Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: An Updated Look at the Eagles LB and EDGE Situation

Transcript

Football at Four: An Updated Look at the Eagles LB and EDGE Situation · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Football at four is powered by the Inside the Birds podcast.
• 0:02
  It's brought to you by Bet three sixty five and
• 0:04
  over the sport whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at
• 0:07
  Bet three six to five. Andrew to Checko from the
• 0:10
  Inside the Birds podcast Inside the Birds dot Com is here.
• 0:13
  We did our NFL Friday five today because we're off tomorrow.
• 0:18
  I gave you my five favorite games for Week nine
• 0:20
  of the NFL. That number one game is Kansas City Buffalo.
• 0:25
  It's the Eagles bye week. We'll do Week ten next week.
• 0:29
  Week ten that means we're getting very close to the
• 0:33
  start of the NFL season. Our Friday five, of course,
• 0:37
  Football at four is here. Andrew to Checko. We'll start
• 0:40
  our division previews next week where we take a look
• 0:43
  at all four teams from one division every Thursday on
• 0:47
  the show. But right now, Andrew to Checko's here and
• 0:49
  he is doing his positional previews over at Inside the
• 0:54
  Birds dot Com. So we got a lot of questions
• 0:55
  based on those today for Andrew to Checko, who joined
• 0:59
  us right now for Football at four on the Sports Match.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: What's up? Andrew, Hey, Mike, Hey, dooo man?
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: All is good? Happy fourth man? I know it's Uh,
• 1:07
  we're all anxious to get to the weekend. We've got
• 1:10
  a long line of cars driving down here right now.
• 1:12
  Who are all listening to hear what's going on with
• 1:15
  this Eagles linebacker position. Let's get into that a little bit.
• 1:18
  Your article over at Inside the Birds dot Com talked
• 1:21
  a lot about the battle at linebacker, which is interesting
• 1:24
  because Pro Football Focus Andrew said it's one of the
• 1:26
  strongest positions in football. But that's based on the fact
• 1:30
  that they have Bonn and Dean ranked off of last year.
• 1:33
  But does the Eagles depth if Dean is not ready
• 1:37
  to go concern you enough? Is there enough versatility and
• 1:40
  youth to get by without him? Do you like what's
• 1:43
  left over without him? And then questions about Campbell.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: It is an ideal, Mike, but I think when you
• 1:49
  have someone like Zach Bond, who's already established himself as
• 1:52
  a premiere player at the position, you have someone with
• 1:55
  intriguing ability in Jahad Campbell, who Vic Vango said will
• 1:59
  be on the practice quote unquote sometime in August. I
• 2:02
  think you have to feel pretty good about that. That's
• 2:03
  also adding in the fact that Jeremiah Trotter Junior is
• 2:07
  a player the Eagles are high on. He's done a
• 2:09
  remarkable job behind the scenes preparing himself. Very smart player, instinctual,
• 2:14
  and I'm curious to see how he responds in his
• 2:17
  second season. He's going to certainly have a lot of opportunities.
• 2:20
  Those first team reps in camp are certainly going to
• 2:23
  be beneficial to his development. And then Smilemonden, the rookie
• 2:27
  linebacker from Georgia a lot of experience. I think Nikobe
• 2:30
  Dean having that relationship with him is going to be
• 2:32
  instrumental in helping him, you know, sort of acclimate and
• 2:36
  learn the defense, and that might expedit his process. I
• 2:39
  think he's more so going to be a special teams contributor.
• 2:42
  So right then and there, I think you feel pretty
• 2:44
  good about it. It's not ideal, but you also have
• 2:46
  that knowledge of eventually Nikobe Dean's going to be returning
• 2:50
  more on.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Those guys coming up, Zach Bond, big deal, Andrew he
• 2:53
  obviously got rewarded for his season last year.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: How important is he in this vic Fangio d Oh.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's critical to the overall functionality of the defense.
• 3:06
  He'll be wearing the green dot, but his ability to
• 3:09
  be that centerpiece there operating at that second level seeing things,
• 3:12
  his ability to read and diagnose, he can get downhill,
• 3:15
  he can cover, get his hands on the football. I
• 3:18
  just think that he's such a well rounded player and
• 3:20
  one of the best stories last season to come out
• 3:22
  of the NFL. But he's just scratching the surface. That's
• 3:25
  what's crazy about that. So I think he can exceed
• 3:28
  his production from last season. Well, that might not be realistic,
• 3:31
  but I certainly think he can equal it. And he's
• 3:33
  so new at the position that he's learning almost on
• 3:36
  the job, as crazy as that sounds. And he also
• 3:39
  has that continuity with Fangio and minebackers coach Bobby King,
• 3:42
  So I think that you can clearly see the impact
• 3:45
  that he has. But I think he's going to continue
• 3:46
  to get better and he will be able to do enough,
• 3:49
  at least in my opinion, to sort of atone for
• 3:52
  the loss of the Kobe Dean.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: In the interim, angew check out football for his articles
• 3:57
  up over inside the Birds dot Com.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: He's doing his positional previews.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: We're looking at the linebacker spot and there's a lot
• 4:02
  of questions based on the linebackers that they have here.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Joha Campbell drafted.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: A lot of people keep asking can he make it
• 4:09
  an immediate impact despite that shoulder injury. Do you look
• 4:12
  at him coming right in and making an immediate impact
• 4:16
  right away.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Well, I should also say that it's a challenging position
• 4:21
  to master under this Fangio defense for safeties end linebackers,
• 4:26
  there's a lot of responsibilities that are placed on their shoulders.
• 4:29
  Now he's getting mental reps. Now we saw some of
• 4:31
  that in OTAs for the media attended sessions, I think
• 4:35
  that he can because he can also help you potentially
• 4:38
  as an edge rusher, which I assume will be in
• 4:41
  his bag of tricks. But yeah, I mean, he's so athletic,
• 4:45
  and my understanding is, you know, just from watching him
• 4:48
  play that you know he has some inherent athletic traits
• 4:52
  that I think are going to translate favorably as a rookie.
• 4:55
  So that would suggest to me that he can step
• 4:57
  in in help. But there isn't this pressure because the
• 5:00
  Eagles do like what they've seen from Trotter Junior. So
• 5:04
  whether or not we see Campbell take on the lion's
• 5:07
  share of the snaps in the early going, maybe he
• 5:09
  has to, you know, ease his way back in. But
• 5:12
  I think that they feel pretty good about Trotter as well.
• 5:14
  So I think they have enough there at the top
• 5:16
  those top three to sort of navigate the waters until
• 5:20
  you get into Kobe deanback who really is the heartbeat
• 5:23
  of that defense.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, one guy you know we haven't talked
• 5:25
  a lot about recently is oron Burkes. And how big
• 5:29
  do you look at the loss of Oron Burke's What
• 5:32
  steps do they kind of take to replace what he
• 5:35
  brought them? People forget he started the Super Bowl for them.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there were three losses that the Eagles had in
• 5:42
  frequency that I don't think get enough discussed. They don't
• 5:45
  get discussed enough. Oron Burkes, Isaiah Rodgers and Fred Johnson.
• 5:50
  Those are players that they're a little bit further down
• 5:52
  in the pecking order in terms of, you know, priority
• 5:54
  when you look at some of who they lost, Josh
• 5:56
  Wetten Williams, but they all filled pivotal roles and we're
• 5:59
  looking at Or right now. I mean, he arguably he
• 6:03
  had one of the most underrated postseasons that I can
• 6:05
  remember from of all the players on that team, I
• 6:08
  would say, because for him to step in and almost
• 6:12
  make it so that the defense doesn't really miss a beat.
• 6:15
  I mean that speaks volumes to not only Orrin Burks,
• 6:18
  but also linebackers coach Bobby King, because he was able
• 6:22
  to work with him on refining some things and putting
• 6:25
  him in position to be successful. He's a veteran player,
• 6:28
  of course, but let's not forget what that conversation was
• 6:31
  like leading up to the divisional round when Nikobe Dean
• 6:34
  got hurt and you weren't sure whether or not you're
• 6:36
  going to see a platoon of Berks and Trotter Junior.
• 6:39
  Fanjo gave Trotter Junior a ringing endorsement, but Burks was
• 6:42
  good enough that they didn't need to go to Trotter Junior.
• 6:45
  And I don't think that that was talked about enough.
• 6:47
  He was able to kind of hold that down, and
• 6:49
  I don't think that that's going to be something that
• 6:52
  should be discounted because he did a lot for the
• 6:54
  Eagles in the postseason and really made strides down the stretch.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Well, and it's funny you bring up Trotter.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: You know, he was a special team stand out, but
• 7:03
  can he make that leap if needed to every down
• 7:06
  linebacker with all the injuries.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: I think that he can. And the reason why, you know,
• 7:11
  sort of supporting my opinion here is that he's playing
• 7:14
  alongside someone like Zach Bond and they've had reps together
• 7:19
  last season, and they're going to have a ton more
• 7:21
  reps together in training camp, so the communication is going
• 7:24
  to be where it needs to be. And Trotter Junior
• 7:27
  I always say this, what he lacks in prototypical size
• 7:30
  and athleticism, he makes up for with football intellect, instincts
• 7:35
  and the ability to read and diagnose. Those are certain
• 7:38
  traits that you just either you have it or you don't.
• 7:40
  You can't, in my opinion, get better at that. He
• 7:43
  has those in him, and I think that that should
• 7:45
  help him transition from, you know, being a special teams
• 7:49
  player to all of a sudden having to flip that
• 7:51
  switch and play a more prominent role defensively.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: While we're on that you know kind of level of player,
• 7:56
  smile mind, and you just mentioned him seems like you know,
• 7:59
  any special team guy. But is he a guy that
• 8:01
  could sneak into Fangio's rotation if you know, let's say
• 8:06
  there's a couple of injuries, could he battle with trire
• 8:09
  Trotter and maybe beat Trotter out.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Could he I suppose, But until we see him with
• 8:15
  pads on in training camp, it's impossible for me to say,
• 8:18
  and it really wouldn't be responsible for me to say, Yeah, definitely,
• 8:21
  did I like what I've seen from him on college
• 8:23
  In college tape, yeah, I viewed him as one of
• 8:25
  the day the best day three selections period. I just
• 8:29
  thought he offers a lot of ability, and I think
• 8:33
  that he has another level that he can tap into.
• 8:36
  But he's afforded the the the luxury of developing and
• 8:40
  not having to be thrown into the deep end and
• 8:42
  trying to figure it out to where we've seen that
• 8:44
  with Eagles linebackers in the past. I think he's most
• 8:47
  he's best suited right now as a special teams maven.
• 8:50
  I don't know that he's there yet to be able
• 8:53
  to really challenge Trotter for any meaningful playing time. But again,
• 8:57
  training camp has a way of swarting everything out and
• 8:59
  we learn a little bit more about these players. But
• 9:02
  all I can tell you right now, like is that
• 9:03
  I really like what I saw from him in college,
• 9:05
  and there's something be said for experience at that level
• 9:07
  of college football. So He'll be one that I will
• 9:10
  have my eyes on in camp.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: All right, So if Dean and Campbell are both out,
• 9:14
  who are your top three guys that would be in
• 9:18
  the mix to replace them?
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Bond Trotter Junior and I mean we're looking at who's
• 9:25
  on the roster right now, it would have to be
• 9:27
  Mondon Junior. But I would have to imagine that just
• 9:30
  given the light the numbers shortage that they have there,
• 9:34
  they could probably stand to add another linebacker and really
• 9:37
  just to be able to run the basic drills and
• 9:40
  have you know, first, second, third, and even fourteen linebackers.
• 9:43
  But right now as we see it, those would be
• 9:46
  the three Bon Trotter Junior and Mondon Jr.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, so from linebackers, Andrew also did a
• 9:52
  preview of the edge rushers. We'll take a look at
• 9:53
  some edge rusher stuff. Check out the full article on
• 9:56
  the linebackers over at Inside the Birds dot com. And
• 9:59
  now you know, I read the article on the edge rushers.
• 10:02
  There's a lot here because I was pretty intrigued by
• 10:05
  the two signings here.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: But let's start.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Nolan Smith's name comes up, you know as a guy
• 10:10
  maybe TJ. Whte I don't think that's gonna happen, But
• 10:13
  I guess the question would be if that was a
• 10:15
  legitimate possibility, is Smith the guy you're willing to part
• 10:20
  with for that level of player or is he ready
• 10:24
  to become the Eagle's own Pro Bowl pass rusher.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: Well, normally I don't like talking about the fake trades
• 10:34
  or anything like that, hypotheticals or anything like that, but
• 10:37
  for the sake of his conversation, I would say no,
• 10:40
  because I've known Smith as a player who has double
• 10:42
  digit sackability. He's young, he has a personality that really
• 10:46
  fits the culture here in Philadelphia, and I think he's
• 10:49
  a budding leader and a budding star in the NFL.
• 10:52
  Now he has to go out there and put it together.
• 10:53
  I understand that, But when you look at the leap
• 10:55
  that he's made from year one to year two, the
• 10:58
  arrow is trending up, and I think everything Legals have
• 11:00
  done this offseason has been to really build around its
• 11:04
  young nucleus of talent. So I think you have to
• 11:07
  see that through and that's why it would always make
• 11:09
  sense to stick with Nolan and that young core of players.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, so, Nolan Smith, A lot of people excited about
• 11:16
  what he can be. Will obviously be keeping a lot
• 11:18
  of eye on him at training camp. Two other guys,
• 11:21
  Which free agent do you think has a bigger impact
• 11:26
  O Zulari Usha.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna say it is he's O Julari just because
• 11:31
  we've seen more consistency from him in his career. Now
• 11:35
  injuries are a factor, but he has twenty two career sacks.
• 11:38
  He's twenty five years old. He's a situational player. But
• 11:42
  there was a season, I believe when he was a
• 11:43
  rookie when he played in sixteen games. He played over
• 11:46
  seven hundred snaps, so you've seen it before, whereas someone
• 11:49
  like josh Usha. His best season came in twenty twenty two,
• 11:52
  he had eleven and a half sacks. He also played
• 11:54
  a career high in snaps that was thirty eight percent
• 11:56
  of the Patriot snaps. But that's really what he is.
• 12:00
  He's a situational player, and so is Ojulari, to be fair,
• 12:04
  but I think Oush is probably better suited to this
• 12:07
  kind of sprinkle in and have a handful of snaps
• 12:09
  where he can really be purely a pass rusher because
• 12:12
  he doesn't give you a lot in terms of run defense,
• 12:15
  but if he's your fourth edge rusher, I think you
• 12:17
  can make that work.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, so.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Had eleven and a half sacks in twenty twenty two.
• 12:22
  Can vict Fangio unlock that version of him? Or is
• 12:27
  he no longer that level of player?
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting, right because he had eleven and a
• 12:33
  half sacks that year, and then the two years combined
• 12:36
  after that it was just five sacks. Now you can
• 12:39
  look a little bit deeper into it and maybe suggest that, Okay,
• 12:42
  maybe he wasn't a scheme fit for the Chiefs or
• 12:45
  the or he fell out of favor in New England, whatever,
• 12:47
  But what I've seen from him on tape is a
• 12:50
  player who's who's wildly inconsistent, and that's why you see
• 12:53
  the contract sort of reflect that. Now, there's something to
• 12:55
  be said for being placed into a new defense with
• 12:58
  a winning culture and defensive coordinator who is going to
• 13:01
  optimize what you do well. But what we've also learned
• 13:04
  from Vic Fangio is that if you can't fit or
• 13:06
  if you can't play, you're going to find that out
• 13:08
  pretty quickly, because we learned that early on with Bryce
• 13:11
  Huff when you weren't seeing the impact in training camp,
• 13:14
  and that translated into you know, you saw the usage
• 13:18
  the reduction of usage in the in the regular season.
• 13:21
  So we'll find out is we have to learn if
• 13:24
  he's even a fit for this defense and how they
• 13:26
  plan to utilize him. But I think that there is
• 13:28
  a path to him sort of unlocking the potential that
• 13:32
  you saw back in twenty twenty two. He's not going
• 13:34
  to play enough in all likelihood, barring something unforeseen, to
• 13:38
  be able to put up that kind of production, but
• 13:40
  I think you feel pretty good about him joining forces
• 13:43
  with Vic Fango and outside linebackers defensive ends coach Jeremiah Washburn,
• 13:48
  who's done a tremendous job with development.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Well, then back to you know, Ozelaria and uche was
• 13:52
  the original question at eleven and a half six If
• 13:56
  o Jelari could say healthy enough, what type of impact
• 14:00
  could he have? Or's he a guy that will be
• 14:01
  more situational and that's just Jlyx hunt spot.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: I think he would be more so situational. Now, could
• 14:08
  he have a smattering of sacks like four or five? Sure,
• 14:13
  we have to learn about the player and how he
• 14:16
  fits into the defensive equation, but I really do think
• 14:19
  you mentioned Jalox Hunt Mike. I think that's a player
• 14:21
  that the Eagles are really high on, and for a
• 14:24
  younger player like that, I think you want to give
• 14:25
  him all of those opportunities to really grow and work
• 14:29
  through some of those challenges and growing pains, because he
• 14:31
  is part of the future, and I think you don't
• 14:34
  want to short change him in any degree in any
• 14:37
  regard by working in a player who signed to a
• 14:40
  one year deal probably isn't part of your long term plans.
• 14:42
  I think he's going to have a role Zizo Julari
• 14:45
  that is, but I just don't know how significant it's
• 14:47
  going to be. But they're going to probably have to
• 14:50
  just looking at the edge rusher group, he has to
• 14:52
  be able to give you something because beyond the top three,
• 14:56
  there's questions.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's get into questions about one of those guys,
• 15:00
  Antoine Powell Ryland, big college numbers. Is the guy that
• 15:04
  can sneak into this rotation or is this kind of
• 15:07
  a development year. You know, last year we didn't think
• 15:09
  Hunt would have any impact. But does Antoine Powell Ryland,
• 15:12
  who did have very good college success and good college numbers,
• 15:17
  does he factor in this for you? Over the two
• 15:19
  guys we've been talking about o Jilari and Uche.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: I don't think that he's going to be able to
• 15:25
  leap frog definitely. I don't think he's gonna leave frog both.
• 15:28
  He may leap frog maybe josh Usha, but that is
• 15:31
  a tall order to ask for a Day three pick. Now.
• 15:33
  Does he have upside? Sure, sure he does, but there
• 15:37
  are shortcomings to his game. He doesn't have the length
• 15:39
  that he typically look for. I love his motor, I
• 15:42
  love his pass rush prowess, but he does leave something
• 15:45
  to be desired when it comes to playing the run,
• 15:47
  and those are things that a rookie and any young
• 15:49
  player really has to really learn. And the only way
• 15:52
  you learn about how you're going to quit yourself is
• 15:54
  by getting those reps. So I think he's probably going
• 15:57
  to be more along the lines of a project. But
• 15:59
  somebody that I think the fact that he was drafted
• 16:01
  by the Eagles, I think you feel pretty good about
• 16:04
  him sticking with the roster this year. But he's also
• 16:07
  going to have to contribute on special teams because I
• 16:09
  don't really see, again, barring something unforeseen, him really factoring
• 16:13
  into the defensive rotation.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: There a under the radar edge rusher that you're gonna
• 16:18
  have your eye on when you get to camp.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Well, Powell Rylan would be one, but I don't really
• 16:23
  consider him under the radar because he was a draft pick.
• 16:25
  I guess if I had to pick one between kJ
• 16:27
  Henry or O'shawn Mathis, it would probably probably be O'shawn Mathis.
• 16:32
  He has good length at sixty five two hundred and
• 16:34
  sixty pounds. He's played in fourteen NFL games, played in
• 16:37
  one game for the Eagles last season. I don't know
• 16:39
  that there is a path to him being able to
• 16:41
  really unseat any of the players above him. But as
• 16:44
  far as under the radar players go, who does have
• 16:46
  some experience, that's somebody that I'll be keeping an eye on.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Tranny Camp begins on the twenty third. That'll be the
• 16:52
  first day the Eagles get out on the field. They
• 16:54
  report on the twenty second. Football at four will be
• 16:56
  all over it, and the guys from the Inside the
• 16:59
  Bird podcast have plenty of coverage right now over at
• 17:02
  insidethebirds dot com. He's Andrew to check. Oh, have a
• 17:05
  great holiday, man, and we will talk to you next week.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Thanks Mike, happy for it. Talk to you soon, man.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Same to you.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: There's Andrew to check oh and of course the Inside
• 17:13
  the Birds podcast, you can check out on all podcasting platforms.