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Football at Four: Going Inside Eagles' Tanner McKee's Rise · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: And Football at four is powered by the Inside of
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  the Birds podcast. It's brought to you by BET three
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  sixty five. Whatever the sport, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary.
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  At BET three six five. Yesterday we had a motioner
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  Mailbag Monday edition. And if we didn't get to your questions,
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  I see questions that came in throughout the day. We'll
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  get to those again next week. And of course right
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  now we're gonna take a look at the Eagles as
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  they are officially two weeks from the day they report.
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  They will be at the Novacare Center. Not next Tuesday,
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  but the following Tuesday. Eagles will report and be on
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  the practice field the following day. Football at four will
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  be all over it. As we are right now here
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  on the Sports Bash. Adam Kaplan is here with a
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  Tuesday edition of Football at four on the Sports Bash.
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  Two weeks from today, Adam, the Eagles will report. You know,
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  the summer is a fly. And when we're talking Eagles reporting,
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  see yeah.
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  Speaker 2: It's funny when people say at the start of the
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  offseason or we know it's coming when we have the draft,
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  IOWA say this first day of training camp. Reporting is
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  one thing you can't do anything other than you have
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  meetings the day before the next practice, but just to
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  see who's there and what these players look like. Is
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  there any difference from the six five weeks have been off?
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  And you also want to see the rookies, right or
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  the younger players. And you one of the guys we're
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  going to talk about today is a guy that when
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  you and I were talking about in a recent Football
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  four about okay, who are the bench players, who are
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  the guys will be in sub packages, and who are
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  the guys in the backup roles? The one guy we
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  brought we really glossed over, but could have a bigger role.
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  And you think, not only not only Mike, is Tanner
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  McKee number sixteen going to be the number two quarterback.
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  But as we've learned throughout our time here in Football
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  four and also Eagle fans know, you can go back
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  to Michael Vick when he got her, well actually when
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  Kevin Cobb got her that Michael Vick played. You could
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  go through what happened when A. J. Feeley had to play,
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  which was shocking Mike when he had a play, and
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  then they his tape was so good. Somehow they got
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  a second round pick for him. You just never know
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  what's going to happen. And Tanner McKee is a guy
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  that and we've talked about him now for two years.
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  We'll get into sort of his rise and what happened
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  at Stanford and around his career. But the reason why
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  I want to bring him up is, man, if he
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  had to play, I know people would love to know
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  how good he could be.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's I was at the game last
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  year he played against the Giants, and everybody went crazy
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  for him for the one day. I thought in the
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  first half he was really good. In the second half
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  they kind of figured him out a little bit. They
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  ran the same play figuringly over and over and over again,
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  that little wheel, you know, drag across the back to
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  the tight end there. But let's talk about mc key
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  because you know, you don't ever want to think about
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  an injury to your starting quarterback. But the Eagles did
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  win a Super Bowl with the backup quarterback. So McKee.
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  He dropped to the sixth round in twenty twenty three.
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  Why did not Why didn't anybody else have him as
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  a prospect of higher regard?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So Mike Harris always explained to me, so He
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  only played two years at Stanford. He was in a
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  Mormon mission for two years. His tape was intriguing because
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  he's six foot five and a half, is a very
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  strong arm, but not a real good athlete. You know,
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  didn't move all out of the way all that well,
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  showed some good pocket presence and will us to stand there.
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  But you know, his numbers weren't great. Now is the
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  second year that he started. I think the average over
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  thirty three pass attempts per game. So you saw that
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  if you give him some volume, maybe he could handle it. Now,
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  you always said you have to always look at contexts,
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  like well, what are you working with Elijah Higgins who
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  was a big jumbo receiver who would be drafted by Miami.
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  Then the Cardinals would claim him off waivers and make
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  Higgins a tight end Michael Wilson, who was a third
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  rough pick for the Cardinalsh's still there, hasn't really done
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  much for them, but that's all. He really didn't have
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  any like high end talent to work with. So I
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  think that was part of it. And as one scout
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  told me, like if you were putting a grade in
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  and you were given a draft for great, well you
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  know you're talking about transitioning what he could be. He
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  thought that he had low end starter qualities, a guy
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  that it was an area scout at the time for
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  the West and he said, you saw the body. But
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  the reason why you didn't see him as a more
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  than like bottom of the NFL type talent terms of
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  being the starter, you didn't see him as good enough athlete.
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  You just didn't see that he can move. You didn't
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  see enough of him. There's a term you jumping on
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  the table for a player like this is not a
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  guy you might have jumped on the table flo But
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  you understand why he least was drafted because there was
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  something there in him.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, he's interesting because of his size as
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  you mentioned there, But in training camp, this is your
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  opportunity to shine. In twenty twenty three is when he
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  got his first opportunity. Is that when the Eagle said, hey,
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  we may have found our backup quarterback.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Mike, it's interesting. In twenty twenty three, he didn't
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  really have a great training camp. To be honest with you,
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  when we were watching him, because you have to remember now,
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  back then, when you're taking guy in the sixth round,
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  let's call it like it is. You don't expect the
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  guy to ever contribute. That is a backup round. You're
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  thinking up, probably low and back up. You know, nothing
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  better than that. But then certain things happened. Marcus Mariota,
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  you know, he didn't have a great training camp, Ian Booke,
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  didn't throw the ball very well. They liked him, pretty
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  good athlete for the position smaller. Remember they cleaned them
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  off waivers from the Saints and they and McKee. So
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  let's put it this way, Mariota was locked into the
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  two position and tender do not have a great training camp.
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  But understand something, Mike. Every NFL team gets access to
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  preseason tape. His preseason tape at twenty three was very intriguing.
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  There was he was at Baltimore right if you watch
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  that game, boy, you saw some really good throws. Then
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  they faced the Browns here and they also had two
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  joint practice. I was at those practices and then they
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  hosted the Cults. You saw enough on there. Known the
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  way this league is, and with his size and arm strengths,
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  he pretty much put himself on the team by what
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  he did in the preseason. And we know how he
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  likes to give me stract picks anyway, probably would have
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  cut him based on Howie's history. But there was nothing
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  in trade of him that said he should be on
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  his team. But that that preseason tape Mike was really
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  intriguing where you're like, you know what, they cannot put him,
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  try to put him for Ravers and put him on
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  the practice squad. That that's way to risky.
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  Speaker 1: Adam Kaplan football at four, we're looking at one of
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  the more important, underrated, important guys. Hopefully not important, but
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  he could turn into an important guy. Everybody always loved
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  the backup quarterback. Tanner McKee is right now likely the
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  backup quarterback. How about last year he gets into OTA's
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  he had some they brought in guys Picket, They make
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  the trade Will Greer, they had brought in who had
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  been a really good college quarterback. So what stood out
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  about him last year?
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  Speaker 2: You know Will Green was a guy that Kellen Moore
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  he was familiar with, and you know he wanted him.
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  Mayor had him with the Chargers, had him with the Cowboys.
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  But the big thing last year Kenny Picket. Because they
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  felt that they were going to make another run they
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  felt really good about. They felt was for this one
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  they thought they could be a planof team. I just
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  want to be clear that it sound like they were
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  thinking super Bowl, and they weren't really thinking super Bowl
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  in twenty seventeen either, but they it happened. But they
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  thought they'd be a nice team. They thought they'd be
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  improved coming out of twenty three and Kenner, you could
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  you could definitely see an otah. Mike, there was something
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  with his footwork. We didn't see this before. He was
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  moving better, and then in training camp it was like, wow,
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  this is is this the same guy? It looked like
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  they were working on his mechanics and his footwork, and
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  I to be honest with you, Mike, I was stunned.
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  I was like, wow, I did not see this before.
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  And no one I talked to around the NFL and
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  scouting I ever mentioned this. They already said that he
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  didn't move all that well and he was just okay
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  getting out of his own way. And with pocket passers
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  like if you watch Jameis Winton, who couldn't un a lick,
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  James learned over the years to move out of his
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  own way and he's a tall pocket passer. Just to
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  give you any sample of guys, most quarterbacks. Now, Mike
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  kirk Cousins is one doesn't move all that well, but
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  he found a way to get out of his own way.
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  These pocket pasts, there's a lot of guys who don't
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  don't who were never runners, that don't move all that well.
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  They had to learn it. But whatever they worked on
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  with them last year with it in their quarterback room,
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  Doug nas Meyer and obviously Kevin Batulo was involved in others,
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  it really looked good Mike, and it looked like Mike.
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  It really did look like that. There are something. But
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  you mentioned Kenny Pickett. They had to get through the
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  Kenny Pickett situations, so they traded for him. They got
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  them from the Steelers, so they had to get through that.
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  Pickett did some nice things in training camp. But when
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  you when you were watched training get you could ask
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  Andrew to Checko the same question because he and I
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  were there. When you watch both quarterbacks throw ego, it's
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  it's it's like the night and day. Well, there's a difference.
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  Speaker 1: I know in the games they had the option they
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  started Picket, but if right, if it wasn't, Picket's a veteran,
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  he was a first round pick and they had the
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  real choice. Would they have started McKee over Picket if
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  they in a bigger game, or was Pickett still the guy?
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  Speaker 2: That's a great question, Mike. I would say this one
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  that we had heard last year, if you like, at least,
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  I would say to the latter part of training camp
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  and through what we had heard through practice during the
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  regular season, it's very clear that McKee was doing better.
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  But you don't make those kinds of decisions in training camp,
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  you were I mean, you don't make those decisions in season.
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  You do it for the next offseason. So I Picket,
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  I think you might have asked this this on Football
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  four in February after the Super Bowl. Okay, what are
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  they gonna do with Pitt McKee and Pickett. Well, what
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  we said was, if they don't trade one of them,
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  they're gonna have a competition. There's absolutely no way it
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  won't be open. It was very obvious to what we
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  had heard that McKey was ready to go, and you
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  mentioned his tape the Giants game where he looked pretty
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  good enough. You take all the preseason tape in the
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  two years plus that Giant game and you go, okay,
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  there's something here, and that's the whole point of this, Mike,
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  And as you were saying, what would happen, It's like
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  when the Eagles drafted Aalen Hurts. Let me just bring
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  this up. You know this is five years now. Their
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  thought process ten months after they extended Wentz's contract was,
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  let's develop Hurts for three years as his backup. We
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  know it's Carson's injury issue, will probably play a little bit.
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  If the tape is good, we'll flip them. No one
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  knew what would happened with Wentz that he regressed to
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  the degree it just things work out. Well, I'm not now,
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  I'm not saying McKey would. Mc Key's not competing for
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  nor do they think he could ever take the job
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  even if Hurts got hurt. But well, what if the
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  Key played two or three good games and it's a
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  really good table. Who's to say they can't get a
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  sick round pick next year. That's the whole point of this.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and Philly, as you mentioned, the Eagles, excuse me,
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  have been pretty good at finding guys that take players
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  that were probably not as good as the compensation they
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  got back in return. The Eagles traded Picket to Cleveland.
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  Where's he on? That depth chart. You think right now,
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  is he in the mix?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's in the mix. It's they'll the Browns will
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  tell you it's it's it's wide open. My money would
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  be on Joe Flacco. He knows that offense. He's with
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  them two years ago. I know they have a different
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  play caller. Stefanski may call the plays this season. The
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  offense change a little bit, but he knows a lot
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  of those coaches, he knows that building and this is now.
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  Is Joe the same player he was two years ago?
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  Probably not? Where he put the team on his back.
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  He is the reason why they made the playoffs and
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  last year wasn't as good with the Colts. But can't
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  Picko have a chance to prove so by the way
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  he didn't play badly in the regular season. He did okay.
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  I know he got knocked. You know a lot of
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  the fans don't like him, but people said he did okay.
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  Speaker 1: Well, if you're the backup quarterback and you don't, you know,
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  come out and win games like Nick Foles does, you're
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  a nothing, right, I know.
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  Speaker 2: And you know it's funny because people forget when Nick
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  was hurt in twenty fourteen after the great twenty seven
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  to two and twenty thirteen play as well in twenty fourteen.
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  Forget about that.
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  Speaker 1: All right, real quick, Let's get to how do other
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  teams see McKey When you look at other teams around
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  the leagu because we're talking about possibly trading him off,
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  how the team see him.
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  Speaker 2: They're aware of him, Jeff talking to most about it.
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  Jeff's heard stuff from other people he and I have.
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  They're aware of them. They've seen the preseason tape, especially
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  pro personnel people. It's their job to know about him.
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  And yeah, I think it's something that now I want
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  to mention this. I'm not thinking Colin McCord will be
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  the reason why they if they if they shocked us
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  and traded McKee, well, actually they would play in it.
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  They would think McCord's ready. But they're he was thinking,
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  is not that McCord be ready to be the two
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  of the season. That's not they're thinking. To be clear here,
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  but I would tell you that let's say that McKee
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  he his preseason tape is really good, and let's say
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  he plays one to two games. The tape is good,
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  and McCord is it, has a good training camp, preseason
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  and he's doing well behind the scenes in the regular season.
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  That gives legals more leverage to trade McKee next year
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  going into March. That that would that would give him
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  a reason to trade McKee if McCord's progressive.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So the McCord draft pick, if he becomes the
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  McKee then and they can get compensation for McKee if
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  they feel comfortable about McCord. So ultimately, the McCord situation
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  is something that bears witnessing in this training camp, much
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  like the McKee was back in twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 2: No doubt both are six round picks down. They also
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  have now we should mention during Thomson Robinson DTR a
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  former Cleveland Brown draft pick who played for Chip Kelly UCLA.
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  We outlined this at the time of the trade, Howie
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  Rosemond really liked him for that draft three years ago.
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  Didn't work out for the Browns were looking to move him.
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  It just didn't work out there. You never know if
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  a guy lights it up, you know he's got movement ability,
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  he can run, You never know. I mean, he didn't
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  look good when he had a chance to play, but
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  you never know when he looked How he talked about
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  this before Mike. People laughed at it, and I understood it.
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  When he talked about the quarterback factory, this is what
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  he was talking about. I know it's hard for people
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  to get that out. You know, some of the things
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  that How he said over these people like to make
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  fun of. But now you do, you understand it. This
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  is what How he was talking about developing.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Adam Kapel. Here. By the way, ESPN dot
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  Com did their rankings of the best defensive tackles. This
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  was Coaches Scouts executive Jalen Carter on the list at
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  number three. So we'll see if Jalen Carter's ready to
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  make it take another step forward this year. I thought
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  number three, he was behind only Chris Jones and Dexter
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  Lawrence fair or unfair, I would.
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  Speaker 2: Say where they are now, See, you got to take
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  the body of work of Sexy Dexi as his nickname is,
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  and Chris Jones. I would say this. If you want
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  to say who's the most talent right now, it's probably
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  Jalen Carter, but it's in terms of he just hasn't
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  been around long enough. Yeah that's fair. I mean they're
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  both great players. To Chris Jones, you know, it's interesting
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  he dropped to the second round, which was surprised, but
• 14:49
  there were some maturity issues when he was drafted. He
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  became one of their leaders for the Chiefs. You could
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  thro out all that the stuff that came out for
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  that draft. When he came out, he's terrific. Dexter Lawrence
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  is finale, great draft pick for the Giants, but Jalen Carter,
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  Mike is just And you got to give the Eagles
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  credit here, Harry Roseman, he made a choice. He got
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  good enough information they thought they could handle him. Everything
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  we've heard pretty much has been very good. And he knows.
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  Jalen knows this is a big year. This is the Eagles.
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  Don't wait, Mike. As we've been outlining and all the
• 15:22
  fans know, the Eagles after your three that's when you
• 15:25
  could sign a drafted player to extension. They don't wait.
• 15:28
  If the guy's kicking butt still, he's getting an extension. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And the area for Carter to improve, they say, is
• 15:34
  constantly or consistently I should say, winning his one on
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  one matchup. So that'll be something we'll see if Carter
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  improves on four and a half sacks, eight point eight
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  pass rush win rate last year. Can Carter be even better?
• 15:49
  That's another story. We'll be watching here on Football at four,
• 15:52
  Adam Kaplan, everybody, we'll be back on a Friday edition
• 15:55
  of Football at four. And don't forget the Inside of
• 15:57
  the Birds podcast, which you can get on all all
• 16:00
  podcasting platforms just search for Inside the Birds and of
• 16:03
  course with us right here on Football at four. Thanks Adam,
• 16:06
  thank you. Here's Adam Kapel and everybody here on the
• 16:08
  Sports Past Live on ninety seven to three ESPN. It
• 16:11
  is Football at four and of course it's powered by
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  the Inside of the Birds podcast.