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The DiCecco Daily: Top Eagles Storylines On Offense Headed Into Camp · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: What's going on? Everyone? Welcome into another episode of The
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: check Odaily Andrew to Checko, Eagles beat reporter for Inside
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the Birds dot Com. Here with you, and today I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: want to take a look at my storylines going into
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: training camp, but I'm going to split it up between
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: offense and defense. We'll look at the offense today, and
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  Speaker 1: the first one on my list is going to have
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to be new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who takes over
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: for Kevin Patullo, who took over for Kellen Moore. There
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: has been a revolving door here at offensive coordinator which
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  Speaker 1: has led to a lot of instability if you're Jaywen Hurtz,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: if you're looking for any sense of continuity. But let's
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: get that out of the way, because what the offenses
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: have been tailed over in the past, whenever they've had
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  Speaker 1: a different coach, it's been different iterations of what has
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: been largely the same system with some tweaks here and there.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And the reason why Sean Manning is an interesting choice
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  Speaker 1: is that when Kellen Moore was brought in, there were
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: expected to be some dramatic changes in terms of motion
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  Speaker 1: and how the offense would look conceptually overall, and that
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  Speaker 1: honestly never really manifested. It lasted four weeks, and then
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  Speaker 1: when turnovers mounted and things didn't look particularly smooth, they
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: had to transition and then they leaned on the running
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  Speaker 1: game with say Kwon Barkley, and the rest is history
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  Speaker 1: because they were performing at a historic level, the offensive
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  Speaker 1: line in particular. But the question that I have is,
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  Speaker 1: because we're expecting to see such a rapid progression and
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be radically different from what they've done
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: in the past, what happens if it's a little bit
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: slower out of the gates and there are growing pains,
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  Speaker 1: Well the Eagles continue to lean into that or are
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: they going to try to mix in a little bit
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: more of what they've done in the past that have
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: been successful. But I think to a larger point here,
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  Speaker 1: it's a storyline because you want to see how all
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: of the pieces fit into the puzzle. You said all
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: some different things formationally that maybe it piques your curiosity.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Is that's something that they continue to move forward with
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  Speaker 1: in training camp? How does Jaywen Hurts respond to what
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: he's being asked to do in this system where decisions
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: have to be made at a rapid pace. The ball's
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: got to come out of your hands. You have to
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  Speaker 1: see it. You have to see it and anticipate and
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: make those anticipatory throws. Again, these are all things that
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Jayalen has done in his career, but now he's going
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  Speaker 1: to be asked to do it on a more consistent basis.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: And knowing that Sean Mannion's coming in with this reputation
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  Speaker 1: for being one a tireless worker but also an incredibly
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  Speaker 1: smart coach who prides himself on teaching. I think another
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: understated element of bringing someone like that in here is
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: that he's played quarterback. He's played in the NFL before,
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  Speaker 1: so that relatability there with Jalen Hurts. Maybe that helps
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: him reach Jalen in a different way and get the
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: offense rolling a little bit quicker than maybe otherwise would have.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: But there are so many different pieces here offensively that
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  Speaker 1: it's hard to go in one direction. So I went
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: with Sean Mannion, how do the new coaches gel together
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: and collaborate to reimagine this Eagles offense. That's Josh Grizzard,
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  Speaker 1: the pass game coordinator, the offensive line coach, Chris Cooper,
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  Speaker 1: Brian Mahaffy the run game coordinator and tight ends coach,
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  Speaker 1: and there are some holdovers from the past, but it's
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of newness here. And so when you have
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: all of that, it's about establishing a plan and trying
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: to figure out a way to accentuate the strengths of
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  Speaker 1: your players but also have a gel. But the Eagles
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  Speaker 1: have also done some successful things in the past. Let's
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: not lose sight of that. They've had certain elements in
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: their offense. Say what you will about it, but they've
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: been successful. So to completely scrap that or rip out
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the roots and sort of re establish the foundation I
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: think would be malpractice. But it's about trying to find
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  Speaker 1: a way to uniquely fuse those two things in there
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  Speaker 1: and enough so where you can make it digestible for
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  Speaker 1: all players. So the whole offense, but specifically Sean Manny
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  Speaker 1: and how he goes about teaching that throughout the summer
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  Speaker 1: is a top storyline for me. The health of the
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  Speaker 1: offensive line has to be up there for me. It's
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: pretty high up there. I would make the argument that
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  Speaker 1: it would be the top storyline for me, and you
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: really aren't going to have any way of knowing until
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  Speaker 1: you get into the regular season. But there are certain
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  Speaker 1: things that now we'll all be having an eye on
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: this summer. Cam Jurgens, how is he looking with another
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: year with some more time removed from the offseason back surgery.
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  Speaker 1: Lane Johnson, how does he look in his return from
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the list Frank injury. He looked stellar leading up to
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: that point. Still at thirty six years old, he's one
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: of the top players at his position, but he's returning
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: from a pre significant injury. Cam Jurgens, was that a
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: sign of things to come? Or maybe that stem cell
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: treatment that he went to go get in medeen like
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Landon Dickerson, did that help him? Does the benefit of
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the time help him a little bit? Landon Dickerson battle
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: through so many different things, flirted with maybe walking away
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: from the game a little earlier than expected. So there
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: are a ton of questions there with the offensive line,
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  Speaker 1: that wear and tear, that growing nature that the Eagles
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: have played for years has taken its toll on a
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  Speaker 1: lot of those guys. And when you look at the
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four season and where they were so run
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: dependent and they had this grinded out nature to them
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  Speaker 1: where the inside zone and they're leaning and they're moving
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: forward and they're plowing holes for Sakwon Barkley to run through.
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  Speaker 1: That is something that isn't always taken into account about
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  Speaker 1: how it affects the offensive linemen, and there was sort
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: of a residual effect going into the twenty twenty five
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: season that was pretty apparent. Early on, they didn't seem
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: to have the same burst or juice, and as the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: season wore on, you got a better sense of where
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: they were from a health perspective, and it was clear
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: that they were a little bit that they weren't operating
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  Speaker 1: at peak performance. So the offensive line is going to
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: be key, because it doesn't matter if Sean Mannion is
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: an offensive genius or an evil genius. As Jordan m
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: my Loot to put it, it doesn't matter if Jaywn
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Hurts really takes this offense well. If you don't have
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: the key pieces up front blocking for you and setting
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the like the Eagles have had for many years, it
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: doesn't much matter because, as you saw last season, you're
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: only as good as your protection up front, and you
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: aren't able to run the football, which is their foundation,
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  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden you're behind the sticks
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  Speaker 1: and you become a one dimensional offense. Largely, and you're
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: putting these third and long situations disadvantages, and then you're
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: forced to throw the football, which is really not what
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: the Eagles are predicated on. You would ideally like to
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: see if you're on the outside that if you're the Eagles,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: you want to see a running game be able to
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  Speaker 1: be your DNA, and then if it's successful, you can
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: do things off of that in the passing game that
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden makes you a very well rounded
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: offense that can strike that balance and pounce on teams
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  Speaker 1: when they least expect it. It opens up a whole
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  Speaker 1: lot more of the playbook and with the running game.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: That's what it all comes back to. Saquon Barkley is
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: the same guy. He hasn't lost a step. He's still
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the same explosive play, explosive player that he's been. There's
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: not a lot of wear and tear that I can
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  Speaker 1: be able to tell that it's going to hinder him,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: and there's no signs that indicate that that's upcoming. But
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the offensive line wasn't able to create the same amount
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: of push up front that they've had in recent years.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: We're being honest, and so Saquon Barkley had to do
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: certain things where instead of taking the three or four
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  Speaker 1: yards and plotting ahead, which he probably should have done,
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  Speaker 1: he tried to hit the home run because the holes
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  Speaker 1: were so infrequent, the offense was stalling, and he was
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: trying to be the fire starter. He was trying to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: get something going and that just wasn't happening. But it
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: all stemmed from the lack of health up front, which
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden made the Eagles have to shift
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: and become something that they weren't. So it was really
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  Speaker 1: a ripple effect that the lack of health upfront from
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: the offensive line. And again, it's really hard to implement
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: a new system and expect it to be operating and
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: firing and all cylinders without the league's best players standing
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: up there and being able to deliver for you upfront.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: And so the health of the offensive line is another one.
• 9:19
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• 10:18
  Speaker 1: And we'll go with wide receiver as well. Anytime you
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: lose a top receiver of the caliber of an AJ Brown.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: AJ Brown I don't rank, but he's still an elite player.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And so anytime you take a player like that off
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the offense. And again, it just felt like it was
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: a situation that was going to work itself out. It
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: was inevitable. But you can argue some antics, but whatever,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: he's not here in Philadelphia. And so to make things
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: clear before we get that out of the way. You're
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: not a better football team when you get rid of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: an elite talent like that at wide receiver. You can
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: tell him for the loss. If you're able to get
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: the complimentary, collaborative of approach from some of the other
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: players to complement Avonte Smith, which I think they have
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the potential to do, but it is a question. And
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: so with Davonte Smith, he's done everything that you could
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: ask for over the last five seasons. Really, he started
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: his rookie season as a starter nine hundred and sixteen
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: receiving yards with other players like Keus Watkins and Jalen
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Rager complimenting him. Now he has a different supporting cast,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: so we'll see what he's able to do. There's very
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of internal confidence in Devonte Smith that
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: he can take the mantle as the top receiver and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: head this thing forward. But make no mistake about it,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have the same body type as an Aj Brown.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: He's not going to be a physical, go up and
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: get a guy on a regular basis, a contested catch guy.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: He has a three level threat, good route runner, can
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: do a lot of things with the ball in his hands.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: After the catch, and I think that there shouldn't be
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: any questions as to whether or not he's able to
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: take on a larger role. The questions that I do have, though,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: is how the Eagles go about combining for production to
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: a tone for the loss of an Aj Brown. So
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: that falls on namely mckaye Lemon, the rookie wide receiver,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: and Dontavian Wicks. And so, Dontavian Wicks is a player
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: that the Eagles traded for assigned to a one year
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: extension twelve million dollars. He's never had more than thirty
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: nine receptions in a season, never had more than over
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: seventy six targets in a season, and so there's gonna
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: be questions there as to how he's going to fare
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: in a more expanded worklow where the responsibilities and the
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: demands are going to be a lot higher. The Eagles
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: certainly believe that he can do more, and at sixty
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: one two oh six, will be their big body guy
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: and they believe he can do more, So naturally that's
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: going to instill a little bit more confidence. He has
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: two coaches that he was with in Green Bay, and
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Mannion and Ryan Mahappy, so that should help him there
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: as well. And we're going to see, because he has
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: an understanding of this offense, perhaps he gets off to
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: a faster start than maybe mckaye Lemon, who missed the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: spring with a hamstring injury he had. He has some
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: time now, but he's going to have to make up
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: for lost time. He's going to be a volume based
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: slot receiver. Good route runner can go up there and
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: compete for the football. Good air for the catch should
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: be a welcoming target for Jal when herds over the
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: middle of the field. That sounds all good on paper,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: but until you see it work itself out and manifest
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: on the practice field, that's going to be a pretty
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: significant storyline going into training camp. And with that, that's
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of The check Odaly.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Decheco and I'll catch you all on the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: next one.