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The DiCecco Daily: Early Look At Positions Eagles Shoud Look At In NFL Draft · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome into another edition of the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Czech o'daly.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: It's Andrew to check O, Eagles beat reporter for Inside
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: the Birds dot Com. Patrick Johnson, who of course spent
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five season on the Eagles roster, mostly
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: on the practice squad, a little bit on the active
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: roster when he was elevated from the practice squad. But
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: he signed Wednesday afternoon with the New England Patriots practice squad,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: so he'll have a chance at winning a Super Bowl.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: So great for Patrick. He's a really good dude and
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: he's bounced around a little bit. Great story development. Seventh
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: round pick out of tu Lane in twenty twenty one,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: spent most of his career with the Eagles, hanging on
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: as a special teamer, has contributed off the edge, and
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: always seems to have a good summer whenever he's in
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Philadelphia for training camp, but he lands in New England.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: And remember he was among the players who the Eagles
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: did not sign to a reserve futures deal, So I
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: believe it was January fourteenth or nineteenth. I forget their
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: contracts expired.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: If you weren't signed.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: To a reserve futures deal, so you therefore become a
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: free agent, and that's why he was eligible to sign with.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: The New England Patriots.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Draft season's coming around, which means I'm gonna be putting
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: together my mock draft one point zho. It'll be out
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: at some point on Thursday. I'm still putting it together.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Hope you guys enjoy it. I know that it always
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: tends to lead to a lot of discourse, good or bad.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: But nevertheless, the one point zero version will be out
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: sometime on Thursday.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I don't want to give you an exact time.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: But let's look at the draft in itself, and I'm
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: looking at a bunch of different positions that I think
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the Eagles need to address. And when I was putting
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: together the mock draft, that's so difficult because there's so
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: many talented players in this draft. Obviously, some positions are
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: more shallow than others, so you feel a need to
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: take them earlier in that hypothetical exercise. But the Eagles
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: do have a lot of needs when you really parse
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: out the roster, and I think I would start with
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: wide receiver because you don't know what the situation is
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: with Aj Brown regardless, but I think you still need
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: another young receiver who's you're gonna take a little bit.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Higher on Probably I would probably say date two.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: But when you look at the offense, there's a lot
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: of musty, a lot of money invested in it, and
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: I think eventually that pendulum, as I keep saying, is
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: gonna swing. You have to start paying your defensive guys
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: and then you have to start drafting for the offensive
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: side to have more cost effective flexibility there.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: So for me, I would take a receiver early in
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: this draft.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: There may be one that shows up in this mock draft.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: You'll have to read to find out. But yeah, I
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: mean that's that's a position that I would go to
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: because regardless, let's let's take aj Brown out for a second.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: You have Davante Smith, you have Darius Cooper, Johnny Wilson,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and Britain Covey, and you know they'll be you know,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: maybe a free.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Agent signing u DFA's.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Who they sign after the draft, and presumably they'll they'll
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: draft a player that can help them in twenty twenty six.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: But as you can see, that's a position that needs
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: some a little retooling, another young player to add to it.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Johan Thoughtson's a free agent, I personally don't expect him back.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: He didn't sound like somebody who wanted to be back.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: If you read my story on Inside the Birds dot com,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: if you heard my podcast, I read some of those quotes,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: and those quotes were right there in print for you
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: to read. When I spoke to my locker clean out,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: spoke glowingly about Darius Cooper. Though I believe that Darius
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Cooper is more of a three, but capable certainly of
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: stepping up into a more advanced role this year and
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: helping the Eagles. But tight end's another area that the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Eagles need to address. And you have Dallas Godter, Kylon Grantson,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Grant Cocotte, all free agents, Dallas Goddard, I think the
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Eagles should make an attempt to sign. Yes, he had
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: a career high in receiving touchdowns, but he's also thirty
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: one years old with a track record of being injury rudled.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: This season wasn't the case. I believe he just missed
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: the Kansas City Chiefs game. But I think the Eagles
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: would have a little bit of leverage there, or at
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: least the inside track if they want to bring him
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: back and then I think the best case scenario is
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you draft the tight end probably on Day two, to
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: grow and develop under Goddard, kind of like Goddard did
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: for zach Ertz, and then he's able to take the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: reins the following season. But even if they don't take
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: a tight end high in this draft, which I really
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I couldn't fathohim given the state of the situation, they
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: seem like they are a couple of years behind based
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: off their track record of whether it was Brent Seweg,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: zach Ertz, Dallas Goddard. So it would surprise me a
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: little bit if they didn't take a tight end a
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: little early. But again, we're sitting here on January twenty eighth,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: so a lot can change, and there's free agency as well.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: But you know, I think that that's kind of how
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: I see it. I think this is a year where
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: they have to they have to draft a tight end,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: and then I think you look at the offensive line,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: because we're gonna round things off with the offense first,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: but offensive line, you need another tackle. Lane Johnson is
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: coming up on his final years. Presumably Lane hasn't hasn't
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: said that, but you know, he's thirty six years old
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: and he's been banged up. The best in the business still,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: though he's coming off a serious foot injury. We'll have
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: to see how he returns next season. But you have
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: to start getting a succession plan in place, and that's
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: where I think the Eagles could look to draft an
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: offensive linemen early, as they continue their commitment of fortifying
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: the trenches there. That wouldn't be a surprise. But I
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: also think you have to look at the interior as well.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Now I'm not suggesting you have to draft one on
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: day one or day two.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Maybe on day three.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: You're looking at a center or someone who who was
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: a center in college but profiles as more of a
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: guard or they have that versatility, just to add depth
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: and competition for training camp.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Because Matt Pryor is a free.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Agent, I don't foresee him coming back. You have Drew Kendall,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: you have Willie Lampkin. They're really centers. Willy Lampkin, especially
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Drew Kendall can probably play a little guard if you
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: need him to, but they're really shallow in that area.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: So I think interior offensive line also needs to be addressed,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: if for no other reason than depth purposes.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Flipping things over to the defensive side.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Edge rusher, edge rusher super lean when you take Jalen
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Phillips out of the equation, who I also believe should
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: be a priority for the Eagles in free agency, depending
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: on the asking price, because he also carries a long
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: history of injuries, so you gotta be a little weary
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: about that. But I think that he proved enough, and
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: you got to look past the stats because he just
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: had two sacks, but if you look at the way
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: that he played, the violence in which he set the edge,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: there was no coincidence that jay Wix Hunt's sort of
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: emergence coincided with the arrival of Jaywen Phillips and opened
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: things up for other players. And he really is a
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: true bonafide front line edge rusher, and it allows someone
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: like a Nolan Smith to fill in as that third
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: pass rusher in that rotation, which I feel he's more
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: ideally suited. And it just gives you more options and
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: different types of different body types and things like that,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: and it allows you to handle the snap allocation a
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: little differently than you ordinarily would.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: So you look at edge.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Rusher, I mean Josh uchas he's a Jilari free agents.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: I mentioned Patrick Johnson, so they're really light there. I
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: think that that's another position, knowing their history, that they
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: would look to add, either in free agency or earlier
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: in the draft, an impactful type of player that's not
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: one that they take a flyer on when they're that
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: razor thin in a certain area that they have historically prioritized.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: And then I think you look at the secondary, because
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: safety Read Blankenship is gonna be a free agent.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Drew mccoob was coming off an injury.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Sidney Brown hasn't fit into Vic Fangio's system, and it
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: seemed to me, at least from my perspective, that Andre
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Sam may have even been ahead of Sidney Brown by
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: season's end. The Eagles like Andre Sam. Another story of
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: development from Joe Casper, by the way, but you can
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: see that there's questions there at safety, especially if you're
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: not able to come to an agreement with Reid Blankenship.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: That leaves you with a significant hole there, and so
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I think the Eagles could stand to get a little
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: bit more athletic and replacing Reid Blankenship, and Reid is
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: highly valued by Vic Fangio. Vic loves read blankenship, highly
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: instinctual player, fundamentally sound, sharp mind, and he's sort of
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: that traffic cop back there.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: But I feel like he's a player.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: That a team will be willing to pay a little
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: bit more.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know that we don't know.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: It's way too early to ten, but he's twenty six
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: years old, and you know, I think that he's a
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: player that could garner some interest.
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  Speaker 2: That being said, there's gonna be safety options in the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: draft that maybe you look at one on a Day
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: two if the opportunity presents itself, and you pair that
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: player with Drew mccouba. You have Cooignon Mitchell, you have
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Cooper Degen, So all of a sudden, you have this
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: real young secondary that is versed with versatility and athleticism
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: that Joe Casper.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Can sort of mold into his own.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: And I still think they need another corner because clearly
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: they were going back and forth off season and before
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Dori Jackson really settled into that role.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: A Dori Jackson is gonna be.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: A free agent who I believe that if the price
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: is right, you probably want to bring him back for
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: camp and maybe he can serve that Isaiah Rodgers type
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: of role and be insurance for maybe a young player
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: that they look to bring in. Keithley Ringo and Jakorian
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Bennett will still be there, but they need to add
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: somebody that is going to be a piece of the
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: piece for the future. And so I look at the draft.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: I'm not suggesting that the Eagles have to draft a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: corner in the first round, but I think it might
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: serve them well to draft a corner that has some
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: upside that's not a Day three flyer that Casper can develop.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: And maybe you have three young starting corners and then
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: you have two young safeties. You have building blocks to
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: continue to grow with.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: So just some of my thoughts.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Here as I looked at that mock draft that assess
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the Eagles roster, that's kind of my thoughts going into it.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And we're really early here in the process, but we'll
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: have the NFL Combine here before you know it. I'll
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: be there, Adam Kapan will be there.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: And so very much looking forward to that.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Stay tuned Inside the Birds, all the Inside the Birds podcasts,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: and Inside the Birds dot Com, and of course right
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: here on the Czecho Deli for all your Eagles updates.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: That's gonna do it for this episode, and I will
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: catch you all on the next one.