Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / The DiCecco Daily: Thoughts On Eagles Hiring Of New OL Coach Chris Kuper

Transcript

The DiCecco Daily: Thoughts On Eagles Hiring Of New OL Coach Chris Kuper · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on? Everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome into another edition of to check O Daily. Andrew
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: decheco here, Eagles beat reporter for insidethebirds dot Com, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: the Eagles on Monday hired an offensive line coach, that
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: being Chris Cooper, who spent the past four seasons with
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Has an interesting background.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: But we're going to get into in a moment and
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: appreciate some of the folks that commented wanting to know
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: what my thoughts were on the hire, and look, I
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: appreciate that, but I'm going to say right off the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: bat that I'm never one to do a thumbs up
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: or a thumbs down off of a coaching hire without
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: knowing what their vision is, how they're going to mold
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: this current group. And there's context that's involved when you're
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: assessed seeing his previous track record, and so I think
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: it would be disingenuous of me to sit there and say, Yeah,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I love the hire, or no, I don't like the hire.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Now there's gray areas there. I could be intrigued or
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I can be a bit skeptical of the higher and
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: right now I lean towards the latter, and I am
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: a little bit skeptical because the Minnesota Vikings haven't fielded
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: the NFL's best offensive lines during his time there. There
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: aren't a number of success stories aside from maybe Brian O'Neil,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: who he did inherit when he joined there. Brian O'Neill
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: was there in twenty twenty. Christian Darisol really nice player.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: They have two really good tackles. The problem for the
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Vikings in recent years has been interior pressure. So when
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: I look at the offensive line in years past, yes
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: it's been patchwork, it hasn't been good enough. But twenty
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: twenty five requires a little bit of context because in
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the offseason they brought in veteran center Ryan Kelly. They
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: brought in Will Fries, signed him to a lot of
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: money to play right guard, and you look at what
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: they were trying to do, and on the surface, yeah,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: they were fortifying the trenches. And they drafted Donovan Jackson
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: in the first round out of Ohio State, standing pat
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Later in that draft, I think they took him at
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: twenty four or twenty five overall, and so they kind
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: of carpet bombed, for lack of a better term, the
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: offensive line because the whole objective was to provide requisite
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: protection for JJ McCarthy in his second season.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: And it looked like they did that.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Now, injuries really really muddied the waters there. Ryan Kelly
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: played in eight games, Darasol played in ten games. Will
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Fries played in seventeen. But you know, you look at
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: some of the other players. There were a couple who
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: played fourteen games, so there wasn't a lot of continuity there,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: and they had to kind of toggle the configuration throughout
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the season, and it was a leaky offensive line. I'm
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: not going to sit here and tell you that, you know,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: everything was perfect for them. The run game in the
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: over the past two or three years has been towards
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: the bottom of the NFL in terms of efficiency, So
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: you take all that into consideration when you're looking at
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Chris Cooper. I like his background, coming from a Kevin
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: O'Connell background. You kind of get an idea or a
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: sense for the shared vision that he's going to have
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: with Sean Manny and knowing some of the similar concepts
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: and how they're going to be on the same page
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: with the run design. So I think there's reason for
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: optimism there. He's a young coach at forty three years old,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: and he played the game at the highest level. Appeared
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: in over ninety NFL games, started seventy nine, was a
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: fifth round pick at of North Dakota. Spent his whole
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: career with the Broncos, an eight year career, and then
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: called it a career.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: I believe it was in twenty fourteen.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: So he's gonna come in and have credibility, which is
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: super important when you're looking at the coach that he's
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: filling the shoes of. And Jeff Statlin, who didn't need
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: to do anything other than walk into a room to
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: command that respect. His resume and track record spoke for itself.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: He coached an abundance of Pro Bowlers, all pros, three
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Hall of famers, and the results were staggering when you
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: look at his level of fielding the NFL's best offensive
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: line routinely over his thirteen seasons, and you couple that
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: with just his mentorship, his ability to connect and relate
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: to players, and he was there for guys like Jason
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Kelcey and Brandon Brooks, and there is a trust factor
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: there With Jeff stoutlind you know that he was going
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: to coach you hard, but you also knew that it
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: was in your best interest to take his advice and
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: do whatever you could to implement that because you were
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: going to be better for it. And there was just
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: a level of understanding and I think a level of
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: respect not only in Philadelphia but across the league. And
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: so Chris Cooper stepping in to a daunting role here
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: because you're filling the shoes of an icon. But it's
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: my job to point out the facts, the background, what
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: you might be able to expect. And I'm looking at
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: it right now. You like that he's coming from the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Kevin O'Connell background, so shared vision in terms of the
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: run designs and how the offensive line is going to
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: block it up up front. That's something that you can
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: expect act that there's going to be sort of a
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: unified front there and a familiarity which is important. Not
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: that it matters, but Chris Cooper does have some overlap
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: with a couple of Eagles coaches already on the staff
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: as well. Sean Mannion, for example, was there with the
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Minnesota Vikings in twenty twenty three on the practice squad
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: as a quarterback while Chris Cooper was the offensive line coach.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: So obviously they've there's some familiarity there as well, Vic Fangio.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: When he was head coach of the Denver Broncos from
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one, Chris Cooper was the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: assistant offensive line coach. He was also the assistant offensive
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: line coach with the Miami Dolphins in twenty seventeen and
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, and guess who was their offensive quality control
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: coach during that time, Eagles pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: So I think you like from that standpoint that there's
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: a little bit of synchronicityotentially there, and it probably shouldn't
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: take a while for all of them to get on
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: the same page about how things are to be done.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Because we always have a vision of what we expect
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Sean manny and to bring to Philadelphia based off of
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: his background with Sean McVay and Kevin O'Connell and all
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: these bright offensive mines, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay type of concepts.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I think you're going to see a lot of a
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: more modernized offense.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I think that's fair to expect.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: You have no way of knowing.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: All we can go off of is the background, but
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to sit here and tell you that
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: the Chris Cooper higher was good or bad. I'm going
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: off of the track record of what we have to
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: go off of. I'm a little skeptical in the sense
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: that there aren't a lot of developmental stories that you
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: can hang your hat on during his time with the Vikings.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: You know, Jeff Stoutlin had an abundance of that, but
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I think twenty twenty five require that context of sort
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: of overseeing a very injury plague offensive line. Despite their
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: attempts to try to fortify the trenches there, it didn't
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: work out. The Vikings were abysmal from an offensive execution standpoint,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: and a lot of it started right there up front.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: But it wasn't for a lack of effort. Now, you
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: could look at Chris Cooper and wonder what he did
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: to prepare the players who had to step in, and.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: I think that's a fair critique.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: But I don't know enough of the Minnesota Vikings situation
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: other than they were ravaged by under injuries in the
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: trenches and then the prior years.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: I'm not using injuries.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: As an excuse. They simply weren't good enough. But what
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: made Jeff Stoutlins special is that he was able to
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: take a line that maybe he didn't see a lot
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: of household names in some cases, whether it was Nate
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Herbig who was an undrafted player, or Brett Toth an
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: undrafted player, Fred Johnson, a cat off, Matt Tobin who
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: entered the league in twenty thirteen under Jeff Stotlin as
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: a rookie and he ended up starting at right guard
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: his second season in the league twelve or thirteen games,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Alan Barber, who was a journeyman. Taking a collection of
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: players like that, I can't forget Stefan Wisnowski or Hallapulavati
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Vai Tai, players that had to step in in critical moments.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Jeff Stalin had then prepared and work with whatever he had.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: So I think I have a question as to whether
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: or not Chris Cooper will be able to maximize the
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: talent because we haven't seen it. But I also think
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: that he's going to command a lot of respect and
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: credibility coming in having played the game with the highest level.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I think that'll really resonate and provide some relatability there
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: with players he knows what they're going through. He's probably
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: going to have a really good understanding of teaching. And
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I'm going to continue to report on this and try
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: to learn more about Chris Cooper and what he can
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: bring to the table, bull his success stories and things
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: like that. But right now, just fresh off of the
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: news that we have, yeah, I mean, I'm not going
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: to lean too heavy one way or the other. I
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: keep it right down the middle. And again, it would
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: be disingenuous for me to champion this hire and tell
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: you everything's great and I love it, or go the
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: other way and say, oh, it's not going to work out,
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: because we have no way of knowing. I'm curious to
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: see how the Eagles approach assessing the offensive line in
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: the draft and maybe even in free agency based off
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: of what we believe they're going to implement from a
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: run design standpoint, and how that may affect their day
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: three dart throws and as I mentioned on this podcast before,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: because when you're going to implement a different style that
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: horizontal athletic, you want linemen who are light on their feet,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: their fluid movers. Well, you know, the Eagles were were
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: really adept at doing things a certain way, running out
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: of shotgun and things like that. With Jeff Stoutlin, which
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: requires a different type of offensive lineman. Look at Landon Dickerson,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: who is a maler, a road grader.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: If you will.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Cam Jurgens, for example, would really fit the way that
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: the Eagles are trying to pivot and transition to because
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: he is nimble on his feet and can get to
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: the second level and all those great things that made
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: him such an appealing prospect when they drafted him. Now,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: whether or not he's going to be fully healthy, that
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: remains to be seen.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Again, we have no way of knowing.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: You would presume that being further removed from the back
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: surgery should do nothing but help Cam Jurgons.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Hey, it's that time of the year that everyone's trying
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: to clean up their habits, and that includes me. Honestly,
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: having one less drink never felt easier. Instead of pouring
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: a cocktail, I just reached for souls out of office drinks.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: It's the same relaxing vibe, but zero alcohol, zero hangover.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: I still wake up feeling like a functional adult. I
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: can get to the gym, I can do whatever I
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: have to do throughout the day without feeling worn down
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: or dragged down. That alcohol can make you feel Soul.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: What I appreciate about them is it makes feeling good
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: simple with their delicious HEMP drived, CBD and THD products
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: with precise dosing, clean ingredients, and formulations designed for predictable
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: feel good effects. Soul is the alcohol alternative that puts
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: you in control of your mood. You gotta try their
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: best selling out of office gummies that deliver a customizable
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: calming buzz. All right, so give yourself the gift of
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: a healthier unwind. Right now, Soul is offering our audience
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: thirty percent off their entire order. Go to getsoul dot
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: com and use the code birds Birds That's Getsold dot
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Com promo code birds for thirty percent off.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: Hey everyone, I continue to tell you about the importance
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: of you and your loved ones feeling safe in your
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: own home. There's nothing like that peace of mind knowing
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: your family is safe and secure. That's why I'm so
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: glad to be among the millions of Americans who have
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: the Simply Safe home alarm system from my house, and
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: you should have it too. This month, I'm excited to
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: share an exclusive offer with you fifty percent off a
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: new Simply Safe system when you order today. Remember The
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: best thing about simply Safe is that, unlike traditional home
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: alarm systems that only react after someone's already broken in,
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: simply Safe's active guard outdoor protection can stop break ins
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: before they happen. Their AI powered cameras are backed by
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: live professional monitoring agents watching over your property, and they
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: can detect suspicious activity. If someone's lurking nearby or acting suspiciously,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: those agents can see and talk to them in real time.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: They can activate spotlights, they can contact police, all before
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: anyone gets into your home. So why wait. Protect your
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: home today and enjoy fifty percent off a new simply
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: Safe system with professional monitoring at simplysafe dot com. Slash
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: birds that's simplysafe dot com. There's no safe like simply Safe. Hey,
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Philly fans, game day is stressful enough. Parking, traffic, long lines,
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: We've all been there, But when it comes to your cannabis,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Camden Apothecary makes it easy. This is the dispensary for
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: sports fans, just minutes outside of Philly, with plenty of
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: free parking.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: You'll be in and out.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Fast, no hassle, no waiting, and they don't just care
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: about convenience. Camedn Apothecary is all about the guest experience.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: Their staff makes sure you feel taken care of every
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: time you walk in. Plus, they carry only the best
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: quality cannabis at the fairest prices, so whether you're stocking
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: up for the tailgate, the watch party, or celebrating a
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: big win, you know you're getting the good stuff without overpaying.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: They even show love to the community with specials for fans, students,
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: service members, and healthcare pros camedn Apothecary, Top quality cannabis,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: great prices, and an experience made for Philly fans and up.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of questions surrounding this offensive line. He
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: has more talent that he's inheriting Chris Cooper I'm talking
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: about than he had to work with in Minnesota for
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: most of his time there. But we'll have to ultimately
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: see what he's able to do in molding talent, developing talent,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: and getting the players who were already there to elevate
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: their performance like Jeff Stoutlin was able to do. I
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: mentioned before, I wouldn't want to be the coach coming
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: in that had to replace an icon like Jeff Stoutlin.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: It's a tall test, no matter who it is. But
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: I think the Eagles did what they could at this stage.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Of the game.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: There's not a lot of offensive linemen that have shaken
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: free now. Chris Cooper his contract expired at the end
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: of twenty twenty five. They did not renew it. They
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: went in a different direction there. That's also something to
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: keep in you know, to keep in mind here. The
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: offensive line for Minnesota hadn't been good during his time there.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: It's been a little uneven. I think that's a fair assessment.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: But I think that they did everything that they could.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: They exhausted a lot of options and they end resources
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: to try to really strengthen that area and it didn't
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: work out. But you also have to be able to
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: take the players who were already there and get them
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: to go from here to here. And I know you
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: can't see me because this is an audio podcast, but
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about elevating their performance and working with what
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: you have and maximizing the players at your disposal. And
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: I didn't think that they did that he did, or
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: the Vikings for that matter, because we have to look
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: at it. It's probably a nuanced conversation. Just like Kevin
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Pittula wasn't the sole reason for the Eagles offense not
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: performing well well, Chris Cooper wasn't the sole reason for
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings offensive line not living up to their
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: billing or what they were expecting them to be when
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: they put that together last offseason. So just some of
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: my thoughts here on a Monday evening, coming off that hire.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: That's gonna do it for this edition of The Checko Daily.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I'm Andrew Tocheco, and I'll catch you all on the
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: next one.