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The DiCecco Daily: Looking Back On A.J. Brown Era; Previewing This Week's Open OTA · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome head everybody to another episode of The Checko Daily.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Andrew to Checko here with the Eagles be reporter friends
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: side the Birds dot Com. And we are quickly approaching
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: June first, which, as we've all been talking about this offseason,
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: is the day to highlight when you're starting when you're
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: probably going to start to hear some traction as to.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: AJ Brown and his movement.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: And I'm expecting that to happen still and New England
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Patriots seemed like the most likely destination, but I would
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: imagine June second, June third, or shortly thereafter is when
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: you could probably expect to hear something. And look, I've
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: heard a lot of this, and I've seen a lot
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: of this over the past couple of months, and it
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: seems like this situation has sort of put a stain
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: on the AJ Brown era in Philadelphia. And maybe my
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: perceptions a little bit different because I've covered AJ for
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: four years and I've been around him. But this is
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: someone who is absolutely beloved by the by his teammates
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: inside that building. He's valued, and he's been a consummate
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: pro week in and week out over his time, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: it's easy to.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Lose sight of that I imagine if you're a fan.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Because he's going to be on his way out.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: But you can't short You can't be short.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Sighted here, and you can't look past the success that
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Leaguals have had with AJ. They don't win a Super
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Bowl without AJ Brown, they don't get to another one
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: without his contributions.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, he was tremendous.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: And as we've talked about many times, it's so it's
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: unrealistic to expect every person to be wired the same.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Everyone has different motivations.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: He's achieved the highest level of success in the NFL,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: and that's winning a Super Bowl. But he's been on
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: a Hall of Fame trajectory, and if he doesn't feel
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: as though that's the this is the most logical path
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: to get him to that point. He you know, he's
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: gonna want to go somewhere where they're going to make.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Best you to best utilization of a skill set. And
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: so it's easy to look at it and look at the.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Person and the player and say, yeah, but all the
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: success that the Eagles have had, how could you want
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: to go elsewhere?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: The grass isn't always greener. That's a valid point, but.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Aj still has some years of lead production and my estimation,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and this, by all accounts, isn't going to be still
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: an offense that's going to be a volume based passing attack.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: And so there will be moments where you know, if
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Aj had been in Philadelphia.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Or whatever, he would get eight or nine targets, but
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: there's going to be other weeks where maybe two or
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: three targets.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: It's not going to be consistent, and I don't believe
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: that it ever will with this style of offense.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: And I know that they're going to have a new
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: look offense, but I still believe that it's going to
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: be foundationally built on the run game. And when you
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: take all that into account of your AJ Brown and
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: you're motivated by, as he said in his Instagram posts
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: after the parade, dominating the player in front of you,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: and the thrill of the process and compiling numbers and
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: really being able to impose his will on an opposing
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: defensive back and be a focal point in an offense consistent.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: It's not about this week or you know, week four
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: or week six, It's about doing it every week. And
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: that's what he seems to want. And we'll see what
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: happens in the coming days, but I just kind of
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: wanted to put a bow on that.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: But I also want to get into the.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Eagles OTAs because this week we will be at one
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: of them. It'll be open to the media, and I
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: wanted to specifically highlights some things that I'll be looking
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: for because there are you know, when you get there
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: for the first day, you're looking to see just the
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: overview of what the offense could be, the under center,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: you get your first look at the free agent additions
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: for the first time, and you get to see the
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: rookies moving around and incorporated within the offense. But now
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I get to kind of highlight certain players that I'll
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: be king in on, and I think at the top
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: of the list will be Makaye Lemon, and I noted
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: his performance that day he was targeted, I believe three times,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: had to drop, had a nice catch at traffic. But
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Eli Stowers even more so because he wasn't really featured
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: and he didn't have much of I mean, he was
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: aligned out wide on one occasion, and I'm looking to
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: see if he's going to have a role in the
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: receiving game, at least on the day that we're there
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: and how they utilize them and things like that, and
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: the route running and his ability to separate some of
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: those inherent abilities that he has. I'll be curious to
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: see if he gets an opportunity to be targeted and
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: maybe built off of that.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: The running game.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be teeing in on Sakwon Barkley again
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: and the running game Tank Bigsby as well, because Tank
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Bigsby to me, and I've noted this in a previous podcast,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: he looks more explosive. He looks as if he spent
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: some time in the weight room, and as I talked
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: about on Friday's podcast, it makes a lot of sense
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: to get him more involved in the offense this year,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: to lessen the burden on Saklon Barkley, who's twenty nine
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: years old, who's had a lot of wear and tear
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: on his body, but more so the complexion of the
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: offense and how it looks from a schematic standpoint, the
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: offensive lineman and things like that. It is Oga's and
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: I always feel the need to preface what I'm saying
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: with that, because you're not going to be able to
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: take away a lot of tangible things that you want
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to really sink your teeth into or hold onto or
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: read too much into going into mandatory mini camp and
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: training camp. But you kind of want to see how
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the offense is overall functioning from a run game stematical standpoint.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: And I think on the.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Offensive side, Drew Kendall, Miles Hinton, and maybe even Cameron Williams,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: how are the Eagles lining these guys up? Because the
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: first day that we got to see them, Drew Kendall
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: was lined up at right guard. He's going to be
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: the backup center. But are the Eagles continuing to deployment
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: guard to get him that valuable opportunity and valuable reps
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: to grow from knowing that he's going to be a
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: crucial piece and if he can give you that interior versatility,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: he's going to be.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: All the more valuable come game day.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: And then with Miles Hinton, is the plan to still
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: put him at left guard? And how does he fare there?
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Does it look natural from a movement perspective. He's a
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: taller guy, so you want to key in on the
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: movement facet of that position, So that's gonna be notable.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Then Cameron Williams worked with the.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Third team on the day that we were there last week,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and while I've mentioned I had him a little bit
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: higher than Miles Hinton, is he still working with the
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: third team, how does he look and maybe things like that,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: And then when you get to the defensive side, Jonathan
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Bernard didn't take any team reps in the day that
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: we were there or seven on seven's either. I mentioned
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: that he was doing sprints with Michael Clay, Rocko Underwood,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: j Kellio, and Bradon.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Man, which was interesting to watch.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: But maybe he gets into the mix there as he's
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: you know, and you're able to see what he's able
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: to do a little bit. And so Jonathan Bernard will
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: be certainly a piece to keep an eye on. Ty
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Robinson is someone that has a lot of expectations going
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: into year two. He was a fourth round pick, has
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: a little bit of experience, not a ton, but he
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: added some size to him.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: How is he lining up.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: What group is he working with, and are you able
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: to see any tangible signs of growth. I didn't just
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: particularly key in on him. There's a lot going on
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: the first day. So now I'm able to identify certain
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: areas and players that I want to really, you know,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: center my attention around. He's certainly going to be one
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: of them. He looks the part, but how is how
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: is he fairing? How are the Eagles deploying him? And
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: who are Bernard? And Josh Weayrou are two players as well.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: There's a video on my x account that I took
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: of Josh Wayro doing a drill and he factored in
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: in a rotational role. But I want to also key
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: in on who are Bernard who? You know, he's had
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: some practices under his belt now and he's taken to
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: the directives of the coaching staff seemingly well. When you
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: watch him on the field, he's he's being coached up.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: So how does he look from a hand usage standpoint,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: from an explosive standpoint, getting out of his stance and
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: things like that, You can expect to see that in
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: my observations. Drew mccoopa is another player that I've talked
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: quite a bit about this offseason.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: He's returning from the fractured ankle. I noted that.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: He was moving around well and was still had the
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: athleticism and the springing is that that he had last year.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: So that return to form is certainly encouraging. But now
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: am in particular the communication piece.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: How is he.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Interacting with his back end teammates and is he sort
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: of charging on the football? Where are the instincts and
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: is he you know, you're able to kind of see
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the processing without knowing the full context of the plays
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: and things like that. There are certain elements that you
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: can really focus in on in these sessions, and for Macouba,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: who now takes center stage as the top safety option,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: really focusing in on what he's doing out there and
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: how the Eagles are utilizing their cornerbacks. Because Jonathan Jones
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: had a nice practice when we saw he spelled briefly
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Quinon Mitchell when Quinyon.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Need to come off, and he.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Got a sprinkling of first team reps as well. I
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: think this is a valuable addition. But you want to
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: see if that's still part of the plan.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: How does he look. He's a little bit of an
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: older player.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: But he's a key piece to the secondary, even though
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: he's not going to be talked about much in the
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: same way as some of those other players.
• 10:33
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• 11:33
  Speaker 2: But the safety rotation as well is going to be
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: important to really monitor here. Marcus EPs is going to
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: get the first crack at that safety spot. He aligned
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: opposite Drew mccooba the first time around. But maybe the
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Eagles mix and match.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: That's commonplace for this time of the year.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's Michael Carter the second who I'm really interested
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: to see in a more expanded role because I like
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: the player quite a bit coming out of Duke them
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: with the Jets. His movement ability, his football intelligence, How
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: is he transitioning to the safety position, and is he
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: able to kind of maybe work in a little bit
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: with the first team to give that look with Drew mccooba.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: So there's a lot here to really glean even though
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: there's no pads or things like that. Also, I think
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: I'll end with this the special team's part of the
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Rocco Underwood rookie fore agent long snapper. How does he
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: look and the attention to detail there, How are the
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: snaps looking as a consistent and what does the coaching
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: look like from that perspective.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Jake Elliott, of course, is.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Going to be at the top of mind when you're
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: looking for a bounce back season from their kicker.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And the Veagles don't have another kicker in camp right now.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Or in OTAs, and yeah, there's still plenty of time
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: between now in training camp, but it doesn't seem like
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the plan is to bring in another kicker to challenge him.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: But I want to see the field goal opportunities.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Hopefully there are.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: There is a little bit of a special team session
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: where I can make note of that. So obviously there's
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: a lot of things that are running through my mind
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: that I'm most interested to keep an eye on, but
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I'll have you plugged in with that on the check Odelli.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: You can keep an eye on Inside.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: The Birds dot com and of course listen to Jeff
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: and Adam on the Inside.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: The Birds podcast.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: We'll have all of your Eagles coverage throughout the week
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: and every week, as we always do with Inside the Birds.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: That's gonna do it for this episode of the check Odeli.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: I'm Andrew to checko. I'll catch you all on the
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: next one.