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The DiCecco Daily: These Two Eagles Will Be Most Improved In 2025 · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happening everybody? Welcome into this edition of The
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  check O Daily. I am your host, Andrew Dichecko, and
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  today I'm going to discuss a topic that I tend
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  to revisit around this time every offseason, and that is
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  naming who I'm expecting to be the most improved Eagle
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  heading into the twenty twenty five season. Now, I'm going
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  to take this a step further because there's so many
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  good options that I'm now going to give one on
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  offense and on defense. And there are so many on
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  defense that you can name if you really think about it,
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  and you can make a case for several. But I
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  mean if you look at the offensive side of the ball,
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  there aren't many that you could make the case for.
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  Right I mean Tyler Steen, assuming he starts at right guard,
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  which obviously he's he heavily favored and has that inside track, Well,
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  that would be somebody who makes a significant improvement to
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  their game going from reserve to starter and running with
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  the opportunity. Will Shipley, I've talked a lot about him.
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  I think that he is going to have a breakout season.
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  Because I picked him as my breakout player, I don't
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  necessarily want to go back and name them again for
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  you know, my most improved, especially when you look at
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  what he had, what he had to work with last season.
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  Just you know, sixty five offensive snaps, thirty carries, eighty
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  two yards. That's there's not really much to improve from.
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  I mean, like he made the most of his opportunities.
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  There's a player who had a role, but there were
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  there's some contexts needed. He had a role that was
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  fairly significant and he really was never able to run
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  with it, and that is wide receiver Jahan Dotson. That's
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  my pick for most improved player on the offensive side
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  of the ball. He had thirty three targets nineteen passes
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  in the regular season for two hundred and sixteen yards,
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  no touchdowns, caught three or five targets for fifty three
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  yards and a touchdown in the postseason. But I think
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  this is a year that you can make a case
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  for Johan Dotson really starting to emerge. And obviously, when
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  you're on an offense that already has aj Brown, Davonte Smith,
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  Dallas Goddard, you can even mix in, say Kuon Barkley.
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  The Eagles choose to deploy the running back and utilize
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  them more as a receiver. John Dotson is frankly not
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  going to see a lot of passes during the season.
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  That's just the way that it's going to go. That's
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  the pecking order. But I do think that he has
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  more to offer. I think that he can get vertical.
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  I think that you can get creative in how you
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  get him the football. Whereas last season, I felt like
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  there was a lot of horizontal routes and almost when
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  the ball came his way, he was getting tackled. He
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  never really had a chance to make plays on the
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  move and run after the catch. So I think you
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  might see some different route concepts and ways to accentuate
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  what Johan Dotson can give you and really tap into
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  the player that he was as a rookie. Because the
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  Johan Dotson that I remember with the Commanders a couple
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  of years ago was one who was aggressive to the football.
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  I thought he was explosive and twitchy, and you didn't
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  really see that Dotson last year. Now, he made a
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  big play when it counts big plays. He caught the
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  touchdown against the Packers. Of course, he caught that deep
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  shot in the Super Bowl that set up that first touchdown.
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  So this is a player who has that in him
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  to do it. He did. His skills haven't eroded. But
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  I think now that he has a full offseason with
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  the coaches, because let's not forget he was acquired in
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  late August and you're learning an offense that was then
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  presided over by Kellen Moore, and there are different nuances
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  and intricacies that you have to account for. And it
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  never quite looked like even whenever he was out there,
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  that he was a primary option or he was somebody
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  that that to be honest, that Jaymen had a lot
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  of confidence throw in the football too, because they were
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  still trying to feel out that relationship. Whereas you have
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  players who he's been building that trust and confidence in
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  for you know, years. So I think now having that
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  time to develop and you have a tendency to you know,
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  his tendencies, and you're able to really tap into that,
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  I really do believe that Johan Dotson's going to see
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  more volume in terms of targets, but also more explosive
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  type of plays and getting him on the move and
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  taking advantage of his run after the catchability. It's not
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  hard to improve off the season that he had. But
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  the reason why I'm picking Johan Dottson over a will
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  ship points because he was out there for quite a
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  bit last season. There was expectations attached to him when
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  he was acquired, and he really did not fulfill that.
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  And for a multitude of reasons. It's not just a
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  player who was underutilized. It's not just a player who
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  doesn't have the quite skill sets that some thought. There's
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  so many different reasons why he kind of did not
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  meet the mark. But I think this year is gonna
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  be a bit different under Kevin Patulo. I am expecting
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  personally to see a much more reinvigorated passing attack and
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  some creativity in that regard. But I also think you're
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  gonna see other players involved in that, and I think
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  for it to really reach its full potential, you have
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  to include everybody and distribute the ball to your gamut
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  of playmakers. Obviously that Dotson is going to be further
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  down the list, but I certainly think that he can
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  prove on nineteen catches for two hundred and sixteen yards
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  in the regular season on just thirty three targets, well,
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  there's one football, But I also believe that the player
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  has to do a better job. But Also, the coaches
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  have to do a better job of getting him the
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  football and finding ways to get him in space. I
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  think he can help the Eagles there, and I'm curious
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  to see how Kevin Patulo, the new offensive coordinator, and
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  Parks Frasier, the past game coordinator, how they choose to
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  utilize thoughts in this season within the offense. Now that
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  he has a full year and doesn't have to worry
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  about the acclamation period and ironing out wrinkles and establishing
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  a chemistry with his quarterback that's already been established, and
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  now he's able to kind of hit that ground running
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  in training camp and just play football. On the defensive side, well,
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  I could have went I could have went Keeley Ringo,
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  I could have went Jeremiah Trotter Junior, who I think
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  is going to have a large role as a third linebacker,
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  especially early in the season. He's going to be put
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  to the test, and I think that's where he can
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  show how much he's improved with a more expanded role
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  on defense and an uptakeing playing time. Moro Jomo is
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  a player that you can certainly make a case for,
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  But I keep going back to this player, this second
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  year player, from Houston, one who I have been very
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  bullish about, one who I have said multiple times I've
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  proclaimed him to be my pick for the Eagles defensive
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  player who makes the biggest leap forward of any player
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  on that unit. I'm talking about jay loox Hunt, the
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  second year edge rusher, and to kind of go back
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  over all the reasons why, and I've written about it,
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  and I've talked about it on multiple platforms, But when
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  you look at where j loox Hunt was at this
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  time last season, a lot of question marks. There were
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  some who said that the Eagles reached on the pick
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  taking him where they did in the third round. They
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  weren't familiar with the college. I understand that. But j
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  loox Hunt performed well at the Senior Bowl, which is
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  some of the nation's top competition, and he was squarely
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  on NFL radars. So while the outside may have viewed
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  him as this player that was an unknown and a
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  player who maybe wasn't a household name, that wasn't the
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  case in NFL circles. But anyway, he gets the training camp,
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  working largely with the third team, and he's performing a
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  little bit better than I think anyone could have expected.
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  And then you get to Week one, he's an active
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  when they go to Brazil, and he start to wonder, Okay, well,
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  maybe this is starting to track a little bit. Maybe
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  this is in fact going to be a red shirt
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  season or one where he's sparsely active throughout the season.
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  And then of course he was active the rest of
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  the way and started to participate more on defense and
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  get more involved in play more snaps. But it was
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  beyond that. It was his ability to develop more of
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  a pass rush plan, add more moves to his bag
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  of tricks. He was actually pretty effective against the run
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  as well. And for a player that's so new to
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  that position. Remember he was four years ago a safety
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  at Cornell, and you're not playing against the elite of
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  the elite in the college football realm at Houston Christian.
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  So for him to really take to that role in
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  that coaching, that tough coaching from Vic Fangail, and really
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  just by midseason, he was effective enough that Vic Fangail
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  and the Eagles were okay with him being the third
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  edge rusher in the rotation versus someone like a Charles Harris,
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  who was a veteran on the Eagles practice squad. He's
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  played in a ton of games. Jalox was their third
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  edge rusher, and then by the end of the season
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  he was making plays in the playoffs. He had a
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  sack in the Divisional round against Matthew Stafford, he picked
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  up a half sack in the Super Bowl, and he
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  really proved that throughout the season he was growing. He
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  was developing in a rapid pace, suggesting that there is
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  in fact a breakout season on the horizon. So when
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  I see someone like Jaalox who has the measurables, looks
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  to me like he added some strength to his frame
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  lining him up opposite Nolan Smith, I think you have
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  a really young and dynamic group of edge rushers. And
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  this doesn't get talked about enough. But I go back
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  to the point that I made earlier in this conversation,
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  and that is that jayloks Hunt acquitted himself fairly well
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  in run defense. You have to be willing to do that,
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  but you also have to have strength, and you have
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  to know how to use your hands, and you have
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  to be aggressive at the point of attech. It's a
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  mindset from what I've been able to glean anyway, and
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  he's not afraid to get after it. He's had a
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  really good mentor in Brandon. Grammy often talks about how
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  much he's learned from Brandon. He's a student of the game,
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  and that really shines through whenever you talk to Jaywoks.
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  He's always trying to find ways to get better. He
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  never entered the NFL with the mindset of I'm going
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  to be a red shirt player. It's gonna take me
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  a little bit of time. He essentially said, Doran Locker
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  clean out. Well, I didn't. I wasn't planning on just
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  just watching, you know, watching everybody play on the sideline.
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  I would have been cool with whatever they needed me
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  to do. But he pretty much saying I didn't just
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  come here to cheer my teammates on. I came here
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  to play football and compete for a role. And he did.
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  And he played just two hundred and forty one snaps
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  last year. That was about twenty five percent and had
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  just think it was just a second and a half
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  during the regular season. So when you take all that
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  into consideration, a lot of this has to do with opportunity,
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  because to really have that improvement, you have to have
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  the opportunity to showcase that. And I think he's going
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  to because I do believe that not only is Jaloxs
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  Hunt going to start, but I would also argue that
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  JeOS Hunt is going to make the biggest leap forward
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  of any Eagles defensive player, which is something that I've
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  been saying since late February and starting to become a
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  common theme. I'm seeing it out there a little bit more.
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  I'm hearing it out there a little bit more. But
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  some with some players, you always wonder, you know, you
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  might be skeptical about the hype, and I don't think so.
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  He's not a best kept secret anymore. He's now out
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  there on the radars of many people, and a lot
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  of people are depicting him to have a breakout season.
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  But I just outlined all of the reasons why I
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  believe that he will. So. On the offensive side, you
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  have Johan Dotson and on the defensive side, you have
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  Jalox Hunt. Those are my two candidates that I'm naming
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  for most Improved Eagles for the twenty twenty five season.
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  I think if you if you look at where they
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  were last season and you kind of kind of forecast
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  what's ahead for them or what could be in store
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  for them this year, and I believe that Jay Oaks
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  Hunt could have anywhere from eight to nine sacks, might
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  be just shy of double digit, whereas I think Nolan
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  Smith will get double digit sacks. That is a dramatically
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  improved season from year one to year two and would
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  really align with my projection and expectations for Jay Looks
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  going into his second season. So, as you can see,
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  I've made my case. If you have your opinion and
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  you want to get it out there, you can feel
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  free to email Inside the Birds at gmail dot com.
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  You can contact me on Twitter at Andrew Jiceko. Would
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  love to hear what you have to say. As always,
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  I appreciate everybody who listens and gets involved with the podcast,
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  and that's gonna do it for me. That's my time
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  today and I will talk to everybody tomorrow. Have a
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  great one,