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The DiCecco Daily: Which Eagles Will Become NFL Stars In 2026? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's going on? Everybody?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome into another episode of De Checho Daly. It's Andrew
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: de Checko, Eagles beat reporter friendsidethbirds dot Com here.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: With you and today's podcast.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I want to go through three Eagles who I believe
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: are primed for stardom in twenty twenty six. Neither of
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: the three players that I'm mentioning have been Pro Bowl selections,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: and they generally aren't regarded as household names. The first
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: player who I'm gonna mention you might be able to
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: make sort of an exception, I guess, but I still
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: don't think that he's viewed as highly nationally as he
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: should be, and that's wide receiver Davonte Smith. Davonte Smith
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: overtakes the top receiver role in Philadelphia, replacing AJ Brown,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: and need I remind everyone that he has been a
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: top receiver before in twenty twenty one when he was
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: a rookie and he had nine hundred and sixteen receiving yards,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: and I think he checked off a ton of boxes
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: that season and has only gotten exponentially better with each
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: passing season. So by that logic in itself, I think
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: you have to feel really optimistic about DeVante's Smith's outlook
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six. But Davante is a player that
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: when you look at his numbers from last season seventy
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: seven catches, one thousand and eight yards and four touchdowns,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: that doesn't always tell the full story, but it does
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: give him a significant leap potential in twenty twenty six,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and he did have one hundred and thirteen targets. Expect
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: that number to climb significantly now. The Eagles are expected
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: to facilitate the football to a number of targets, a
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: number of receiving targets this year, and they should. That's
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the nature of the offense and the background that Sean
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Mannion is coming in here with. But Davante Smith's going
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: to lead the way in terms of the target share.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: And he's had three seasons over one thousand yards. He's
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: never really been a volume based receiver. When it comes
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: to touchdowns, He's had seven twice and he had eight
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: and twenty twenty four.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: As I mentioned, he had four last year.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: But where Davante really separates is as a route runner.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: He's a three level threat. I've always felt that he
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: was underutilized in this offense, and granted it's not a
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: volume based passing offense, but I do believe that Davante
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: has another level in which he can reach, and for
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: whatever reason, he really hasn't had the as many opportunities.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Well not for whatever reason.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Aj Brown commanded the Lion's share of the targets, but Davante.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: The Eagles had the luxury of having two number one
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: receivers because I always viewed Davante as a number one receiver.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: That's just my opinion.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: But I think in this offense he stands to benefit
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: most with this schematic shift, because I do believe they're
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: going to find ways to get.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Him on the move and move him around.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: He offers positional versatility and alignment versatility, and you're going
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: to see him utilize more in terms of the shorts,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: intermediate completions, but also getting him on the move and
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: taking advantage of his ability to run after the catch
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: or take advantage of open space. Now, he's not someone
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that's going to shed a bunch of tacklers.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: He's not the biggest guy in the world. He has
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: a slighter frame.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: He does look like he added.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Some weight and muscle in the offseason, but I just
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: look at Davante Smith and look at the potential of
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: this offense, and it's hard for me to not believe
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: that he's going to be someone that really takes flight
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six. I believe Devonte Smith is prime
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: for stardom in twenty twenty six. The next two players
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I want to get into or on the defensive side
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: of the ball now, I'm not considering the Quinya Mitchells
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: or Cooper de Jean's because they're all pros. Jalen Carter
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: everyone knows that when healthy, he's one of the top
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: players at his position in the NFL. Jonathan Grenard's established.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I don't know that I can quite go there yet.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: With Jahad Campbell and Drew mccouba, there are two second
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: year players maybe going into the third season, they would
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: be candidates for that. But the first player I'm going
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: with is outside linebacker jaylyox Hunt, and jalox Hunt is
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: a player that as a rookie, there was a lot
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: of widespread belief that he was going to be a project.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: That was the pre draft sentiment surrounding him. Knowing that
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: he was a safety at Cornell and transitioned to the
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: defensive line when he got to Houston Christian in twenty
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: twenty two, so a little inexperienced, a little bit raw,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: and the widespread belief was that he was going to
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: be takes a little bit time and require some nurturing
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: before he was really really able to ascend at the
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: pro level. Well, as it turned out, Jay lookx Hunt
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: later in his rookie season ended up solidifying a spot
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: in the Eagles three man pass rush rotation that was
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl winning defense, and he played two hundred
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: and forty one snaps that season. Didn't necessarily flash in
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: terms of sack production, but you can clearly see the
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: difference made in strides from training camp and early in
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: that season to where he finished the year in the postseason,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: and as I mentioned, he played two hundred and forty
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: one snaps as a rookie and it seemed that he
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: was going to be a player that the Eagles could
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: really bank on taking the next step in his second season.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Well, last year, jay.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Loox Hunt played six hundred and ninety three snaps, he
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: led all Eagles edge rushers and snaps he led all
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Eagles edge rushers in sacks with six and a half.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: He led all Eagles in quarterback hits with twenty four,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: and he tied for the most in tackles for loss,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: which I believe was nine.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: He tied with.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Jordan Davis and or maybe that was that might have been, Yeah,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: I think that was tied tied for first.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: And he also led the Eagles in interceptions.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Now, you don't often sort of draw a correlation between
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: edge rushers and interceptions, but.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: You look at Jalox Hunt.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: He's a unique case because he does have that safety background.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: He has an act for being able to drop in
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: the coverage and navigate space and read the eyes of quarterbacks.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: That's a unique skill set that he has because of
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: his prior background. But when I look at Jalox Hunt,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: I see a player who's made notable strides in each
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: of his first two seasons. And if you go back
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: to what his own defensive coordator, Vic Vango had to
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: say about him in May, and I'm going to get
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: that quote for you right now, he said, just keep
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: doing what he's doing. He's had a nice progression. I
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: see him growing his game in all aspects. I think
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: he can and will rush better, He'll play the run better.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: It's just the natural progression. He's had a good progression
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: in his rookie year. He didn't play a ton early.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Then when BG Brandon Graham went down, he started playing
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: more and I thought, for a guy with his background,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: was kind of a perfect year for him. He ended
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: up playing a good bit if you remember in the playoffs, etc.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Then last year played a lot, did good. Yeah, I
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: think he's just ready to keep getting better and better. Well,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I tend to agree with Vic Fangio here, who is
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: the ultimate truth teller. And you look at the way
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: that Jay looks Hunk played last season, I believe that
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: you saw advancements made in his pass rush approach. He
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: became a more well rounded edge rusher, meaning he was
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: adept at playing the run. You saw his ability to
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: set the edge with force and violence and just a
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: willing participant in the run game. But I also saw
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: a much more nuanced approach when it comes to rushing
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: the quarterback and how he was sort of combating offensive tackles.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: He had a much more of a calculated approach, and
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: he talked about where his game is different this year.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: He said it's his attention to detail, reacting and knowing
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: how to react and when to react. All those things
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: naturally take time, especially when you look at it from
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: a pass rusher's perspective. But last summer he showed up
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: looking noticeably bulkier. He added some strength to his frame
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: and that.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Really revealed itself early.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Now, the sack production, if you're someone who does watch
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: the box scores, it was pretty barren until about week ten.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: He had just one sack into week ten, and then
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: he had five and a half to close out the season.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Now that coincided with the arrival of Jaywen Phillips, but
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: the Eagles also added Jonathan Grenard via trade this offseason,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and John think Gard has thirty eight career sacks. I
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: think he's a more effective pass rusher than Jalen Phillips,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: where I thought Jalen Phillips gave you a little bit
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: more in terms of run support, and he can do
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: some different things because of his length. But with playing
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: opposite Jonathan Gernard, I think will ultimately help unlock something
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: in jay Loox hunt. And I go back to what
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: I just said. Jaylyox opened the season last year as
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: a starter. It was him and Nolan Smith, so there's
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: a lot of questions and maybe even a little skepticism
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: about what both players were going.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: To be able to do with the spotlight on them.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Well, this year, he's going into this season with Jonathan
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Garnard playing opposite him, so one would presume that Grenard's
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: going to continue to command a good bit of attention,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: which should in theory free up Jalox Hunt to be
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: able to go feast and get the quarterback. And you
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: couple that with the progression he's made as a multifaceted
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: edge rusher, and I would imagine his snap share is
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: going to continue to rise, so the opportunity should be there.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: I think there's a world.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: In which he pushes double digit sacks and becomes a
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: household name.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: This year.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: He's put the work in. I think he deserves it.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: He just has to go out there and produce from
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: that standpoint to really put himself into that stardom trajectory
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: and make him more of the more of a household name,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: because right now, I know locally there's a lot of
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: interest and intrigue with what Jaylyox can provide this year
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: and going into year three.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: But from a national perspective.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I still think that he's sort of an unknown commodity.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: At the moment, but I think that's going to change.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Based off of this season.
• 10:41
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• 11:41
  Speaker 2: And then the third player I wanted to talk about
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: is one of my favorite players to watch on the
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Eagles defense. You should know by my lead in who
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about if you're familiar with this podcast, and
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: that is defensive tackle Morojoma, who enters his fourth season now. Morojomo,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: as a rookie, played sixty eight snaps. In his second season,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: he played three hundred and eighty eight, which he tied
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: that season with Jordan Davis. Believe it or not, that
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: was about thirty seven percent of the snaps. Well, his
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: snapshare hiked up pretty significantly last season. He played seven
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: hundred and forty snaps, which was good for sixty six
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: percent of the Eagles defensive total, and he had nine
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: starts in seventeen games, produced thirty eight tackles, six sacks,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: six tackles for loss, and twelve quarterback hits.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Jomo kind of like Jay looks, Hunt has taken.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Pretty sizable leaps in season year over year, and I
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: don't think that this year is going to be any exception.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: He seems to be growing increasingly more comfortable with his role.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I think he's sort of defying logic where he's a
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: little bit of an undersized defensive tackle, but he finds
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: unique He finds ways to win because he has a
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: unique skill set. He has really long arms, and while
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: he may not have the prototypical build for that position
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: at six foot two shade under three hundred pounds, I
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: believe he is someone that wins with leverage, he wins
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: with quickness.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: He knows how to strike violently.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: And I think if you go back to what Landon
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Dickerson and Tyler Steen, some of what the interior offensive
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: linemen were saying about Morojomo last year, about how he's
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: kind of awkward to block, and I know Landin said,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: I mean that in a positive way.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: I believe it was Landon who said that.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I think it really illustrates the challenges that you see
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: interior linemen have when they're facing Morojomo. Not only does
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: he have unique athletic traits, but he also plays with
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: extreme violence and physicality at the point of attack and
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: really good anticipation. He's a sharp minded football player. The
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Eagles have on the defensive side an abundance of really
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: smart football players and Moro Jomo is among them. And
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: so when you look at the sea that he had
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: last year, He's also in the final year of his
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: rookie deal, so all eyes are going to be on him.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: He has a lot to play for naturally, I believe
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: that he's going to continue to produce this year, especially
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: when it comes to sack production, and command a pretty
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: sizable payday down the line here, whether it's with the Eagles,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: which I have a hard time envisioning, knowing that Jalen
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Carter is up next as well and they just paid
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Jordan Davis, but regardless, there's going to be a team
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: that I think will really pony up to get a
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Moro Jomo, much like they did Milton Williams.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: And so you.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Factor all of that into the mix here.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I do think that Moro Jomo is really going to
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: continue his assent and become a household name in twenty
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: twenty six. And as I said about Davonte Smith, Moro
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: deserves to be mentioned as one of those up and
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: coming fast ride type of defensive tackles because it's been
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: a long road for him. But you can clearly see
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I just ran down the snap totals for you and
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: the production that came with it. He didn't even produce
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: any NFL sacks in the regular season until twenty twenty five.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: But that's where sometimes stats are a little deceiving because
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: he was still an impactful player, just affecting the game
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: in a different way, and now he has something tangible
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: to really base things off of, base an assessment off of,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: and I think Moro could easily replicate that, maybe even
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: go a tick more and tick more than the six
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: sacks he had last season, and he should be starting.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: He should start to.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Be viewed among the better interior pass rushing defensive tackles
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: in the NFL. So those are my three players, and
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I mentioned why it didn't go the route of a
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: couple of others. I still need to see more from
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Drew mccuba, Jahad Campbell. I can't put don Tavian Wicks
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: into that because there hasn't yet been that sizeable track
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: record of sustained performance.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: A lot of it is based off of.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Projection, and he's never had more than thirty nine catches
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: in a season. So for me to just sit here
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: and say that he's prime for stardom in this season
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: and in this offense would would not necessarily be what
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: I'm going for here. I'm going for basing things off
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: of tangible results and trying to project that into what
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: it could look like with another year under their belt.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: And I've come to this conclusion with Devonte Smith on offense,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Jay Looks Hunt, and Moro Jomo on defense. What say
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: you would love to hear from you? You can email
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Inside the Birds at gmail dot com, or you can
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: email me or reach out to me personally on X
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: or however whatever means you use to with regard to
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: social media.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: But for now, that's going to do it.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: For this episode of The check O Daily, Andrew de
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Echo and I'll catch you all on the next one
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: h