Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily/Positional Preview Series: New Names Around Barkley In RB Room

Transcript

The DiCecco Daily/Positional Preview Series: New Names Around Barkley In RB Room · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened to everybody? Welcome into this edition of
• 0:11
  the check Odali. I am your host, Andrew Dicheco. Hope
• 0:15
  everyone standing cool out there in this heat wave.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Another hot one the day.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: But our position previous series continues on with the running backs,
• 0:24
  and there are some new names and new faces and
• 0:27
  some different roles that are going to be attributed to
• 0:30
  certain players. And let's start with the notable free to
• 0:34
  departure of Kenny Gamwell, a dependable player, a fundamentally sound
• 0:38
  player who the Eagles relied on when they went to
• 0:41
  the two and formative offense.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know that that loss.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Should be overlooked, but they have players in the mix,
• 0:49
  and including a second year pro who the Eagles drafted
• 0:52
  in the fourth round last year. But let's start to
• 0:55
  break things down. Obviously, Saquon Barkley headlines this unit. This
• 1:00
  is a player who etched his name in NFL history
• 1:04
  last season rushing for two thousand and five yards, only
• 1:08
  nine players to accomplish that feat, eclipsing the two thousand
• 1:11
  yard rushing barrier. And the offense obviously ran through Saquon
• 1:16
  Barkley last year. It was a run centric approach and
• 1:19
  the Eagles deviated from their philosophical approach of taking to
• 1:23
  the air, primarily really by necessity, right. I mean, the
• 1:27
  passing game wasn't up to snuff early on, and it
• 1:32
  was Nick Sirianni who was receptive to the feedback from
• 1:35
  his offensive line, and they came out of the bye
• 1:39
  week swinging.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Really hitting the ground running literally, and that's where he
• 1:43
  saw the shift in the offense.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: So Saquon Barkley accounted for four hundred and eighty two
• 1:51
  touches last season, if you're including the postseason, that's an
• 1:55
  exorbitant amount of touches and probably not sustainable. Yes, Saquon
• 1:59
  Barkley is perhaps the best running back in the NFL
• 2:02
  twenty eight years old, and you would expect to see
• 2:06
  much of the same with this offensive line currently in place.
• 2:09
  But when you hear the word evolve, which is thrown
• 2:12
  around from everyone from Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown, I
• 2:16
  think you have to wonder what that could mean and
• 2:19
  will there be some different nuances and different elements added
• 2:23
  to the offense this year. When you hear evolve, it
• 2:26
  certainly doesn't pertain.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: To the running game.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I would imagine that the passing game is going to
• 2:30
  have a little bit more of a prominent.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Role this season, and that's not a bad thing for
• 2:37
  Saquon bark.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: We, nor is it an issue for the Eagles offense, because,
• 2:41
  like we mentioned, four hundred and eighty two touches for
• 2:45
  three hundred and forty five carries in the regular season,
• 2:47
  that's not a recipe for sustained success. And I think
• 2:51
  for preservation purposes, to ensure that Saquon Barkley is operating
• 2:56
  at his peak, you want to ensure that you're not
• 3:00
  You're limiting, you're minimizing the wear and tear.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Throughout the season.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I think Saquon Barkley's gonna have a really big year,
• 3:07
  but I think you also need to mix in some
• 3:09
  different running backs into the equation. And I also think
• 3:13
  that the passing game needs to see an uptick in usage.
• 3:17
  Really but when you look at Saquon Barkley and what
• 3:22
  he's sort of revealed during the spring sessions, he's taken
• 3:26
  a different approach this year in terms of his off
• 3:30
  season preparation. He's prioritized recovery and rest and balancing that
• 3:36
  with his training, which he said in earlier years he
• 3:40
  was highly competitive. If he saw Derrick Henry, the running
• 3:43
  back for the Baltimore Ravens now formerly with the Titans,
• 3:47
  you know, posting running hills or something like that, Or
• 3:50
  he saw Christian McCaffrey, who's with the forty nine ers,
• 3:54
  posting something on social media. Saquon would feel the need
• 3:57
  to one up them and that that's that competitive nature. Nowadays,
• 4:00
  he's content with scaling it back and knowing when to
• 4:03
  rest and being strategic in his uh in his activity
• 4:08
  during the offseason, and he talked about leaning on his resources, trainers, coaches,
• 4:13
  fellow running backs, and so when you hear all of
• 4:15
  those things, that has to be music to the years,
• 4:17
  to not only the Eagles, but also the fan base.
• 4:21
  In case you were wondering about the mileage and had
• 4:24
  some concerns about how that was going to to sort
• 4:27
  of translate into this season, well, I think you should.
• 4:30
  You should feel pretty comfortable with that. And we have
• 4:33
  yet to see what the offense is going to look like.
• 4:36
  The offense. Saquon bark is still going to have a
• 4:38
  heavy hand in this offense and be critical to the
• 4:41
  team's success. But I think to grow and evolve you
• 4:44
  have to mix in some more passing game elements and
• 4:47
  some new.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Wrinkles to keep things fresh.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: So I'm expecting Saquon to have another big season, not
• 4:54
  quite two thousand yards, but he's going to have a
• 4:57
  big role. But the other player behind him is one
• 5:00
  that I want to get into here, because that's going
• 5:02
  to be in all likelihood, at least in my opinion,
• 5:04
  Will Shipley, the second year running back out of Clemson
• 5:07
  with Eagles drafted in the fourth round.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Anybody who's paid attention to my Rookie.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Diary series should be pretty well versed on Shipley and
• 5:14
  some of the the.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Ebbs and flows of the season. You're able to kind
• 5:17
  of see the season through his eyes, and you see
• 5:22
  a player who really fixates on his role. He's obsessed
• 5:25
  with getting better, if the spring practices were any indication,
• 5:28
  and he never want to make too much of that.
• 5:30
  He's going to have a role.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I think his ability to be a pass catcher an
• 5:34
  effective one and get into the open field and know
• 5:37
  exactly where to go and what to do with it
• 5:39
  when you get the football turn up field, that's going
• 5:41
  to be paramount if the Eagles are going to evolve,
• 5:46
  because I think you need to incorporate the running backs
• 5:48
  in the passing game and talk about the middle of
• 5:51
  the field and going vertical.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: And stretching teams vertically.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I think that those are important facets that you're going
• 5:57
  to want to include if you're Kevin Patulo, Eagles new
• 6:00
  offensive coordinator. But Shipley has dynamic and explosive qualities that
• 6:04
  I think are really going to complement Barkley. We don't
• 6:07
  often talk about it enough, but Shipley does have some
• 6:11
  home run hitting ability, and when you look.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: At when you look at the change of pace.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Running backs around the NFL, it's more or less a
• 6:20
  player who has a different type of skill set than
• 6:22
  the starting running back. So if Barkway needs to be
• 6:25
  spelled in the middle of the game, one would expect
• 6:29
  Shipley to be inserted as the number two one. The
• 6:31
  team drafted him, so they've already invested a year, and
• 6:35
  he's younger and offers a different quality than the player
• 6:38
  we're going to talk about momentarily, and I think that
• 6:41
  it forces defenses to play the Eagles differently when you
• 6:44
  have to account for a player like that. So I
• 6:47
  think Shipley's going to be a prime candidate for a
• 6:50
  breakout season, and breakout the term breakout is always relative
• 6:54
  because he's not going to significantly eat into Saquon Barkway's
• 6:58
  workload barring something unforeseen. But I think that the future
• 7:02
  is extremely bright for will Shipley and I can't wait
• 7:04
  to see what his role is going to look like
• 7:07
  this season because he does have a lot to offer.
• 7:09
  It's always going to come down to pass protection because
• 7:12
  that was something that Kenny gang Well was pretty effective at.
• 7:14
  And if Shipley can prove that he's more refined in
• 7:18
  that area this year, he's going to have no problem
• 7:21
  stepping up and taking that number two running back mantle.
• 7:25
  And he also has that second year of working with
• 7:27
  running backs coach Jamal Singleton, So this offseason I am
• 7:32
  expecting I suspect that he worked on some of those
• 7:36
  details to make sure that he's able to get to
• 7:38
  training camp and really.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Not miss a beat.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So that's the second running back, the third running back.
• 7:45
  And this opinion may vary depending on the person, but
• 7:51
  aj Dillon the veteran running back. He was with the
• 7:53
  Green Bay Packers. He was a relatively high draft pick.
• 7:57
  I think he was a second round pick. Actually been
• 8:00
  productive in his career, you can't take that away. He
• 8:03
  played four seasons in Green Bay. Six foot, two hundred
• 8:07
  and forty seven pounds. This is the player who rushed
• 8:09
  for two thousand, four hundred and twenty eight yards and
• 8:11
  sixteen touchdowns over his four seasons at work. But I
• 8:16
  believe that his job description is going to look a
• 8:18
  little bit different than when he was working in concert
• 8:20
  with Aaron Jones in Green Bay, because first, he has
• 8:24
  to prove that there's no lingering effects from the neck
• 8:27
  injury that sidelined him for the twenty twenty four season.
• 8:30
  You also have to wonder how he's going to return
• 8:32
  from that and handle contact when the pads come on.
• 8:36
  But I also view him as a player that has
• 8:39
  a relatively redundant skill set to Barkley, that power running element,
• 8:43
  and we talked about Shipley being that change of pace option.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: What would be really redundant.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I think for the Eagles to turn to aj Dillon
• 8:51
  to spell Saquon Barkley during the season, I think ideally
• 8:54
  he would slot in as the number three running back.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: He's you know, he's adequate in pass protection.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: He can get he can even catch the football a
• 9:01
  little bit, but he's that between the tackles bruiser I
• 9:05
  can obviously see a role for him as a closer
• 9:08
  in certain situations.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: But he's a player that I do think will have
• 9:11
  a role.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I just don't see him cutting into Will Shipley's opportunities
• 9:16
  or development. So that's kind of where I have aj
• 9:18
  Dillon slotted. I have him behind Barkley and behind Will Shipley,
• 9:22
  and I do have some questions that we're going to
• 9:24
  soon learn about when we get to training camp in
• 9:27
  terms of his overall health and recovery. The next player
• 9:32
  that we're going to talk about is a full back,
• 9:34
  the only true fullback on the roster, the only full
• 9:37
  back listed on the ninety man roster, and that's Ben
• 9:40
  Van Sumron. He's a player that's garnered quite a bit
• 9:43
  of intrigued. He's immensely athletic, he can catch the football,
• 9:46
  he has explosive qualities. He over the offseason transitioned full
• 9:51
  time to full back. He was a linebacker the last
• 9:54
  two summers for the Eagles, and what you see with
• 9:57
  Ben is otherworldly athletics at cleticism. And let's not forget
• 10:02
  this is a player who was in the running back
• 10:04
  room at Michigan became a linebacker at Michigan State Eagles
• 10:08
  had him as a linebacker. He was a raw player there,
• 10:10
  but you can see the intriguing athletic qualities that he
• 10:14
  brings to the table. And simply stated, you're not going
• 10:17
  to find a fullback around the NFL that can do
• 10:20
  what Van sumer and can do athletically. So when you
• 10:23
  see that, you take all that into consideration. You have
• 10:26
  to wonder if there's a plan to exploit his skill set.
• 10:31
  And I do think that there has to be a
• 10:33
  usage plan here. Even with an offense that has an
• 10:37
  immense amount of firepower, I still think you can find
• 10:40
  a way to incorporate him into what they're building offensively.
• 10:46
  It's also worth noting that he did suffer a season
• 10:49
  ending knee injury during a November practice, but he did
• 10:53
  get his feet wet during OTAs didn't participate in team drills,
• 10:58
  but that is a sign, a promise, sign of the
• 11:02
  player who's recovering and making his way back, and I
• 11:05
  would imagine that during training camp you're going to see
• 11:08
  next to no limitations there.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: We'll have to wait and see on that, but he's
• 11:12
  definitely going to be worth monitoring.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: I should also add that he did look explosive and fluid,
• 11:18
  and he had.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: That burst coming off the knee injury. That's a great sign.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I think he's a player that everybody should have highlighted
• 11:25
  in the circle as we move towards training camp and
• 11:27
  the preseason. The next one is Keelan Robinson, the second
• 11:32
  year of running back who the Eagles claimed off waivers
• 11:34
  from the Jacksonville Jaguars about earlier this month. Actually, I
• 11:40
  think that his when you look at Kielan Robinson, I
• 11:43
  don't necessarily do it through the lens of a pure
• 11:45
  running back. You should have special teams value at the forefront,
• 11:50
  because that's what he really brings to the table.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: He's a really good kick returner. He runs at four
• 11:55
  to four to two.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: He also offers the ability to be a gunner, which
• 11:59
  is notable because a Keele Ringo, who was a standout
• 12:02
  gunner last season could very well be starting this year
• 12:06
  and Sidney Brown was the other gunner and he could
• 12:08
  also be starting this year. So there is a pathway
• 12:12
  to Quielan Robinson perhaps carving out a role, but he's
• 12:15
  gonna have to really impress in the third phase to
• 12:18
  force the Eagle's hand to keep what I would imagine
• 12:20
  would be four running backs here. He's was a fifth
• 12:24
  round pick last year. He's twenty five years old, and
• 12:29
  I think when you look at what he can potentially bring,
• 12:31
  it's that home run hitting ability on kick returns and
• 12:36
  those I mean, that third phase value that's gonna really
• 12:40
  endear himself to Michael Clay. But again, when you're that
• 12:43
  far down to the pecking order, you really have to
• 12:45
  maximize those opportunities and catch the coach's eye and force
• 12:50
  the Eagles hand to go heavy at that position. Next
• 12:54
  on the list, we have Montreal Johnson Junior, who is
• 12:57
  a rookie free agent signing University of Florida. I really
• 13:00
  think that when you look at some of these guys
• 13:02
  who are vying for these depth roles.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Johnson Junior, to me, is the most intriguing.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Carried one hundred times for five hundred ninety three yards
• 13:11
  and six touchdowns last season for the Gators, thirteen catches
• 13:14
  for sixty four yards.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: As a pass catcher. He's five to eleven, two.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Hundred and twelve pounds and he runs a four to
• 13:20
  four to one at least that's what he caught in
• 13:22
  the NFL scouting combine, and I like that he is
• 13:24
  a rugged between the tackles runner who punishes defenders and
• 13:28
  also demonstrates solid contact balance.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: So if you're looking for a.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Cost effective option who could potentially fulfill that AJ Dillon
• 13:36
  type of role, Johnson Junior would be that player.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: But we're not there yet.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: He has to really make his mark in training camp
• 13:44
  to hold on, and like I said about Keeland Robinson,
• 13:51
  opportunities are going to be at a premium here.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: So he's going to have to make them count.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: But I think that that is an intriguing option as
• 13:59
  a player that I can can't wait to see. I mean,
• 14:01
  training camp, he's probably not going to get many rests,
• 14:03
  but in the preseason that's where I think he's really
• 14:05
  going to flash. There's another undrafted running back who joined
• 14:10
  the Eagles this spring named Shan Derek Powell from Central Arkansas. Now,
• 14:14
  his size is atypical for running backs. He's five to
• 14:18
  seven point eighty three and he's twitched up an electric
• 14:23
  in space. Last season, he rushed for three hundred and
• 14:26
  forty three yards and fourteen touchdowns on one hundred and
• 14:29
  sixty four carries, and he also caught thirty six passes
• 14:32
  for three hundred and eighteen yards and three touchdowns. If
• 14:35
  you want to kind of look at something that's going
• 14:38
  to highlight his big play potential, look at the season
• 14:41
  before where he also cleared the one thousand yard one
• 14:44
  thousand yard rushing barrier on just one hundred and thirty
• 14:46
  six carries. So he's somebody that I'm expecting to really
• 14:52
  garner some interests based on what he's able to do
• 14:54
  in the receiving game and practice. I think there's going
• 14:57
  to be some dump offs that he's going to be
• 14:58
  able to elude defenders and take some to the house.
• 15:01
  While working with the fourth team and in the preseason,
• 15:04
  you may see him get some looks to kick returner,
• 15:06
  which he saw a couple of opportunities during the second
• 15:10
  at OTA session that was open to the media. He
• 15:13
  was also back there with Danny Gray the wide receiver
• 15:16
  and maybe Montreal Johnson Junior actually as well. So we'll
• 15:20
  have to wait and see if that's something that they're
• 15:22
  going to kick the tires on an experiment during the summer.
• 15:25
  But much like we talked about Robinson and Johnson Junior,
• 15:30
  they're going to have to really maximize these opportunities if
• 15:33
  they want to establish staying.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Power in some capacity. Rounding things out, we have Lou Nichols.
• 15:40
  Lou Nichols should be a.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Familiar player because the Eagles signed him to the practice
• 15:45
  squad in twenty twenty three, and he's really been on
• 15:48
  and off the.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Practice squad since.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: He was a seventh round pick originally of the Green
• 15:52
  Bay Packers, taking two hundred and thirty fifth overall.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Didn't make the.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Team out of camp that year, but has been on
• 15:57
  the Eagles practice squad on and off for the past
• 16:00
  two seasons. And this is a player who had five
• 16:04
  and twenty pounds. I like his compact bill, the contact
• 16:08
  balance is there. He's familiar. We talked about Will Shipley
• 16:11
  being familiar with Jamal Singleton. Lou Nichols also has had
• 16:15
  plenty of experience working with Singleton and knows his coaching points.
• 16:20
  And I have to think that he's been able to
• 16:23
  work on some things now. He had a decent summer
• 16:25
  last year, but he was unable to crack the fifty
• 16:27
  three man roster. And I think that it's notable that
• 16:30
  he's now getting another look. But I'm not so sure
• 16:34
  if he's going to get looks over. You know, some
• 16:37
  of the fresh faced rookies like shan Derreck Powell or
• 16:40
  Montreal Johnson Junior. Nevertheless, I think lou Nichols is an
• 16:44
  interesting player, especially when you watch the preseason. Oddly enough,
• 16:47
  despite having a good camp, in a solid preseason, he
• 16:50
  was largely out. He was out of football for most
• 16:53
  of the year, and the Eagles brought it back on
• 16:55
  the practice squad last year.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I believe he was back.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Home in Michigan when because I remember talking to him
• 17:02
  and welcome, welcome to hing, welcoming him back to the
• 17:06
  Eagles when when I stopped by his locker and he
• 17:10
  mentioned that he was kind of just at home and
• 17:13
  paying attention to the Eagles obviously, and staying ready for
• 17:16
  his next opportunity.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: And he now has another one.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: He's back with the Eagles for his second summer, and
• 17:22
  I'm curious to see how that is going to pan out.
• 17:26
  But there you have it. That's the Eagles running back
• 17:28
  room right now, folks. And they have all different types
• 17:31
  of players and all different types of roles here that
• 17:35
  I think that they're going to be equipped to handle.
• 17:38
  Obviously Saquon Barkley leading the charge, Will Shipley as a
• 17:42
  dynamic change of pace runner aj Dillon is that powerful
• 17:45
  runner who can be that.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Close with the Eagles need.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: And then I just mentioned a host of young players
• 17:50
  that have varying degrees of intrigue that they're going to
• 17:53
  get their opportunities as well. So that's something of stay
• 17:56
  tuned on and monitored throughout the summer.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: But I really like the.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: The outlook of this running back room heading into training camp,
• 18:04
  and we'll have to wait and see. There's gonna be
• 18:06
  some competition there for sure, but stay tuned for tomorrow's
• 18:09
  episode where we get into the wide receiver group and
• 18:12
  start to break that down for you.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: This has been the Czecho daily again.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Stay hydrated and try and stay cool out there today,
• 18:21
  but I will talk to everybody tomorrow.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Have a great day.