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The DiCecco Daily: My Breakout Eagles For 2026 · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone and welcome into another episode of the Checo Daily.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It's Andrew DiCecco, Eagles beat reporter for InsideTheBirds.com. Sunday, November 8th,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Week 9, the Eagles will be wearing their Kelly Green
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: jersey against the New York Giants. Saturday, December 19th, Week 15,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: against the Seattle Seahawks will be their black uniforms. And Thursday,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: December 24th, Week 16, against the Houston Texans that will
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: be backing the Kelly Greens. Today we're going to look
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: at breakout players on the offensive and defensive sides of
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the ball. Running back Tank Pigsby is the first player
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I want to get into today. And I look at
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Tank and the summer that he had, but also the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: glimpses that he was able to showcase last season. He
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: brings a lot of energy. There's the desperation and urgency
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: when he touches the ball. He has an unorthodox running style,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: but he fights for every yard. He doesn't go down quietly.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: He makes defenders work to bring him down. And I
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: think when you have a player like that who– adds
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a different wrinkle to the offense I think he's a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: really good complement to what they already have in Saquon
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Barkley I would imagine that if you're the Eagles you
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: want to find a way to give him more carries
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and that's certainly not going to be at the expense
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of Saquon Barkley but Bixby's a little bit of a
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: different player I don't know that you can get him
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the football consistently as a receiver that's not really his
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: game but you put him in the backfield and you
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: watch him work You don't quite know what's going to happen,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: and I still don't know entirely how he's going to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: transition to this wide zone concepts and things like that.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: We'll have to wait and see. But I look at
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the player himself. He can hit the home run. He
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: can shake tacklers and do some different things. Saquon Barkley
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: is obviously going to be the bell cow, and he's
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: had an outstanding training camp. He looks to be in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: peak form, peak performance, and I think you're going to
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: see the offense continue to revolve around him and the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: running game in general. But because Saquon has had quite
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: a lot of miles accrued over the past couple of
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: years in Philadelphia, I also think that the opportunities should
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: be here to support my prediction of Tank Bigsby having
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: sort of a breakout season.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: And breakout is all relative, right? Anything.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: that trumps what he was able to do last season
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: constitutes as a breakout campaign.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Really anything that.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: He does that exceeds what he did in Jacksonville would,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: would constitute as a breakout season. And I just see
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: him as taking on a little bit more of a
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: role here. Um, as far as the pass catching, uh, nuance,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: we'll have to wait and see how that goes because
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: that's not necessarily his forte, but he's someone that I
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: think can do a lot of different things and, uh,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: really be an ideal compliment to Barkley and serve as
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: that one-two punch certainly not the expense of Barkley you're
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: not going to take Barkley off the field to give
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Tank Bigsby touches but I just think that there has
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: to be more of a flow and a rhythm to
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the way that the Eagles incorporate Bigsby because last year
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: there were games where he would have six carries or
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: seven carries then the next week he'd have two and
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: or maybe zero there just needs to be a little
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: bit more of a of a synchronization and the offense
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: in general, but also how you, how you work your
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: running backs into the mix. And I would also add
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Will Shipley to that. I'm not putting him on my
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: list as a breakout player, but I think he also
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: provides something a little bit different that can help the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: offense really take things to the next level, especially as
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a pass catcher.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: The next player on the offensive side is going to be.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Right guard Tyler Steen and Tyler Steen for whatever reason
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: has sort of been, Cast aside, I think the season
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: that he had last year was really downplayed because he
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: wasn't Mekhi Becton, who the Eagles, of course, had at
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: right guard when they won a Super Bowl. I don't
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: think that that's fair to Tyler Steen. I also don't
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: think that it's accurate. He had a nice season. He
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: had a nice training camp this year. I think he's
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: someone who has shown to grow defensively.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: And develop with the more opportunities that he's gotten.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I think his skillset is really going to translate favorably
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: to this new system under offensive line coach, Chris Cooper, uh, for, uh,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion, athletic player who moves well laterally.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: He plays with a mean streak. I think the, that
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: was evidenced by, uh, a dust up in training camp
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: that he had with defensive tackle, Ty Robinson. He, uh,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: is playing with more confidence, and that is something that
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: he conveyed when he spoke to us at different points
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: this summer. But going back to last year, I think
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: because you look at the way the offensive line struggled,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: and a lot of that, most of it, if not
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: all of it, was due to injuries, the fact that
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: they weren't performing to the standard that they set for themselves,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: it was so easy, and I would say lazy, to
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: point the finger at the new guy in Tyler Steen.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And I go back to pro football focus. I don't
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: really look at those metrics. I don't put a lot
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: of stock into it, maybe as much as some. But
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: it seems like that's something that's often touted when there
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: is a stat or sort of a metric that supports
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: a stance one way or another. But for whatever it's
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: worth– Tyler Steen was rated and graded as one of
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the better guards in football last season, which somehow is
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: sort of thrown away or become an afterthought. But I
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: thought that he performed well, the tape supported it. The
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: people that I talked to supported it.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: And there's a reason.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Why the Eagles went back to the well in 2026
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: and kept them there as, as a starter. And there
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: are other players there, um, other young players there that,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: that never really, I mean, they're, they're depth pieces.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: They never challenged them.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: And I think another big C, I think this time
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: he's ready to take his game to another level and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: it should be a little bit more pronounced, but make.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: No mistake about it. Tyler Steen's a good football player.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: And I would make the argument that he may be,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: and this is my opinion, the most underrated player on
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the team period, because he's a starter.
• 6:26
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  Speaker 1: He's part of the offensive line for one, a star
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: studded offensive line. So he's still not yet a household name.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: So he gets lost in the mix a little bit, but,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: but someone that I have seen take steps forward in
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: the right direction and improve the more reps that he's gotten.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to shed some light on that. on
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: what he brings. The next player is going to be
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Dontavian Wicks. Dontavian Wicks is someone that goes into this
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: season as a bit of an enigma, a mystery, someone
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: who's never had more than 39 catches in a season,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: but a lot rides on how he is able to
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: respond to in a much more pivotal role in an offense.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: He was a spare part, for lack of a better term,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: in Green Bay. But in Philadelphia, I look at the
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: role that he's going to undertake, and he is their
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: big-bodied receiver. Is he of the same profile as an A.J.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Brown in terms of physicality? No, not even close. They're
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: different players. But he is someone that I've seen use
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: his frame to his advantage, good body control. He can
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: shield defensive backs with sort of the way that he's
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: able to attack the football in traffic. Good route runner,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: exceptional at separating at the top of routes. More of
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: a short to intermediate receiver, but one that I think
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: is really going to serve as a safety valve for
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts, especially when pressure mounts. Because he's such a
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: detailed route runner and he seems to always hit his landmarks,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: that's going to naturally instill a lot of trust. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: throughout the summer, that budding chemistry between Dontavion Wicks and
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts was very apparent. It helps that he was
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: one of the starters that didn't miss any time in
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: practice and was able to establish that rapport.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Look, is it a projection?
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course it's a projection because he's never been
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: asked to to take on as big a role as
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: he's going to be in Philadelphia. But all I can
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: tell you is what I see, what I hear, what
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I know, and what I have seen with my own
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: eyes and making my own, you know, my own thought
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: process here is because.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: I think that he can play. And I've thought that
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: he can play.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I've always been a little bit curious to see what
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: he can do with a more expanded role. He's going
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: to get that here. But, I think this offense in particular,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: if it operates as intended, should be able to accentuate
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: what he does. Well, you're spreading the football around. You're
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: not necessarily putting the, the onus on one particular player
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: to win every single week. And so I look at,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I take all of those things into consideration. I look
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: at his skillset and what it could add to this
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: passing attack. And I think it's very intriguing. This is
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: going to be a breakout season. Anything possible, more than
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: what he was able to do in Green Bay is
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: going to be a breakout season, so it might be
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: a little bit of low-hanging fruit there, but I just
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: thought he had a really nice training camp.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: I would say that.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: He was the most consistent wide receiver in camp, and
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: so that's the direction that I'm leaning there. On the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: defensive side, we're going with cornerback Reek Wallen, who at 6'4,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: really good athleticism and range, his Probably going to approach
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: this season as an opportunity to use it as a
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: springboard into a more prosperous free agent trip to the
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: free agency. make more money and things like that. I
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: just think he's a player that is going to be
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: targeted a lot. He's playing in a very talented secondary
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: with Cooper Dejean, Quinion Mitchell, of course. He's going to
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: be targeted and have opportunities to make plays on the football.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: He's made plays on the football. He's also given up
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: some plays in training camp. He's a bigger body corner.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Sometimes that fluidity and ability to stop start isn't as
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: natural as it would be for a more compactly built
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: player at that position. But I think that is a
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: clear example upgrade over what they had last season into
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Dory Jackson. And you guys know how I feel about
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: a Dory Jackson as a person, one of my favorites, uh,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: to talk to really insightful. You learn a lot from
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: talking to him. And I think he performed a little
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: bit better on the field than he's given credit for.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Sometimes revisionist history, uh, is a funny thing, but I,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, Rick Williams head and shoulders above, um, Dory
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Jackson in terms of just ability and what he's going
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: to provide. So I think you have to feel really
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: good about that, but it's also the, the glimpses that
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: we saw in training camp. He was the star in
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: the summer and the, in the spring, but in the,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: in the summer, he had a quiet camp and it
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: really wasn't until you get to the joint practices where
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: you're watching how he matches up with the likes of
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: a Romeo Dobbs or an AJ Brown. And he gave
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: up some plays to those guys, but it's about how
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: he responds. And there are other plays where, where he
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was able to read the eyes of a Drake May
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: and jump a pass and out route to A.J. Brown,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: stopping a touchdown, taking it the other way, and battle
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: in the end zone against a bigger-bodied guy like Romeo
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Dobbs and come up with.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: A pass breakup.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: And you see the swagger that he has, and I
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: think he's going to add another dimension to this defense,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: and I think he will be a breakout player for
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: those reasons.
• 14:58
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  Speaker 1: Another one, and we're going to keep it in the secondary,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I'm going with second-year safety Drew Makuba. I looked at
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Makuba's numbers from last year. He played in 11 games,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: started 10, had some rocky showings early in his career.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I think that is natural for a young player taking
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: on a pretty prominent role in a defense that demands
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: so much of that safety position. especially when it comes
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: to communication and all the responsibilities, naturally, you're probably not
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: going to be very confident or sure of yourself. It
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: helps when you're playing alongside a re-blankenship, of course. But
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: this summer, and really dating back to the end of
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: last season, before he suffered that season-ending injury, I saw
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: a player that was really making strides and steps in
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the right direction, becoming more confident, closing quickly, and just
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: letting his natural ability take over. In training camp this year,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: he's going to be... It's not lost on him, first
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and foremost, the role that he's stepping into. There's no
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: longer the.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: you know, sort of the buffer there and read Blankenship.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: You are the guy now. And he has sort of
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: taken that and owned it.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: What I've noticed from him is, yeah, there may not
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: have been the big splash plays in camp, but it
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: didn't seem, and I don't know this because I'm not
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: in meetings, so I'm not privy to that, but it
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: didn't appear that he was out of position very often.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: He seemed to be assignment sound. The communication piece between
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: him and Marcus Epps or him and Cooper DeGene, whomever
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: was out there, I thought was where it needed to
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: be and what you want to see if you're a
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: defensive coordinator or a defensive backs coach in the case
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: of Joe Casper. And so I'm basing it off of
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: they didn't play him in the preseason. Jihad Campbell was
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the only starter who played, and that was just in
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the first game. So naturally, my interpretation of that is
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: that the Eagles are pleased with what they saw. It
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: looked to me like Makuba had a good camp. And
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I think because of that, and you look at the
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: skill set, he is a ball hawk. He does have
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the range. He does allow you to be multiple as
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: a coordinator. And I think this year, now that he's
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: more comfortable, you're going to see him be able to
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: make some more plays on the football. And he did
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: have two interceptions last season, despite him getting off to
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: a shakier start. The other player I'm going to go
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: with for a breakout will be Jihad Campbell. And Jihad Campbell...
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I thought he did some good things last season as
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: a rookie. He was sort of benched, for lack of
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: a better way of phrasing it, because N'Kobe Dean came back.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: So he faded to the background, and I don't think
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: that that was through any fault of his own. N'Kobe's
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: just a trustworthy player. There's not any guesswork there. Vic
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Fangio had a lot of confidence and trust in him
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: that he was going to be able to execute his
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: assignments and there really wasn't much of a role for
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Jihad Campbell because the Eagles don't rotate their off-ball linebackers.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: So they tried to find ways to shoehorn him into
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the defense, whether that was rushing the quarterback, special teams.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Whatever it was.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: But I think now that he's able to reclaim this role,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: and one thing to keep an eye on is the
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: mental aspect of the game where N'Kobi checked off every
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: box imaginable. He's a cerebral player. his ability to read
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: and diagnose just inherently added something different to the second level.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: And not every player is like that. Zach Bond is
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: like that. But for Jihad Campbell, we won't really know
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: that until he gets more reps, until he's able to
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: see things and anticipate and do some things that as
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: a savvy veteran like Bond and Dean were able to do, it.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Might take a little bit of time.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: But if you listen to what Vic Fangio, had to say,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: they played him in that first game. There are some
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: things that he didn't do correctly. They needed to clean up.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: There may be some hiccups early. And when you have
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: someone that athletic with that kind of length and range
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: who can do some exceptional things in coverage and You
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: work through that, and the only way to really work
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: through that is by putting him out there and letting
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: him get those reps and opportunities and take those coaching points.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I am curious to see how he fares in terms
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of run defense. How are the Eagles in general going
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: to be at tackling at the edges, and how will
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: he be able to defeat blocks with regularity and things
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: like that, especially with the shoulder issues that he's had
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the past two springs? Is that something that's going to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: creep up a little bit But in terms of just
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the willingness to participate and run support, I think he
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: plays a physical brand of football. We talk about the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: coverage acumen, which as a modern-era NFL off-ball linebacker, you
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: have to be able to do or you're not going
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to be an every-down player. I'm really intrigued with what
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: he can provide, and I thought he did some good
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: things last year. He has another year under his belt.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: He has another year of working with linebackers, Coach Bobby King.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: a year of working with N'Kobi Dean and learning and
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: seeing things through.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: The lens of how he sees the position.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: And then you just have the natural evolution of a
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: young player that I think is also going to play
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: into this a little bit.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I think you'll see.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Campbell come up with some turnovers this year. I think
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: you'll see him be able to tap into his pass
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: rush prowess as a blitzer and do some creative things.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: and add another wrinkle to this defense that I believe
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: is going to be no worse than top three in
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the NFL this season, provided everyone stays healthy. That's going
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to do it for this episode of DiCecco Daily. I
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: am Andrew DiCecco, and I'll catch you all on the
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: next one.