Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: Right Decision on Eagles OL Depth; Youth or Veterans?

Transcript

Football at Four: Right Decision on Eagles OL Depth; Youth or Veterans? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Football 4 powered by the Inside the Birds podcast. And,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of course, you can get that on all podcasting platforms.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: And it is brought to you by the Fanatic Sportsbook
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: We're there every Monday. And now it's a Tuesday.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: That means Adam Kaplan's here to talk a little birds
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: as they get ready for a regular season opener.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: That's right, baby.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Their 53 is set. But what are they still looking
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to change? Let's take a look at that and more
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: right now. with Adam Kaplan from the Inside the Birds podcast,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: who joins us on a Tuesday edition of Football at
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Four here on the Sports Pass Live on 97.3 ESPN.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Getting ready for the opener. Adam, what's going on?
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the flow of 53, Mike. It's temporarily set. There's
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: going to be changes. There always are. So, yeah, they
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: got their practice squad done. But, Mike, we talked about
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: this last week. When we talk about team needs, let's
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: see what happens after– They get to the initial 53,
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: just how he made trades, how he kind of alluded
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: to what he tried. It just didn't materialize. He did
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: a good job of explaining it. He didn't hide it.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: He knows that everybody knows he's a dealmaker, and he
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: likes action, as he said, by the way, which I
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: thought was funny. So, yeah. And Howie did a good
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: job of explaining that they'd made a decision to go
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: very young with the depth. And he said, if you
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: pump me with truth serum, that was a concern. As,
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: by the way, it was ours. We did our team
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: needs heading into training camp. That was near the top.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: And Willie Lampkin, Mike, did a great job. You know,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: he made a team that was a lock. We knew
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: it after three weeks of training camp. He was definitely
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: making it. Drew Kennel's been a good story. He could
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: play center or guard. Michael Marsh did make the team.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: He's more of a project. Markel Bell is a good story.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Had a very good training camp, Mike, and The kid
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: from Yale that they signed, Majaday, is very talented. He
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: was a third-rounder for the Bears, but he just got
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: hurt and never really made it. They've got, Mike, a
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: number of developmental offensive linemen, which has not been the
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: case for many, many years.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Right, so when you look at some of the remaining
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: roster needs now that the 53 is set, as you mentioned,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: they're going to look to tweak this thing. Where are
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: some areas, let's start on offense, where we think that
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: some changes could still be coming?
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so... Over the next six to eight weeks, where
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: do they really need to address their depth? I don't
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: necessarily agree with Howie on this one. Veteran depth to
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: me at guard is still an issue. Michael Mars is
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: a rookie. He's raw. He won't be ready. Drew Kendall, yes,
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: they converted him to guard or over to guard, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: he can play center. He hasn't shown yet he could
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: start the regular season at guard. Will Lampkin's a great story,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: but he's never played in a regular season NFL game.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: If Dickerson... Orstein happened to miss in four to six weeks.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: That's the question. Are they happy with Drew Kendall or
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Willie Lampkin as a starter? I think it's very forward-thinking.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Lampkin is incredibly strong, but he's shorter than 5'11, Mike.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Great story development to this point. It's been amazing, but
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: you always have to ask yourself as your decision-maker, do
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: you feel like that player could go in and start?
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: A long time, if need be. With Fred Johnson, that's
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: why they thought he could do it. He did a
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: good job. He wasn't great, but he did a good
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: job filling in for Lane Johnson, but he's a veteran.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: It's a strong thought if you think that Drew Kettle
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: or Lampkin could come in and start a guard for
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: the long term, if need be. That, to me, is
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: why veteran guard is still a need.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: They released Michael Jordan, so it tells you that they
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: didn't really think that he could help them out at all.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: He didn't do anything in training camp, Mike. He was
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: very disappointing. He had over 30 starts in his career.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: I was expecting more, and they got less. You're right, Mike.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: It didn't happen.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: So they need some help on the offensive line. Veteran
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: tight end, you talk about Zach Ertz's name a lot,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: shaking that name around. But it seems that the tight
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: end spot, even though they kept four, that this might
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: have a different look?
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, well, first thing, but Eli Stowers is not
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: ready to be a big contributor. That's going to be
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: a while, okay? I mean, he's on the team, obviously,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: so it's not going to go anywhere. We're not expecting
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: him to do much this season as a rookie. Zachary's
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: only at 41 receptions in his rookie season, so he's
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: not going to do much at this point, but based
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: on where we're at. And E.J. Jenkins is a nice
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: story development. Had Calcaterra not gotten hurt, Jenkins may not
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: even be on the team, but Calcaterra's out with a
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: back injury. He's on injury reserve. So, Mike, right now
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: as we speak here, late Tuesday afternoon, they don't have
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: a tight end on the practice squad. That's kind of crazy.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: So they don't really have any other options, Mike. They
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: really need to look at this position. And I know
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: they don't really work out players very much. That's been
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: their story the last couple years. But they need to
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: take a look at a veteran tight end. They need
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: someone who can do a little bit of both. I
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: know it's hard to find those guys. But, Mike, think
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: about this. If Dallas got hurt, What are they going
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: to do? It's an absolute mess if Goddard got hurt.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Absolute mess.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: So do you think it is a possibility that they
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: would look and bring Ertz in?
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Well, Mike, he's come back from a second major knee injury. 35,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: doesn't run very well, doesn't block very well. He's got
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: great hands, great teammate, probably going to the Eagles Hall
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: of Fame, but he's near the end of his career, Mike.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: You hate to see it. Now, it sure sounds like
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: they've talked. Well, what happens is, Mike, when you're a
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: general manager or you're pro-personnel, Your job is to look
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: at everyone who's on the street, even guys who are
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: very close to retirement. Zach's not retiring, as I'm told.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: He wants to still play. But you look at the options.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: But he doesn't really help you because, first of all,
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: you've got to work the guy out. You have to
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: work the guy out. Once he's recovered and once he's
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: allowed to run, you've got to see what he can do.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: You want to work him out, but, Mike, you have
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: no idea if he can do anything at this point.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: And Johnny Mudd, he's a really good blocker. He doesn't
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: run very well. He doesn't catch it. Stowers isn't ready,
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: and Jenkins is limited. So coaches and front-office executives always
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: ask themselves, what if? Well, what if Goddard gets hurt?
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: They've got a problem, a big problem.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, they do.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: And obviously that's something that they're going to continue. Howie
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: made no trades in the month of August, but could
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: he make one as the calendar flips?
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, he tries. All right, defense. What could Howie still
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: be looking to fix on this side of the ball?
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: They're great with their front 70 with a good art
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: uncertainty for early in the season in terms of how
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: much he can play. They're good at edge. They're good
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: at de-tackle. They're good at ILB. They're good there. It's
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: their backs. They're back four. You know, it's their... It's
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: a safety and quarterback group, Mike. This is another question.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: What happens if Rick Wolin gets hurt, Mitchell gets hurt,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: or Jonathan Jones, who's been hurt a bit. He's now 33,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: one of the oldest corners in the league. What if
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: somebody gets hurt? Well, if one of the starters gets hurt,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Jonathan Jones starts. Who's your third corner? Do you really
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: think it's Ringo or Mac McWilliams? I would say no.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: And that's where, again, we're talking practice squad. We're not
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: talking about active roster. We're talking about practice squad. Clubs
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: have leverage now. You're offering a veteran player, Mike, a
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: chance to potentially get a ring. That's the calling card.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: And players like playing in Philly, by the way. Talking
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: to agents, since 2021, I'm talking about, players like playing here.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: The vibe is good. The culture is really good. You
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: just pay well. They treat their players well. You know,
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: the NFL PA card, I believe they got an A-minus,
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: if I'm not mistaken. So, overall, Mike, they need a
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: veteran corner here. There's no question about it.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: The corner room is kind of interesting, too, because you always,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I guess, have Cooper DeGene as a backup.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: But you also need a safety, probably.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Yes, because think about it right now. Koop may want
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: to play more safety than nickel this season because of
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: their opponent. It's all opponent-specific. Epps is near the, you know,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: he's on the back nine of his career. Makuba, you
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: worry about the body frame, as we told people when
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: he was drafted. It's not how much he weighs, it's
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: his frame. And Michael Carter, who hasn't played safety, he
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: was a really good nickel, almost elite, and then he
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: fell off. He was a good safety at Duke, but
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: talk of the Jets, they made a decision as soon
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: as he was drafted. He was going to play nickel,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: and he's now playing safety again. He's a dime safety.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: They need one more. They could use one more guy, Mike.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: One more guy. Again, it's what if. But overall, they're
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: okay for now. But again, Mike, you don't want to
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: be caught with your pants down, so to speak, not
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: prepared for this. If a catastrophe happens, Mike, what's the
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: club's recourse? That's what I've learned in this business for
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: decades of covering it. I'm talking to general managers and
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: decision makers. They don't– they always want to know about
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: what if, and that's why they have a– they have
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: a vet industry agent board. They actually have a free
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: agent board in their office usually. They're the best guys available.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: They're the guys we should be working out. And the
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: other Patriots under Bill Belichick, nobody worked out more players
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: than them. And even if they were super deep, they
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: still would work out players at just about every position
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: in the regular season because of the what if situation. Yeah.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I guess a what-if would be, what if Jonathan Grenard
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: is not healthy and ready to play?
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Is that a problem, or are they deep enough?
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: Well, okay, let's look at that, Mike. Okay, so Hunt
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: is a stud. He should be starting opposite Grenard. You've
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: got Nolan Smith. You've got Kawhi at a nice camp.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Abba Katie is how you pronounce it, by the way.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: I just went over the pronunciation guide. Yeah, I learned
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: a little bit. I was mispronouncing a couple of things
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: he was one of them to have a katie an
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: agent that's a week we thought would make it he's
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: not a great address has gotten better as a pastor
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: but he's a good run defender they're okay they're fine
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: actually they're they're actually fine in fact vic once again
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: he only likes to play three edges so mike they're
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: good they're they don't need to do anything they don't
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: really need to sign anyone to the practice squad it's
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: not really necessary because As you told folks, when Joe
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Trianchoianca signed here, I remember saying on our show, why
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: in the world would he sign here? He's got no chance.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: He went up retiring. So it's all about opportunity. You're
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: not going to have an opportunity here if you're on
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: the practice squad. There's just not enough opportunity.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they did sign a corner today from Baltimore.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: I love that name, by the way.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm trying to– I don't have it up in
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: front of me. What was it, Long– something or another.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: I'll bring it up here in a second. But I
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: guess the thought was that their corner room, they had
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: so much depth there and that he chose to come
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: here because he thought there was a better chance to
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: get on the screen. Robert, a longer beam.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he actually had a torn patellar tendon. He got
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: hurt last August, so he never played as a rookie.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: That's worse than an ACL injury. So he's back. I mean,
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: he's back in the NFL with the Eagles, and he's
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: a developmental prospect. He doesn't really help what they need.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: They need, and he's not really long, but as Jeff
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: pointed out to me, he's got actually, he's got a
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: good wingspan. Jadon Blue is really explosive. Had character issues
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: last year. That's why he dropped for the third and
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: fifth round. The Cowboys didn't want him. He had a
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: bad training camp, and they cut him. But he's explosive.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: And Amadji, the The left tackle from Yale, who is
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: a third-rounder, is really intriguing. I kind of like this
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: practice squad, Mike. They're all full now, by the way.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: They are now full. They've got the 17, but, you know,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: it's going to change. It often changes.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: It does.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: So if you were a betting man, Adam Kaplan, would
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you bet that Howie Roseman makes a deal between now
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: and opening day?
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: A trade?
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Well, the odds are against it, only because you would
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: have done it But why would you do it now?
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Now the only way, if you're trading away a player,
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: it's because something happened to a player in practice. Yeah,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: it's interesting the way Howie said it. There were some
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: things that they saw that they wanted to do, but
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: the other team probably wanted too much. I never rule
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: anything out. We don't do that. We came up with
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: the phrase, never say never with Howie. Nine years ago,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: we still say it. But the odds are only against
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: it because once you get past... the cut down to 53,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: we're like, why would you make a trade after that?
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: There's not much of a reason, but the biggest concern
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: for me, Mike, right now going forward with depth is
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: tight end. If I was going to do one, a trade,
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: I'm doing a tight end trade. If I work for Howie,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: I'm in his ear all the time. Dude, we've got
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: to get a tight end, a veteran tight end here
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: to play. We've got to get one.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Adam Kaplan will continue to look at this team as
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: they get ready for Washington, the opener. is next Sunday.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: You can listen to it right here on 97.3 ESPN.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: All right, man, we'll.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Talk to you Friday.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: Sounds good, thanks.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: All right, Adam Kaplan, everybody, here on the Sports Bash
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Live on 97.3 ESPN.