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The DiCecco Daily: Updating Progress Of Eagles Draft Class At Training Camp · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened everybody? Welcome into another edition of Di
• 0:12
  Checko Daily. Andrew Dichecko here bringing you all the Eagles
• 0:16
  news from day six of training camp. It was another
• 0:19
  scorcher out there, with temperatures pummeling the Delaware Valley once again.
• 0:25
  The temperature during practice was about ninety degrees, but I
• 0:28
  was talking to another reporter and he said the real
• 0:31
  field temperature was about one oh three. So it's arguable
• 0:36
  that it was even hotter today than it was on
• 0:38
  Tuesday when the Eagles broke out the pads for the
• 0:41
  first time this summer. And you have to imagine what
• 0:46
  it feels like for the phooto off the eagles out
• 0:47
  there now. They were in shells today and the practice
• 0:51
  went about an hour and twenty minutes or so.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: It was a yellow practice.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: And there was a lot of information to glean, as
• 0:59
  there always is from an Eagles practice. I am an
• 1:01
  astute practice observer. Those who have read my practice observations
• 1:07
  that I post daily, hopefully it informs you on all
• 1:11
  of the ongoings each and every day that the Eagles
• 1:14
  have practice. But today I want to do something a
• 1:16
  little bit different, and I want to kind of update
• 1:20
  you on the progress of some of the Eagles draft
• 1:23
  picks thus far through six practices.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll start with obviously.
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  Speaker 1: Jahid Campbell, who the Eagles picked thirty first overall.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: And he is a head of schedule.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: The team has to be over the moon with his
• 1:38
  progress to this point. Now, if there's one thing I'll
• 1:41
  say about Campbell, it's that he plays with an edge.
• 1:45
  There's a lot of aggressiveness and they may have to harness.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: That a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: It's getting to that point because there have been a
• 1:50
  number of instances where maybe it's a trend that they
• 1:55
  may want to nip in the bud. But we'll have
• 1:56
  to wait and see, you know, if it continues. But
• 1:59
  there's enough evidence to suggest that they may want to
• 2:03
  ratchet it down to notcher two. I talked about the
• 2:06
  play the other day where he tried to punch the
• 2:09
  ball loose out of Tanner McKee's hands. Obviously he wears
• 2:12
  the red jersey. You don't touch the quarterback. Then there
• 2:15
  was a crossing route where Dallas Goddard caught the pass.
• 2:20
  Campbell was right there in coverage, but he takes god
• 2:24
  Her to the ground on a light tackle, helps him
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  up there was, of course, the play today where he
• 2:32
  soft tackled running back Keelan Robinson on a running play,
• 2:36
  and probably the most notable one, the one that really
• 2:40
  stands out, was that he knocked fullback Ben Van sumer
• 2:45
  into the ground when Van Sumerin was blocking him on
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  a running play. So, yeah, you have about four different
• 2:51
  instances here where you may want to say, okay, Jahad,
• 2:54
  he kind of gotta he gotta dial it down a
• 2:57
  little bit, tone it down. But more over, this is
• 3:00
  a player that has the athleticism and the length and
• 3:04
  he covers a lot of ground. He plays with such
• 3:06
  tenacity and vigor that you have to wonder how he's
• 3:12
  going to how quickly he can help this defense. And
• 3:15
  I believe that he can and he can help them
• 3:18
  in a multitude of ways, and today we saw the
• 3:20
  first glimpse of that multifaceted skill set that he provides.
• 3:25
  He got some second teamwork rushing off the edge as
• 3:28
  an edge rusher, so that's another added appeal that he
• 3:30
  brings to the table here. But he's listed as limited,
• 3:36
  but he's out there. He was working with the first
• 3:38
  team today alongside Jeremiah Trotter, Junior Zach Bond was out
• 3:42
  with a back injury for the second consecutive practice, but
• 3:46
  Campbell looks like he hasn't really missed a beat. Obviously,
• 3:49
  he missed some time in the spring nursing the labram
• 3:52
  surgery that he had in the offseason. But I have
• 3:55
  to tell you everything that I've seen today from the
• 3:56
  Eagles linebackers as a collective, even without out Zach Born
• 4:00
  and Nacobe Dean in the fold today na Kobe Dean
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  obviously for an extended period of time, it really it
• 4:10
  foreshadows a group that is equipped to really invigorate this
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  position for a long time. And it's very refreshing when
• 4:18
  you go back and look at the Eagles linebacking corps
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  in years past, where there was veteran cast offs, one
• 4:24
  year prove it deal signings, undrafted free agents, late round
• 4:28
  picks that the Eagles were in the past trying to
• 4:32
  sort of shoehorn into the defense and hope that it
• 4:35
  worked out. But with Campbell, it's as advertised, he's been
• 4:40
  exceptional through six practices, and we have to always throw
• 4:44
  out the caveat that it has been a limited sample size,
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  but everything that we've seen thus far, he gets a
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  very strong grade here, and I believe that he's going
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  to help this defense early in the season and eventually.
• 5:00
  What's funny about this is that they have a number
• 5:03
  of good players. So now you have to wonder what
• 5:06
  happens with the Kobe Dan Where do you put him
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  when he's healthy, when he returns. Jeremiah Trotter Junior is
• 5:11
  not going down without a fight. He's had a very
• 5:13
  solid training camp. But Jahad Campbell has been one of
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  the shining stars through the first six practices. Now in
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  the second round pick picked sixty four, Drew mccuba was
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  rotating with the first team at safety before he collided
• 5:30
  with wide receiver Danny Gray over the middle of the
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  field on a Saturday practice and he injured his shoulder.
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  Gray injured his finger. Gray has since been waved injured,
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  and Micuba has missed the practices that have followed. So
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  he missed Monday, he missed Tuesday, and he missed today Thursday.
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  I saw him working on a side field during the
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  practice with a trainer, and I saw him after practice.
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  For what it's worth, he was carrying, you know, a
• 6:00
  holder that had some water ice, so presumably he was
• 6:02
  bringing it to the safety room.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is not.
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  Speaker 1: Something that you want to rush, and we don't quite
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  know what the timetable is yet, so no need to panic. Obviously,
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  it's hard to replicate the on field reps, but there
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  are other things the Eagles can do in the interim
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  to get him up to speed, and Nick Sirianni has.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Sort of talked about that.
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  Speaker 1: He talked about, you know, walkthroughs, the value of film
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  study and mental reps. Vic Fangio has echoed a similar sentiment.
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  You never want to see a rookie, a second round
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  pick who you have high hopes for, who's learning a
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  pretty complex position in a safety in Vic Fangio's defense,
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  but the Eagles have seemingly have a plan of attack
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  for however, many practices Makuba is slated to miss. But
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  from what I've seen, and it has been a limited
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  sample size, especially since he's missed a handful of practices,
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  he's sticky in coverage. Obviously, he gives up some size,
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  especially when you see him defending the likes of Dallas Goddard,
• 7:03
  who can use his body for positioning and that veteran
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  savvy in his route running. But I often noticed that
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  Macooba is right there. He's in the hip pocket, he's
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  in their vicinity. So he does have that coverage acumen
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  that I've talked a lot about since they've drafted him,
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  and I think that's something he can bring to the fold.
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  Obviously a highly intelligent player that I think Ken he's
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  in a unique position because he does have a very
• 7:28
  high football IQ and he's instinctual in all those intangibles
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  that accompany his on field ability. So I think that
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  if there is a player that Ken grasps things and
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  absorb a defense without having to be out there physically,
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  Macooba feels like a player who is equipped.
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  Speaker 2: To do that.
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  Speaker 1: Then we have Ty Robinson, the Eagles fourth round pick,
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  taken with the one hundred and eleventh overall selection. Haven't
• 7:54
  noticed a ton of Ty Robinson. I saw a rep
• 7:57
  today where he was going against Brett Toath in sort
• 8:00
  of a one on one drill and Brett Toath won
• 8:03
  that one. He hasn't particularly stood out in eleven on
• 8:07
  elevens and team drills. Again, we saw just one day
• 8:11
  a fully padded practice and then they went to shells today.
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  They had to walk through on Wednesday, So I don't
• 8:17
  know if there's enough information there to really gauge or
• 8:20
  have an accurate assessment as to where ty Robinson is
• 8:24
  in terms of his development. But I have noticed other
• 8:27
  defensive players like Moro Jomo, like Thomas Booker. Let's say,
• 8:32
  even Gabe Hall on occasion has flashed. I thought he
• 8:35
  had his best practice Thursday and he made a couple
• 8:39
  of nice plays. Got a little bit high with this
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  pad level. But as for ty Robinson, he's going to
• 8:44
  continue to get those reps and that's really what he needs.
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  He needs to get those reps and really start to
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  develop a rhythm and work on his technique and things
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  like that. But I do believe he's going to factor
• 8:57
  into this rotation of defensive tackles. But I should say
• 9:02
  just not one way or the other. Has he really
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  stood out to me? But a player who has is
• 9:08
  a fifth round pick, taking one forty five overall. That's
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  cornerback Mac McWilliams out of Central Florida. Now, he doesn't
• 9:15
  have the size that you would expect from you know,
• 9:20
  that you typically look for in a corner He's about
• 9:22
  five ten, but he plays much bigger than that. He's
• 9:26
  largely been playing nickel. He's worked in dime a little bit.
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  Mkooba had been working in dime before he got hurt.
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  McWilliams saw some dime, has seen some Dime works since
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  then made a nice pass breakup.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was Monday.
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  Speaker 1: All these days are running together, so I apologize where
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  in a red zone drill where he deflected a pass
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  to six foot six Johnny Wilson. He had another nice
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  pass breakup today on a on a throw to tight
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  end Kylon Granson. Vic Vangio has spoken pretty highly of him.
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  What stands out to me and this is where he
• 10:00
  can't make too much of arm length and things like that,
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  because if you have instincts and you're able to anticipate
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  and break on the football, and you're tough and you're
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  willing to compete for the football when it's in the air,
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  and I think mac McWilliams even said that in his
• 10:16
  introductory press conference that when the ball's in the air,
• 10:21
  he feels that it's his. And I'm paraphrasing here, but
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  he has the mindset of a player that is going
• 10:28
  to translate to the NFL pretty seamlessly.
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  Speaker 2: And he's smart.
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  Speaker 1: And when you hear someone like Fic Fangio sort of
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  go out a little bit of praise and and other
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  coaches have as well when asked about him. I think
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  it's fair to have some optimism. Now again, you always
• 10:47
  want to temper your expectations because the Eagles have a
• 10:49
  number of defensive backs. But it seems like he's been
• 10:52
  trending in the right direction. You can see the progress.
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  Whenever he's out there, you notice him, he makes a play,
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  he's around the football. It feels like it's only a
• 11:02
  matter of time before he comes away with an interception.
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  So mac McWilliams is a player that as he continues
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  to come on, he can't help but wonder his skill set,
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  his ability to play nickel. I think he's going to
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  be a dynamic special teams player, even maybe even as
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  a gunner. But it gives Vic Vangil potential optionality and
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  what he can do with other players and how creative
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  he can get in deploying them. So the quicker he progresses,
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  I think the better that the more variance you might
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  see in terms of defensive personnel. Another fifth round pick,
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  taking one sixty one overall, linebacker Smile Mandon Junior. He
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  has really impressed me in terms of just the physicality
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  and he's always around the football. He flows to the
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  football with urgency. On Thursday, he even got some first
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  team work. And he's quick, he's athletic. I've often said this,
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  but he has the body type, he has the movement
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  skills that really suggests that he's in the mold of
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  the new age NFL linebacker. He can cover some ground,
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  he can get downhill. Unfortunately, today there wasn't much he
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  could do when Jalen Hurts took off and he sort
• 12:17
  of broke down. Jalen Hurts hits him with an ankle
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  breaking juke and there wasn't much he could do there.
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  He also in the one on one running back in
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  linebacker pass protection drills. He wasn't able to win a
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  lot of those matchups. But he is a smaller player,
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  but he's also quick, he's tough, and he's intelligent. And
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  when you play at Georgia, he played three years as
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  a starter there.
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  Speaker 2: He also helped on special teams.
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  Speaker 1: I think Samile Monden Junior is primed to carve out
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  a very critical role on special teams for the Eagles
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  this season, and he's developing pretty nicely.
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  Speaker 2: He's getting his reps.
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  Speaker 1: I think Monday, he missed practice with an illness, was
• 13:00
  limited Tuesday, and he was full go today. But again,
• 13:05
  that lends itself to that linebacking situation that I was
• 13:08
  referring to earlier. They have a lot of diversity there.
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  They have players who have differing skill sets that compliment
• 13:15
  one another. And I think he's going to be a
• 13:18
  situational piece, but I think eventually down the line you
• 13:21
  could see him potentially carve out a more prominent role.
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  Speaker 2: So he's trending in the right direction as well.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll go with Kyle McCord here and we'll round
• 13:33
  it off with that picking the sixth round one any
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  one overall, McCord has a live arm, he has a
• 13:39
  gunslinger's mentality. He's had some nice throws, and he's willing
• 13:43
  to fit the ball into tight windows. He's gotten more
• 13:46
  third team reps than Dorian Thompson Robinson has. Dorian Thompson
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  Robinson has had a handful of nice throws, he's had
• 13:53
  some nice moments. He's been up and down, and so
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  has McCord to a degree. But when he's sort of
• 14:00
  directing and piloting that third team offense, you don't get
• 14:05
  the you don't get the sense that they're gonna stall.
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  He inspires some sort of optimism that he can facilitate
• 14:11
  the football to his targets.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: And keep the offense on schedule. And that's not always
• 14:16
  the case.
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  Speaker 1: When you have thirteen quarterbacks in training camp, sometimes they're
• 14:20
  almost wasted reps. The Egals have had thirteen quarterbacks in
• 14:22
  the past that have gotten their reps have been scarce
• 14:27
  because they haven't been that effective, and you sometimes you
• 14:33
  let the offense down. Sometimes that leads it to you
• 14:37
  an unproductive series if you don't have a quarterback who
• 14:40
  can optimize the talent and run the offense. And that
• 14:44
  has not been the case for Kyle McCord. He's sometimes
• 14:48
  a little bit inaccurate, but I think he largely has
• 14:51
  has shown a willingness to fit the ball into tight
• 14:54
  spots and take some risks. That's kind of what I
• 14:57
  saw on tape from him at Syracuse, So it's sort
• 15:01
  of checked out here and manifested in the NFL. I
• 15:04
  can't wait to see what he's able to do in
• 15:05
  the preseason. And I should say that the Eagles are
• 15:07
  now a week away from the preseason opener against the
• 15:10
  Cincinnati Bengals. There's a lot of players that I can't
• 15:13
  wait to see that we've seen flashes of on the
• 15:16
  practice field that are going to get a very long
• 15:18
  look this summer in exhibition play, and I'll do a
• 15:22
  podcast on that and some players to watch as well.
• 15:24
  But I just wanted to update you on some of
• 15:26
  the Eagles draft picks and how they are progressing to
• 15:29
  this point.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: And again, I always like to throw the caveat out there.
• 15:33
  Take this for what it's worth.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: It's always six practices, but these are the updates that
• 15:39
  we have thus far.
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  Speaker 2: We have enough information, I.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Think to formulate somewhat of an opinion, and then the
• 15:45
  joint practices are always a really good gauge of where
• 15:48
  they are when they're going against another team that they
• 15:52
  haven't that they're not familiar with and in a controlled
• 15:55
  environment like that. And then the preseason also factors into
• 15:58
  the evaluation process obviously.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: But that's just an.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Update on a handful of Eagles draft picks. I've gotten
• 16:05
  asked a lot of questions about the players that I
• 16:07
  talked about, so I wanted to really focus in on them,
• 16:10
  and again, any questions you guys have on anything Eagles
• 16:15
  training camp or roster questions, anything you have, shoot an
• 16:18
  email to inside the Birds at gmail dot com and
• 16:21
  I'm glad. I'm happy to answer them for you on
• 16:24
  these podcasts. Appreciate you listening, and I'll catch you on
• 16:27
  the next one.