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Football at Four: Assessing the latest Eagles Roster Moves · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all of a sudden, you know, we're looking at
• 0:01
  social media and there is no post that, Hey, the
• 0:04
  Eagles have officially signed to Britain Covey. You just happened
• 0:07
  to be there at practice in uniform, ready to go.
• 0:10
  So there's not an official word from the Eagles on that,
• 0:13
  but it seems that that is the answer to their
• 0:17
  punt return conundrum. There Garner, Trevor Keegan, and Tristan McCollum,
• 0:22
  and they brought in Willie Lampkin, who was another interesting story,
• 0:26
  a rookie free agent by the Rams, had a knee injury,
• 0:29
  got put on the injured list, and then the Eagles
• 0:32
  end up picking them up. So let's take a look
• 0:34
  at the practice report today, and of course it's Football
• 0:37
  at four with Andrew to checko from the Inside the
• 0:39
  Birds Podcast. Plenty of new material up right now over
• 0:44
  at Inside the Birds dot Com and the Inside of
• 0:46
  the Birds Podcast, as Andrew, fresh off the practice field
• 0:49
  at the Novacare Complex, joined us here on a Football
• 0:52
  at four Thursday. What's going on?
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Andrew? Hey, Mike, are you doing all right?
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Buddy? It's well one week from the kickoff this time
• 1:00
  next week we'll be previewing the Eagles and the Cowboys
• 1:03
  and a couple of new faces at practice. Say, let's
• 1:05
  first get Marcus Epps. Your thoughts on that signing he
• 1:08
  goes to the practice squad is just just hey, we
• 1:11
  want a little insurance, a little extra depth here because
• 1:14
  Tristian McCollum gets cut and was there today.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was there, I faced from what I was
• 1:23
  able to see, and he's a veteran safety. He's going
• 1:26
  to give them some insurance. And when you have three
• 1:29
  safeties on the fifty three man roster right now, having
• 1:31
  somebody who started seventeen games for you in twenty twenty
• 1:35
  two and was a pretty effective player, I think that's
• 1:38
  a savvy addition. So they kind of fortified the depth there.
• 1:41
  I thought that was a smart signing. So he's in
• 1:43
  the house now.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Also, picture surfacing of a punt returner Britain Covey at
• 1:48
  practice today. No official word or anything that I've seen yet.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: But it's on the Eagle. It's on the Eagle's website.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, so they have updated that because it was kind
• 1:56
  of like, hey, look who just showed up. So Britain Covey,
• 1:59
  you know, because Nick Siriotti was pretty coy about the
• 2:02
  whole situation on Tuesday.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but he intimated that we like our options and
• 2:07
  we have a plan. And a couple days later we
• 2:10
  learned that a potential plan could be someone who they're
• 2:13
  very familiar with in Britain, Covey and fourteen point four
• 2:17
  yards per return. That was his average in twenty twenty three.
• 2:21
  Effective player was buried with the Rams and a deep
• 2:24
  receiving corps ends up back in Philadelphia. He's wearing number
• 2:27
  eighty five, by the way, and we'll have to wait
• 2:29
  and see. I would keep an eye on him as
• 2:30
  a potential game week one elevation.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: All right, andrew the final initial fifty three, let's say,
• 2:38
  because that's already been tweaked a little bit there. Then
• 2:40
  they brought a bunch of guys back to the practice squad.
• 2:42
  Was there anything from Tuesday that kind of stood out
• 2:46
  to you or was this kind of how you saw
• 2:48
  it all going down.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: More or less? I mean, I had EJ. Jenkins full
• 2:53
  disclosure on my fifty three because of his blocking prowess.
• 2:56
  I thought his skill set was less redundant than that
• 2:59
  of Island Branson. I thought EJ. In theory could have
• 3:02
  fulfilled that Johnny Wilson role as someone who can do
• 3:05
  the dirty work and free his teammates up to make
• 3:08
  plays that Nick Sirianni really values, like Zach Pascal Alamide,
• 3:11
  z A kiyas Johnny Wilson last season. But Kylon Granson sticks.
• 3:16
  He's had the better camp between the two. He's a
• 3:18
  better pass catcher and he can give you some special
• 3:21
  teams value as well. Other than that, nothing too crazy
• 3:24
  the practice squad. Maybe not bringing back Montreal Johnson junior
• 3:28
  that still don't have a running back right now. And
• 3:31
  Lance Stixon the linebacker was a player who I thought
• 3:34
  did some good things this summer, but he did suffer
• 3:36
  an injury in the preseason. They don't chance Campbell actually
• 3:39
  made the practice squad and he was signed two days
• 3:41
  before the finale. So interesting there, but other than that,
• 3:44
  nothing too surprising. Nias Smith maybe, but he ends up
• 3:49
  on the Carolina Panthers practice squad.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Landon Dickerson AJ Brown both practicing out there a good
• 3:55
  sign and the feeling is there both be on the
• 3:57
  field Thursday night.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: That's the feeling that I get. They're trending in the
• 4:02
  right direction two days in a row, so like I've
• 4:04
  been saying really for the past three weeks that there
• 4:09
  was no need to sound the alarm for Aj Brown.
• 4:12
  Landon Dickerson was weak to week, but the signs were
• 4:15
  sort of positive trending in that direction that he would
• 4:18
  be available. But for Aj Brown, I've always said that
• 4:22
  my impression was that the team was being conservative and
• 4:25
  trying to preserve him and get him ready for you know,
• 4:28
  week one preparation.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Go back to safety real quick, Andrew, get your thoughts
• 4:31
  on macuba hamstring. I know it's a week away. Things
• 4:35
  could change, but is that something that you would be
• 4:38
  concerned about at this stage early in the year, And
• 4:41
  you know, with Drew mccuba.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Now not necessarily. I mean, the Eagles certainly aren't going
• 4:46
  to rush him back. And I think now you've between
• 4:49
  Cooper Dejen Marcus f Sydney Brown, there's enough players there
• 4:53
  Andre Sam on the practice squad that they have an answer,
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  and I think it's just a matter of if not
• 4:58
  when Drew McCue becomes the starter. They're going to likely
• 5:01
  open the season with Sidney Brown. But there's still a
• 5:04
  week to figure that out. But just Sidney Brown's taking
• 5:07
  the line's shaf for first team reps all summer. So
• 5:10
  I think it behooves the Eagles to go with the
• 5:12
  player who's been in been in the mix for longer.
• 5:16
  And mcouba's flash, but he hasn't gotten a ton of
• 5:18
  practice reps. But obviously in a matter of weeks, I
• 5:21
  expect that to change, all.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Right, Andrew. When we look at the Eagles, a lot
• 5:25
  of times you take a look at the top players
• 5:28
  on this team. I know you're a guy who knows
• 5:30
  the ins and outs of these teams. Willie Lampkins signed
• 5:33
  yesterday and this one made a little bit of news.
• 5:34
  He's a guy who was on the waved injured list,
• 5:37
  and a lot of times it's kind of like, hey,
• 5:39
  you don't do anything there, but the Eagles go and
• 5:41
  snag this guy. Nowt a lot of people talking very
• 5:43
  positively about him. He was out at practice today. Was
• 5:47
  this a guy that you had your eye on at
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  the draft?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I liked him. He's kind of built like a
• 5:52
  spark plug. Five eleven, two seventy nine, has a wrestling background,
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  played football at North Carolina. The Eagles had to really
• 6:01
  like him, obviously, because this is a player who sustained
• 6:03
  an injury to his knee and his ankle sprain against
• 6:07
  the Chargers in the preseason. I get the sense that,
• 6:11
  you know, being buried on a very deep offensive line group,
• 6:14
  it allows him the ability to develop and grow under
• 6:18
  Jeff Stoutlin and the Eagles really prioritized player development more
• 6:21
  so than I could think of any team right now.
• 6:24
  And he's in the right place. He has some athleticism,
• 6:27
  some power, and he plays with good leverage, and I
• 6:29
  think that was a really savvy addition.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: All right, let's a real quick take a look at
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  you talk about player development Darius Cooper. I know a
• 6:36
  lot of people probably never heard of him, a guy
• 6:39
  played at Tarlton State. If there was a reason that
• 6:44
  he had to play, I don't know how much playing time.
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  These are one of those great stories. He makes a
• 6:47
  team undrafted and now let's go time and you hope
• 6:49
  that you don't have to see them all that much.
• 6:51
  But we kind of what is it about his skill
• 6:53
  set that maybe stands out that if he gets an
• 6:56
  opportunity that he runs with it.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question. Again. I really like his strength,
• 7:02
  his ability to create yards after the catch. He's tough
• 7:05
  to bring down, but he's really consistent, and what really
• 7:07
  stood out to me was when Nick Sirianni was talking
• 7:09
  about the roster decisions on Tuesday, he mentioned his ability
• 7:15
  to potentially do that dirty work and helping the blocking element.
• 7:19
  Of course special teams as well. I think he's going
• 7:23
  to help the team and it just may look a
• 7:24
  little bit different than maybe in a traditional receiving role
• 7:28
  to start, but Johnny Wilson did a lot of things
• 7:31
  last season. It didn't show up in the box score,
• 7:33
  and there's things that you can't quantify. Darius Cooper I
• 7:36
  think is going to be a contributor for this team
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  because one he's smart, he's consistent, he's tough, and then
• 7:42
  when he does get the football, we've seen what he
• 7:44
  can do. He's absolutely an NFL player, belongs on the field,
• 7:48
  and I think right now he's going to have a
• 7:51
  long career.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: All right, we're keeping an eye on the Eagles getting ready.
• 7:55
  One week from today, you'll hear the game right here
• 7:57
  on ninety seven three ESPN as the Eagles and the Cowboys.
• 8:00
  Andrew to Checko and the guys over at the Inside
• 8:01
  of the Birds Podcast have plenty of new stuff up
• 8:04
  all season long. Check it out, check out the website
• 8:07
  and check out the podcast inside the Birds dot Com.
• 8:10
  He's Andrew to check o here on football at four.
• 8:12
  Thanks man, Thanks Mike. All right, there's Andrew over at
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  the Novacare Complex. Quick check in from there as obviously now.
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  He tweeted out some new numbers, by the way, and
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  one of them is Darius Cooper. He's wearing number eighty.
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  John Metchi is now number eighteen. Jacoreyan Bennett will be
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  number forty one, Marcus Epps is number thirty nine. Britton
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  Covey is wearing number eighty five on the field today.
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  So there you go. For all the people just tuning
• 8:37
  in Britain, Covey is back, Marcus Epps is back. It's
• 8:40
  Sports Past Live on ninety seven three ESPN