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The DiCecco Daily: More Intel On Eagles Transactions, Practices From Mandatory Camp · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened? Everybody?
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Welcome into another episode of the Checko Daily. It's Andrew
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Decheco here with you, Eagles beat reporter for insidethbirds dot Com.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And just because the Eagles break for the summer doesn't
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: mean that me, Jeff Adam or whoever you want a
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: part of the inside the Birds family are going away.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We still have plenty of content lined up to get
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: you through that lull up until training camp. And this
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: feels like a part where you would strike up the
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Alice Cooper Classics schools out because it very much felt
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: that way as the Eagles wrapped day two of their
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: two day mandatory mini camp, and there was a lot
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: to take away. But context is necessary whenever you're assessing
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: a spring practice, and so we'll get to the housekeeping items.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Because as wide receiver Davante Smith and outside linebacker Joe
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Tryon show Yinka were the only two players who weren't
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: in attendance. Now, Tryon show Yinka was not on hand
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: for either mandatory practice, while Davante was excused Wednesday for
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: personal reasons.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Present but not practicing.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: On this final day were wide receiver Makai Lemon, linebacker
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Jahad Campbell, linebacker Chandler Martin, more on him in a moment,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: tight end Grant Calcaterra, offensive tackle markl Bell, running back
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Carson Steel, wide receiver Britton Covey, and defensive back Tucker Large.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Now I mentioned Chandler Martin and he was part of
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the Wednesday afternoon transactional news as the Eagles announced a
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: pair of roster editions signing defensive end aj Epenesa and
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: guard Michael Jordan, and in corresponding moves, the teams waived
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: you guessed it, linebacker Chandler Martin and linebacker Isaiah King.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Now Epiness is an entry player.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: He does have some injury concerns, but he's twenty seven
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: years old and he was a second round pick of
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: the Buffalo Bills in twenty twenty. He played in ninety
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: one games, starting nineteen, notching twenty four sacks and fifty
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: three quarterback hits. And then when you go to Michael Jordan,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: he actually participated in the Eagles rookie mini camp on
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: a tryout basis, and he was drafted in the fourth
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: round in twenty nineteen by the Cincinnati Bengals. He's appeared
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: in seventy eight games and forty nine starts.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: What does it mean.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Well, Epiness is an interesting player because he's more of
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: a power rusher a power defensive end at six foot six,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: two hundred and sixty pounds, so he kind of has
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: a skill set that's atypical for what the Eagles currently
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: have than House. But you like the fact that he's
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: played in a.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Lot of games.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: The pedigree is always enticing, and this is the perfect
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: move when you're trying to round out your ninety one
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: man roster. Howie Roseman has always taken swings, and when
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: you're trying to fill out the roster, you want to
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: go with a player that maybe gives you some upside, certainly.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Give you quality reps. And he can certainly do so.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And then when it comes to Michael Jordan, you look
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: at the Eagles and I've talked a lot about this
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: on this podcast, I've written quite a bit about it
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: on Inside the Birds dot Com. They're really light on
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: experience when it comes to depth along the offensive line.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: There are some young players on that line that I
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: think quite high of, namely second year interior lineman Drew Kendall,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: who majors in at center but can also give you
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: some guard versatility. I also like Jake Majors quite a bit,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: a player who started at.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Fifty six games at Texas.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I liked him coming out of college, and he didn't
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: get drafted, was waived by the Buccaneers during cutdowns. He
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: ends up on the Eagles practice squad after Week one
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: and remain there for the entire season. By all accounts,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: he's a very sharp minded football player who sort of
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: gravitated to Brett Toe and was.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Sort of picking his brain.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: It was him and Drew Kennell that I often saw
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: conversing with Brett Toth in the locker room last season.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: And everything that I've sort of learned about Jake Majors
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: is that he's very much a student of the game.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So I like both of those players. And then of
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: course you have the Cameron Williams and Miles Hintons. Fred Johnson, though,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: is the only player with extensive experience, and that now
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: changes when you add a player like Michael Jordan. I
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: should also note that, aside from six round rookie Michaeh. Morris,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: the Eagles lacked for a true guard and certainly one
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: of experience, and he.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Checks off that box. As well.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: So that's the thought process that goes into both of
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: those roster editions, and this was also a common theme
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: on Tuesday as well. Defensive tackle Jaalen Carter was a
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: participant at the start of the workouts, meaning individuals, but
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: he did not participate during the team drills, and filling
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: in for him was fourth year pro Byron Young. On
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the first team. Makai Lemon was again watching from the
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: sideline as he's mending from the hamstring injury which we've
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: talked about, and because the Eagles have roughly six weeks
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: between now and the start of training camp, I think
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: you feel pretty good about the recovery process there. You
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: don't want to push anything. You don't want to risk
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: reaggravation or anything like that. In the spring, training camp
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: is where you need all of your players available and
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: it's about getting them to the starting line. So you
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: like the fact that he now has six weeks to
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: continue to work back to full strength in anticipation of
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: training camp. Some general observations, nothing super specific, because I
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: wanted to outline some of the offensive notes that I had,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and what I can tell you is, yes, it's a
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: work in progress. The Eagles are laying the foundation of
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: a drastically different offense. It's a departure from anything they've
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: done in the past under Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: so growing pain should be expected. And what I can
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: tell you about what I've noticed conceptually, there's tight splits,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of motion. Middle of the field utilization
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: is something that the Eagles seemed to drill pretty heavily
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: during the OTA sessions, not just mandatory Mini camp but
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: OTA sessions as well. And it makes sense because you
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: want to familiar eyes and establish some comfortability there from
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: a quarterbacks perspective, knowing that this is going to be
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: a hallmark of this offense. And I've noticed a lot
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: of running backs getting involved in the passing game, primarily
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Saquon Barkley, but also Will Shipley, who was on the
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: receiving end of a flurry of checkdowns, angle routs and
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: things of that nature. Tank Bigsby got in on the action.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Even Damian Pierce, the Eagles fourth running back right now,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: So I can't help but wonder, And I know that I.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Have mentioned this before, but.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I know that we've seen this and we've talked about
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: this in the past, But this feels.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: A little different compared to.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Springs you know, in recent years, because this offense could
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: theoretically utilize the running backs. When you think about it
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: from a timing based perspective, where the ball's got to
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: come out and it's got to come out on time,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: you want to have those built in options for your
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: quarterback as outlet options. Now, we'll see what it means
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: because under Jay when hurts, the Eagles haven't tapped into
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: that element of the offense.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: But maybe under seaw Manny and that's something that he emphasizes.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: We'll have to wait and see because it's far from
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: a finished product obviously, but training camp will give us
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: some more answers and we won't have our definitive answer,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: of course until September, but that is something that I noticed.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Also a lot of multi tight ends involved in the offense. Now,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: of course, the Eagles were without DeVante Smith, Mackay Lemon,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: and Britain Covey on Wednesday, but I think the tight
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: ends are going to be a mainstay in the Shawn
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: manny An offense. And I've noticed a lot of Dallas s.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Goddard goes without saying, but Johnny munt and EJ. Jenkins
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: has gotten quite a bit of run in the spring,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and Eli Stowers hasn't been able to do much during
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: team drills who had a sleeve on his right leg,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: and therefore someone like an EJ Jenkins was reaping the
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: benefits of more opportunities. Cameron Lattu also factored in and
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: caught some passes during the spring, So they have an
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: influx of tight ends after beginning the offseason with virtually none.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: And I can see a world where the Eagles carry
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: for tight ends and you want to have a room
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: that has diversified skill sets, and the Eagles have certainly
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: gone about doing so, ensuring that they've done so this offseason.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: An intriguing battle there to see who emerges from that
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: tight end competition Apart from Dallas scott Or and Eli Stours.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: The quarterbacks, I should also add, and I've talked about this,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: but they've spent a healthy portion of snaps operating from
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: under center. And that's also important because you have to
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: establish that early. It's not something you want to throw
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: in late in the game and training camp or early
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: in the season. You want your quarterbacks practicing that and
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: really drilling that because repetition is gonna eventually breed comfort,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: and that's what's important at this time of the year.
• 9:35
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• 9:39
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• 9:42
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• 10:33
  Speaker 3: one and up.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Much of what I focus on during Spring practices, it
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: really pertains to alignment and getting a sense for the
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: personnel to get a clearer picture of how the piece
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: is fitting to the equation. There's obviously a lot of
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: mixing and matching that goes on around this time of
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: year as coaches want to see different players run with
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: different units. You're cross training a lot, and the cross
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: train aspect as it pertains to the offensive line.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Is something that I did find notable.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: On the second team, the Eagles on Wednesday had at
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: left tackle Fred Johnson, left guard Drew Kendall, center Jake Major's,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: right guard Michael Morris, right tackle John to djuke Wu,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: and the third team left to right left tackle Holland Pierce,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: left guard Jaden Roberts, center Willie Lampkin, right guard Miles Hinton, and.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Right tackle John to djuke Wu.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: So I view Kendall as sort of undertaking the Brett
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Toath role where he was the jack of all trades interior.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Lineman, which is invaluable on game day.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: He majors at center, as I mentioned, but he is
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: someone that can play some guard and it looks like
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: he beefed up a little bit this offseason. He looks
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: like he's added some muscle mass to his frame, and
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: this is you know, he's going to undertake a key
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: reserve role, so that's not something to take lightly there.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Michael Morris was bumped up to the second unit and
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: had valuable, valuable exposure to build on. And then Miles Hinton,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: who was drafted as an offensive tackle out of Michigan
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: last year, spent a lot of his time as the
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: second team left guard during the spring, and he got
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: a look at right guard on Wednesday. So the mixing
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: and matching and the cross the mixing of matching is
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: one thing, but the cross training is something that I
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: will be mindful of, especially under new offensive line coach
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Chris Cooper. I know that there's a lot of curiosity
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: as it pertains to the number two quarterback role.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And Andy Dalton.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Was the controls of the second team on Tuesday, but
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: on Wednesday it was Tanner McKee working with the second
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: team Eagles offense. And they've rotated the two signal callers
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: as we've learned early on, but in the practices that
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: were open to reporters, it had largely been Andy Dalton
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: working with the second group, So it was an interesting
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: situation and Nick Sirianni before practice offered some insight into that.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: He said, we were rotating there at the two spot.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I'm not ready to say anybody is anything as far
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: as positions. We don't have to make any determinations there,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: but when and Indy and Tanner have been doing every
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: other day is rotating there with the twos, and both
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: are getting.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: A lot of good work.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: The safety position that is going to be a storyline
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: that prevails throughout the summer. And on Wednesday it was
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: defensive back Cooper Degen opening alongside Drew mccoba when the
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Eagles were in base and then when the Eagles shifted
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: to nickel, Cooper Degen kicked inside and Marcus Epps came
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: on to replace him at safety. The second team pairing
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: was Michael Carter the second and Andre sam and the
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: third team was Brandon Johnson, an undrafted rookie Maximus Pully.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Maximus Pully, by the way, has flashed at times this spring.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: He's a player that I can't wait to see once
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the pads come on, because then I feel you'll get
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: a truer sense as to his comfortability in the defense
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: and the playmaker that he is at Wafford.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: He was someone who took the football away.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: We'll see if that sort of surfaces and bears out
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: this summer.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: But that is the safety situation.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: And I can tell you that watching Michael Carter the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: second up close, and this is a player that I
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: watched quite a bit with the Jets.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I was a fan of his game.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: I really fixate on nickel corners, nickel backs and watch
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: how they're able to maneuver and handle different types of receivers.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: You have to be a high level student of the
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: game to really thrive.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: At that position you have.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of responsibilities, and I think sometimes that
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: that's maybe taken for granted a little bit because of
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: the success that Cooper Degene has had.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: But anyway, I got to change.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: You know, when you get a chance to watch Michael
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Carter in person, I noticed his foot quickness, his instincts.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: You can see why the Eagles want to give him
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: a longer look there at safety. And he's another player
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: that I will have my eyes on this summer in
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: training camp as he does make that transition.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: The standout of.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Mandatory mini camp, and really the spring has been cornerback
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: riage one and this is a player that and I
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: feel a little redundant in saying this because I mentioned
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: in another podcast, but he is someone that I think is.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Thriving because of the practice setting.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: It's a passing camp and that's where you're going to
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: see a lot more opportunities. He can use his length
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: and size to make plays. But you can see it
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: with him. Obviously there's the abnormal size for a corner,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: which six foot four over two hundred pounds, but his
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: and the way that he's able to affect things in
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: terms of positioning. He's just a tough player to get around.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Then you see the ball skills that he has when
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: he intercepts Jayalen Hurts on a pass over the middle
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: to cap what has been a really impressive spring. It's
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: easy to see what the Eagles have been intrigued with
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: with Rake Wohan and he's made a play.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: He made a play every day.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: That was open to reporters and one of the guys
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: that I think is definitely someone to keep track of
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: in training camp. Once the pads come on, then you'll
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: get to see where the physicality comes in and is
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: he able to get hands on some of these elusive
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: receivers like a Davonte Smith or a Makay Lemon who's
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: a very technically savvy route runner much like Davante.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: How will Rik Wohan fare there?
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: And as long as he can remain fundamentally sound and
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: a dependable player for vic Vangio, I really do believe
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: that the Eagles have something there in their free agent
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: addition Greek Wolan. Well, there's plenty more to come on
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: the inside the Birds platform in the coming weeks. As
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I alluded to at the start of the podcast, I
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: will have some stock up and stock Down podcasts. I'll
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: break that up into two that'll be coming your way
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: in a couple of days. But for now, that's gonna
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: do it for this episode of The Checko Daily. I'm
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Andrew de Checo, and I'll catch you all on the
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: next one.