Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: DiCecco's Final Eagles OTA Notebook
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- 0:00Speaker 1: And Football at four is powered by the Inside the
- 0:03Speaker 1: Birds podcast, which you can get on all podcasting platforms.
- 0:08Speaker 1: I'm Mike gil. This is the Sports Bash and Football
- 0:11Speaker 1: at four. Each and every day on the Sports Batch
- 0:13Speaker 1: is brought to you by Ocean Casino Resort and the
- 0:17Speaker 1: Fanatics Sports Book. The best place for game days, the
- 0:20Speaker 1: Fanatic Sports Book, Ocean Casinos Gallery Bar booking games. It's
- 0:23Speaker 1: a go to destination with huge screens, great drinks, and
- 0:26Speaker 1: all the sportsbook action you want. It's a perfect place
- 0:29Speaker 1: to catch every play and celebrate every win. I can't
- 0:33Speaker 1: imagine what it looked like in their last night for
- 0:37Speaker 1: that Knicks comeback. I would imagine it emptied out. Maybe
- 0:40Speaker 1: people went home for that thing last night. It was
- 0:42Speaker 1: starting to get late. It was a you know. And
- 0:44Speaker 1: if they were at that gallery bar booking games at
- 0:47Speaker 1: the Fanatic Sports Book, if they stayed at the end,
- 0:50Speaker 1: they saw the biggest comeback in the history of the playoffs.
- 0:54Speaker 1: But come football season, that place will be jamming with
- 0:58Speaker 1: Eagles fans. In the last two days, Andrew Deiceco has
- 1:02Speaker 1: been watching the Eagles over at Jefferson Health Training Center.
- 1:08Speaker 1: A mouthful if you will, we need to do something
- 1:10Speaker 1: about that. Eagles novacare much easier to say. But Andrew
- 1:14Speaker 1: was there and he's got some observations with us right
- 1:17Speaker 1: now on today's edition of Football at four. Welcome back Andrew.
- 1:21Speaker 2: How are you, Mike, what's happening? Great to be with you.
- 1:24Speaker 1: As always, man, And it was probably great to see
- 1:26Speaker 1: the guys out on the field, right, even if it
- 1:28Speaker 1: was only for two days, you got a little taste
- 1:30Speaker 1: of what the twenty twenty sixth Philadelphia Eagles might look like.
- 1:35Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly was mandatory mini camps say, you see
- 1:38Speaker 2: everyone come together, you start to get a sense for
- 1:42Speaker 2: you know, how the pieces are going to fit into
- 1:44Speaker 2: the equation. At least it gives you a clearer picture
- 1:46Speaker 2: of what to expect as you advance towards training camp.
- 1:49Speaker 1: So top observation on the offense, is it noticeably some
- 1:53Speaker 1: different concepts, noticeably some different stuff. Obviously no Aj Brown,
- 1:58Speaker 1: But as your main takeaway is, yeah, this might look
- 2:00Speaker 1: a lot different.
- 2:02Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks quite different. And as I always like
- 2:05Speaker 2: to say, the Eagles are in the early stages of
- 2:09Speaker 2: laying the foundation here with the offense. So when I
- 2:12Speaker 2: explain to you, you know what I'm seeing, it's also
- 2:15Speaker 2: important to take that into you know, take that context.
- 2:19Speaker 2: But you are noticing a lot of under center looks
- 2:22Speaker 2: from the quarterbacks, some tight splits, the motion, and the
- 2:28Speaker 2: quarterbacks well, you know they're holding onto the football a
- 2:32Speaker 2: little bit longer than you'd like on some instances. They
- 2:35Speaker 2: are getting it out there is working on the middle
- 2:37Speaker 2: of the field throws. This is the time of year
- 2:40Speaker 2: where you're really ironing out things. This gives coaches a
- 2:44Speaker 2: chance to learn their personnel, the personnel to familiarize themselves
- 2:48Speaker 2: with the coaches, the verbage, all those things, so that
- 2:50Speaker 2: when you do get to training camp, you're able to
- 2:52Speaker 2: kind of go full steam ahead and there isn't that
- 2:54Speaker 2: introductory phase or anything like that. And so I did
- 2:57Speaker 2: notice a lot of that, a lot of multiple tight
- 3:00Speaker 2: end usage. Now, DeVante Smith was excused for personal reasons
- 3:04Speaker 2: on Wednesday, Makai Lemon was sidelined with the hamstring. Britain
- 3:07Speaker 2: Covey also didn't practice, so that's certainly contributed to it.
- 3:11Speaker 2: And a lot of running backs in terms of being
- 3:14Speaker 2: involved in the passing game, Sakwon Barkley saw a flurry
- 3:17Speaker 2: of targets come his way. Will Shipley was heavily involved
- 3:21Speaker 2: on Wednesday. Tank Bigsby has been on the receiving end
- 3:24Speaker 2: of some of those those check downs, those those angle
- 3:27Speaker 2: route type of plays, and so I'm curious to see,
- 3:31Speaker 2: Mike if this becomes something that they look to carry
- 3:33Speaker 2: over into the regular season, because it seems like it's
- 3:36Speaker 2: a prevailing theme every year. We just haven't really seen
- 3:39Speaker 2: it manifest in the regular season when the running backs
- 3:42Speaker 2: are involved in the passing game.
- 3:44Speaker 1: We were talking about it yesterday with most Andrew, and
- 3:46Speaker 1: I wanted to know further that is, are the running
- 3:49Speaker 1: backs in this offense going to have a bigger role
- 3:50Speaker 1: in the passing game? And he kind of laughed and said,
- 3:52Speaker 1: we talk about it every year and it never happens.
- 3:54Speaker 1: But this is different, right, I mean, do you expect
- 3:57Speaker 1: that those running backs will have a role swinging out
- 4:00Speaker 1: the backfield, will dump off stuff that we really haven't
- 4:02Speaker 1: seen a lot of.
- 4:05Speaker 2: Well, right now, it's pretty much a passing camp in
- 4:07Speaker 2: terms of just OTA's and spring practices, and even to
- 4:10Speaker 2: a larger sense in training camp we often see it
- 4:13Speaker 2: as well, but it hasn't necessarily had the carryover. But
- 4:17Speaker 2: when I look at this offense, Mike, where it's you know,
- 4:20Speaker 2: timing based and you have to get the ball out quickly.
- 4:23Speaker 2: It's easy to see, you know, a vision from Sean
- 4:28Speaker 2: Manning where you want to have those built in options
- 4:30Speaker 2: for your quarterback to get the football out quickly, use
- 4:33Speaker 2: your running backs as outlet options. Saquon Barkley can catch
- 4:38Speaker 2: the football capably, soaking Wheeler ship Ley, thank Bigsby. That's
- 4:41Speaker 2: not necessarily his calling card, but he's adept at doing so.
- 4:45Speaker 2: So Yeah, I am curious to see if this trend
- 4:49Speaker 2: continues as we get through you know, August and so forth.
- 4:54Speaker 1: Angel to check out football for Inside the Birds podcast
- 4:57Speaker 1: all his mandatory mini camp coverages up at it inside
- 5:00Speaker 1: the Birds dot com. You know, one of the things
- 5:02Speaker 1: is the anticipatory throws from Jalen Hurts. I don't know
- 5:05Speaker 1: how much of a feel you got for that over
- 5:09Speaker 1: the last two days, but was that something that you
- 5:11Speaker 1: saw a lot of him going over the middle of
- 5:12Speaker 1: the field.
- 5:14Speaker 2: Yeah, there were some some inbreakers and things like that.
- 5:17Speaker 2: The ball has there's been instances where the ball has
- 5:19Speaker 2: come out of his hands quickly. They have those options,
- 5:22Speaker 2: but the offense is just so incredibly new and such
- 5:27Speaker 2: a drastic departure from anything that they've done in the past.
- 5:30Speaker 2: So to expect an offense with so much newness at
- 5:34Speaker 2: play here to be able to go toe to toe
- 5:37Speaker 2: with a defense that's now going into the third season
- 5:40Speaker 2: with Vic Fangio and many of these players are now
- 5:43Speaker 2: going into their third season of playing together, it's just
- 5:46Speaker 2: not all that realistic. So the defense was, you know,
- 5:49Speaker 2: cohesive and poised and fast flowing and all those things
- 5:52Speaker 2: you would expect to see, while the offense looks like
- 5:55Speaker 2: an offense that's working through you know, the early stages
- 5:58Speaker 2: of of a revamp.
- 6:01Speaker 1: You know, over at ESPN dot com, they were talking
- 6:05Speaker 1: about different packaging groups and they said one to watch
- 6:09Speaker 1: was the Eagles twelve personnel two tight ends. Are you
- 6:13Speaker 1: intrigued by the fact that they could use a lot
- 6:15Speaker 1: of two tight ends because you know, cal Katara has
- 6:17Speaker 1: been here in the past. I know he's a good
- 6:19Speaker 1: pass catcher, Johnny Munth moore of a blocker. And there's
- 6:21Speaker 1: Eli Stowers, who Nick Sirianni talked about on Monday or Tuesday,
- 6:26Speaker 1: whatever day he spoke Wednesday, maybe it was that he talked,
- 6:29Speaker 1: you know, leggd at him. Do you see this as
- 6:33Speaker 1: a good twelve personnel grouping.
- 6:36Speaker 2: Yeah, I do. And if Sean Manny and him were
- 6:39Speaker 2: getting ahead of ourselves here, if he to take anything
- 6:41Speaker 2: away from Sean McVay, one of his prominent influences, Sean
- 6:46Speaker 2: McVay used a lot of thirteen personnel last season, but
- 6:49Speaker 2: certainly when it comes to twelve personnel, I think the
- 6:51Speaker 2: Eagles have done a really good job, Mike of making
- 6:55Speaker 2: a concerted effort to balance out the room, meaning they
- 6:58Speaker 2: didn't sort of stockpile receiving centric players. They've added blocking
- 7:03Speaker 2: components to the mix. And you have someone like Eli
- 7:05Speaker 2: Stowers who represents the future and he is a dynamic,
- 7:09Speaker 2: movable chess piece that they can use. Dallas Goddard in
- 7:13Speaker 2: theory is a two way player, but his blocking regress
- 7:15Speaker 2: last season, so that's something that I'll certainly be keeping
- 7:18Speaker 2: an eye on. Then you have players like Cameron Lattu,
- 7:21Speaker 2: a tremendous blocker. Johnny Munt is a blocking specialist. So
- 7:25Speaker 2: because there is that balance and you don't have to
- 7:27Speaker 2: necessarily dictate things and all that or I guess telegraph things. Yeah,
- 7:34Speaker 2: I could see a lot of twelve person out of
- 7:37Speaker 2: the season, and Johnny Munt is gonna by all accounts
- 7:40Speaker 2: be that second tight end and lead the way because
- 7:42Speaker 2: he offers something different than the other players.
- 7:45Speaker 1: Let's go to the defensive side of the ball. You know,
- 7:48Speaker 1: somebody asked me the other day if I thought that
- 7:50Speaker 1: the ceiling of this defense was better than the ceiling
- 7:53Speaker 1: of last year's defense, how would you kind of characterize
- 7:56Speaker 1: that question?
- 7:58Speaker 2: I would say yes, because of the inclusion of cornerback
- 8:02Speaker 2: Greek Wollan, who has made plays every practice that's been
- 8:07Speaker 2: open to reporters. But to a larger point, to expand
- 8:11Speaker 2: on this, what greek Wollan represents. As long as he's
- 8:14Speaker 2: able to take to the technical aspects of playing cornerback
- 8:18Speaker 2: in a Vic Fangio defense and can remain assignment sound
- 8:21Speaker 2: and hone in on those fundamentals, he affords Vicvangil a
- 8:24Speaker 2: lot more flexibility in terms of what he's able to
- 8:26Speaker 2: do from a creativity standpoint, how he can deploy his personnel.
- 8:30Speaker 2: Because if you have another corn on the other side,
- 8:34Speaker 2: where the other side of quinnya Mitchell, you don't necessarily
- 8:37Speaker 2: have to atone for a player like an Adori Jackson
- 8:41Speaker 2: or akiv Ringo and provide safety help or be cognizant
- 8:44Speaker 2: of when they're on the field, not to put them
- 8:46Speaker 2: in a position where they're going to be exploited. And
- 8:49Speaker 2: when they are in base you can feel comfortable that
- 8:51Speaker 2: you can put Rik Wollen and QUINNYA. Mitchell on the outside,
- 8:53Speaker 2: move Cooper de Gene at safety and understand that it's
- 8:57Speaker 2: going to operate at high efficiency. So I think, yes,
- 9:00Speaker 2: it does have higher upside compared to last season because
- 9:05Speaker 2: of that, and I also like to fit a Jonathan
- 9:07Speaker 2: Gernard complimenting what they already have there in Jay look
- 9:09Speaker 2: Sunt Nolan Smith. Johnathan Gernard I believe will be a
- 9:12Speaker 2: really good fit in this defense. He's a better pure
- 9:15Speaker 2: pass rusher than Jalen Phillips. Now. I think Jalen Phillips
- 9:18Speaker 2: offered other things like length and the ability to really
- 9:21Speaker 2: defend the run and crash down. But Jonathan Gernard to me,
- 9:25Speaker 2: is as a player that has a track record of success.
- 9:28Speaker 2: Last season he was plagued by the shoulder injury that
- 9:31Speaker 2: limited him the twelve games, but prior to that, he
- 9:33Speaker 2: had two seasons combined of twenty four and a half.
- 9:36Speaker 2: It was twenty three and twenty four where he had
- 9:39Speaker 2: twenty four and a half sacks over that span. So
- 9:42Speaker 2: I mean it's not hard to see the fit or
- 9:45Speaker 2: be intrigued. And so for those reasons, I think this
- 9:47Speaker 2: defense is gonna take it up a notch in twenty
- 9:50Speaker 2: twenty six.
- 9:50Speaker 1: A couple of things happened yesterday. We'll talk to Andrew
- 9:54Speaker 1: Checho about that. Here for football, for aj Epanessa, I mean, sorry,
- 9:58Speaker 1: I thought he was in Cleveland. I didn't really, they
- 10:00Speaker 1: didn't finish that deal. I liked him in the offseason.
- 10:03Speaker 1: When I saw that that happened yesterday, I said, WHOA,
- 10:07Speaker 1: how does he fit into this team? And what's it
- 10:08Speaker 1: mean big picture?
- 10:10Speaker 2: Well, he's going to have to battle to make the roster.
- 10:13Speaker 2: But these are the type of back end of the
- 10:15Speaker 2: roster signings that if you're Howie Roseman, you feel comfortable
- 10:19Speaker 2: taking because of the potential upside that he can provide
- 10:22Speaker 2: as a depth piece. Now, he's a different type of
- 10:24Speaker 2: player than what they already had, six foot sixty pounds
- 10:28Speaker 2: of power, sure power, and you know what he is
- 10:34Speaker 2: able to do, and I know that you're going to
- 10:36Speaker 2: see the sacks in his twenty four sacks fifty three
- 10:39Speaker 2: quarterback hits and he's played in ninety one games starting nineteen.
- 10:42Speaker 2: You're going to be overly intrigued by that, naturally, I
- 10:44Speaker 2: would imagine, and I think you have to look at
- 10:47Speaker 2: his injury history and things like that, but I would
- 10:51Speaker 2: I feel pretty good if I'm the Eagles, you know,
- 10:53Speaker 2: for him in contention for that fifth spot, so to speak,
- 10:57Speaker 2: because of the experience he's coming in with and the
- 10:59Speaker 2: uniqueness that he brings. He's also someone that when you
- 11:01Speaker 2: look at his skill set, maybe he could kick inside
- 11:04Speaker 2: and give you some flexibility there as well. But he's
- 11:06Speaker 2: going to have to battle to make the roster. Yeah.
- 11:08Speaker 1: I know a lot of people wondered if that meant
- 11:10Speaker 1: Brandon Graham was out or even Brandon Graham is a
- 11:14Speaker 1: thought for them yet. But epinessa a nice guy to
- 11:17Speaker 1: bring in for at least competition at this stage. And
- 11:20Speaker 1: then Michael Jordan is a guy that can play hoops,
- 11:23Speaker 1: but he can also play guard at the football level.
- 11:25Speaker 1: This is a guy who started about fifty NFL games.
- 11:27Speaker 1: I thought that was an interesting under the radar signing yesterday.
- 11:32Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely was. So Michael Jordan is He was
- 11:35Speaker 2: a twenty nineteen fourth round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals
- 11:39Speaker 2: out of Ohio State and he actually participated in the
- 11:42Speaker 2: Eagles rookie mini camp on a tryout basis. But to me,
- 11:45Speaker 2: it always just made a lot of sense. You have
- 11:47Speaker 2: a player with that kind of experience. You and I
- 11:50Speaker 2: have talked quite a bit about and I've talked about
- 11:51Speaker 2: this on my Dechecko Daily podcast and written about it,
- 11:54Speaker 2: that the Eagles are really light on experience in terms
- 11:58Speaker 2: of their the depth on the offensive line apart from
- 12:00Speaker 2: Fred Johnson, and they drafted Michael Morris in the sixth
- 12:03Speaker 2: round out of Jordan. He kind of will be that
- 12:07Speaker 2: Bret Both replacement. But bringing in someone like Michael Jordan
- 12:11Speaker 2: to play some guard who has played a lot of
- 12:13Speaker 2: games in this league I think gives you a little
- 12:16Speaker 2: bit of safety net there. Again, he's gonna he's another
- 12:19Speaker 2: player that that's going to have to perform in order
- 12:21Speaker 2: to make the team. He won't make it on merit
- 12:23Speaker 2: or anything like that, but it just makes a lot
- 12:26Speaker 2: of sense for where the Eagles are. There's not a
- 12:28Speaker 2: lot of thin spots on the roster, but reserve offensive
- 12:32Speaker 2: lineman I think you can certainly make a case for Yeah.
- 12:35Speaker 1: And then another move that kind of went under the
- 12:37Speaker 1: rug is Zadarius Smith. The Eagles kind of released him
- 12:40Speaker 1: off the retired list. Does that mean that he plans
- 12:43Speaker 1: on playing again this season?
- 12:46Speaker 2: Well, it gives him the optionality to do so, and
- 12:49Speaker 2: there's they would take another team to look at me.
- 12:52Speaker 2: He's a little bit older, and you know, he mentioned
- 12:55Speaker 2: when he got to Philadelphia that he was always going
- 12:58Speaker 2: to play last season, that he's still had an affinity
- 13:01Speaker 2: for the game and all that. As long as that
- 13:03Speaker 2: sort of if he still has that same belief in mindset,
- 13:08Speaker 2: I would imagine so, But it depends on what kind
- 13:11Speaker 2: of shape he's kept himself in and things of that nature.
- 13:14Speaker 2: But I mean, as you saw last season when he
- 13:17Speaker 2: did play for the Eagles in the few games that
- 13:19Speaker 2: he did, he still has some juice left.
- 13:21Speaker 1: Yeah, I was surprised because I'm thinking, Hey, if he
- 13:23Speaker 1: wants to play again thirty three years old, could he
- 13:25Speaker 1: be that rotational piece that fits in nicely here or
- 13:28Speaker 1: did something kind of go awry here that forced him
- 13:30Speaker 1: to retire then get released and maybe sign elsewhere, because
- 13:34Speaker 1: wouldn't he be a guy that you would have interest in.
- 13:37Speaker 2: Well, they always say never say never, but the abruptness
- 13:40Speaker 2: of the way that that happened. It was a little
- 13:42Speaker 2: odd and it could have been for a multitude of reasons.
- 13:47Speaker 2: But he's not going to command the Remember this is
- 13:50Speaker 2: the defense in vic Fangio who typically deploys or utilizes
- 13:55Speaker 2: only three edge rushers in his rotation. So if you're
- 14:00Speaker 2: Zadarius Smith and you want to play at thirty three
- 14:02Speaker 2: years old, you're likely gonna want to undertake a more
- 14:05Speaker 2: prominent role. And I just that's not going to happen
- 14:08Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. They're already three deep and you have Arnold
- 14:10Speaker 2: a acadie who they signed to a two year deal.
- 14:13Speaker 2: They just signed aj Epanessa. So to me, it just
- 14:16Speaker 2: never felt like like Philadelphia would be would be the
- 14:19Speaker 2: next place that he resumes his career.
- 14:22Speaker 1: We'll get you out with this Andrew check or Football four.
- 14:25Speaker 1: Make sure you check out the Inside the Birds podcast
- 14:27Speaker 1: and all Andrew's stuff over at Inside the Birds dot com.
- 14:31Speaker 1: Just a couple guys that you that stood out to
- 14:35Speaker 1: you in these OTAs that now you might pay closer
- 14:38Speaker 1: attention to at training camp.
- 14:40Speaker 2: Yeah, great question. So I would say linebacker Chance Campbell.
- 14:44Speaker 2: That's a player that the Eagles seemed to like a
- 14:46Speaker 2: little bit. He was on the practice squad all last season,
- 14:49Speaker 2: signed just a few days before the preseason finale, but
- 14:51Speaker 2: he does have overlap in Tennessee with linebacker's coach Bobby King,
- 14:55Speaker 2: so that the team was clearly familiar with what he
- 14:58Speaker 2: can bring. He did have an ACL injury August of
- 15:01Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, so maybe that had to do with
- 15:03Speaker 2: his late arrival. But his pathway to the roster would
- 15:07Speaker 2: be on special teams and he would have to compel
- 15:09Speaker 2: the Eagles to keep five linebackers. But I keep an
- 15:12Speaker 2: eye on how players are deployed and what their alignment is,
- 15:16Speaker 2: and at least in the spring they've given him he
- 15:20Speaker 2: was working with the first unit in the punk group,
- 15:25Speaker 2: and I think even in an earlier spring session with
- 15:28Speaker 2: the first group on kickoff. So we'll see what happens.
- 15:31Speaker 2: But I thought he also did some nice things as
- 15:34Speaker 2: a linebacker playing with the second team opposite Smile Mondon Junior.
- 15:38Speaker 2: And I guess another player, if you want somebody that's
- 15:42Speaker 2: a little bit off the beaten path, that would be
- 15:44Speaker 2: an offensive tackle by the name of John Adjukuu, who
- 15:47Speaker 2: was signed as an undrafted free agent in twenty twenty
- 15:49Speaker 2: three by the Tennessee Titans. Out of Boise State played
- 15:52Speaker 2: and I believe sixteen games started. Some of those games started,
- 15:56Speaker 2: maybe nine of those games. But we go back to
- 15:59Speaker 2: the Arrans at the offensive line, aside from Fred Johnson,
- 16:02Speaker 2: and maybe he's a player that if you feel comfortable
- 16:06Speaker 2: with him when you cross train them, if you cross
- 16:08Speaker 2: train them, that he gives you a little bit more
- 16:11Speaker 2: seasoning when it comes to adding an experienced player there.
- 16:15Speaker 2: He's gotten a lot of second team work at tackle,
- 16:18Speaker 2: at both tackle spots, and he's also I think even
- 16:22Speaker 2: repped at right guard as well. So obviously it's in
- 16:25Speaker 2: the early stages, but it is something that I'm filing
- 16:27Speaker 2: away for training camp. Love it.
- 16:29Speaker 1: Training camp last year was July twenty second, so I
- 16:32Speaker 1: would imagine sometime in that range the Birds will be back.
- 16:36Speaker 1: We'll do our division previews, we'll look all around in
- 16:39Speaker 1: the NFL. We got a lot going on this summer
- 16:41Speaker 1: for football for Andrew to Checko and the boys over
- 16:44Speaker 1: and inside. The Birds got you covered, and of course
- 16:46Speaker 1: we do here on football at for Andrew always.
- 16:49Speaker 2: A pleasure man Likewise, Mike tike Caare I
- 16:52Speaker 1: Enjoy talking to Andrew each and every week here on
- 16:55Speaker 1: football with four on the Sports bats Live on ninety
- 16:58Speaker 1: seven to three ESPN