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The DiCecco Daily: Standouts, Developments From Eagles First Joint Practice Vs. Browns · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: What's happened to everybody? How are you feeling out there?
• 0:11
  Welcome into another edition of The check O Daily. I
• 0:14
  am your host, Andrew de Checko. And today was day
• 0:18
  one of Eagles Brown's joint practice, and it couldn't have
• 0:23
  been a better day. I love joint practices. There is
• 0:26
  a palpable sense of intensity and feisiness, and obviously that
• 0:31
  the temperature doesn't help with that. It amplifies things as
• 0:35
  a matter of fact. But there was a ton of
• 0:37
  takeaways from this practice. There was a ton of former
• 0:40
  Eagles on hand, by the way, Malcolm Jenkins, Brandon Graham,
• 0:44
  Jason Kelcey, Fletcher Cox, and then on the Brown side
• 0:48
  they had wide receiver DeAndre Carter, quarterback Joe Flacco, quarterback
• 0:52
  Tenny pick at kJ Henry so that they were at
• 0:56
  Joey and Aquara as well. So there was just a
• 0:58
  lot of familiar faces, including defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who
• 1:03
  if he checked my ex account at Andrew Dechecko, you'll
• 1:06
  see a picture of Jim Schwartz that I was able
• 1:09
  to get. There were so many people around and so
• 1:11
  many things going on that it was almost like where's waldough?
• 1:15
  I was trying to find them and got out to
• 1:19
  see Shadoor Sanders warm up and and then I guess
• 1:24
  after warm ups he suffered an oblique injury and he
• 1:27
  didn't see him the rest of practice. So then it
• 1:30
  was Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Dylan Gabriel that were
• 1:33
  taking their reps. So practice started at ten, it went
• 1:38
  to about eleven forty five today was categorized as green.
• 1:41
  Green means full go, obviously, and that's to be expected
• 1:45
  with these joint practices, and for just added you know,
• 1:50
  just added illustration here. Joint practices really are predicated to
• 1:58
  the starters and the immediate backups, the prominent role players
• 2:02
  who were gonna be playing meaningful snaps for the Eagles.
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  You don't see a ton of Dorian Thompson, Robinson and
• 2:08
  Kyle McCord and some of the third teamers. This is
• 2:13
  for players like Jaywhen Hurds and Jaywen Carter and all
• 2:16
  those guys to get ramped up for the season. They
• 2:19
  get a lot of work, there's a lot of snaps,
• 2:21
  a lot of reps, little wasted time, and practice started
• 2:25
  after warm ups with one on ones, so the wide
• 2:29
  receiver of the defensive backs were on one field and
• 2:32
  on a middlefield, which is where I spent my time
• 2:36
  during this period, was watching the offensive line and with
• 2:40
  the Eagles offensive line versus the Browns defensive line. And
• 2:44
  I thought that Cam Jurgens had a couple of good
• 2:46
  reps against Elite Collins and Juwan Briggs. Brett Toath held
• 2:51
  his own largely in his one on ones. There was
• 2:54
  a play where he lost out on leverage Darrin Cannard Stonewall,
• 2:58
  Joey Nakuara. Joeyncquara also had a nice bull rush against
• 3:02
  Kendall Lamb, so oh yeah. And I can't forget Lane
• 3:06
  Johnson versus Miles Garrett, and that was That was a
• 3:09
  fun one that was about. I think that might have
• 3:11
  been the first matchup. It looked pretty close to me.
• 3:14
  I'm gonna call it a draw. But if I had
• 3:17
  to tip my hand towards any one player winning the rep,
• 3:20
  it might be it might be Miles Garrett. He's just
• 3:23
  tremendous and he was a complete menace in all practice,
• 3:29
  racking up a number of sacks, giving Jordan Mylotta a
• 3:33
  tough time. But that was that was a really cool
• 3:35
  rep to see and you don't often see Lane Johnson
• 3:39
  have fits with any defensive player, he's usually able to
• 3:43
  erase them with relative ease, and I think that really
• 3:45
  underscores that the kind of player that Miles Garrett is
• 3:48
  a player who obviously needs no introduction. But that was
• 3:52
  the first session of practice, and then there were special teams,
• 4:00
  and that was Avery Williams leading the charge. He was
• 4:04
  first up with the pump returners. Then it was a
• 4:05
  Nias Smith, and that's kind of the way that I
• 4:10
  viewed that depth chart right now. I think that those
• 4:13
  two are kind of leading the leading the pack there.
• 4:17
  And then in turn, the Eagles had two vice players,
• 4:22
  and what I mean by that is that's the term
• 4:24
  for the two players who block the gunner, who are
• 4:27
  tasked with trying to slow them up in their progress
• 4:30
  towards the pump returner. And there were a couple of
• 4:32
  notable reps there. I thought Keelan Robinson did a really
• 4:35
  nice job sealing off his blocker. There was one where
• 4:39
  it was Eli Rix and Mac McWilliams. Eli Rix delivered
• 4:44
  a nice pop at the end there to really spring
• 4:46
  returner Taylor Morin. And another really good one was aj
• 4:52
  Woods of cornerback and three Castro Fields, another cornerback aj Woods,
• 4:57
  forces the gunner outside and then when the gunner you know,
• 5:02
  revers his course and tries to make a bee line
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  to the returner, that was where and I believe the
• 5:10
  returner was Avid Williams in this instance that three Castro
• 5:13
  Fields picked him up and delivered a nice shot to him.
• 5:18
  So that, I like special teams drills, that's where you
• 5:20
  really see players get after it. I have a note
• 5:22
  on another special teams drill later on. But then from
• 5:26
  there there were seven on seven's and a Dori Jackson
• 5:28
  opened with the Eagles first unit opposite quenya On Mitchell
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  Keey Ringo worked in with the first team, and so
• 5:34
  did you Corean Bennett. And that's really a theme that
• 5:38
  that's going to persist as Eagles try to find a
• 5:40
  corner who can really emerge and seize this opportunity. And
• 5:44
  I have to tell you today was not a good
• 5:46
  day for the Eagles corners. Of that group, I thought
• 5:49
  of the three that I mentioned at, Dori Jackson probably
• 5:51
  had the best day. Kielee Ringo struggled in one on ones.
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  He gave up a couple of catches there. I thought
• 6:00
  that Jacory and Bennett. I think he gave up a
• 6:02
  touchdown today, a couple of tough catches as well, plays
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  that he has to make, one of which he was
• 6:07
  going against an undrafted free agent wide receiver who I
• 6:10
  think beat him on a crosser. I have to look
• 6:12
  at my notes on that, and he's still acclimating. You
• 6:15
  never want to make too much of that, of course,
• 6:17
  but I think that that really underscores the importance of
• 6:22
  this position and what it could mean for the defensive
• 6:26
  complexion and some of the domino effects. Maybe you're not
• 6:29
  able to have Cooper Degene be as versatile as you'd
• 6:32
  like and deploy him at safety or and nickel and
• 6:37
  all these other things. You may have to start looking
• 6:40
  at him as a corner, perhaps because let's face it,
• 6:43
  the season opener is about three weeks away. You never
• 6:45
  want to sound the alarm, but you have to wonder
• 6:49
  if Cooper Degene will start to get some looks at
• 6:51
  outside corner. Now. He hasn't taken any reps at outside
• 6:53
  corner this training camp, to be clear, but with it
• 6:56
  being three weeks away, I don't know if you can
• 6:59
  afford to do another trade and then that player is
• 7:02
  now behind the eight ball and you don't have enough
• 7:04
  time to get them up to speed. They're still trying
• 7:06
  to do that with Jacory and Bennett, but day one
• 7:09
  of joint practices not so good for Keeley Ringo and
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  Jacorey and Bennett, and to a lesser degree of Dori
• 7:15
  Jackson now Jalen Hurts. On the other hand, Jalen Hurts
• 7:19
  didn't have the best day either. It looked like he
• 7:21
  was a little bit confounded with what the Browns were
• 7:24
  throwing at him, and he threw an interception in one
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  on ones on a pass to an i As Smith.
• 7:30
  He also threw an interception on seven on sevens where
• 7:32
  he was trying to hit Dallas Goddard. Linebacker Devin Bush
• 7:35
  makes a good read on the play and snipes the
• 7:38
  pass and secures the turnover, and it really it just
• 7:41
  looked like he was a little bit slow to pull
• 7:43
  the trigger, a little hesitant, and there weren't a lot
• 7:46
  of explosive plays offensively. There was the touchdown on a
• 7:50
  short pass a Devontae Smith and another one that he
• 7:52
  dumped off to aj Dillon, but there were many times
• 7:55
  where the offensive line I thought was getting a little
• 7:59
  bit handled. And it's important to note that halfway through
• 8:02
  practice Lane Johnson sat out and that was by design
• 8:06
  and we learned after because the Eagles are trying to
• 8:08
  get some of those other players in a more clear evaluation,
• 8:13
  meaning Matt Pryor, Darren Canard and so on, Miles Hinton.
• 8:18
  But at one point the Lion the first team line
• 8:21
  was Matt Prior at left tackle, Brett to the left guard.
• 8:24
  So you have some moving pieces there that you have
• 8:27
  to account for and may have contributed to the offense
• 8:31
  looking a little bit off kilter. There was a lot
• 8:33
  of short passes to the tight end to the left
• 8:36
  and the right Grant Kakaterra and Dallas Goddard. Of course,
• 8:39
  the crossing route is a stable I thought Devonte Smith
• 8:42
  had a really good day and he's so automatic in
• 8:45
  training camp, just a really good feel for where he
• 8:48
  needs to be, and the route running is always razor sharp.
• 8:52
  He has that connection with Hertz. And there wasn't a
• 8:55
  lot of Saquon Barkley today. There was a lot of
• 8:59
  Aj Dillon and a lot of Will Shipley. I thought
• 9:01
  will Shipley had some really nice tough runs up the
• 9:04
  middle on some inside zones, caught the ball really well
• 9:08
  and that's really his hallmark. But you can see the
• 9:11
  juice that he brings when he's in that lineup, and
• 9:14
  I think he's had a really strong summer and he
• 9:17
  got a long look today with the ones and the two.
• 9:20
  Saquon was also getting some carries, but to a lesser extent,
• 9:24
  But Johnny Wilson, the Eagles second year wide receiver, had
• 9:27
  a really nice catch. He had two back shoulder catches.
• 9:30
  One was earlier in the session from Tanner McKee along
• 9:34
  the left sideline and from about twenty five yards out,
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  and then nearly identical later on during a team period,
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  Jalen Hurts dials that up and Johnny Wilson is able
• 9:45
  to soar above cornerback Cameron Williams who's five foot eleven,
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  and he uses his frame and you see the body
• 9:50
  control and the concentration and coming down with that catch.
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  So I think that Johnny Wilson, while he started out
• 9:56
  training camp on the slower side, he wasn't playing to
• 9:59
  his size and was really inconsistent. He's starting to come
• 10:02
  on a little bit and I think you can kind
• 10:04
  of build off of the preseason performance that he had
• 10:06
  and then he's had some nice showings in camp. The
• 10:10
  more reps that he's getting, he just seems to be
• 10:13
  more comfortable out there, and he's attacking the football and
• 10:16
  playing to his six foot six frame. And as far
• 10:22
  as any of the offensive notes, I thought Brett Tooth
• 10:25
  had had an up and down day. I think it's
• 10:27
  fair to say he looked better in run blocking. I mean,
• 10:31
  he'd be the first one to tell you after practice
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  he said that he wasn't you know, he didn't have
• 10:36
  a good day and he didn't pull any punches. But
• 10:39
  I mean Kevin Patullo has talked really highly of him.
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  He's he spoke glowingly about Brett to before practice and
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  then Lane Johnson gave him a really nice compliment after
• 10:50
  practice as well. Look, he's been around, he knows Jeff's
• 10:53
  Stoutlin's system, he knows the technique he's supposed to play with.
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  And there's continuity there because when Landon has been out
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  of the line at various points this summer, it's been
• 11:01
  Brett to who's been working between Jordan my Lott and
• 11:04
  Cam Jurgens, and I do think that there is something
• 11:07
  to be said for, you know, the continuity piece of that.
• 11:11
  There was a little bit of a skirmish. It was
• 11:13
  brief and it was minor, but it was during a
• 11:15
  special teams drill that was a reverse of what we
• 11:19
  saw what I outlined earlier, where now the Eagles had
• 11:23
  a gunner that would be up and the Browns would
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  have two vice players looking to block, and they had
• 11:30
  their proper returners back there. And then later in the
• 11:33
  session it was second year safety Andre sam who was
• 11:36
  mixing it up with cornerback Tony Brown, the second who
• 11:41
  was chirpie before practice, and that was the player that
• 11:46
  Eli Rix laid a nice pop on during the vice
• 11:49
  drill earlier in the session. But Andre gets into it
• 11:53
  with the two vice players and really takes them both on.
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  The Eagles sideline comes in there to break things up,
• 12:01
  and core heads eventually prevailed. But that's what happens in
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  these joint practices. Everybody's out there, they're competing. It's hot,
• 12:09
  it's intense, it's fast paced, and now you're going against
• 12:12
  a team other than you know your teammates every day,
• 12:16
  So I think that also contributes to it. But there
• 12:19
  was a lot of really good things to take away
• 12:21
  from that practice, and I think at the top of
• 12:23
  the list, Miles Garrett is pretty damn good. He picked
• 12:26
  up a few sacks, and there was a play where
• 12:29
  he chased Jalen Hurts from the backside and forced Jalen
• 12:32
  Hurts out of bound. And there was a screen pass
• 12:35
  to Devonte Smith where Davante catches it, gets a really
• 12:38
  good block and then scoots up the left sideline. Miles
• 12:42
  Garrett chases them down. You know, DeVante runs the play
• 12:45
  out into the end zone and then Miles Garrett chases
• 12:48
  it down and you know, tries to swipe at the football,
• 12:51
  but just a relentless effort. And it's I marvel watching
• 12:55
  him work because he is such a technician and such
• 12:58
  a freakish athlete that you don't often see tackles like
• 13:02
  Lane Johnson and really Jordan Mailatta have those kind of
• 13:06
  fits with offensive with defensive linemen. So that those are
• 13:12
  my takeaways. Those are my instant takeaways. Everything else is
• 13:15
  up on inside the birds dot com that I emptied
• 13:18
  out my notebook and I have all of the news
• 13:20
  and notes there and then some, so feel free to
• 13:23
  check that out. I will also be doing another one
• 13:26
  of these tomorrow on after the second joint practice, and
• 13:32
  there'll be another podcast with Adam, Jeff and myself where
• 13:35
  we do a roundtable, so we'll have everything covered. This
• 13:38
  has been to check O daily. I'm Andrew Decheco and
• 13:40
  I'll talk to everybody tomorrow