Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: Assessing Eagles Passing Game Without A.J. Brown
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Football and four powered by the Inside of the Birds podcast.
- 0:03Speaker 1: You can get that on all podcasting platforms. It's brought
- 0:06Speaker 1: to you by the Fanatics Sportsbook at Ocean Casino Resort
- 0:09Speaker 1: in Atlantic City. It's the best place for game day
- 0:12Speaker 1: including Game seven tomorrow night Thunder and Spurs and watch
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- 0:20Speaker 1: game Day hits different at Ocean Football and four powered
- 0:23Speaker 1: by the Inside the Birds podcast. Adam Kaplan is here
- 0:27Speaker 1: for a Friday edition. Birds back on the practice field
- 0:30Speaker 1: today and Adam, you and I talked on Tuesday about
- 0:34Speaker 1: the offense and what it will be looking like and
- 0:36Speaker 1: how that will be the focus of these OTAs we
- 0:39Speaker 1: get any insight on what their offense might look like,
- 0:42Speaker 1: including what this new past game might look like when
- 0:46Speaker 1: AJ Brown is in fact out the door, as we
- 0:49Speaker 1: all anticipate what is left over and what does it
- 0:52Speaker 1: look like for Jalen Hurts.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Yeah, so look it when we see AJ Brown trade.
- 1:00Speaker 2: And by the way, it.
- 1:02Speaker 3: Won't be done for Cap coversus until June second, it
- 1:06Speaker 3: can if they want cap relief, which is why they're waiting.
- 1:09Speaker 2: They have to wait till Tuesday.
- 1:10Speaker 3: And also it has to pass the physical presumably with
- 1:13Speaker 3: the Patriots.
- 1:13Speaker 2: Where he's highly likely to go. But once that's over
- 1:16Speaker 2: with Mike, you know, let's take a look at post
- 1:18Speaker 2: A J.
- 1:18Speaker 1: Brown.
- 1:19Speaker 2: What's it going to look like.
- 1:20Speaker 3: Well, we know that Makayle Lemon will be a starter, Okay,
- 1:25Speaker 3: what they don't have is that physical presence at wide receiver,
- 1:29Speaker 3: at least as a starter. Now, when they go eleven personnel,
- 1:33Speaker 3: that's where Don Davian wits, who they've guaranteed twelve million
- 1:37Speaker 3: over two seasons.
- 1:38Speaker 1: Two.
- 1:39Speaker 2: He'll do that.
- 1:40Speaker 3: He's not he's just under six foot two, he's long, blanky.
- 1:44Speaker 3: He doesn't run fast, but he runs after the catch.
- 1:46Speaker 2: He gives him a physical.
- 1:47Speaker 3: President says, when they go what I call the speed package,
- 1:50Speaker 3: that's DeVante Smith.
- 1:53Speaker 2: That could be Barkley. You could go tak Pigs be.
- 1:56Speaker 3: Honestly to be or will Shipley runs on a straight line.
- 1:59Speaker 3: But then you go with Hollywood Brown, you go with
- 2:03Speaker 3: Eli Stowers. He's not gonna play a lot as a rookie.
- 2:05Speaker 3: Mic Let's not forget that dak Ertz played forty one
- 2:08Speaker 3: per twenty thirteen as a rookie, the second round pick, ironically,
- 2:15Speaker 3: so he's not gonna play a lot of stars, but
- 2:16Speaker 3: when he does, he might play that exposition.
- 2:20Speaker 2: That's a J.
- 2:20Speaker 3: Brown's position. Dak Ertz played it for the Eagles. He
- 2:24Speaker 3: did a little bit of a Doddard's line up in
- 2:25Speaker 3: that you don't line him up in a lot of
- 2:27Speaker 3: steps there.
- 2:28Speaker 2: But you can do that. So there are ways alleviate it. Obviously,
- 2:33Speaker 2: it's gonna look a lot different. You don't have a J.
- 2:36Speaker 3: Brown who could not He's not a speed guy. He's
- 2:39Speaker 3: just a physical president who gets open and separates. But
- 2:44Speaker 3: you don't have that guy, but you DeVante could run.
- 2:46Speaker 3: His past targets are going to go god it. We'd
- 2:48Speaker 3: even mention him as a slot ted end or as
- 2:51Speaker 3: an in line ted end order playing the wide position.
- 2:53Speaker 3: You've got a lot of formation variations. There are a
- 2:55Speaker 3: lot of things you can do, Mike. But it's gonna
- 2:57Speaker 3: look completely different.
- 3:00Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously without aj you know you go with Ward
- 3:03Speaker 1: dev Let me ask you about Devontae RYL. Smith. There's
- 3:05Speaker 1: been a lot of talk of you know, what is
- 3:07Speaker 1: he by himself without a J. Brown? You know he
- 3:09Speaker 1: has been he was the guy here, but he was
- 3:12Speaker 1: a rookie that year. He was here without a J.
- 3:14Speaker 1: Brown for a year, but he was a rookie. Do
- 3:16Speaker 1: you think that he is a wide receiver, one that
- 3:20Speaker 1: can make all the plays and make all the routes,
- 3:22Speaker 1: make all the catches.
- 3:24Speaker 2: Well, he's not gonna play in a J. Brown's position.
- 3:27Speaker 2: He's just not. He's not his position. He he'll play.
- 3:30Speaker 2: He's the Z receiver you could. There's certain things you
- 3:34Speaker 2: can do. Again, Towers can line up in that position.
- 3:37Speaker 2: Doter can line up in it a little bit.
- 3:40Speaker 3: But he doesn't have to be a quote unquote he's
- 3:42Speaker 3: gonna get pren targets. To answer your question, they're gonna
- 3:45Speaker 3: go up because you're vacating a lot of pass targets.
- 3:47Speaker 3: So someone's gonna gonna spread him around. Smith will go up,
- 3:50Speaker 3: and he should will go up, mkay. Lemon will will
- 3:53Speaker 3: play a lot as a rookie, and then you know which,
- 3:56Speaker 3: as I said, and Garris Cooper right had mentioned, we'll
- 3:58Speaker 3: play a little bit. Uh a Loga Moore is a
- 4:01Speaker 3: major long shot.
- 4:02Speaker 2: To make it there. It's good.
- 4:03Speaker 3: He'd have to have a great camp. He's not a
- 4:06Speaker 3: special teams player, and that's a problem. So that's an issue.
- 4:10Speaker 3: But you put overall Mike when you look at it.
- 4:13Speaker 3: I think we're overrating that question because you know people
- 4:16Speaker 3: are looking for stuff to talk. Oh could he take
- 4:18Speaker 3: ij Brown spot? He's not the same player, not in size,
- 4:22Speaker 3: but in ability, route running, explosiveness.
- 4:25Speaker 2: By the way, you could throw.
- 4:26Speaker 3: Deep dim he can do that, and you know Jalen
- 4:29Speaker 3: loves to do that. Now the offensive scheme is going
- 4:31Speaker 3: to change because it's West Coast, more inside routes. He
- 4:34Speaker 3: could run slants, by the way, when he plays inside,
- 4:38Speaker 3: his numbers are very good historically, and you can play
- 4:43Speaker 3: double slots with Lemon and Smith. So there are a
- 4:46Speaker 3: lot of things you can do here. But just understand, Mike,
- 4:50Speaker 3: nobody can.
- 4:51Speaker 2: Replace Ader Brown. They don't have anyone who do what
- 4:53Speaker 2: he can do.
- 4:54Speaker 1: Talk with Adam Kaplan for today's football at four here
- 4:57Speaker 1: on the Sports bashes.
- 4:58Speaker 3: Uh.
- 4:58Speaker 1: One of the other guys you know, Hollywood Brown. Do
- 5:00Speaker 1: you think that he's a guy that has a role
- 5:02Speaker 1: on this team or is he a guy that will
- 5:05Speaker 1: not even guaranteed to make the team.
- 5:08Speaker 2: Oh no, he's on the team.
- 5:09Speaker 3: I'm gonna give you five million dollars wide. They guarantee
- 5:11Speaker 3: five millions. It's not getting till that's not gonna happen.
- 5:14Speaker 3: He is there, true shot shot play guy. Now, it's
- 5:18Speaker 3: been a little weird with him. He's been hurt a
- 5:20Speaker 3: lot and he has not been the lead deep threat
- 5:23Speaker 3: that the Cardinals have thought they thought they had or
- 5:26Speaker 3: Ravens thought they had, not averaging like seventeen or eighteen
- 5:29Speaker 3: yards per catch like we thought he would.
- 5:31Speaker 2: But he's been hurt a lot. He can do that.
- 5:33Speaker 2: He could still run. He goes sink he can. That's
- 5:36Speaker 2: why they guarantee five million.
- 5:38Speaker 3: He's not gonna get a lot of targets, Mike, But
- 5:42Speaker 3: as I said, with when they go to their speed package, he'll.
- 5:44Speaker 2: Be in there and you know what, and he can
- 5:46Speaker 2: line up as a vertical slot. You can do that
- 5:49Speaker 2: with him.
- 5:50Speaker 3: So they've got a lot of things they can do with.
- 5:52Speaker 2: This group, Mike. I'm really looking forward to what Seohn
- 5:55Speaker 2: Mannion sees and believes and his coaches.
- 5:59Speaker 3: And let's not forget they've got a brand new coaching
- 6:01Speaker 3: staff in offense.
- 6:02Speaker 2: Right for the most.
- 6:03Speaker 3: Part, they've got a new staff and it's gonna their
- 6:06Speaker 3: thought process. Other than Jamal Siggles to the running backs
- 6:10Speaker 3: coaches back Agen, it's really good. It's pretty much a
- 6:12Speaker 3: whole new staff.
- 6:13Speaker 1: Yeah, where do you fit the tight ends here? Adam?
- 6:17Speaker 1: We saw what Tucker crafted in green in Green Bay
- 6:22Speaker 1: and the tight end usage there. How does that translate
- 6:26Speaker 1: into this offense in your mind? With with Jalen Hurts
- 6:30Speaker 1: and his you know, propensity to not want to throw
- 6:32Speaker 1: the ball over the middle.
- 6:34Speaker 3: I know, but you know what, Mike, I'm gonna defend
- 6:36Speaker 3: him a little bit. Okay, And I understand God did
- 6:39Speaker 3: most of his damage inside the twenty But again, as
- 6:42Speaker 3: we've pointed out for like eight months now, if you coaches,
- 6:46Speaker 3: the way it was taught to me is that we
- 6:48Speaker 3: always isolate throws. If you isolate certain throws last season,
- 6:52Speaker 3: you go, wow, I don't know why he can't do
- 6:55Speaker 3: more of that. Like the Charger game. Yes, he started
- 6:57Speaker 3: over four times, but he made some great throws going
- 7:00Speaker 3: back to twenty twenty four Game one against Green Bay
- 7:03Speaker 3: when games were Hurts his career, all sorts of throws
- 7:06Speaker 3: all over the field, the Pittsburgh game two years ago,
- 7:09Speaker 3: but not maybe.
- 7:09Speaker 2: His best game as a professional. Super Bowl. He can't.
- 7:13Speaker 3: He's capable of doing it. But on your point, Mike,
- 7:16Speaker 3: will he do it?
- 7:17Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 7:17Speaker 2: Nobody touched that other than the quarterback.
- 7:20Speaker 3: But as far as Dodder, yes, now I understand Sean
- 7:23Speaker 3: Manning did not call the plays. It was only his
- 7:25Speaker 3: second year coaching. He was their quarterbacks coach last year.
- 7:28Speaker 3: But in the McVeigh offense, which is the genesis of
- 7:33Speaker 3: Mannion's career, that that's where you're gonna see a lot
- 7:37Speaker 3: of this stuff. The tight end did get the ball.
- 7:39Speaker 3: Tyler Higby got the ball. You know, McVeigh, remember comes
- 7:44Speaker 3: from he really does come from the Shadohan system, but
- 7:47Speaker 3: he changed it to his own system, more of a
- 7:50Speaker 3: McVeigh system. Now it's really his own system. And then
- 7:54Speaker 3: you know, man will take some stuff from Matt Lafleur
- 7:57Speaker 3: and then don't forget the passive game coordinated come strictly
- 8:01Speaker 3: from the Shanahan system.
- 8:02Speaker 2: So there's gonna be a blend of both.
- 8:06Speaker 3: And yeah, I answer your question, like the move this forward,
- 8:09Speaker 3: I expect fully the tight ends will be more involved.
- 8:12Speaker 3: But it sounds great, Mike, but Hurts has to pull
- 8:17Speaker 3: the trigger.
- 8:18Speaker 1: Question I get a lot, I'll get it to you.
- 8:20Speaker 1: Adam is what about the running backs over the years, Hey,
- 8:23Speaker 1: they're gonna throw the ball to the backs more, They're
- 8:25Speaker 1: gonna throw the ball. No, they're not, and they weren't
- 8:28Speaker 1: lying they have it. So does Sean Mannion want to
- 8:31Speaker 1: get his backs more involved in catching the football?
- 8:35Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna answer it this way. The Eagles
- 8:37Speaker 2: have tried to get.
- 8:38Speaker 3: Their screen game going over the years, but they haven't been.
- 8:40Speaker 2: Able to do it for whatever reason.
- 8:41Speaker 3: That's that's a thirty for thirty short mic on why
- 8:43Speaker 3: not then it happened. We expected the screen game to
- 8:47Speaker 3: be there a little bit and Shipley could do very
- 8:51Speaker 3: well that turning his hips getting up deel is explosive.
- 8:54Speaker 2: Barkley can do it.
- 8:55Speaker 3: Doesn't have the greatest hands in the world, very inconsistent hands,
- 8:58Speaker 3: and you know, pigs By's not much past catcher. But yeah,
- 9:03Speaker 3: I answer your question. I expect the bats to be
- 9:05Speaker 3: involved a little bit, but we've been full before.
- 9:08Speaker 2: Hurts is not a checkdown quarterback.
- 9:10Speaker 3: He doesn't like doing it.
- 9:12Speaker 2: But it's all about design, though you have to put
- 9:14Speaker 2: it in. That's the thing.
- 9:15Speaker 3: That's how people don't seem to understand. He doesn't have
- 9:18Speaker 3: to check it down, put it in the offense. We
- 9:20Speaker 3: expected to be in there.
- 9:21Speaker 1: All right, Well guess what and you mentioned you know Shipley,
- 9:26Speaker 1: I don't know there's a guy that they really haven't
- 9:27Speaker 1: had any role for. Bigsby doesn't catch the ball. Uh,
- 9:31Speaker 1: you know they didn't throw him the ball either. And
- 9:34Speaker 1: we know Barkley has struggled in catching the football. I
- 9:36Speaker 1: mean he has two drops that stand out in games
- 9:39Speaker 1: that they lost. But Shipley, you wonder if that's a
- 9:42Speaker 1: guy that entices Manning to say, you know what, I
- 9:44Speaker 1: gotta find a little package for you.
- 9:46Speaker 3: Well, he you know, that's a good question because he
- 9:49Speaker 3: doesn't know.
- 9:49Speaker 2: You know, Manus stop playing with Shipley before this. This
- 9:52Speaker 2: is the first exposure to him in Otazo and then
- 9:55Speaker 2: watching the Stave.
- 9:56Speaker 3: But yeah, the thing is Mike, Yeah.
- 9:58Speaker 2: There to finish.
- 10:00Speaker 3: Not gonna have aj Brown, But they have such a
- 10:03Speaker 3: good pass stargut group without him, they just don't have
- 10:06Speaker 3: its physical presence and ability.
- 10:08Speaker 2: But also John D. Flippo taught me this.
- 10:12Speaker 3: You don't have to have so much talent. It's about
- 10:14Speaker 3: how you use it. Flip in twenty fifteen did such
- 10:18Speaker 3: a phenomenal job with very little talent around him. You
- 10:20Speaker 3: wound up getting a head coaching interview because he did
- 10:22Speaker 3: such a good job. You made Gary Barnage.
- 10:24Speaker 2: You remember Gary Barnage with a third string tight end
- 10:27Speaker 2: end career.
- 10:28Speaker 3: Yep, right, John Flip used him, made him into a
- 10:31Speaker 3: Pro Bowl because I had nobody else.
- 10:33Speaker 2: He had to get to the football scheme him open
- 10:35Speaker 2: good coaching.
- 10:35Speaker 1: All right, man, Well, obviously everybody's very interested in what
- 10:39Speaker 1: this new look offense will be. And then I guess
- 10:42Speaker 1: the next thing. By the time you are back on
- 10:44Speaker 1: for football of four a week, Well, you'll be back
- 10:47Speaker 1: on Tuesday. But on Friday, will aj Brown still be here?
- 10:53Speaker 2: Well, Mike, again, Tuesday is the first day.
- 10:56Speaker 1: Just so you know, Mike, Tuesday, four four o'clock, you'll
- 10:59Speaker 1: be on. I think it's Tuesday at four oh one.
- 11:01Speaker 1: And they can treat them something like that.
- 11:03Speaker 2: No, they could do it.
- 11:04Speaker 3: No, no, Mike, it actually is on this thing. It's
- 11:08Speaker 3: gotta be any time on Tuesday. But understand, there's no time.
- 11:14Speaker 2: There's no time.
- 11:14Speaker 3: There's no deadline to do this. It's not a trade
- 11:18Speaker 3: deadline thing, so they don't have to do a Tuesday.
- 11:20Speaker 2: But for cap purposes, the earliest they could do it
- 11:22Speaker 2: is on Tuesday.
- 11:22Speaker 3: And by the way, I did enjoy your talk with
- 11:26Speaker 3: Bob Lenkle. I really enjoyed that. As I am in
- 11:28Speaker 3: my car on my long drive. So I did enjoy that.
- 11:31Speaker 3: But one thing, Bader is making thirteen and a half
- 11:34Speaker 3: or twelve and a half I think, or thirteen million
- 11:36Speaker 3: in twenty twenty seven. And it's all guaranteed. Don't forget
- 11:39Speaker 3: about that.
- 11:40Speaker 1: Well, everybody in baseball is always guaranteed. But Baier. Yeah,
- 11:45Speaker 1: but they've been giving out ten million dollar contracts all
- 11:48Speaker 1: these guys who I know who have stunk.
- 11:50Speaker 3: You know, you know, I know, but Crippler its eighteen
- 11:53Speaker 3: homers last year.
- 11:54Speaker 1: Listen, by the way, but actually he's making ten point
- 11:56Speaker 1: two next year, ten point two.
- 12:00Speaker 3: What what was the total for Baiter?
- 12:03Speaker 1: He got two years? Yeah, two years twenty twenty point four,
- 12:09Speaker 1: So you're making this year. He was making ten point
- 12:12Speaker 1: two this year and ten point two next year.
- 12:16Speaker 2: Ten point two, Mike, I know, I don't, I know.
- 12:20Speaker 3: Baseball gems club's more willing to walk away for money,
- 12:22Speaker 3: not like the NFL teams are.
- 12:24Speaker 2: But he is so bad this year, beatter. Yeah, it's
- 12:27Speaker 2: hard to believe.
- 12:28Speaker 1: He's been terrible. One. I think he's hitting one sixty
- 12:32Speaker 1: seven right now, one sixty seven with a one ninety
- 12:35Speaker 1: six on base He's been arguably the worst player in
- 12:39Speaker 1: all of baseball. But that's why you could get him
- 12:41Speaker 1: for pennies on the dollar.
- 12:43Speaker 2: I know was so good last year.
- 12:46Speaker 3: He was also Mosher and I were like, you know what,
- 12:49Speaker 3: I could not believe Jeff files baseball than I do,
- 12:52Speaker 3: but I followed fairly closely that Jeff said, like, that's
- 12:55Speaker 3: the problem with him, he's never played this.
- 12:57Speaker 2: Well, well guess what, he's never.
- 12:58Speaker 1: Played Well, well, hey, Adam got but I know you
- 13:02Speaker 1: followed basketball Big Sixers guy who wins Game seven tomorrow night.
- 13:07Speaker 2: Oh okay, see, man, they're not losing. And by the
- 13:10Speaker 2: way I ran this, I believe you with one thing
- 13:12Speaker 2: I want to pick up with you. At one point
- 13:14Speaker 2: I ran.
- 13:14Speaker 3: This by Josh and just only for the for the
- 13:18Speaker 3: teams that that they're with Don Broski with the Phillies,
- 13:22Speaker 3: not with any other team where he did a great
- 13:24Speaker 3: job of just for the Phillies and obviously the Sixers
- 13:27Speaker 3: former GM Dallel morey, Ye, who would you say stun
- 13:30Speaker 3: a better job.
- 13:31Speaker 2: I'm just curious.
- 13:33Speaker 1: That's a good question. Well, I would have to say
- 13:38Speaker 1: Dombroski has done a better job because they've been to
- 13:41Speaker 1: the playoffs all four years.
- 13:45Speaker 2: Yeah, but just just so yeah, no, but just based
- 13:47Speaker 2: it on transactions transaction zone.
- 13:51Speaker 1: That's harder because you're under such constraints in the NBA.
- 13:54Speaker 1: With what you can do in baseball, you can stand
- 13:56Speaker 1: out contracts like they're candy. Hey you want a contra,
- 13:59Speaker 1: here you go.
- 14:00Speaker 2: That's my point.
- 14:01Speaker 1: So, I mean, I you made a great point. I've
- 14:05Speaker 1: always thought I think Maury did a better job than
- 14:08Speaker 1: he was given credit for it. But his negatives are
- 14:10Speaker 1: the two contracts that will overshadow all the good that
- 14:13Speaker 1: he did within Beide and George Well.
- 14:15Speaker 2: McCain, McCain. Look, I'm in pain watching McCain. I I
- 14:20Speaker 2: just can't believe it.
- 14:21Speaker 1: I hated that trade too, So yeah, you could add
- 14:23Speaker 1: that to the mix as well. But yeah, and I
- 14:26Speaker 1: said this the other day, I opened my show with it.
- 14:28Speaker 1: Don Brosky has done a great job of getting them
- 14:32Speaker 1: to a level, but he hasn't made that move to
- 14:35Speaker 1: get them over the top in forty years now.
- 14:38Speaker 3: Well, he's also butchered right field, Mike, He's missed on
- 14:41Speaker 3: three players very badly. You made a good point with
- 14:45Speaker 3: Avancone a couple weeks a couple of weeks ago, I
- 14:47Speaker 3: thought I enjoyed that conversation we could beat Mariy up
- 14:50Speaker 3: on a lot of things, so I do agree that
- 14:52Speaker 3: he's overrated. But to get out of that Alpha for
- 14:54Speaker 3: contract with Phenomeno, I follow cap stuff so that.
- 14:58Speaker 2: I thought he did a great job there.
- 14:59Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, this is another discussion for I just
- 15:02Speaker 3: wanted to.
- 15:02Speaker 2: Bring it up to day. But enjoyed your little conversation there.
- 15:05Speaker 1: Thank you, buddy, and I always enjoy our conversations. We'll
- 15:08Speaker 1: do it again on Tuesday, without a Monday Motion's back
- 15:12Speaker 1: for football at four here in the sports Best. Thanks
- 15:14Speaker 1: man all
- 15:16Speaker 2: Right man too.