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The DiCecco Daily: Going Inside Roles For Tank Bigsby, Kylen Granson, Cam Latu For Eagles Vs. Chiefs · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 2: What's happened? Everybody.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome into this edition of The check O Daily. It
• 0:13
  is Andrew de Checko and Eagles Chiefs just two days away.
• 0:18
  I said this yesterday, but it feels like it's been
• 0:20
  forever since we've seen Eagles football.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to cover this game.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And we now have the game day statuses based off
• 0:30
  of Friday's injury report, and it shouldn't really be a
• 0:34
  surprise but out for this game tight end Dallas godd
• 0:38
  It with the knee injury, running back.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Will Shipley with the oblique, and tackle Cameron.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Williams with the shoulder questionable For the Eagles, quarterback Tanner
• 0:47
  McKee with the right thumb.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Now quick note on Tanner McKee.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Friday's practice was the first time he's thrown since suffering
• 0:55
  the injury to his right thumb on August eighteenth. He
• 0:59
  had a glove on his throat going hand. It puts
• 1:02
  a little bit of optimism into his game day availability.
• 1:06
  Behind Jalen Hurts, if not Sam Howe will be the
• 1:09
  second quarterback. But obviously encouraging news for Tanner McKee, who's
• 1:13
  been sidelined for a while. Now seems like he's trending
• 1:16
  in the right direction. But for Dallas Goddard and Will Shipley,
• 1:22
  if you've been keeping an eye on the injury statuses
• 1:25
  throughout the week, it really shouldn't be a surprise.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I've gotten a lot of questions as to who would
• 1:31
  be the primary behind Saquon Barkley, and I mean, Tank
• 1:36
  Bigsby just got here earlier this week, so it's kind
• 1:39
  of hard to envision a.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Large workload in the absence of Will Shipley. I do
• 1:44
  believe that he's going to be.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: The primary kick returner alongside either John Metchi or aj Dillon.
• 1:51
  But I do think that Aj Dillon between the two,
• 1:54
  between Tank Bigbie and Dylan, would be the logical choice,
• 1:58
  having you because he's been with the team since the spring,
• 2:03
  so there's just more familiarity there. He knows the offense
• 2:06
  really well. I'm not suggesting that Tank Bigsby wouldn't have
• 2:12
  any kind of a role Sunday, but it just seems
• 2:14
  like it would be minimal as he continues to acclimate
• 2:16
  to the offense. Really, when as it pertains to pass protection,
• 2:20
  that would be the big drawback or the big deterrent
• 2:23
  from giving him a larger workload. But I do think
• 2:25
  that in the future he's going to factor into this
• 2:28
  backfield equation. But with Dallas Goddard, that's a big loss.
• 2:33
  And I mentioned this yesterday again, But not having Johnny Wilson,
• 2:37
  who does a lot of the dirty work, that grimy
• 2:39
  work offensive wed to free up teammates that doesn't necessarily
• 2:43
  surface on the box score, To not have Ben Van
• 2:47
  sumer And who's lost for the season with the Pateeller tendon,
• 2:50
  To not have Dallas Goddard now for Sunday at least
• 2:53
  that it puts a pretty big dent into what the
• 2:57
  Eagles are able to do from a blocking perspective.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: So I'm curious to see what their approach will be.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: May they use an extra offensive lineman, perhaps like a
• 3:07
  Fred Johnson, or would they look to use another tight end? Now,
• 3:13
  Grant kal Kata struggled as a blocker in the opener
• 3:17
  that he's a willing blocker.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I've talked a lot about this, but that's not his
• 3:21
  strong suit. He is a receiving.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Centric tight end that Jaywen has a lot of confidence
• 3:26
  in in that aspect. You can see that manifest with
• 3:29
  the targets that he received in training camp. I thought
• 3:32
  Grant had a really good training camp, but blocking is
• 3:35
  not his forte Kylie Grandson. He's also on the roster.
• 3:39
  He's somebody that can do it a little bit. You
• 3:42
  saw him sort of moonlight as an h back in
• 3:45
  the absence of Van Sumer and the opener. Didn't really
• 3:47
  have a lot of opportunities to gauge what he's able
• 3:50
  to do from a blocking perspective. But over the course
• 3:52
  of his career with the Colts, he's acceptable.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: He's passable at that.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: But I still think that the Eagles need something more
• 3:59
  from that position. So let's look at the practice squad elevations,
• 4:04
  because this is where things get a little bit interesting.
• 4:08
  Kevin Patulo earlier in the week mentioned that the fullback
• 4:11
  plays are still going to remain in the playbook and
• 4:13
  cited Grantson as someone who can do that and also
• 4:16
  mentioned practice squad tight end Cameron Latu as another player
• 4:20
  capable of filling that void.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: The day after he said that, lats Now switched from
• 4:26
  eighty seven to number thirty six, which maybe indicates that
• 4:31
  he's transitioning to a fullback role now. Wednesday was his
• 4:35
  first day playing fullback. He's sort of doubling in I
• 4:39
  guess double duty. He's still listed as a tight end
• 4:41
  on the roster, but that's a player that I could
• 4:44
  certainly foresee the Eagles elevating. He gives you some special
• 4:47
  teams prowess. I think he had like four tackles in
• 4:49
  the preseason finale. I don't know why I remember that,
• 4:52
  that's just the way that I'm wired. But he also
• 4:55
  impressed me as a blocker in his limited opportunities in
• 4:58
  training camp. Physical player at the point of attack, and
• 5:02
  he also saw work with a first team blocking unit
• 5:06
  on kick return.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: So it's easy to envision him having a.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Game day role this week. We'll wait and see elevations
• 5:13
  are they're put in and they're announced four o'clock or
• 5:19
  by four o'clock Saturday, So we'll learn a little bit
• 5:23
  about what the Eagles are looking to do based on
• 5:25
  their elevations. But Nick Siriani on Friday morning also highlighted EJ.
• 5:30
  Jenkins and how much he's really improved from being a
• 5:35
  collegiate wide receiver to becoming someone who's good at the
• 5:38
  point of attack.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: And if you've listened to me over.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: The last year or so or read anything that whenever
• 5:44
  I have talked about the tight ends.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: I've mentioned that EJ Jenkins having talked to.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Him plenty over the last year and some change that
• 5:52
  he's made it a point of emphasis to become a
• 5:55
  better blocker. He spent time with Jason Michael, the Eagles
• 5:57
  tight ends coach, to refine that area. He's talked to
• 6:01
  me last season about how much Dallas Goddard has helped
• 6:04
  him with his blocking prowess.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: At six foot six, two hundred and sixty pounds, he
• 6:09
  is a physical player.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: He is somebody that you want to throw in there
• 6:13
  and see what he can do at the point of attack. Heck,
• 6:15
  I even had him on my fifty three man roster
• 6:18
  because of what he brings from a blocking perspective, knowing
• 6:22
  that the Eagles were absent of an obvious secondary choice
• 6:26
  if Dallas god It wasn't available, or even just to
• 6:29
  fulfill that Johnny Wilson role. But that's another name who
• 6:33
  could be in play because of what he gives you
• 6:35
  as a blocker, but also on special teams. But I
• 6:38
  think Lotsu makes a lot of sense from the full
• 6:40
  back perspective and special teams perspective. But we'll have to
• 6:43
  wait and see who the other elevation could be Marcus Epps,
• 6:47
  the safety would.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Make a lot of sense.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Epps was elevated in time for the opener and he
• 6:52
  fulfilled a role on special teams. So those are three
• 6:55
  players right there that I think should be in the
• 6:58
  mix for the elevations. Again, that will be announced four
• 7:01
  o'clock Saturday afternoon and anticipation of Eagles Chief Sunday at
• 7:07
  four twenty five.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: But a lot of decisions to make here.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: What do they do with Cameron Williams who showed up
• 7:13
  Thursday on the injury report with the shoulder. He was limited,
• 7:16
  then didn't practice at all today. Could he be potentially
• 7:21
  an injured reserve candidate?
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: What are they going to do.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: With running back will Shipley, who suffered the oblique will
• 7:27
  has been out there every day this week watching practice
• 7:30
  as an observer, But I'm curious to see how long
• 7:35
  this injury will linger. If it's something of significance, then
• 7:40
  ir obviously makes a lot of sense. But then it
• 7:42
  also it also makes you wonder, why wait if you
• 7:49
  know it's severe, Because you waived Gabe Hall earlier in
• 7:52
  the week and.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Subjected him to waivers.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: There's just a whole lot of different you know, we're
• 7:56
  splitting hairs here, obviously, But the way that I look
• 7:59
  at the roster and the different moves, I try to
• 8:01
  think of it like a GM or at least like
• 8:04
  Howie Roseman would think of it, And those are some
• 8:07
  of the different roster machinations that cross my mind.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: This again, that's just how I'm wired.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: But I'm curious to see if there's an additional additional
• 8:16
  movement or additional roster moves as it pertains to either
• 8:21
  Cameron Williams or Will Shipley again Will. That should all
• 8:25
  be announced by late afternoon Saturday. And I mean the
• 8:31
  Eagles continue to have to find ways to I should
• 8:35
  say they're shuffling the deck a little bit there with
• 8:38
  the bottom of the roster, and they're getting creative. But
• 8:41
  I am very interested to see how they approach the
• 8:44
  game day elevations because that kind of gives you a
• 8:47
  glimpse into what they could be looking to accomplish their
• 8:51
  offensively Sunday against the Chiefs.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: But I'll talk to you tomorrow.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I will do a podcast after the elevations and again
• 8:59
  preview what that means and look ahead to Eagles Chiefs.
• 9:04
  But for now, that's going to do it for this
• 9:06
  edition of the Checko Daily. I am Andrew Decheco and
• 9:08
  I will catch you all on the next one.