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The DiCecco Daily: Intel On Eagles Fifth-Year Option Moves, Front Office Departure · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on? Everyone? Welcome into another episode.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: This is to check O Daily Andrew de Checko, Eagles
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: beat reporter for insidethebirds dot Com. Let's get the housekeeping
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: items out of the way. The Eagles on Monday afternoon
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: picked up the fifth year options for defensive tackle Jayalen
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Carter and edge rusher Nolan Smith. Not a surprise there,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: that was expected. Both players will be Eagles through the
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty seventh season, and Jalen Carter's salary for twenty
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: twenty seven will be twenty seven million and Noan Smith
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: will be thirteen point seven. Both players figured to continue
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: to be cornerstone defensive pieces for the foreseeable future, especially
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Jalen Carter, who when he's at his best, he's among
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the best defense of tackles in the game, and he
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: has the ability and we've seen it to take over
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: games last season. I think he deserves the benefit of
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: the doubt. He was dealing with the shoulders injuries, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: we'll see how he responds and rebounds from a season
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: in which he wasn't as much of a factor as
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: he normally is. But he's a dominant force and I
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: do believe that a return to form is in the cards.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Nolan's Smith's a little different because.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: He's had some bright moments, but it hasn't been sustainable.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: It hasn't been as consistent when it comes to run defense.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Pound for pound, I think Dolan Smith might be the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: best in the NFL, or among the best in the NFL.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: He plays anywhere from two thirty eight to two forty five.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: He throws his body around with reckless abandon and really
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: sets the edge with violence and authority. I love watching
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: him play. I mentioned Moro Jomo being one of my
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: favorite players to watch on the Eagles defense. Well, Nolan
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Smith is in that category because of the nature, the
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: physical nature in which he plays the position and his
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: passion for the game really really is reflected when you
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: watch him snap the snap, and he'll need to be
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: more consistent, I would imagine before a long term investment
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: would even would be considered. But we'll have to wait
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: and see. You know that this could be a year
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: in which he stays healthy, which has been the big
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: hang up there for him, and if he's able to
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: do that and maintain a level of consistency and be
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: that force that he is against the run against you know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: rushing quarterbacks as well.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: You know, it's a good problem to have.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: But both players will be in Philadelphia through the twenty
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: twenty seventh season. And the Eagles also lost a pretty
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: key member in their front office on Monday afternoon, So
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: they lost they lost Bryson Johnston. Bryce Johnston. He was
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: the SVP of Football Administration, senior personnel executive and Johnston
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: will lead salary cap strategy for the Falcons and serve
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: as the lead contract negotiator and be a key advisor
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: to Ann Cunningham and Matt Ryan for roster building and
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: long term strategy. A lot of these names that you
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: hear that shuffle around, it's a direct byproduct of the
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: success and the development, the internal development that the Eagles have,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: and so you get the sense that other teams want
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: to try to get a piece of that. They're hoping
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: that by maybe osmosis, they are able to take some
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: of the some of the elements that have made the
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Eagles so successful by poaching some of the ascending talents
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: in their front office and make.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: The mistake about it.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: While a lot of these names may be faceless to
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the outside, they are incredibly crucial to the success of
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Eagles and a lot of the stuff behind
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: the scenes when it comes to the financial aspects that
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: isn't They don't happen without some of these people.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: And I feel it's important to mention that.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: And I also read Bryce Johnson's statement that he released,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: so he said before moving on to a new challenge
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: in Atlanta, I wanted to take this time to thank
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Jeffrey Lourie, Howie Roseman, and Don Smolensky for the opportunity
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: they gave me over the past ten years. The high
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: level of success achieved by the organization begins with their
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: commitment to pursuing every possible competitive advantage, and I greatly
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: appreciate the trust they placed in me to contribute to
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: that philosophy. I feel very fortunate to have been able
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: to work closely with and learn from Howie and now
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: be in a position to take those insights with me
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: as I move forward. The organization and is filled with
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: first class people who perform their jobs at extremely high level,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and I am very proud of everything that.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: We accomplished together.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: The aspect of this experience that I have valued the
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: most is the time spent and relationships built with current
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: and former colleagues. There are too many to list, but
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: in particular, I would like to thank Jake Rosenberg for
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: making this opportunity of reality and mentoring me as I
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: began my career in the NFL. It took this rare
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: opportunity to work with some of those same former colleagues
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: to even consider moving on. Being an Eagle meant a
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: lot to me, and I will look back at my
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: tenure in Philadelphia as a special time in my life.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: That was Bryce Johnston there.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: But the main focus of today's podcast is the aftermath
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: of the NFL Draft, and I wanted to focus on
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: one player who's currently on the roster on the offensive
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: side and one on the defensive side. They were already
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: on the roster before the draft, but I feel as
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: though they benefited greatly from the.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Way the draft unfolded.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: So the first player is running back Will Shipley, and
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the Eagles had an abundance of Day three picks, but
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: they opted not to invest one of them on a
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: running back, and so yes, Damian Pierce was signed in
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: free agency. But Damian Pierce is a different style of
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: running back. He's a little bit older than Will. He
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: can return kicks, which is an appealing aspect to what
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: he could potentially provide, but his skill set's sort of
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: redundant to a tank Bigsby and I think Will his
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: skill set really differentiates himself from the other running backs
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: in the room. And what I mean by that is
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: is that he is a very good pass catcher. I
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: know that that hasn't manifested in the regular season, and
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: it really hasn't for any of the Eagles running backs
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: for a number of years now in the receiving game,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: but he can certainly do that. He's the Eagles' most
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: natural pass catching running back. He has juice, he gets upfield,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: and I think that he can be dynamic in short space.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: He hasn't had an abundance of opportunities to showcase that,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and when he has gotten opportunities to run the football,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: he hasn't necessarily maximized those.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Touches.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: But what I can tell you is is he gives
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: you something different and he works. He works as hard
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: as anyone to prepare himself for whatever opportunities come his way.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: And when you have a skill set like that, you
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: also can double as a kick returner and the receiving
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: aspect in this offense with Sean Mannion, who knows the
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Eagles could look to tap into that. And I also
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: would say that Will's running style, I would think would
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: favor the expected new run designs and concepts, the wide
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: zone stretch play type of runs, where his patience and
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: ability to hit the crease and turn on the jets
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: should benefit him, compared to the old style where it
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: didn't seem to suit.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Him all that much.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Now, there's not going to be a lot of carries
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: to have regardless of who is the number two or
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: the number three running back. But I mean, when Saquon
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Barkley is there and he's still among the best running
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: backs in the NFL, he's going to handle the lion's
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: share of the carries. But I think what I'm looking
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: to see a little bit more is for is a
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: balance to help preserve Saquon Barkley but also work in
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: some different skill sets to the offense and get the
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: receiving game going. The wheel routes that we've seen pretty
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: consistently year after year in training camp just hasn't carried
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: over to the regular season, and that is another wrinkle
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: that you can add to the offense that teams now
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: have to account for. But I think not adding a
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: running back on Day three and there were a lot
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: of talented options suggest that the Eagles are happy with
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Will Shipley and Damian Pierce sort of competing for that.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: We'll have to wait and see when the official names
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: come out in terms of undrafted free agents to see
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: whether a running back was in that group. I don't
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: believe that the initial reports indicated.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: That there was.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: And taking all that into consideration, I like Will's chances
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: quite a bit, quite a bit, and he does give
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: you that special teams upside as well.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: He's a core for a special teams player.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: So he was for me, one of the big winners
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: to emerge from draft weekend on the offensive side of
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: the ball, and then on the defensive side of the ball,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I would say defensive tackle Ty Robinson was a clear winner.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: And why I'm saying that is the Eagles could and
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: they still can, stand to add a little bit more
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: depth when it comes to the defense to tackle position,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: if not for any other reason than to inspire competition.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: But when I look at Ty Robinson, he played just
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: to tick over one hundred snaps last season. He wasn't
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: really impactful in training camp, he was kind of there.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: You could see the size and the athletic traits that
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: made him such an enticing prospect, But he wasn't last
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: summer and obviously during the season because he wasn't working
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: into the rotation. It never came together. But while he
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: was an older rookie. I say this all the time.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Every player progresses at a different rate. There's no timetable,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: and sometimes the learning curve is a little steeper depending
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: on the person, depending on the position, And so you
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: have to let this sort of play out a little
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: bit and understand that Clint hurt is among the elite
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: defensive line coaches in the NFL.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: And if you know, he's.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Going into another year with ty Robinson, So if ty
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Robinson's really able to take to the coaching and apply
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: what he learned last season watching from the sideline end
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: being on the field, then I think that he'll be
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: in contention for that number four defensive tackle spot. But
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: the Eagles are banking on ty Robinson approaching this, of
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: approaching this from a standpoint of he's striving to be striving.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: For more in his second season.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: He doesn't just he's not going to be contentious being
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: the fifth defensive tackle, aim for the fourth spot if
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: he can. But the fact that the Eagles didn't draft
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: a defensive tackle on Day three when there were, let's
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: face it, quite a few options that I think would
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: have fit. And you have to also remember that Moro
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Jomo's contract, He's in the final year of his rookie deal,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: so is Byron Young.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: So there was a lot of need for a defensive tackle.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: But the goals, whether it was due to their their
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: picks or whether it was due to what they've seen
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: and their belief in ty Robinson, probably a mixture of both.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: He doesn't have to fend off a number of players. Now,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: there's other guys who like Gabe Hall, who's there still,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: and I'm sure I'm forgetting uh Taekwon Graham. Takwon Graham
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: has some NFL experience. But it doesn't feel to me
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: like there's as big of a spotlight on ty Robinson
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: as I initially expected going into the draft. And this
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: is a big off season for Tye. He's got to
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: he's got to turn the corner. He's got to really
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: hit the ground running in year two. And this is
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the fourth round pick we're talking about here, and he
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: really wasn't able to make much of a dent last season.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: We'll see if he's.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Able to kind of build off of the learning experience.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: And it is a learning experience. I want to reinforce that,
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: but it's not as particularly deep position once you get
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: past the top three guys. I'm pretty bullish on Byron
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Young because I think he did a nice job whenever
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: pressed into service. He had to play more with Jyalen
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Carter doing with the injury last year, and that's a
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: solid number four. We'll see if ty Robinson's able to
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: leap problem in the pecking order, but I was expecting
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: going in that there would be, you know, three or
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: four battling for a couple spots. We'll see how things
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: play out, but coming out of draft weekend, I thought
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: will Shipley and ty Robinson benefited most.
• 13:32
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• 13:37
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• 14:31
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• 14:33
  Speaker 2: I just pick one on each side of the ball
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: based on what the Eagles did.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I thought that they were.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: They came out of that pretty clean and now it's
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: you know, it's a new offensive staff. Really, from Will's perspective,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: this is a good opportunity to really showcase what he
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: can do if he is to establish more playing time.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Snaps are limited. That's the way that it goes when
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: you have say Kumbar we there, but perhaps they're able
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: to unlock a different element of the offense that's been
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: largely absent, and that is the receiving game with the
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: running backs out of the backfield, and then with ty Robinson.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: He was a highly productive college player, but it's time
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: to be that guy. Go out there and take care
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: and apply the coaching and take care of the details
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: and the fundamentals. We'll see if he hit the weight
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: room and got a little bit stronger in the off season.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's a big off season for both guys
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: and we'll see if they're able to kind of to
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: take the baton and run with it.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: But that's going to do it for this episode of
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: The Check.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: O'daly Andrew Decheco will catch you well on the next one.