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The DiCecco Daily/Positional Preview: A Look At Eagles Young Safety Room · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:08
Speaker 1: Everybody, welcome into this edition of The Checko Daily. I
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am Andrew Decheco, and I hope everyone is enjoying our
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position preview series on the Inside the Birds platform. On Monday,
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we took a look at the interior defensive line. On
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Tuesday we talked about the edge rusher group, and then
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on Wednesday, of course, yesterday we really delved into the
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linebacker room. But today, and those who followed along with
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my coverage over the years, you already know that I
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love to evaluate defensive backs and talk about them, and
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we're going to right now, and that is the safety
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room that we're going to sort of.
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Speaker 2: Really chronicle here.
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Speaker 1: And they have a number of different players that I
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find to be intriguing and some that I think can
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fulfill certain roles on this Eagles team. But let's first
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talk about Red Blanket Ship, who headlines this group tremendous
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story of development. Joined the Eagles in twenty twenty two
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as a rookie free agent, flashed in the preseason, earned
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all of his opportunities that he's gotten, and he's become
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one of the best safeties in the NFL. I don't
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think that he gets the proper respect or recognition around
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the NFL or even locally.
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Speaker 2: To a degree. But there's a lot of things that
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he does well.
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Speaker 1: Obviously, he's tough, he's a Simon sound But what isn't
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discussed and what is hard to measure on the in
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the box score, is his football intelligence and what he
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brings from an acumen standpoint like that, and he plays
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such a pivotal role. At least last season he did
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so did CJ. Gardner Johnson, by the way, in helping
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on the field Cooper dejen and Quinna Mitchell two rookie corners.
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So a lot of what he had to do I
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don't think is really taken into account. But he's productive,
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he finds the football. A lot of his interceptions tend
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to look the same. But this year, the big question
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is how will he fare when he doesn't have CJ.
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Gardner Johnson playing beside him. We saw the best of
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Red Blankenship in twenty twenty two when they repair it up.
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We saw it in twenty twenty four, and I think
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a lot of that's overblown. And that's not to take
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away from what CJ. Gardner Johnson brought to this defense.
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The toughness, the swagger, the ball production, and you can
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make the argument that having a player like that, the
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teams have to account for and you can move them
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around a little bit at East. Some of the pressure
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off of Reed Blankenship from having it to do too much,
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from having to feel like you have to be everywhere
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at all times. I think to suggest that is to
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take away from what Reed Blankenship has been able to accomplish. Now,
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does he have the same other worldly quality that Gardner
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Johnson has, like the range and the versatility. No, I'm
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not suggesting that, But this is a player who's earned
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his place at the safety group, and I am curious
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to see how the pairing opposite him really starts to
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play out, because let's start to unravel this. The player
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that I'm expecting to win this job is rookie second round.
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Speaker 2: Pick Drew mccuba.
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Speaker 1: So, Drew leccuba was drafted in the second round by
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the Eagles. I thought that was an outstanding selection when
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you look at what he brings in terms of the
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football intelligence. I would argue that Drew mccuba is one
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of the smartest defensive players in this draft class. You
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can see it by watching him on tape and how
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he moves and how team and how his defensive coordinators
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have utilized in that Clemson and Texas. He has a
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nose for the football five interceptions last season, and when
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you look at what he brings from a skill set standpoint,
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to me, it really reflects what vic Vangio tends to
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look for in his safeties. And if you kind of
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want to look at it in terms of CJ. Gardner Johnson, well,
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he embodies similar qualities. So I think that I'm not
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so much worried about the learning curve or anything like that.
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I think he's going to be somebody who becomes a
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factor early and maybe separates himself in training camp. But
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he is the front runner in my eyes to become
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the starting safety opposite Red Blanket Ship. Obviously there's going
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to be competition there, but you don't draft a player
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in the second round if you don't have a clear
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cut plan form and barring something to the effect of
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maybe he's not grasping something or maybe an injury, it's
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hard for me to foresee a scenario where he isn't
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the Eagles starting safety opposite Blanket Ship. But let's start
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to talk about some of the other players that are
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going to be in the mix. Third year Savedy Sidney Brown.
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Sidney Brown's another player that I think is sort of
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polarizing in the sense that you saw him play a
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little bit as a rookie and it kind of left
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you wanting more because you see the big playability, the
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ninety nine yard interception return against the Arizona Cardinals, the hits,
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the way that he flows to the football with urgency.
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That's infection and it's contagious. And I mean that in
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a good way, because he's somebody who could be a
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spark on the defensive side. He also brings some attitude
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and tenacity to the position that I don't think should
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be sort of just cast aside. But there are other
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elements that he's going to have to shore up if
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he wants to be a starting safety in this Vic
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Fangio defense. And first and foremost, he has to become
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a more disciplined, a more disciplined player, a little bit
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more fundamentally sound. He flies around, he plays with his
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hair on fire. Sometimes that leads to feaster famine type
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of play, poor pursuits to the football, and if we've
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learned anything from Vic Fanjo, he prioritizes players that are
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assignment sound and that play within the confines of his defense.
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Speaker 2: There's not a lot of guesswork.
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Speaker 1: So for Sidney Brown, in my opinion, anyway to really
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be able to make that leap into a starting role,
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he's going to have to alter the way that he
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plays the game. Now, the other part of that is
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I often hear while you know, Tristan McCollum played over him,
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so he's clearly not in Fangio's favor or anything like that.
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Let's take a step back for a second, because Sidney
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Brown suffered a knee injury in the season finale of
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the twenty twenty three season that deprived him pretty much
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of a full off season. It did deprive him of
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an off season, and most of his training camp experience
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was spent getting mental reps. And as I've outlined before
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and many others have as well, there's a considerable amount
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of responsibilities placed on safeties and linebackers in this system.
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So Sidney Brown wasn't cleared and didn't return to the
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roster and was participating in actual games until October. So
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it's fair to say that he was behind the eight ball.
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It's really tough to get those physical in game reps
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and learn the system on the fly, pretty much learning
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on the job when all you've had is mental reps
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to go off of. So now things have changed and
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he has the full off season, it's also worth doing
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that Fanjo did wasn't there when the Eagles drafted Sydney Brown,
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but now Brown is afforded a full offseason, he knows
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what's expected.
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Speaker 2: He's worked with safety's coach Joe Casper.
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Speaker 1: And he has an idea of how he can fit
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and really sort of earn his place in this lineup.
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So he should not be discounted in any regard. I
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still think that Drew mccouba has the upper hand, but
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Sidney Brown will also have something to say about that.
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That should be a two man battle that I'm most
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looking forward to seeing in training camp. But Fanjo also
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mentioned another player in third year safety Tristan McCollum. So,
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Tristan McCollum is a player who I've talked a lot about.
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I think very highly of Tristan. He's worked his way
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up the ladder the hard way, which I have a
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tremendous amount of respect for. But more beyond that, this
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is a lengthy player He's carved out a role on
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special teams, but when his number was called upon on defense,
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he made plays. I look at the Ravens game as
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the best example of how he was able to kind
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of be plugged in mid game and the defense didn't really.
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Speaker 2: Miss a beat.
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Speaker 1: Now, he should have had that interception in that game.
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Tristan will be the first one to tell you that,
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and his teammates let him know about it as well.
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But I also think that he's a player that is
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as simon sound. He doesn't give you maybe the big
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playability of a Macouba or a Sydney Brown, certainly, but
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there's something to be said for a player that there's
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not a lot of guesswork. You know exactly what you're
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getting when he's there. Fangio likes him, the Eagles have
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invested years in his development, and I do think that
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he's going to have another big summer. Last year he
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really seemed to take off. He grasped the system very quickly,
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in my opinion, and that is another element that really.
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Speaker 2: We should hone in on a little bit.
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Speaker 1: He is someone who has a very high football IQ,
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and as I've discussed, that goes a long way in
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endearing yourself to Vic Fangio. So he's probably the third
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in that group that I just mentioned, But Fangio mentioned
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that he's going to be in the mix. So that
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tells you right there how the Eagle and Vic Fangio
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feel about Tristan McCollum. And I think that he at
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worst will slide in as the fourth safety on this team,
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but I don't think that it's fully appreciated the road
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that he's taken to get to this point and.
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Speaker 2: How the organization views him.
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Speaker 1: Tremendously hard worker and somebody that I think is going
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to be a force to be reckon with this summer.
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There's another player that I've talked a lot about and
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I think you're gonna hear his name a little bit
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more this summer, and that is second year safety Andre
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sam So. Andre sam was draft. He was a rookie
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for agent signing of Eagles last year out of LSU.
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He was LSU's defensive player of the year. Bounced around
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quite a bit in college. He started at McNee State,
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he went to Marshall, he flirted with Tulane for a
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little bit a brief point, and then he ended up
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at LSU. This is someone who I think while he
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doesn't have the prototypical size, he throws his body around.
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He's physical and he's smart. So he was elevated for
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one game last season. He spent the entire season on
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the Eagles practice squad.
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Speaker 2: Last year.
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Speaker 1: C Gardner Johnson was essentially a little brother to Andre.
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They trained at the same place Lab Strength and Performance
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in New Orleans, and there were points where Gardner Johnson
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brought him over for Thanksgiving and really showed him the
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ropes of how to be a pro. So you have
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to think that Andre is able to take that knowledge
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and move it forward in year two. So he's already
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coming into the Eagles in his second season with that knowledge,
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but also familiarity with safety's coach Joe Casper and Vic Fangio.
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I think he can be a force on special teams,
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and I also think that he might be able to
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elbow his way into the safety conversation on the active roster.
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Speaker 2: But he's going to have to be consistent.
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Speaker 1: He saw some first team reps during Otias and the
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mandatory mini camp that we were able to see. I
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imagine that you're going to continue to see the safety's
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rotated in but Andre Sam's going to be a name
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that you're going to want to remember. This is a
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player that I've gotten asked about quite a bit, and
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that is Lewis Seene, who was drafted in the first
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round by the Vikings in twenty twenty two, suffered some injuries.
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He really hasn't played meaningful football in three years. He
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spent last year on the Buffalo Bills practice squad because
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he did not make the Vikings out of training camp.
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He played in a handful of games, I believe for
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the Bills last season. But there's something to be said
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for a player who has all that ability, and he
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does have a bit of a hulking build. He's tall
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but lanky for a safety. So if you get to
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see him in training camp or in the preseason, I
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think you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. But he
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moves okay for that type of build. But this is
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somebody that he's not ahead of Tristan McCollum right now.
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He's not ahead of Andre Sam right now. Does he
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have a lot of ability? Of course, is there something
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to be said for rejoining a lot of your teammates
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that you spent your collegiate years with. Of course, that
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should help build that camaraderie and help ease that transition.
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And did sign Lewis scene last season around the playoffs
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to the fifty three to ensure that he was onboarded
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for the whole offseason process and giving him a fair
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opportunity to make the roster or at least make a
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dent and make a serious push. Am I looking forward
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to seeing what he's able to do. Yes, But oddly enough,
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I've probably gotten more questions about Lewis seen than any
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of any of the players that are on the quote
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unquote bubble this year. He's going to have an opportunity.
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He does have that pedigree, so we'll have to see
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how he fits in and if he's able to kind of,
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you know, hit the ground running this summer in training camp.
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Rounding out the group is maxon Hook, a rookie free
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agent signing out at Toledo. He was roommates with Quinnaon
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Mitchell Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell at Toledo. I like his ability.
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He was very productive in college. I think he can
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really thrive immediately on special teams.
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Speaker 2: He does have an uphill.
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Speaker 1: Battle in trying to make this roster there's a number
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of players there that I think are or definitively above him,
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and I don't know that he'll be able to do
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enough to stave them off. But we've also seen Red
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Blankenship sort of emerge seemingly out of nowhere and sees
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a roster spot. So you never want to count anybody out,
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especially before training camp. But as we look at things
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right now, I think it's fair to say that he's
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kind of on the outside looking in. He seems to
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me like more of a developmental project. I think if
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you're able to hone his skills and make him an
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even more well rounded player, he'll probably have a better
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opportunity next summer. But again, another smart player who's played
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a lot of football, So I think that vic Vangaiel
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will probably take a liking to Max and Hook fairly early.
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And if he's able to carve out a role on
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special teams and maybe outshine someone like an Andre Sam, well,
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then you're gonna have a legitimate competition here. But right now,
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the way that I see it, he's a little bit
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further down in the pecking order. But as you can see,
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there's a number of quality safeties here that have difference
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skill sets and have different stories. I think Andre Sam,
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for example, has one of the best stories on the
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Eagles roster.
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Speaker 2: I won't get into all of that. I've talked about.
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Speaker 1: It in pieces at different points, but if you get
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a chance, read up on Andre Sam because that's a
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player that I think a lot of fans find easy
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to root for. So yeah, that really sums up the
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Eagles safety room. And as you can see, there's a
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lot of different types of players and there's a lot
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of competition at stake and I can't wait to see
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how this all plays out. Hope everybody has a good
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Fourth of July. Tomorrow we're going to get into the
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cornerback room a number of different names. There is a
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marquee position battle that we're going to get into as
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well and highlight how both of those players really stack
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up against one another.
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Speaker 2: This has been to check O daily.
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Speaker 1: I am Andrew Decheco, and I'll talk to everybody tomorrow
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Speaker 2: And