safety. Now he went up.
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  Speaker 2: Now we have to mention.
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  Speaker 3: We are certain that in practices that Degene did not
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  Speaker 3: line up at safety last summer, but Vic had it
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  Speaker 3: in the back of his mind this could happen.
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  Speaker 2: And I give.
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  Speaker 3: How he credit he does he talking to coaches to
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  Speaker 3: work for the Eagles over the years.
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  Speaker 2: He never dictates, oh, you have to use him at
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  Speaker 2: this position that he doesn't do that.
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  Speaker 3: He wants he has to know because he's the GM,
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  Speaker 3: he has to understand how their personnel's going to be used.
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  Speaker 2: But he doesn't do that.
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  Speaker 3: He One of the reasons why he's arguably the NFL's
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  Speaker 3: best is he's learned from conversations and situations earlier in
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  Speaker 3: his career that you could give your opinion, but you
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  Speaker 3: got to the coaches coach.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: So a lot of fans Adam kaplan with us from
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  Speaker 1: football four we'll see depth charts and stuff. Should they
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  Speaker 1: into that, No.
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  Speaker 3: No, we we we have a saying and inside of
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  Speaker 3: the births we make a note of everything, but we
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  Speaker 3: don't think much of anything.
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  Speaker 2: We just we make a note of it.
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  Speaker 3: We want to see where guy's being are being lined up.
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  Speaker 2: That's way more important.
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  Speaker 3: Like if Mark kel Bell lined up at guard and
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  Speaker 3: some practice, that means that we need to know that
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  Speaker 3: like that that you have to you have to That
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  Speaker 3: means something to.
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  Speaker 1: Me, say Mark L.
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  Speaker 3: Bell the tackle, Yeah, like if you lined up I'm
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  Speaker 3: not saying he's lining up guard. But Markel Bell, who's
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  Speaker 3: a massive human being. He's huge because without Staltland that way, I.
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  Speaker 1: Think about who was the guy Bell that they had
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  Speaker 1: from the Billings?
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  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, uh Demetrius Bell?
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  Speaker 2: Who was who is Karmelone's son?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that one did not work out well Demetrius Bell.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, yes, that's who I thought you were named.
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  Speaker 1: I thought you were randomly just mar.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Mark LL Bell. You know what I said, Well, MARKL. Bell.
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  Speaker 3: But see, Mike markel Bell is huge six nine that
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  Speaker 3: you can't be lying this guy.
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  Speaker 2: And I talked to the safety his drafted why would
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  Speaker 2: you line them up inside?
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  Speaker 3: But you know they're very week at backup guard, like
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  Speaker 3: extremely weak. And as we keep telling people, who's the
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  Speaker 3: backup guard? If Dickerson gets hurt again, who's who's lining
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  Speaker 3: up in a spot?
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 3: Let's see and Drew Kendall would be the first guy.
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  Speaker 2: But he's too light, he's more of a center.
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  Speaker 3: So so yeah, uh, that's the stuff that I.
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  Speaker 2: Want to know about.
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  Speaker 3: If guys are lining up at multiple positions, and that
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  Speaker 3: matters to.
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  Speaker 1: Me all right tomorrow uh Nick Sirianni will speak and
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  Speaker 1: of course we'll have plenty more covers of the Eagles
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  Speaker 1: Ota storing football for right here, all the sports bashed.
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  Speaker 1: Adam is back. On Friday, the Birds will be on
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  Speaker 1: the field. Adam, thanks man, No good as always Football
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and four powered by the Inside the Birds podcast