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ITB Roundtable: Intel From Eagles First OTA Open To Media · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Inside the Birds is back in. What's going on? Everybody?
0:14
Speaker 1: It's Jeff Moster, Adam Kaplan, and we got our special
0:17
Speaker 1: guest from Inside the Birds dot Com Andrew d' checko,
0:21
Speaker 1: because the Eagles held and ota that was open to
0:24
Speaker 1: the media, and Andrew d'checko was there, so we figured
0:27
Speaker 1: let's bring him on. Let him be our eyes and
0:30
Speaker 1: our ears for the audience. And of course you can
0:31
Speaker 1: always read his stuff at Inside the Birds dot Com
0:34
Speaker 1: as well. So Andrew, let's get right into it. You
0:37
Speaker 1: were at the Eagles Ota practice. It was probably one
0:39
Speaker 1: of the more anticipated ones in quite a while because
0:42
Speaker 1: of the new offense and even some of the new
0:45
Speaker 1: pieces and new looks on defense. Uh, let's get like
0:49
Speaker 1: the stuff out of the way, as far as who
0:51
Speaker 1: wasn't there, and who was and and any intel you
0:53
Speaker 1: might have all that yet?
0:55
Speaker 2: No aj Brown, no chocked e Lane Johnson, Okay, now,
1:00
Speaker 2: Jahad Campbell, no Joe tryon show Yinka? And who am
1:04
Speaker 2: I forgetting here? Who else wasn't there? Jalen Carr and Wicks. Oh,
1:13
Speaker 2: that's right, And look, it's voluntary, but it's important that
1:17
Speaker 2: everyone knows that. My understanding is that on Tuesday, the
1:21
Speaker 2: Eagles had a near perfect attendance except for one player.
1:25
Speaker 1: So geeh, I wonder who that one player?
1:28
Speaker 3: Right?
1:30
Speaker 1: Uh so that's good, all right, So that that's the
1:33
Speaker 1: important stuff out of the way. As far as some
1:36
Speaker 1: guys coming off injuries, who were there, like mccuba for example, ye,
1:41
Speaker 1: who else, Yeah, mccouba, Wilson, Dickerson, Jurigen's like, how do
1:47
Speaker 1: these guys just look moving around and everything?
1:49
Speaker 2: They look really well, especially mccuba. Mccoba saw a lot
1:52
Speaker 2: of work and he is a rangy type of player.
1:55
Speaker 2: He's really predicated on his speed and ability to cover
1:58
Speaker 2: a lot of ground. And he looked back to the
2:01
Speaker 2: Drew mccooba that we saw in training camp. He was
2:04
Speaker 2: spry and moving around well. Johnny Wilson without Don Tavian,
2:07
Speaker 2: which without a j Brown there he was. He saw
2:10
Speaker 2: some first team work to start practice, caught a past
2:14
Speaker 2: or a team. So it was good to see those
2:16
Speaker 2: guys moving around and looking like their their former selves.
2:22
Speaker 1: Nice.
2:23
Speaker 3: So, so Andrew. One of the things I thought interesting,
2:25
Speaker 3: and we always say some inside the Birds we make
2:28
Speaker 3: a note of everything. We read into nothing in terms
2:30
Speaker 3: of OTAs because a lot of what you see will
2:32
Speaker 3: not be happening again.
2:34
Speaker 2: Right.
2:34
Speaker 3: There's a lot of what we call experimentation and rotations
2:37
Speaker 3: in OTAs. But one thing I did not and I'm
2:40
Speaker 3: just gonna we noted. It's our job. We know what happened.
2:44
Speaker 3: Miles hitting at guard. Andrew, you did note that. What
2:47
Speaker 3: did you think of that?
2:48
Speaker 2: Well, it was it was really interesting. And what I
2:51
Speaker 2: found to be really notable was that Cameron Williams is
2:54
Speaker 2: working with the third team, And of course we don't
2:55
Speaker 2: make too much off of that. This is the time
2:58
Speaker 2: where you mix and match your person. There's obviously a
3:00
Speaker 2: lot of rotation going on. Training camp is where things
3:03
Speaker 2: really start to pick up steam. But it is notable
3:06
Speaker 2: because Miles Senton is battling presumably Cameron Williams for the
3:10
Speaker 2: backup tackle spot. If he can provide some versatility there,
3:14
Speaker 2: could give him a leg up, and you wouldn't think
3:16
Speaker 2: that he has the body type to do that, but
3:19
Speaker 2: clearly the Eagles like something that he brings to the table,
3:22
Speaker 2: has some experience, has more experience than Cameron Williams playing
3:26
Speaker 2: at the collegiate level there so I found that interesting.
3:29
Speaker 2: I also found Drew Kendall working at second team right
3:32
Speaker 2: guard and Jake Majors at center interesting a little bit too,
3:36
Speaker 2: because Jake Major's on the practice squad all season. Drew
3:39
Speaker 2: Kendall I viewed sort of as that Brett Toath replacement,
3:43
Speaker 2: and the Eagles are likely trying to see can he
3:45
Speaker 2: give us versatility at multiple positions.
3:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, because Andrew, Jeff and I have been talking about
3:50
Speaker 3: for weeks. They have a real issue at backup guard
3:53
Speaker 3: because if Dickerson can't play, and based on his Injuri history,
3:56
Speaker 3: he may miss some games. It's rather likely that he'll
3:58
Speaker 3: miss the game or two. I know he's back by
4:02
Speaker 3: the way he's healthy, that's a good thing. But yeah,
4:05
Speaker 3: if he gets hurt, Jeff, they don't know who that
4:08
Speaker 3: guy's going to be because Kendall is not he has
4:10
Speaker 3: not worked at left guard here, just talking about it
4:12
Speaker 3: right guard, right, and there are questions like, we know
4:15
Speaker 3: he's a backup center. That's not in question. Right question
4:17
Speaker 3: is can he play guard? Because he's not the biggest
4:20
Speaker 3: guy in the world. They have a problem if Dickerson
4:22
Speaker 3: gets hurt, they have to have an answer there.
4:25
Speaker 1: I also think if you look at their just construct
4:28
Speaker 1: of their offensive lineman here, it makes sense to get
4:32
Speaker 1: Kendall at right guard and cross train him for the
4:34
Speaker 1: reasons we're talking about, but also because I think Jake
4:37
Speaker 1: Majors was the second team center Andrews that correct, So
4:40
Speaker 1: Willie Lampkin was third team center team. Yeah. Right, So
4:43
Speaker 1: let's hypothetically say you wanted to practice Kendall at second
4:46
Speaker 1: team center. Majors is not a guard at all, so
4:48
Speaker 1: you'd have to bump him down the third stream center.
4:50
Speaker 1: Where are you playing Lampkin now, because he's also probably
4:53
Speaker 1: not a guard, he's a center. He's five foot ten,
4:55
Speaker 1: So it's convenient that with them having more centers than guards,
4:59
Speaker 1: that they can and use Kendall in a in a
5:02
Speaker 1: position where they really want to get him working, cross
5:04
Speaker 1: train and see if he can do that.
5:06
Speaker 2: But I go back to Nick Cole, who had a
5:08
Speaker 2: similar body type five foot nine even and and he
5:11
Speaker 2: was he was a guard as well. So Lampkin he's
5:14
Speaker 2: a really interesting player in the sense that he moves
5:16
Speaker 2: roy Wall. He's come from that wrestling background. If you're
5:20
Speaker 2: trying to find a way to get him in the mix,
5:22
Speaker 2: you would think that you eventually maybe that you're you're
5:24
Speaker 2: gonna give him a look at guard too.
5:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Nick Cole was a center who was
5:30
Speaker 1: asked to play guard but probably should have just been
5:34
Speaker 1: a center. They had jamal n max Ge and Gillies out,
5:40
Speaker 1: so they had to move him. That they were getting,
5:42
Speaker 1: they were getting real real uh tight on that line.
5:45
Speaker 3: Got But I'm telling you Lampkin though, I'm just telling
5:48
Speaker 3: you they don't have a quality backup guard right now. Yeah,
5:52
Speaker 3: don't can come in out of the blow. And I
5:53
Speaker 3: know there's a push of Eagles. Twitter's obsessed with Willie Lampkin.
5:57
Speaker 3: He's probably guys a staters. Smiling Bank is in the
6:00
Speaker 3: top ten of obsessions with Eagles Twitter Like, it's not
6:04
Speaker 3: quite Henry Josie O Ringo level or Ringo, not even
6:10
Speaker 3: no no Ringo, Dude, Ringo is like up here. But
6:13
Speaker 3: there's a They keep asking us on the comments on
6:15
Speaker 3: the comments on YouTube. We're tracking the folks. We're with
6:18
Speaker 3: you because I'm telling you right now, you don't want
6:21
Speaker 3: to be caught without a quality backup guard. And look,
6:24
Speaker 3: we're not saying they won't sign a veteran guard. They
6:26
Speaker 3: really need to. But remember we're only in May and
6:28
Speaker 3: it's time for experimentation. That's why you're doing We.
6:31
Speaker 2: Will Willie Lampkin also snapped a ground ball practice.
6:36
Speaker 1: Yeah not so great. Hey, we saw Bretto through that.
6:39
Speaker 2: And you know, look, yeah, it's all part of it.
6:42
Speaker 2: It's all. He hasn't gotten a lot, he hasn't gotten
6:44
Speaker 2: any reps with the Eagles.
6:46
Speaker 1: Bro right, all right, so let's talk. Let's stay on
6:49
Speaker 1: the offense here. And I was really happy for I mean, man,
6:53
Speaker 1: these press conferences can be brutal, but Saquon Barkleys was
6:55
Speaker 1: a good one. He came right out. He talked about, yes,
6:59
Speaker 1: this is a different offense. Yes, wide zone, Yes, you
7:02
Speaker 1: know outside zone that they're all learning, they're I thought
7:06
Speaker 1: it was interesting, he said. He called up Todd, he
7:09
Speaker 1: communicated on ig with Todd Gurley to get some insights there.
7:13
Speaker 1: He said, it's going to be more under center than
7:15
Speaker 1: he's used to. At least this is the expectation, and
7:18
Speaker 1: this is what Shoamanian's implementing. When you watched it, Andrew,
7:21
Speaker 1: were you seeing like seventy thirty eighty twenty, were you're
7:25
Speaker 1: just seeing? I mean, nobody does one hundred percent under center?
7:28
Speaker 1: But how much of it did you see?
7:30
Speaker 2: Quite a bit. If I had to put a percentage
7:32
Speaker 2: on it, maybe seventy thirty. But Saquon highlighted something that
7:36
Speaker 2: I think should be mentioned. When you're under center, you
7:39
Speaker 2: have to make sure that your shoulders are square, but
7:42
Speaker 2: it allows you to see the full field. You can
7:44
Speaker 2: get downhill faster. So that's something that I think will
7:46
Speaker 2: greatly benefit all of the backs. And look, Jalen Hurst
7:51
Speaker 2: was under center quite a bit on in Wednesday's practice,
7:53
Speaker 2: and you know, you saw a lot of underneath throws,
7:57
Speaker 2: a lot of them to the running backs. I know
7:58
Speaker 2: Adam's going to chuckle at that, but Saquon had a
8:01
Speaker 2: nice catch along the sideline with Nolan Smith in coverage.
8:04
Speaker 2: He did throw a dart over the middle to Dallas Goddard.
8:07
Speaker 2: That was probably Jale's best throw of the day. But
8:09
Speaker 2: it makes sense to start under center now. You don't
8:12
Speaker 2: want to implement that in July. You gotta start from
8:15
Speaker 2: the beginning if you want this to be a prominent
8:17
Speaker 2: piece of your offense.
8:19
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, I was just to say it's it's gonna
8:23
Speaker 3: be a big part of the offense. No question.
8:26
Speaker 2: Motion.
8:26
Speaker 3: Did you see motion? By the way, did you see
8:28
Speaker 3: any motion on uh On on Tuesday?
8:31
Speaker 2: A little bit? It was a little bit you'll see
8:33
Speaker 2: more of that razzle dazzle in training camp.
8:36
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, all right, I'm gonna just introduce this thought
8:40
Speaker 1: that we can all talk about now, but uh uh,
8:43
Speaker 1: not really ask but I find the whole Saquon an
8:46
Speaker 1: outside zone marriage to be really fascinating and seeing how
8:52
Speaker 1: it goes, because if you listen to Saquon talk, he
8:54
Speaker 1: even admitted what we all know is that the outside
8:57
Speaker 1: zone was really meant for a one cut runner, someone
9:00
Speaker 1: who just plants their foot in the ground sees it.
9:04
Speaker 1: That's why I usually like the non athletic rbs have
9:06
Speaker 1: really flourished because they haven't been asked too much, just
9:09
Speaker 1: have the vision to see the one cut right. Every
9:12
Speaker 1: once in a while there's been a really good athlete
9:14
Speaker 1: in that system, like a Todd Gurley, who Sequon of
9:17
Speaker 1: course mentioned, or Terrell Davis right, and it's just been unbelievable.
9:21
Speaker 1: But Saquon even said himself he's more of a two
9:24
Speaker 1: foot guy, meaning like if you ever watch Sequon run,
9:27
Speaker 1: inside zone is perfect for him because he kind of dances,
9:31
Speaker 1: he gets those both feet going pitter patter, and then
9:34
Speaker 1: he makes some incredible athletic moves. I do wonder how
9:38
Speaker 1: this marriage is gonna work between him going more horizontally
9:42
Speaker 1: and being asked to be one cut and downhill because
9:44
Speaker 1: that's not really the style that he's ever had to
9:46
Speaker 1: run before. I'm not saying I don't want people to
9:49
Speaker 1: mistake me for saying this isn't bad fit, not gonna work.
9:52
Speaker 1: I'm just saying it's it's definitely not the type of
9:56
Speaker 1: running concept that I've seen Saquon flourish, and or I
9:59
Speaker 1: feel like it is perfect for him. That makes sense.
10:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're making a lot of sense here, But I
10:06
Speaker 2: think for me, I think can fit in any any
10:09
Speaker 2: system and now and now and now you're starting it
10:14
Speaker 2: from May and so they have the offensive lineman that
10:17
Speaker 2: I think are really going to suit it well. They
10:18
Speaker 2: can move well. Laterally, they can get to that second level.
10:21
Speaker 2: And Saquon Barkley has the vision enough vision where he
10:24
Speaker 2: can he can find the whole and make best use
10:26
Speaker 2: of it. So for me, I don't really I don't
10:28
Speaker 2: really see it as that much of a challenge because
10:30
Speaker 2: I believe that Saquon has proven or it will prove,
10:34
Speaker 2: that he can handle and that he can handle this.
10:36
Speaker 2: He's just a good football player.
10:37
Speaker 3: Well, Honestly, the stretch play, which is what the Shanahan
10:41
Speaker 3: offense was built on with Mike Shanahan Coyle's dad. But
10:44
Speaker 3: that's what made Trouill Davis. Jeff on your point one cut,
10:48
Speaker 3: the Troil Davis is a six round pick. Okay, not
10:50
Speaker 3: much was expected of them. He became a Hall of
10:52
Speaker 3: Famer sure career, but his ability to make one cut
10:55
Speaker 3: and get up field make Mike Anderson Okay, Atlantis, Gary Andrew,
10:59
Speaker 3: you remember the guy. Yeah, remember these guys. So it's
11:03
Speaker 3: just an adjustment and style. He's gonna have to make
11:07
Speaker 3: an adjustment. But Andrew's right, he can. He's unbelievably talented.
11:11
Speaker 3: He knows it's gonna be a little bit difference. It's
11:12
Speaker 3: not like they're not gonna run any insides on the
11:14
Speaker 3: run side, correct now. And let's not forget the os.
11:18
Speaker 3: The pass game coordinator comes from the Shanahan tree. I
11:22
Speaker 3: can't wait to see how those concepts are added. Like that's,
11:24
Speaker 3: you know, the blending part. They're they're running a westcast offense,
11:27
Speaker 3: Folks don't. They're not running Syriana's offense. But they're gonna
11:30
Speaker 3: take some of what Jalen likes and uh, In fact,
11:34
Speaker 3: Sean Mannion talked about it. He didn't you're not gonna
11:36
Speaker 3: talk about which plays. That's how you blend you and
11:38
Speaker 3: then they call him as Nick Sirianni talked about, They're
11:41
Speaker 3: called a different name because the terminology is different. Nick
11:44
Speaker 3: actually talked about that in his own way this week.
11:47
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, absolutely, Well, it also makes sense not to
11:53
Speaker 2: rip out the foundation entirely. There were there were plays,
11:56
Speaker 2: there were you know, the offense had these moments, right,
11:59
Speaker 2: and it's not realistic to be able to implement something
12:03
Speaker 2: entirely new in the span of a few months. So yeah,
12:06
Speaker 2: I think there's sort of a misconception that everything that
12:09
Speaker 2: they did previously was bad and should be scrapped, right,
12:12
Speaker 2: That's that's just not the case.
12:14
Speaker 1: In fact, you know, I was asked about that on
12:16
Speaker 1: Football at four with ninety seven three ESPN, and you know,
12:20
Speaker 1: with the blend meant, and I said, take take something
12:22
Speaker 1: like no huddle. The Eagles have been really really effective
12:25
Speaker 1: with no huddle for the last four or five years.
12:28
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts is really good at figuring out when to
12:31
Speaker 1: speed it up and then what speeds to run no
12:33
Speaker 1: huddle at. Because we know there are different speeds. I don't.
12:36
Speaker 1: It's not like I can't. I don't think that's a
12:38
Speaker 1: big part of like what Sean McVay does, or Matt
12:40
Speaker 1: Laflora does or Kyle Shanahan. But if Sean Mannion sees
12:44
Speaker 1: that that was really advantageous and that's something that Hurts does, well,
12:48
Speaker 1: he'd be silly not to want to continue to allow
12:51
Speaker 1: Hurts to operate his offense. But with no huddle uh
12:55
Speaker 1: mixed into it, that's something that can be blended in.
12:58
Speaker 2: Yes, I agree, you know, I'm really fascinated to see
13:01
Speaker 2: how everything starts to come together. I imagine training camps
13:04
Speaker 2: can be very late July because of where Labor Day lands,
13:07
Speaker 2: but that's where you're really going to see. That's where
13:09
Speaker 2: the rubber meets the road and you're able to see
13:11
Speaker 2: how everything sort of gels. Yeah, but I am expecting
13:15
Speaker 2: to see a lot of more, I would say, more
13:18
Speaker 2: of a drastic change in terms of the run schematics
13:21
Speaker 2: versus the passing game. Passing game, as we all know,
13:24
Speaker 2: it's timing based. Adam out has outlined that very well.
13:27
Speaker 2: Ball's got to come out, it's got to be on time.
13:30
Speaker 2: But you're going to see a lot of quick decisions
13:32
Speaker 2: from Jalen.
13:33
Speaker 1: How about tight ending you Sage, what anything you observed
13:35
Speaker 1: from guys like Johnny Munt and Stours and Goddard?
13:39
Speaker 2: Yeah there were. Stours didn't really stand out to me,
13:41
Speaker 2: but there was one occasion where I saw him a
13:42
Speaker 2: lined out wide and Johnny Munt got some second first
13:46
Speaker 2: team looks as the number two tight end. He actually
13:49
Speaker 2: caught a pass as well, which is a.
13:52
Speaker 3: King breaking hashtag.
13:54
Speaker 1: I thought he only did that against the Eagles. Remember
13:56
Speaker 1: he caught that one pass against the Eagles ings and
13:59
Speaker 1: everybody went crazy. Yeah, yeah, who was the who is
14:02
Speaker 1: the coverage guy? It was because Hassan Reddick was asked
14:05
Speaker 1: to drop in the coverage and one caught a pass
14:08
Speaker 1: and then, like you know, Eagles Twitter was furious that
14:10
Speaker 1: Reddick was actually asked to drop in the coverage. Yes,
14:14
Speaker 1: I remember that. No, that's good. So that's interesting. So
14:17
Speaker 1: when you said Stours was lined up wide, was that
14:19
Speaker 1: like the X in a one by three where he
14:21
Speaker 1: was okay?
14:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was on one occasion and then he I
14:25
Speaker 2: think he ran a crosser if I'm remembering it correctly,
14:28
Speaker 2: and the ball went somewhere else.
14:33
Speaker 1: All right, Adam I know you got a question for
14:35
Speaker 1: for Andrew on something.
14:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny when Andrew, when I asked coaches, hey,
14:41
Speaker 3: how do these guys look? They get really baded when
14:42
Speaker 3: I asked this question because they're especially with rookies, they're
14:46
Speaker 3: just they're swimming more often, not make mistakes. They just
14:50
Speaker 3: so what I asked is, okay, give me this. Does
14:52
Speaker 3: a guy look explosive? Guy? Does it look explosively? Looks overweight?
14:56
Speaker 1: Yeah?
14:57
Speaker 3: Like I look at we all like you and I
14:59
Speaker 3: have noted many times about what Jill McMahon looked like.
15:01
Speaker 3: He looked too small. So I'm gonna ask you this question, counselor,
15:05
Speaker 3: did any like anything body type faster than you thought, anything,
15:08
Speaker 3: anything noticeable that Hey you know what, I got to
15:11
Speaker 3: move a little better than I thought or maybe worse.
15:13
Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you this, no One. Smith looks
15:15
Speaker 2: like he put on some muscle and he looks bigger.
15:19
Speaker 2: Cooper Gene to my eye, also looks like he added
15:21
Speaker 2: some size. And I also say, Tank Bigsby is really
15:25
Speaker 2: cut up. He's he's jacked.
15:28
Speaker 3: Man.
15:28
Speaker 2: It looks like those guys in particular put some serious
15:31
Speaker 2: work in in the off season to add some muscle
15:34
Speaker 2: mass cool.
15:35
Speaker 1: All right, good, good stuff. So let's let's transition to
15:39
Speaker 1: defense a little bit and listen. We talked to the line,
15:41
Speaker 1: we talked to the running backs, took to passing game. I mean,
15:43
Speaker 1: we didn't really ask you a Jyleen Hurt slash. Andy Dalton.
15:46
Speaker 1: Well that was interesting, though, Andy Dalton, again it's may
15:48
Speaker 1: I it's really not that interesting. But for whatever reasons,
15:52
Speaker 1: on this day, Andy Dalton was your QB two, is
15:54
Speaker 1: that correct?
15:55
Speaker 2: And then on Tuesday Tanner McKee was the QB two.
15:58
Speaker 2: So that goes back to what we were talking about
16:00
Speaker 2: open the show with the rotation that that's par for
16:03
Speaker 2: the course at this time. But Andy Dalton threw a
16:05
Speaker 2: pick six to Jonathan Jones. Yeah, yeah, he read it well,
16:09
Speaker 2: jumped in front of it, and the defense met him
16:11
Speaker 2: in the end zone and they were sort of celebrating there.
16:13
Speaker 2: But Jonathan Jones, guys, I think has the potential to
16:17
Speaker 2: be one of the Eagles' most underrated offseason editions because
16:20
Speaker 2: of his experience. This is someone who played in one
16:22
Speaker 2: hundred and forty four games, started seventy eight eight postseason appearances,
16:26
Speaker 2: and can give you positional versatility. Now he's going to
16:30
Speaker 2: be thirty three. It's September. That's thirty three in NFL years.
16:33
Speaker 2: So this is the same guy who missed some time
16:36
Speaker 2: with the hamstring injury last year and was on injury reserve.
16:38
Speaker 2: So it's something to keep an eye on. But I
16:40
Speaker 2: thought he was he made some of the plays of
16:42
Speaker 2: the day.
16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, so he's thirty three and he's picking off howld's
16:47
Speaker 1: Dalton thirty Yeah. Yeah, you got the octagenarian Olympics going
16:53
Speaker 1: on there.
16:55
Speaker 3: It's funny because what will happen is because reporters for
16:59
Speaker 3: they were the tweet out what Andrews talked about, and
17:02
Speaker 3: then the legles Twitter will go crazy. That's it. If
17:04
Speaker 3: McKee's traded, don't can't be the backup because you just
17:06
Speaker 3: throw a pick. Sex can't be you know, right. Okay, So,
17:11
Speaker 3: so as we said we're going to move to defense here,
17:17
Speaker 3: let me ask you this question on defense because Marcus
17:20
Speaker 3: Op's being the guy who when when Coop was not
17:23
Speaker 3: at safety, he was the guy. That's that's what we expected.
17:26
Speaker 3: Marcus EPs worries me because he's thirty. He had the
17:29
Speaker 3: aco injury. I know, Vic spoke very well of him.
17:32
Speaker 3: It's almost like he was caught. He was sort of
17:34
Speaker 3: surprised that how he looks Michael Carter. What do you
17:38
Speaker 3: see for Michael Carter, Because this is a guy's got
17:40
Speaker 3: a lot of positional versatility.
17:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, he moves really well, but you can't help but
17:45
Speaker 2: look at his size and wonder how that's going to work.
17:48
Speaker 2: Compare like comparing it or pairing him next to one
17:51
Speaker 2: hundred and eighty six pound Drew mccooba. That gives you
17:53
Speaker 2: a really really undersized safety tanem and you know in theory,
17:57
Speaker 2: but he moves well, he's instinctual. I had some really
18:00
Speaker 2: good conversation with him last year. The way he understands
18:03
Speaker 2: the game, the way he sees the game, it's very
18:05
Speaker 2: apparent to me why the Eagles are giving him a
18:08
Speaker 2: look here. And he played sixty five snaps in the
18:11
Speaker 2: season finale at safety, so he got he got some
18:14
Speaker 2: got some quality tape out there and we'll see where
18:17
Speaker 2: it lands.
18:18
Speaker 1: Andrew I thought, I don't know, maybe maybe only I
18:22
Speaker 1: took this out of it. But when Zach Bown had
18:24
Speaker 1: his press conference, I feel like he was hinting towards
18:26
Speaker 1: something or shetting light when he said VIX this year
18:30
Speaker 1: is so comfortable with the personnel because everybody's basically back
18:33
Speaker 1: that he's he's going to take it to the next level.
18:37
Speaker 1: And you know, it's sort of like, you know what
18:40
Speaker 1: is that. Vic's not McK wink Martindale, He's not Brian Flores.
18:44
Speaker 1: He's not gonna blitz thirty people. He's not waking up
18:47
Speaker 1: out of bed dialing. Like I don't even can't comprehend
18:50
Speaker 1: what taking it to the next level is for Vic
18:52
Speaker 1: Fangio other than like maybe spinning safety, he's like really
18:56
Speaker 1: close to the line, like to the snap and really
18:58
Speaker 1: changing the picture. But any did you make the same
19:01
Speaker 1: thing of that or is that.
19:02
Speaker 2: Just kind kind of yeah? And I read it similar
19:06
Speaker 2: to how you did Jeff, maybe bringing the safeties down more.
19:09
Speaker 2: But now that he has a corner that is expected
19:12
Speaker 2: to really quell any concerns on the outside. Pairing opposite
19:16
Speaker 2: Quinion Mitchell and riqu Wohen, that gives you a lot
19:18
Speaker 2: more flexibility and how you're able to deploy your personnel
19:21
Speaker 2: and what you can do with someone, for example, like
19:23
Speaker 2: a Cooper degene at safety. So when he says take
19:26
Speaker 2: it to the next level, I look at the pieces
19:28
Speaker 2: that he has to work with you have a stronger
19:31
Speaker 2: answer at that cornerback spot and Jonathan Gernard as an
19:35
Speaker 2: edge rusher there, you just have a lot more optionality.
19:38
Speaker 2: So maybe that's what he was alluding to.
19:41
Speaker 3: And Jeff, look at the length that they've got. You've
19:45
Speaker 3: got a six foot four corner, which is unheard of,
19:47
Speaker 3: who's very fluid by in this movement. He's not stiff now.
19:50
Speaker 3: And then the other corners over the other corners just
19:53
Speaker 3: over six feet So you got a really tall tanem
19:57
Speaker 3: H Macoba, by the way, has got positional versatility playing
20:00
Speaker 3: if you need him too, but he can match up
20:02
Speaker 3: inside if you need him too. There's a lot here.
20:04
Speaker 3: But Andrew, I'll tell you what. I don't want to
20:07
Speaker 3: put a ton on Greek Wolle, but he's kind of
20:10
Speaker 3: like he's sort of an X factor. If it works,
20:12
Speaker 3: it's it could be beautiful because I mean, look, he's
20:16
Speaker 3: way more talented than Rjory Jackson offensive Dory Jory's not
20:20
Speaker 3: the player he once was at thirty years old. But
20:22
Speaker 3: if it doesn't work, guys, Jonathan Jones at his age
20:25
Speaker 3: at thirty three, you don't want to be covering stuff up.
20:28
Speaker 3: You don't want to be not doing what you want
20:30
Speaker 3: to do. So on Jeff, as I sent him back
20:32
Speaker 3: to you. On Bond's point, if one is the real deal,
20:37
Speaker 3: there's a lot you can do with this group.
20:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I kind of also been wondering, well, like
20:42
Speaker 1: what's planned be forget not Let's we could say, let's
20:46
Speaker 1: say he doesn't play well, Let's say he gets hurt.
20:49
Speaker 1: Uh is it? As Andrew mentioned, That's why it feels
20:52
Speaker 1: like the Jonathan Jones signing is very significant. If he
20:55
Speaker 1: winds up playing well and making the team. It's the
20:57
Speaker 1: first time they've really had a veteran outside corn or
21:00
Speaker 1: to make the team and man that position, because if
21:03
Speaker 1: Wolan were to get hurt or not play well one
21:05
Speaker 1: or the other. Uh, and Vic felt like he needed
21:07
Speaker 1: the gene there, then that also impacts the safety position
21:11
Speaker 1: and they still wouldn't have someone you'd be comfortable with
21:14
Speaker 1: starting like five, six, seven, eight games at safety in
21:18
Speaker 1: all on all downs makes sense. So it's almost instrumental
21:22
Speaker 1: that this Greek woolen thing works, or that Jonathan Jones
21:25
Speaker 1: war even plays really well. Yeah.
21:28
Speaker 2: Yeah. What I'll say about Vic is that he doesn't
21:31
Speaker 2: sugarcoat anything, and he doesn't offer hollow praise. I wrote
21:34
Speaker 2: about this on Inside the Birds dot com. So when
21:36
Speaker 2: he goes out there and he offers that kind of
21:39
Speaker 2: ringing endorsement for a Reek Wollen and he was surprised
21:42
Speaker 2: that he didn't that he wasn't valued more on the market,
21:46
Speaker 2: I mean that tells you how he views him within
21:48
Speaker 2: his system. Now it's about going out there and really
21:53
Speaker 2: becoming technically sound and making sure you're you're fine tuning
21:56
Speaker 2: those details, because, as Vick has shown, if he doesn't
21:59
Speaker 2: try to put you out there, he's not going to
22:01
Speaker 2: put you out there. Doesn't matter if you're a high
22:04
Speaker 2: free agent edition or a high price free age edition
22:06
Speaker 2: like Bryce Hoff or a high draft pick. So it's
22:09
Speaker 2: imperative that Reek Wollan really takes to the system and
22:12
Speaker 2: is able to master the details.
22:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, we're not gonna let you out of
22:17
Speaker 1: here without giving you a Wheelhouse Special Teams question because
22:19
Speaker 1: we know that you love games and you wonder if
22:22
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Speaker 2: All right.
23:40
Speaker 1: So the two things we got to ask you. One, obviously,
23:42
Speaker 1: they're working out a rookie free agent long snapper, Rocco Underwood.
23:47
Speaker 1: All right, I'm sure that's Tom's best friend now. And
23:51
Speaker 1: Jake Elliott obviously is the only kicker there, and we
23:53
Speaker 1: know about his struggles. Did they do any kicking inside
23:56
Speaker 1: as far as okay now?
23:57
Speaker 2: But it wasn't interesting to see the specialists and how
23:59
Speaker 2: they were sort of helping, uh, you know, throughout the
24:02
Speaker 2: drills and things like that. And during the team period,
24:06
Speaker 2: Braiden Man, Jake Elliot, Roco Underwood, Michael Clay, and Jonathan
24:09
Speaker 2: Bernard were doing sprints from one sideline to the other.
24:13
Speaker 2: So Braiden Man, by the way, can move. Yeah, he's
24:17
Speaker 2: got some Uh, he's got some movement to him.
24:20
Speaker 3: So Andrew, what position did he tell us when you
24:24
Speaker 3: when I interviewed him? What was it did he play?
24:26
Speaker 3: What did he play? Yeah? There you go, there you go?
24:30
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the old punter linebacker comboy. You see it
24:32
Speaker 1: all the time. I know, who know?
24:34
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly? Who know?
24:36
Speaker 1: All right? So did did so? I guess we didn't
24:38
Speaker 1: even see any long snapping then because they weren't kicking.
24:41
Speaker 2: Not this time. No, but I am curious to see
24:47
Speaker 2: because I know Chance Campbell was working with for example,
24:50
Speaker 2: that's that's a name that's sort of off the radar.
24:52
Speaker 2: He was working with the second team with Smile mind him,
24:54
Speaker 2: but he also I believe was on the first team kickoff.
24:58
Speaker 2: That's somebody that I'm going to be keep an eye
24:59
Speaker 2: on because I expect the Eagles to keep four linebackers
25:03
Speaker 2: with Smile mind and being the fourth. But if Chance
25:05
Speaker 2: Campbell can really prove his value on special teams, he's
25:08
Speaker 2: somebody that he doesn't register as a household name, but
25:11
Speaker 2: it might be a name to file away.
25:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, but all three of us have done our too
25:15
Speaker 1: early fifty three man and knowing how heavy they might
25:18
Speaker 1: have to go at offensive line and quarterback, and it's like,
25:22
Speaker 1: where do we How can they keep a fifth linebacker
25:25
Speaker 1: when they you know, that's that's for all the weeds
25:27
Speaker 1: to be worked out later.
25:28
Speaker 2: Sure, And I should also mention that while it's just sprung,
25:32
Speaker 2: it just came to me. Keithy Ringo didn't get a
25:34
Speaker 2: lot of reps at cornerback today. I remember, I mean
25:38
Speaker 2: there was Ambry Thomas was was getting looks before he
25:43
Speaker 2: was and then when at the end of practice he
25:45
Speaker 2: gave up a deep ball, he got Brandon Hayes, who
25:49
Speaker 2: the Eagles just signed a rookie fore agent now Southeast Louisiana.
25:52
Speaker 2: He got them, he elevated over them and came up with,
25:55
Speaker 2: uh that the downfield pass from Cole Payton.
25:58
Speaker 3: Again, for what I worth, Ringo is not part of
26:02
Speaker 3: their defensive cornerback group by by no, He's got to
26:05
Speaker 3: be signed somewhere, right, but Fandrea will not play him
26:08
Speaker 3: like he's a special team I literally believe he would
26:11
Speaker 3: play a linebacker corner over Ringo. That's how much he do.
26:14
Speaker 2: He's kind of like, yeah, he's kind of like J. T. Grays.
26:17
Speaker 3: J T.
26:18
Speaker 2: Gray is a safety by title, but he doesn't play safety.
26:20
Speaker 2: He played one hundred and p his career, right, Ringo
26:23
Speaker 2: seems like he's trending towards that specialist type of role
26:25
Speaker 2: where he's just a force on special teams and that
26:28
Speaker 2: could be an lead special teams player.
26:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, remember the twenty seventeen Eagles with your
26:33
Speaker 1: Chris Maragos and your Brian Brayman's like they're there's They're important.
26:37
Speaker 1: I'm not.
26:37
Speaker 3: We're not trying to I could. I could still see
26:40
Speaker 3: him lining up at Camden. That's what I would when
26:41
Speaker 3: they line him up in the defense when he'd have
26:43
Speaker 3: to play, he would every once went as emergency, they'd
26:47
Speaker 3: have him twenty five yards downfield c high safety.
26:50
Speaker 1: Just yeah, you will.
26:54
Speaker 3: Right, exactly, like they were reducing what you have to do.
26:58
Speaker 3: Just play back there. You know.
26:59
Speaker 1: I used to tell I hail Mary defense because it
27:02
Speaker 1: was basically like he was defending the hail Mary back there.
27:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, and plus he was the last guy, like literally
27:07
Speaker 3: the last man's standing. But Andrews so overall, yeah, it's
27:10
Speaker 3: only one practice. We don't read into anything, but we
27:12
Speaker 3: list everything. We notice everything, sure, anything anything like anything
27:17
Speaker 3: to you. You go, well, that was interesting. I didn't
27:19
Speaker 3: expect that to happen.
27:22
Speaker 2: I was, and I noted this in my observations. I
27:25
Speaker 2: was watching during individuals to see how the defensive backs coaches,
27:29
Speaker 2: how they allocated their their time. And Mike Pelagreno, the
27:32
Speaker 2: secondary coach, was working predominantly with the outside corners. Roy Anderson,
27:36
Speaker 2: the cornerbacks coach, was working with Mac McWilliams, Cooper Degene
27:39
Speaker 2: and Kapina Kushikin the undrafted rookie and then Joe Casper
27:43
Speaker 2: was working with the Safety Group. So it's just something
27:46
Speaker 2: that I wanted to note because they have three different
27:49
Speaker 2: coaches there and how are you gonna how you're gonna,
27:51
Speaker 2: you know, divvy up the work?
27:53
Speaker 1: Good stuff. Interesting comment from Jillen Hurts when asked about
27:57
Speaker 1: aj Brown to actually give you a little bit of
28:02
Speaker 1: an insight into what he's thinking when he said, hey,
28:04
Speaker 1: nothing can I believe what he said was nothing can
28:06
Speaker 1: match or or beat the what we accomplished together, the
28:09
Speaker 1: greatness the great deceived together. So uh, you know, for
28:14
Speaker 1: I thought he was just gonna be like, next question.
28:16
Speaker 1: So at least he uh, he gave that much. In general,
28:19
Speaker 1: though he seemed he's like, I'm excited about the new offense.
28:22
Speaker 1: Like really, you're you don't look very excited, but you.
28:25
Speaker 2: See, he actually seemed excited. He seemed refreshed about it.
28:29
Speaker 2: I mean that that was my read on it. And
28:31
Speaker 2: Jalen is someone that I feel like, if you're able
28:34
Speaker 2: to articulate your vision and illustrate it in a way
28:37
Speaker 2: that makes sense, if you have intent behind it, you're
28:40
Speaker 2: gonna have his ear. And to me, that that was
28:43
Speaker 2: he conveyed that when he was talking about Sean Mannion
28:46
Speaker 2: and and the intent that he sort of you know
28:49
Speaker 2: that he takes to to the offense and he said
28:51
Speaker 2: you could throw any quarterback under center, but he wants
28:54
Speaker 2: to know the why behind it, and what's what's your
28:57
Speaker 2: mo o? What do you what are you contemplating? Like
28:59
Speaker 2: what's the thought process here? And I do believe that
29:02
Speaker 2: Sean Manny and having that opportunity to speak to him
29:05
Speaker 2: last week, he's someone who is someone he teaches and
29:10
Speaker 2: he has a lot of reasoning behind what he's doing.
29:12
Speaker 2: That to me was at least evident in the way
29:15
Speaker 2: that he that he came across.
29:16
Speaker 1: Right, great stuff, man, good observations. They're going to have
29:20
Speaker 1: what two more open to the media.
29:24
Speaker 2: I think next week there'll be one. I think, yeah,
29:27
Speaker 2: all right.
29:28
Speaker 1: Then we should do this again and have you on
29:31
Speaker 1: and have the great observations. Really appreciate all the work
29:34
Speaker 1: you're doing for the website and the podcast and to
29:36
Speaker 1: check o daily every day on the Inside the Birds platform.
29:40
Speaker 1: You should check that out as well. And that's going
29:42
Speaker 1: to do it for this edition of Inside the Birds,
29:44
Speaker 1: the leading podcasts and Eagles Intel for Andrew to Checko
29:49
Speaker 1: and I'm Kaplan I'm Jeff Mosher, and of course we
29:52
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29:57
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