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The DiCecco Daily: Eagles Things I'm Thinking About, Defense Edition · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on? Everybody? Welcome into another episode of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: The check O Daily. Andrew de Checko here Eagles beat
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: reporter for insidethebirds dot Com. And I mentioned three offensive
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: storylines that I'll be monitoring going into training camp and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: leading into the fall, and today I want to take
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a look at a few defensive storylines that I will
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: be keing in on. And again, much like the previous podcast,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's worth noting that these aren't concerns,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: but they are storylines, discussion points, relevant topics to follow.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: And it's a little bit different, well, it's a lot
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: different than the offensive storylines because defensively, this is a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: group that many of which are entering their third year
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: playing together and their third year in defensive coordinator Fic
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Fangio's system. But let's start off with the top thing
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that I will be king in on, and that is
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: the health of defensive tackle Jalen Carter. And while I
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: firmly believe that his contract extension will get done with
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the Eagles, they value what he brings. They have worked
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: with him for a number of years. He has a
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: good rapport with defensive line coach Clint Hurt. All of
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: those factors are I guess they should be considered a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: driving force to getting this done. Now, whether or not
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: that happens before the season, we'll have to wait and see.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: If I'm the Eagles, I'm probably waiting because you want
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to see how he responds after some time off with
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the PRP procedures with the shoulder. As it pertains to
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: this shoulders injury, and with Jalen Carter, it's not about production.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: You've seen what he can do when he's at his best.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: It's now about what is he going to do now?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: How will he respond to that? Will his shoulders sort
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: of rebound from that attaxing twenty twenty five season. If
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: we're being honest and I go back to that Chicago
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Bears game where you saw Jalen Carter really struggle to
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: defeat blocks and work through that. You never see Jalen
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Carter struggle like that, and moving horizontally is something that
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: you don't see offensive lineman be able to do to him. Then,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: after that game, he mentioned that he was dealing with something.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: He missed a week six game at MetLife with I
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: believe a heel injury where he was sort of a
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: game time decision there, so he was really banged up
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: and therefore took a step back from a production standpoint.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: And while that is something that you might want to
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: keep an eye on when he's at his best, I
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: don't feel like I need to remind anyone he's among
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the best players at his position. He's an interior force.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: He's able to regularly create penetration at the line of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: scrimmage and force quarterbacks off their spot and also free
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: up teammates. He commands double teams, sometimes even triple teams.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: And he's such a young player with such unique traits
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: that you want to make sure that he's a key
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: piece of your future. And he has been a defensive
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: centerpiece for the team since being drafted. But right now,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: all eyes are going to be on how he looks
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: early in training camp, and I think last summer, if
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I'm remembering it, it was kind of obvious or evident.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I should say that he maybe wasn't in the greatest
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: of shape early in training camp when you're watching him
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: go through team drills. But he's a unique player that
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: he was still wreaking havoc in his own way. And
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Jalen Carter has been a pleasure to cover and his
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: assent to near the top of his position one of
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: the very best defensive linemen in the game, has been
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: pretty fun to cover and watch. But that's going to
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: be something that I will be focusing on because a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: lot of what the Eagles are able to do defensively
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: stems from their pass rush up front, their ability at
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage to displace linemen and create some
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: kind of chaos and force quarterbacks to move around as
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: pockets collapse, and Jalen Carter has been a big part
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: of it, and what makes Jordan Davis so effective. A
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: lot of what makes Jordan Davis so effective is that
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: they play off each other exceptionally well, and then you
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: throw in Moro Jomo and all of a sudden, the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Eagles have a very well rounded group of defensive tackles
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: and they all provide something different. But the key this season,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: in my estimation, on the defensive side, it starts up front,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: and so Jalen Carter, the spotlight will be on him
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: and to see how he's able to rebound from his
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: lone down season of his career. And there was reasons
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: for that, but there's videos out there of him working
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: out and all those things that you want to see,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: But now it's about when the pads come on, are
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: you able to strike offensive lineman? Are you that same player?
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And can you be relied upon to have the same
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: kind of impact that he had throughout the early part
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: of his career leading up to last season. Really at
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the second level, I think the one question that I
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: would have is Jahad Campbell as it pertains to the
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: run game, and what made Nikobe Dean such an important
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: piece to that defense along with his leadership, was the consistency,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: the understanding of the intricacies of what is a pretty
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: complex the defense. With Vic Fangio, especially with linebackers and safeties,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of responsibilities and any false step can
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: lead to a big play. And so Nakobe provided stability,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: he provided toughness, in leadership, accountability, all of the things
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: that you'd like to see. He checked off those boxes.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: And not having that anymore the quarterback of the defense,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: it shifts the focus over to Jahad Campbell. And as
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I've said plenty of times here and I've written about
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Jahad Campbell, I thought had a solid rookie season and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the reason why he was sort of replaced in the
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: starting lineup didn't have anything to do at least the
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: way that I viewed it with Jahad Campbell as much
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: as it did with Vic Vangio's confidence and trust in
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: na Kobe Dean, especially when it comes to just being
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: a dependable, disciplined option on the field. The run support
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: is a calling card of Nikobe's And so you look
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: at Jahad Campbell. He's got the length, he has the athleticism,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: he can certainly cover, athletic move tight ends and running
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: backs out of the backfield, and he does give you
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: some unique dimensions as a linebacker. And that really is
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: important because he embodies, in my view, the modern NFL linebacker,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and his skill set seemingly pairs favorably or ideally opposite
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Zach Bonn. Zach Vaughn is sort of a well rounded player.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: He's a little bit he has a bigger frame, and
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: he can kind of do a little bit of everything.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: But Jahad Campbell's really athletic, and he can do things
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: in coverage that Zach Bond might not be able to,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: not all of the things that Zach bon would be
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: able to do. And so there's not a lot of
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: questions that I have about Jahid Campbell being able to
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: step in and be an impact player. Where the questions
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: comes in for me is durability, especially with that shoulder
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: and run support, because he does give up some size
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: or at least the build of in the Kobe, and
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the Kobe was able to do it with anticipation and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: instincts and he had a really good feel for the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: defense and his role within it. And I believe that
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Jahad Campbell will eventually gain that, but understand that it
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: may not happen overnight. There may be some moments where
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: you see him at a position or maybe he is
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a little susceptible on you know, and run defense. Maybe
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: teams were able to try to attack that portion of
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: the field or find ways to get him, you know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: squared up against an offensive lineman and try to take
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: advantage of that. And I would imagine that that will
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: eventually get rectified the more reps and opportunities that he gets.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: But now that the NFL and teams have an idea
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: of what he can do, there's tape he started ten
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: games last season, so it's not a mystery. There are
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: going to be ways that teams are going to look
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to attack them and with na Kobe, if we're being fair,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: teams would look to try to isolate him in coverage
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: and exploit the limited nature of his range and things
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: like that. But he was such an instinctual player and
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: he had really good eye discipline and there weren't a
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: lot of false steps with Nikobe that it never really
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: became a glaring just a glaring issue within the defense.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: And so with Jahid Campbell, he I mean, he brings
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: in more athleticism, he brings in more upside at that
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: position than Nakobe does. But how will he be able
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: to how quickly will he take to it? And will
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the defense be able to seamlessly march on without Nakobe
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: without seeing any sort of early turbulence as he settles
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: in as the definitive starter at linebacker. There's not a
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: lot of questions at on the Eagles defense at linebacker
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: and safety would be the only two spots. And looking
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: at Macouba and Jahad Campbell entering their second seasons, I
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: think Jahat Campbell has a really high upside and I
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: do believe that he played well as a rookie and
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: that he'll continue to do so. But their will or
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I'm expecting there to be a little bit of a
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: drop off early from Nikobe Dean to Jahad Campbell, but
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: in specific areas when it comes to attacking blocks and
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: defending the run in coverage, I think the Eagles have
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: an upgrade from the word go. But that's where I'm
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: kind of looking at that in terms of the second level,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: and then when you get to the secondary, it's more so, Yes,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the faces are different, but are they going to be
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: better than what they were last season? And you've essentially
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: lost re Blankenship and you've added Rieke Wohen you read
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Blankenship was the quarterback of the defense, he signs with
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the Texans, Drew mccouba bumps up from his second spot,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: from the complimentary spot to the top spot. With that
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: in that safety role, then you have other questions about
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: who's going to play beside him. Is it going to
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: be Marcus Zepps, Will it be Michael Carter? The second
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: I don't have as much reservation over the safety spot
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: as maybe some just because I like what they've done
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: to surround that position with an abundance of talent, and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I like what they've done from a front seven perspective,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: But last season they had re Blankenship and Drew mccuba,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: but then they had at corner a combination of adri
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Jackson and Keeley Ringo, and that was not sustainable. It
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: was apparent very early on the teams were going to
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: find a way to exploit either player. Eventually a Dori
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: settled in, but I thought the Eagles did a really
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: good job of scheming around them. They were rarely exploited,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: which is kind of kind of uncommon when you have
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a clear sore spot that you would imagine teams would
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: look to exploit on a weekend, week out basis. But
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: they got such high end production from other areas that
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: it kind of offset their blemish on the outside. And
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Macooba settled in late in the season. But now you're
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: banking on him to take a big step forward in
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: terms of leadership communication, just having a firmer grasp of
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the defense because he's in that top spot now and
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: he's going to have to bring along whoever is starting
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: next to him. Well, if it's Marcus EPs, you won't
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: have to worry about that, But if it's Michael Carter,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: who is transitioning to the safety position after playing nickelback
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: for the entirety of his NFL career. That's something to
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: take into account. But they've added Rik Wohen at corner,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: and this is a clear bounce back candidate. His tenure
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: in Seattle sort of fizzled out a little bit when
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: you look at how it began. It began with fireworks,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, and then it
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: ended with him in a time share more or less
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: with Josh Job at corner. And when you have a
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: player that athletic, that young, with those measurables, it's going
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: to lead to some curiosity as to why he wasn't
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: able to put it together. And you look at the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: discipline on the field, he wasn't always technically sound. That
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: might sound like something that can be easily rectified, not necessarily,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: so I tend to think that it will in this defense,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: with this set of coaches and how they prioritize the
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: teaching aspect, and then with Riek Wohen internally, you would
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: expect him to attack this season with a renewed motivation,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: knowing that he stands to benefit financially from this year.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: But I think that they will be better relative to
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: last season, even though there's questions at both safety spots.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: They've they've cemented or at least solidified the outside cornerback
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: spot that last season, even through training camp and even
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: into the regular season, there were questions about it. You
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: now have Quinnon, Mitchell and Riek Woman on the outside
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Cooper Egene inside. The reasons that I outlined support the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: fact that I think Riek Woman will really take to
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: this defense and step in and be more of the
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: player that he was as a rookie than the player
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: he was over the final stretch of years in Seattle.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: But it is fair to have that question because if
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: he doesn't take to Vic Fangio's defense, if he shows
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: any signs of a player who can who would classify
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: under the high variance category like a Sidney Brown, where
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: you're going to make some big plays, but you're also
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: gonna surrender some big ones. It's not going to be
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: a fruitful partnership between the two.
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  Speaker 1: And so there's always going to be that question. And really,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: until you see it in training camp, once the pads
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: come on and you see him go through practices where
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: he's able to get his hands on receivers and be
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: physical and then carry that over into the games, you're
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: never really going to know. But if spring practices were
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: any indication, I think the Eagles got a good one there,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: at least for one season. The safety spot that's likely
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: not going to be better than the version that you
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: had with Macouba and Red Blankenship. Read Blankenship is a
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: player that I think is a little undervalued by and
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: large because he doesn't well, one, he wasn't drafted, but two,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: he doesn't run a four to three or a four
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: to four, and he's not six foot two. He doesn't
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: have the Derwin James athleticism, he doesn't have Cooper Dejean's athleticism.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: You know, he's just someone who wins and gets by
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: with a high level football IQ and he's in the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: right place at the right time, and he mastered the
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: complexities of that defense, and that really shouldn't be just
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: you know, discounted. But Macouba is also a very sharp
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: minded football player. I've lauded him for that throughout the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: pre draft process. Leading up to him being drafted, I
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: thought he was one of the smartest defensive players in
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: the draft. That is hugely important within the scope of
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: a Vic Fangio defense. But I worry about a little
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: bit about his size and the durability he plays the
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: game with the physical nature, and it's fair to wonder
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: how he would be able to how that will translate
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: over the course of a full NFL season, and Marcus
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Aps is a steady, if not, you know, if unspectacular
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: type of player. But I think Michael Carter the Second
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: will be someone to watch this summer. I like his athleticism,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: I like his movement ability, and if you pair him
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: opposite Macuba, you now have two safeties who can allow
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: you to do some different things defensively and get a
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: little creative. So is it going to be better right now?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna, for the sake of this exercise, I'm gonna
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: call my shot and say it will be better. But
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: it's not exactly a slam dunk when you look at it,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: because they had proven players last season. And say what
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: you will about a Dori Jackson, he was a proven player.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: He's been in the NFL and started a number of games.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Ree Blankenship was clearly a proven player. So it's not
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: as obvious as one would expect. And this is going
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: to be solely based off projection. But I really I'm
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: saying this because I have been and continue to be
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: bullish on mcuba and his assent. I do like Michael
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Carter the Second and Riek Wollen was the star of
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: spring practices. I really like what I've seen from him,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: so I'm going off of the information that I have,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: and that information tells me that it will, in fact
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: be better than the secondary group of last season. That's
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: gonna do it. For this episode of The Checko Deli,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Dicheco and I'll catch you on the next one.