PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles Check-In: Mekhi Becton signs with Chargers; Birds add Kylen Granson, Patrick Johnson

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Say goodbye to your Super Bowl-winning right guard, Eagles fans, as Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie allowed Mekhi Becton to leave for a two-year, $20-million deal with the Los Angeles Chargers. That comes on the heels of a pair of minor signings for the Eagles -- tight end Kylen Granson, formerly of the Colts, and old friend Patrick Johnson, the special teams standout. Zach Berman and Bo Wulf discuss Becton's departure and whether the addition of another tight end is further indication the team plans to move on from Dallas Goedert. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

everybody. How's your weekend going? Welcome to the P.HLY Eagles podcast presented by TrueMark Financial. Go to TrueMark.com to check out the rates. Thanks to them for sponsoring this free agency frenzy. Zach Berman, how's your working going? That's going well. I'm excited to see you, though. This is a welcome departure. All right. Let's talk about it. Mackay Beckett officially leaves the Eagles signs with the Los Angeles Chargers for what is reported to be a two-year $20 million deal. and now the Eagles, the Super Bowl is one thing. They're proud of that, but not as proud as they are of the fact that they are now in line for four compensatory picks in 2020. If you listen to the national reporters, this deserves another parade in Philadelphia, don't you think, Zach? Yeah, I do think it's a little much.

Like, I'm seeing things like the Eagles have, you know, they're figuring out the next competitive advantage as if like the Baltimore Ravens haven't been using compensatory picks for the last, you know, decade plus. But no, the Mackay-Bectin departure, it's something we had been talking about. And I thought that when they acquired Kenyan Green, not to say Kenyan Green is the Bectin replacement, but that it kind of signaled that they probably won't be able to go here. I know when he lingered on the market, there was a sentiment that maybe he could return. But this is in line with kind of what I was expecting for him in terms of getting $10 million. or 10 million plus.

We'll see what the numbers are in terms of guarantees. But I didn't think the Eagles were going to have five offensive linemen being paid eight-digit contracts. And I'm expecting a Cam Juergens extension to come soon. But good for Mackay-Bek, and he earned this. Good for McKay-Bekton. It's actually, I think it's a little bit under what would have been a reasonable expectation. You know, if he had signed early in free agency, given what some of the other bloated guard contracts have been. I think he was probably hurt by waiting and potentially waiting on the Eagles.

But if you just think about this from the Eagles perspective, given everything that they have signaled and the places that they are trying to save money, they're just they're not going to pay that much money for a guard when they're paying four other offensive linemen at the top of the market. And it should be a position where with Jeff Stoutland, you've got the relative ease of playing next to Lane Johnson and Cam Jerkins, you should be able to to find somebody on a rookie contract or at least a meager veteran contract to be. fine at that position. You're right. And I think that's a really good point about playing between Lane and obviously Juergens before this Kelsey, because I know there's been this revolving door of right guards for the Eagles. And that might be part of the reason why. They might look at that as a position that is easy. I don't want to say easy to put someone in there. But when you're playing between those two players, you should be able to handle it. Now, yeah, you hit it on the head. If Landon Dickerson was on a rookie contract,

maybe the calculus is different here and and the eagles would pay their right guard more but once they pay linda dickerson what they did last year i didn't think they were going to have two guards you know being paid 30 million dollars combined right so that that would be especially especially ambitious when you consider that jurgins is is is about to get a new deal but the outcome for the eagles you you sign mackay back in after the draft last year ostensibly at the time is a swing tackle, earns this guard spot. You get a Super Bowl season out of him, like real productive guard play. And now you're going to get a fifth round pick, presumably as a comp pick for him. Like that's a great outcome for the Eagles. It's a great outcome for Mackay Beckton to really

turn his career around. And he's going to a place that I think he can really flourish. Yeah, let's talk about Beckton first. And then we'll get into where they stand at right guard. We'll get into the picks themselves. And then we will also touch on at the end, the other players, the Eagles signed yesterday those minor signings. But on Beckton himself, first of all, you know, it was a, it was an impressive season for him. As a run blocker, he brought a lot to the table and was a real difference maker there. You could debate about, you know, whether he was at fault on some some pass protection stuff, but no doubt about it, like solidified the offensive line.

And you saw what it meant to him after being in, you know, NFL hell with the New York Jets and what those first four years of his career were like. and I think everybody's lasting memory of him will be, you know, sitting on the field crying as they've won the Super Bowl, right? Just seeing how everything meant to him. But you're probably right. The Chargers are a good place for him to land. They like to run the ball. That'll be a good thing.

I just think that from the Eagles perspective, even beyond, okay, they're really trying to save money. Like, that whole Bechtin experiment is the case of building up a guy's value and letting him move on. you don't then you don't then pay that guy at the at the you know apex of of his market right it's a it is an example of the way that you are able to sort of bring people in and get the most out of them and let's just sort of keep doing that I hear your point I'm I'm not trying to disagree where I would push back a bit and I don't think you you mean it this way but I don't think it's just this eagle's machine that he's the product of like I I think he has special ability right So like Tyler Steen was, you know, if Tyler Steen was the right guard last year and he became a free agent, I don't think Tyler Steen turns into a $10 million a year player.

Like I think Mackay Beckton had, and we'll see this year. Yeah, I don't know about that. But could be an example. But Mackay Beckton, I think had had special tools that allowed him to flourish here. So I think he, he deserves a lot of the credit. But you are absolutely correct. Like he was strategic in picking the Eagles, right? Jeff Stoutland maximized him.

The Eagles put him in position to accentuate what he does well, A, putting him at guard, B, the run heavy offense that they had. And yeah, so it's really, it's like something that that worked out exceedingly well for both sides. All right. Now, where do the Eagles stand at Red Guard? We have talked about this this week, but, you know, there's Kenyon Green, who they got in the CJ Gardner Johnson trade. There is Tyler Steen. There are other guys on the roster like Trevor Keegan,

year's fifth round pick or Dary and Kinnard who they brought in. And then, of course, there is the possibility of drafting somebody in the draft. What do you think is the most likely outcome for the Eagles starter in week one? Yeah, I've been saying Kenyon Green this week and I could be wrong. I haven't even watched him play with Eagles yet, right? But he has the most starting experience of that group. The age profiles intriguing to me. Now, Tyler Steen, the Eagles drafted Tyler Steen, it's a third round pick,

but it was like top of the third round. They didn't have a second round pick that year. Or they traded out of the second round. The Eagles don't typically, you know, when they're taking someone that high, the expectation is that he becomes a starting player. And we thought that was going to be the case last year. And frankly, some players just take longer to develop. You know, Isaac Siamalu, if we had a conversation after a year two of Isaac Siamalo,

we're not talking about him as the type of guard that he has gone on to become. But, you know, once he developed, he kind of got comfortable there, he turned into a really valuable NFL player. The same could be said about Tyler Steen. I'm just leaning toward Kenyon Green right now. And that's not something anyone told me. It's just kind of based on they've seen Steen. They moved Bechtin over last year.

I'm curious to see if Kenyan Green can have a Bechton-like jump this year. I think it's a reasonable stance to have. If you're trying to think of like following the Mackay Bechton blueprint, like a huge guy with first round caliber tools in his body, as the Eagles would say. That is a nice thing. We know that Jeff Stylen wants sort of those outliers on the offensive line. We know from two years that for whatever reason, you know, the Eagles or Jeff Steylin, they don't love Tyler's team.

Otherwise, he would have been starting last year. That doesn't mean that he can't go win the job and look good. But that is, you know, that is part of what we know about how this has worked out for a few years. I do think that still, if the Eagles could have their ideal meeting of need and value at 32 or if they trade back a little bit, I still think it would be a potential Lane Johnson replacement who could start at right guard. Now, we'll see how this draft works out in that favor, but I do think that that is still a thing that they would very much like to do. Yeah, that's a good point.

I mean, the draft is certainly a place to look there. And for the reason you said, the same logic that we applied last year applies this year. Now, I know that Lane Johnson has kind of been on record saying he's hoping to play two more years here. So maybe that window is a little longer than we might have thought a year ago. This offensive line draft isn't the same as it was a year ago. But you're talking about the 30s here. where you don't, you know, it's not the top of the draft. It's how the value is there.

So you very well might see a tackle or a guard. Now, the other thing I'll say is if you're, you know, Jedrick Wills, not to say, I don't know if Jeddrick Wills can play guard, but this track record that Jeff Stoutland has, not just Mackay Beckett and like, Halipulavati Vaitai, turned into what, like a $50 million a year player, you know? Or I'm sorry, not $50 million dollar year, $50 million contract player. Isaac Samaul got a real good deal.

Like if players who come here, play for Jeff Stoutland, go on and earn contracts elsewhere. There's a track record of this. So if you're a guy at the crossroads of his career or you're not getting the value you want, it's kind of like how Jim Schwartz used to talk about defensive tackles in his scheme. If you come here under Jeff Stoutland, there is evidence that if you have talent, he will extract it from you. So maybe there's another post-draft signing depending on how the draft goes. All right, let's talk about the draft picks now, as everybody with a microphone will tell you. The Eagles now have 20 draft picks projected over the next two drafts.

There's eight this year, all of their own picks in the first three rounds, a fourth rounder from the Lions, and then four fifth round picks all in like an eight pick span. And then next year, in addition to the picks that they have themselves, you have the third round pick from the Jets, from the Hassan Reddick deal, and you now have projected compics in the third, fourth, fifth, and six. Now, we'll see if that actually comes to pass.

I guess my question for you, Zach, is probably not, since the Eagles are being so chest-puffy about this, but, like, I think there might have been a hope internally that Bechton would sign a big enough deal that it might be, like, on, like, the fourth-round border.

Now that it's a fifth, would you consider like there's not a lot of guys left but we have talked a lot about a Zizzo Jolari who's there and would probably cost a you know a a canceled compic maybe a fifth maybe a sixth like are you so protective of these of these fifth and six round compics that you wouldn't still be doing that or is it just we know that they're not trying to spend money they're not going to be involved in any of that stuff yeah not the fifth and sixth ones the the um the the I'm sorry I would not be so protective of the fifth and and the six ones the The third and fourth ones, yeah, I'd be very protective of those.

Like, I wouldn't trade a third round pick right now or a fourth round pick right now for Aziz-O-Jolari if he were a trade candidate. But a fifth or sixth or not. He won't cost a third. The third for sure is. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you there. I would not be so productive of the fifth and sixth round pick.

Yeah, nor would I. But I do think that what they've signaled is, you know, they're not going to be signing guys like that, right? I also want to use this form to address something like regarding the compics. Just to kind of clarify, these are projected compics, so you can't trade them now. But what you can do is because you're projecting them, you could be a little more liberal in trading your third round picks. Or, you know, a third round pick. Or you could trade your fourth round pick or you could trade a sixth round pick next year, knowing that you're going to have or expecting an additional pick that.

So in your internal accounting, if you look at three third round picks, you can be aggressive trading that Jets pick or trading your pick knowing you'll get that third round comp pick. Yeah. How many turkeys would you put right now on the Eagles trading, let's say, either of their two third rounders or their fourth rounder before the trade deadline is over this season? 80 turkeys. Wow. Yeah. Because I think it could be used as a package to move up in this. year's draft, right? And then the other thing, too, and the Eagles showed this last year is that

when Howie has picks to work with on day three, he will trade for future picks. This is something that he's always done. So he'll trade back from like the fifth to the sixth round and add a fifth to next year, something like that. Like this is, it's something he's always been willing to do on draft day. And I would expect Howie to to navigate that. But I do think they'll trade a third at some point. We got defa. Mike Weber in the channel who says he loves a Saturday pod because it means he can finally join live and he wants to know why isn't Zach in the Newhouse

Hall of Fame yet? Let's go. I'm flattered that you ask. There's a lot of really impressive people from Newhouse far more impressive than anything I've accomplished so far. That would be wonderful to be honored because of the company that you would join.

But it's honestly, Newhouse doesn't, you know, Newhouse doesn't ask much of me. Honestly, I mean, I'm kind of like an afterthought from their perspective. But, you know, I appreciate the sentiment. And W.A.E.R., which is the radio station there, honestly, I was like, I was like the eighth guy on the bench, so to speak. You know, there was such a talented staff there. D.L. Orange, I probably had more of an effect than W.A.R.

But I appreciate the sentiments very much, Michael. I do find the, like, you know, taking out an ad in the newspaper about how many compics we're getting after you just on the Super Bowl to be a little bit, a little bit off-putting. You don't need to, you don't need to- You just won the Super Bowl. Exactly. And like, you don't need to say, hey, 2026, we're in good shape, right? Like, that's not, yeah, you know.

There's a lot. We've sort of seen a lot of this, this off-season, Zach, in like the, the pre-defensiveness from the Eagles organization when they just won the Super Bowl. I've always thought, like, this is, you know, you're talking about, like, team slogans, that kind of thing or, like, I've always thought that if, if, if, if, you're always thought that, If I was running the team, if I was Howie Rosemann, I was Don Smolenski, I would go to the marketing department. I would take out a billboard on 76 or 95 or 676.

I would just put the Lombardi trophy. 20 picks in the next two years. And I would just write enough set, right? Like, that's it, right there. Like, that's all you need to say. You won the Super Bowl here. There's going to be like this, yeah, you don't need to tell me about how well-stocked you are in the third round

in the fourth round, the fifth round of 2026 draft. I get it since so much can change between now and then. You say, like, look, this is, this is what we plan for this year. This was going to be a maintenance here. Frankly, if you want to kind of rationalize the roster, you say, look, we still have Jalen Hertz and Sequin Barclay and A.J. Brown, Devonte Smith, Elaine Johnson, Jordan Milana, Atlanta, Dickerson, Cam Juergens, Jalen Carter, no one's been like, you go on down the list. The Eagles roster is probably still the best in the,

NFL right now, right? You don't need to tell me about the, the compick you're getting in 26. We're going to, we're going to get two banners in the link this year. One Super Bowl champions. The other one, 2026, sixth round pick coming for Isaiah Rogers. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's, it's not, look, I, I understand that you can try to justify and rationalize, you know, but, and I'm not the one getting criticized or getting scrutinized here. So it might be easy. It's a bit of, it's a misdirection. And it's a misdirection because they're not spending any money. That's what it is.

Exactly. Which is fine. That's their choice. But that's what it is. Yeah. But I think this is what I would say. The people who would be swayed by the compic argument are going to love you no matter what. And the people who are criticizing you are not going to get excited about the conflicts, right?

Like that's a fight you're not going to win or lose. All right. Very quickly. Two minor signings from yesterday that we have not yet talked about. One of them, I would say, more important from a, you know, what could happen next standpoint. And that is former Colts tight end, Kylin Granson, who actually played quite a bit last season, but was not productive and was actually sort of like the Kwez Watkins Jahan Thompson level of tight ends in terms of where he ranked like in yards per route run. I think he only ended up with, I got to pull it up here like 14 catches or whatever it was, but he was playing a bunch of snaps. It was also not asked to block a ton.

So this is not a guy who was like their blocking specialist. that was Mo Ali Cox. And so this is a guy who was just running routes and was not getting targeted. But as you look at, what are they going to do with Dallas Goddard? And they have now added two capable, playable veteran tight ends. And this week, do you think that this is further signal that Dallas Conard is on the way out? Yeah, I do. And not to say that Granson or Harrison Bryant are your replacements for Dallas Goddard, per se.

But here you've added, I don't want to say, like, major draft pedigree, but Granson's a former fourth round pick. Same thing with Harrison Bryant, right? These are like NFL tight ends. That's that's that's that's kind of been that these aren't guys who've, who've been on practice squads. These are these are NFL tight ends. And so it's a way of kind of draft proofing that position combining with Grant Calcutera.

And also we spoke about the Colts. Like this is this is a guy who played for the Colts last year who's no longer there. And the Colts are a team that is looking for a tight end or the Colts are a team that that that continues to look for a tight end. So I don't take this as like, oh, they're set now at tight end if they move Goddard because they got Cranston and because they got Harrison Bryant. But it's another capable body at a position that honestly, if you look at last year, like they waited a while to add CJ Usama.

They really didn't have the type of depth at that position going in the camp that you're typically thinking of. They lost Jack Stoll. They replaced him with Uzama. Now you're going to go into camp, presumably. even if Goddard's not here with three tight ends who've played meaningful NFL snaps in Calcutera, Harrison, Bryant, and Colin Granson, which is different than a year ago. Yeah, 14 catches for 182 yards last season for Granson.

A year before that was more productive, 30 catches for 368 yards. And as I mentioned before, all the tight ends who ran at least 200 routes this year, there were 44 of them. Granson was 41st in yards per route run. But two spots ahead of Michael Mayer. So there you go. And a good athletic profile coming out, you know, I'm looking at the mock draftable now. Oh, he's actually listed here with the spider charts with fullbacks and not with tight ends, interestingly.

So that affects the percentiles, but 87 percentile vertical jump, 90th percentile broad jump, 81st percent out 40-yard dash, 87 percent out two-con drill. So like there's an athletic profile here that you're building on. Are you sticking on yesterday's 88 turkeys on Dallas Goddard being elsewhere next season? Yes, I am. have. All right. There you go.

Last one. Patrick Johnson, old friend, back in the nest. He's going to get a Super Bowl ring, and he's going to get to be here for it. Patrick Johnson, special team stand out. What do you make of that? Yeah, an engagement ring too, right? Didn't you say he just got a wedding ring rather? He just had a wedding ring.

Yeah. In Columbia? Yeah, good for him. Congratulations. Good week. Patrick Johnson is someone who was, like, respected here among the players. Every July and August, we were talking. about him because he would make plays during training camp wasn't really a factor in in games but

he's someone who like you said contribute on special teams can be a depth pass rusher you were surprised if if memory serves when they moved on from him last year maybe they thought they can get him through i think that was a that was yeah that was a miscalculated release i think they were yeah they were bummed that the giants claimed him exactly giants claimed them and so now the first well now they have a chance to bring them back and they do i imagine there's probably interest on his end and coming back if if because i can't imagine the the money's that high so yeah i don't think he's guaranteed to make the roster but he's someone who has been who they've deemed at least three of the past four years as a roster bowl player and the new york giants

considered a roster role player last year there you go all right a little saturday action for you so that'll do it we'll get going if there's bigger news to come we'll be here but for now that'll close it out. Thanks to TrueMark Financial for sponsoring this podcast. Go to trumark.com for rates and to learn more, TrueMark Financial, federally insured by the NCUA, Equal Opportunity Lender, rates are subject to change. Thank you, Julia. Thank you, Zach. We'll talk to you later. And as always, we love you.