Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: Takeaways From A Significant Day 2 Haul For Eagles
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened? Everyone?
- 0:10Speaker 2: Welcome into another episode of the check O Deli. Andrew
- 0:14Speaker 2: Dichecko here Eagles beat reporter Friendsidethebirds dot Com. We've made
- 0:18Speaker 2: it through two days of the NFL Draft. That's been
- 0:21Speaker 2: a long but eventful two days for the Philadelphia Eagles
- 0:25Speaker 2: as they enter Day three with not as many picks
- 0:29Speaker 2: as one may have expected going into the draft. But
- 0:32Speaker 2: I think when we recap day two and I walk
- 0:35Speaker 2: you through my impressions, my thought process behind those picks,
- 0:40Speaker 2: maybe that'll maybe shed some light as to what the
- 0:43Speaker 2: team could be thinking and how those pieces could fit
- 0:46Speaker 2: into the overall equation. So pick fifty four rolls around
- 0:51Speaker 2: last night, and the Eagles have a lot of enticing
- 0:56Speaker 2: options from which to choose. It's a great spot in
- 0:59Speaker 2: the t I've talked that nauseam about this during the
- 1:03Speaker 2: process that I believe that the.
- 1:06Speaker 1: Second round had a lot of value to offer.
- 1:09Speaker 2: So the Eagles are picking up fifty four and a
- 1:11Speaker 2: lot of edge rushers have come off the board, and
- 1:15Speaker 2: I look at the safety position. Emmanuel McNeil Warren was
- 1:19Speaker 2: sitting there out of Toledo. They had other options there,
- 1:23Speaker 2: denied Dennis Sutton from Penn State, who the Eagles have
- 1:26Speaker 2: shown interest in in the pre draft process. But there
- 1:29Speaker 2: was one player there that to me, I thought would
- 1:32Speaker 2: be a home run selection and bolster the offense piggybacking
- 1:37Speaker 2: off of the Mackay Lemon selection on Day one, and
- 1:40Speaker 2: that was Eli Stowers out of Vanderbilt. I've gotten some
- 1:44Speaker 2: pushback during the pre draft process because every time I
- 1:47Speaker 2: mentioned Eli Stowers and why I believe he would be
- 1:50Speaker 2: a fit for the Eagles, it was met with, well,
- 1:53Speaker 2: he can't block, he's not much of a block, or
- 1:56Speaker 2: whatever the phrasing that everybody would throw.
- 2:01Speaker 1: At me.
- 2:01Speaker 2: The reality the situation is he is a dynamic offensive weapon,
- 2:06Speaker 2: and you don't bypass players of that ilk simply because
- 2:11Speaker 2: they're not as proficient in one area. If you view
- 2:13Speaker 2: them as a game changer and you have a vision
- 2:17Speaker 2: for how to best accentuate what they do, you don't
- 2:20Speaker 2: just skip over it and say, nah, we'll wait till
- 2:22Speaker 2: the fourth round and get someone who can block a
- 2:24Speaker 2: little better.
- 2:25Speaker 1: No, you take someone who you think can.
- 2:27Speaker 2: Really add and add some fuel to an offense that
- 2:31Speaker 2: has a lot of a lot of interesting components that
- 2:36Speaker 2: I believe should really help head this thing. In the
- 2:39Speaker 2: right direction, and so Eli Stowers, at six foot four
- 2:42Speaker 2: two and thirty nine pounds, becomes the newest Eagle at
- 2:47Speaker 2: pick fifty four and joins a crowded house at tight end.
- 2:51Speaker 2: But I look at what Eli Stowers brings. A really
- 2:54Speaker 2: explosive athlete runs a four or five, had a forty
- 2:58Speaker 2: five and a half inch vertical and a crazy broad
- 3:03Speaker 2: jump at the NFL scouting combine. So you like the
- 3:05Speaker 2: explosive athletic qualities, but then you look at the on
- 3:09Speaker 2: field production. And for Eli Stowers, this is someone who
- 3:15Speaker 2: was a quarterback not long ago.
- 3:17Speaker 1: He was.
- 3:19Speaker 2: Playing quarterback three years ago, and so it's still new
- 3:23Speaker 2: to him. But that's where I feel a lot of
- 3:26Speaker 2: the appeal stems from the fact that he's not a
- 3:29Speaker 2: finished product.
- 3:30Speaker 1: He's not a raw product. I want to make that
- 3:32Speaker 1: abundantly clear.
- 3:33Speaker 2: But he's a product that's sort of coming into his
- 3:36Speaker 2: own and you bet on that almost every time if
- 3:39Speaker 2: you believe you have the right infrastructure in place to
- 3:43Speaker 2: take advantage of that player and allow them to realize
- 3:46Speaker 2: their full potential.
- 3:48Speaker 1: But for Stours, think about this for a second.
- 3:52Speaker 2: Over the past two seasons, he's combined for one hundred
- 3:55Speaker 2: and eleven receptions for one four hundred and seven yards
- 3:58Speaker 2: and nine touchdowns.
- 4:00Speaker 1: He was first team All.
- 4:01Speaker 2: SEC and back to back seasons, and was a twenty
- 4:04Speaker 2: twenty five John Mackie Award recipient, which is a prestigious
- 4:09Speaker 2: award that's given to the.
- 4:11Speaker 1: Nation's top tight end. He has natural ball skills.
- 4:16Speaker 2: He's consistent as a pass catcher, which is reflected in
- 4:20Speaker 2: his three point nine percent drop rate. His route running
- 4:24Speaker 2: is smooth and precise. He's developed a head of schedule there,
- 4:28Speaker 2: and I think a lot of that should be directly
- 4:30Speaker 2: attributed to his previous background as a quarterback, because you
- 4:36Speaker 2: know how to see the field, you know what you're
- 4:37Speaker 2: looking for, especially when it comes to landmarks, and you
- 4:43Speaker 2: know sort of where you need to position yourself. And
- 4:46Speaker 2: so I think he's really taken to that well and
- 4:50Speaker 2: is not a flash in the pan. There's two years
- 4:52Speaker 2: of consistency. He's gotten better each season. But what I
- 4:58Speaker 2: really like about Sotours is the explosive qualities. The four
- 5:02Speaker 2: five one I mentioned the forty five and a half
- 5:04Speaker 2: inch vertical and eleven to three broad jump, which I
- 5:09Speaker 2: think is going to manifest in explosive plays and schematic mismatches,
- 5:13Speaker 2: and when the Eagles made this selection, Sean Mannion was
- 5:16Speaker 2: the first person that I thought of because this had
- 5:20Speaker 2: Sean Mannion written all over it. He's an interior player,
- 5:24Speaker 2: but a movable piece that is going to allow the
- 5:28Speaker 2: Eagles to break some tendencies of years past. You can
- 5:32Speaker 2: line him all over formations, you could find different ways
- 5:35Speaker 2: to get him the football, including shovel passes and things
- 5:38Speaker 2: like that, dump offs because he's that dynamic in space.
- 5:43Speaker 2: And you couple that with the addition of Mkayle Lemon
- 5:48Speaker 2: in the first round, and it may be a little
- 5:52Speaker 2: curious because the Eagles have added two primarily interior offensive
- 5:56Speaker 2: weapons to an offense that doesn't really exploit the middle
- 6:00Speaker 2: of the field. This could be the year, well, this
- 6:02Speaker 2: will have to be the year in which they do that,
- 6:04Speaker 2: because your first and second round pick really thrive in
- 6:07Speaker 2: that area and the shorts and intermediate levels the interior
- 6:11Speaker 2: of a defense. That's not exclusively what they do, but
- 6:14Speaker 2: it is a staple of their game. And so with
- 6:18Speaker 2: these sweeping schematic changes and overall shift from an offensive standpoint,
- 6:25Speaker 2: you're gonna see a lot of differences, and one of
- 6:27Speaker 2: those will be a lot of midfield utilization. Jalen Hurts
- 6:30Speaker 2: hasn't done a lot of that in his career. Can
- 6:32Speaker 2: he do it? Perhaps we're gonna find out.
- 6:35Speaker 1: Will he have to?
- 6:37Speaker 2: Most likely, I don't know that you can continue to
- 6:40Speaker 2: avoid that. With the options that they have. They have
- 6:43Speaker 2: a crowded group of weapons, So to me, they are
- 6:48Speaker 2: leaving no stone unturned. They are surrounding the quarterback with
- 6:52Speaker 2: a lot of options, and they don't want a short
- 6:56Speaker 2: supply of offensive playmakers to be the reason why they falter,
- 7:01Speaker 2: or an injury here or there to be the reason.
- 7:04Speaker 2: They have Dallas Goddard Eli Stowers at tight end, they
- 7:08Speaker 2: have Saquon Barkley at running back. The offensive line when
- 7:11Speaker 2: they're healthy is among the league's best. We'll see about
- 7:15Speaker 2: how they return if they're able to return to form
- 7:17Speaker 2: from a health perspective. Then you add Mkay Lemon to
- 7:21Speaker 2: Devonte Smith, don Tavian Wicks. There's only one football, and
- 7:26Speaker 2: they're always expected to throw the football. I don't know,
- 7:30Speaker 2: twenty five twenty eight max times per game. It's not
- 7:34Speaker 2: all of a sudden go to become a passing attack
- 7:37Speaker 2: that is this high octane machine, right, I mean, it's
- 7:42Speaker 2: going to be a low volume passing attack, and Davonte
- 7:45Speaker 2: Smith's going to get those targets first and foremost. And
- 7:49Speaker 2: you have to worry about Dallas Goddard as well. So
- 7:51Speaker 2: we'll see how it goes. But I anticipate a lot
- 7:54Speaker 2: of spreading the football round without focusing predominantly on one player.
- 7:59Speaker 2: But for this to work, and knowing that mackay Lemon
- 8:05Speaker 2: operates primarily out of the slot and you want to
- 8:07Speaker 2: see that, you know, middle of the field catch and
- 8:10Speaker 2: run type of things, throwing with anticipation, fitting the ball
- 8:13Speaker 2: into tight windows and not necessarily waiting for a receiver
- 8:17Speaker 2: to scream open.
- 8:19Speaker 1: It's going to be a lot of changes. But I
- 8:21Speaker 1: think with Sours.
- 8:22Speaker 2: There's a lot of excitement from from his standpoint because
- 8:27Speaker 2: he is such an athlete that you can almost treat
- 8:31Speaker 2: him as as though he's a big.
- 8:32Speaker 1: Bodied wide receiver.
- 8:34Speaker 2: And I should note that Howie Roseman said something that
- 8:38Speaker 2: should quell concerns. And look, I've had people reach out
- 8:41Speaker 2: to me and tell me to to maybe soften the
- 8:47Speaker 2: blow or talk them, talk them into the selection.
- 8:50Speaker 1: That's not my job. That's not why I'm here.
- 8:53Speaker 2: What I'm here to do is to point out facts
- 8:56Speaker 2: why I believe they're going to be a fit, why
- 8:58Speaker 2: the Eagles likely.
- 8:59Speaker 1: Were in treat by this player.
- 9:01Speaker 2: And I think with with Eli Stowers, there's a lot
- 9:07Speaker 2: of apprehension, it seems because of his inefficiencies as a blocker.
- 9:13Speaker 2: And if you go back and listen to my interview
- 9:15Speaker 2: with Eli Stowers from about a month ago, he talked
- 9:17Speaker 2: about working diligently in that area. He's probably never going
- 9:20Speaker 2: to be a dominant blocker. That's not his forte, but
- 9:25Speaker 2: he can do things in the receiving game that a
- 9:27Speaker 2: lot of players can't or aren't.
- 9:31Speaker 1: We have to wait and see how it all plays out,
- 9:33Speaker 1: but likely aren't able to do. And so.
- 9:39Speaker 2: Hallie Roseman said something here. When we look at things,
- 9:43Speaker 2: we're trying to find out what the guy can do.
- 9:45Speaker 2: Really well, if you kind of focus only on what
- 9:47Speaker 2: the guy can't do, you're gonna find some of the
- 9:50Speaker 2: negative for the top players in the draft. I think
- 9:53Speaker 2: when you find guys who have unique skill sets, and
- 9:56Speaker 2: we have a lot of confidence in our coaches and
- 9:58Speaker 2: our staff to develop players, especially when they have high
- 10:01Speaker 2: football IQ and a high character and we know they're tough,
- 10:04Speaker 2: it's exciting. That's kind of the mic drop right there.
- 10:08Speaker 2: I don't I shouldn't have to sell anyone on anything.
- 10:10Speaker 2: You got to wait to see how things play out.
- 10:13Speaker 2: Get to OTA's, get to training camp, and the vision
- 10:16Speaker 2: will ultimately come into focus. But I think this is
- 10:18Speaker 2: a slam dunk selection for the Eagles. Moments after that,
- 10:26Speaker 2: the big trade comes in. The Eagles acquire veteran edge
- 10:29Speaker 2: rusher Jonathan Grenard and they they trade a twenty twenty
- 10:37Speaker 2: six pick number ninety eight to the Vikings, and they
- 10:41Speaker 2: also traded a twenty twenty seven third round pick.
- 10:43Speaker 1: In exchange. They got Jonathan Garnard.
- 10:46Speaker 2: And pick number two forty four, which is in the
- 10:48Speaker 2: seventh round. The Vikings, for those curious, would take Miami
- 10:52Speaker 2: safety Jacoby Thomas at ninety eight, but reportedly the Eagles
- 10:57Speaker 2: and Grenard agreed on a four year, one hundred million
- 11:00Speaker 2: door extension with a fifty million dours of that guaranteed.
- 11:06Speaker 2: This had been sort of in the works for a while.
- 11:09Speaker 2: Gernard and the Eagles have been linked for for some
- 11:12Speaker 2: weeks now. But let's get into the player. Jonathan Gernard's
- 11:16Speaker 2: six foot three, two fifty nine. He's twenty eight years old,
- 11:19Speaker 2: soon to be twenty nine. He appeared in twelve games
- 11:22Speaker 2: ten starts last season before it ended prematurely with the
- 11:25Speaker 2: shoulder injury. But he had thirty eight tackles, three sacks,
- 11:28Speaker 2: twelve quarterback hits and a force fumble. And he still
- 11:33Speaker 2: was an impressive player when you look at his rent,
- 11:37Speaker 2: his win weight, win rate and pass rush success. There
- 11:41Speaker 2: maybe he wasn't getting home, but he was providing a
- 11:45Speaker 2: lot of pressures. He was a third round pick of
- 11:47Speaker 2: the text in the twenty twenty started fifty nine of
- 11:49Speaker 2: the seventy seven games in which he's appeared, and he's
- 11:52Speaker 2: turned in two seasons of double digit sack production, and
- 11:56Speaker 2: he's only a season removed from totaling his highest snapshare
- 11:59Speaker 2: percentage of his career, which was in twenty four when
- 12:03Speaker 2: he played eighty one percent. And similar to Jalen Phillips
- 12:06Speaker 2: the second half of last season, Gernard will be called
- 12:09Speaker 2: upon to handle the heaviest workload, so he adds to
- 12:13Speaker 2: a group that already has jay loox Hunt, Nolan Smith,
- 12:15Speaker 2: Akabkatie and Joe Tryon show Yinka. This is a huge,
- 12:21Speaker 2: perhaps the biggest move Eagles have made this offseason, and.
- 12:27Speaker 1: Their pass rush was very thin.
- 12:29Speaker 2: They clearly needed a top of the rotation type of
- 12:32Speaker 2: guy who has that experience, who can lessen the burden
- 12:36Speaker 2: off of a jay Loox Hunt and a Nolan Smith
- 12:38Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, everyone else is able
- 12:40Speaker 2: to kind of slot in where they're more ideally suited.
- 12:44Speaker 2: Which is a common phrase that I often say, but
- 12:46Speaker 2: it's easy for me to articulate it in that way
- 12:49Speaker 2: where now no one's necessarily miscast.
- 12:52Speaker 1: You have your guy at the top of the rotation, your.
- 12:56Speaker 2: Ace, and then I think you've seen how successful that
- 12:59Speaker 2: can be, whether it was a Jayalen Phillips or other
- 13:02Speaker 2: players over the years. But it takes the focus off
- 13:06Speaker 2: of a Nolan Smith or a Jayalox Hunt, and it
- 13:10Speaker 2: commands attention to them, and it unlocks what they're able
- 13:13Speaker 2: to do, and you could take advantage of their skill set.
- 13:16Speaker 2: And whoever is that second edge rusher, whether it's Nolan
- 13:20Speaker 2: Smith or whether it's Jayalox Hunt, I think is going
- 13:23Speaker 2: to benefit greatly from the arrival of Jonathan Garnard. So
- 13:27Speaker 2: that's a big time addition for the Eagles, and it
- 13:29Speaker 2: felt like that was inevitable. Adding a pass rusher that
- 13:35Speaker 2: was established was a inevitable addition this offseason, it seemed
- 13:42Speaker 2: that it was most.
- 13:42Speaker 1: Likely going to be Grenard.
- 13:44Speaker 2: There are other players out there that teams were reportedly
- 13:48Speaker 2: making available, but when you look at the draft, it's
- 13:50Speaker 2: very difficult to go into it and expect a second
- 13:54Speaker 2: round pass rusher to be the answer, or even a
- 13:57Speaker 2: first round pass rusher to be the answer. You're gonna
- 14:00Speaker 2: play seven hundred snaps last season next season and you're
- 14:04Speaker 2: gonna be asked to play eighty one percent of the
- 14:07Speaker 2: snaps and go ahead and be that difference maker. By
- 14:10Speaker 2: the way that we just lost Jaywen Phillips. No, that sentiment,
- 14:14Speaker 2: that thought process doesn't go through you know, evaluators and
- 14:19Speaker 2: decision makers' minds. You have to look at it and
- 14:22Speaker 2: be realistic in how you approach everything, and you're not
- 14:25Speaker 2: going to be able to check off that box by
- 14:28Speaker 2: simply drafting a player and putting a lot of responsibility
- 14:34Speaker 2: and pressure on their shoulders to be that player that
- 14:37Speaker 2: you need. It felt like it was going to have
- 14:41Speaker 2: to be a veteran, and so they get their guy.
- 14:44Speaker 2: It only costs him this year, the pick number ninety eight.
- 14:47Speaker 2: I thought the value was great, and yes, he will
- 14:50Speaker 2: be twenty nine years old.
- 14:51Speaker 1: Next season or next month, I believe.
- 14:55Speaker 2: But he is someone that I think is going to
- 14:58Speaker 2: have a pretty quick impact here in Philadelphia, and the
- 15:02Speaker 2: Eagles obviously believe.
- 15:04Speaker 1: That as well.
- 15:05Speaker 2: Later on in the draft, pick number sixty eight, the
- 15:09Speaker 2: Eagles take offensive tackle Markel Bell from Miami. He's at
- 15:14Speaker 2: mammoth tackle, six foot nine three forty six thirty six
- 15:18Speaker 2: and three eighth inch arms. He spent his first two
- 15:21Speaker 2: seasons at Homes Community College before transferring to Miami. He
- 15:25Speaker 2: started twenty one games in total for Miami, including sixteen
- 15:29Speaker 2: last season. He was a twenty twenty five third team
- 15:32Speaker 2: All acc recipient. Look at the size and the play strength.
- 15:37Speaker 2: There's not many players that Jordan Malatta has to look
- 15:42Speaker 2: up to. Well, it's ever so slightly, but Mark kel
- 15:45Speaker 2: Bell becomes the Eagle's tallest offensive lineman and his play style,
- 15:50Speaker 2: he's pretty much a wall when he's out there. He
- 15:52Speaker 2: engulf's defenders, uses his length to stave off pass rushers,
- 15:56Speaker 2: and despite his stature, he moves better than expected for
- 16:00Speaker 2: someone of his size, and he carries added intrigue due
- 16:03Speaker 2: to his developmental upside. So you look at the play strength,
- 16:06Speaker 2: especially when anchoring in the run game, and that just
- 16:09Speaker 2: jumps off the tape. Following the day two selections, Eagles
- 16:15Speaker 2: Vice president general manager Howie Rosman indicated the initial plan
- 16:19Speaker 2: is to keep bell.
- 16:19Speaker 1: And tackle opposed to cross trainament guard.
- 16:23Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's I think that's prudent, especially when
- 16:26Speaker 2: you have a young player like that twenty one years old.
- 16:29Speaker 2: Let him get his feet wet at guard and then
- 16:31Speaker 2: you'll certainly you'll soon find out whether or not he's
- 16:35Speaker 2: able to expand his palate if he will and give
- 16:39Speaker 2: you that positional versatility.
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- 17:40Speaker 2: But let's take a look through day two. Round one
- 17:43Speaker 2: pick twenty mackay Lemon wide receiver, USC Round two number
- 17:47Speaker 2: fifty four, Eli Stowers tight end, Vanderbilt, Round three number
- 17:50Speaker 2: sixty eight, Markel Bell offensive tackle Miami. You also have
- 17:54Speaker 2: to include Jonathan Grenard and wide receiver don Tavian Wicks,
- 17:58Speaker 2: who cost him a pick in the round this year.
- 18:01Speaker 2: And when you consider all that, it's been a really
- 18:04Speaker 2: strong haul for the Eagles. Yes, safety remains a concern
- 18:08Speaker 2: and a need, but that just really proves the point
- 18:11Speaker 2: that I've made and tried to make year over year
- 18:15Speaker 2: different podcasts writing, is that.
- 18:19Speaker 1: Just because.
- 18:21Speaker 2: One of your favorite teams doesn't come away with a
- 18:24Speaker 2: player that you feel is the position of need on
- 18:28Speaker 2: day one doesn't mean you you crumple it up, throw
- 18:32Speaker 2: it away. And say well, we'll try again next year,
- 18:34Speaker 2: or what's the point or they neglected this position.
- 18:38Speaker 1: You gotta let it.
- 18:39Speaker 2: You gotta give it a moment and understand that Howie
- 18:42Speaker 2: Roseman knows what he's There's always a plan, there's always
- 18:46Speaker 2: a vision, there's always resources and things maybe you aren't
- 18:50Speaker 2: thinking of that will address some of these other areas.
- 18:54Speaker 2: You can never address all perceived roster blemishes in one
- 19:00Speaker 2: off season, but most gyms understand that that's that's pretty
- 19:06Speaker 2: that's pretty much commonplace.
- 19:08Speaker 1: But you have to then explore other avenues and.
- 19:10Speaker 2: It becomes uh, you know, incumbent upon the general manager
- 19:16Speaker 2: to find ways to best maximize your resources to fortify
- 19:21Speaker 2: the roster. Just always, you know, I think put that
- 19:24Speaker 2: into perspective and understand that it's that you know, it
- 19:28Speaker 2: takes some different pieces, some maneuvering, but you know, just
- 19:31Speaker 2: because you don't see something addressed on day one doesn't
- 19:37Speaker 2: mean that it's going to be neglected and that this
- 19:39Speaker 2: that's going to be the group that that team moves forward.
- 19:42Speaker 1: With that's going to do it.
- 19:44Speaker 2: For this episode of The check O Daily, I'm Andrew
- 19:46Speaker 2: Decheco and I'll catch you on the next one.