Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: Which Eagles Will Be Most Missed?

Transcript

The DiCecco Daily: Which Eagles Will Be Most Missed? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happening gang? How are you feeling out there?
• 0:12
  Andrew Dechecko bringing you another edition of the Checko Daily.
• 0:16
  You can hear the excitement of my voice. A week
• 0:19
  from today, the Eagles will be on the practice field.
• 0:21
  The first training camp practice is set for ten am
• 0:25
  and it's the dawn of a new season. It's right
• 0:28
  around the corner. Lots to get into. Between now and then,
• 0:32
  I will have my pre camp fifty three men roster
• 0:36
  projection in podcast form and in written form. The written
• 0:41
  form will be out Monday to start the week, and
• 0:46
  it's one of the.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Things that I like to do. I don't do a
• 0:48
  bunch of them.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I'll do one right before camp, and then i'll do
• 0:51
  one at the end of training camp where we all
• 0:54
  submit our final ones and see who gets the most right.
• 0:58
  It's kind of a fun exercise that we you've done
• 1:01
  each and every offseason late late August. But for today's topic,
• 1:07
  I want to get into which of the departed Eagles
• 1:11
  the free agent losses.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Will they miss most. And there are so many cases
• 1:17
  that you can make for a number of different players.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: You look at Brandon Graham, that one's obvious, but he
• 1:22
  retired and obviously they're going to miss his leadership and
• 1:26
  he was playing at a high level. That game against
• 1:28
  the Rams in LA was the best game Brandon Graham
• 1:32
  played off season. I can't harp enough on how much
• 1:37
  he means to the franchise. And they're gonna have to
• 1:39
  get used to life without him for the first time
• 1:41
  in fifteen years. You can sort of imagine that. Then
• 1:45
  there is, of course the loss of CJ.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Gardner Johnson. Look, CJ. Gardner Johnson was a tremendous player
• 1:51
  for the Eagles for the two seasons that he was
• 1:52
  here in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: But the way that this team is constructed, and obviously
• 2:01
  it was for financial reasons that they traded him to Houston,
• 2:05
  but he's a highly volatile player and obviously there's a
• 2:11
  lot that goes into having him on your football team. One,
• 2:15
  he's a great guy, he's a good person, but he's
• 2:19
  also somebody that you see the highs and the lows
• 2:22
  and you don't quite know what CJ.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: You're gonna get every day, Well you do.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: It's going to be brash, it's going to be intense,
• 2:29
  and he's going to sort of command authority, but you
• 2:34
  hear the comments after the season and it kind of
• 2:36
  pulls the curtain back on, you know, the the volatile
• 2:41
  nature that he brings and if you're a team that's
• 2:43
  looking to establish sustained success. And I'm not suggesting that
• 2:48
  he doesn't contribute to the culture because CJ.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Gardner Johnson cares.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: About winning and winning only, and I think that that's
• 2:56
  something that should be emphasized. He's worked on becoming a
• 2:59
  better leader. I mentioned this on this on this podcast,
• 3:02
  sitting down with his trainer and leadership looks different to
• 3:07
  different folks, but he's somebody that holds everybody accountable and
• 3:10
  he brings that intensity each and every day.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: But I think for a.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Young team like that, when you're trying to cultivate something
• 3:17
  and build this thing for the future, having players that
• 3:21
  you know each and every day what you're going to
• 3:23
  get and they're.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Sort of.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: All on the same page and they versus somebody who
• 3:32
  maybe marches to the beat of their own drum. I'm
• 3:34
  not going to say that that's going to be a
• 3:37
  loss that they can easily overcome. Because he had six
• 3:40
  interceptions last season, he also happened to have six interceptions
• 3:44
  in twenty twenty two.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: He's a playmaker.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: He knows how to go get the football, He sets
• 3:49
  the tone, and he's somebody that you know is always
• 3:53
  going to have that energy that's going to radiate throughout
• 3:56
  the unit. But you know, if you listen to his
• 3:59
  recent interview that he had, you know he mentioned that
• 4:02
  Lane Johnson said, listen, CJ.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I got your back. I'm with you, but if you
• 4:07
  go if you you know, I can't always be with
• 4:09
  you if you go to a certain point.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: And that's something that obviously I'm paraphrasing, but it also
• 4:14
  illustrates we're with you to an extent, but when you
• 4:18
  cross the line or if you go a little bit
• 4:19
  too far, there's always so much that we can do
• 4:23
  when we're trying to build this thing.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: So I'm not going TJ. Gardner Johnson. You can look
• 4:27
  at Milton Williams. Milton Williams is a.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Top candidate because what he brings in terms of pass rush.
• 4:35
  I thought you saw him really become even more effective
• 4:38
  as a run defender. He was tremendous and one that
• 4:42
  I believe is quickly going to become a household name,
• 4:46
  especially with the Patriots. I think He's going to quickly
• 4:49
  become somebody that around the league you're looking at and
• 4:52
  teams are gonna have to account for. He can help
• 4:55
  it as a pass rusher, of course, collapsing the pocket,
• 4:58
  but he can also make plays against the run. And
• 5:01
  every time you see Molton Williams, you see relentless effort
• 5:06
  pursuing the football, and that's something that the Eagles are
• 5:10
  gonna have a hard time atoning for.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: He played five hundred steps for the team last year.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: But I'm not going Milton Williams because what I've seen
• 5:19
  from Moro Jomo is a player who also brings fire.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: He brings relentless effort, he brings violence, he.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Has good short area quickness, He's very effective in confined spaces,
• 5:33
  and he too will collapse the pocket. I think he
• 5:36
  can even bring some more juice as a pass rusher
• 5:39
  than Molton Williams. Now, the question becomes can he become
• 5:45
  Can he elevate into a more substantial role and elevated
• 5:49
  role for this team where last season he played thirty
• 5:52
  seven percent of the snaps and so we see it.
• 5:56
  We're not really gonna have any idea, but what I
• 5:58
  can tell you is what I say all on tape
• 6:01
  last season indicates a.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Player who can make that lead. So I can't go
• 6:06
  Milton Williams.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I would also look at edge rusher because to me,
• 6:11
  edge rusher is a huge need for this football team,
• 6:14
  and I should say a huge question.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: And I was kind of surprised.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: That you didn't see them make the any drastic alterations
• 6:22
  to really fortify that group. Obviously, they have a ton
• 6:25
  of confidence in Noan Smith, they have a ton of
• 6:27
  confidence in Jay Looks Hunt, but there's a couple of
• 6:30
  free agent additions and Azizo Jilari and josh Usha that
• 6:33
  each come with questions. And until we see j Loox
• 6:36
  Hunt able to play in an expanded role, we really
• 6:40
  have no idea about how he's going to translate in
• 6:45
  terms of production. Obviously, what I've seen suggests that he can,
• 6:51
  but we have to see it.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: And for a team that values edge rusher.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: As much as the Eagles do, Yeah, it was a
• 6:58
  little puzzling to me at least that they didn't address
• 7:01
  it in any major way. But you have to tip
• 7:04
  your cap because they're banking on Nolan Smith, who I've
• 7:07
  gone on the record saying that I believe he has
• 7:09
  double digit sack potential and jaloksn it's unfair to put
• 7:13
  a limit or give him a number because he's hasn't
• 7:17
  played a ton, just two hundred and forty one regular
• 7:19
  season staffs.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: But seven to eight sacks I.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Think is in the realm of possibility, but we again,
• 7:27
  until we see it, it's kind of hard to go
• 7:31
  that route. So you could easily say Josh Swett being
• 7:35
  a player who the Eagles are going to miss the most,
• 7:38
  but let's not forget that. Aside from a monster Super
• 7:43
  Bowl performance where I believe that Josh Swett.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: You can make a case for him being the MVP
• 7:47
  of that game.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Because his sacks came when the game was really hanging
• 7:50
  in the balance there or at least still remotely competitive.
• 7:54
  Josh Swett has gone quiet for long stretches, and I
• 7:59
  think it's also to wonder if he is going to
• 8:03
  be a player who can factor unto the long term
• 8:05
  for the Cardinals, because I just don't know if he
• 8:08
  is that year in and year out double digit sack guy,
• 8:11
  and because we've seen him go quiet for periods of time,
• 8:16
  I think that you know, if job Hunte were to
• 8:18
  make that jump, I don't know if you're gonna miss
• 8:21
  Josh Sweat all that much. Oddly enough, the player that
• 8:25
  I think the Eagles are going to miss the most
• 8:27
  isn't one that gets talked about a lot. Looking at
• 8:31
  the cornerback position, there's a lot of questions there. Dorri
• 8:35
  Jackson and Keey Ringo, there's a bit of a projection
• 8:39
  there when it comes to kie Ringo. Obviously, the Eagles
• 8:41
  think highly of him. He's entering his third season. They
• 8:44
  spend a lot of time working on his development, and
• 8:48
  he's going to get targeted an awful lot. Teams are
• 8:50
  not going to throw at Quinya Mitchell if you have
• 8:53
  Kee Ringo on the other side.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: That's just the way that it's going to go. So
• 8:56
  he's sort of an unknown variable here.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Obviously he has all the measurables and the athleticism that
• 9:02
  you look for, but kind of like with Jay Louksan,
• 9:05
  until you see him go out there and do it
• 9:07
  against high caliber wide receivers, it's kind of hard to
• 9:12
  sit there and feel overly confident.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: When he has struggled. It's been when he's going.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Against guys like Devonte Smith in practice and Adri Jackson.
• 9:22
  I think he's probably ideally suited to be a backup.
• 9:24
  He can still play, absolutely, but you want to go
• 9:29
  with the player who's twenty two years old, who you've
• 9:31
  already invested two years of his development, and.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: There's just that investment.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: But you had a player in Isaiah Rogers that you
• 9:41
  already knew could play.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: You plug them in.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: And there's not a lot of questions as to how
• 9:46
  he's going to acquit himself as a starter. He's going
• 9:49
  to Minnesota. He's in Minnesota, and he's going to be
• 9:53
  a starter there. So I look at what the Eagles lost,
• 9:56
  and you look at Orang Burkes, you look at C. D. Gardner, Johnson,
• 10:00
  rand and Graham, the retirement Josh Milton Williams, I think
• 10:06
  that Isaiah Rodgers is a player who they're going to
• 10:09
  miss the most because I go back to the fact
• 10:12
  that he's a proven commodity.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: He showcased what he's able to do. He can go
• 10:16
  get the football, he knows the defense.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: He lead Frog Keeley Ringo in training camp last summer,
• 10:24
  and if you plug him in opposite quinnyon Mitchell, their
• 10:28
  questions are really at safety and edge rusher, maybe defensive line,
• 10:33
  but it would sort of fortify that area for at
• 10:36
  least another year, and then you see where the degles
• 10:38
  go from there. So I think Isaiah Rodgers is going
• 10:41
  to be a bigger loss than he's being given credit
• 10:43
  for right now. Didn't play a ton last season, but
• 10:46
  he was the guy who if Slay had to miss time,
• 10:49
  if Quinnyon came off the field, he was the first
• 10:52
  guy off the bench, and I thought more often than
• 10:55
  that he made plays. He showed awareness, He's quick, he
• 11:01
  doesn't have the biggest frame in the world, and sometimes
• 11:04
  that lends itself to struggling with bigger bodied receivers who
• 11:07
  can kind of impose their will and get physical. But
• 11:10
  I thought that Isaiah Rodgers did a nice job, and
• 11:12
  therefore I believe that's going to be the biggest loss
• 11:15
  because now you have questions at corner and how either
• 11:18
  player is going to be able to kind of cement
• 11:20
  their status as the top corner in Jackson or Kee Ringo. Obviously,
• 11:25
  I think Kee Ringo's going in as the you know,
• 11:28
  the favorite, clearly, but there's questions for both players and
• 11:33
  there wouldn't have been if Isaiah Rodgers was here. So there,
• 11:37
  there you have it. I mean, I'm curious to see
• 11:39
  where a lot of folks land on this. There's no
• 11:41
  wrong answer, it's just how you perceive it. And I
• 11:43
  think that would have eliminated one of the holes that
• 11:46
  Eagles have on defense currently.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: But it's an interesting conversation.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Is something that sort of I was kicking around as
• 11:54
  I was driving today and thinking about topics, and it's
• 11:58
  it's a fascinating one because there are so many options,
• 12:02
  and it depends on where you feel most confident in.
• 12:06
  Because I know there's a lot of folks out there
• 12:08
  who are confident in Nolan Smith and jaywogs Hunt and
• 12:11
  don't feel like the loss of Josh Witt's going to
• 12:13
  be magnified, or they really liked Drew mccooba, which I
• 12:17
  happened to like Drew mccobla quite a bit, talk a
• 12:20
  lot about him during the pre draft process. I think
• 12:22
  he's a plug and play guy, but he has to
• 12:24
  get under contract first.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: But corner is probably.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: My biggest question on defense, and I can I circle
• 12:31
  back to the fact that that question could have been
• 12:33
  eliminated if you sign Isaiah Rodgers to a deal that
• 12:37
  I thought was very reasonable. He wanted to be in Philadelphia,
• 12:40
  but at some point you're not going to take a
• 12:43
  hometown discount or not even a hometown. But he loved
• 12:47
  playing in Philadelphia, and for as much as he liked
• 12:50
  playing for a team and in a city, and he
• 12:52
  really sort of adopted this city. I thought he Isaiah
• 12:56
  Rodgers really got the city in Philadelphia. Yeah, you have
• 13:01
  to draw a line somewhere, and you have to go
• 13:03
  where the deal is best for you, especially him being
• 13:07
  a twenty seven to twenty eight year old corner But
• 13:11
  the future lies in Kilee Ringo, at least that's the
• 13:13
  way that I view it right now.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: We're gonna learn a lot about the.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Cornerback situation in the coming weeks, and Kiely is a
• 13:20
  talented player, not taking anything away from him, but he's
• 13:24
  gonna have to sort of endear himself to Fic Fangio
• 13:29
  and prove that he can play within the structure of
• 13:32
  his defense for the team to feel confident moving forward
• 13:35
  with him as a starter, because he is going to
• 13:37
  be targeted quite a bit. I don't know, just something
• 13:40
  I was thinking about today, and hopefully you guys find
• 13:43
  this topic as fascinating.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: As I do. But this has been to check O daily.
• 13:47
  I am Andrew Decheco, and I'll talk to everybody tomorrow.
• 13:50
  Have a great day.