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Football at Four: Taking an Inside Look at Eagles Depth Chart Developments · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Jeff Boscher from the Inside the Birds podcast joins the conversation.
• 0:03
  The eagles first depth chart is out, and you know,
• 0:06
  we don't make a whole heck of a lot of
• 0:07
  these depth charts, Jeff Moscher, obviously, but there are some
• 0:11
  interesting things that can tell a story. Because Vic Fangio
• 0:14
  did speak on some of this stuff today, and obviously,
• 0:17
  if you look at the depth chart, you see a
• 0:18
  Dori Jackson and Kaylee Ringo, both of them, and that
• 0:22
  is a battle that I guess we might see Thursday
• 0:26
  night kind of unfold.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: You think, Yeah, Mike, I think he got to.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: I think you have to expect based on what Vic
• 0:33
  said his press conference and just in general, that you've
• 0:37
  got to see some some.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Of these guys vying for starting spots.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I know Nick Sirianni doesn't typically play starters, but right
• 0:47
  now he doesn't know who certain starters are.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: So that's why he's got to go out and see
• 0:52
  him right obviously.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: So you know, if I was to say who has
• 0:54
  the edge in the corner battle Jackson and Ringo listening
• 0:58
  to Vic Fangio today, Jeff, he said, well, they're both
• 1:01
  they're both doing pretty good. Like he didn't really sometimes
• 1:05
  he's a true serum guy. He didn't seem to give anything,
• 1:09
  didn't play his hand there, right.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Definitely not and he's I don't think he's being coy.
• 1:14
  I think he's really he's given a Dori Jackson and
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  he has given Killer Ringo both opportunities with the first
• 1:20
  team all throughout camp.
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  Speaker 2: I mean it's not I don't know if it's fifty
• 1:23
  to fifty, but some.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Days it's been Jackson a couple of days in a row,
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  then they'll go back to Ringo for a few so
• 1:29
  it's a true battle. And he said he likes what
• 1:32
  he sees from both. I think he made reference to
• 1:35
  both having just to eliminate negative plays. But the big
• 1:38
  thing is he's always talked about practices not having enough
• 1:42
  reps to get enough evaluation, even even on a day
• 1:45
  like today where it was almost two hours. And I
• 1:48
  think that's why he needs to use these preseason games
• 1:50
  and just continue to get more EPs to evaluate these guys.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Jeff, the other spot's the safety spot there. I want
• 1:55
  to get your take on because for two reasons. One
• 1:58
  they're both listed as the starters. He did talk specifically
• 2:01
  about Sidney Brown, saying yeah, he's doing good. We just
• 2:03
  need to see some more polish in that spot. He
• 2:06
  also said Drew mccooba probably not available on Thursday. So
• 2:10
  how does mcooba's availability maybe play into this safety spot
• 2:14
  for you?
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, eventually Drew will get back out there.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: It doesn't sound like the injury is that serious that
• 2:20
  he's going to be out that much longer. He is
• 2:22
  missing some valuable reps. But at the same time, I
• 2:28
  would say, you know, it'll give him an opportunity to
• 2:31
  look at Sidney Brown Moore, It'll give him opportunity to
• 2:33
  look at Cooper de Gene at safety.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: You know, he's been playing safety and bass. I'm sure
• 2:37
  there'll be.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: A couple of opportunities from the Bengals standpoint, depending on
• 2:42
  how they deploy their personnel to see Cooper de Gene
• 2:44
  play safety and base and continue to get an evaluation
• 2:48
  of him on that.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff, I want to get some thoughts on just a
• 2:51
  general thought here about how valuable is the preseason to
• 2:56
  Vic Fangio and this evaluation process. So many young defense
• 3:00
  are competing for jobs, So is this preseas had more
• 3:03
  valuable than maybe the previous preseasons have been to this team.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Oh sure, yeah, I mean, yeah, absolutely, this is more
• 3:10
  valuable because you have more competition at spots. You know,
• 3:13
  last year, for example, on offense, the only guy who
• 3:16
  played in the first preseason game who was considered a
• 3:20
  starter was Makai Beckton because he had just become kind
• 3:23
  of the starter as Steen got hurt shortly before the
• 3:26
  first preseason game and Becton got in there and he
• 3:29
  needed the reps. So if you need the reps, you
• 3:31
  gotta play. And that's why this it becomes more important
• 3:34
  for Vic this year as opposed to probably past years
• 3:38
  and other places where he knew what he had more.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Jeff, let's get to like, you know, should the Eagles
• 3:44
  be concerned? We talked about this Friday with Adam. I
• 3:46
  wanted to get your take on this. We just talked
• 3:48
  about the safety spot. You think they're concerned about the
• 3:50
  inexperience at that spot or is this the way to
• 3:54
  go with these two guys because Adam gave us a
• 3:55
  list of some safety that they all have some experience
• 3:58
  that you know, Justin Simmons is still out there. Do
• 4:01
  you think that that will be a murmur throughout preseason
• 4:05
  or they Okay.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: No, I think it's fair. It's a fair question.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously you're seeing Cooper to Gene there for
• 4:12
  a reason, right, also because a he's talented enough to
• 4:15
  play the position, but be he's in year two of
• 4:18
  this defense and a high pick and like they don't
• 4:21
  have to do that. They're doing it because there's really
• 4:23
  an unsettled decision here next to Cooper, I'm sorry, next
• 4:29
  to reblanken ship. So it's I think inexperience is fair
• 4:34
  to bring up. But I don't know that they're going
• 4:36
  to be rushing to sign somebody real quick.
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  Speaker 2: I mean they really in order to in order to
• 4:41
  figure out.
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  Speaker 3: If inexperience is an issue, they have to be able
• 4:43
  to see Brown Macouba and whoever Andre Sam, A guy's
• 4:49
  there for more than two weeks of camp.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Most a couple other things on this obviously secondary battle here.
• 4:56
  What are you making of the way he's talking about
• 4:58
  Degene at safety. Do you think that's a role that
• 5:01
  he legitimately could have this year in some capacity? What
• 5:04
  is your take on that whole? You know, because is
• 5:07
  he too valuable in the spot that he's at.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I don't think they're gonna move him
• 5:12
  out of slot corner nickel, as Vic calls it, you know,
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  unless they need to, unless they have a really good
• 5:20
  Nickel and then somebody gets hurt at safety.
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  Speaker 2: You know, obviously Max McWilliams is injured right now, but
• 5:25
  he was doing okay.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think they see him as a
• 5:28
  first team starting, you know, nickel right away, maybe a
• 5:32
  dime corner. So I think Cooper de jen is gonna
• 5:36
  see most of his time at nickel.
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  Speaker 2: But if you have the opportunity to get.
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  Speaker 3: A really good player, versatile player at safety in other
• 5:44
  formula and other deployments like in base defense, then yeah,
• 5:47
  they're gonna they're gonna take a look there. But I
• 5:49
  don't I don't see a position switch permanent this year
• 5:54
  coming up for Cooper to gene. He's just too valuable
• 5:57
  and too good and a lot of what they do
• 5:59
  is of the Nickel package.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Anyway, A lot of questions about Eli Rix here, intrigued
• 6:04
  by his possibility. Can he morph himself into that cornerback
• 6:09
  battle with Adri and Kaylee Ringo?
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: You know, I don't know if he can do it
• 6:13
  between now and the start of the season, but I
• 6:15
  think he's I know he's impressing Vic Fanjoe, he's making
• 6:19
  some plays. He's kind of a really good chance to make
• 6:22
  the fifty three. I mean, he was on it last
• 6:24
  year and they need back up outside corner.
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  Speaker 2: He can play it. He deserves what he's getting so far.
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  Speaker 3: I think he'd have to fall on his face over
• 6:34
  the next few weeks to really fall out of contention. Now,
• 6:37
  could he usurp those two? Usually that happens if there's
• 6:40
  like an injury, right and then he gets forced into
• 6:42
  a starting spot and plays really well. I think it
• 6:46
  would probably take something like that. I don't know if
• 6:49
  he's going to even have the opportunity to prove that
• 6:52
  he's just a better overall corner than the Dori Jackson
• 6:55
  or Killer Ringo, And I'm not sure that he is.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: I just think that it's gonna be those two until
• 7:00
  it's not.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Johi Campbell's listed as a backup to Zach Bond. But
• 7:05
  do you anticipate you know, right now, Jeremiah Trotter Junior
• 7:08
  is the starter there, But is Campbell in battle with Trotter?
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  How do you read that?
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Absolutely?
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  Speaker 3: And this is a decision that Vic Fangio is going
• 7:18
  to have to make about you know, sort of expertise
• 7:21
  and know how or just raw athleticism. Not that Jihad
• 7:25
  Campbell doesn't know how to play the position. He played
• 7:27
  it last two years in Alabama. But Trotter is the
• 7:31
  more instinctive player, the more natural stack linebacker. Campbell is
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  just like a man on fire when he's out there.
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  He makes some plays, but he you know, makes mistakes
• 7:41
  at one hundred miles per hour and he's still learning
• 7:44
  the position. He's got a lot on his plate because
• 7:46
  he's also trying to learn some edge rusher and I think,
• 7:50
  you know, like we've been saying, Vick's got to see
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  how this all looks against a different team in a
• 7:55
  preseason form, like a game type format, to see how
• 7:58
  that's working out for Johd Campbell.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: We got a couple motioner mailbag questions on the Monday
• 8:03
  that we had out there earlier, so let's throw some
• 8:05
  of them up at and one of them has to
• 8:08
  do with Campbell, which is why I kind of waited
• 8:09
  for that particular spot to throw this up at you here.
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  But how important is it for Jahad Campbell and Cooper
• 8:16
  de Gene to show this type of versatility is in
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  other words, is there another layer to vic Fangio system
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  that maybe we didn't get a chance to see last year.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: It's a good, good timely question. I'm writing a story
• 8:28
  for Phillyvoice dot com. It'll be up either today, probably today,
• 8:33
  just about Vic's sort of intuition. Right, And it is
• 8:36
  Vic who had this sense that Zach Bond could play
• 8:43
  inside linebacker. I am not saying, because we've already discussed
• 8:46
  this many times. Vic did not realize he was gonna
• 8:49
  be an all pro. Vic didn't see that coming, but
• 8:53
  he did feel like Zach Bond could make that transition,
• 8:56
  and Zach Bond made it well. So when Vic tells
• 8:59
  you that he thinks that Cooper de jen can play
• 9:01
  some safety pretty well, which he said, and when he
• 9:04
  tells you that John Campbell can do inside linebacker eds rusher,
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  he probably has a leg to stand on and saying, now,
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  it doesn't mean these guys are all going to be
• 9:14
  Zach Bonn's and all pros, and you know who knows.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: But the point is Vic's been doing this a long time.
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  Speaker 3: So he's got a pretty good idea of what guys
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  Kennon can't do, based on the tape that he sees
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  of them based on how he's coaching and his staff
• 9:28
  will coach them, and he's not always going to be right,
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  but he's got a leg to stand on.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: All right, Chris and May's landing. Will Ty Robinson need
• 9:35
  more time to develop before he sees significant reps? Because
• 9:39
  he was asked about Ty Robinson today. We just played
• 9:42
  the presser at three point thirty, so a lot of
• 9:44
  questions revolving around that, you know, and he did get
• 9:48
  asked about Ty Robinson and people were excited about him.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I understand though.
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  Speaker 3: You know, Vic is a truth serum kind of guy,
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  and he said to today that Robinson is picking things
• 9:58
  up at a normal rookie page pace, and he said
• 10:01
  something about just got to see him be more.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Active and more decisive.
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  Speaker 3: So that to me signals that, you know, Ty Robinson's
• 10:09
  a rookie learning how to play as a rookie. Plus
• 10:12
  it's got to be frustrating going up against a really,
• 10:14
  really good offensive line that he's going up against. So
• 10:19
  to me, that's Vick's way of saying, I've got to
• 10:22
  see this guy have a little bit better of a plan,
• 10:25
  start to acclimate better mix some plays.
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  Speaker 2: Have it come naturally to him, and that might take
• 10:30
  a little bit of time. So right now, when you're.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Talking about your interior defensive lineman, who're going to see
• 10:35
  snaps when the actual season starts, you're talking about Jayleen Carter,
• 10:39
  Jordan Davis, Morowajomo, maybe even Thomas Booker ahead of Ty
• 10:45
  Robinson to start of the year.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: All right, how about linebacker Smile Monden Junior? Has he
• 10:50
  quietly emerged as a sleeper contributor in camp? That's from
• 10:54
  Bill and Middle Township. Right now, Jeremiah Trotter is listed
• 10:57
  as the starter, but he did talk about smile Le
• 11:00
  Monden as well today.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I don't know you would have to define
• 11:04
  sleeper here, like you know, could he start? Probably not,
• 11:08
  but could he play a little bit? Will he be
• 11:10
  an impact special teamer? Yeah, definitely. I think he's got
• 11:13
  a lot of athleticism. I think he's actually a stronger
• 11:16
  player than his body frame might suggest because he's lighter,
• 11:21
  but he's an aggressive player. I've liked what I've seen.
• 11:24
  I always thought he was going to make the fifty
• 11:25
  three anyway, because he's a draft pick, went to Georgia,
• 11:29
  has a good pedigree and probably will be one of
• 11:31
  the top guys off the bench if they have injuries
• 11:34
  until Nakobe Dean gets back.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: So I wouldn't quite call that a sleeper.
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  Speaker 3: I would just say you're getting what you expected and
• 11:41
  you're happy with it.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get I'm trying to get the guy's
• 11:45
  name typed in here, but I didn't have a chance
• 11:47
  to type it in. Jeff, are we underrating what Ouch
• 11:49
  could bring to this defense? That was from Steve in
• 11:52
  Summer's point.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: So this is a chicken or egg conversation. Is the
• 11:58
  Joshus is having a very good y and this guy
• 12:00
  hasn't done anything in like the last three years. I
• 12:03
  wouldn't say very good camp. He's a very good camp.
• 12:05
  He's flashing right, he's you're seeing something there? Is it
• 12:10
  a good thing for the Eagles pass rush? So that's
• 12:12
  like the dominant storyline of the edge rushers or or
• 12:16
  it's a good thing for josh Uch But what does
• 12:17
  that say about the Eagles pass rush because we're not
• 12:21
  I mean, I don't want to be cruel, but I
• 12:22
  feel it feels like as he'sa Jeli has been kind
• 12:24
  of invisible.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: After the first day or two of camp.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: I watched Jelex Hunt today and one on ones are
• 12:30
  certainly no measurement of any of anything really, but Jordan
• 12:33
  my Alatta just stonewalled him twice on consecutive rushes in
• 12:37
  the one on one, so that's just my Again, You're
• 12:39
  going up against a great left tackle, but you could
• 12:42
  see Jalk sort of.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Like getting confounded by it.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Haven't seen much obviously, Nolan Smith's been out for a
• 12:47
  little bit, so I'm not underrating what josh Ucha can bring.
• 12:53
  I think he's, you know, got enough of a resume
• 12:55
  that he was pretty I don't want to say definite
• 12:58
  to make the team, but you know, if gonna go
• 13:00
  with the four man rotation, he'd be part of it.
• 13:03
  And maybe he rediscovers something here under Vic Fangioe. But
• 13:07
  I think the question is what is the state of
• 13:10
  the Eagles edge rush right now?
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Fair enough? And by the way, uh is listed as
• 13:15
  a backup on one edge and Jali's the listed as
• 13:18
  to backup on the other edge. About this edge, I
• 13:22
  don't know how to say this gentleman's name, and I'm
• 13:24
  not gonna try, but could ogbo O Kawakawoh being a
• 13:28
  legitimate rotational edge that's from Ken in lower just call him.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Big, oh, like Alberta, not Alberto, not Alberto. Could he
• 13:38
  be a legitimate rotational edge? Yeah, he mean, he's got
• 13:42
  some jobs. He's played in the league before. He's an
• 13:44
  undersized guy. He's fast.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: You can tell he's fast around the edges. I'm not
• 13:49
  quite sure that you're gonna have him in there on
• 13:51
  on base downs a whole lot. But the question is
• 13:54
  can he be a rotational edge? And I guess that
• 13:56
  means can he play in some packages? I'm I'm, let's
• 13:59
  just say i'm, I'm. I'm intrigued to see his snaps
• 14:02
  in the preseason and how this developed over the next
• 14:04
  week or two.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: All right, of course, the game is Thursday night, you
• 14:06
  can listen on ninety seven three ESPN, and of course
• 14:10
  the Eagles trying to defend that championship. As AJ Brown
• 14:16
  said today, Lombardi is not loyal to anybody, so they
• 14:20
  are trying to bring Lombardi back. Good stuff from AJ Brown,
• 14:23
  The Inside the Birds Guy's got plenty of good stuff,
• 14:26
  and Jeff Mosher has more over at Phillyvoice dot com.
• 14:28
  Check out the Inside the Birds podcast on all podcasting platforms,
• 14:33
  and of course, football for every day, right here on
• 14:35
  the Sports Past Live on ninety seven to three ESPN.
• 14:38
  All right, Jeff Mosher, we'll talk to you pal.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: All right, take care,