Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football At Four: Mosher's Top-5 Eagles Camp Storylines
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Jeff Moscher from the Inside the Birds podcast is here,
- 0:02and of course it is the final Football at four
- 0:05before the Eagles do report now tomorrow, they just report.
- 0:08There is no practice tomorrow. The practices begin on Wednesday.
- 0:13Nick Sirianni will talk on Wednesday morning for the first time,
- 0:17and we'll have that press conference for you here on
- 0:21the Sports Bast Live on ninety seven three espre And let's.
- 0:25Speaker 2: Bring Jeff Mocher in.
- 0:27Speaker 1: This is the final Football at four before the Eagles report.
- 0:31Speaker 2: That means the summers over. Mocher, that's it. This summer's over.
- 0:35Speaker 3: Toy. You do that to me, Michael Gil Do you
- 0:37not do that to me?
- 0:38Speaker 1: Well, we started about a month ago and was like, oh,
- 0:41we got about a month's the training camp and now
- 0:44we are at training camp.
- 0:45Speaker 2: The players will report tomorrow. What does that mean?
- 0:47Speaker 1: They just signed to get there. There is no functions
- 0:49or practices. This is just the first day that everybody
- 0:51has to get to the novercare And imagine they got
- 0:53to get weight in all that stuff to make sure
- 0:55that they're not overweight, get fined all that stuff.
- 0:58Speaker 4: Oh yeah, and then you know they take I think
- 1:00they still do the test. The fitness tests and everything
- 1:02like that. You got to pass that. There have been years, Mike,
- 1:05where players have not been able to start the first
- 1:09day of practice or had to be put on pup
- 1:12because or NFI. I forget which one it was would be,
- 1:15but because they did not make it through the fitness test.
- 1:19But I think in the last few years they've been
- 1:20fined with that.
- 1:22Speaker 1: All Right, each of us today have our five biggest
- 1:25stories going into training camp. These are the five things
- 1:29that we will both be watching most. As his list
- 1:32of five, I have my list of five things. So
- 1:34let's start with number five, Jeff Moser, of things that
- 1:38you are intrigued by at Eagles training camp.
- 1:43Speaker 4: Well, everything starts upfront for the Eagles, on both defense
- 1:48and offense. Right, So when we start, I'm going to
- 1:52go to defense because that side has lost the most
- 1:55starters and was the number one ranked defense in the
- 1:57last year. And there's no question that Olton Williams was
- 2:01an enormous part of what they do and they have
- 2:04to make up, as I've said many times, not only
- 2:06the snaps that he played, but the high level production
- 2:10within those snaps that he played, and the people who
- 2:15are tasked with making that up are Moro Adjoemo, who
- 2:18is a seventh round pick. You've got Jordan Davis, who
- 2:21the coaches have said, you know, they liked what they
- 2:23saw from a pass rush standpoint over the last few
- 2:27weeks in postseason of last year. And of course the
- 2:29rookie Ty Robinson. So that's that's where i'd start, is
- 2:33sort of that interior, that second interior rusher in the four.
- 2:37Speaker 3: Man rush next to Jayleen Carter. Who's it going to be?
- 2:40Speaker 2: All right? Number five for me?
- 2:42Speaker 1: I kind of threw this all encompassing because I wrote
- 2:45just all the cowl they all materialized right guard, corner, safety,
- 2:48d tackle, linebacker. I think the camp battles, there's a
- 2:52lot of competition. So the competition at camp coming off
- 2:56of a Super Bowl and all of these up for
- 2:59grabs add to competition. So the camp battles and competition
- 3:04would be my number five thing that I'm watching for.
- 3:07Speaker 2: You know, Look, these could all be individual.
- 3:09Speaker 1: Stories, but I think there's so many other stories that
- 3:12I just lumped in the camp battles as my number
- 3:15five because I think competition is good, especially for a
- 3:19team that won a Super Bowl.
- 3:20Speaker 2: No complacency here. Jeff Moscher, Oh.
- 3:24Speaker 3: Not at all.
- 3:24Speaker 4: You can't be replace And I like that you started
- 3:27off in a big picture. I I zerode in on
- 3:29one spot. You went to a big picture one.
- 3:32Speaker 3: I like that. All R gonna go a little big
- 3:34picture too on the next few.
- 3:35Speaker 2: Okay, number four, let's go, Jeff Moscher.
- 3:37Speaker 1: What is your fourth story that you'll be watching starting
- 3:41at training camp?
- 3:43Speaker 4: So and I will be watching it, and I don't
- 3:46know how much of an answer will be able to get.
- 3:48So this is sort of an entering training camp. But
- 3:50really about the season is the concept of opening up
- 3:54the offense, the pass offense under Kevin Petulo? What does
- 3:57that mean? What does it look like?
- 4:00Speaker 3: Right?
- 4:00Speaker 4: How do you open up this offense and continue to
- 4:03also be a dominant ground game. And when you do
- 4:06open up the offense, how successful will it be? Because
- 4:09other coordinators and coaches have tried to do this and
- 4:13it's not always worked.
- 4:14Speaker 3: So I'm very curious to see what that meet, what
- 4:16that looks like.
- 4:17Speaker 2: All right, that's a good one.
- 4:18Speaker 1: I might I have one that's similar to that but
- 4:21a little different coming up in just a little bit here.
- 4:23Speaker 2: So we'll get to that one. First.
- 4:25Speaker 1: Let me give you my number four. My number four
- 4:28is Jalen Carter. Will he continue to get better? This
- 4:33was the guy last year who kind of led your
- 4:34defense in year two? What kind of player is he
- 4:38in year three? That third year is really the big jump?
- 4:42Does he take another huge jump from game record? What's
- 4:47the next level do you get to? And if he
- 4:49gets to that next level, what does that mean for
- 4:52this Eagles defense? You know, they lost a lot of pieces,
- 4:55he loses Milton Williams, They've lost a lot of pieces.
- 4:57But what if Carter takes another big jump forward in
- 5:00year number three? I'm gonna be watching what kind of
- 5:03Jalen Carter the Eagles will be getting in his third
- 5:07season in Philadelphia.
- 5:09Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 5:09Speaker 4: I mean, he played at such a high level mic that,
- 5:11but he's so young, and I know that, you know,
- 5:15Adam and I have talked about this on the podcast.
- 5:17There are certain things that people have watched him play,
- 5:19say he can even get better on with his head.
- 5:21You know, right now he sort of gets by on
- 5:22being this freak of nature and violent hands. But once
- 5:25he starts to put technique and you know, other things together,
- 5:30you know you're gonna he's gonna get double team even more.
- 5:32This year learning how to beat those he's going to
- 5:34be If he can do those things, he'll be an
- 5:37absolute monster of a player.
- 5:39Speaker 1: That's our number fours. Let's go to number three, Jeff Mosher. Third,
- 5:43biggest story you're watching at Eagles training camp?
- 5:47Speaker 4: Yeah, you know and and last year or you know it,
- 5:50only it didn't take too long to start to notice
- 5:53that you weren't noticing Bryce Huff right, the big ticket
- 5:56free age and signing.
- 5:57Speaker 3: So even though.
- 5:59Speaker 4: You hit the quarterback, you get a pretty good idea
- 6:02of what you got on the edges, just based on
- 6:04explosion and one on ones and things like that. And
- 6:06this edge group, to me, Mike really comes under the microscope.
- 6:09Eleven total starts between Jalx Hunt and Nolan Smith. I
- 6:15cannot remember the last time the Eagles had an edged
- 6:17tandem that had such little experience. Right, you're trying to
- 6:21replace Josh Swst, you're trying to replace Brandon Graham, and
- 6:24you drafted both of these guys pretty high. They ended
- 6:27the season on a really high note. But now everybody's
- 6:29had all off season to kind of prepare for them.
- 6:32And as we say, progress in the NFL is not
- 6:34always linear. Sometimes you take a step back. Sometimes, you
- 6:37you know, you're never as good as you were your
- 6:39one or.
- 6:39Speaker 3: Year two just happened. So I'm very very.
- 6:42Speaker 4: Interested to see the developments that Jilex Hunt in particular,
- 6:45but Hunt and Nolan Smith make here starting in camp.
- 6:49Speaker 1: All right, great minds think alike Number three for me
- 6:51on the edge. Will Jalx Hunt and Nolan Smith take
- 6:55that next step to become star players? I mean Hunt
- 6:58and Smith. I think both had very good short burst
- 7:02last year. Smith came on really in November and then
- 7:05really came on in the playoffs. Hunt came on after
- 7:08the Brandon Graham injury and was very good in the
- 7:11playoffs as well. But can both of those guys sustain
- 7:14a full season of production? I think that sounds like
- 7:17a story you're watching as well. Do these guys both
- 7:21become legitimate full time seventeen game pass rushers? You know,
- 7:26I have questions about Nolen last year. You know, hey,
- 7:29his rookie year, he did nothing. The first half of
- 7:31last year he didn't do much, and now he has
- 7:33put himself on the map to where we say, hey,
- 7:36is this guy a double digit sack guy?
- 7:38Speaker 2: Is he becoming one of these great pass rushers? In
- 7:41the league.
- 7:41Speaker 1: This is the year we'll be looking for that. And
- 7:44genalks Hunts a complete wildcard. I mean, this guy third
- 7:46round pick. Many people didn't think he'd make an impact
- 7:48at all last year, Jeff Boscher, he didn't only make
- 7:50an impact, he has now forged himself into the conversation
- 7:54for starting edge rusher on this team.
- 7:56Speaker 2: So on the edge big story for me. We agree
- 8:00on that.
- 8:00Speaker 1: Plus how does josh Usha and Azizo Jalari factor in,
- 8:05if at all, on the edge for this defense.
- 8:10Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a great point because in a best case scenario,
- 8:13all four of those guys are playing really well. That
- 8:15gives Vic not only a good rotation, but maybe even
- 8:18some optionality. If someone proves that they can move inside
- 8:21like Jaylex Hunt, and you can throw three edges on
- 8:24the field, one of them playing you know, the inside
- 8:26rusher position like Brandon Graham did in twenty seventeen, that
- 8:30just could present a different look that teams might struggle with.
- 8:34So really looking forward to seeing who emerges there.
- 8:36Speaker 2: All right, number two, Jeff Boscher, what do you got?
- 8:41Speaker 3: Number two?
- 8:42Speaker 4: I went a little bit big picture and sort of
- 8:44like what you're talking about job competition, but specifically.
- 8:46Speaker 3: The prove it guys. There are a couple of guys
- 8:49this year that have to really prove it. Obviously.
- 8:53Speaker 4: One of them is Killy Ringo, another one of Sidney Brown,
- 8:56Tyler Steen, right guard, Jeremiah Trotter junior at linebacker opposince
- 9:02Zach Bonn. So these are guys that you're looking at
- 9:06because the microscope is on them at this stage of
- 9:09their careers to either seize the job or the Eagles
- 9:12have to kind of play some one year veterans around
- 9:14them that may not make them as good as they
- 9:16want to be.
- 9:18Speaker 1: Our number two for me is a tough one because
- 9:21it is joh Had Campbell and what is his injury
- 9:23situation and what will his role be? I mean, I
- 9:26want to watch him in training camp. I don't even
- 9:28know if he's gonna be able to be out there.
- 9:29When is he going to be out there? And when
- 9:31he is out there, what is he doing?
- 9:33Speaker 2: Where? What room is he in?
- 9:34Speaker 1: Is he hanging out with the linebackers? Is he in
- 9:36the edge room? Is he what is joh Hyde Campbell?
- 9:40And when will he be able to play?
- 9:41Speaker 2: Jeff?
- 9:42Speaker 1: You could talk more about this, but you know last
- 9:44year Cooper Degen missed time and that calls him to
- 9:46miss the first quarter of the season. Is Campbell going
- 9:50to be behind? Is this going to limit the versatility
- 9:54that many people think that he has. When will he
- 9:56be out there? Is going to be out there Wednesday?
- 9:59Is he going to be out there to ready to
- 10:00play in any of the preseason games so that he
- 10:03can find his Niching role. That's got to be one
- 10:06of the big stories. Is your first round pick that
- 10:08many people thought could be a top ten player fell
- 10:11to you because of injury. How will that injury affect
- 10:14the twenty twenty five start to his season.
- 10:16Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a great question, and some people, you know,
- 10:20I think it was Vic Fangio who said he's not
- 10:22even gonna be ready until August.
- 10:23Speaker 3: But guess what August is next Friday.
- 10:26Speaker 4: So if it's early August, that could be a lot
- 10:29sooner than we think. If it's late August, then we're
- 10:31looking at five to six more weeks of seeing him. So,
- 10:34you know, they were intentionally I'm sure vague and not
- 10:37saying when in August, but everybody will look forward to
- 10:40seeing him get out there, and then when he does,
- 10:43how does the acclimate into this defense?
- 10:45Speaker 3: Absolutely is a big, big storyline.
- 10:47Speaker 1: By the way, August seventh, the Eagles will have their
- 10:49first preseason game against the Bengals, and you can hear
- 10:53that game right here on your home for Eagles Football
- 10:55ninety seven three ESPN. Will Johed Campbell play in that game?
- 10:58I would assume not, even if he back, I would
- 11:00assume that they want to take it slow with him
- 11:02and that he would not be on the field in
- 11:05that first preseason game. So Campbell number two for me,
- 11:09which takes us to the top of our list, the
- 11:11number one biggest story that we're both watching at Eagles
- 11:15training camp.
- 11:15Speaker 2: Jeff Bosher, what do you got?
- 11:17Speaker 1: All right?
- 11:17Speaker 4: Well, I call this category repeat offenders, But I mean
- 11:22this in a good way.
- 11:23Speaker 3: When I say offenders.
- 11:24Speaker 4: I want to see if a number of guys who
- 11:28played out of their mind last year and emerged at
- 11:31the top of their positions can carry this over or
- 11:34if that was a flash in the pan. And I'm
- 11:36sure you can imagine who I'm speaking of, but obviously
- 11:38one of them is Zach Bonn. Another one is Quinnon Mitchell,
- 11:42another one is Cooper to gen and then even the
- 11:44quarterback at the end of the year, he may not
- 11:46have had the greatest regular season, but.
- 11:48Speaker 3: Boy did he play out of his mind in the
- 11:51Super Bowl?
- 11:51Speaker 4: Right, Jalen hurts, So, can these four guys have the
- 11:56kind of well, three have the kind of year and
- 11:58one just kind of piggyback off of when he was
- 12:01last on the field, because this team's going to need
- 12:04it again. When you have as much turnover as the
- 12:06egos have, you really can't afford to have guys taking
- 12:09a step back or plateauing at certain positions.
- 12:13Speaker 3: And I think.
- 12:13Speaker 4: Bond Cooper Mitchell, I'll really have my eyes on only
- 12:17because we've seen this a little bit with corners where
- 12:20they have some early success and then maybe the next
- 12:22year they're not as good and then they had to
- 12:24kind of build themselves back up. So it's a tough
- 12:26position to play. And everybody has seen him now and
- 12:29they've seen his strength and his weaknesses, so very very
- 12:33you know, my eyes are on those four guys. Can
- 12:35they continue to do it the way they did last year?
- 12:37Speaker 1: I think definitely think the Bond one is going to
- 12:40be intriguing to me, is, Hey, this guy came out
- 12:42of nowhere to have an all pro level season that
- 12:45got him paid. Can he play at that level again.
- 12:50We asked that a lot, like, hey, you were this
- 12:51good last year, can you do it again? That will
- 12:54be I think it definitely should possibly maybe overlooked on
- 12:57my list of things that we didn't put on the
- 13:00But number one for me, what's next for Jalen Hurts?
- 13:04Is there another level to him that he can get
- 13:07to with the new offensive coordinator? You know, we saw
- 13:10a very good Jalen Hurts last year, but at times
- 13:13people ask questions about Hurts. You know, hey, what's going
- 13:16on here? Is there something that he could do better?
- 13:20There's been a lot of talk about him this offseason.
- 13:22What's the next iteration? If there is another iteration of
- 13:26Jalen Hurts? Is he continuing to ascend? Is he plateauing?
- 13:31Is he flatlining? Is that okay? If he does? What
- 13:34kind of role will he have in the offense this year?
- 13:37I think last year obviously was kind of uneven but
- 13:40very good. And you know how many quarterbacks in Super
- 13:44Bowl lore are guy who throw for under two hundred
- 13:47yards a game?
- 13:50Speaker 3: Well, you know, I even wrote about that for Philly
- 13:52Voice last week.
- 13:53Speaker 4: I just there are only like five quarterbacks who have
- 13:56averaged who had the numbers that he had last year,
- 14:00which is like fewer than three thousand yards and fewer
- 14:02or the same or fewer than eighteen passing touchdowns and
- 14:05won a Super Bowl and there's just not that's a
- 14:08very small small list, and so.
- 14:10Speaker 3: It'll be Yes, I agree with you.
- 14:12Speaker 4: I think it's going to be interesting that that falls
- 14:14in line with my opening up of the offense. Number
- 14:16four thing, and what is that next step? I really
- 14:19would like to spend some time this year. I'm going
- 14:22to try to do this more talking to some NFL personnel,
- 14:24but some real quarterbacks. I like to talk to more
- 14:26quarterbacks about this. Maybe I'll try to get ron Jiwarski
- 14:30on the phone, because he really Jalen Hurts did some
- 14:33incredible things last year. Just from a stylistic standpoint. You know,
- 14:37if you go back to the championship game against Washington
- 14:40and even the Super Bowl, I don't believe he attempted
- 14:42or completed any passes between the numbers within twenty to
- 14:47thirty yards. You know, he obviously had to dagger to
- 14:50Jalen Hurts on a post, but he really did not.
- 14:53He basically ignored that whole part of the field and
- 14:57cater to his strengths, which is throwing outside the numbers.
- 15:01And I just wonder if quarterbacks who played the bsition
- 15:04and succeeded think that he can continue to have a
- 15:07really successful career that way, or if eventually he is
- 15:11going to have to be able to utilize that part
- 15:14of the field more.
- 15:15Speaker 1: That to me, right, the quarterbacks thing, and it just
- 15:18you know, he he he and itself. He's a guy.
- 15:20Oh he's not rated high enough. He's won the super Bowl,
- 15:22He's the MVP of the super Bowl.
- 15:24Speaker 2: He's not rated high enough. He better than this guy.
- 15:26Speaker 1: I mean, He's always going to be a story because
- 15:28of the nature of He's not a slam dunk on,
- 15:32you know, star player in everybody's mind. I think there
- 15:35are a lot of people out there that acknowledge it.
- 15:37He's very, very, very good and important. But what is
- 15:39next for Jalen Hurts? And there's so many other stories
- 15:41that you know, did not make our top five. I
- 15:43think one of yours that maybe I overlooked is the
- 15:46repeat Offenders.
- 15:47Speaker 2: I think that was a good one. With that group
- 15:48of guys.
- 15:49Speaker 1: There is Zach Bond going to be the same player,
- 15:51Is Cooper Degen gonna have another you know, great year.
- 15:54Team's watch tape now and see what he struggles with.
- 15:56Same with Quinnon Mitchell. Think another guy you got to
- 15:58throw into the mix there that you got to keep
- 16:00an eye on is Ken who replaces Milton Williams And
- 16:04do you get the same level of production out of
- 16:06that spot?
- 16:07Speaker 2: And how does that affect?
- 16:08Speaker 1: You know, my number four story, which was Jalen Carter
- 16:11the defense as a whole, How did five new pieces
- 16:14fit into that defense?
- 16:16Speaker 2: That to me is something we got to keep an
- 16:18eye on too.
- 16:19Speaker 3: That was my number five. It was Moro Jomo, Jordan Davis,
- 16:22and ty Ty Robbinson.
- 16:23Speaker 4: How can they It's not about I just think we
- 16:27all fall into a trap. Moro Jomo played really well
- 16:30in the snaps that he played. He played about thirty
- 16:32six percent of the STAPs last year, and so it'll
- 16:35be easy to draw a line from X to Y
- 16:38to say, well, then he's just going to fill in
- 16:39Milton Williams snaps.
- 16:41Speaker 3: But that's sort of under.
- 16:44Speaker 4: Appreciates just how well and how dominant Milton Williams played.
- 16:48Speaker 3: Now, maybe that's a function of just being next to
- 16:50Jalen Carter. I don't know.
- 16:51Speaker 4: We'll find out because mill Williams ain't playing next to
- 16:53Jalen Carter, although Christian Barmore is pretty good, but not
- 16:56Jalen Carter.
- 16:57Speaker 3: We'll find out.
- 16:58Speaker 4: But again, now that Moro is going to be asked
- 17:00to play more and the magnifying glasses on him, it's
- 17:04a lot.
- 17:05Speaker 3: So we'll see, we'll see what the plan is there.
- 17:07Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned Ty Robinson too. There was a
- 17:09lot of people excited about that pick. Does he have
- 17:10any impact this year? Do the Eagles say, look, you're
- 17:13kind of red shirt in this year or no, you're
- 17:14getting thrown into the fire and we're hoping that we
- 17:17get something from you. I think that's something that we'll
- 17:20find out in this camp as well, because you're going
- 17:22to start to hear, hey, this guy's really standing out earlier. No,
- 17:25he's behind and they ask some other guys that they liked.
- 17:27You know, that's something that I think you mentioned his name.
- 17:30I haven't heard his name really since the second week
- 17:32of the post draft. Is hey, they drafted a guy
- 17:35that they had a lot of excitement about.
- 17:38Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 17:38Speaker 4: Absolutely, Listen, what I've seen from Vic Fangoe is if
- 17:44you can play, he'll play you.
- 17:46Speaker 3: Right. So he was already starting to play.
- 17:48Speaker 4: Joe and Jilex hunt last year after a couple of
- 17:50weeks of playing well on special teams.
- 17:53Speaker 3: So if Ty Robinson can play, he'll play.
- 17:56Speaker 4: You may not play a ton of snaps because Moro
- 17:59Jomo might be killing it, but he'll play.
- 18:01Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, we'll see it all unfold.
- 18:04Speaker 1: Starts tomorrow when they report Wednesday, when Jeff is back
- 18:07for football at four, they will have practice for the
- 18:10first time this season to get ready and the Super
- 18:14Bowl season will officially be behind them. All right, The
- 18:18five biggest stories at Eagles camp. There you go, those
- 18:21five and more, of course, and we'll be covering them
- 18:23all here on the Sports Bash Live on ninety seven
- 18:25three ESPN.
- 18:26Speaker 2: Thanks Jeff, see Mike.
- 18:28Speaker 1: All right, there's Jeff Mosher everybody, of course for the
- 18:30Inside of the Birds podcast Football at four here every
- 18:33day you get football at four o'clock on the Sports
- 18:36Bash on ninety seven three ESPN.