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The DiCecco Daily: Are Eagles Better Or Worse At Safety? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened? Everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome into another episode of the Checko Daily. Andrew decheco
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: here at Eagles Beat reporter for Inside the Birds dot
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Com and with the week resetting, now would be a
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: good time to check out my interview with Vanderbilt tight
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: end Eli Stowers, one of the top prospects in this class.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: We had a great conversation.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: He talked about his formal meeting with the Eagles at
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the NFL scouting combine his impressions of tight end's coach
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Ryan Mahaffey, the transition from quarterback to tight end, and
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: some of the areas of his game that he's working.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: On, and we get into a lot more. But it's
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: all there for you on audio form and then also
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: you can grab it on YouTube as well.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: We're gonna continue on with my positional analysis, whether it's better, worse,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: or the same twenty twenty five to the group currently
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: assembled in twenty twenty six, and we're kind of bouncing around,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: but I'm going to.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Go safety here.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Last season, the Eagles had Red Blankenship and rookie Drew
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: mccouba at safety. They also had veteran Marcus Epps and
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Sidney Brown was in the mix as well. So I
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: look at that group and Red Blankenship was a steadying force.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: He was someone that Vic Vangio trusted a lot, had
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a ton of confidence in, and a lot of responsibility
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: was placed on his shoulder, even more so earlier in
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the season when you have to account for playing next
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: to a rookie player, you have your job to do,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: and you also have to make sure that that player
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: is aware of his assignments and things like that. Then
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Sidney Brown was primarily a special teams player, had some
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: opportunities there to step in defensively, training camp, got a
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: lot to run with the ones, didn't factor in all
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: that much during the season when he had his opportunity
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: when Drew mccooba suffered the injury, he.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Didn't look ready.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: He looked like much of what he looked like in
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: his entire time with the Eagles. And that is just
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: being a high variance player. And as I've outlined many times,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: to be an effective safety in a Vic Fangio defense,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: or at least be a consistent safety or garner defensive snaps,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: you have to be a reliable player. There can't be
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: a lot of feast or famine style of play, and
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: I think that's a lot of what Sydney Brown's game
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: was predicated on. So then you have Andre Sam. Andre
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Sam was on the practice squad. He was available for
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: three games last season, and I like him quite a bit,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: certainly as a safety four, and I actually had him
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: on my fifty three man roster projection last year. But
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: he's more of a player that I think that they
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: view as a practice squad guy who can capably help
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: you out on game day in a pinch.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: So he was there, and.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Mcuba, being the rookie, was a player that I thought
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: started out a little shaky, which should be expected given
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: the job requirements of that position in Vic Fangio's defense,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: So that really wasn't surprising to me. But it also
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: looked as if halfway through the season or thereabouts, he
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: got a lot more comfortable. He was playing faster, getting
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: after the football, he was letting his instincts and natural
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: ability take over. To shame he got hurt late in
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: the year because I think it stunted his growth a
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: little bit. But the Eagles are certainly with what we've
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: seen this offseason, building around Drew mccouba as their top safety,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: and I think he's going to have a really big
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty six.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: He has a propensity to turn to take the football away.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: He's instinctually covers a lot of ground, and I think
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: for those reasons you should feel pretty optimistic out Drew
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: mccuba having an even more productive season in his second season,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and Michael Oh Michael Carter was there, but he really
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: was looking looked at.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: As a corner. Brandon Johnson was.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Cross trained at nickel and safety and he played in
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: the season finale, played a couple of defensive snaps in
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: the games that he was elevated at safety as well.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: He will be in the mix this year. But that's
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the overview of twenty twenty five twenty twenty six. They
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: have Drew mccuba, Marcus Epps, J T.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Gray, Andre Sam, Brandon Johnson, and Michael Carter the second
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: who I talked about being a nickel corner, but the
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Eagles are going to give him an opportunity to prove
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: himself at safety. He will get a look there. So
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: that's a name to remember. But you lost reed blanket
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: chip and I talked about what his value was us
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: to that defense. He signs with the Houston Texans, so
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: you lose that quote unquote safety one. And now Drew
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: mccooba is going to be asked to elevate into.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: A top role.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Well presumably, but he's going to have to take a
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: step further in his development. I think is probably the
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: better way of framing it. And we'll see if he's
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: up for the challenge. I happen to think he will be.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But then you have Marcus EPs, who I think is
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: better suited to be a third safety. He can play
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: in a pinch if you need him for three or
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: four games, but ideally he's not someone that you would
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: like to be starting for the full compliment of games.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: But I think as a third safety that's a pretty
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: solid player to have in that role. And he holdsies
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: some time on defense even if everyone if the starters
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: are healthy, and I think that was a smart retention there,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: they're able to make that work. He knows the defense
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and there's not going to have to be an acclamation
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: period because he's already well versed in it, and even
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: before that playing in an offshoot of it with Jonathan Gannon.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: This is a defense that Marcus EPs knows very well, JT.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Gray shouldn't really be viewed as a safety. That's what
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: he's listed at, but he's really a special team's dynamo
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: and one of the best special teamers in the league,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: and his all pro resume.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Will support that.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: But playing just one hundred and fifty three defensive snaps
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: in his career, you don't necessarily want to view him
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: as a safety. He could probably hang on as a
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: fifth if they keep five there, because he's more of
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: a specialist.
• 6:30
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• 8:50
  Speaker 2: And Sidney Brown's no longer there. He was traded to
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: the Atlanta Falcons. I think the Eagle's clear to hurdle
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: there because he clearly wasn't going to fit on this
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: defense and he was going to make the team otherwise,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: and it's kind of hard to see where he would fit.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: He would kind of more or less be like a
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Chris Maragos in that case.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: So now they've.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Cleared out a spot where Sydney Brown's position to have
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to re establish himself and maybe factor into
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: the Falcons defense, and the Eagles clear out a depth
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: safety player that was young but didn't really have any
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: solid ground in terms of his defensive prospects under Vic Vangio.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: But Andre Sam's still there, Michael Carter, the second, Brandon Johnson,
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: and you could look to the draft to add a safety.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure how high the Eagles would be willing
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: to draft one, knowing that that hasn't been a position
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: that they traditionally prioritize, but that's going to be an
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: avenue that they could explore to bolster that room. There's
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: also the trade market that they could go to if
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: they want to add a reinforcement there.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: There's not a lot out there on the.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Free agent market currently that's going to dramatically improve the
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: outlook of this room. And so right now, I can't
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: say that this safety room is better than the one
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: from last season. So I would say worse, better or
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: worse are the same. This unit gets worse, it gets
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: a worse grade.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: And we'll see what they do.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: They're not finished with the room, but as we speak
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: right now, I can't say that it's better than the
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: one that they had comprised last season.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: For this episode of the Checko DEII, Andrew decheco here
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: signing off, and I will catch you all on the
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: next one.