Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: Taking a Look Inside Latest Eagles Roster Moves

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Football at Four: Taking a Look Inside Latest Eagles Roster Moves · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Let's bring Jeff Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast
0:03
into the conversation as we get ready for a little
0:05
football at four just I guess twenty four hours to
0:10
cut down time. The roster Jeff must be set tomorrow
0:14
at this time. But man, they are doing a lot
0:17
of moving and shaking to do some things here. How
0:20
he was active this weekend. Let's start with some of
0:22
the moves. Let's start with the trade of for Sam Howe,
0:26
and I would imagine he would be brought in here
0:29
to be the backup quarterback at least initially with this
0:32
injury to Tanner McKee, but would likely be the third
0:35
guy the rest of the way.
0:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's the understanding of the situation. I
0:40
don't think that, despite what's out there, I'm not sure
0:43
that this trade is made if Tanner McKee is completely healthy.
0:47
I've seen it said, Well, you know you're gonna lose
0:50
McKee next offseason, most likely to a trade. So therefore
0:53
Howell can just slide in sort of as your Kenny Pickett,
0:56
your veteran back up like last year. But Howell's only
0:59
under contract for this year, so he's a free agent
1:02
after the year. So that's not necessarily a correlation where
1:06
you can just slide him in if you wind up
1:08
trading Tanner McKee. So I do believe the McKee injury
1:11
had a lot of deal and then combined with the
1:13
fact that Kyle McCord wasn't good enough to make the team,
1:16
had a lot to do with getting Sam Howell.
1:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, so how is in McCord was waived and I'm
1:22
assuming they're going to try to get him back on
1:24
the practice squad here. But how much of this is
1:26
an indictment on the DTR and McCord or is this
1:30
more the injury that they felt they needed to add
1:33
another quarterback to the injury to Tanner McKee, which according
1:37
to reports was a fractured thumb that could cost him
1:39
at least one game.
1:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean a little bit of both, Mike, and
1:43
I'm not quite sure that Sam Howell, other than the
1:46
experience that he has and having a pretty good game
1:48
once against the Eagles, is that much better. I think
1:51
the thing is, I mean, you know, right now, an
1:54
Eagles fan might say, yeah, we got Sam Howell, But
1:56
what if you told an Eagles fan that the Vikings
1:58
chose Carson Wentz over Sam Howell.
2:00
Speaker 3: How would that make them feel? So, because that's essentially
2:02
what the Vikings did.
2:03
Speaker 2: They decided they'd rather have Carson Wentz, who wasn't even
2:06
with them in camp, than have Sam Howell.
2:09
Speaker 3: So Howell is.
2:11
Speaker 2: Now the backup here for a week or two, and
2:14
I think the whole idea is just hope that that
2:17
Jalen hurt doesn't get hurt.
2:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that the Eagles obviously make that trade
2:23
for Sam. By the way, Sam How's an interesting guy.
2:25
He is a guy who can run. He's a dual
2:26
threat kind of guy. He has played well. He has
2:29
started games as well, So in the instance that you
2:32
would have to go to how He at least has
2:35
some starting experience. And we know how much the Eagles
2:38
value that in the backup quarterback and how important it's
2:42
been for them. Let's go to some of the other
2:43
moves that happened this weekend. Look at the offensive line
2:46
as a whole. Here, Kenyon Green released today, Darren Kinnard
2:50
traded yesterday, Fred Johnson traded back for It was pretty apparent,
2:55
Jeff that they were not comfortable with the state of
2:58
the depth on the offensive line.
3:00
Speaker 2: I think we've been talking about that for you know,
3:02
over a week now.
3:04
Speaker 3: And I'm still not one hundred percent comfortable with it.
3:07
You know, Brett Toath is he going to make the
3:09
fifty three? We'll see. Obviously, Kendall Lamb was a miss.
3:13
Speaker 2: Honestly. They signed him in free agency. He was thirty
3:16
three years old. He's played left and right tackle, so
3:19
he was supposed to place Fred Johnson.
3:20
Speaker 3: But thirty three year old guy coming off back surgery.
3:23
Speaker 2: Is not exactly the kind of guy he can have
3:26
a lot of faith in, and he just didn't play
3:27
well and that forced Howie to have to go trade
3:30
for Fred Johnson, which you know, it didn't cost him
3:32
that much.
3:33
Speaker 3: It's fine.
3:33
Speaker 2: So Fred Johnson's back, and it looks like Matt Pryor
3:37
right now would be the first guy off the bench,
3:39
next man up, as they say, at interior offensive line.
3:43
Prior can play right guard, play right tackle. He's played
3:45
a little left guard as well, so it'd be interesting
3:47
to see if Landon Dickerson can't play Week one, does
3:51
Prior go to left guard or does Steen go to left.
3:55
Speaker 3: Guard and Prior goes to right guard where he's more comfortable.
3:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I guess one of the storylines between
4:02
now and September fourth will be landon Dickerson's availability for
4:06
the game, because, as you mentioned, who would be the
4:08
left guard in the event that he's not there?
4:10
Speaker 4: All right?
4:11
Speaker 1: Also, they get the trade for Fred Johnson's that solidifies
4:15
the swing tackle spot.
4:16
Speaker 4: Here.
4:17
Speaker 1: Let's take a look at, obviously some of the moves
4:21
Eli Rix released that means the corner spot, though I
4:26
don't know that that.
4:27
Speaker 4: Has been solidified yet.
4:28
Speaker 1: Do you take anything from the game on Friday night
4:33
and say I can give an opinion on the corner spot.
4:37
Rix was one guy that maybe could have stood out
4:40
in the game or something, but he got released today.
4:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I mean I think Rix became what you
4:47
would call the casualty of the Jakorean Bennett trade. What
4:52
will be interesting to see is does what happens Achille Ringo.
4:58
I mean, he's clearly out of the competition. It's between
5:02
it's it's probably gonna be a Dori Jackson starting, and
5:06
it's probably gonna be Dori Jackson starting until Jacorean Bennett
5:10
is ready. And I'm not gonna automatically just say Bennett
5:13
will be the starter in three or four weeks. You know,
5:15
last year it was easier to pervict to pull Avante
5:19
Maddox and then putting Cooper to Jane because the gene
5:21
was a second round pick and a great athlete and
5:23
just needed. I can't sit here and say Jacoreyan Bennett
5:27
is going to be far and away a better option
5:30
for the Eagles defense over a Dori Jackson in four weeks.
5:32
Speaker 3: Just because so.
5:34
Speaker 2: But those two are definitely on the team mc McWilliams
5:36
on team Cooper to Jean's on the team. So what
5:40
do you do with Kille Ringo who is an excellent
5:42
gunner and a good special teamer. But will there be
5:45
interest in him from some other team to be like
5:47
a number three corner a better Is there a better
5:50
environment for him to compete after not cutting it here?
5:53
Because I would imagine how we would take some value
5:56
in return if there was some kind of offer, you know,
5:58
seven round picks at round pick, conditional, whatever it is.
6:01
If not, does he make the team going because you
6:04
know he's going into his fourth year. Usually if you're
6:07
not cemented after your third year, how he's looking to
6:09
figure out a way to dump.
6:11
Speaker 3: You off for value.
6:12
Speaker 2: So it will kind of be interesting to see what
6:14
happens to him going into this fifty three man cut
6:16
down and then even a day after when other moves
6:19
are made.
6:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's shift over to safety.
6:21
Speaker 1: Lewis c he did have an interception in the game
6:23
that shows you that that doesn't really mean much because
6:26
he has been released as well. That's an injury designation.
6:29
But does it tell you that the safety spot is solidified?
6:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, and apparently Seem was on crutches after the game,
6:35
which is sort of a microcosm of the kid's career.
6:37
You know, you make a play like that and then
6:40
whatever reason, you're not healthy. But he wasn't really a
6:42
legit contender to make it anyway, which is gonna, you know,
6:46
upset a whole lot of off season Lewis scene trutherers
6:49
who just thought that this guy was going to make
6:51
the fifty three and be a sort of like the
6:53
dark horse candidate to really stand out. But it's not
6:56
gonna happen for him. I think safety is solidified for
7:00
a couple of reasons. One, you know, they drafted Drew mccouba.
7:03
As long as he's healthy, I think he's gonna see
7:06
plenty of time next to Red Blanketship when they're in
7:08
Nickel if not, I don't think Sidney Brown had a
7:10
bad camp.
7:11
Speaker 3: He may not have had a great camp, but I'm
7:13
sure what Vick is c.
7:14
Speaker 2: Now is that Sidney understands the defense he can play,
7:17
he can react.
7:18
Speaker 3: He might not be the.
7:20
Speaker 2: You know exactly what Vick's looking for, but I don't
7:22
think he played poorly enough so that you're out there
7:25
looking for to bring in Justin Simmons or whatever. And
7:28
then the second part of that is the Cooper de
7:30
Gene element. He can play safety on certain downs before
7:34
sliding back to Nickel. So even if they're not loving
7:37
what they're seeing from Sydney, and even if Andrew mccooba
7:40
is a little bit banged up and not ready, Sydney
7:42
can hold down the ford at safety for a least
7:45
based down, you know, twenty thirty percent of your defense
7:48
until you move to Nickel and then somebody else comes in.
7:52
Speaker 1: All right, so you think the safety spot and you
7:54
broke it down pretty good. There is pretty much solidified
7:57
at this point right now, obviously how he's been doing
8:01
all sorts of things. Let's go to the next spot
8:05
on the thing, which is tight end. According to Andrew
8:07
de Checo from Inside the Birds.
8:09
Speaker 4: EJ.
8:09
Speaker 1: Jenkins will also be released. It seems that Kylan Grantson
8:13
will be the third guy, so it'll be Grantson, Calkatara,
8:17
and Godard obviously.
8:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not so sure that when I do my
8:21
own fifty three projection, we all all three of us
8:24
met Andrew and Adam that gave our fifty threes in
8:26
the podcast that drop this morning. And because I went
8:29
heavy in other areas, I only kept two tight ends,
8:33
Goddard and cal Kata. I feel like Granson is his
8:37
skill set is repetitive. He is a pass catching tight
8:40
end who's undersized. He's not gonna block. You have that
8:43
in Grant Calcata. So my philosophy is you can bring
8:48
Grantson back to the practice squad. I don't think there'll
8:50
be some great demand for him. You can put e J.
8:52
Jenkins now on your practice squad. Can you can take
8:55
turns alternating. If you want more of a blocking presence,
8:58
you can have EJ.
8:58
Speaker 3: Jenkins.
8:59
Speaker 2: If you Calcata's a little banged up and you want
9:02
another pass cat or Goddard, you want a pass catcher,
9:04
you can bring up Kylan Grantson. I just don't think
9:07
you need to use a roster spot. I know they
9:10
play a lot of twelve personnel, so if someone gets hurt,
9:13
you need a guy.
9:14
Speaker 3: So I definitely think you elevate one.
9:16
Speaker 2: If not, you know too Oh they want of them
9:19
on game day until they're out of it and then
9:21
you can make a decision on the fifty three. But
9:23
to start off, I don't think you need to. And
9:25
remember you have ben Van sumerin so if you'd want
9:29
to play a little more run heavy personnel that's not twelve,
9:33
you know, not tight ending, you can throw your fullback
9:36
on the field and he gives you an added dimension.
9:39
Speaker 4: All right, so we've got all that E J. Jenkins.
9:43
Speaker 1: As we talked about two running backs Kilan Robinson, Montreal Johnson,
9:47
actually three running backs Shawn Derek Powell.
9:50
Speaker 4: What is going to happen with AJ Dillon?
9:52
Speaker 3: Here?
9:52
Speaker 1: Is he a guy who is one of these veteran
9:55
players that they try to get to the practice squad?
9:57
Do you think he has to make the fifty three?
10:00
How does those three running backs that are left Shipley
10:02
and Dylan and obviously Barkley, how does that all work out?
10:05
Speaker 3: Yeah?
10:06
Speaker 2: So I had originally left age doan off my fifty three,
10:09
thinking that he could be back on the practice squad
10:12
elevated until needed to be signed to the fifty three.
10:15
But that's because I also kept Kyle McCord on it,
10:17
and Kyle McCord has clearly been waved, so they have
10:21
a in my fifty three. They would have a spot
10:23
now open to keep Dylan and Perp. They they perhaps
10:27
will you know, if not, probably will. I think him
10:30
staying healthy was the big key to camp. However, I
10:33
will say this, if they do want to go heavy,
10:35
if they want to keep a guy like Antoine Powell
10:38
Island or Cameron William somebody they drafted really late but
10:42
they want to develop, but they know will be inactive
10:45
on game day, then that probably means that Dylan doesn't
10:49
make it and they try.
10:50
Speaker 3: To bring him back to the practice squad. I liked
10:52
what I saw from Montreal Johnson.
10:54
Speaker 2: I think he's a perfect fit for the way their
10:57
zone off zone runs schemes are, which is out of it.
11:00
Looks like a good one cut runner, doesn't have a
11:01
whole lot of shaking bake to him, but has good
11:04
straight line speed, and I feel like he could essentially
11:07
be kind of a little bit of a bellcal but
11:09
he can.
11:10
Speaker 3: Carry the ball seven to nine times a game as a.
11:13
Speaker 2: Runner if you didn't have aj Dillon, and then you
11:15
could just involve Will Shipley more in your offense.
11:19
Speaker 4: Yeah.
11:20
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously this is a very run heavy team,
11:23
and they are very heavy with Saquon Barkley. But I
11:26
guess the question would be, is Barkley gonna get the
11:27
same burn that he got last year or they looking.
11:29
Speaker 4: To scale that back.
11:31
Speaker 1: They got Dylan as a free agent signing and Shipley,
11:33
who obviously flashed and showed some stuff, especially in the
11:37
past game.
11:37
Speaker 3: Keef Mocher, Yeah, yeah, I do.
11:40
Speaker 2: I think one way to open your offense without quote
11:43
unquote throwing the ball all around a whole lot more,
11:45
is just getting your running backs involved in the past
11:48
game just a little bit more intentionally, not like a
11:51
dump off, but with certain routes.
11:53
Speaker 3: And we saw a lot of that in training camp.
11:55
Speaker 2: Now we've seen that before and it hasn't really manifested.
11:58
But you have the opportunity to hear and Mike, I've
12:01
said this to you before, and I promise you I'll
12:03
admit I was way off the mark. If I am,
12:05
you know, halfway through the season, but you did not
12:08
see a whole lot of Ben Van Sumern in the
12:11
offense in the preseason. He did catch one pass that
12:15
Colin McCord got to him, you know, right as he
12:17
was getting hurried, and then you saw him turn the
12:19
corner and go up field.
12:20
Speaker 3: I really feel.
12:21
Speaker 2: Like this coaching staff would like to use Van Sumern
12:25
as a poor man's Kyle Yuchek to get him.
12:28
Speaker 3: Involved catching the ball.
12:29
Speaker 2: He has great hands, not good hands, great hands right,
12:33
good speak, great athlete. There's no reason not to if
12:37
you think that this can be a dimension of your
12:39
offense that nobody is prepared for. And I think it's
12:41
intentional that he was used very sparsely on offense throughout
12:46
the preseason.
12:48
Speaker 1: What is your take on the current state of the
12:52
edge rushers. Obviously everybody having some fun ESPN dot com
12:56
Bill Barnwell said the Eagles should trade for Trey Hendrickson
13:00
and probably not going to happen, But is it an
13:03
indication that the Eagles are still kicking the tires on
13:06
trying to upgrade that position. What do you think of
13:08
the state of the edge rushers as we get down
13:11
to tomorrow's cutdown day.
13:13
Speaker 3: I'm concerned about it. Mike.
13:14
Speaker 2: You know, I'm concerned about you, Alex Hunt not having
13:16
a ton of experience.
13:19
Speaker 3: I'm concerned that when they talk about.
13:21
Speaker 2: Nolan Smith, they only played him on one side of
13:24
scrimmage because of his shoulder.
13:26
Speaker 3: They said left.
13:26
Speaker 2: I think it was his left shoulder was hurt, so
13:28
they only played him on the right side, or his
13:31
right shoulders hurt so they only played him across left tackle.
13:34
Whereas left shoulders, the inside shoulders, right shoulders, the outside
13:37
shoulder doesn't get as much contact on it.
13:39
Speaker 3: This guy coming off the triceps surgery.
13:42
Speaker 2: I think what I've seen from Ouche is a guy
13:44
who has very good quickness off the edge, but not
13:47
great bend. And so as camp went on, you know,
13:50
he had a good start to camp, he was flashing.
13:52
Speaker 3: It's camp when I started to notice that a.
13:54
Speaker 2: Tackle would let him get that good jump but then
13:56
ride him wide of the quarterback and he struggled to
14:00
unteract and bend and get underneath that, which would if
14:02
that's an issue, we're aiming to explain why he has
14:04
not been very productive for the last two years. And Ojelari,
14:08
you know, I'm gonna bank on the sort of what
14:10
they say at the back of.
14:11
Speaker 3: The baseball car to the back of the football card.
14:13
Speaker 2: I think he's gonna be legit. He just hasn't really
14:16
stood out in camp. Really, you're asking these guys to
14:19
just win him one on ones because Joe and Carter
14:21
is gonna command a lot of double teams. But there's
14:23
concerned This is the standard for this team has always
14:26
been having three or four guys who are menacing pass
14:29
rushers from the edge. And I don't know yet that
14:33
we've seen that, and I'd be a little concerned about it.
14:36
And I wouldn't be surprised if how he was looking
14:38
to bring in, you know, a more established type of
14:42
situational pass rusher. But those aren't guys where teams really
14:45
want to give away either.
14:47
Speaker 1: All right, football for Jeff Bosher from the Inside of
14:49
the Birds podcast, Phillyvoice dot Com and over at Philly Voice.
14:53
Right now, Jimmy Kempski has to cut down tracker if
14:56
you want to check that out. Of course, the guys
14:58
from Inside the Birds breaking all all these cutdown.
15:01
Speaker 4: Would you say that.
15:03
Speaker 1: There's still some bigger moves to be made, or is
15:06
like Kenyon Green kind of the biggest I don't know.
15:10
Speaker 4: Is that a surprise and any surprise.
15:12
Speaker 3: That shouldn't have even been a surprise at all.
15:14
Speaker 2: I had trouble getting off the third team, had a
15:16
little bit of an injury.
15:18
Speaker 1: I mean obviously, well you know, because the first round pick,
15:21
and he was traded for Chauncey Garner Johnson. You figure, hey,
15:24
we gotta keep this guy. We'll work with them. I
15:26
guess there's a chance they could get him back to
15:28
the practice squad.
15:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would think so if they even want him,
15:32
because you know, if you wind up cutting Brett Toth
15:35
and you wind up, well, they did move Darien Knard,
15:38
so they'll have some room on their practice squad for
15:40
interior offensive line. So it's possible. But they may even
15:43
look for other candidates as well from outside the organization.
15:48
We'll have to see what they do there. But if
15:49
there is a big move left to be made, to me,
15:54
all right, so the surprise, the surprise to me would
15:57
be this, Mike, I stuck my neck out a little bit.
16:00
And sometimes I have fun with the fifty three man
16:02
roster protection because what does the matter, right Like it
16:05
changes after the first forty eight hours anyway, But they
16:09
do you remember how excited Nick Sirianni was to talk
16:12
about Avery Williams when they signed him, and him being
16:15
this punt returner and return specialist and gadget and all
16:20
the things he can do.
16:21
Speaker 4: He was the first guy.
16:22
Speaker 2: Nick Sirianni mentioned that the owner's meetings when they talked about,
16:25
you know, all the free agency.
16:27
Speaker 3: So it's weird to me.
16:30
Speaker 2: You know, he missed all of the OTAs with an
16:32
undisclosed injuries injury, and then he never even got run
16:36
in camp.
16:36
Speaker 3: It's it's hard for me to say.
16:38
Speaker 2: Well, he didn't flash at camp, but he didn't even
16:41
get any opportunities.
16:42
Speaker 3: He wasn't like the number one punt returner. They didn't
16:44
show show him on offense at all. He was like
16:47
the backup personal protector on punt cover.
16:51
Speaker 2: It was very odd how they gushed about him and
16:54
then barely used him, which in my mind, Mike is
16:58
a conspiracy theory that he's going to make the team
17:01
and at wide receiver over Anayah Smith, So we'll see
17:06
that would be a surprise that might be earth shattering
17:08
to people. Anything else would just be a trade at
17:10
edge or corner or line.
17:12
Speaker 4: What so Mechi would make the team right.
17:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mechi would be your fourth, you know, assuming Aj Brown,
17:19
DeVante Smith and Johan dottson New three. Mechi four, Darius
17:23
Cooper for sure. Five the training camp mayhem or not
17:27
mayhem a phenom, I should say, and then of course
17:29
Abe Williams six.
17:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, so he's not just a Paul Turner.
17:34
Speaker 1: No.
17:35
Speaker 2: See, people are calling him a training camp darling, and
17:37
I'm like, you guys are getting the definition of training
17:39
camp darling wrong. That's a guy who shines a training
17:41
camp but cannot play in the NFL.
17:44
Speaker 3: You know, We've got a long list to those.
17:46
Speaker 2: I think Darius Cooper can play in the NFL, and
17:49
I'm interested to see if he gets a little bit
17:50
of a shot early on in the in the first
17:54
part of the year.
17:55
Speaker 4: All right.
17:55
Speaker 1: Jeff Bosher from the Inside the Birds podcast, Inside the
17:58
Birds dot Com Philly Voice as well, and of course
18:01
here on football at four on the Sports Bash four
18:04
o'clock tomorrow. The Eagles need to get down to the
18:06
final fifty three, but they are working their way down
18:08
there right now. Another trade by the time me and
18:11
you talk on Wednesday.
18:12
Speaker 2: Oh god, there might be another trade by five minutes
18:15
of be hanging up with.
18:16
Speaker 4: You all right.
18:18
Speaker 1: Well, stay busy man, I know you're keeping an eye
18:20
on all of it. And check out for the podcast
18:23
on all podcasting platforms and Jeff Boucher and the guys
18:27
right here on Football at four.
18:28
Speaker 4: Thanks man, you got bro.