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The DiCecco Daily: Impressions, Thoughts After Eagles Thursday Camp Practice · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome into another episode of The Checko Daily.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Andrew di Checko, Eagles beat reporter for Inside the Birds
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: dot Com. Here and Thursday marked day two of Eagles
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: training camp, and you couldn't have asked for a better day,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: really better days weather wise, as it was mid to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: late seventies, probably by the end of practice eighty one
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: eighty two, But the Eagles got some quality work in today.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: It covered about ninety eight minutes and it was classified
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: as green. So while the Eagles are still in the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: acclamation period, with the practice being in the green, that's
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: as intense as you can get without the team donning
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: pads and things like that. Vic Vangio spoke before practice
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and he said something interesting with regard to Jonathan Bernard,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: who of course was placed on the pup list prior
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to the start of t camp that was on Wednesday,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: as he sustained a pet strain lifting prior to training camp.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: He mentioned that Grenard is going to miss a good
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: amount of training camp, and one would presume that a
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: veteran like Grenard missing time wouldn't be as problematic as
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: it might be for a younger player, but vic Vangeo
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: mentioned not necessarily because he's going to be asked to
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: do some things that he hasn't had to do before,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: and that's something to keep in mind. So going into
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Day two, the Eagles were healthy. But then later on
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: in practice, second year tackle Cameron Williams during a team period,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: was on the ground for a while he was being
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: looked at by trainers. He walks off the field gingerly,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: heads to the injury tent, and then ultimately heads inside.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: So we'll have to wait and see what all transpired
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: from that injury or if in fact he's back on Saturday.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: So that's something that will certainly monitor. But let's get
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to the practice. There was a lot of seven on
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: sevens and a lot of eleven on eleven's today. Jalen
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Hurts had some nice throws on Thursday, but there were
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: some bad misses, especially early on. But during the seven
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: on seven period there was an instance where he missed
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Hollywood Brown pretty blatantly, But then there was another play
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: where he connected with Davonte Smith on a really nice
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: throw during the seven on seven sessions along the sideline
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: with Quinnon Mitchell in coverage. And remember on Day one,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Jalen had a nice throw on a deep dig during
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: a team period to Devonte Smith, who created just enough
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: separation for him to be able to make the catch,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: and that was with Quinon Mitchell in coverage. Jalen Hurts
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: also had two tremendous throws later in the session that
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: we'll get to, but I or one in particular, But
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I want I want to talk about the quarterback situation
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: beyond Jalen Hurts because Nick Sirianni spoke leading up to
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: leading into the first practice and mentioned that they're still
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: going to rotate Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton with the
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: second team, and that was of course the case. On
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: day two with seven on sevens, it was Andy Dalton
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: who got the nod with the second unit, and then
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: when the Eagles went to eleven on eleven's, it was
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Tanner McKee who worked with the second team there. And
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: there was a play early in practice where Andy Dalton
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: was firing a pass into traffic. It was a tight
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: window attempt to Cameron Lattu, but second year cornerback Mac
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: McWilliams collects the pass breakup. There wasn't anything remarkably notable
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: in terms of Tanner McKee. I thought all three quarterbacks
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: held the ball a tick too long for the vast
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: majority of the practice, while yesterday I thought that they
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: were pretty sharp. Buy Arch and one player who was
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: sharp albeit limited opportunities on the first day was rookie
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Cole Payton. That was not the case on day two,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: which is why it's important to keep in mind that
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: this is a fifth round rookie growing pain should be expected,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: expectations should be tempered, and this is all part of
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the process. There's a lot of areas of his game
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: that he's going to have to refine, especially mechanically, and
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: that really revealed itself on day two, where he threw
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: three interceptions. The first interception was on a play that
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: he threw a little high to wide receiver Danny Gray.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Danny probably should have secured the catch, but anyway, it
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: was deflected into the arms of a diving outside linebacker
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: aj Epenessa, who collects the interception.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: There.
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  Speaker 1: Then on the next play, Cole Peyton and maybe it
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: was a miscommunication, but he the air mails one deep
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: down the field and the only player in the vicinity
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: was linebacker Chance Campbell, who was able to corral that.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: And then later in practice, rookie seventh rounder Keyshawn James
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Newby gets Cole Peyton and has a nice return off
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: of that. So just keep in mind that this is
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: a young player and there's still a lot of room
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: for improvement. But that was the day for Cole Peyton,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and that's gonna have to get that. Don't have to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: get cleaned up. You don't get many opportunities as the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: fourth quarterback, so it's very important that you try to
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: maximize your moments, and he didn't do that today. He
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: did do that on day one. Speaking of which, the
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: players who spoke after practice were Jehad Campbell, Cooper, Dejen
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Dallas Godder, Jordan Mailatta Quinnon, Mitchell, Enrique Woollen, and I
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: thought all players had something interesting to say, and I'll
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: have to go back and transcribe, but I thought Rake
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Wohen in particular, I was there for the entirety of
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: his of his scrum, which covered a little over five minutes.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: But every player there is going to have a very
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: critical role for this team and that those were the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: players who spoke after practice. Brian Dawkins, Eagles Legend, was
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: in the building today. Was at the Jefferson Health Training
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Complex and it was cool to see him reunite with
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: former teammates Ike Reese and John Ritchie, and they were
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: there standing right beside me at the time, and they
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: all got together for a photo which was which was
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: cool to see. That was the early two thousand zan
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: you Reid era, of course, but I wanted to make
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: sure that I got those points in because I don't
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: want to forget that. And let's get to the the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: latter stead, you know, let's move a little bit forward here.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: In practice, there was a play where Jalen Hurts throw
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: a really nice touch pass in to tight end Dallas Goddard.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: It was a mid range throw. Zach Bond was defending there.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: That speaks to the chemistry and I talk about this
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: often that Jalen Hurts and Dallas Goddard have, and I
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: think while we're talking about the quarterback, let's look at
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the offense, because there was early in practice I thought
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that there was some misdirection. The motion seemed to be
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: getting the better of the defense, but ultimately the defense
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: settled in they were really restricting what the offense was
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: able to do. It almost feels like once they acclimated
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and sort of got accustomed to how the offense was playing,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: they were able to settle in and find their footing,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and it's just a really challenging group to move the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: football on. I would imagine it should make this offense
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a whole lot better by summer's end, having gone against
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: this kind of talent. But I thought that in the trenches,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: especially along the defensive line, they really created a lot
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: of penetration and made life difficult for all the quarterbacks.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: And I thought all of the quarterbacks held the ball
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: a tick longer than you'd like to see. That wasn't
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the case on day one, but it is part of
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the you know, it's a byproduct of a new offense
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: and things are happening quickly. There's a lot of moving
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: pieces on the defensive side that will all sort itself out,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I'm sure as training camp progresses. But it is important
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to note there was a really nice throw that Jalen
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Hurts had later in practice where he's rolling to his left.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: It really illustrates the kind of arm strength that he
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: has to rifle a pass down the field to Dontavian Wicks,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: who was double covered. There was rookie safety Cole Wiznsky,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: and there was veteran cornerback Shakryan Bennett, and instead it
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: was Dn Tavian Wicks who tracks the football, secures the reception,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: and that's the That's the kind of throw that you'd
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: like to see Jalen Hurts attempt forcing the not forcing
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: the football down the field, but trusting your playmakers to
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: go up there and make a play. And the arm
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: strength and the kind of talent, the arm talent that
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: it takes to be able to get that throw off
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: is something that I thought was probably the play of
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: the day, if we're being honest, and it was a
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: nice throw, I thought Wix made a better play to
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: find the football and wrestle it away from the two
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: defenders right between those guys. For those wondering, Johnny Munt
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: the veteran tight end in case you're wondering about the
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: tight end rotation, Johnny Munt has been the tight end too.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: He was on day one and he was today as well,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: So that seems to be the way they're going moving forward.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I did catch Eli Stowers and some blocking opportunities early
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: in practice as they were warming up, and he did
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you know, he looked like a player that, as I've
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: always said, he's a willing blocker, and there's opportunities for
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: growth there, let's just put it that way. I don't
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: think that it's something that he can't do. He just
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: needs more reps in doing so. He wasn't asked to
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: do it at Vanderbilt. Still, I think, because that isn't
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: necessarily strength at this time, it's fair to wonder what
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: that would mean in terms of his overall playing time
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: in year one. That's not to suggest that he's not
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: going to have a role at all. He will. He's
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: a second round pick, but in what capacity that will
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: be ultimately determined by how he progresses and as a
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: well rounded player at that position. But he also had
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: a nice catch or he had an intermediary reception during
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the team period and McKay lemon as well. McKay lemon,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: for those wondering, just looks the part. You can sometimes
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: see it with young players. He has good hands, he's shifty.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: There was some plays where he was in motion it
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: seemed to throw the defense off a little bit as
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: they're adjusting to it. And I think McKay lemon that
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: there shouldn't really be any cause for concern with him. Obviously,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: he's a rookie wide receiver, and this is a complex
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: system to learn for a wide receiver. Details and just
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: overall communication are going to be paramount there. But you
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: can just see it with Lemon. He catches the football,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: he knows what to do when he has it. He
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: seems to have the confidence that you need to succeed
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: at this level, and I'm looking forward to seeing what
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: he's able to do as training camp moves forward.
• 11:28
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• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Tank Bigsby was probably my player of the day. I
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: thought jayalox Hunt certainly fit the bill for that in
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Day one, but on Day two, and really day day
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: one as well. Tank Bigsby is just an explosive athlete.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: He moves really well, and he approaches every snap as
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: if it's going to be his last, so he's always
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: going one hundred miles an hour. He reads his blocks
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: pretty well, and when he gets into the open field,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: you just see the burst and the juice that he has.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: And I am just fascinated to see how the Eagles
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: will incorporate him in the offense. Make him more of
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: a give him more of a defined role, make him
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: more of a mainstay on the offense rather than spelling
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley. Give him a define role, and I think
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: he's going to really add another dimension to this offense.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Every time he gets the football, he's looking for the
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: big play. He's again one hundred miles an hour. There's
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: an urgency and desperation every time he touches the football.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: So far through two practices, he's checked off a ton
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: of boxes, if you remember, on this podcast, and I've
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: written about on Inside the Birds dot com, I sort
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of earmarked Tank Bigsby as a training camp standout because
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: of his skill set, because of the way that he plays,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: and it's really fun to watch. He might be one
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: of my favorite players to watch on the offensive side
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: because he just doesn't quit and he gives he gives
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: his uh, he gives us all in every play, and
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I think he's going to have a pretty decent role.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: He got he's gotten a lot of work over the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: last two practices and not I haven't seen a ton
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: from Will Shipley. He caught a pass by the way.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: There's been a lot of passes that were that were
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: checkdowns and and that's something that I've seen in the
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I saw it in the spring, I saw it last
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: summer as well. Quarterbacks, It's good to see them make
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: quick decisions when when they have those opportunities. I still
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: think they're they held the ball a little bit too
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: long on Thursday, but they've been, uh, they've been sort
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: of peppered with passes in the in the receiving game
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: over through two days, and it's nice to see Jalen
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Hurt's being willing to take what the defenses are giving
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: him rather than try to force feed a player or
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: push it down the field if there's nothing there. Hollywood
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Brown is a player that you see the speed, you
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: see the twitchiness and the burst that he has off
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the line, and you can't help but wonder how the
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Eagles are going to maximize his ability because while I
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: don't believe that he'll be a volume based receiver, he
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: does have a skill set that could end up being
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: an X factor on offense, stretching teams vertically. They're gonna
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: have to get him to find a way to get
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: him the ball in space and take advantage of his
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: short area of quickness and agility. But that it's easy
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: to see why the Eagles wanted to bring him in.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: He's played quite a bit of football. He's been in
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: different offenses, but he adds something different relative to what
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: they already had in the building. Don Tavian Wicks is
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: a player that I get asked about a lot that
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I've gotten asked about a lot, really since the spring.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Nothing particularly remarkable except for going up for that jaywhen
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Hurst's reception and pulling it away from two defenders. Again,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: that was a good throw, probably a better catch, but
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: nothing overly remarkable. I think he's had He's caught the
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: ball cleanly, and that's something that you really want to see.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Drops had plagued him dating back to his time with
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers, but that hasn't been a factor
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: just yet, and that's obviously a good sign because the
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Eagles are going to be leaning on him heavily to
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: undertake a pretty pivotal role on offense this season. There
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: will be no practice on Friday. The Eagles return to
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: the Jefferson Health Training Complex for practice on Saturday when
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: training camp resumes. But make sure you check out the
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: podcast that I will be doing with Adam Kaplan where
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: we're sort of summarizing what took place the first two
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: days of Eagles training camp. I hope you like it,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: and that will have that to you as soon as possible,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: but for now, that's going to do it for this
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: episode of De Checho Daily, Andrew de Checko and I'll
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: catch you all on the next one day they