Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: Putting Into Perspective Eagles Free Agent Losses
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: What's going on? Welcome in everyone, this is the check
- 0:08Speaker 1: Odaily Andrew decheco here Eagles beat reporter for insidethebirds dot com,
- 0:13Speaker 1: and Monday proved to be a very eventful day for
- 0:15Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles, if not bittersweet, as the NFL's legal
- 0:20Speaker 1: tampering period opened and the Carolina Panthers wasted little time
- 0:25Speaker 1: pouncing on one of the top free agents on the market,
- 0:28Speaker 1: signing edge rusher Jalen Phillips to a four year, one
- 0:32Speaker 1: hundred and twenty million dollar contract. Eighty million of that
- 0:36Speaker 1: is guaranteed, according to multiple reports, and so Jalen Phillips
- 0:41Speaker 1: was a player that the Eagles clearly wanted to prioritize.
- 0:45Speaker 1: That's not something that hasn't been often discussed since the
- 0:49Speaker 1: season ended. It shouldn't surprise anyone now. It was very
- 0:53Speaker 1: difficult to gauge his market because of the injury history.
- 0:57Speaker 1: But no one's going to dispute that this is a
- 1:00Speaker 1: young player on the ascent. He will be twenty seven
- 1:02Speaker 1: years old next month or in a couple of months.
- 1:06Speaker 1: And you like the length, his ability to be a
- 1:08Speaker 1: two way player, meaning he can rush the passer, set
- 1:11Speaker 1: the edge, and defend the run. You like his length
- 1:14Speaker 1: and ability to be able to drop into coverage. He
- 1:16Speaker 1: fit Vic Fangio's system, and he's a young player. So
- 1:20Speaker 1: the Eagles have never shied away from paying players that
- 1:24Speaker 1: are in the trenches, whether that's on the offensive line,
- 1:26Speaker 1: defensive line, or edge rushers, and Jalen Phillips fit that bill.
- 1:30Speaker 1: But ultimately, every good team has to have a walkaway price,
- 1:35Speaker 1: and I was expecting Phillips to command right around maybe
- 1:38Speaker 1: twenty five million average salary because I was factoring in
- 1:43Speaker 1: the injuries. But as I've talked about, free agency has
- 1:47Speaker 1: a tendency to elevate the demand and sometimes the price
- 1:53Speaker 1: goes way up, and thirty million a season for Jalen
- 1:57Speaker 1: Phillips is awfully rich. It's steep, and the Eagles have
- 2:01Speaker 1: other priorities that they have to take care of this offseason,
- 2:04Speaker 1: such as signing their own players, and this was never
- 2:08Speaker 1: going to be a shopping spree, right, Howie Roseman should
- 2:12Speaker 1: have provided you with the answers to the test at
- 2:15Speaker 1: every turn when he spoke at the combine, after the
- 2:18Speaker 1: season and his end of season press conference. He's always
- 2:21Speaker 1: been very transparent in that, and good teams draft develop
- 2:26Speaker 1: and retain their own and the Eagles have sort of
- 2:28Speaker 1: adopted a different approach here and the days of being
- 2:33Speaker 1: in the mix for those free agent frenzies are a
- 2:36Speaker 1: sign of the past when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles,
- 2:39Speaker 1: and I see a lot of concern from some just
- 2:42Speaker 1: basically scrowing social media. Is how he awake? Does he
- 2:46Speaker 1: realize that it's legal tampering? Period? The Eagles are missing
- 2:49Speaker 1: out on all these players. The season they lost three starters.
- 2:52Speaker 1: Where do they go from here? Take a deep breath
- 2:55Speaker 1: and relax. This happens every year. The Eagles were in
- 2:59Speaker 1: the same boat last offseason, and they found a way
- 3:03Speaker 1: to make it work. It's very early in the process.
- 3:06Speaker 1: There are a lot of avenues in which the Eagles
- 3:09Speaker 1: and every NFL team can explore to fortify the roster,
- 3:13Speaker 1: not just free agency. There's the trade market, there's the
- 3:15Speaker 1: NFL Draft. The Eagles don't go into any offseason without
- 3:20Speaker 1: a plan, without contingencies, and without the understanding that all
- 3:24Speaker 1: of this that we've seen thus far was a possibility. Now,
- 3:29Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips, I'm not gonna minimize his impact. That's going
- 3:32Speaker 1: to be a big loss, and it leaves the Eagles
- 3:34Speaker 1: with just two edge rushers there and Nolan Smith and
- 3:37Speaker 1: jaylox Hunt, and obviously they're going to have to do
- 3:40Speaker 1: something there, whether that's looking in free agency, whether that's
- 3:43Speaker 1: a Bradley Chubb or a big fish. Trey Hendrickson's not
- 3:49Speaker 1: going to be in their range. But there are other
- 3:52Speaker 1: players out there that you can supplement. And then there's
- 3:55Speaker 1: the trade market. Jonathan Grenard with the Minnesota Vikings. There
- 3:58Speaker 1: was a report a couple of days ago that the Vikings
- 4:00Speaker 1: are open to dealing him, and there's players that haven't
- 4:04Speaker 1: even been discussed. I'm sure. So it's not the be
- 4:07Speaker 1: all end all. It's never a good thing to lose
- 4:10Speaker 1: a player of that caliber, but it was very rich
- 4:13Speaker 1: and the Carolina Panthers swung big for a player that
- 4:16Speaker 1: they really believe in. But make no mistake, he was
- 4:19Speaker 1: at the top of the Eagles list in terms of
- 4:21Speaker 1: their priority as it pertained to their in house for agents.
- 4:25Speaker 1: Those core four free agents in Jalen Phillips and the
- 4:28Speaker 1: Kobe Dane Ree Blanket Ship and Dallas Goddard, and I
- 4:32Speaker 1: think they made a smart decision by having that walk
- 4:35Speaker 1: away price and being not losing out in a bidding
- 4:39Speaker 1: war like that, because I think sometimes you see a
- 4:42Speaker 1: lot of those teams out there that want to win
- 4:44Speaker 1: the offseason, they're often those teams that later in the
- 4:48Speaker 1: season they fall by the wayside. The Eagles have really
- 4:51Speaker 1: constructed a team built for a sustained success, and they
- 4:54Speaker 1: have the principles and the foundations in place to ensure
- 4:59Speaker 1: that that is going to be able to be maintained.
- 5:02Speaker 1: And I think Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles organization,
- 5:06Speaker 1: they've proven that they will not sit on their hands.
- 5:10Speaker 1: They always have a contingency plan, and I think they
- 5:13Speaker 1: deserve the benefit of the doubt. So I don't necessarily
- 5:17Speaker 1: get the panic that's out there. You just take a
- 5:19Speaker 1: deep breath and allow things to play out. Because we
- 5:22Speaker 1: are very young into this offseason and there are so
- 5:25Speaker 1: many different avenues in which you can better the roster,
- 5:28Speaker 1: and the Eagles will ultimately do that. They'll find ways
- 5:30Speaker 1: to get that done. Now, they lost another defensive starter
- 5:35Speaker 1: in linebacker Nakobe Dean. I've talked a lot about Nacoby Dean.
- 5:40Speaker 1: He signed with the Las Vegas Raiders a three year,
- 5:43Speaker 1: thirty six million dollar contract. Great for Nacobe Dean, A
- 5:47Speaker 1: player who was oft injured in Philadelphia, but a force
- 5:50Speaker 1: to be reckoned with when he was available. For the
- 5:53Speaker 1: past two years, he started twenty three games alongside Zach Bonn,
- 5:58Speaker 1: and he was that tone setter, that heartbeat of the
- 6:00Speaker 1: defense that I've often talked about natural leader when you
- 6:04Speaker 1: talk about football, intelligence, physicality, character, that's Nakobe Dean. He
- 6:09Speaker 1: epitomized leadership and he was an absolute pleasure to cover
- 6:13Speaker 1: during his four seasons in Philadelphia. He was valued on
- 6:17Speaker 1: the field and his voice seemed to resonate to different
- 6:21Speaker 1: pockets of a locker room. He led by example, whether
- 6:24Speaker 1: that was standing in front of his locker for a
- 6:27Speaker 1: good half an hour after talking to waves of reporters
- 6:32Speaker 1: until there were none left. He made sure that he
- 6:34Speaker 1: stood there and answered questions with thoughtfulness, with candidness, and
- 6:40Speaker 1: he never ducked accountability. And you couple that with a
- 6:43Speaker 1: player who on the field as fearless, tough as nails,
- 6:46Speaker 1: as smart as they come. He's going to be a
- 6:49Speaker 1: culture seter for the Raiders. It's bittersweet that the Eagles
- 6:52Speaker 1: lost a player that they drafted in the third round
- 6:55Speaker 1: that they've developed and they saw overcome too debilitating in
- 7:00Speaker 1: injuries only for n Kobe Dean to return a superior
- 7:03Speaker 1: version of himself. That's never going to be easy, but
- 7:06Speaker 1: this was something that should have been expected going into
- 7:09Speaker 1: the process knowing that the Eagles have Jahid Campbell waiting
- 7:12Speaker 1: in the wings, so that they drafted in the first round,
- 7:15Speaker 1: there's not going to be a significant drop off. If anything,
- 7:18Speaker 1: Jahid Campbell gives you more athleticism there. I'm not discounting
- 7:22Speaker 1: the Kobe Dean at all, and the Kobe Dean is
- 7:24Speaker 1: one of my favorite players that I've ever covered for
- 7:27Speaker 1: a lot of reasons. But the Eagles are going to
- 7:29Speaker 1: be just fine with Jahid Campbell because I thought he
- 7:31Speaker 1: did some really good things when he was starting earlier
- 7:34Speaker 1: in the year and he lost that job through no
- 7:38Speaker 1: fault of his own. Just the Kobe Dean is a
- 7:40Speaker 1: proven player who knows how to play the position, and
- 7:43Speaker 1: he was a trusted option for Vic Fangio. But year
- 7:46Speaker 1: two of Jahid Campbell, yeah, I think there's a lot
- 7:49Speaker 1: of upside there. The last player that the Eagles lost
- 7:53Speaker 1: today was safety Read Blankenship, and when you think of
- 7:56Speaker 1: Red Blankenship, you think back to twenty twenty two. Little
- 8:00Speaker 1: known undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State, made
- 8:04Speaker 1: the roster off of that Miami Dolphins preseason game where
- 8:08Speaker 1: he made a lot of open field tackles and really
- 8:10Speaker 1: exhibited his toughness and instincts, battled his way on the roster,
- 8:15Speaker 1: began on special teams, then he sort of moonlighted a
- 8:19Speaker 1: little bit on defense, and then he eventually was entrenched
- 8:22Speaker 1: as a starter. He climbed that ladder through hard work
- 8:26Speaker 1: and earning the trust of his coaching staff. And yes,
- 8:30Speaker 1: he doesn't have those uber athletic traits that are going
- 8:33Speaker 1: to entice a lot of teams. But what he does
- 8:36Speaker 1: give you, and I've said this, a lot football intelligence, toughness,
- 8:40Speaker 1: communication skills that are on an entirely another level. And
- 8:45Speaker 1: when you're able to do that at such a high level,
- 8:47Speaker 1: you're able to atone for some of those athletic shortcomings.
- 8:51Speaker 1: He doesn't have that range, but he's often in the
- 8:53Speaker 1: right place at the right time, and when you're able
- 8:56Speaker 1: to be a trusted option at a position in a
- 8:59Speaker 1: vic Vanjoe defense that commands considerable responsibility, and you're almost
- 9:03Speaker 1: like a traffic cop back there. Having a fundamentally sound
- 9:08Speaker 1: player like Red Blanketship really alleviates a lot of pressure
- 9:12Speaker 1: and makes the defense function a whole lot better. You're
- 9:15Speaker 1: able to marry the third, second, and defensive line of
- 9:20Speaker 1: the defense. And I think Red Blankenship's a player that
- 9:23Speaker 1: you don't talk a lot about unless he's getting beaten
- 9:26Speaker 1: coverage or something like that. But he was a very
- 9:31Speaker 1: he was an above average starter, and he showed up
- 9:34Speaker 1: in big moments. Started fifty games for the Eagles, and
- 9:38Speaker 1: when you look back on some of their recent successes
- 9:41Speaker 1: in that year, in that season, in twenty twenty two,
- 9:43Speaker 1: Josh Job just got a three year, twenty four million
- 9:46Speaker 1: dollar contract. Another undrafted free agent who was with the
- 9:49Speaker 1: Eagles in twenty twenty two in that re Blanketship class,
- 9:52Speaker 1: he just got three years, twenty four million dollars with
- 9:54Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks. So that's a tremendous job of scouting
- 10:00Speaker 1: and developing. Now read blanket Ship and Josh Job are
- 10:03Speaker 1: on different levels here because blanket Ship homegrown guy, never
- 10:07Speaker 1: went anywhere else and his arrow trended up from year one,
- 10:11Speaker 1: whereas Josh Job sort of struggled a little bit, had
- 10:14Speaker 1: some opportunities, goes to a system that really accentuates what
- 10:18Speaker 1: he can do well, and he's able to stay there
- 10:22Speaker 1: for another three season and continue to grow after winning
- 10:25Speaker 1: a Super Bowl and starting a Super Bowl by the way,
- 10:28Speaker 1: So the Eagles have done a really good job of
- 10:30Speaker 1: finding talent, and you're seeing that across the league, and
- 10:34Speaker 1: you're seeing teams that are coveting these players that the
- 10:38Speaker 1: Eagles have sort of developed and watched grow over the years.
- 10:43Speaker 1: The other note that I want to add to this
- 10:45Speaker 1: is that Michael Carter, the defensive back who the Eagles
- 10:51Speaker 1: acquired ahead of the NFL trade deadline, he renegotiated his
- 10:56Speaker 1: contract which he was owed. His some for this year
- 11:01Speaker 1: was pretty exorbitant, and he's back on a renegotiated contract.
- 11:07Speaker 1: He was never released at any point. He always remained
- 11:11Speaker 1: with the team. That's important to know. The Eagles were
- 11:14Speaker 1: able to work it out with Michael Carter, and he's
- 11:16Speaker 1: going to be an important piece next season because he
- 11:20Speaker 1: can play nickel or safety. He hasn't played a lot
- 11:24Speaker 1: of safety in his career, but he did later in
- 11:26Speaker 1: the year, especially when I believe it was Brandon Johnson
- 11:29Speaker 1: who got hurt in the Week eighteen finale. Michael Carter
- 11:33Speaker 1: when I asked him after the game, I said, how
- 11:34Speaker 1: do you feel, he goes, I'm sure I haven't played
- 11:36Speaker 1: that many reps at safety since probably high school, I think,
- 11:40Speaker 1: is what he told me. But another great guy fit
- 11:43Speaker 1: in really well with the locker room, can give you
- 11:46Speaker 1: multipositional versatility and smart player as well. So when you
- 11:52Speaker 1: look at Red Blanket Ship not coming back, I'm not
- 11:54Speaker 1: saying that Michael Carter will be a starter, but I
- 11:57Speaker 1: am saying that he's going to be a versatile depth
- 12:00Speaker 1: piece for this team moving forward, and that's a positive
- 12:04Speaker 1: for sure.
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- 14:11Speaker 1: The Eagles also lost wide receiver Johan Dotson, and I
- 14:14Speaker 1: understand that he wasn't a part of the core four
- 14:16Speaker 1: of the Eagles free agents, but he was the number
- 14:19Speaker 1: three wide receiver and that does leave a void. So
- 14:22Speaker 1: he signs with the Atlanta Falcons to a two year,
- 14:25Speaker 1: fifteen million dollar deal worth up to seventeen million, including
- 14:30Speaker 1: ten million fully guaranteed. This according to Adam Schefter. Again,
- 14:33Speaker 1: all of these signings won't be official until Wednesday. But
- 14:37Speaker 1: Johan Dotson gets an opportunity there with the Falcons to
- 14:39Speaker 1: be the number two or the number three in an
- 14:42Speaker 1: offense that should be a little bit more of a
- 14:44Speaker 1: high volume passing attack. And I had a good conversation
- 14:47Speaker 1: with Jahan, and if you listen to this podcast, I
- 14:50Speaker 1: was saying, really since Locker cleanout, that it wasn't likely
- 14:54Speaker 1: that he was going to return, but during locker cleanout,
- 14:58Speaker 1: he spoke about how much he enjoyed his time with
- 15:01Speaker 1: the Eagles and learned a lot playing alongside two of
- 15:04Speaker 1: the best receivers in the league. But he also added,
- 15:07Speaker 1: but I'm ready to maximize my talent because I know
- 15:10Speaker 1: I have a lot of good football ahead of me.
- 15:12Speaker 1: I know I can help a football team win a
- 15:13Speaker 1: lot of games, and I'm ready to do that. So
- 15:17Speaker 1: he'll get that opportunity in Atlanta. Signs a really good deal,
- 15:20Speaker 1: more than I envisioned him getting on the open market,
- 15:23Speaker 1: and he has a good opportunity with the Falcons. Johan Dotson.
- 15:28Speaker 1: Let's not forget while he didn't see the football all
- 15:32Speaker 1: that much, scored just one touchdown in the regular season,
- 15:37Speaker 1: he may have made up for the lack of regular
- 15:41Speaker 1: season production in the twenty twenty four postseason alone, when,
- 15:45Speaker 1: of course, he scored the touchdown off the Orin Burks
- 15:48Speaker 1: fumble to get things rowing in the opening round of
- 15:50Speaker 1: the playoffs against the Packers, and then he had that
- 15:53Speaker 1: twenty seven yard touch not touchdown almost a touchdown in
- 15:57Speaker 1: the Super Bowl where he was tackled at the one
- 15:59Speaker 1: didn't they extend due to the Eagles emphasis on bas security,
- 16:03Speaker 1: which cost him a touchdown the Super Bowl. But when
- 16:06Speaker 1: the ball came his way, more often than not, Johan
- 16:09Speaker 1: Dotson made plays. I'm not going to oversell his importance
- 16:12Speaker 1: because the Eagles can certainly replace him, but right now
- 16:17Speaker 1: there's a little bit of a void there at wide receiver.
- 16:20Speaker 1: The next player who would elevate would be Darius Cooper,
- 16:24Speaker 1: a second year player who was an undrafted free agent
- 16:26Speaker 1: out of Tarleton State last year caught nine passes, and
- 16:30Speaker 1: Dotson spoke glowingly about Darius Cooper and what he observed
- 16:36Speaker 1: from him in his first season, then said he's going
- 16:38Speaker 1: to be a hell of a football player. They also
- 16:41Speaker 1: have Johnny Wilson, Britton Covey, and a couple of players
- 16:43Speaker 1: signed the futures deals. But I would imagine that the
- 16:46Speaker 1: Eagles find a way to add another receiver, whether that's
- 16:50Speaker 1: via trade, whether that's in the NFL draft where there's
- 16:53Speaker 1: a number of receivers a little top heavy, but you
- 16:56Speaker 1: can certainly get a player that can step in and
- 16:58Speaker 1: help you, and you can grow and developed them over
- 17:02Speaker 1: the years. So no more Johan Dotson in Philadelphia. It
- 17:06Speaker 1: was pretty clear cut that when you don't see the
- 17:09Speaker 1: kind of opportunities naturally, if you're a young player and
- 17:12Speaker 1: you're competitive, which he is, you're gonna want to go
- 17:14Speaker 1: somewhere else where you're able to carve out a larger
- 17:19Speaker 1: role and get back to the player that he was
- 17:21Speaker 1: with the Washington Commanders. So while the trade to get
- 17:24Speaker 1: Johan Dotson was a little steep in hindsight, it may
- 17:29Speaker 1: have paid off just based on his contributions in the
- 17:32Speaker 1: postseason alone. And I know that's you know that right
- 17:36Speaker 1: now is you're talking about two receptions. But yeah, I
- 17:41Speaker 1: mean he played a big part in the postseason with
- 17:44Speaker 1: those two pivotal plays. But leave it to Howie Roseman,
- 17:48Speaker 1: he's going to leave no stone unturned if it means
- 17:50Speaker 1: bettering the roster. They added him and they gave the Eagles,
- 17:54Speaker 1: and I believe this, it just wasn't the offense to
- 17:56Speaker 1: support all of those players, arguably that the top three
- 18:00Speaker 1: receivers in the receiving corps in the NFL. I believe
- 18:05Speaker 1: Johan can play. I think he's going to I wanna
- 18:09Speaker 1: say excel, but I think he's going to open some
- 18:13Speaker 1: eyes there in Atlanta. As long as they get the
- 18:16Speaker 1: quarterback situation figured out, and great guy, consummate professional, and
- 18:22Speaker 1: I'll be keeping an eye on seeing what he's able
- 18:24Speaker 1: to do out there. Now, where do the Eagles go
- 18:27Speaker 1: from here? Well, there are other free agents that are available,
- 18:30Speaker 1: Believe it or not. There's other pass rushers. Now you're
- 18:33Speaker 1: starting to get into that second tier as you are
- 18:36Speaker 1: with the safety position as well. But there are some
- 18:39Speaker 1: other options, some cost effective options. Whether that's a Geno
- 18:43Speaker 1: Stone at safety who I've written about and I've talked
- 18:46Speaker 1: about on this podcast, or we'll have to wait and
- 18:50Speaker 1: see what goes on with Dallas Gotter. But there's other
- 18:52Speaker 1: tight ends out there, and there are other edge rushers.
- 18:57Speaker 1: You know, it's Brad Chubbs, a player who isn't going
- 19:02Speaker 1: to He's not going to garner those headlines like a
- 19:08Speaker 1: Jalen Phillips would. He'll be thirty years old by training camp.
- 19:11Speaker 1: But he did play under Vic Fangio and he had
- 19:16Speaker 1: great success, so you know that he can fit in
- 19:18Speaker 1: that defense. It's probably not going to break the bank
- 19:20Speaker 1: to bring someone like that in their Eagles will have
- 19:23Speaker 1: many other opportunities, just like every other team will, to
- 19:26Speaker 1: continue to fill out the roster, but manage expectations and
- 19:30Speaker 1: understand that you're not going to see the home run
- 19:34Speaker 1: type of signings in all likelihood. It's more going to
- 19:37Speaker 1: be along the lines of those team friendly, low cost
- 19:41Speaker 1: type of signings. And I didn't disagree with that approach
- 19:44Speaker 1: last offseason one because they had to do it, but
- 19:47Speaker 1: I did disagree with the evaluation piece of it. But
- 19:50Speaker 1: when you look at someone like an Azizo, Jilari or
- 19:52Speaker 1: Josh Usche, those are the type of players that you
- 19:54Speaker 1: bet on relative to what you're compensating them because they
- 19:59Speaker 1: have offered glimpses of in their career. You don't want
- 20:01Speaker 1: to build your whole past rush group around that, but
- 20:05Speaker 1: those are the kind of players that you want to
- 20:08Speaker 1: try to, want to try to buy low on and
- 20:10Speaker 1: then trust your player development staff and your coaches to
- 20:14Speaker 1: really dial everything else in and get the most out
- 20:17Speaker 1: of those players. And this coaching staff has done a
- 20:19Speaker 1: remarkable job over the last several seasons maximizing and developing talent.
- 20:26Speaker 1: That's something that I think is a little understated, and
- 20:30Speaker 1: I've been one who I like to mention that at
- 20:33Speaker 1: every turn because not every team has that, but obviously
- 20:37Speaker 1: a lot going on here in egal Land, and plenty
- 20:41Speaker 1: more to follow in the days ahead, so make sure
- 20:44Speaker 1: you're staying plugged in on Inside the Birds dot com,
- 20:47Speaker 1: listening to the Inside the Birds podcast with Jeff and Adam,
- 20:50Speaker 1: and listening of course to the Czech Odaily, which you'll
- 20:53Speaker 1: get another one tomorrow, which is sure to have some
- 20:57Speaker 1: more news to come. Now, that's going to do it
- 21:01Speaker 1: for this edition of the Checho Daily. I'm Andrew Decheco.
- 21:04Speaker 1: We'll catch you all on the next one.