Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: Can This Year's Eagles Defense Be Better Than 2024's Super Bowl Unit?

Transcript

Football at Four: Can This Year's Eagles Defense Be Better Than 2024's Super Bowl Unit? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Football and four powered by the Inside of the Merds podcasts,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and it is brought to you each and every day
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: by our friends at the Fanatic Sports Book at Ocean
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Casino Resort in Atlantic City, Big screens, big bets, game day,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: hits different at Ocean. To learn more, visit the oceanac
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: dot com. Don't forget to check out all the live entertainment.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Matt Riife July twenty fourth and twenty fifth. We've got
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: tickets right now to give away or get them away
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: at Jersey Cow in Margate today if you stop on
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: out and check us out.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: By the way, you.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: See Zach Merman was here have an ice cream and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: he sign up for the Matt Rife tickets. I did
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: see that. No, he covers the Eagles, of course, and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: so does Adam Kaplan from the Inside the Birds podcast,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and he's here for today's football at four. It's a
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: big Eagles day out here at the Jersey Shore. What's
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: going on?
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Adam, Mike get where are you guys at today?
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: We are at Jersey col ice Cream. It just opened
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: grand opening in Margate. It is the premire ice cream
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in our area and they just got a new location
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to in market that we are here to open up. Yeah,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: black carman walking down the street eating ice stream and
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and you know, hanging out.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Here's a question they better have mint chocolate chip, right cool?
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, well, the flavors here they do have
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: a lot of like unique, you know, different type of
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: things that are like it's not like your average ice
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: cream stop where you're getting out.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I like mint, I like mint Moose tracks.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm a oh yeah, this is this is
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: on another level here. Uh, you've been coming here. We
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: got the Matt Rife tickets everybody. We're also giving away
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: a two hundred and fifty hours gift card uh to
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the margate. Actually, I guess you could probably use it anywhere.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: But Adam's here football at four and one of the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: questions that, you know, we've had a lot of mailbag
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: questions this week. We were talking with Andrew yesterday and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: one of the questions that came in was could this
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Eagles defense actually be better uh than the team from
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: last year? But forget last year, what about the defense
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: that won the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Mike, that's actually the subject of this this segment. I've
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: been thinking about this big because ten out of the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: eleven projected starters on the Eagles defense this year have
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: at least one year with Fangio. That's important. That's important.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: So we know the system, and this is Vix's third
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: year with the Eagles. You know what he's done to
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: transform it. And it's first Sure they won the Super Bowl, Mike,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: that's hard to believe, but it happened in twenty twenty four.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: So the question is, Okay, well they've gotten younger. They
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: actually have if you really look at it, Mike, they're
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: relatively young. They only have two projected starters twenty nine
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: years or older. That's actually really good. You remember with
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: BG here and other older players that James Bradberry and others,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Darius Flay, they had too many players who were older
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: than thirty. Well, they're getting young, Mike. That that's a
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: good thing. That's another reason, Mike, and will list the rest.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: But I like that. Look, Vic Fango's here. You're talking
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: about a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator. Okay, this guy
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: has a real shot to do it. He's an amazing guy.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Big Phillies fan, by the way, as you know, I
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: can't wait. We'll see if the Phillies. Keep the streak
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: up right now, because you look at this, until July twentieth,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: the Phillies only played one team with an over five
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: hundred record. It's insane, you know, if it's a big fan.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: So when the media gets to talk to him in
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: late July, we'll see what he says. But they got Fangio.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: He's elite. As one person who used to work for
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the Eagles told me who's been around Vic, the guy
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: is the smartest football coach he's ever been around. So
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: you got him. They're getting younger Mike one a little
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: bit of an underrated piece here. Two. This is one
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: of the fastest defenses that they've had in many years.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you just laid out how many players have been
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: in this defense and that matters too, right. I mean
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the first year you're learning the terminology when he says something,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: am I supposed to go here? Like that split second
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: thinking slows you down. The next year you're the third
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: year to have this many guys still together, that's got
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: to take you to another level. That have to elevate
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: this defense from like a if they were a top
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: ten defense last year, you know, to a top five
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: defense just for that alone.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the only new guy, the only newcomer
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: who's never played in this defense is Jonthan Goodnard. And
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: by the way, he's played in a thirty four front.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Now not all thirty four is the same, so he's
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: got to learn it. And you know, goodn Ardt's already
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: talked about that with the media and the unfortunately he
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: couldn't practice through the come back from shoulder surgery. But yeah,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: getting so many guys back who understand the defense. I
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: love what Zach Bond talked about, Mike, how he said
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Vic's gonna have some new stuff because there's so many
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: players back and they know, let's forget about what happened
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: against the forty nine ers as a bad performance. But
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of guys are back and you have to
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: feel good about it. Now. Look, John Campbell now is
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: going to be a full time starter. Let's let's see
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: how he does. Yes, the safety positions a little bit questionable,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: but the athleticism, the team speed, Mike the lens linebacker.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: They start two inside backers, both over six foot two. Mike,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: You and I have filed the Eagles for decades. When
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: is the last time legal started two linebackers legit linebackers
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: whoever six foot two?
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Well, the size they yeah, right, well, how many years
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that we've been talking about them, not even having them,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: They just didn't care about the position at all.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: It felt like, right, yeah, exactly, Now they've got size.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Zach Bond is one of the best best linebackers overall.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Plus he's a top five coverage linebacker based on the
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: people I've spoken with. So and now we're going to
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: see about Campbell. He's you know, I don't like that
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: he's coming off with the surgery and unable to practice.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: That does concern me a little bit. But we'll get
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: more to the training camp questions as we get closer
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: to July twenty eighth, when they when they report. But
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: I love the youth and I like that they have
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: a ton of team speed.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, the youth is something interesting too, because it's
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: not one of those teams where you're like, eh, you know,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: this guy's getting older, they're starting to get injury prone.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: These are guys all pretty much they're star players. They're
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: in their prime. Mike.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Last year with the Commanders, not only do they have
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the oldest team in the National Football League, they are
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: one of the oldest defenses, and so what happened they
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: had an inordinate amount of injuries on that side of
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: the football. Well you can't. You don't ever want to
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: lead the league and anything. When it comes to age,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: which is older, you don't want to lead that, and
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: he goes, aren't going to do that, And honestly, the
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: guys are older. Zach Bond is twenty nine. Marcus Shaps
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: not he starts, he is thirty. That's it, Mike, really
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: when you look at it as far as starts and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Jonathan Jones, who's going to be their third corner. He
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: does turn thirty three in the fall. Yeah, but he's
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: not a starter, you know, to be clear, he's not
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: a starter.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: But they'll play a lot though, right you think he'll
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: play a lot, Well.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Look, he's It depends it's going to come down to this, Mike.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: It depends on the matchup of the week. If they're
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: playing a lot of nickel, you know, you see you
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: we're gonna spy the way we're gona assume that Johnathan
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Jones will beat out ja Corean Bennett, which should be
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: for the third corner. It just depends on health and matchups.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: But the big thing for him is he's a super
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Bowl winner. If somebody gets hurt, you can't play, leaves
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: a game for whatever reason, you have to hope that
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: he's got something left. We're not gonna know that until
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: training camp. That the only concern about Stiling Johnson Jones
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: is the Commanders were poor at corner last season and
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: they didn't bring him back.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Adam kaplan football for looking at the Eagles defense, is
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: this defense better than the team that won the Super
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Bowl a couple of years ago? And one thing that
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: this team has you talked about the You know that
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: team was ageing, you had guys that were getting older,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: but the overall speed from the secondary all the way
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: to the front. I mean Jaele ex Spens, the guy
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that can run.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Jared Hunt, I mean, this is just incredible. I know
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: it's not great numbers, but anytime a guy Alex Hunt
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: in his second year could lead the team in sacks
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: and interceptions, I take note to that. We fully expect
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: him to start and win that job over Nolan Smith.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Jax Hunt. You have to remember with a safety, Okay,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: this guy was a safety at Cornell and became an
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: int rusher, so he's still knew relatively new to the position,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: but he's a big time athlete, has great length for
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: the ed thrusher position. He is basically a year ahead
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: of schedule where a lot of people thought he would be,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: including yours, truly. Cruper Dejean is a super freak athlete.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Rik Wollen, We've not seen anyone six foot four, one
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: tenth of an initiat ad run like this. Mike Crooper
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: is a pretty good athlete. He's got good versatility. John
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Campbell's a big time athlete. Zach ban As I mentioned,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: it's got great coverage ability. We know Juan Davis is
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: a freak of an athlete for a guy's size, so
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: is Jalen Carter. Moro Jomo's got great first step quickness. Mike,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: this is going to be a fast defense. And let's
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: not forget Smile Mount and who's going to be the
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: fourth inside back, who's a pretty good athlete. Baring On
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: is a nose tackle when he plays noses a pretty
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: good athlete. So this is going to be a fast defense, Mike,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: no question.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about the depth on the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: edge compared to that team here. You know you got
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Grenard in here. Jett Allen, you're number three, very intrigued
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: by what the ceiling still is for him too.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we as we just talked about, we talked about Hunt.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: So it's really Grenard and Hunt and then Noel Smith.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: He's smaller, needed like and r Abiketty's explosive, honestly, Mike,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: and we'll see that ajapinass a way that can make
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: he's really more of a run defender. Yeah, but they've
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: got death and remember Vic Fangio, Mike only plays three edges.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: They draft, they dress four and only really play three,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: so their death is going to be fantasic. Ebic. Ketty's
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: a quality backup, always has been. He started some games.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: He's basically a backup. And I think what'll help the
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Eagles is if let's say the split between Hunt and
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Smith is let's say it's Hunt sixty five percent of
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: the snaps and may maybe Smith thirt on that opposite Guinard.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: That that that to me is fine, and we'll see
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: about Emma Kenny if he helps out Guinard a little bit.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: We'll see how they figured that out. And that's it, Mike.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, they've got really good depth of edgit. It's
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: quality till and it's young. It's not like a bunch
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: of old guys when you're the end of his career.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: That that's not what they have. They have. The guys
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: are pretty young. That's a good thing.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Well, you know we were talking without Andrew yesterday. You know,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: you look at the size they have at corner and
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the guy across from Quinnon Mitchell. You go back to
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: the draft night decision that how we had Mitchell or
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: terryon Arnold and oh my god, with the Arnold news
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: from yesterday, but that was a decision right Alabama, terryon
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Arnold versus Toledo and Queen on Mitchell. And you can
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: make a strong argument, I don't know where you stand
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: on this that Queen on Mitchell. Maybe him or Cooper
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: are the most important guy the defense.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Quinnon Mitchell. It's just so funny. So think about this,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: had he not been in the Senior Bowl right where
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: they let where they allowed him to play corner a
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: press man corner because they typically don't do that very much,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: if at all, at the Sennier Bawl. And I remember
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Jim Naggy coming on our show, who was the director
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: of the Senior Ball and he said that clubs requested it,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: and he said, yeah, absolutely left quinnyon. He showed he
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: can do it. But so many teams did not think.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: They were worried about the level of competition. I remember
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Bill Polling, the Hall Fame general manager, telling me, judge
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: the tape, not the jersey, and don't worry about where
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: he went to school. It's it's trades, its ability, it's smarts,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: it's toughness. Quinnon, Mitchell, it's six feet Mike, and as
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I mentioned, Rike Walling over six ft four, Mike. They've
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: got elite length. You just don't see in a corner.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I mean that just Slide was six feet, but we're
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: just around six weeks a little bit shorter. But he
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: played longer than that. They also could run before, you know,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: but in his day, Garris Slag one of the fastest
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: quarters of the National Football League. So they've got it, Mike.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: They're really good there.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: By the way, if if for some reason, I don't
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: I doubt what happened. But if Jakain Bennett beat out
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Jonathan Jones in the third corner, Jakain Bennet could flat
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: out fly. That was never his problem. The problem has
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: been injury, and obviously he didn't understand the scheme when
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: the Eagles straighted.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Boar Well, when they traded for Bennett last year. I
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: remember talking to people with the Raiders. They thought he
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: was their best corner. He just could say healthy, and
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Pete Carroll just said, I can't trust the guy, and
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: they too, yeah, yeah, yeah, and exactly. He liked the long,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: more physical corners. Bennett not that kind of guy. But
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: many people that covered the Raiders thought that he was
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the best corner that they had the year before. Uh,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And they didn't know a lot about who they give
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: up for him.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: I thought they gave up. Did they give a couple
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: a pick or two?
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: No, it was a defensive tackle, man, what was No.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: They gave the okay, they gave the kids. Yeah, they
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: gave up the d tackle they got from the Texans.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: His name Thomas Booker.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Thomas Thomas Booker.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was actually a yeah. No.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: And what I said to what I said to my
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: buddy who covers the Raiders. He asked me, he said,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: what do you know about Booker? I said, listen, he
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: never plays, but whenever he does play, it seems that
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: he's in the backfield. Making a play. But he literally
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: got like no snaps here, So that trade seemed like, hey,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: a guy we're not using uh, and a guy the
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Raiders felt like, wow, this, you know, so we'll see
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: if Bennett makes any impact with this uh, with this defense.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: But could this defense be better than the Super Bowl defense?
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: It sounds like Adam.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Kenby absolutely, and it says a lot. Remember, Milton Williams
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: is really that got him the big free agent deal.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: So that helped give him the big for agent deally.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: But but they're younger, as you said, you're right, Uh,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: it's you know, as we learned. We we we'd mentioned
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: this before. The Eagles did something that no one really
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: ever does one year, they at least one year if
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: not to the Eagles one with no best veterans at
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: defensive tackle. I give Hawiy Roseman credit. I mean, he's
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: he's shown the willness to go young. And that was
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: not always what Howie was willing to do. He really
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: wanted to have older guys, and Eagles are doing again.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: The only invested veteran now is is Jordan Davis is
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: technically a vested veteran. Hard to believe, but he is.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: The veteran of this defense, all right, Adam Caplballot four
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: powered by the Inside of the Birds podcast, which you
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: can get on all podcasting platforms, and of course next
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: week we're back with more football at four as we
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: get one week closer to the start of Eagles training
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: camp on July the twenty eight. Adam, have a good
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: weekend
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Man you two of Thanks