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NFC East Pre With Greg Cosell: Do New Scheme, Identity, Personnel Make Commanders More Threatening? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Inside the Birds and our
0:12
Speaker 1: annual NFC East preview series with Greg Cosel. I'm Jeff
0:18
Speaker 1: Mosher alongside Adam Kaplan. Of course we have Greg Cosell, and.
0:21
Speaker 2: We do this every year.
0:22
Speaker 1: We preview each of the four NFC East teams and
0:26
Speaker 1: we try to get as we do, get as granular
0:29
Speaker 1: as you can get. That's why we have Greg Cosell here,
0:31
Speaker 1: not just the top ball, but to really break down
0:33
Speaker 1: the tape and Greg, this will be a fascinating series
0:36
Speaker 1: because every team is on at least one new coordinator,
0:41
Speaker 1: some teams are on two. Some teams like the Giants,
0:43
Speaker 1: have a whole new regime. But the Commanders who are
0:46
Speaker 1: gonna start with are fascinating me. I have so many
0:50
Speaker 1: questions about the direction they're going to go in with
0:54
Speaker 1: now David Blau as their offensive coordinator and Dernte Jones
0:58
Speaker 1: is their defensive coordinator, or what that's going to look like,
1:02
Speaker 1: what you think the personnel is going to be that
1:04
Speaker 1: matches the schemes they want to run and how scared
1:07
Speaker 1: should the Eagles be? And I want to really start
1:10
Speaker 1: this conversation about the commanders. Greg on defense.
1:13
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm glad. I'm really glad because it's funny you
1:16
Speaker 3: say that, because to me, some of these teams are
1:18
Speaker 3: more interesting for the elements of their teams that may
1:21
Speaker 3: not be as marquee, you know, to some people. And
1:24
Speaker 3: I actually think that the Commander's defense is fascinating given
1:28
Speaker 3: their new coordinator.
1:29
Speaker 1: Sure, and they bring in Deronte Jones from Minnesota, So
1:32
Speaker 1: what you expect is a Brian Flores acolyte, and Flores
1:37
Speaker 1: has been a genius around the NFL, known for his
1:40
Speaker 1: really exotic blit schemes. However, when you look at it
1:43
Speaker 1: through an Eagles vantage point, greg the Eagles not really
1:47
Speaker 1: struggled against Brian Flora's teams. They always seem to be
1:49
Speaker 1: able to turn the ball or the game into a
1:52
Speaker 1: running game and run against those light fronts that Flores
1:55
Speaker 1: would throw at them, and.
1:56
Speaker 2: They've been able to score points.
1:58
Speaker 1: So let's let's just start, Well, what you're expecting from
2:01
Speaker 1: Durante Jones to do with this set of personnel that
2:05
Speaker 1: he has with the Commanders.
2:06
Speaker 3: Well, if you just look conceptually, let's assume that Deronte Jones,
2:10
Speaker 3: based on his past with Brian Flores, is going to
2:15
Speaker 3: take a lot of the same concepts. So it's not
2:18
Speaker 3: so much that it's blitz blitz blitz, it's what it
2:21
Speaker 3: is very often is you see pressure fronts, and that
2:26
Speaker 3: doesn't have to be just on third down or pure
2:28
Speaker 3: pass situations where you might see five, six, seven first
2:33
Speaker 3: level defenders, okay, and then you don't know who's rushing
2:37
Speaker 3: who's not rushing, because while they do blitz, they also
2:40
Speaker 3: play a high percentage of three man rush, pass rush,
2:45
Speaker 3: and zone behind it. Brian Flores did not play a
2:49
Speaker 3: lot of man to man coverage. He was heavy zone based.
2:52
Speaker 3: So let's assume Dearante Jones will at least, you know,
2:55
Speaker 3: take that template. I actually think that a number of
2:58
Speaker 3: the players on the this defense, the commanders really fit
3:03
Speaker 3: this extremely well. I think when you look at someone
3:07
Speaker 3: like Frankie Loofu, I think he fits that tremendously. I
3:11
Speaker 3: mean I could see Frankie lou who clearly being in
3:14
Speaker 3: like the Andrew van Ginkel role, you know, both similar
3:18
Speaker 3: body types and body frames. I think the signing of
3:21
Speaker 3: Nick Cross, and he may not be a well known
3:24
Speaker 3: player to a lot of people, but Nick Cross is
3:26
Speaker 3: a really, really good player who can play on the
3:30
Speaker 3: back end. He can play in the box. He's an
3:32
Speaker 3: excellent blitzer. You know, you could see him in the
3:35
Speaker 3: Harrison Smith role, and I think he can fill that role.
3:38
Speaker 3: And I'm not suggesting he's Harrison Smith, who may well
3:41
Speaker 3: be a Hall of Famer, But we're talking schematics, you know,
3:44
Speaker 3: we're not talking exact player. But you know, so I
3:48
Speaker 3: think a lot of what they've done Leo Chanal another
3:51
Speaker 3: movable chess piece kind of player who I can tell
3:55
Speaker 3: you for a fact that the Chiefs thought that he
3:58
Speaker 3: was way better than they initially thought, and they drafted him,
4:00
Speaker 3: you know, because he can do so many different things,
4:03
Speaker 3: and then he obviously signed and my guess is the
4:06
Speaker 3: Commander's targeted him because of the Dearante Jones defense and
4:10
Speaker 3: the fact that he can play on the ball, he
4:11
Speaker 3: can play off the ball, he can rush the quarterback,
4:14
Speaker 3: he can drop it to coverage. He's physical and tough
4:16
Speaker 3: against the run. You know, they have a lot of
4:19
Speaker 3: interesting pieces on the defensive side of the ball. And again,
4:23
Speaker 3: you know, not just talking about like guys who rush
4:25
Speaker 3: the quarterback, like your Penn State buddy who they signed
4:28
Speaker 3: from the Chargers. Who's going to know he's essentially a
4:30
Speaker 3: pass rusher, you know, but they have all these movable pieces,
4:34
Speaker 3: which really are are sort of the bread and butter
4:36
Speaker 3: of that style of defense.
4:39
Speaker 4: Greg you mentioned in passing just now, the Dafe Oway
4:44
Speaker 4: this contract twenty four million a year. They guaranteed fifty
4:46
Speaker 4: two over the first two seasons, so he's got to
4:48
Speaker 4: play a lot.
4:49
Speaker 3: Here's the question for you.
4:50
Speaker 4: You mentioned Garanti Jones' defense, You've seen Oways tape. Is
4:55
Speaker 4: he just a situational pass rusher or do you see
4:57
Speaker 4: me as a guy to play every down.
5:00
Speaker 3: I think he can play every down. I think last year,
5:02
Speaker 3: I mean, I hate to be cliched, but I think
5:04
Speaker 3: the light kind of went on for him. I mean,
5:06
Speaker 3: you guys know, certainly Jeff knows that this guy has
5:10
Speaker 3: ridiculous athletic trades. Obviously, he did not put up numbers
5:14
Speaker 3: in college. You know, he didn't sack people. But I
5:17
Speaker 3: remember watching his tape and thinking, why, this guy's kind
5:19
Speaker 3: of a freak. And then, you know, his first couple
5:21
Speaker 3: of years in the league, it didn't really happen in
5:23
Speaker 3: terms of production, but it really started to happen a
5:26
Speaker 3: year ago and he became highly in demand because he's
5:28
Speaker 3: an edge player, and edge players are always in demand,
5:32
Speaker 3: so I think he can be a full time player.
5:34
Speaker 3: But having said that, at him, I don't think it's
5:37
Speaker 3: essential that he plays sixty snaps a game. I mean
5:40
Speaker 3: they've got they still have Dorance Armstrong. They they brought
5:42
Speaker 3: in Charles Amenehu who's a very good twenty to twenty
5:45
Speaker 3: five snap a game player. They still have Dietrich Wise.
5:49
Speaker 3: They've got a lot of players who can play. So
5:52
Speaker 3: you know, Olway does not have to play sixty snaps
5:55
Speaker 3: a game for him to be worth the investment.
6:00
Speaker 1: Wonder Greg about them up front? I guess less so
6:03
Speaker 1: from pass rusher where not only did they bring in Away,
6:06
Speaker 1: but also they signed kay Levon Chase On who had
6:10
Speaker 1: a nice year in New England. So as you mentioned, yeah,
6:13
Speaker 1: they seem to have better depth now.
6:14
Speaker 2: Than especially the last two years.
6:16
Speaker 1: But the interior, you know, Deron Payne is he's still
6:19
Speaker 1: a formidable player. They bring back Tim Settle, Jerison Newton.
6:24
Speaker 1: I think to me is if he is not that
6:27
Speaker 1: guy in year three, then maybe And I wanted to know,
6:30
Speaker 1: do you feel like he fits that defense?
6:32
Speaker 2: Yeah?
6:33
Speaker 3: Oh sure, I mean he fits. The question is because
6:37
Speaker 3: he is gifted in terms of trades. This is you know,
6:40
Speaker 3: the important year for him because he was a second
6:43
Speaker 3: round pick. Second round picks are expected to be contributed.
6:45
Speaker 3: They're really he expected to be contributed as a rookies.
6:48
Speaker 3: But you know, this will be a really important year
6:50
Speaker 3: for him, and his play throughout this entire offseason and
6:54
Speaker 3: through training camp will dictate how many snaps he gets
6:57
Speaker 3: to play in the context of their rotation. But he's
7:00
Speaker 3: very gifted. So theoretically they have a lot of players,
7:06
Speaker 3: you know that they could go seven, eight, nine deep,
7:08
Speaker 3: but you know there are some guys like you mentioned Pain.
7:12
Speaker 3: You know, he's he's now going into I guess he was.
7:14
Speaker 3: He got drafted in eighteen. I believe it was. So
7:18
Speaker 3: now you're dealing with a guy that's you know, played
7:19
Speaker 3: a lot of football and he's an interior d lineman.
7:22
Speaker 3: You know, Settle has always been one of those nice
7:24
Speaker 3: rotational players whoever he's been. You know, there's a bunch
7:27
Speaker 3: of those de tackle types in the league that you know,
7:30
Speaker 3: don't play a ton of snaps necessarily, but they always
7:32
Speaker 3: seem to be effective when they do play. You know,
7:37
Speaker 3: so there are certainly some questions as we speak at
7:41
Speaker 3: the end of June, but you know, don't forget they
7:43
Speaker 3: also drafted Sonny Styles in the first round. There's no
7:46
Speaker 3: question he's going to start. So, you know, there's a
7:49
Speaker 3: lot of and I hate to use the word, but
7:52
Speaker 3: at this time of year, what other word is there?
7:54
Speaker 3: There's a lot of potentially really good players here. You know,
7:58
Speaker 3: Miek Robinson Roberts and is a really good nickel.
8:01
Speaker 4: Uh.
8:02
Speaker 3: You know, Trey Amos was having a really good season
8:05
Speaker 3: until he got hurt, so you know, they brought in
8:09
Speaker 3: the you know, the veteran Will Harris is still there.
8:11
Speaker 3: You know, Saint R's still is a nice player at corner.
8:14
Speaker 3: And I think he's going to stay on the outside
8:16
Speaker 3: because I think they won robertson look, they signed him
8:18
Speaker 3: to be the slot, so Saint's still is going to
8:20
Speaker 3: stay on the outside. So, I mean, there's a lot
8:23
Speaker 3: of good players on the defensive side of the ball
8:25
Speaker 3: in a scheme that's very multiple and uh and and
8:29
Speaker 3: you know they have some of those kinds of players
8:31
Speaker 3: that can fit that scheme really well.
8:34
Speaker 4: A couple of things, Greg, My understanding is, yeah, they
8:36
Speaker 4: think lou was going to play more as an ed rusher,
8:39
Speaker 4: as a pass rusher this year.
8:42
Speaker 3: Two years when they went dime. Uh, he was always
8:45
Speaker 3: an edge rusher.
8:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's basically what I've heard.
8:48
Speaker 4: It's channel and Styles soon, Styles is.
8:50
Speaker 2: Ready to go.
8:51
Speaker 4: Jordan mc jordan, Jordan mcgabe out of Temple is actually
8:54
Speaker 4: a good player.
8:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
8:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a good backup. So here's my question, Greg,
8:58
Speaker 4: you mentioned this in passing. I'm glad you mention to
9:00
Speaker 4: meet Robertson. You know, he's when asked to play corner,
9:03
Speaker 4: he's done a decent job. But you're right, he's a
9:05
Speaker 4: nickel and they said they signed him for really good
9:06
Speaker 4: money to be a nickel. But you've seen now Sanderstrol
9:10
Speaker 4: for two seasons. Based on what you've seen, what's his
9:13
Speaker 4: best position?
9:16
Speaker 3: Well, I think to me, he's played better on the
9:18
Speaker 3: outside than I thought he would because obviously he did
9:21
Speaker 3: that at Michigan, he played both slot and outside. But
9:24
Speaker 3: I thought, due to his size that he'd be a
9:27
Speaker 3: slot in the league. But you know, he's just he's
9:30
Speaker 3: almost the exception. He's he's feisty, he's competitive, he's handled
9:34
Speaker 3: himself well on the outside, and that's what he's going
9:37
Speaker 3: to play in their defense. I mean, when they're in
9:39
Speaker 3: their base, he's going to be an outside corner.
9:42
Speaker 4: And they don't really have anyone else. So that that's
9:43
Speaker 4: why I was getting to it because.
9:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, not only they, they did sign Kello Witherspoon. He's
9:49
Speaker 3: played a lot of caps in the league. You know,
9:52
Speaker 3: I don't think they signed him to be a starter,
9:54
Speaker 3: but if it comes to shove, I mean, and he
9:56
Speaker 3: had to start, He's he's probably started fifty games in
10:00
Speaker 3: the NFL, so you know he could do that. But
10:03
Speaker 3: I think they I think Amos is the guy that
10:07
Speaker 3: they really feel has an opportunity to become. You know,
10:10
Speaker 3: I don't want to say a top three corner in
10:12
Speaker 3: the league, but to be you know, one of the
10:13
Speaker 3: better corners in the league. Is he develops Jeff.
10:16
Speaker 4: The one Jeff the one thing that you get concerned
10:18
Speaker 4: about it with Witherspoon, He's been on five teams. There's
10:21
Speaker 4: a reason for him, like he's he's won a lot
10:23
Speaker 4: of games. It's Greg said he started a lot, but
10:26
Speaker 4: clearly at thirty one years old, he's on the back
10:28
Speaker 4: and nine of his career.
10:30
Speaker 3: It's you know, maybe as you want, he always leaves
10:33
Speaker 3: me wanting more. Given his size, his link and his tricks. Right,
10:37
Speaker 3: he's never quite happened to the point where you feel
10:40
Speaker 3: like he's my guy. But again, he started a lot
10:43
Speaker 3: of games and if you had to play him, it's
10:45
Speaker 3: not like he can't play Jeff.
10:49
Speaker 4: This team's reminds me of sort of some of the
10:51
Speaker 4: Eagles teams over the years when maybe opposite Sleigh, they
10:53
Speaker 4: weren't great at corner yep. But if they're peesh rush,
10:57
Speaker 4: which they believe because remember they they were down four
10:59
Speaker 4: edge last year. But as we just outline, they have
11:02
Speaker 4: so many guys now and Channell's in there could rush
11:04
Speaker 4: the passer.
11:05
Speaker 2: Know about Louvo.
11:06
Speaker 4: If they can get to the passer, they're gonna be fine.
11:08
Speaker 4: But I know that what I would say with Sanders
11:11
Speaker 4: still was very up and down last season, was not
11:13
Speaker 4: as good as a rookie. So they don't really have
11:15
Speaker 4: a parachute a corner he's got. He's just gonna have
11:17
Speaker 4: to play well.
11:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, Or if Amos really takes takes that next step up,
11:21
Speaker 1: as Greg is mentioning, then that that's really and listen
11:25
Speaker 1: the Durante Jones defense, if it takes any if it
11:29
Speaker 1: takes the way that Flora's his defenses are you you
11:33
Speaker 1: disrupt the quarterback you attack him from multiple angles, you
11:36
Speaker 1: make you make life easier on your corners and your
11:38
Speaker 1: safeties because you have a quarterback who's under duress or
11:41
Speaker 1: at least thinking about what he's seeing.
11:44
Speaker 4: I see the.
11:46
Speaker 3: Assuming he does what Flores did, it's heavy zone. So
11:49
Speaker 3: Sander's still, given his lack of size and mass, will
11:53
Speaker 3: not have to match up, you know, too often in
11:55
Speaker 3: pure man now as an outside corner, even in zone concepts,
11:58
Speaker 3: you do have to play man, but it's not a
12:01
Speaker 3: pure man defense.
12:03
Speaker 1: Right do you see the same sometimes issues with the
12:05
Speaker 1: Brian Flores zones in that you've talked about Todd Bowles
12:10
Speaker 1: another guy who likes to really attack from different levels.
12:12
Speaker 2: But if you can block.
12:13
Speaker 1: It up, there's always some zones, there's always voids in
12:16
Speaker 1: those zones that you can attack pretty easily compared to
12:20
Speaker 1: maybe some of the way the other coordinators.
12:22
Speaker 3: Well, it's because there's so much movement from pre snap
12:25
Speaker 3: looks to post snap looks. Jeff right, that's sometimes that
12:28
Speaker 3: causes you know, if a player is at in a
12:31
Speaker 3: position by two yards, that's a big deal in the NFL.
12:34
Speaker 3: So you know there's just so much movement, you know,
12:38
Speaker 3: So it's it's in you know, coverage, rotations, movements, you know,
12:41
Speaker 3: and it's just sometimes that guys are just not exactly
12:44
Speaker 3: where they need to be.
12:46
Speaker 2: You know.
12:46
Speaker 3: Then you take on the flip side, just just as
12:49
Speaker 3: a point of context for the audience, the flip side
12:52
Speaker 3: and Eagles defense where there's not a ton of movement
12:56
Speaker 3: from the front end to the back end. There could
12:58
Speaker 3: be movement on the back end, but they're a defense
13:02
Speaker 3: that rushes for and because they don't have all this
13:06
Speaker 3: movement on the you know, going on, they feel they
13:09
Speaker 3: can take care of all the stress points within their coverages,
13:13
Speaker 3: whereas teams that do a lot of late rotation, sometimes
13:18
Speaker 3: the stress points really get shown up. And that's why
13:22
Speaker 3: the Flora's defense as difficult as it is to play against,
13:25
Speaker 3: and offensive coordinators will tell you that they do give
13:28
Speaker 3: up big plays.
13:29
Speaker 4: One thing Jeff before moving to offense, is the unpredictability
13:33
Speaker 4: of Flores. Sometimes you can't quite know what he's thinking
13:37
Speaker 4: or what right when you think you've got to figure
13:38
Speaker 4: it out. Remember the game where the with the Vikings,
13:43
Speaker 4: he just decided, Okay, we're gonna let Philly run all
13:46
Speaker 4: over us. Like you don't know that before the game,
13:48
Speaker 4: Like you don't know what he's gonna do, So I
13:50
Speaker 4: can't wait to see what Jaronti jones, because everyone's gonna
13:53
Speaker 4: like with the Fancho disciples, they all have their own stamp.
13:56
Speaker 4: So I'm interesting to see what he takes out of
13:57
Speaker 4: and what he has that's different than Flora's for sure.
14:01
Speaker 2: I think as we finished it, put a bow here
14:03
Speaker 2: on the defense.
14:03
Speaker 1: I do you know, Adam, we always say we look
14:05
Speaker 1: for a couple of things right for every team to
14:07
Speaker 1: see if it's improved or not. And one is depth
14:11
Speaker 1: and the other is like positional value. And if Frankie
14:15
Speaker 1: Louvu is way more of an edge rusher because they.
14:18
Speaker 2: Are going to play Chanelle and they're going to play.
14:20
Speaker 1: McGee or next to styles in most packages, right, and
14:24
Speaker 1: he joins an edge rush with Armstrong and with the Chase.
14:29
Speaker 2: On and and uh oh, pretty good.
14:33
Speaker 1: I mean I think that that that's that's pretty formidable.
14:36
Speaker 1: And it's almost like addition by subtraction because you get
14:38
Speaker 1: Louvu out of a spot across the middle of the
14:41
Speaker 1: field where all the underlying metrics say he was bad
14:43
Speaker 1: in coverage.
14:44
Speaker 2: It's it's not where he should be.
14:45
Speaker 1: He's much better pass rusher than off ball zone coverage
14:48
Speaker 1: type players.
14:49
Speaker 2: So, like you mentioned, I think, and and even having a.
14:52
Speaker 1: Witherspoon as your third corner right who's played a lot
14:55
Speaker 1: of snaps. You've got guys in your front defensive front
14:58
Speaker 1: who played a lot of snaps. You got kwond Martin
15:00
Speaker 1: who's played lost naps. They have better depth than they've
15:03
Speaker 1: had in quite a while.
15:05
Speaker 3: And again they have also got a ton of depth
15:07
Speaker 3: at the safety position because guys like Percy Butler, Kwan
15:10
Speaker 3: Martin and Jeremy Reeves have played a ton of football.
15:13
Speaker 2: Sure, that's good stuff.
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Speaker 2: Let's transition over to the offense.
16:16
Speaker 1: To me, Greg got you know, I see the Commander's
16:18
Speaker 1: offense as much like last year, still lacking an explosive playmakers,
16:23
Speaker 1: but the potential if the quarterback plays like he did
16:28
Speaker 1: two years ago, the potential for the offense to be raised.
16:32
Speaker 2: The level is there. What do you remember seeing in
16:35
Speaker 2: Jayden Daniels.
16:36
Speaker 1: Last year, despite the fact that he was hurt a lot.
16:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was tough year for him, you know.
16:42
Speaker 3: To me, the number one thing with Daniels is he's
16:44
Speaker 3: got to figure out and only he can figure out
16:48
Speaker 3: what that balance is between playing from the pocket where
16:50
Speaker 3: he is good and getting out of the pocket, because
16:54
Speaker 3: you know, at some point you can't play like that
16:56
Speaker 3: and stay on the field, you know, And body type
16:59
Speaker 3: is such. I mean, he's talk, but he's thin. He's
17:01
Speaker 3: never going to be two hundred and thirty pounds. His
17:03
Speaker 3: body's not like that. So he's got to figure that out.
17:07
Speaker 3: But you're right about the overall, you know, offense. You know,
17:12
Speaker 3: I think they need a meaningful run game. Now, it's
17:15
Speaker 3: interesting that they did two things here that I think
17:19
Speaker 3: are again it's it's the end of June, but they
17:22
Speaker 3: signed with Sead White and they drafted Kate roun Allen
17:24
Speaker 3: in the sixth round. Now, neither guy is explosive, but
17:28
Speaker 3: they're grinders, okay, and and they need the offense to
17:32
Speaker 3: be able to to, for want of a better way
17:35
Speaker 3: to say it, cliched but true to you know, stay
17:37
Speaker 3: on schedule, and you know, those guys can do it.
17:41
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't personally see Krosskey Merritt as a
17:44
Speaker 3: true foundation back. I think he's more of a compliment,
17:49
Speaker 3: you know. And again, I'm not going to sit here
17:50
Speaker 3: and say that Kate run Allen's going to be the
17:52
Speaker 3: starting back, but to me, as a sustaining type back,
17:57
Speaker 3: he has the best traits of these guys. Now, with
18:00
Speaker 3: a sixth round pick, he could be cut too. You know,
18:02
Speaker 3: you never know when a guy's a sixth round pick,
18:04
Speaker 3: but he has those kinds of traits. And Jeff, I
18:07
Speaker 3: know you agree, you saw him at Penn State. I mean,
18:09
Speaker 3: he's not going to take it to the house, but
18:11
Speaker 3: he's physical, he's tough, he can gain hard yards, and
18:16
Speaker 3: you know, in the context of who else they have
18:18
Speaker 3: at the running back position, they're gonna need that.
18:21
Speaker 2: Sure.
18:22
Speaker 1: It's almost like he and jacros Ja Cory Krosky Marrit
18:26
Speaker 1: are opposite kind of players, whereasn't even though Meret is
18:29
Speaker 1: over two hundred pounds, he plays like a guy who's
18:31
Speaker 1: like one hundred and eighty. He just scampers off big
18:34
Speaker 1: runs and doesn't have toughness or that like grind element
18:37
Speaker 1: to his game.
18:39
Speaker 3: It's better that out in training camp because they you know,
18:41
Speaker 3: with the exception of Allen and I don't think it
18:44
Speaker 3: happens as a rookie, they don't have a back who
18:46
Speaker 3: can carry two hundred and fifty times.
18:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, and in fact throwing forward like should we. He's
18:51
Speaker 1: also on the team and he's had some meaning.
18:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, he can help him third down. Yeah, But a
18:55
Speaker 2: couple of things here.
18:56
Speaker 4: If you remember last year, despite all that they've very
19:00
Speaker 4: they were very light at running back in terms of depth.
19:03
Speaker 4: They would take uh kraft merit out in goal line situations.
19:07
Speaker 4: He's just not strong in floor body, I was told.
19:10
Speaker 4: So this comes to your point, Kate, Awn Phil physical
19:13
Speaker 4: For Shod White, physical could help him third down, goal
19:15
Speaker 4: line drove, fourth third down receiver.
19:18
Speaker 3: White is a good receiver and a good pass protector.
19:21
Speaker 3: So you know, they all have their their attributes and trades,
19:24
Speaker 3: but they don't have a back theoretically, with the exception
19:28
Speaker 3: of Valand but again, a sixth round pick, you just
19:30
Speaker 3: don't know. They don't have a back that's you know,
19:33
Speaker 3: sort of a bell cowt back.
19:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:35
Speaker 1: Interestingly, they didn't have one last year either, and they
19:37
Speaker 1: still had a top five rushing offense, so we were
19:39
Speaker 1: able to figure it out. Uh, it would not surprise me.
19:42
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys feel the same way.
19:44
Speaker 1: If for Shod White wound up being there sort of
19:46
Speaker 1: leading ball carrier or leading.
19:50
Speaker 2: Snap guy at the running back position.
19:53
Speaker 1: Now, again that's not giving them a whole lot of explosion,
19:56
Speaker 1: but it's it's helping them at least move the chains.
19:58
Speaker 3: They actually have a pretty good ole line. Laramie Tunsall
20:02
Speaker 3: very quietly had a very good season a year ago,
20:05
Speaker 3: you know, because they weren't very good and because Daniels
20:07
Speaker 3: wasn't there, so not a lot of people focused on
20:09
Speaker 3: the Commanders. But Tunsall had a really good season, you know,
20:13
Speaker 3: Cosme's back at right guard. Connery, you know, went through
20:17
Speaker 3: his ups and downs as a rookie transitioning from left
20:19
Speaker 3: tackle to right tackle, which is not as easy as
20:22
Speaker 3: people think. He'll be better, and he's he's got a
20:24
Speaker 3: lot of positive traits.
20:26
Speaker 2: You know.
20:27
Speaker 3: They've got, you know, Alan Gretti at his list as
20:29
Speaker 3: their center right now. He's a veteran, you know, he's
20:33
Speaker 3: one of those guys that I'm sure you know, knows
20:35
Speaker 3: how to you know, set the protections and do all
20:38
Speaker 3: those things. You know, so it's not a bad old line.
20:42
Speaker 3: Their big issue is at wide receiver, where after Terry McLaurin.
20:46
Speaker 3: You know, you've got questions and and you know McLaurin
20:49
Speaker 3: is good, but McLaurin is you know, not Justin Jefferson
20:52
Speaker 3: or Jamar Chase. So you know, McLaurin is to me,
20:56
Speaker 3: you know, like a one a type like I think
20:59
Speaker 3: he's really good, but you know, you need others with him.
21:02
Speaker 3: He can't carry your past game, all right.
21:05
Speaker 4: So greg on David Blow, Okay, so this is his
21:08
Speaker 4: first year call in places is only his third year coaching,
21:11
Speaker 4: so there's not a lot of known here.
21:12
Speaker 2: Here's what I do know.
21:13
Speaker 4: It's told West Coast offense for sure, Ben Johnson influence.
21:17
Speaker 4: In fact, I know some coaches who know Ben Johnson
21:21
Speaker 4: thought that Johnson if they didn't promote b loud to OC,
21:23
Speaker 4: he was going to hire him away. So they promoted him.
21:25
Speaker 4: But again, he hasn't called play. So you've seen Ben
21:28
Speaker 4: Johnson call plays. What could commanders fans expect if it's
21:32
Speaker 4: Ben Johnson influenced and West Coast based, what could this
21:35
Speaker 4: offense look like schematically and conceptually?
21:39
Speaker 3: Well, then you get into the kinds of things that
21:42
Speaker 3: really help quarterbacks because the spacing of route concepts, to
21:46
Speaker 3: me is what Ben Johnson does exceptionally well, maybe as
21:49
Speaker 3: well or better than any coach in the league. And
21:52
Speaker 3: if Bloo can sort of install that and they can
21:55
Speaker 3: execute it the right way that helps your quarterback and
21:58
Speaker 3: it helps receivers, then you don't have to be you know,
22:01
Speaker 3: you don't have to have three great receivers. I will
22:05
Speaker 3: say this. They drafted Antonio Williams in the third round
22:08
Speaker 3: out of Clemson. He's a player whose tape I really liked.
22:11
Speaker 3: I watched him for his final two years at Clemson.
22:14
Speaker 3: It would not surprise me if he's there starting slots,
22:17
Speaker 3: starting movement receiver, you know he's I think he's really
22:21
Speaker 3: really good. Then the question is who's the other receiver
22:24
Speaker 3: opposite McLaurin, And I think that's a training camp battle.
22:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, Traylon Brooks came on last year. Greg when he
22:32
Speaker 2: was putting that role, still had to battle some injuries.
22:34
Speaker 2: But were you what did you think of the way
22:36
Speaker 2: Brooks played last year?
22:38
Speaker 3: Brooks has always been fascinating to me because obviously it
22:40
Speaker 3: didn't work out in Tennessee. Got hurt all the time,
22:43
Speaker 3: and when he did play, you know, it just didn't work.
22:46
Speaker 3: But you're dealing with a guy that's six three two twenty.
22:49
Speaker 3: He can run. If you could ever know it was
22:51
Speaker 3: a first round pick, I mean people probably remember that
22:54
Speaker 3: he was he was supposed to be the air apparent
22:57
Speaker 3: DJ Brown when the Titans trade at AJ Brown, and
23:01
Speaker 3: you know he looks the part. It just hasn't worked.
23:03
Speaker 3: If he can ever play to what you would think
23:06
Speaker 3: he can. Then he's pretty good, right, you know. And
23:09
Speaker 3: then they've got a bunch of other guys who've kind
23:12
Speaker 3: of been you know, Diami Brown's been around the league.
23:14
Speaker 3: Van Jefferson's been around the league, you know. And we're
23:17
Speaker 3: not even saying these guys make the team. You don't
23:19
Speaker 3: know that now. Who McCaffrey was a third round pick
23:22
Speaker 3: two years ago. That's not a throwaway pick. So you know,
23:26
Speaker 3: we'll see if these you know, again, to be cliched,
23:29
Speaker 3: but it's true. Who's gonna step up, you know, when
23:32
Speaker 3: given an opportunity and be a factor in the past game.
23:35
Speaker 3: Because McLaurin is a given. I think Williams will be
23:38
Speaker 3: a really solid player. Then it's it's who's the next guy?
23:42
Speaker 4: Well, I got the next guy for you, because they're
23:44
Speaker 4: paying him to be chicken kN quel. Greg has got
23:48
Speaker 4: this unbelievable contract. I know you know the Titans very well,
23:51
Speaker 4: so I'm gonna throw this few in a second. Basically,
23:54
Speaker 4: in contract structure, there's even if he does nothing the season,
23:57
Speaker 4: he's gonna be on. He's gonna be with the team
23:59
Speaker 4: in year two because guaranteed in your two over seven million,
24:02
Speaker 4: What is big Chiga Conquo's problem. Why has he not
24:05
Speaker 4: been the player A lot of people thought he'd be.
24:08
Speaker 3: Well, I think the past game for the Titans over
24:11
Speaker 3: the last couple of years has certainly been you know,
24:14
Speaker 3: there's not been a lot of consistency too.
24:15
Speaker 2: I wasn't a joke. You are allowed to use Will
24:18
Speaker 2: Levis as an answer if you want. Yeah, and then.
24:24
Speaker 3: But a Conquo is a receiver, he's not a blocker. Yeah,
24:28
Speaker 3: and he's a movement player. So again, now you're dealing with,
24:31
Speaker 3: you know how David Blott wants to deploy him within
24:33
Speaker 3: the context of the pass game because he's he's a
24:36
Speaker 3: detached player. He's a movement player. You can line him
24:39
Speaker 3: up anywhere in your formation. He's theoretically a matchup piece
24:43
Speaker 3: because he's got good speed. I mean I remember doing
24:45
Speaker 3: him coming out of Maryland. I mean he had long plays.
24:48
Speaker 3: He can run for a you know, because he's kind
24:51
Speaker 3: of that HVAC tight end type. He's not a true
24:54
Speaker 3: attached tight end. So they obviously, Adam, you make a
24:58
Speaker 3: great point. The fact that they signed him for big
25:00
Speaker 3: money means they have they have a plan for him.
25:03
Speaker 3: They didn't just sign him and then say, let's see
25:05
Speaker 3: what we're gonna do now.
25:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
25:08
Speaker 3: They obviously see him in the context of how they
25:11
Speaker 3: want to play offense, particularly in the past game, because
25:15
Speaker 3: he's not an inline blocker.
25:17
Speaker 2: No, that's John Bates, and it's gonna.
25:18
Speaker 1: Do if they want to be in twelve personnel, which
25:20
Speaker 1: is this offense. Like we talked about with the Eagles,
25:23
Speaker 1: I feel like we're gonna have the same conversation about
25:25
Speaker 1: Eli Stowers, right. Is John Bates a good enough guy
25:29
Speaker 1: on his own, just like we're gonna ask about Johnny Munt.
25:32
Speaker 1: But at least the Eagles have Dallas Goddard who can
25:34
Speaker 1: do both the do the commanders, in your opinion, have
25:38
Speaker 1: a tight end who can be out there in twelve
25:41
Speaker 1: personnel inline and doesn't telegraph the run all the time,
25:44
Speaker 1: so that ocon quote can be flexed and do good
25:48
Speaker 1: things from from that spot.
25:50
Speaker 3: You know, Bates is an interesting player because I'm not
25:52
Speaker 3: gonna sit here and say Bates is an unbelievable receiver.
25:55
Speaker 3: But Bates is not a like I wouldn't just say
25:57
Speaker 3: Bates is solely a blocker. You know a little better
26:00
Speaker 3: than that. You know, so again, when you get a
26:03
Speaker 3: new coaching staff sometimes they see players differently, you know,
26:07
Speaker 3: because I can recall, you know, watching the Commanders over
26:10
Speaker 3: these last number of years, where Bates did catch balls,
26:12
Speaker 3: and he actually caught balls at the intermediate level. It
26:15
Speaker 3: wasn't you know. He's not just like a checkdown guy
26:17
Speaker 3: or a four yard guy. He's certainly not, you know,
26:20
Speaker 3: at the level of tight end that's going to consistently
26:22
Speaker 3: run the seam or get vertical. But I think he's
26:25
Speaker 3: a little more than just you know, a blocking tight end.
26:28
Speaker 3: So I'll be interested to see how they see Baits
26:31
Speaker 3: in the in this context. Now, don't forget, you know,
26:34
Speaker 3: David Blaw and this offensive staff didn't didn't drafts or not,
26:38
Speaker 3: So I don't know what they see with him because
26:40
Speaker 3: you know, he was a second round pick, so I
26:43
Speaker 3: don't know. Again, now that becomes a training camp issue.
26:45
Speaker 3: I don't know, Adam, unless you've spoken to people. I
26:48
Speaker 3: don't know what my staff thinks of him.
26:50
Speaker 4: I could just tell you that I don't know if
26:53
Speaker 4: Adam Peters would go back and say, gosh, what was
26:56
Speaker 4: I thinking? But there's just belief that around the league
26:59
Speaker 4: with Sam that he should have been a fourth or
27:01
Speaker 4: fifth round pick. Not a second, which is what I thought. Yeah,
27:05
Speaker 4: there you go, and Jeff as we sent him back
27:07
Speaker 4: to you. This team is intriguing if they could keep
27:10
Speaker 4: Daniels upright, Greg talk about the offensive line bloud now
27:13
Speaker 4: obviously blow this is a big deal. He's never called
27:16
Speaker 4: plays before. This is only third year coaching. This is
27:18
Speaker 4: a big step for him. But they think he's brilliant.
27:22
Speaker 4: He goes think Sean Mannion's brilliant, but he hasn't called
27:25
Speaker 4: plays either. They have a similar trajectory. Let's see what happens.
27:28
Speaker 4: But Washington's my very intriguing team of this division.
27:31
Speaker 2: I agree. I think it's gonna be all about adaptation.
27:34
Speaker 1: I think we will have the same conversation with Hurts
27:36
Speaker 1: and Sean Mannions offense and Jayden Daniels, who's primarily operated
27:40
Speaker 1: on a shotgun throughout his career, and adjust to this
27:43
Speaker 1: kind of offense where his back might be turned towards
27:46
Speaker 1: the defense. It's play action heavy, it's it's well personnel heavy.
27:49
Speaker 1: It's probably not what Daniels has played in. But it's
27:52
Speaker 1: supposed to be QB friendly. So we'll see if those
27:54
Speaker 1: are one.
27:55
Speaker 3: Final point and then we'll move on.
27:57
Speaker 2: Yep.
27:57
Speaker 3: They've played a ton of no huddle the last two years.
28:00
Speaker 3: They've led the league in no huddle. So the question is, now,
28:04
Speaker 3: you know, nobody thinks about the operational part of playing quarterback.
28:07
Speaker 3: Are they going to stay in no huddle or are
28:09
Speaker 3: they going to huddle up? Because and don't forget Daniels
28:13
Speaker 3: didn't huddle a lot in college either, so don't forget
28:16
Speaker 3: huddling up. You've got to call the play in the huddle.
28:18
Speaker 3: You've got to get to the line of scrimmage with
28:20
Speaker 3: twelve thirteen seconds left on the clock. You've got to
28:23
Speaker 3: be in a situation where the shifts and the motions
28:25
Speaker 3: have time to work. You've got to be able to
28:27
Speaker 3: look at the defense. You know, that's the operational part
28:31
Speaker 3: of the position that nobody thinks about. And if you've
28:33
Speaker 3: never huddled before, you know that's a learning thing that
28:37
Speaker 3: takes time. Caleb Williams struggled with that mightily his first
28:41
Speaker 3: year and then through the early part of playing under
28:44
Speaker 3: Ben Johnson, and then he got way better at it.
28:47
Speaker 3: Just you know, it's repetition. So if you've never huddled,
28:49
Speaker 3: that operational part of the position is something you've got
28:52
Speaker 3: to learn how to do.
28:54
Speaker 2: Absolutely all right.
28:55
Speaker 1: So that's their look at the Washington Commander as a
28:57
Speaker 1: team that has gotten a lot of additions, deeper at
29:01
Speaker 1: a lot of areas, Talented in certain areas, but also
29:04
Speaker 1: undergoing massive changes on both sides of the ball, and
29:07
Speaker 1: we'll need to adjust and do it pretty quickly. That
29:10
Speaker 1: is our look at the Commanders. That's going to do
29:12
Speaker 1: it for this episode of The Inside the Birds NFC
29:15
Speaker 1: East Preview. On the next one, we will go through
29:17
Speaker 1: the New York Giants for Greg Cosell and Adam Kaplan.
29:20
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Mosher. You've been watching the Inside the Birds
29:23
Speaker 1: NFSE East preview on the Commanders. Be sure to check
29:26
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29:30
Speaker 1: fans experience with their coverage of all Philadelphia sports teams.
29:34
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29:40
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