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Issues On Offense Ahead Of Camp – And The Answers For Them · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Inside the Birds is back. What's going on, everybody? Jeff Boser,
0:15
Adam Kaplan and welcome, Welcome, Welcome, everybody. It is season
0:20
eight of Inside the Birds. Why is it season eight? Well,
0:23
because the season officially starts this week as the Eagles
0:26
will kick off training camp. Adam, the grind is about
0:29
to begin.
0:31
Speaker 2: It is, yes, on Wednesday, though it's gonna be very
0:35
light because by by rule, the first day they're very
0:39
little you can do. They they'll be in the five
0:41
day acclamation period. So that's that's you know, that's what
0:46
it is. But again, they're gonna be on the field.
0:49
Okay for the first time in six weeks. They're gonna
0:51
be on the field. This is a big deal, and
0:53
they'll get they'll get rolling. They're gonna see what kind
0:56
of shape these players are in. The reason why they
0:58
have this acclamation period is for I just said, what
1:01
kind of shape there? And they don't want strains and
1:04
sprains and this is the league in their stats and
1:07
their injury statistics, they know that within the first week
1:12
of training camp is one majority of these things happen
1:16
over the preseason. In training camp, they happened in the
1:19
first week. So that's what they kind of ease into
1:21
it a little bit.
1:24
Speaker 1: You know. I'm glad you mentioned that because I wrote
1:26
a story for Philly Voice doc or Philly Voice over
1:29
the weekend where I look back because this is going
1:31
to be, for me, my twentieth year covering the Eagles.
1:35
I started off in two thousand and five as a
1:36
GA and then I was the beat in two thousand
1:38
and six, so this is going to be twenty years.
1:40
So I did sort of a look back on my
1:43
twenty years of covering the team and my experience is
1:46
covering training camp, and I picked a few memories that
1:49
stood out, and for everybody just before you check it out,
1:52
I really encourage that you do. They're not all positive memories.
1:56
They weren't fond memories. There were just moments that have
1:59
stuck out. For example, I'll tease one of them. I mean,
2:02
I will never forget today that Mike Patterson collapsed into
2:04
a seizure at training camp. That's not a fond memory.
2:07
That was a terrible day just in general. Of course,
2:10
the morning that you know, we learned of Andy Reid's
2:12
sun overdosing at Lee High that was not a great
2:15
memory as well. But I did go back through a
2:17
bunch of things that stood out through training camp. And
2:20
it's really amazing because Adam, when I got on the beat, well,
2:23
when I started covering the team two thousand and five,
2:25
I remember the older guys. No offense to the older guys,
2:29
but like Bob Ford or rich Hoffman Senior, or even
2:32
Brookie who's still on the beat, they would tell Mark
2:34
Ech Well, they used to tell me that training camp
2:38
was a breeze. This is back in my two thousand
2:39
and five and six compared to what it was when
2:42
they first got on the beat. And it started a
2:44
lot earlier. There were seven or eight preseason games. And
2:47
now I look at the younger generation and say, you
2:50
guys don't have to track up to Lee High. You
2:52
only get one practice. You know, there used to be
2:53
two a Day's used to be blazing hot and Lee
2:56
High and you're out there in the afternoon covering a
2:58
special teams practice. But to your point, now it's it's
3:02
a whole lot different. There's this ramp up period where
3:05
back in the day at Lehigh it used to be
3:06
three days of rookies and selected veterans like quarterbacks. Right
3:10
then the veterans would report and then two days later
3:13
the pads were out and everybody was rocking and rolling
3:15
ready to go. So a lot of things have changed
3:17
since I got on the beat.
3:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I loved when Andy Reid would have the first
3:22
Dame pads and you couldn't do until the veterans were there,
3:26
and it was usually It's almost it was almost always
3:29
either the first or second day. I don't know what
3:30
the rules were back then, a long time ago. But
3:33
and by the way, Andy, I believe does a little bit.
3:36
I know the Ravens do a little bit and the
3:38
Lions do a little bit of hitting, but the hitting
3:40
piers might be three minutes are so short. Yeah, unfortunately,
3:44
time you can go. Although I should tell you I
3:48
may have talked about this when I was at Raiders
3:50
camp last year, which was in which was in la
3:55
as Tom tellsco the or the former Chargers GM had
3:58
it and it was actually coach to Mesa to Orange County.
4:01
But they actually hit for like a lot of one
4:04
of the practices I was at, I couldn't believe what
4:06
I was seeing. That was enter Antonio Peers bringing it
4:11
back to the old school days. Nice.
4:13
Speaker 1: Nice, Yeah, I'm sure that was fun to watch.
4:15
Speaker 2: It's crazy. I was like, what, I didn't know this
4:18
is gonna happen. So I didn't know when I went
4:20
there was gonna happen. No one warned me. So this
4:23
is going on over an hour. I'm like, guys, what
4:25
is going on there? Oh? This is planned. It had
4:28
to be at night, not in hot weather, and they
4:30
were going to do this. I'm like, this is crazy.
4:32
This wasn't even done when I first started twenty five
4:35
years ago.
4:35
Speaker 1: What is going on here? Yeah, there's still some old
4:37
school guys, right, Like you mentioned, Andy Will still still hit,
4:40
just not like he used to. It's I still enjoyed. Yeah,
4:44
I still enjoy training camp. It's not as as physical
4:49
football as it was back in the day, there's no
4:51
doubt about it. But there's still some enjoyable things. And
4:53
you and I will be at camp Eagles camp, so
4:56
and then Andrew de Check will be there every day.
4:57
So we're gonna have a lot of great coverage, you know,
4:59
starting this week when Eagles camp begins. So we're gonna
5:03
start this year. We're gonna start season eight off with
5:06
a two part podcast series where we're gonna look at
5:08
starting off on offense. Just some of the three biggest
5:11
issues right now or question marks on the team going
5:14
in on offense, and then we'll do defense for the
5:17
next one, and then by the time we do one
5:18
later in the week, we might already have some early
5:21
camp observations to give everybody.
5:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, but these are called with this is different from
5:24
what we've done. Everybody knows what the questions, so we
5:26
need to tell you that. You know that you follow
5:28
the Eagles, We're gonna give you the issue and we're
5:29
going to give you the answer. That's what we do
5:31
different from everyone else. That's why we're here. That's why
5:33
we do the shows. By the way, they are not
5:36
practicing Friday. They have a walk through, so they're only
5:38
going to be two practices during the week Wednesday and Thursday,
5:42
so they're gonna be light nature. No one needs to
5:44
go off the deep end. Oh my god, this is hot,
5:47
like these reporters will put the information out. But there
5:50
was one thing I'm significan. There are two things that
5:51
were significant the first week, although they're light practices. Isaiah
5:55
Rodgers took the early lead and never gave it up.
5:57
He won it very early in training camp. That was
6:00
surprising that the Eagles knew, specifically Vic Fangio and Christian Parker,
6:05
that Isaiah Rodgers couldn't be one of the starting corners
6:09
and Zach Baum was doing well running with the first team,
6:11
but we didn't know quite what it meant then, I'll
6:12
be honest with you, because it was one thing to
6:16
roll in with the ones in the off season program.
6:18
That doesn't really mean much when you see him training
6:20
camp and he's not leaving the first team, like, well,
6:23
this can continue. Was sure as hell did, and that
6:27
that was something that I wish I would have done
6:30
a better job of noticing how impactful that first week was.
6:32
So I while we will warn people, don't go overboard
6:36
what's what's out there? There's stuff you could absolutely glean.
6:39
I don't want to downplay that, but you don't want
6:41
to act like this is the third week when it's
6:43
super competitive, super physical. It's not. But there's stuff you
6:46
absolutely gleaned, no question.
6:47
Speaker 1: All right, And we as as we usually sometimes it's
6:50
it's it's alternated, but usually defense, I believe, is a
6:53
head of offense early in camp and then the offense
6:56
catches up, so you always.
6:57
Speaker 2: Want real quick struggles. Yeah, it wasn't like that. Last
7:02
summer it right, I was. It might have been in OTAs,
7:07
but it wasn't. In training camp. It was much better,
7:10
better than you think, and with their offensive drink.
7:12
Speaker 1: And that's probably because last year's defense, much like this
7:14
one coming up, we had a lot of new players
7:17
and new roles. I'm obviously the whole linebacker core was
7:20
being remade quick on. Mitchell at this time last year
7:22
was playing nickelback. I mean Cooper to Gen, Yeah, Di,
7:26
I mean Cooper de Gen wasn't even on the field.
7:28
You mentioned the Rogers thing was going on at one
7:31
cornerback spot, and then at safety Sydney was not even practicing,
7:36
so they were it was basically who was oh CJ.
7:38
Gardner Johnson back with? So yeah, yeah, all right, so
7:43
let's talk about it. Let's get into the running back
7:45
situation because this is issue number one, and it's whether
7:48
or not AJ Dillon, who missed all of last year
7:51
with the severe neck stingers, the next issue is going
7:55
to be ready and if he's going to be the
7:57
AJ Dillon of a couple of years ago, who was
7:59
a very good, like complimentary back with the Packers, or
8:04
are the Eagles going to be needing some some reinforcements. Obviously, Adam,
8:10
everybody thinks about Rashad Penny from two years ago when
8:13
they think about a guy coming here who was good
8:16
but then had an injury history and just never came
8:19
back to what he was. And then some people also
8:21
think of, and I do too, Jordan Howard with the
8:24
next injuries that just wouldn't go away.
8:26
Speaker 2: And its pretty much edit it do you recall It's
8:33
been so long, and I just remember how Benny was
8:35
in training camp. It didn't look good, and obviously that
8:39
carried over to the season because the coacher wouldn't play
8:41
and they refused to because they didn't think he'd play anymore.
8:43
But I don't remember when Penny was here two years ago.
8:46
I don't remember being that band in ots. What did
8:48
he did he? When did he sign?
8:51
Speaker 1: Well, he signed in early in free agency. I remember that.
8:54
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, first week.
8:56
Speaker 1: Right, I remember there? We remember, okay, So I do
9:01
remember this conversation. At first, there was really nothing going
9:04
on with him, but you and I kept saying, it's
9:07
really a passing camp. It's not, you know, you really
9:09
can't figure it out until the pads come out. And
9:11
then the pads came out. And Kenny Gainwell. I remember
9:16
this exactly. Kenneth Gainwell took the first first team reps
9:20
of camp and we're like, ah, that's because he's the incumbent,
9:23
and you know, he's the teacher's pet. And we kept
9:25
waiting for that moment that Penny was gonna get some
9:28
more time, and it never came. And then we both
9:31
looked into it and we started to hear that they
9:33
could tell as early as Ota is that the explosion
9:36
just wasn't there and they were hoping that maybe not
9:38
in the greatest shape, and here was hoping he would
9:40
come back and it just never materialized. And why he
9:43
stayed on the fifty three the entire year is still
9:47
like one of the great mysteries of twenty twenty three.
9:50
But he did and just did not contribute.
9:52
Speaker 2: The guarantee in Penny's contract was not very big, was
9:55
very small, So you're absolutely right they should have cut him.
9:58
I mean, the coach is clearly. I remember we were lmitting, like,
10:01
this is crazy. Why what't they play they need some explosion? Well,
10:04
it's because he couldn't run anymore. Then he retired. So
10:09
now with Dylan, see, he's signed to provide volume if
10:13
they need it. Right, if you look at his game
10:16
scripts with Green Bay, over half of his games, depending
10:22
what year you look at, we're double digit carries. So
10:24
he's here as an insurance policy number one. If Barkley
10:28
can't play and they want a grind carries, he's going
10:30
to be the guy. Doesn't mean Shipley won't play a lot,
10:32
but they're gonna win grind carries because it works. This
10:35
work last year. I wouldn't run as much. It's hard
10:39
to see them running more than any NFL team again
10:41
in the first half of games, but they would run
10:44
a decent percentage. Now, the other thing is we've talked
10:47
about this part we've talked about before where if they
10:51
get a big lead fourth quarter, you're up by more
10:53
than two touchdowns, is get Dylan in let him finish
10:57
the game off. Now here's what we really haven't talked about.
11:00
What's gonna look like in training camp. You know, it's
11:01
one thing see a guy in O t A's and
11:04
we haven't heard that he didn't look fine or good.
11:07
But the thing that I've I've always known about ot
11:14
as in training camp. It's just different. It's a different speed,
11:16
as you know, so you want to be careful of
11:20
what you see in ot as comparatively, because first of all,
11:23
you literally cannot touch a running back in OTAs. I'll
11:25
running backtually look good at ot is. If they don't,
11:27
that's a problem.
11:28
Speaker 1: Right.
11:29
Speaker 2: You go. You go to training camp now with aj Dillon.
11:31
I mean, honestly, it first three or four days. I
11:36
don't care that it's an acclimation period. I want to
11:38
see him. I want to see explosion because the the
11:42
intensity picks up anyway, it's not as intense is the
11:46
second week when they're not in that five day acclimation period.
11:50
But I want to see the explosion. We're gonna look
11:53
more at this because you were talking about the passing camps.
11:56
They're gonna run them all more. Now, okay, that that's
11:58
gonna happen. You're gonna run more running plays. So I'm
12:01
interested to see what happens and if he could still
12:03
do it. He didn't play last season, as you said,
12:06
let's not forget about that.
12:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I think that this should make a concerted
12:09
effort to give him the ball on runs in the
12:12
early stages of camp, when you're still ramping up and
12:14
you can't get hit because you want to get him
12:16
lathered up. You want to get the body moving, and
12:18
you want to see if it can respond positively to
12:21
just that alone after a year off, you know, after
12:24
two or three days he's like, ah, you know it's
12:25
not feeling great, then you know something might be an issue.
12:28
Or if he's feeling great, okay, good, let's move on.
12:30
You know you're six or seven days in pads. Come out,
12:33
give him a few carries and see how it is.
12:35
This is as much of an experiment or a fact
12:38
finding mission about his overall health as it is just
12:41
an audition for a job. So the question really would
12:44
be what if he doesn't cut it? What if either's
12:48
reaggravation or he's not the guy, where do they go?
12:51
Because Will Shipley is not per se the volume carrier.
12:55
He may be a good third down guy either he's
12:58
working on getting bigger and stronger. But Adam, there are
13:01
a couple of guys out on the market that are
13:03
probably could handle that kind of role if you wanted to.
13:06
Speaker 2: Go that route. So we've talked about some of these
13:10
guys before, but let me give you additional information. So
13:12
with Gus Edwards, the chargers cut him. He just not
13:18
that he was ever explosive, like his forty time straight
13:21
lines forty speed was actually pretty good for a guy
13:23
his size over the years, but he definitely lost a
13:27
step from what I'm from what I'm told, So the
13:30
question would be if Dylan can't play, and there are
13:33
a bunch of players who were there weren't any running
13:35
backs that I got the workout list. I didn't see
13:37
any teams working at running backs on Sunday. But this
13:41
is the kind of thing you really want to work
13:42
guys out. And as you know because you've seen it
13:45
on an adjacent field clubs, because usually have like three
13:49
fields at an NFL complex one of them. You start
13:52
working players out, not every day, some teams may work
13:55
them out once a week. But this is where you
13:57
see if Gus Helberts could still run. Williams, who's a
14:00
power back who could play a little bit on third down,
14:03
but he's better on goal line, short yardage, a little
14:06
bit of volum carries. He's really good around the goal line.
14:10
He sure was with Detroit. That's how he got the
14:12
big freaching contract with the Saints. Jeff Wilson him we've
14:16
talked about. You would not call him a power back,
14:19
but he's got size. He can catch the football. Gionty
14:22
Forman could catch it. He He's played a little bit
14:24
on third down, but you wouldn't call him a third
14:26
down back. He's got power with him. He's kind of streaky.
14:31
He he looks good for two games and then then
14:33
he kind of loses it. He just doesn't lose his effectiveness.
14:37
So you gotta be careful with that. And dearness, Johnson
14:39
can block. He's a physical back, but he is no
14:41
juice at all. And then I'm gonna give you one more.
14:44
But he's in house, and I'm warming up to Montreal
14:48
Johnson from everything I've heard about him. So the kid
14:50
from the UDFA from Florida.
14:52
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, power I think I mean that kid. That's
14:55
a kid who runs with power and has good speed.
14:58
I think you're in a four to three or four
14:59
four yeah, four forst but at two hundred and twelve
15:04
two hundred and fifteen pounds, that's that's really nice. Now,
15:07
he runs with power and he's known for inviting contact.
15:10
But you know what, Hey, let's let's throw him out
15:13
there as a rookie and see if he's if he
15:15
can do it. I think he'll be one of the
15:16
more interesting undrafted free agents. Of all the names you mentioned,
15:20
I think Jeff Wilson is the one that most intrigues
15:22
me because I put last year's numbers, you know, behind
15:25
that awful Miami offensive line, and then Tua barely played.
15:29
Like I know, he averaged three to six a carry,
15:31
but for his career he's four to five. And I
15:33
know he's been doing He's always dealt with injuries, but
15:35
behind the Eagles offensive line, it's a whole different animals.
15:38
Just to say, Kwon Barkley found out, So that would
15:39
be a guy I would look for if I wasn't
15:42
necessarily pleased with what I saw from agent doing and
15:45
we saw some to me real I'm sorry, real quick.
15:47
Jamal Williams I like. But to me, when I think
15:50
Jamal Williams, I think of right just short line, short
15:53
artisan goal line. But that's what they have Jalen Urts for,
15:56
so I don't think they really need Jamal Williams for
15:58
that role.
15:59
Speaker 2: So Maniel Johnson right, who's clearly healthy over the two
16:03
knee injuries leg injuries from last season with Florida, just
16:07
under six feet five, five eleven and five as well.
16:12
He ran. He ran well at the combine four to
16:15
four to one is really good for guy size. You're right.
16:17
Two twelve was his combine wait ten yard split of
16:20
one five to five decent. His vert was good at
16:25
thirty five and a half for running back for guy size,
16:27
is really good. Broad jump ten three and me could
16:30
live with that. He also, boy, he did short shuttle too.
16:33
Did everything there good for him? Prove he's healthy. Yep.
16:38
So this guy is an undrafted freaking should have been drafted.
16:42
So and we saw us at twenty seventeen. Corey Clement
16:45
now only made the team hit a major role, So
16:47
you can't rule it out. This is something we should
16:49
be talking about. We didn't talk about him enough of
16:51
the all season, to be honest with you. Got a
16:53
couple tips on kind of what he can do at
16:55
the NFL level, some personal people in the league, so
16:58
I should keep a eye on it. So we're gonna
17:01
keep an eye on it here and we'll see how
17:02
he doesn't trade a camp We don't. We look now
17:05
now it's serious. Now now he's It's to the point
17:09
where if Dylan doesn't make it right, if Dylan's not
17:11
ready and by the way his contract really, when you
17:14
look at it, it's a proven contract. He's going to
17:16
make one point four million. Only one six seven to
17:19
five is guaranteed. Under two hundred thousand's guaranteed. You're not
17:21
making it on that deal unless you prove it right.
17:24
So let's let's see what happened. Let's see, as he said,
17:26
let's see what he's got. But we know Shipley's got juice,
17:29
no question. Off the bench, he's got some He's got
17:32
some juice. And the bottom line is Montreal Johnson has
17:37
got he's got size, and he runs better and you
17:39
think he's talented. It's just he had some injuries clubs
17:42
were concerned about. Right.
17:45
Speaker 1: So let's say when we talk about our second you know,
17:48
big issue with this team going into camp, it's still
17:50
at running back, and it's a different running back role.
17:52
It's that Kenneth Gainwell third down back, mister reliable two minute,
17:56
four minute back, which Will Shipley has. Of all the backs,
18:00
they have probably the closest skill set to be able
18:03
to do. But he's got to get stronger, he's got
18:05
to show that he's his work that he's put in
18:07
on pass protection and bliss pick up this summer has
18:10
been good and he can take that role. I actually
18:13
think if he's good out it at him, he can
18:15
expand the Kenneth Gamewell role because he's more explosive. He
18:17
can help you open up the passing offense by catching
18:20
it a little more, turning up field, maybe some screens,
18:23
and even taking more carries than Gamewell got. Just to
18:26
give Saquon a little breather, because we know how much
18:29
Saquon touched the ball last year. But this is all
18:32
the what if scenario. I mean, obviously will Shipley has
18:35
to prove in year two that he's capable of doing that.
18:40
Speaker 2: Right. And again he's more of a change up. Choose
18:44
three to five carries a game. Now, if Barkley couldn't
18:46
play and Dylan's on the roster for the role that
18:50
they signed him for, you split the role between both
18:52
of those guys. But the issue is not first or
18:55
second down, it's third down. Jeff Wilson could do it.
18:58
Who I mentioned now the guy who's out there who's
19:01
done a little bit of in the past, so he'sn't
19:02
played in the league nearly three years, and that's naim
19:06
heinz oh Man.
19:07
Speaker 1: You know he played in the league since twenty twenty two.
19:11
I get it though, because he was nixed with Nick
19:13
Curianni in Indianapolis.
19:14
Speaker 2: Exactly. I had to exactly why I mentioned it. Jamichael
19:17
Hasey's a physical power back who could play on special teams.
19:20
He's been like a third third back for a net
19:23
for the Patriots and the Jaguars and the Niners who
19:27
plays on special teams. Mike Boon's had changed up. He's
19:30
number three. I'm looking at my file. That's it. It's
19:35
they're They're in a kind of a tough way. If
19:37
if these guys don't you can't ask Barklay to play
19:39
all three downs all the time, you just can't. They
19:41
need someone else to help. Shipley would be that guy.
19:44
As you said, we're gonna look for this in training camp.
19:47
That the third down challenge, that's the second issue on
19:50
their offense is find that guy who could help them
19:53
on third down. Doesn't have to take every third down
19:55
or passing situation, but try to find a guy could
19:58
least take half of those, and the hope is that
20:00
Shipley could do it.
20:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can see there's a difference too in the
20:03
market where if you need a running back who could
20:06
be a high volume carrier and give you a requisite
20:10
amount of yards per carry. You got that, I mean
20:12
you mentioned four or five guys are gonna all do it.
20:14
If you need a running back who's a third down specialist,
20:17
can pass, protect, can blitz, pick up, catch the ball
20:20
a little bit. It's not a buyer's market. There's not
20:22
a bunch of guys. I mean, those are valuable commodities.
20:25
So a lot of them already are employed by teams.
20:27
It may be a thing where you're looking more at
20:29
the waiver cutdown. Does somebody with this skill set do
20:33
we need him and is he available as opposed to
20:35
what's just still out there on the market and never assigned.
20:39
Speaker 2: One more guy would be a mir Abdullah who's out there,
20:41
who's thirty one years old, he's been a third down
20:45
back for majority of his career. He's done it. He
20:47
can catch, he can block. Okay, he's not a big
20:49
bet and see he'd be a specialist. He would not
20:52
be if Dylan cult If they cut Dylan and they
20:56
don't like the other backs here, you can't ask Abdulih
21:00
take a lot of volume. He's built his body up.
21:01
He's a little over two pounds, but he's not a
21:03
power back. He would you would have to go out
21:05
and sign somebody else.
21:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would think so. I remember him from Nebraska.
21:08
He was really good at the second rounder for the
21:11
pretty high one too, or if I'm knocked around, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
21:16
I thought it was a high second round too, I remember,
21:18
I don't remember.
21:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. He's really been sort of relegated to that
21:24
third down passing down role for a number of years,
21:27
whether it was with the Raiders a little bit for
21:30
the Vikings. He also could he also could return kicks
21:35
or punts. He's done both, but he would have value.
21:39
But uh, right now that they want to take a
21:43
look at Shipley, we know that.
21:44
Speaker 1: All right, let's move over to the offensive line. We'll
21:46
finish it now. The issue is really right guard and
21:49
what happens, what's what's what did the Eagles do if
21:53
Tyler Steen just isn't the guy that they want and
21:56
need him to be. I think that there's an assumption
21:59
and deservedly oh that well, if he's not gonna be
22:02
the guy, then they'll Kenyon Green will be. But it
22:05
is Kenyan Green has not played good football in several years.
22:08
And has had a bad injury. So there is a
22:11
scenario where neither of those guys is the guy that
22:15
Jeff Staltlin thinks he can rely on at right guard.
22:18
And then you're talking about Matt Pryor and you're not
22:19
sure they're too. Adam, this is in my mind. I
22:23
feel like somebody will emerge, But I can't sit here
22:26
and say of all three, definitely someone will just go
22:29
in there and everything will be perfect. We never just
22:32
blind give blind faith to anything like that.
22:35
Speaker 2: Well, the question is this, the issued number three is
22:37
what if Tyler Steen flops tell a late right guard
22:39
like they know it, and this is part of the
22:41
well we'll extend this. How long will they wait to
22:45
see if Stein's the guy? Will they wait the first week,
22:49
the second week preseason? Can't answer that, but I would
22:54
tell you this. What we can't answer is is that
22:59
you gotta give him two weeks now. We also will
23:01
be looking this stuff's important. I don't care about. I
23:04
really don't care who lines up it for the most part,
23:06
who lines up with what position in terms of first
23:08
or second team. Sure as he'll care about in training camp,
23:10
that doesn't matter. No matter what Jim Kelly used to say, oh,
23:13
we put everything in. What did he say, sand Yeah right,
23:17
I'm like, all right, yeah please. So it does matter,
23:20
of course it matters. So because you only get three
23:23
preseason games that most of the starters don't play in
23:24
the preseason anyway, so of course it matters in training camp.
23:27
So I'm gonna say, first two weeks is we're gonna
23:31
know if Stein's not. If Stein is rotating with Matt Pryor,
23:34
for example, and it's very clear they're splitting, that's a
23:37
bad sign, Christine, real bad sop yep.
23:41
Speaker 1: I would agree with you on that. I think Stein
23:43
needs to be given the opportunity, and if he's not
23:46
in camp, it shows you already that they had some
23:48
doubts and some hesitation on it. I don't know what
23:51
to make of Matt Pryor if him coming back is
23:53
because they saw something. He didn't really play great as
23:56
an Eagle under just out on the first time, but
23:59
he's managed just to around. He's played for three different teams,
24:01
he started at a bunch of different positions, and I
24:03
think you and I talked about this with Andrew. I mean,
24:06
don't discount this man. I mean he's got a lot
24:09
of experience. And again, if you're not getting what you're
24:12
getting need from Steen or Kenyan Green, this might be
24:15
your guy.
24:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, Matt Pryor could play guard or right tackle. He's
24:20
actually had some good snaps since he left there where
24:23
with the Colts who gave him a big deal, which
24:25
surprised me. The Bengals or the Bears. Okay, he's a journeyman.
24:30
Now we get it. There's a reason why keeps moving.
24:32
Go on. We have to acknowledge that. You know, if
24:34
the guy's really good, you were gonna keep him. But
24:37
the Bears didn't want him back. And he signs here
24:40
for just above the veteran minimum. But you know what,
24:44
he's not coming back unless less Stout likes him. Stout
24:47
likes him enough, and he's kind of built himself up
24:49
a little bit, so he'd be the in house insurance policy.
24:52
But I think what we're gonna do here is gonna
24:54
We're gonna wait and watch the rotation. If they have one.
24:57
If it's clearly prior the first two weeks, then that's
24:59
it's over. It's I would watch for if there's gonna
25:04
be a rotation here. I know that you don't rotate
25:05
in season usually rarely, you do. I know a couple
25:09
teams have done this where when they're not sure, which
25:11
is embarrassing. Yeah, well you rotate. It's really embarrassing when
25:15
that happens. I'm like, boy, you guys really screwed this
25:17
one up. But this is one that's gonna we're all
25:20
gonna be watching. Now. What if we have to bring
25:24
this up with issue number three? What if it ain't
25:28
working out with Steen, he's struggling, they're not totally satisfied
25:32
prior what's out there in the free agent market? Well,
25:35
you'd mentioned it's a whether it's a buyer's market or not.
25:38
This is a phenomenal buyers market. Sure is? Sure? Is?
25:43
Speaker 1: I mean, you gotta like some of these. Give me
25:45
some of the names, because I.
25:46
Speaker 2: I like this first one. I don't know how the
25:48
hell I forgot to mention this guy. Mm hmm. Well,
25:51
here's the thing now, Brandon Sheriff, who once was arguably
25:54
the benefit of the NFL's best guard. He's well into
25:56
his thirties. Everyone brings up his injury history, but there's
25:59
a little fact for you. Do you know he did
26:01
not miss a game over the last three seasons with
26:03
the Jaguars. Fifty one straight start amazing. Okay, So and
26:07
I had to look it up because I didn't believe
26:09
it when someone hit me up on it. Not his agent,
26:12
it was someone with an NFL team, who's who's scouting
26:15
for free agents? So you know he hasn't missed the
26:17
game in the last three years. I'm like, really, the
26:18
why did Jacksonville cut his pay last year? I go,
26:21
maybe he didn't play well. If he goes, you hit it.
26:23
He's not the same Plarry he once was, but he's
26:25
still serviceable. You got him. Shack Mason, who was cut
26:28
by the Texans, who's you know, knows the New England system.
26:33
Will Hernandez, a long time starter for the Cardinals, never
26:36
really worked out with the Giants, but started a bunch
26:38
of games with the Cardinals. Andrews Pete Formulae of the
26:42
Saints was with the rate of for a couple of years.
26:45
Could play guard or right tackle. He's played some left
26:48
Dalton Reisner at one point he was a really good
26:52
guard for the Broncos. Kind of has fallen off. Played
26:56
with the Bikings last season. Jermaina Fetti, who's played right
26:59
tackle and guard, sheez, I remember from the Senior Bowl.
27:02
He's in his thirties now. He's just serviceable enough to
27:06
be like a Matt Pryor who was with the Browns
27:08
last season, and Mark Lewinski's who's been with the Colts
27:12
and the Giants started a ton of games of folks,
27:15
the list is fine for a fill in starter. The
27:18
question is if Steen doesn't make it and they're panicked,
27:25
or how he decides he does it. He wants to
27:26
find someone on the street, not trade for one. It's
27:28
another that'll be for talking late August if it's really
27:31
not working, maybe mid August. If it's really bad, we'll
27:33
give you a list of some guys who might be
27:35
available on other teams. But this is a pretty good
27:39
list of guys have started a ton of games.
27:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you could do a lot worse than Brandon Shurf
27:44
and with the other name that really I mean shack me.
27:47
Speaker 2: So that's a good one.
27:48
Speaker 1: Even Risinger. You can do a lot worse than that,
27:50
and some teams have to because we know offensive line
27:53
play is not very good around the NFL. Would not
27:55
surprise me if those three guys and not others were
27:58
on teams by the end of camp. So it is
28:01
a buyer's market, but if you're the Eagles, you're just
28:04
hoping for the best right now, the Tyler Stein can
28:06
win the job, or Kenyan Green or Matt pryor really
28:10
really shows you something in camp. Those were the three
28:13
issues on offense. Next one we'll do some issues on
28:16
defense and we'll give you the answers to those as well.
28:19
Welcome everybody. It is season eight of Inside the Birds.
28:23
We have tons of great programming that we are working
28:27
on for the upcoming season. We'll let you know when
28:30
it's time to know, but we're pretty confident everybody's going
28:33
to be ecstatic about season eight of Inside the Birds.
28:35
All the great shows that we will have to offer
28:38
this upcoming season. That's going to do it for this
28:40
episode of Inside the Birds, the leading podcast in Eagles Intel,
28:45
and as always, we thank you for flying with us
28:48
inside the Ubber. Be sure to check out our friends
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