Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: Biggest Eagles Storylines Headed Into OTAs
Transcript
- 0:07Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome into this edition of the Checko Deli.
- 0:11Speaker 1: Andrew de Checko here with your Eagles beat reporter for
- 0:14Speaker 1: insidetheirds dot com. Hope everyone's enjoying their Memorial Day weekend.
- 0:18Speaker 1: I understand the weather is suboptimal in the Delaware Valley
- 0:22Speaker 1: and beyond, but hopefully you're able to take a few
- 0:24Speaker 1: minutes and enjoy it or take a few moments to
- 0:28Speaker 1: give thanks to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, which
- 0:32Speaker 1: is really the reason for this day. But today I
- 0:35Speaker 1: want to speak a little bit about OTAs, specifically the
- 0:38Speaker 1: storyline surrounding OTAs, And for those who need a reminder,
- 0:43Speaker 1: OTAs run from May twenty sixth and twenty seventh, May
- 0:47Speaker 1: twenty ninth, June first and second, and June fourth, So
- 0:50Speaker 1: it's right around the corner and there's a lot of
- 0:53Speaker 1: very intriguing storylines going into it that I wanted to
- 0:56Speaker 1: put on your radar. I'm sure it's on your radar already,
- 0:59Speaker 1: but just add a little context to it. And first
- 1:02Speaker 1: and foremost has to be the new offense and the
- 1:05Speaker 1: new offensive coordinator. So for me, and there's not a
- 1:09Speaker 1: lot that you're going to be able to realistically glean
- 1:12Speaker 1: from an OTA setting or mandatory mini camp setting, training
- 1:16Speaker 1: camp a little bit more so, but this is really
- 1:18Speaker 1: about the onboarding process, the installation for Sean Mannion to
- 1:23Speaker 1: get to know his personnel and the personnel to get
- 1:26Speaker 1: familiar with Sean Mannion. And they've already done a little
- 1:29Speaker 1: bit of that, but this is really where things start
- 1:32Speaker 1: to ramp up. And so I'm looking to see the
- 1:37Speaker 1: early iterations of the offense. What are we seeing, how
- 1:41Speaker 1: are certain pieces being deployed, where the wide receivers are
- 1:46Speaker 1: lining up because they have a logjam of players at
- 1:49Speaker 1: that position, So I'll be looking at that. How quickly
- 1:53Speaker 1: the Eagles are getting in and out of the huddle.
- 1:55Speaker 1: Jalen hurts his decision making all those things. And you
- 1:58Speaker 1: never want to make too much off of an OTA
- 2:02Speaker 1: practice or a mandatory mini camp session and even to
- 2:07Speaker 1: another to maybe a little bit of a lesser degree
- 2:10Speaker 1: training camp, because what matters is what happens in the
- 2:13Speaker 1: regular season. You try different things in these practice settings
- 2:17Speaker 1: to see what your your group is familiar is comfortable with,
- 2:21Speaker 1: and try to execute it. And it's a feeling out
- 2:25Speaker 1: phase and you go back to the drawing board figure
- 2:27Speaker 1: out what works what you want to incorporate and things
- 2:29Speaker 1: like that, But you won't see me. I could always
- 2:32Speaker 1: speak for me, you won't. I'll never be one to
- 2:38Speaker 1: signal any kind of signs of caution or or I
- 2:42Speaker 1: guess concern for one of these, you know, spring practice settings.
- 2:49Speaker 1: It takes a while for these things to go. You
- 2:52Speaker 1: have to understand what they're trying to get accomplished, and
- 2:55Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's a new it's a new system.
- 3:00Speaker 1: It's just the overall something that they're going to have
- 3:04Speaker 1: to really start to work through and there's going to
- 3:07Speaker 1: be some bumps in the road here. But also, Sean Mannion,
- 3:11Speaker 1: I want to see how the new offensive coordinator divi's
- 3:14Speaker 1: his time because he oversaw the quarterbacks room in Green Bay,
- 3:18Speaker 1: but now he'll have to stroll over to the wide
- 3:21Speaker 1: receivers as they're working, take a look at what the
- 3:23Speaker 1: tight end group is doing, the running backs and so
- 3:26Speaker 1: on and so forth. So that's all part of the
- 3:30Speaker 1: process that probably isn't taken into account all that much.
- 3:33Speaker 1: How you're going to spend your time in practice where
- 3:37Speaker 1: you're going to devote most of your time, and that's
- 3:39Speaker 1: not going to be maybe it's wide receivers one day,
- 3:43Speaker 1: maybe it's running backs another day. If you're trying to
- 3:45Speaker 1: really drive a point home or get a point across.
- 3:49Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean that's something that I'll be keeping
- 3:53Speaker 1: an eye on. New offensive line coach Chris Cooper working
- 3:56Speaker 1: with that group. We saw him a little bit during
- 3:58Speaker 1: rookie mini camp, and we'll get to see him more
- 4:01Speaker 1: in the coming weeks here. So he's replacing a legend.
- 4:05Speaker 1: I don't have to belabor this point here, but all
- 4:08Speaker 1: eyes are going to be on him. And he has
- 4:11Speaker 1: an offensive line that, when healthy, is the best in
- 4:14Speaker 1: the NFL, or certainly among the best in the NFL.
- 4:17Speaker 1: But I'm most curious to see how he goes about
- 4:20Speaker 1: the teaching element of his job. Certain things that you
- 4:23Speaker 1: saw him implement in rookie mini camp. I want to
- 4:27Speaker 1: see if there's sort of some some differences in how
- 4:31Speaker 1: he wanted about or how he goes about coaching the
- 4:34Speaker 1: group versus how Jeff stoutlind does. Is he a vocal coach,
- 4:37Speaker 1: is he hands on And those are certain details that
- 4:41Speaker 1: I'll be keeping an eye on, and I'll be keeping
- 4:43Speaker 1: a very detailed notebook as I always do. The safety
- 4:49Speaker 1: position This is something I've written about. I've talked quite
- 4:52Speaker 1: a bit about this offseason. Going back to what vic
- 4:55Speaker 1: Vangio said, he seemed to exhibit a lot of confidence
- 4:58Speaker 1: in Mark Marcus Epps, the veteran player started forty nine games,
- 5:02Speaker 1: and he mentioned that he was pleasantly surprised with how
- 5:06Speaker 1: Marcus played, and then he also said that it wasn't
- 5:09Speaker 1: necessarily because he was surprised him out of the blue,
- 5:14Speaker 1: is because he was unfamiliar with the player, and so
- 5:18Speaker 1: he is the odds on favorite to start right now
- 5:22Speaker 1: we're in late May, but that's not to really be
- 5:26Speaker 1: a surprise. But he did speak glowingly, and one thing
- 5:28Speaker 1: you should know about Vic Vangos he doesn't offer hollow praise,
- 5:32Speaker 1: so his words carry a lot of weight. And I
- 5:34Speaker 1: go back to what he also said about Riek One,
- 5:37Speaker 1: the new cornerback who the Eagles added in free agency.
- 5:39Speaker 1: But speaking at about the safety position right now, Marcus
- 5:43Speaker 1: EPs is the favorite to start alongside Drew mccoba. But
- 5:48Speaker 1: Drew mccouba himself also comes with some questions because he
- 5:51Speaker 1: always started eleven games last year had the fractured ankle,
- 5:54Speaker 1: but he also had a couple injuries in training camp.
- 5:57Speaker 1: I remember, I think it was a shoulder where he
- 6:01Speaker 1: collided with wide receiver Danny Gray in training camp. I
- 6:04Speaker 1: think he had a hamstring as well. I'd have to
- 6:06Speaker 1: go back and check my notes. But he's one hundred
- 6:09Speaker 1: and eighty six pounds and he plays the game very physically,
- 6:12Speaker 1: throws his body around, so one would think that that's
- 6:15Speaker 1: gonna over time lend itself to some bumps and bruises
- 6:20Speaker 1: along the way. But he headlines this group, so I
- 6:24Speaker 1: don't have a ton of questions about Drew mccooba. I
- 6:26Speaker 1: thought later in the season he really started to look
- 6:29Speaker 1: like a player who was becoming more and more comfortable
- 6:32Speaker 1: within the defense, his assignment, his role in that defense,
- 6:36Speaker 1: communication instincts. He was flying to the football with a
- 6:40Speaker 1: purpose and more urgently. So a lot of times that
- 6:42Speaker 1: comes with not having to think as much, and your
- 6:45Speaker 1: natural ability is starting to take over. And it really
- 6:48Speaker 1: shouldn't be a surprise because it is a very daunting
- 6:50Speaker 1: position to play in this defense. And it looked like
- 6:53Speaker 1: later on, when he was a little bit more settled in,
- 6:56Speaker 1: he saw the version of Drew mccouba that we saw
- 6:59Speaker 1: at Tech coming out of the draft that made him
- 7:01Speaker 1: such a highly coveted prospect. Michael Carter the second. I'm
- 7:07Speaker 1: fascinated to see him lining up at safety because the
- 7:10Speaker 1: last time I saw him play safety was when he
- 7:12Speaker 1: played sixty five snaps in the finale. But there's not
- 7:15Speaker 1: a lot to go off of beyond that, and he
- 7:17Speaker 1: doesn't have prototypical size at and eighty five pounds, So
- 7:22Speaker 1: I'm curious to see from a movement ability his knack
- 7:26Speaker 1: for covering ground. Does that really reveal itself in training camp,
- 7:31Speaker 1: because sometimes you can just see it right there's certain
- 7:35Speaker 1: players or certain skill sets that you can see. Oh,
- 7:39Speaker 1: I get why they want to give this player a
- 7:41Speaker 1: longer look here because of his coverage acumen, or because
- 7:44Speaker 1: his instincts and his breaks on the football, whatever the
- 7:47Speaker 1: case is. But just the sheer newness of Michael Carter
- 7:52Speaker 1: being a safety as something I'll be keying in on.
- 7:54Speaker 1: The Eagles obviously are putting him back there at safety,
- 7:57Speaker 1: giving him a longer look here this offseason for a reason,
- 8:01Speaker 1: and so that's certainly a player that I'll be keeping
- 8:04Speaker 1: an eye on. Then you have other players like Andre
- 8:06Speaker 1: sam who's a holdover. He's been with the Eagles for
- 8:09Speaker 1: two seasons, now knows the defense, plays with an edge,
- 8:13Speaker 1: is familiar with Joe Casper, Brandon Johnson's there. Brandon Johnson
- 8:17Speaker 1: can also play nickel corner for you if need be.
- 8:20Speaker 1: So you like that positional versatility. A young athletic player
- 8:24Speaker 1: at twenty three years old that I think the Eagles
- 8:26Speaker 1: like a little bit. Cole was Nesky, the seventh round safety,
- 8:30Speaker 1: six three, two hundred and nineteen pounds. By all accounts,
- 8:34Speaker 1: this is a sharp minded football player who grasps defenses
- 8:38Speaker 1: pretty quickly and knows the finer intricacies and nuances of that.
- 8:42Speaker 1: If he can gain enough ground early, I could foresee
- 8:45Speaker 1: a path where he's able to kind of elbow his
- 8:47Speaker 1: way into the conversation to perhaps carve out a larger role.
- 8:51Speaker 1: You have some undrafted free agents and Kapina Gushicken, whom
- 8:55Speaker 1: Vic Vangiel called gush The Eagles gave him two hundred
- 8:58Speaker 1: and seventy five hundred in total guarantees, so that's nothing
- 9:03Speaker 1: to sneeze at. They're obviously intrigued with him to some degree.
- 9:06Speaker 1: I think he's probably destined for the practice squad, but
- 9:10Speaker 1: you never know. But again, another small player at five nine,
- 9:12Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty nine pounds, but it was notable
- 9:15Speaker 1: that Vic Pango called him gush. Then you have Maximus Pulley,
- 9:19Speaker 1: another undrafted free agent. Ada Wafford started thirty four games
- 9:23Speaker 1: there took back. I think he had three touchdowns five
- 9:26Speaker 1: interceptions last season. So at five eleven two hundred pounds,
- 9:30Speaker 1: is he a player who can factor into the mix
- 9:32Speaker 1: here a little bit? And yeah, I mean there's a
- 9:37Speaker 1: lot of names, but there's not a lot of certainty.
- 9:39Speaker 1: And right now it should be of no surprise that
- 9:42Speaker 1: Marcus EPs is leading the charge. But I'll be keeping
- 9:44Speaker 1: an eye on who's lining up opposite mccooba. Are they rotating?
- 9:48Speaker 1: Is it Marcus EPs and Michael Carter or is Cole
- 9:50Speaker 1: Wiznski getting some opportunities there? Who's running with the second
- 9:54Speaker 1: team and things like that that I always make sure
- 9:56Speaker 1: to note in my observations. And yes, the AJ Brown looming,
- 10:03Speaker 1: you know the news that just seems to be forever
- 10:06Speaker 1: looming this offseason. Well, we're close to June first, and
- 10:10Speaker 1: and so for those of you who are I guess
- 10:13Speaker 1: uh have just exceeded their bandwidth in discussing AJ Brown.
- 10:18Speaker 1: I can't fault you. I'm right there with you, But
- 10:21Speaker 1: it would make a lot of sense for him to
- 10:23Speaker 1: be at OTAs this week if if he were in fact,
- 10:29Speaker 1: you know, expected to be moved, which all you know,
- 10:33Speaker 1: everything points to that right now that that really shouldn't
- 10:35Speaker 1: be a surprise. But so AJ Brown, everyone's going to
- 10:40Speaker 1: be highlighting June first, maybe June second, and that is
- 10:45Speaker 1: the expectation. But I mentioned A J. Brown here because
- 10:50Speaker 1: you wouldn't expect to see him at a voluntary OTA. Uh.
- 10:54Speaker 1: Setting backup offensive lineman to me is something that I'll
- 10:58Speaker 1: also be cluing in on because the starters are set,
- 11:03Speaker 1: but you also want to be mindful of where they
- 11:05Speaker 1: are in terms of their recovery, meaning Cam Jurgens who
- 11:10Speaker 1: was awfully banged up last season, Landon Dickerson and Lane
- 11:12Speaker 1: Johnson as well. How do they look if they are
- 11:16Speaker 1: in fact there, how do they look and how are
- 11:18Speaker 1: they moving and things of that nature. But for me specifically,
- 11:22Speaker 1: I'll be keying in on the reserve offensive lineman because
- 11:25Speaker 1: there's so much youth there. There's a lot of inexperience,
- 11:30Speaker 1: but there's a lot of competition as well, So I'm
- 11:33Speaker 1: looking at Drew Kendall. Drew Kendall was expected to step
- 11:36Speaker 1: up and be the backup center this year, filling in
- 11:39Speaker 1: for that Brett Toath type of role. Maybe he can
- 11:43Speaker 1: give you some guard depth on game day as well
- 11:47Speaker 1: in a pinch. And then you have other players like
- 11:50Speaker 1: Mark hell Bell mam sized offensive lineman, third round pick.
- 11:54Speaker 1: I still think he's a year away, but you want
- 11:56Speaker 1: to see him on the practice field moving around and
- 11:58Speaker 1: doing some of those things. Cameron Williams and Miles Hinton
- 12:01Speaker 1: to twenty twenty five draftees. I'm a little higher on
- 12:05Speaker 1: Cameron Williams than i am Miles Hinton, but just to
- 12:08Speaker 1: see them out there after a year of being in
- 12:11Speaker 1: the building and in meetings is something that I'll be
- 12:13Speaker 1: keeping a watchful eye on. Willy Lampkin, who the Eagles
- 12:17Speaker 1: acquired via waivers during cutdowns. He was injured and then
- 12:21Speaker 1: they put him on IR. He had his practice window open,
- 12:24Speaker 1: but never really was able to get on the practice field.
- 12:28Speaker 1: So I'll be looking for Willy Lampkin. How is he
- 12:31Speaker 1: being utilized. Is it just at center or are they
- 12:33Speaker 1: giving him some guard looks? And in terms of just
- 12:36Speaker 1: his movement ability and athleticism, which is what he was
- 12:39Speaker 1: so highly builled. He was so highly billed as this
- 12:44Speaker 1: really athletic, fluid mover that I want to kind of
- 12:48Speaker 1: look to see if those things match what his pre
- 12:51Speaker 1: draft scatting reports said. Because we haven't seen Willy Lampkin.
- 12:55Speaker 1: Then you have other players who are returning, like a
- 12:56Speaker 1: Holland Pierce who was on the practice squad a last season,
- 13:01Speaker 1: Michael Morris, the rookie guard. And you notice I haven't
- 13:05Speaker 1: included Fred Johnson because I've seen a lot of Fred Johnson.
- 13:08Speaker 1: I know what he can do. He's one of the
- 13:10Speaker 1: better backup tackles in the game. But Michael Morris can
- 13:13Speaker 1: Michael Morris get off to a fast enough start to
- 13:17Speaker 1: sort of preclude the Eagles from maybe looking to add
- 13:21Speaker 1: a veteran guard. And again, I go back to safety
- 13:25Speaker 1: for a moment, because there's this sentiment out there that
- 13:29Speaker 1: the Eagles need to do more to reinforce that position.
- 13:31Speaker 1: I can't say that I dispute that, but a lot
- 13:34Speaker 1: of times teams want to see what they have with
- 13:37Speaker 1: their current talent that they've been working with for weeks
- 13:39Speaker 1: and in some cases months, to better better gauge where
- 13:44Speaker 1: they are as a position. Room before you go looking
- 13:47Speaker 1: for external help. And I think that's important to note
- 13:50Speaker 1: just because they haven't rushed to add a player here
- 13:53Speaker 1: or there because you know, you maybe deemed that to
- 13:57Speaker 1: be a thin group. Well, they need to see what
- 14:00Speaker 1: they have first before they go out and do anything.
- 14:03Speaker 1: And so I'll be king in on the backup offensive
- 14:05Speaker 1: line because that group fascinates me. There's a lot of
- 14:08Speaker 1: competition there. And then lastly, I would say wide receiver.
- 14:12Speaker 1: Wide receiver because one this group is going to have
- 14:16Speaker 1: to move forward and you know, by all accounts from
- 14:19Speaker 1: AJ Brown, they're going to have to get ready for
- 14:23Speaker 1: life without AJ. And I'm curious to see how it
- 14:26Speaker 1: stacks up. Devonte Smith's going to be the wide receiver one.
- 14:30Speaker 1: I don't have a lot of questions about Devonte Smith
- 14:32Speaker 1: being able to fulfill that role adequately because he has
- 14:35Speaker 1: done it before as a rookie in twenty twenty one
- 14:37Speaker 1: when Ques Watkins was the outside receiver opposite him and
- 14:43Speaker 1: you had you know, Jalen Rager was in the mix.
- 14:46Speaker 1: So Davante Smith had the shoulder of receiving Corps expectations
- 14:50Speaker 1: have since elevated, of course, but he can do it.
- 14:54Speaker 1: There's not a lot. There's really nothing that I don't
- 14:57Speaker 1: that DeVante can't do. And I've seen him go up
- 15:01Speaker 1: there and compete for the football, whether it's against Pat
- 15:03Speaker 1: Sertan as a rookie, he can well, I guess the
- 15:06Speaker 1: only thing he really can't do is break tackles. But
- 15:10Speaker 1: he's a three level threat. He can get vertical if
- 15:12Speaker 1: you need him to precise route, runner, consummate, professional, great teammate.
- 15:18Speaker 1: All of those things checks off all those boxes. But
- 15:20Speaker 1: then beyond that, I'm looking to see mackay Lemon. Is
- 15:24Speaker 1: he exclusively operating out of the slot? Are they moving
- 15:26Speaker 1: him outside a little bit? Are they giving that positional
- 15:29Speaker 1: versatility look early on? Or is don Tavian Wicks the
- 15:35Speaker 1: outside receiver opposite opposite Devonte Smith?
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- 16:40Speaker 1: How is Dontavian Wix being utilized? And then you have
- 16:43Speaker 1: other players like Hollywood Brown. Are they starting to get
- 16:47Speaker 1: him vertical stretching defenses a little bit because teams in
- 16:51Speaker 1: the past haven't necessarily tapped into that element of his game,
- 16:55Speaker 1: which I think is criminal. But in Philadelphia, with jayalhen
- 16:58Speaker 1: Hurts as the quarterback who throws a mean deep ball,
- 17:01Speaker 1: one would presume that that's going to be something that
- 17:03Speaker 1: the offense looks to exploit. And so there's just a
- 17:07Speaker 1: lot of questions that I have in terms of roles
- 17:09Speaker 1: and how these players are ultimately going to stack up
- 17:12Speaker 1: and the depth chart and all that, so I'll be
- 17:14Speaker 1: looking to see how it looks in terms of alignment.
- 17:18Speaker 1: But there's plenty to glean and it's certainly something. All
- 17:22Speaker 1: those things that I mentioned are things that I'll personally
- 17:24Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on. And then of course you
- 17:26Speaker 1: have I mentioned the coaches like Sean Manning and Chris Cooper,
- 17:30Speaker 1: Ryan mhaffey who oversees the tight end room and the
- 17:33Speaker 1: run game. That's something to keep an eye on as well.
- 17:36Speaker 1: But you really you're not going to see anything elaborate
- 17:41Speaker 1: in terms of run schematics or anything like that and
- 17:43Speaker 1: OTAs one would sort of assume there. But some of
- 17:47Speaker 1: the new faces there on the coaching staff and how
- 17:50Speaker 1: they're interacting with players and their involvement in the drills
- 17:53Speaker 1: and things like that are things that I will be
- 17:57Speaker 1: king in on. And this is my favorite time of
- 18:01Speaker 1: the year. OTA's mandatory mini camp training camp where you
- 18:05Speaker 1: see things come together. You're able to better assess how
- 18:08Speaker 1: the pieces could come together, and it's all valuable information.
- 18:15Speaker 1: It's valuable insight that you're able to kind of use
- 18:19Speaker 1: to shape your your thought process here and how you
- 18:22Speaker 1: look at the twenty twenty six photophy Eagles. I'll have
- 18:25Speaker 1: all the coverage for you on insidethbirds dot com and
- 18:28Speaker 1: right here on the Checkodaily, but for now, that's gonna
- 18:31Speaker 1: do it for this episode of The Checko Daily. I'm
- 18:34Speaker 1: Andrew de Checko, and I'll catch you all on the
- 18:36Speaker 1: next one.