Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: What's Next for the Eagles Defense?
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Football for powered by the Inside of the Burst Podcast.
- 0:02Speaker 1: It has brought to you by the Fanatic Sports Book
- 0:04Speaker 1: at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City. That's where we
- 0:07Speaker 1: are today, normally on a Monday. We're here on a
- 0:10Speaker 1: Tuesday this week, and we have Adam Kaplan here to help.
- 0:13Speaker 2: Fix the Eagles defense after Poe.
- 0:15Speaker 1: Adam, because yesterday my big takeaway from the weekend was
- 0:20Speaker 1: the Niners offense got stuffed into a locker by the
- 0:24Speaker 1: Seattle defense. And I wonder if Philadelphia watch that and said,
- 0:27Speaker 1: maybe our defense not as good as we thought. Will
- 0:31Speaker 1: break that down and try to fix the Eagles defense?
- 0:34Speaker 1: What's next for the Eagle defense? With many people, Adam,
- 0:37Speaker 1: I think we said was pretty good this year, But
- 0:39Speaker 1: after watching what the Niners were unable to do against Seattle,
- 0:43Speaker 1: do you reevaluate that at all?
- 0:46Speaker 3: Not really. I mean some of the things we knew about.
- 0:48Speaker 3: We're going to get to Mike in a minute, but no,
- 0:50Speaker 3: I know that's the new narrative. All their defense was
- 0:52Speaker 3: said as good, let's dig out out schemed. Okay, Eagles
- 0:55Speaker 3: got beat over the middle. Repeatedly, it shouldn't have happened.
- 0:58Speaker 3: DeMarcus Robinson. We talked about him on our pregame show
- 1:01Speaker 3: with Greg Cozell. Didn't think that would happen, but it did.
- 1:04Speaker 3: We want to make sure we met because he was
- 1:06Speaker 3: going to play a pivotal role, bigger than we thought.
- 1:09Speaker 3: I mean, think about it. George Kittle gets hurt in
- 1:11Speaker 3: the first half. Torn Achilles's just great scheming, great scheme
- 1:15Speaker 3: and design. That they got beat by scheme, design and execution.
- 1:18Speaker 3: That's what happened. But it doesn't mean they don't have
- 1:20Speaker 3: some issues, and they have some there's no question about it.
- 1:23Speaker 1: All right, We're going to take a look at him
- 1:24Speaker 1: right now. Adam Kaplan from the Inside of the Birds podcast,
- 1:27Speaker 1: which you can get on all podcasting platforms. Let's start
- 1:31Speaker 1: with it really was a problem early in the season
- 1:34Speaker 1: from game one. It kind of got better with the
- 1:37Speaker 1: Dory Jackson as the year went on, But they what
- 1:40Speaker 1: do they do opposite Quinnon Mitchell?
- 1:42Speaker 3: Yeah, so, Mike, look, they got away with it. We'll
- 1:45Speaker 3: say this much with the Dorry Jackson. He got torched
- 1:47Speaker 3: in Game one against the Cowboys, and then it sort
- 1:51Speaker 3: of leveled off. Every once in a while, give up
- 1:54Speaker 3: the play, but they didn't. He was not picked on
- 1:56Speaker 3: as much as we thought would happen. It just didn't happen.
- 2:00Speaker 3: But you did see a little bit against the Niners
- 2:03Speaker 3: that had happened. So his contract's up right now, they
- 2:06Speaker 3: have a major Hall upset Quinna Mitchell. They don't have
- 2:09Speaker 3: that guy right now. They don't have him on our contract.
- 2:12Speaker 3: Ring over definitely is not ity. He don't even really
- 2:14Speaker 3: play on defense. Jaquorian Bennett, big disappointment, got hurt, but
- 2:17Speaker 3: he was a non factor before he got hurt, and
- 2:19Speaker 3: after I'm back with Williams doesn't really factor. An He's
- 2:23Speaker 3: more of a nickel and Mike Carr's and you know nickel,
- 2:26Speaker 3: I have a safety. And now the big question is Mike,
- 2:28Speaker 3: and this plays into a lot of their offseason plans.
- 2:31Speaker 3: Is Cooper Degene just going to be a nickel? Do
- 2:34Speaker 3: they want to move to the position that he was
- 2:35Speaker 3: drafted for corner or do they want to play them
- 2:38Speaker 3: at safety? So and then I know there's a thought
- 2:40Speaker 3: inside the building that he could be a safety someday.
- 2:43Speaker 3: By the way, replanket ships contract is up, all of
- 2:45Speaker 3: this plays into it. Mike. Everything that I just mentioned
- 2:49Speaker 3: is in their thought process. Where's this gonna line up?
- 2:52Speaker 3: Who we bring him back. A lot of this this
- 2:54Speaker 3: is these are like the questions in now HII Roseman
- 2:57Speaker 3: his personnel staff must gus plus of course with the coaches.
- 3:02Speaker 1: Absolutely and uh you know they obviously you just talked
- 3:06Speaker 1: about where do they louse Lione Cooper, de gene up
- 3:09Speaker 1: uh Vic Vangil seems to really like.
- 3:11Speaker 2: Him in that Nickel role.
- 3:13Speaker 1: But will he possibly have to eventually will he had
- 3:17Speaker 1: to get.
- 3:17Speaker 2: Him out of that role?
- 3:18Speaker 3: Well that's the question. That's the discussion with Howie. They
- 3:22Speaker 3: have to have that discussion. Okay, are we sticking with
- 3:25Speaker 3: de Geena Nicol? Great? Are we? Then we have to
- 3:28Speaker 3: find a corner. We're not gonna do. What they have
- 3:30Speaker 3: to do is if Dejeane said Nickel again where he's
- 3:32Speaker 3: dynamic and became an all pro, you can't just you
- 3:36Speaker 3: just can't patchwork with the Dowry Jackson or somebody like that.
- 3:39Speaker 3: Let's look, they've got a lot of draft paticity of
- 3:42Speaker 3: other needs. They have a number of them deaft also
- 3:44Speaker 3: at certain positions. We'll get more into that. Jeff and
- 3:47Speaker 3: I do our we're going to do our roster intel
- 3:50Speaker 3: review that's coming up soon. But at corner they got
- 3:54Speaker 3: to draft that guy, Mike. It wouldn't be great because
- 3:56Speaker 3: again they wanted to be Mitchell Dejeene on the outside.
- 4:00Speaker 3: Things happen after Degin got hurt, he went ready. They
- 4:03Speaker 3: maye Ma Nicol he became dynamics. So okay, you're allowed
- 4:05Speaker 3: to change your mind. But they have to change. They
- 4:08Speaker 3: have to get a right cornerback, a younger guy. Yeah uh,
- 4:11Speaker 3: and that that really should come out of the draft.
- 4:14Speaker 1: All right, Well, they only get one first round pick
- 4:16Speaker 1: unless they make a trade. They have pick number twenty three,
- 4:19Speaker 1: and one of those spots they might have to look
- 4:21Speaker 1: at is edge rusher. They had Hunt, they had Smith,
- 4:25Speaker 1: they had to make a trade for Phillips. Phillips is
- 4:26Speaker 1: now a free agent, so what are they looking at
- 4:30Speaker 1: at that position?
- 4:31Speaker 3: All right, that's a big deal, by the way, that
- 4:33Speaker 3: this Jalen Phillips situation. He did a good job. His
- 4:36Speaker 3: pressure right was good. Sack numbers weren't quite what they
- 4:38Speaker 3: would have hoped. But honestly, the guy did a good job,
- 4:42Speaker 3: plays the run, he stayed healthy, by the way, and
- 4:46Speaker 3: he's got ideal lands. Now there's a saying in the
- 4:49Speaker 3: National Football League, what's the price? We'll see this is
- 4:53Speaker 3: his first time as an unrestricted free agent. Remember the
- 4:56Speaker 3: Eagles acquired him as via trade play. Got to fit
- 4:59Speaker 3: your option? This is It's simple. It's going to come
- 5:03Speaker 3: down in dollargent sense, what's he won comparably to the market. Look,
- 5:06Speaker 3: he's got a big injury history, but he did stay
- 5:08Speaker 3: healthy and he's a really good football player, a very
- 5:10Speaker 3: high character. He made it very clear he loved playing
- 5:13Speaker 3: in Philly. This is one to watch, no question about it.
- 5:17Speaker 3: I'm sure they have interested in him. That's something I've
- 5:19Speaker 3: heard repeatedly, but it's just again, what's the price? Then, Mike,
- 5:24Speaker 3: you know the The other part of this is and
- 5:27Speaker 3: we'll get more into this during draft season. Underclassman of declared, Well,
- 5:31Speaker 3: we'll get a better idea after I go to the
- 5:32Speaker 3: Senior Bowl next week, and we could talk about that
- 5:35Speaker 3: when I get back. Once we get into the draft,
- 5:37Speaker 3: coverachure Mike, Well, a better idea of how deep this
- 5:39Speaker 3: draft class is?
- 5:40Speaker 2: All right, inside linebacker.
- 5:42Speaker 1: I think this is a fastig one because they draft Campbell,
- 5:46Speaker 1: he starts, plays well, Dean returns.
- 5:49Speaker 2: Campbell essentially vanishes. Now you're making a decision.
- 5:54Speaker 1: You just let Dean walk after you essentially said all
- 5:57Speaker 1: year when the two were both healthy, that one was
- 6:00Speaker 1: better than the other so much so that Campbell never
- 6:02Speaker 1: got on the field. So when you have the opportunity
- 6:05Speaker 1: to bring Dean back, do you now say, yeah, you
- 6:08Speaker 1: know what, we're better.
- 6:09Speaker 2: Off without you.
- 6:11Speaker 3: This is a really tough deal. So this is the
- 6:13Speaker 3: way these conversations really go. Mike, the first round pick
- 6:16Speaker 3: that you traded up for is got to play. You
- 6:18Speaker 3: can't sit him for two seasons. You just can't. I understand.
- 6:21Speaker 3: There's a big part of the fan base that loves
- 6:23Speaker 3: Deanon rightfully. So he's just been a great story of
- 6:26Speaker 3: overcoming two significant injuries. Other injuries in his Shirt Eagles
- 6:30Speaker 3: career were the four seasons he's missed a lot of time.
- 6:34Speaker 3: But he suspend really this past season like no one
- 6:37Speaker 3: ever saw coming. You just right when they saw how
- 6:41Speaker 3: healthy was during the one thing behind the scenes that
- 6:43Speaker 3: they knew that he recovered well. But once he got
- 6:47Speaker 3: in there, Mike, it was kind of like, oh my god, Wow,
- 6:49Speaker 3: this is crazy. I mean, he looks dominant again. As
- 6:51Speaker 3: a matter of fact, Mike Key played so well. Had
- 6:55Speaker 3: he played let's say he started a week one and
- 6:58Speaker 3: play this way, he might have been a pro bowler.
- 7:00Speaker 3: It would have been, but you know, he just didn't qualify.
- 7:02Speaker 3: So when you look at it, it, I mean more
- 7:06Speaker 3: often most likely they're gonna have to go with Campbell.
- 7:08Speaker 3: It doesn't mean that they can't try to figure something out.
- 7:12Speaker 3: I keep telling our Patreon folks, it's Campbell's got to play.
- 7:14Speaker 3: It's just you just can't sit this guy for two years.
- 7:17Speaker 3: You just can't do it. And they remember, Mike, they
- 7:20Speaker 3: only play two linebackers and they don't play three. If
- 7:21Speaker 3: they play three, there's a's a totally different deal. Also,
- 7:25Speaker 3: Dean changed agency, so he's he's gonna be looking to
- 7:27Speaker 3: get paid. You never say never, Mike. We've learned this.
- 7:30Speaker 3: We've used this phrase. Now this is our ninth year
- 7:32Speaker 3: using the phrase. If I'm to Kobe Dean, I'd want
- 7:35Speaker 3: to capitalize off this is that he had. Now we
- 7:38Speaker 3: don't know what market it's gonna because sometimes beauty's and
- 7:41Speaker 3: the eye of the beholder, where you have greater value
- 7:43Speaker 3: to the team that you just came from than a
- 7:44Speaker 3: new team. And he's an inside backer. He can play
- 7:48Speaker 3: in a forty three too as a mic. But I again,
- 7:51Speaker 3: Campbell's got to play. So it's gonna It's hard to
- 7:53Speaker 3: imagine Dean will be back. We'll have more information though
- 7:56Speaker 3: a little bit stronger information as we go along.
- 7:57Speaker 2: Here are you hinted at lanconship?
- 8:00Speaker 1: Certainly like to dive into that one a little deeper
- 8:02Speaker 1: because he's a free agent and you've got mccooba, who
- 8:05Speaker 1: was hurt. You brought back Epps to fill that spot here,
- 8:08Speaker 1: but there's not a lot you mentioned Degene Is Cooper
- 8:12Speaker 1: I mean, is Reid Blanketship a priority free agent or
- 8:15Speaker 1: is he somebody that you they think they can replenish
- 8:18Speaker 1: and and and you know, basically move on.
- 8:20Speaker 3: From well, they don't have anyone like him. Mccooba will
- 8:23Speaker 3: be back, Kobe starting at one safety spot. That's not
- 8:25Speaker 3: up to debate. The other debate is, okay, is degin't
- 8:29Speaker 3: gonna play safety? If not? What any bring Marcus Apps back?
- 8:33Speaker 3: With Marcus Apps is a quality backup, He's really not
- 8:35Speaker 3: a starter in ceede Brown, it's just a special teams player.
- 8:37Speaker 3: So they don't have his replacement on the team, So
- 8:41Speaker 3: they have Mac McWilliams was not cross trained. I don't believe.
- 8:44Speaker 3: I know he played corner and he played nickel in
- 8:47Speaker 3: uh In practice. He practiced that way. It's really not
- 8:50Speaker 3: a safety yet. So I know Michael Carr could do that,
- 8:54Speaker 3: but he's really not a starting safety at this point.
- 8:56Speaker 3: He's a quality nickel if he's needed. But it's either
- 9:00Speaker 3: they bring back blanket chip or they're going to look
- 9:02Speaker 3: elsewhere that they answer your question now again, we're we're
- 9:05Speaker 3: we just got picked the seasons to stand it. So
- 9:08Speaker 3: these are discussions now that they're going to make blanket chip. Also,
- 9:11Speaker 3: before the season started, heat change agencies. The new agency
- 9:15Speaker 3: will be looking to get paid. Here. This is a
- 9:18Speaker 3: guy we know behind the scenes, these coaches love. He's
- 9:21Speaker 3: a leader of their secondary from a lineup standpoint, from
- 9:24Speaker 3: lining everybody up, make sure everything's done the right way.
- 9:27Speaker 3: But the one knock on him, he's not a good
- 9:28Speaker 3: athlete that's shown up on tape. This is this is
- 9:32Speaker 3: another interesting one, Mike. They have a lot of tough decisions. Mike. Well,
- 9:35Speaker 3: as we go through this, yeah, they got way more
- 9:37Speaker 3: than I look. Then you we'll get on the Future show.
- 9:42Speaker 3: Extending o'joemo, extending David, extending Carter. You know that that's
- 9:47Speaker 3: there are other guys that extend. You know, what do
- 9:48Speaker 3: they do with Nolan Smith, who had a disappointing year.
- 9:50Speaker 3: They have a lot of questions. Mike Brden, we probably thought.
- 9:53Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know you just brought up Nolan Smith.
- 9:55Speaker 2: He's another guy.
- 9:55Speaker 1: Like if you lose Jalen Phillips, are you happy with
- 9:58Speaker 1: Jalx Hunt and Nolan Smith again as your top two
- 10:01Speaker 1: edge rushers?
- 10:02Speaker 2: You just said no, I would agree with you.
- 10:04Speaker 1: So that's something that because Adam As, we're gonna look
- 10:07Speaker 1: at the draft, and you said you'll be at the
- 10:08Speaker 1: Senior Bowl and I'm sure we'll start diving into twenty
- 10:10Speaker 1: three and some options there. You can make a strong
- 10:13Speaker 1: argument that as bad as the offense was, they're gonna
- 10:16Speaker 1: have to look at an edge rusher or a corner
- 10:18Speaker 1: in that first round and the defense was the strong
- 10:20Speaker 1: suit of the team.
- 10:22Speaker 3: Yeah, edge edge, Mike. If they don't bring back Phillips,
- 10:27Speaker 3: clearly a need. It's it's a top five need on
- 10:29Speaker 3: the football team. Hunt is really progressed. He's a cross
- 10:33Speaker 3: I started anyway. He'll off to even be a full
- 10:35Speaker 3: time starter next season.
- 10:36Speaker 2: Yep.
- 10:37Speaker 3: But after that, Mike Phillips walks Nolan Smith, you can't
- 10:41Speaker 3: count on him. I mean he he plays the run,
- 10:44Speaker 3: real well. Talking to other teams, he definitely is aggressive
- 10:48Speaker 3: against the runs. Sometimes it goes a little bit too low,
- 10:50Speaker 3: but uh, he's a good player. But again, his season
- 10:54Speaker 3: was marred by re entering that triceps. So he's got
- 10:58Speaker 3: he's gotta have an injury for you season, rehab off season,
- 11:01Speaker 3: rehab free off season, and get the back where he
- 11:04Speaker 3: was before the injury. But all we know right now,
- 11:07Speaker 3: Mike it edges this hunt is starting, okay. Other than that,
- 11:11Speaker 3: they don't know yet. They just don't know. They have to.
- 11:14Speaker 3: It's the Phillips quandary. What's he want? They got to
- 11:16Speaker 3: get through that. From a cash standpoint, They've got a
- 11:19Speaker 3: lot of They've got a lot of decisions from the
- 11:20Speaker 3: cash standpoint, who they're gonna pay, who's gonna walk? You
- 11:23Speaker 3: can't pay everybody. It's not just a salary cap. It's
- 11:26Speaker 3: it's a cash budget, which we reported still almost exclusively
- 11:31Speaker 3: last March. We said they're having a cash budget situation.
- 11:35Speaker 3: They just cut the budget not only in football operations
- 11:37Speaker 3: and non football ops and then showed up unfortunately. But
- 11:40Speaker 3: it's not like they didn't know this, and Howie's a
- 11:43Speaker 3: pretty resilient guy. We'll see what he does.
- 11:45Speaker 1: So with that, does that affect the possibility of what
- 11:48Speaker 1: could happen with AJ Brown?
- 11:51Speaker 3: Well, there's a major cap hit. Now. I warned people,
- 11:55Speaker 3: you go stick the biggest capet in NFL history when
- 11:57Speaker 3: they traded Wentz and you know they moved his cat,
- 12:00Speaker 3: his salary off the off the books. They took a
- 12:02Speaker 3: major cap hit. They were able to get through it, Mike.
- 12:05Speaker 3: I mean, it's just you can get through it. There's
- 12:08Speaker 3: the capitals more malleable than like the the NBA contractors
- 12:12Speaker 3: are fully guaranteed and there's very little you can do.
- 12:15Speaker 3: There's things you can do post you one designation, but
- 12:18Speaker 3: still be a lot of pain over two seasons. But
- 12:21Speaker 3: as I've learned the hard way, Mike, when you want
- 12:22Speaker 3: to move a player, you're not worried about taking the
- 12:24Speaker 3: cap hit. You'll you'll you'll do what you have to do, right.
- 12:30Speaker 2: A J.
- 12:30Speaker 3: Brown? To me, it's there's a saying though, if you're
- 12:34Speaker 3: gonna move them, what's your recourse? They're gonna there's gonna
- 12:36Speaker 3: be interest. We reported this three years ago. The Patriots says, well,
- 12:40Speaker 3: before Rabel got there, they tried multiple times to get
- 12:42Speaker 3: A J.
- 12:42Speaker 2: Brown.
- 12:42Speaker 3: He goes weren't listening. It's a lot more on this
- 12:46Speaker 3: when I get back from the super Bowl. But this
- 12:48Speaker 3: a j Brown. It's like many this all season.
- 12:50Speaker 2: For the Eagles.
- 12:51Speaker 1: Well, we're already starting to hear some whispers, and those
- 12:53Speaker 1: whispers are going to start to get louder before we
- 12:55Speaker 1: let Adam Caplin out of here. Brian Gaball in for
- 12:58Speaker 1: an interview today. Is it more like that he is
- 13:01Speaker 1: a head coach or does he take a coordinator job?
- 13:05Speaker 1: And is that coordinator job in Philadelphia?
- 13:08Speaker 3: Well, my couple things. If the Buffalo one opens for him,
- 13:10Speaker 3: if he's from that area, if he coached Josh Allen
- 13:14Speaker 3: did a brilliant job, I'm sure he'd want that Bill's
- 13:18Speaker 3: job if you can get an opportunity. My understanding is
- 13:21Speaker 3: the Titans. Though he didn't get the Titans head coaching job,
- 13:24Speaker 3: there is some interest in bringing it talking to him
- 13:27Speaker 3: about their offensive coordinator job. I know the Eagles really
- 13:31Speaker 3: like daball Dable's got multiple head coaches or coaching candidates
- 13:36Speaker 3: have interested him to be an OC. So he's got
- 13:39Speaker 3: you guys have a lot of competition. I'll just leave
- 13:41Speaker 3: it to that.
- 13:41Speaker 2: Mic yep.
- 13:42Speaker 3: So we'll see what happens here. But they really like him,
- 13:45Speaker 3: they know him. I mean he would be He would
- 13:47Speaker 3: be a phenomenal fit from a scheme standpoint, because he
- 13:51Speaker 3: brings a lot to the table and he coaches hard.
- 13:55Speaker 3: We know he knows hers. I understand that. But that's
- 13:57Speaker 3: secondary too, bringing in a guy who's been done that.
- 14:00Speaker 3: He did a phenomenal job with Josh Allen. I talked
- 14:03Speaker 3: to multiple people with the Bills over the years. They
- 14:06Speaker 3: could not stop raving about the job that Brian Dabele
- 14:09Speaker 3: did to coach Josh Allen hard coaching. He sure got it.
- 14:12Speaker 2: All right. Well, we'll keep an eye on that.
- 14:14Speaker 1: Brian Dable in today for an interview if something happens
- 14:17Speaker 1: Football at four and the Inside of the Birds podcast
- 14:20Speaker 1: will have you all week long here, all off season long,
- 14:24Speaker 1: we have you covered here on the Sports Bash.
- 14:26Speaker 2: Adam kapl You going to San franz this year, Adam.
- 14:29Speaker 3: I am yeah, man. I I go Tuesday and I
- 14:33Speaker 3: come home Saturday. Yes, I will be there. I always go.
- 14:36Speaker 3: I've been there my first Super Bowl, Like the game sucked.
- 14:41Speaker 3: It was my favorite super Bowl. It was the Bucks Raiders.
- 14:44Speaker 3: Everything was in downtown San Diego. Every party. This is
- 14:48Speaker 3: and by the way, the Petco Park was not open yet.
- 14:52Speaker 3: It was but opening. I don't know what year, well
- 14:54Speaker 3: I know, I know it was almost being almost done
- 14:56Speaker 3: being built. I just remember being able to see it
- 14:59Speaker 3: when I was walking up. Oh, this is interesting, but
- 15:02Speaker 3: unfortunately the Chargers could not. In fact, it was the
- 15:04Speaker 3: last Super Bowl in seeing Diego. That was one to
- 15:06Speaker 3: O two.
- 15:07Speaker 1: All right, well, we'll be seeing Adam out there at
- 15:10Speaker 1: Super Bowl sixty. We'll have more coverage of the Eagles
- 15:13Speaker 1: here on football at four on the Sports Best.
- 15:15Speaker 3: Thanks man, you got sixt