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The DiCecco Daily: These Are The Most Indispensable Eagles · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up, everybody.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: This is Andrew Dichecko with another edition of Di Checko Daily.
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  Hope everyone's having a great weekend. Hope you got a
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  chance to check out Early Birds from nine to twelve
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  this morning on ninety seventy five The Fanatic That was Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: If you're listening to it today.
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  Speaker 2: Those of you who have followed my work, you already
• 0:27
  know that I'm not big on lists, especially in the offseason.
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  Speaker 1: I like to sort of.
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  Speaker 2: Create my own ideas and have some so you know,
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  some logic behind it. But there is logic behind this
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  because I want to count down my top five most
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  important Eagles entering the twenty twenty five season. And this
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  accent's a much larger point that I'm going to address
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  when we get to the end of this conversation. But
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  at number five for me, that's linebacker Zach Bonn. Now,
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  when you look what he did last season, first team
• 1:01
  All Pro, made the Pro Bowl. This is a player
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  who is head and shoulders the Eagles best linebacker. He's
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  also quickly become one of the best players at his
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  position in the sport. And I think that I put
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  him at number five obviously because of the impact that
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  he has on the field, that's evident.
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  Speaker 1: He has really taken to Vic Fangio's system.
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  Speaker 2: And I still think because he's so new to the
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  off ball linebacker position at the pro level and playing
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  a much more expanded role compared to what he did
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  with the Saints, that he still has room to grow.
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  But when you look at the linebacker pecking order and
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  where he stands, and then behind him there's a rookie
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  and Jahad Campbell, who I have very high expectations for.
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  Speaker 1: I think everybody has high.
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  Speaker 2: Expectations for based on what you saw him do at Alabama. Well,
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  he's injured right now, and so is the Kobe Dean
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  who's going to be on the shelf for an extended
• 1:53
  period of time. From the sounds of it, we have
• 1:55
  yet to really hear a concrete timetable and never put
• 1:59
  anything past Kobe Dean, who attacks the rehab process. But
• 2:04
  Zach Bond is so important to the Eagles because of
• 2:09
  his standing in the linebacker groom and he really is
• 2:12
  the glue that holds that unit together. And when you
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  look at losing some of the pieces that they did
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  last season and there's a lot of new faces, he
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  is going to be one of the prominent voices on
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  that unit and a big key to sort of fueling
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  this defense that they don't lose a step now. Number
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  four for me was very tough because I looked at
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  running back Saquon Barkley. Hard to dispute how critical he
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  is to the offense's functionality. Last season it ran through him.
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  But I go back to this often listening to what
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  key players on this Eagles team had to say in
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  the spring, whether it was Jalen Hurts, whether it was
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  AJ Brown, they all spoke about the need for the
• 2:55
  offense to evolve. So when you take that, if you're
• 2:59
  taking that, if face value evolve, certainly, probably it doesn't
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  pertain to the running game, right, I mean, I think
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  that's pretty well at hand. They have the league's best
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  offensive line and the league's best running back sort of
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  heading that era, that ground attack. So I look at
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  AJ Brown and he's my number four because obviously the
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  passing game runs through him. I also view AJ Brown
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  as the best wide receiver in the NFL.
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  Speaker 1: There isn't anything that he can't do.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, he has the prototypical size, he's strong, he's lethal
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  after the catch. Just look at those slamt patterns that
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  they throw to him. He has the ability to take
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  those to the house. He's also willing to block in
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  the running game, and I really do think that he
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  is primed for a very big season for the Eagles,
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  but not only his production. What he represents from an
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  offensive standpoint, Teams have to account for him, which forces
• 3:56
  defenses to sort of play their other weapons differently, and
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  it opens things up for his teammates to be successful.
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  For this offense to really take this next step forward,
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  the passing game needs to also head in that direction.
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  I believe that it will under new OC Kevin Patulo.
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  We have yet to see what it's actually going to
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  look like. But I think that AJ Brown, what he represents,
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  how critical he is to the passing game.
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  Speaker 1: That's why he's number four.
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  Speaker 2: He's going to elevate Jywen Hurts, and Jaywen Hurts is
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  going to elevate AJ Brown. Now number three for me
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  was something that was a point of contention, but there's
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  logic behind it. Jaywen Hurts is my number three player
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  going into this season. And I know that a lot
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  of folks that are listening may say, how can the
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  quarterback be anything?
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  Speaker 1: Other than the top spot.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's sort of a multi layered thing here because
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  obviously Jaywen Hurts is among the elite at his position,
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  and he fuels this Eagles offense.
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  Speaker 1: Everything runs through him.
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  Speaker 2: Ultimately, he's taken more ownership of the offense, and I
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  think that he's also going to get off to a
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  much faster start having Kevin Patula, who he's worked with
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  since twenty twenty one, and that relationship I think is
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  really going to manifest into some early fireworks to the offense.
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  But I also have to look at the player behind him,
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  and I think Tanner McKee, and this sort of factors
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  into my decision. I think very highly of Tanner McKee.
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  I think he's a high end number two. You can
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  argue that he's already one of the better number two
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  quarterbacks in the NFL. And when he was pressed into
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  service last year, in a game and a half, he
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  completed thirty or forty five pass attempts for three hundred
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  and twenty three yards and four touchdowns. Now, that was
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  a very small sample size, but I think it speaks
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  to the point of the offense.
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  Speaker 1: Should Jalen Hurts.
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  Speaker 2: You know, have him forbid if you're an Eagles fan,
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  have to miss any time. I think he can capably
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  navigate the offense, and it seems like everything would be
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  open to him. I don't think there would be a
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  restriction in terms of what he's able to handle. I
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  think he should be able to capably navigated in the
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  short term should anything unforeseen. Kind of you rise to
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  the occasion. But that's not to say that Jay when
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  Hurts isn't critical. When you touch the ball every play
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  and you're that plus one in the running game and
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  you're a reigning Super Bowl MVP, obviously you're super critical
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  to this team's success. But there's a player that I
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  have in the top spot that I would argue for
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  being the most important player on the Eagles, and then
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  number two for.
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  Speaker 1: Me is going to be defensive tackle Jaywen Carter.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason being is that obviously he's quickly becoming
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  one of the best players, if not the best player
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  at his position in the NFL. Obviously Chris Jones exists,
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  and so does Dexter Lawrence. But I think by the
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  end of the season, jaywhen Carter is going to be
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  looked at as the top player at his position. He
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  played eighty four percent of the defensive snaps last season
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  eighty eight percent in the postseason. Teams have to double
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  and maybe even sometimes triple team them because he is
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  such a force at the line of smage, incredibly powerful,
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  violent with his hands, and he can really get upfield
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  and wreek havoc for quarterbacks, Ask any quarterback in the
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  NFL what is the most detrimental to a play? And
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  it's pressure up the middle, I should say in terms
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  of pressure, and that's pressure up the middle because you
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  force them off their spot and you sort of muddy
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  the waters where they're not able to get a clear
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  read on their pass targets.
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  Speaker 1: And Jalen Carter for me, four and a half sacks last.
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  Speaker 2: Season doesn't ut I doesn't necessarily illustrate how impactful that
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  he was. But he's also super critical because one, he's
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  the most important player on the defense, but behind him,
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  there's a lot of questions for different reasons. Jordan Davis
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  played thirty seven percent of the snaps last season. He's
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  going to be expected to undertake a much more pivotal
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  role on defense, so will Moro Jomo, a third year
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  defensive tackle who played the identical amount of snaps as
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  Jordan Davis last season. Now, I have high expectations for
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  Moro Jomo and Jordan Davis, and it seems like the
• 8:02
  Eagles are banking on both. If you look at how
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  they address the defensive tackle position in the offseason, they're
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  expecting both to take a leap forward. But until we
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  see that, that's obviously going to be a question. But
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  that really underscores the importance of Jaylen Carter and what
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  he's going to ultimately mean for this defense if they
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  are to kind of pick up where they left off. Now,
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  the final spot here, number one is Lane Johnson. And
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  I had to give us a lot of thought because
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  I was considering Jalen Hurts for this spot, but ultimately
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  it has to be Lane Johnson. And I know that
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  it might be a little head scratch and have a
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  right tackle as the most important player for the Eagles
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  immediate success.
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  Speaker 1: But this hasn't really changed for me.
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  Speaker 2: I've maintained that Lane Johnson is the most important player
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  on the Eagles. Just look at the record without him
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  in the lineup fifteen and twenty three. When he's not
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  in the lineup, you see that no matter how high
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  power this offense is, it does take a step back
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  because of what he's able to do and impose his
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  will and pretty much erase the pass rusher on the
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  other side. But not only that, what he's able to
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  do to stabilize the sort of revolving door right guard
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  that he's playing next to. He is able to kind
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  of I don't want to say mask because that takes
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  away from what Makai Becton and Isaac Saamalu and what
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  I believe Tyler Steen can really do. But Lane Johnson
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  is such a steadying force. He's a future Hall of
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  Famer and I believe one of the best tackles to
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  play this game. And I keep going back to look
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  at that Tampa Bay game when you didn't have aj
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  Brown and you didn't have Lane Johnson. You had a
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  lot of pieces on the offense that could make things go,
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  but it made a world of a difference. And when
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  you are there and you're protecting the quarterback and you
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  have that kind of an impact on a game, I mean,
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  it's kind of hard for me to go anywhere else.
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  He's obviously especially instrumental to the to the overall flow
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  of this offense. And for me, when I I looked
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  at it, and I really did give this a lot
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  of thought.
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  Speaker 1: It has to be Lane Johnson.
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  Speaker 2: But this exercise, to me is really interesting because it actsents.
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  It highlights how great of a job Howie Roseman and
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  Eagles Brass have done to assemble a roster that you
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  could easily make a case for fifteen players sliding into
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  that top five most Important Eagle spot. Nolan Smith's another one.
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  Saquon Barkley. I didn't even mention in my top five.
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  He would be honorable mention, but I just think that
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  there are so many candidates that could slot there, and
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  that is a hat tip to Howie Roseman and how
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  this roster is constructed. So if you're an Eagles fan,
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  which I assume you are if you're listening, you should
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  feel really good about that. And there's a million different
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  ways you can go with that top five most important Eagles.
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  Speaker 1: There's no wrong answer.
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  Speaker 2: It's obviously very subjective, but that's kind of my thought
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  process as to where I land on that.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's going to really be.
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  Speaker 2: A season where a lot of these players are going
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  to flourish, especially with you, with the continuity and the
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  coaching staff that they have in place, and the culture
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  that they've established. But yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna
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  be fun to watch unfold. Anyway, this has been to
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  Checho Daily. I am Andrew de Checo. Have a great
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  weekend everyone, and I'll talk to you on Monday.