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NFC East Preview: Can Deeper, Improved Commanders Dethrone Eagles? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, welcome to another edition of Inside the Birds
• 0:12
  with Jeff Mosher and Adam Kaplan, and of course we
• 0:15
  continue our NFC East preview series. We have discussed and
• 0:20
  dissected the Dallas Cowboys, we have done the same thing
• 0:23
  with the New York Giants. It's time for us to
• 0:25
  move on to the eagles new chief rivals, the new
• 0:28
  kids on the block, the Washington Commanders, who made it
• 0:31
  all the way to the NFC Championship last year before
• 0:34
  suffering a pretty bad blowout to the Eagles. But nonetheless,
• 0:38
  Adam greg I mean, Washington obviously has changed its business operations,
• 0:43
  new ownership, new fuel around the franchise, and it was
• 0:46
  a positive one.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: And then they obviously hit on a franchise quarterback.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: So we have a lot to discuss with this team
• 0:52
  that also made a bunch of moves in the offseason
• 0:54
  to try to knock the Eagles off the throne. So
• 0:58
  let's start with Washington's offense, because Jade Daniels really was
• 1:02
  that guy. Adam, do you remember us saying at this
• 1:04
  time last year that if there was going to be
• 1:06
  a team that could be like Houston two years ago,
• 1:09
  that just rides the coattails of a hot rookie quarterback.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: It could be the Commanders.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I couldn't still have predicted how good Jaden Daniels was
• 1:17
  going to be, how much to ride him.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Well, it's funny you said that because I was looking.
• 1:21
  We were looking recently, trying to figure out what kind
• 1:24
  of shows we when you're going forward, and I found
• 1:26
  that last June. Now you put that in the title
• 1:29
  Who's the next Houston Texans, and Whila. I didn't see
• 1:33
  it coming because Greg, I don't know about you, but
• 1:35
  when I look at the roster I'm in the season
• 1:37
  last year, I'm like, okay, well, Daniels could be good.
• 1:40
  Everything i'd heard inside the team was really good. But
• 1:43
  the roster, the offensive line, I just didn't see it. So, Greg,
• 1:47
  I would ask you this, and we'll obviously talk about
• 1:48
  the roster this season. When you saw Daniels as an overview,
• 1:53
  was it? Was it one of those stories the rookie
• 1:56
  was so good he just elevated the team. What were
• 1:58
  your thoughts on Daniels last season?
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, first of all, I like Daniels coming out,
• 2:03
  and I thought he was a really good mix of
• 2:06
  playing in the pocket and having the ability to be
• 2:09
  a playmaker, giving them the playmaking dimension because they didn't
• 2:13
  really have any explosiveness in the backfield and they still don't,
• 2:18
  you know, I think I guess part of your question
• 2:20
  is going forward, right, because we're trying to look ahead. Yeah,
• 2:24
  you know. I think when you take a rookie quarterback
• 2:26
  that had a lot of success, teams that they play
• 2:29
  are going to study him and they're going to start
• 2:32
  showing a lot of different looks and a lot of
• 2:34
  different movements on defense. So the next thing, because there's
• 2:38
  no way in one year, no matter what kind of
• 2:40
  success you have as a quarterback. I think CJ. Stroud
• 2:43
  found this out a little bit as well, is you
• 2:46
  start you must get a better understanding. I think of
• 2:49
  two things in particular, not just too, but two things
• 2:52
  in particular. You must get a better sense of protections
• 2:56
  and how they work against different front looks and pressure
• 3:01
  looks because young quarterbacks, even if they have a lot
• 3:04
  of success, they just don't have a background in those
• 3:08
  kinds of things from college. And then the corollary to
• 3:12
  that is you have to continue to understand defenses, both
• 3:16
  fronts and coverages and the connection between the two. Adam,
• 3:21
  you probably remember sitting in the room with myself and
• 3:24
  Ron Jaworski, how often he talked about the relationship with
• 3:28
  fronts and coverages. And that becomes such a critical thing
• 3:31
  for a quarterback because the front tells you a lot
• 3:36
  about what goes on behind it, and that's these are
• 3:40
  things he has to keep learning. So he's going to
• 3:43
  see different things. That's what teams do. They're not going
• 3:47
  to just say, oh, well, this guy's really good. We're
• 3:48
  just going to line up and you know, let them play.
• 3:51
  They're going to show him a lot. And so now
• 3:54
  the pre snap element of the game, which goes into
• 3:57
  everything I'm saying, becomes a more and more critical factor.
• 4:01
  It's funny. I was down in Tennessee at their mandatory
• 4:05
  mini camp and I spoke to their quarterback coach, Bull
• 4:09
  Hart Agree and we were just talking quarterbacks, and obviously
• 4:12
  I'm not comparing Daniels to Tom Brady, but Tom Brady's
• 4:16
  name came up because we were just talking ball, and
• 4:19
  he said, Brady won before the stamp. I mean, and
• 4:22
  which I've told you guys numerous times, you know, and
• 4:25
  Daniels is not ready yet for that, but you have
• 4:28
  to work toward that. So it's just a greater understanding
• 4:33
  of a lot of the different elements. And don't forget,
• 4:35
  they're going to add concepts on offense too, so he's
• 4:38
  got to know that as well. Most coaches I've spoken
• 4:41
  to over the years, Sorry to go so long, but yeah,
• 4:44
  my brain is just you know, a lot of things
• 4:47
  are popping in. Most coaches will tell you that for
• 4:51
  a quarterback, even if they're successful, that it still takes
• 4:54
  three years for them to understand their offense and everything
• 4:58
  about it the defenses in the NFL, that that's really
• 5:02
  what the timeline is.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I would imagine that a real big benefit to him
• 5:07
  is the fact that even after all of Washington's success
• 5:09
  last year, he will bring back the same offensive coordinator
• 5:12
  in Cliff Kingsbury, the same quarterbacks coach and Brian Johnson,
• 5:16
  same center Tyler Biatis unless something he gets hurt or
• 5:19
  something changes, and then you know, of course they've upgraded.
• 5:22
  But just from a playbook standpoint, there's a comfort level
• 5:26
  that he'll have already established with the main people involved
• 5:29
  in what you were just talking about that they can
• 5:31
  adjust to and build upon.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: Jeff, that's a phenomenal point, because you know, every time
• 5:37
  I talk to a coach about quarterbacks, they say, the
• 5:39
  worst thing you can do for a young quarterback is
• 5:42
  change things after his rookie season because it's so overwhelming
• 5:46
  mentally for a rookie, even if he has success, you know,
• 5:50
  but it's so mentally overwhelming that if all of a
• 5:53
  sudden you change everything and he has to start from scratch,
• 5:56
  because that's what you're doing. You're starting from scratch. It's
• 6:00
  just it's way too much. So your point is exactly
• 6:04
  the right one.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: So one of the things Adam and I Adam and
• 6:07
  I did an NFC East kind of outlook preview going
• 6:10
  into and coming out of the draft, and two things
• 6:13
  stuck out about Commanders. One we both agreed that they're
• 6:16
  probably still one real dynamic playmaker away from being able
• 6:20
  to rub elbows with the best offenses, unless, of course,
• 6:23
  guys take huge leaps.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: And two, I remember Adam and I.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Saying we'll really know if the Commanders have turned a
• 6:30
  corner as a franchise in the way they think and
• 6:33
  build their roster if in the draft they kind of
• 6:37
  go meet and potatoes right instead of the shiny toy
• 6:40
  like they've done in the past. And when they drafted
• 6:43
  Josh Connery right tackle with some other guys on the
• 6:46
  board that might have been offensive firepower worthy. I know
• 6:50
  we thought, all right, they're starting to get it, and Greg,
• 6:52
  when you look at the addition of Laramie Tunsel and
• 6:54
  then Connerly who shall will probably be their bookend tackles. First,
• 6:58
  can you kind of break down you saw out of
• 7:00
  tunsl last year and why that Texans O line may
• 7:03
  have struggled so much, and do you think he's still
• 7:05
  the same player, And then just take an overall look
• 7:07
  at the offensive line now where maybe we'll see Brandon
• 7:11
  Coleman move inside the guard after he played left tackle
• 7:14
  last year, and what.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: They Yeah, well, I don't think Tunsall had his best year,
• 7:20
  but the guy is still high level traits wise, And again,
• 7:23
  you know he's going to a new team. I don't
• 7:25
  know Learnamie Tunsil obviously, you know when you're traded, you
• 7:28
  have to think, hey, a team doesn't want me, so
• 7:30
  now I'm going somewhere else. But if you're talking about
• 7:33
  his trades, guys, you're still talking about a top three
• 7:36
  tackle on the league, just in terms of what he
• 7:39
  brings to the table. You know, at his best. He's
• 7:41
  one of those guys that makes it look easy, you know.
• 7:44
  I mean there have been years where it looked like
• 7:46
  it was effortless in some ways, even though they're stylistically
• 7:49
  a little different. In some ways. It reminded me of
• 7:51
  Joe Thomas, who always looked like he was out for
• 7:53
  a walk in the park. You know, it just looked
• 7:55
  so easy. But Tunsil, for whatever reason, did not have
• 7:58
  a great year last year. But he's not old, so
• 8:01
  I can't imagine that he's you know that he can't
• 8:03
  play at a high level. Now. Connory played left tackle
• 8:06
  at Oregon, so they're moving him to right tackle, and
• 8:09
  that's a meaningful switch. Now I'm not saying he can't
• 8:11
  do it, but you guys may remember, and I'm not
• 8:14
  comparing him to this player. I'm just using this as
• 8:16
  an example an analogy. When Panay Sewell, who was a
• 8:20
  left tackle at Oregon, then switched to right tackle his
• 8:23
  rookie year with the Lions because they had Taylor Decker.
• 8:25
  He had a tough first season, and since then he's
• 8:28
  moved on to probably be, you know, the second best
• 8:31
  left right tackle in the league behind Lane Johnson. But
• 8:36
  you know, so there is there is an acclamation period
• 8:39
  here in an adjustment period. But I thought Connorly along
• 8:43
  with Josh Shimmons from Ohio State, were the two most
• 8:46
  athletic tackle prospects in the draft, and so Connory to
• 8:50
  me was a really good prospect. Now I don't know
• 8:52
  what cosme situation is with the injury, whether he'd be
• 8:55
  able to play Week one, but Adam would know better
• 8:58
  than I about that. But I think Coleman will end
• 9:01
  up being the left guard. Now. They love Ali Gretti
• 9:04
  because Ali Gretty's one of those lunch pail guys. He's
• 9:06
  probably great in the old line meeting room. You know,
• 9:08
  He's just one of those guys you love having on
• 9:10
  your team because he's just a fighter and a battler.
• 9:13
  And then you know he's super competitive, and who knows,
• 9:15
  he may end up playing, you know, depending on Coleman.
• 9:18
  But I think their old line's going could be better.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Jeff, Yeah, I mean, Adam, that's a big point of it, right,
• 9:22
  is that for the longest time, not only was Washington
• 9:24
  very deficient on the offensive line, but if they suffered
• 9:27
  one injury.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Heaven forbid two, they were done. We talked about this
• 9:31
  with the Giants.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: But if Algaretti is the first guy off your bench,
• 9:34
  with all the experience that he has, you're automatically a
• 9:37
  lot better than you were a year or two ago.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because one of the things was very obvious. But
• 9:42
  Washington really starting a free agency. They let's be real here.
• 9:45
  They their roster wasn't great last season. Daniels elevated in
• 9:48
  a big way. Coaching was great, a lot of positive viyes,
• 9:52
  but they really had to help their offense, specifically around Daniels.
• 9:56
  Connor Lee, Greg mentioned Tunsul. Okay, those are two huge moves.
• 10:00
  Now they're they're starting to build an offensive line. And
• 10:03
  the next guy we want to talk about greg is
• 10:05
  another addition.
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  Speaker 2: It is Deebo Samuel.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: Now we know he's had a number of injuries, but
• 10:10
  he's been a very good player over the year for
• 10:11
  the Niners. Just take kind of an overview, how you
• 10:15
  think you'll fit in with Cliff Kingsbury and in recent
• 10:18
  years how's he looked to you.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: You know, I think Kingsbury is a good offensive coordinator
• 10:23
  for Deebo because I think Deebo is he's not a
• 10:27
  gadget guy. That's not the right word, you know, because
• 10:29
  that means what he is. He is a quality receiver.
• 10:33
  He's not a top five receiver, but he's a guy
• 10:35
  you can do a lot of different things with in
• 10:38
  terms of where he lines up and what you ask
• 10:41
  him to do. Now, I don't know if they'll use
• 10:44
  him similarly, I don't know if they'll use him running
• 10:47
  the football. They could obviously, but he's a guy that
• 10:52
  you can line up anywhere in your formation. He can
• 10:55
  run routes from any spot. He's terrific with the ball
• 10:59
  in his hand. I mean, you know, this is where
• 11:02
  they they're sort of lacking, is what at the wide
• 11:04
  receiver position. McLaurin is a really good player. You know,
• 11:09
  he's their number one. I don't know if he'd be
• 11:12
  considered like a big time number one in the league,
• 11:15
  you know, that kind of player. But he's you know,
• 11:17
  he's obviously their number one, and he's a good player.
• 11:19
  And obviously Eagles fans know he's had a lot of
• 11:21
  success over the years against the Eagles. But that's where
• 11:25
  they're a little to fiicient, you know, I'd say they
• 11:28
  they they need to find out about some younger players. Obviously,
• 11:33
  they drafted McCaffrey a year ago who was making a
• 11:36
  transition really, you know, because he was a quarterback for
• 11:39
  a couple of years in college and then made the
• 11:41
  transition to wide receiver. The kid they last they drafted
• 11:45
  Lane from Virginia Tech. Yeah, you know, he's got juice.
• 11:48
  Now again, he's a fourth round pick. We can't see,
• 11:51
  we don't know, and I don't know for sure, but
• 11:54
  you know, at least they drafted a kid that's got juice,
• 11:57
  because that's that's what they're lacking, right.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: The kJ Osborne signing was a little interesting too, only
• 12:02
  because if you put him in that offense with that QB,
• 12:05
  can he make a few plays down the field like
• 12:07
  he's done in the past, you know. I mean there
• 12:10
  are a couple of guys last year, Diami Brown, Noah Brown,
• 12:13
  who played better than you might have thought because they
• 12:15
  were in they were playing with Jayden Daniels.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they've got a bunch of guys. I mean,
• 12:20
  you know, I think they have Michael Gallup now too.
• 12:23
  I mean, who knows if he came out of my retirement. Yeah, yeah,
• 12:26
  I mean, you know, so I think there'll be competition there.
• 12:29
  I mean, you know that that McLaurin and deebo are
• 12:31
  going to play. You know, Noah Brown is an interesting
• 12:34
  guy obviously. You know McCaffrey was a third round. You
• 12:38
  don't draft a receiver in the third round not to
• 12:40
  expect him by his second year not to get meaningful snaps.
• 12:43
  So I think he is to me the wild card
• 12:46
  in all of this as his lane. Who's because of
• 12:49
  his speed. But McCaffrey is a guy that they really
• 12:54
  need to become a factor in their offense.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Great, one guy do you want to bring up real quick? Yep,
• 12:59
  and he got he barely played last season is Ben Sinnett.
• 13:02
  That's right, the tight end that the second rounder from
• 13:05
  Kansas State last year, who I loved at the Senior Bowl.
• 13:08
  And you know my understanding was, you know after the season,
• 13:10
  just looking into it, they felt like he wasn't quite ready.
• 13:13
  I'd take on a big role. And you know they've
• 13:16
  got John Bates arts his back. Just an overview of
• 13:19
  his career that you were called because this guy's the
• 13:21
  second round of Greg.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: That guy's got to plan out again. You know, I
• 13:26
  don't I never say anything about where a team's draft.
• 13:29
  You know, did I have him rated as highly as
• 13:31
  they did based on his college tape. No, but that
• 13:34
  doesn't make me right and then wrong. You know, I don't.
• 13:37
  I don't talk like that because then you're ripping a
• 13:40
  whole staff that. You know, they got thirty guys who
• 13:42
  do all this stuff. So I don't do that. But
• 13:46
  you know, I thought Senate was is it Senate or Sonati?
• 13:50
  Send it right sence. Yeah, I thought he was one
• 13:54
  of those, you know, sort of solid number two tight
• 13:57
  end types, like I didn't see him as a true
• 14:00
  number one tight end. Now, again that's relative to the
• 14:03
  rest of your team, but they don't have enough on
• 14:06
  the outside for Sinnate to be, you know, a big
• 14:11
  time number one, you know, so I'm sure he'll play
• 14:17
  you a little more, but no, they still have ERTs.
• 14:19
  Bates is one of those solid, you know blockers can
• 14:22
  catch the ball once in a while. So I'm not sure,
• 14:26
  you know, I haven't talked to anybody, but I'm not
• 14:29
  sure what Senate's role is right now, how they see him.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Greg when you look at the running game, you know,
• 14:35
  I like Brian Robinson.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I just feel like when you combind him and Austin Eckler,
• 14:40
  you just don't have a whole lot of explosion.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: No, you don't. But I think they also count, Jeff,
• 14:45
  on the fact that Daniels can give them explosion.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Now again, you know, how much do they want to
• 14:50
  do that?
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Though, they do that because Daniels can give them explosiveness
• 14:53
  in the run game, but I think Brian Robinson again,
• 14:57
  now it depends on the commitment to the run game.
• 15:00
  If Brian Robinson can stay healthy and they do give
• 15:02
  him the ball two hundred and fifty times, he'll gain
• 15:04
  a thousand yards. That doesn't make him a top five
• 15:06
  back in the league, but he'll gain a thousand yards.
• 15:09
  I think they would like to do that. You know,
• 15:11
  he got hurt last year and much of that can
• 15:14
  you know, with the offensive line was an issue last year,
• 15:17
  So you know, I think ultimately they were like Robinson
• 15:20
  to be the number one back and have him, you know,
• 15:23
  be the guy that carries the ball a meaningful amount
• 15:25
  of times.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Jeff, One thing just want to add real quick, is
• 15:29
  that the one issue I still have and we've all
• 15:32
  touched on it, the lack of juice and office. Now
• 15:34
  the kid Lane is a fourth round receiver. We'll see
• 15:36
  if you can get on the field, right. That's the
• 15:38
  one thing when you see what the Eagles have an offense,
• 15:41
  a tight end, running back and receiver. You said it earlier, Jeff,
• 15:46
  They're still not there. They're getting there. They're getting there,
• 15:48
  and they had a very aggressive offseason. They know they
• 15:49
  need to do that, but they're not quite there with
• 15:51
  the explosive juice on offense.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Heavilyndhead.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: One thing and then we can move on. One thing
• 15:58
  to keep in mind is you do have the quarterback. Again,
• 16:02
  they still need more. Adam is one hundred percent right.
• 16:04
  I'm not disagreeing at all, but they do have a
• 16:07
  quarterback that can give you explosive plays. And you know, again,
• 16:11
  in one off season you can't address everything. And they've
• 16:14
  certainly addressed some things the old line for sure, and
• 16:17
  we'll get to defense where they I think they made
• 16:19
  some really good signings, but we'll get to that.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, that's that's all I was going to add,
• 16:24
  is that, Yes, I agree.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I think I agree with all of our sentiments that
• 16:27
  they're just putting a lot on the quarterback and at
• 16:29
  some point you have to help that guy. Yea, make
• 16:32
  it a little easy for him. Where you got one
• 16:34
  guy and maybe it'll be Deebo. We'll see but one
• 16:37
  young guy who can turn a ten yard game to
• 16:39
  a thirty you know, an aj Brown style of play
• 16:42
  where you hit him across the middle and or a
• 16:44
  running back just breaks one, which is.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Really Smoe can do that. Deebo can do that.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, all right, let's talk about this commander's defense again
• 16:55
  sort of. You see, you've seen their greg their their mantra.
• 16:59
  Since Dan Quinn took over and the new ownership and
• 17:01
  Adam Peters, they have some guys up front who are
• 17:05
  pretty good, you know, and then they signed Javon Kimlaw.
• 17:07
  We wanted to ask you about the kind law signing
• 17:09
  and what you saw with him from the Jets last
• 17:12
  year and how he might fit in this defense.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: Well, kin Law is a fascinating guy. For people that
• 17:18
  may remember, he was the guy that the forty nine
• 17:21
  ers drafted when they traded to Forrest Buckner because they
• 17:23
  didn't want to pay Buckner, but they needed to replace Buckner,
• 17:26
  so they drafted kin Law and it didn't work out.
• 17:30
  And he's been a little bit around the league now
• 17:32
  and he's a trades guy that hasn't put it together.
• 17:36
  So now you bring him in with the idea that
• 17:39
  this guy if he at his best is a really
• 17:43
  good defensive tackle. It's all there. I mean, as Adam
• 17:48
  has said about what I say, it's all there in
• 17:50
  his body. It's all there. It just hasn't happened. So
• 17:56
  now you hope maybe change the scenery, maybe the fact
• 17:58
  that ideally he's been humble because he was a you know,
• 18:01
  relatively high first round pick, and other than flashes and snapshots,
• 18:06
  it hasn't really worked out where you say, hey, this
• 18:09
  guy is a consistent d tackle and a good player.
• 18:13
  So that's you know, that's what they're hoping. There's one
• 18:17
  other guy who well not one other, but I mean
• 18:19
  the one guy that I got to tell you that
• 18:21
  I thought was a great signing, and maybe he's not
• 18:24
  a known name to a lot of people's Dietrich wise,
• 18:28
  I watched him a ton in New England, you know,
• 18:30
  for whatever reason, I saw a ton in New England
• 18:33
  over the last number of years.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well obviously before the last two years, they were obviously.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: I think this guy's a really good football player, really
• 18:44
  good player. Now he can you can line him up outside,
• 18:47
  you can line him up inside, and I think that
• 18:51
  you know, the versatility he brings and he's just you know,
• 18:56
  he can rush the quarterback. Even though you know his
• 18:59
  sack numbers aren't you off the charts or anything. But
• 19:01
  to me, he is a he's a solidifying piece. He's
• 19:07
  just a guy you can count on to be a
• 19:09
  really good player week in and week out. Forget the statistics.
• 19:13
  He's just a really good player.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: That's interesting, you know, just real quick. Getting back to
• 19:20
  kin Law.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: When they signed him greg for that money, I was
• 19:22
  a little surprised only because I thought by year two,
• 19:26
  Jerson Newton, you know, their second round pick from last
• 19:28
  year out of Illinois, Yeah, was going to be ready
• 19:31
  to step in to that spot.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: And maybe he will. Maybe they'll just have a great
• 19:34
  three man rotation.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Of Paine, kin Law and Newton, and it doesn't matter
• 19:38
  how the snaps are varied.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: But that did surprise me a little bit because I.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: Thought they also signed Eddie Goldman, who's had some good
• 19:44
  moments as well. You know Newton. I thought Newton showed
• 19:47
  flashes last year and he's very quick. I mean, he
• 19:50
  he could be the guy that plays in the in
• 19:52
  the third down in pure pass situations, you know, when
• 19:55
  they could feel like in run situations, it would be
• 19:57
  pain and kin Law and maybe Goldman rotates in at
• 20:00
  times as well because he's a run defender. And then
• 20:04
  when you go to your your your pass rush front,
• 20:07
  that Newton comes in, you know, because Newton can rush
• 20:09
  the quarterback.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: Right right, Jeff, One thing real quick. Yeah, this kind
• 20:15
  of reminds me of their offense in a way. So
• 20:17
  if you look at the group that they have and
• 20:19
  we just men that tackles, Okay, you got you got Wise,
• 20:22
  you got arms from Cleveland, Farrells back by the way,
• 20:24
  he's revived his career. If you look at their their
• 20:27
  pass rush group, you know, it's a nice group, but
• 20:29
  they don't have that big time pass rusher, right that
• 20:32
  that that's the one issue that I have.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: That's why they used Frankie Louver the way they do right.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: Last year Frankie Louver was an edge pass rusher.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and see there you go. I mean it's just
• 20:43
  and we love we've loved Lulu for years, but it's
• 20:45
  the one thing that they lack. They just don't have
• 20:47
  that big time thatte rusher. That's the one thing they're missing.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Well, talk to us Greg about Louvu, about Wagner, who
• 20:53
  I remember talking to you last year. You thought he
• 20:55
  had lost a little bit of a step, but they
• 20:57
  brought him back. But how this pass rush works without
• 21:00
  a guy like a you know, a ten to twelve
• 21:04
  sack guy on the edges.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: Well, they kind of told you how it would work, because,
• 21:08
  as I said in their Dime, Louvu was an edge
• 21:11
  pass rusher, right, And you don't want to The thing
• 21:14
  is is he don't want to take Louver off the field. Now.
• 21:18
  They didn't want to take Wagner off the field either,
• 21:19
  just because of the smarts. I didn't think he was
• 21:22
  the same player physically and athletically, but we know that
• 21:27
  he's super intelligent. I guarantee he's great in the locker
• 21:31
  room and in the meetings. You know, I don't know
• 21:33
  Wagner at all personally, but I guarantee he's that guy
• 21:36
  that you just want him there. Now, the question is
• 21:40
  will he continue to be a three down player or
• 21:42
  is this the year he's not? Is this the year
• 21:45
  he plays on bass downs and comes out when they
• 21:47
  go to you know, Nickel, and maybe not Nickel, but dime.
• 21:50
  They played a lot of dime last year, you know
• 21:53
  where they kept him on the field because Louvu stayed
• 21:55
  in as the pass rusher. My guess is, in an
• 21:58
  ideal world, I could be dead wrong, But in an
• 22:00
  ideal world, I'm not sure they want Luvu to be
• 22:03
  an each pass rusher, you know, but we'll see how
• 22:06
  all that plays.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Out when you move to their back end, Greg, it
• 22:10
  looks like what they're trying to do in drafting Trey
• 22:13
  Amis out of Ole Miss in the second round. They
• 22:15
  signed Jonathan Jones from the Patriots is really get an
• 22:19
  answer opposite Marshall Lattimore so they can put Mikey Sanders
• 22:23
  still in that nickel position. But I think we all
• 22:26
  agree Sanders still played really well as a rookie on
• 22:29
  the outside. He's very competitive, physical, So even if that
• 22:32
  doesn't work, it seems like they have a good plan.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: B See. That's the fascinating point is Sayers still played
• 22:37
  really well on the outside with you know, and in
• 22:40
  Michigan he played both outside and in the slot, but
• 22:42
  he played really well. He's a good player. But you know,
• 22:45
  they drafted Trey Amos in the second round, a player
• 22:48
  I really liked on tape. I mean, I thought he
• 22:50
  was worthy of the first round selection based on his
• 22:53
  tape and how well he tested. But you know, when
• 22:57
  you draft a corner in the second round like that,
• 22:59
  I meant him to start at some point, ideally in
• 23:02
  his rookie season. So we'll see. I don't know. I mean,
• 23:07
  I think in an ideal world to me, they were
• 23:11
  like Amos and Lattimore to be the outside corners and
• 23:13
  Saint were still to be the slot.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: And I think, yeah, from what I understand, Saint Ristrail Amos,
• 23:19
  the way they were lining up in OTA's was exactly
• 23:22
  what you were talking about, Saint rastrail Back being the
• 23:25
  nickel what they thought he would be, and it was
• 23:27
  a great story. I'll tell you what though, if if
• 23:30
  this group could stay healthy in Latimore's obviously it's all
• 23:33
  about the hamstrings, going back eight years with Kahon Martin
• 23:36
  at safety, Will Harris, who's been around the league, There's
• 23:40
  and and Igbahogany came and this is a kind of
• 23:43
  but like this guy couldn't play then last year he
• 23:46
  did a good job. So so Jeff, they now and
• 23:49
  you mentioned Jonathan Jones, they could line up now go
• 23:51
  against a team like the Eagles.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: And then, you know, the more I think about it,
• 23:56
  if you're really concerned about Latimore and his injury history.
• 24:00
  You wonder if for base defense you throw, if Amos
• 24:03
  is ready, you throw. Amos and sand are still out
• 24:05
  there as your outside corners, and you only play Lattimore
• 24:08
  when you're in sub packages, which is still gonna be
• 24:11
  a lot, but it's you know, you give him a
• 24:13
  break when you're in run defense and you have Sanders
• 24:15
  still on one outside Amos on the other, and then
• 24:18
  when you get into Nickel, then you can bring in
• 24:20
  Latimore for the outside of move center.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Still to Nickel, it's just a little bit aware.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: Of Donington Jones either. He's got a lot of experience
• 24:27
  playing both outside and inside, and he's been a starter
• 24:30
  in this league. So you know, it'll be interesting to
• 24:33
  see how that shakes out.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so there.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: The thing I see about Washington is in absence of
• 24:40
  some real home run hitters and as either edge rusher
• 24:42
  or young playmaker, they.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Do have pretty good depth.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: For the first time forever you can talk about depth
• 24:50
  on their offensive line, because we didn't even mention they
• 24:51
  have the guy who started the right tackle the Super
• 24:55
  Bowl Wili a couple of years ago.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, so that's good. They can go too deep
• 24:59
  right there, which is they've never been able to say that.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And on defense, they've given themselves some good optionality. I mean,
• 25:05
  they have a couple of d tackles, got a decent
• 25:07
  rotation of edges. They're gonna be one of those teams
• 25:10
  that can withstand an injury or two because of what
• 25:13
  they have. Theoretically, as long as the quarterback continues to
• 25:16
  play at a high level.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's it'll be interesting. I thought Will Harris was
• 25:22
  a good signing to a veteran you know, knows how
• 25:24
  to play. You know that. I thought they did a
• 25:27
  good job in the offseason. I mean, obviously the quarterback.
• 25:29
  You know, when the quarterback comes in and plays at
• 25:32
  the level that he did, it raises your entire team,
• 25:34
  which it obviously did.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Right right. Should we watch out for that Jordan McGee
• 25:38
  that linebacker. He's out of Temple, isn't he?
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah? Simple? Yeah. But you know, I thought you made
• 25:45
  a great point there a moment ago about you know, uh,
• 25:48
  and and about the old line. I think it was you, Jeff,
• 25:51
  who made two good points with Aligretty and and Wiley.
• 25:54
  I mean again, it was you know, if there are
• 25:57
  injuries and you have to play those guys. You're dealing
• 25:59
  with guys that have played a lot of snaps in
• 26:01
  the league, and yeah they are they good enough to
• 26:04
  be full time starters. Probably not at this point, but
• 26:08
  you know, you can line up and play with those
• 26:10
  guys without feeling like, oh, we can't run our offense
• 26:13
  right right.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: I mean it was just a year ago, two years ago,
• 26:17
  where if they had an injury and they put somebody
• 26:19
  in and we were doing the pregame show, Adam be like,
• 26:22
  that's where the red circle gets strugg right right right there,
• 26:24
  you go right after? Sure enough, the Eagles would and
• 26:27
  so with other teams. So this should be fun. I mean,
• 26:30
  Eagles Commanders was great last year. It should be really
• 26:33
  good again.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: When is that? I haven't studied the schedule. When is
• 26:37
  the first time to play.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Week sixteen or fifteen? So they don't play.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: Last three weeks?
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: It's crazy.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: Wow, they don't play till week fifteen. The league?
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: You know the league did that. You know what's funny
• 26:49
  for week.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: Well, they're they're two marquee teams. Obviously, Yeah, I know
• 26:53
  they wanted to Yeah, they wanted to wait.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: But it's funny. It's growing up with this market in Philly.
• 26:58
  We haven't seen really a lot of juice of the
• 27:01
  rivalry because under Daniel Schnyder, that's it's such futility. I mean, look,
• 27:07
  I grew up here. I remember Joe Gibbs and Buddy
• 27:11
  and Parcels and Jimmy Johnson. That's how long, Jeff as
• 27:15
  we send it back to you? How how I can
• 27:17
  go back with this thing? But we just haven't had it.
• 27:19
  This is sort of a rivalry that is being brought back.
• 27:23
  It's gonna be.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Cool, I agree, and too bad we have to wait
• 27:26
  until December to see it through. Hope everybody is healthy
• 27:30
  when they when they play, So all right, that's gonna
• 27:32
  do it. That was a really good breakdown of the
• 27:34
  Washington Commander is a very interesting team going into the
• 27:37
  twenty and twenty five season and somewhat of a media
• 27:40
  darling when you look at all the prognostigators and what
• 27:43
  they're predicting. The Commanders are high up there on the charts.
• 27:47
  So that'll do it for this NFC East preview for
• 27:49
  Greg Cosell and Adam Kaplan.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: I'm Jeff Mosher. One more left the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: That'll be our next one. Thanks for watching with us,
• 28:03
  do