PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles Training Camp: Taking STOCK On Makai Lemon, Eli Stowers, Darius Cooper | PHLY Eagles Podcast

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

How confident should the Eagles be in Makai Lemon, Eli Stowers, Darius Cooper, and the rest of their skill position players in tangible roles going into Week 1? Fran Duffy and EJ Smith go through the entire roster after two full weeks of training camp practices to determine which players the team should feel best about contributing right away, including Saquon Barkley, Quinyon Mitchell, Jalen Hurts, and much more.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome in everybody. This is the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast. We are live from the Xfinity Mobile Studio and presented by the good people at Ashley. I am your host today, E.J. Smith, and I'm joined by the magnanimous St. Francis. I like the nickname St. Francis for you, the Duffman, Franny Films, a man with many nicknames and worthy of many nicknames. How are you doing today, Fran? Do it all right. I don't need, I don't need nicknames. We can get right into it.

All right, you're real football guy. Like, let's get into this conversation. You know, you're probably a little downtrodden because we aren't at football practice today. And I feel that for it. You know, I totally, I totally understand that feeling because, you know, it's been fun. I'm getting kind of sad that we're getting into the preseason games. That's when camp starts to, you know, wind down. We get fewer practices out there.

This is my favorite time of the year. Yeah, but here's the thing. Practices wind down, but we get more film. So it's like, hmm, you don't get film of practice. I get film of games. So while preseason film is not quite regular season film, I am excited for the new chapter in our lives getting ready to open up. That is so on brand for you.

You're like, we get film again. We're going to have film to look at. I don't know. I enjoy practices, but I enjoy reporting. We'll be back in the locker room soon and I'll have a chance, you know, really put my reporter hat on. So I enjoy that. So, yeah, I am excited for today's show.

this is a construct that you came up with Fran that mimics something that you will see this time of year in NFL front offices. So I will let you explain the kind of the structure of what we're going to go through today and how it kind of relates to some of the exercises that we have done in the past. Yeah, basically you're going to see this around the NFL and it happens in different variations at different cadences differently for every team. right and you know you're going to see that NFL teams we've kind of passed this point in camp but early on in training camp before colleges open up their camps NFL teams will bring their college scouts into the building and one of the exercises they put their college scouts through is hey you are our west coast scout you're in charge of watching the wide receivers every single day after practice and when you come in every single day you are going to provide

your manager with a stack of your how you would stack the position right now, like if we're playing the game tomorrow, right? You know, so we're not taking contracts and, you know, draft pedigree and all that stuff. Throw that all out the window. The same thing happens with position coaches. They're going to go through and you're going to have these personnel meetings. We got to see a little bit of it on hard knocks recently where you see the Seattle Seahawks coaches and they're in there and they're basically giving their take on every single player on the depth chart. And you're basically what you're doing is you are giving the decision makers, the general manager, the head coach. You're giving them

all the information that they need so that then they can make the call on who is going to make the final 53 man roster. And so I thought, you know what, it would be a good exercise for us to be able to go through on the show. Let's just kind of go position by position and kind of give our own confidence rankings based on what the coaches have shown us, right?

Like, you know, we're kind of reading tea leaves here, but just kind of saying like, okay, this is our comedy. If they're playing a game tomorrow, draft pedigree be damned, contract be damned. Who do they feel, who do we feel they have the most? confidence in to play in a game. So I thought it could be a fun exercise for us to go through. Yeah, absolutely. So to just kind of lay out the groundwork here and, you know, explain it so that I can cover myself if we have any big differences in our rankings here. This is for if they're going to

play a game tomorrow, you are looking at basically how these guys have looked throughout training camp. So for guys who have been injured, maybe they do get knocked down the pecking order a little bit just because of the fact that we haven't seen a lot of them. But, you know, this is like, how confident am I if they are going to step onto the field in a game situation tomorrow morning, how do I feel about them, you know, being able to fulfill a job? And sometimes, you know, we will talk about what that role might look like, but yeah, that was how I did it. And we did tear breaks, you know, anytime that I'm in charge of a game. I'm the host today. We're going to have tier skips. We're going to have tears in this exercise. So what we did was the first tier is guys that you feel great about being on the

field. You know, this is some, you know, somewhere on the range of either, you know, he's going to be featured. He's going to be a big part of what we do, a difference maker, a blue chip player, all the way down to he will be on the field and we feel good about him in that role. You play in the game. Yep. Yeah. Second tier, maybe not ideal to be on the field at a high volume, but somebody that you feel okay about if he is on the field. And then the third tier is break glass in case of emergency. These are your, you wouldn't feel great about putting them in the spot, but, you know, they're on the roster and, you know, they have maybe some, some potential or some depth of depth value, as it were. So, yeah, that's how I looked at it.

And, you know, we'll kind of bounce around from different positions, but I thought a good place to start would be wide receivers and tight ends, you know, looking at the skill guys on offense. And I think that those are two really interesting conversation, a conversation. So let's start with wide receiver. We're not going to have, you know, graphics for these because it's like 13 guys. But in my first tier, I'll read you all. I had Devante Smith. Yep. Dantavian Wix number two.

Yep, I did too. Darius Cooper number three. Okay. And then I had Hollywood Brown 4, Elijah Moore, number 5, and Ben McKay Lemon number 6. That's the entirety of my full first tier here. Yeah, I had Lemon higher. Okay.

Only because, I mean, the fact that when he was healthy before the injury, he was out there with the one. ahead of Hollywood Brown, ahead of Darius Cooper. Like, I mean, like, they have shown confidence in their willing, you know, in the player. Now, obviously, the injury hampers that. But I do think that they would feel confident if he were healthy. He'd be out there with the ones right now. So I actually had him higher.

I had him a little bit lower just because, again, if he was stepping on the field tomorrow, I actually think that they would rather have Elijah Moore after the reps that he's accumulated, you know, how he's looked with the offense. I think Mackay Lemon, you know, clearly he's got upward mobility here. He could be the number two guy if we're talking about this in a few months. But very much like honing in on the idea that there's a game tomorrow, I think the Eagles probably would have Elijah Moore. We talked about this with week one where it's like if McIalleman came back four days before week, you know, but like let's say he's available midway through week. Right.

I think Elison Moore probably still plays over him. I think that's like that's injury. That's an injury related. So, like, you know, and taking the literal sense of the exercise, like, yeah, if they're playing a game tomorrow, Mackay Lemon can't play. So, yeah, I'm saying, but even if he came back, let's say he showed up to the facility and he's like, clean bill of health, I still think they'd probably say, we just don't have enough reps with you in. If we're just talking ability, what they showed, what they showed in camp, I probably would put Elijah, or I put McCoy Lemon. I put him four. I would not put him above Darius Cooper right now.

So here were my, my breaks were between Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore. and then between Danny Gray and Samari Turi. So it's like I had Toray, Azucanma, your boy, and Brandon Hayes. I had them on the bottom rung. I had Elijah Moore, Britton, Johnny Wilson, Quess Watkins, and Danny Gray in one rung. And then I had Hollywood Brown, Cooper, Lemon, Wicks, and Smith as like, yeah, like playable players. And I know that the big thing with Hollywood is that, like, he's done it. You know, like he's it.

He has been there. He has done it. Like there's confidence that, like, all right. if we need to play, like, I can put Hollywood Brown in and we play a wide receiver. While Britton Covey has been consistently on the roster over the last couple of years, I think they probably have a little bit more faith in putting him in. Johnny Wilson, you're hoping, can kind of play his way into that. You know, if he can prove to be a really effective blocker during the preseason.

But I would say that that's kind of how I felt good about my stack. I like that you put Cuez in the second tier. I considered it. I actually had my boy, Eric Esoukanma, as number nine over Cuez. those guys have both had like pretty solid camps you know like they've had some moments obviously quez has had some bad moments as well um but yeah i feel like i feel like i could sneak them into like if you had to play them you feel okay about them doing something you know feeling a very small role in the offense but but yeah i i saw it mostly the same way that you did um the way i kind of looked at it

the way i kind of looked at it with that was because basically that i wrote down like the position coaches as i was going through i'm like all right we've got to got Aaron Morehead. He's got to stand up in front of the entire staff and give his take. And it's like, all right, you know, Amo, who do you have more faith in, Kwez Watkins or Eric Azucanma? I feel pretty confident he would say Kwez Watkins. I think there's more literature there. It's like, you know, guys like that, I feel like there was just a little bit more juice for. Yeah. Yeah, Kwez is kind of like a funny one because I feel like player, like the fan base is kind of out on him. But I mean, he's played, you know, decent football on his career and he's looked okay

during the summer. All right. Let's get into the tight end discussion here. This is the one that I struggled with the most. Shout out to Lindsay. You know, she cooked up graphics for all of these. She even did the wide receiver graphic. When I gave her the out, I said that she didn't do it because we did so many names there. I sent her at least four edits on the tight end one. You know, I kept saying, did you make the graphic yet?

So this was really like a pencils down situation for me because this is a really tough one. You know, the top two, I think we are going to be in complete agreement. Dallas got her, Johnny Munt. Yes. I actually have a tier skip from there. And I think that that is very telling. I did, I had to cut off after month. You feel good about those two on the field.

From there, it's like, okay, if they have to play, we feel okay about it. But even in like a let's separate the tight end one, you know, like the guy who's, you know, on the field and 11 personnel on every down, every down tight end, even just talking about these guys as role players, I'm still not totally like convinced with this second tier of guys. I don't feel amazing about it. I mean, listen, Cam Latu is my number three. I see how you're looking at me. Okay, all right. Cam Latu's three for me. Grant Calcutera is four.

This is mostly a reflection of the way that they both looked last year. I think that Cam Latu should have played more last year. And if you're telling me that one of these guys is going to be on the field for 13 personnel, I feel good about Cam Latu in that role. But outside of that, if he has to be your second tight end or, you know, if Dallas Godder gets hurt, you know, all of a sudden, you don't have, like, I don't think Cam Latu is the, is the one that you're putting into that role. I think Grant Calcuttaire, at least has in his career, played well, filling in for Dallas

Goddard, which is why I had him for. I had Eli Stowers number five. Or no, I don't think I did actually. That's how I waffled. I'm looking at the wrong one here. I had E.J. Jenkins. Played the graphic, Lindsay. Let's see what his final answer was.

I need to know. He's changing it on the fly. I had E.J. Jenkins number five. I can promise you that. E.J. Jenkins number five. And then I had Eli Stourer, six. So we had the same. We were pretty similar here.

Yeah, we were pretty similar. Of course, you weren't going to give Kam Latsu the number three spot, even though he deserved it. I mean, we haven't charted it, but my guess is that Grant has had more reps with the ones than. Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think that's fair. But to me, it's all one and the same here.

Yes. You had Eli Sowers dead last in your rankings. It's bad. Again, like based off what the coaches have shown us. Yeah, I was going to say, yeah. Yeah, but Bo made the point the other day, and he's right. they like when they are when there has been any opportunity where it's like hey like red zone or backed up where it's like we the defense has to they know they know we might be running the football here

stowers doesn't sniff the field like they don't they don't they don't it's stone smart is getting those reps calcatera is getting those reps those guys are getting those reps like they're showing us the lack of confidence in him at that point now i said it with cuss this morning and i feel strongly about it of all the players in preseason like Stowers is up there where I was like who I want to see most. And yeah, like we'd like to see him pop as a receiver. But the willingness as a blocker, it's like as important as any for, as anyone on the roster for him in these games. Like he doesn't have to be great, but just show like a willingness there.

And that could be the difference between him being active on game day. Like there's a chance that he's a complete inactive for chunks of the time this year. I don't think it's, I don't, I think you might have, you might have undersold it. was saying there's a chance. Like I think right now, based on what we've seen, he will be. Yeah, right. And that's why I settled with E.J. Jenkins over Eli Stowers in my final rankings here.

You know, and again, I came into the show prepared to do the, like, to kind of defend Eli Stowers. I knew he'd be low on your rankings. And my defense of it is that I think if you needed, like, if you needed someone to fill in snaps for Dallas Goddard, in theory, he can offer you something as a pass catcher. But the reason why he ended up number six, six on my list and the reason why I agree like right now if you're playing a game tomorrow,

he would not be among the, he wouldn't be on your active roster. He'd be one of your game day in actives is because of the fact that it's just so hard to carve a rollout for him right now. You're not going to trust them on early downs because what you said, he's not going to be trusted as a run blocker. So are you going to put, are you going to play him out wide as like a, you know, like a power slot? We haven't seen him really produce when he's been in those types of situations. When he's lined up on the outside, I mean, he had the one rep against our Ronald Epicady, he had one against Tariq Castro Fields. He hasn't gained separation on those routes.

You know, he hasn't been, you know, a mismatch target type player, even against the twos and the threes during training camp. So you kind of scratch that roll off for him. And then it's like, okay, so if I need a tight end, that's a depth option, a guy who's going to play 12 to 15 snaps on game day, how, what role is he going to fit into? So, you know, the upside is the argument for putting him higher. You know, maybe he will show more. but based off what we've seen in camp, I had to settle on him being number six.

I think you putting Stone Smart over him is probably a bridge too far. Who's had more reps of the ones? Stone Smart or your last hours? But I mean, that might be more about developmental, you know, just a developmental view. You know, it's like he needs the reps. He needs the reps. So is he better getting the reps? If he needs the reps, is he getting the rep?

If he needs the reps, is he getting the rep? He's on the sideline when Stone Smart is in there getting those reps? Like, I think he probably would work him with. the ones a little bit more if he wasn't constantly being sent with like whenever they do split field he's with the twos or the threes so is so smart he he needs the reps i think he i think i i couldn't put him below stone smart i think that that's extreme um and for the record yeah because we get accused sometimes of being just like collectively out on stowers and um obviously you had some doubts on the pre-draft process although i would like to point out you like had a balanced scouting report of him you like

you talked about the pluses as well. And honestly, like, I might be the one that's been the strongest against some of those pluses, because we haven't seen it the summer. We haven't seen the explosiveness and the route running prowess. Like, like people were talking about, like, smart people in our, in this, you know, these, the NFL podcasting world, we're talking about him playing receiver. Like, there was belief, obviously got worked out there, but there was belief that his, his best role might be as like a big slot.

And like, I just haven't seen any of that from him in training camp. I haven't seen him, you know, as a separator in space. So for that reason, like, we both have him low. But again, I wanted to say, like, I checked with a couple of my colleagues today. Like, where would you have him ranked? And they all said, like, somewhere between four and six. So at the very best, like, he's behind Kamlau, Johnny Munn, Dallas got it. Realistically, he's probably fifth behind Grand Calcutera and Kamala.

You can't put him ahead of Grand Calcutera. Like, in his exercise, you can't. Yeah. So even like the ones who are Polyanish or bullish on him would probably only have him a few spots higher. And I think that that really speaks to the camp that he's had and how it has been a slow start for him. So it was a tough one, though. I really struggled with this tight end group, especially because some of these guys, you're projecting them into different roles. But yeah, I feel fine about where I ended up with On Stowers.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and it doesn't mean that the book is written. But right now, if they had to play, like, this is what they have shown us. Yeah. All right. We're going to take our first break. But we've, we're going to tee something up that we've both been seeing on social media,

both been getting a little worked up about this. I think Fran might have an epic rant, so you've got to stay tuned to see what this is about. Think about all the things that have changed over the last five years. We went from talking about Devante Smith as a rookie to being one of the best receivers in the NFL, poised for a breakout season,

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You know, guys, I was sizing up a couple of things that I might put on the grill this weekend. We got an off day coming up. And if I do put something on the grill, you guys already know that I will be sending picks of whatever it is to my guy, Ed. If you don't know Ed, he's like a family member of mine almost because we know each other so well. And he's my local ace guy. So if you guys know that I treat my ace guy like family, you know that you know that you're you can as well. And if the heat and humidity is sneaking in, if the AC's not cranking like it should on these hot days, don't worry. Ace Hardware Home Services has got you covered. From AC repairs to water

heaters, plumbing and electrical, their trusted local pros bring the same helpful service you know from ACE right to your home. Whether it's a quick fix or a bigger summer project, they've got the tools, the know-how, and the people to get it done right. Ace Hardware Home Services, bringing helpful to your home and maybe a little splash of family. feel as well. So visit acehardwarehomeservices.com today to get started. Shout out, Ed. All right, we are back on the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast. And, Fran, there has been a clip on social media, the Eagles put out that has been making the rounds. And there's been a big reaction. It's an interception we talked about in great detail on the show. Queen Anne Mitchell jumping her

out against Hollywood Brown. And, you know, Jalen Hertz, obviously the quarterback on that play. and there's been a lot of people upset with the fact that the Eagles put out a clip of Jalen Hertz throwing an interception saying like, why would the Eagles do this? You know, this is a part. This is a big part of like the agenda against Jalen Hurds. How dare the social team sabotage their quarterback. The call is coming from inside the house. So again, I'm going to clear the floor for you here. There's going to be an ISO.

I want to hear what your response is to the people who are saying that. It is so frustrating because honestly, so many people that are complaining about this complain about other. facets of training camp coverage that directly fly in the face of posting a clip like this, right? When Quinnian Mitchell interception, if there's reports about a Quinnian Mitchell interception, I guarantee you go through, whether it's reporters mentions or you go through team media mentions and they say, post the Quinnion Mitchell interception. Where's the Quinnion Mitchell Interception? Why are you hiding this, right? Then to me, like, the bigger one is people that are like analysts and like analyze the game and break down the game. They're like, I can't believe

that they would post this, their starting quarterback. How about instead of like saying like, oh, we got to treat the quarterback with kid gloves, let's just acknowledge the fact that, yeah, you know what? Stats don't matter in training camp. Because people complain about that and say like, you know, they take shots of ESD and they say like, oh, why would you track stats in training camp? Interceptions don't matter in training camp. And then when they post a picture of an interception or a video of an interception,

that everyone gets all upset about it. So there's that. And then there's the aspect of, hey, you know what, maybe let's not cater to the lower common denominator and say like, yeah, it's okay that there's an interception here. You have a great player making a great play against another great player. And here's the interception. Is it the best throw in the world? No. But Jaylen Hertz is also trying a throw in the middle of the field, which other analysts also complain, oh, he never throws the middle of the field. He makes a throw to the middle of the field. And then it's intercepted. And everyone's like, oh, why would you show this? There are so many

aspects of this that get me frustrated. We want more access and more footage of training camp, not less. And so everyone's complaining about this. It's mind-blowing to me from all angles. It makes no sense whatsoever. And as I kept going on social media, it's not just on Twitter. It's like other aspects of social media as well. It blows my mind. And I got increasingly more angry about it every see. You texted me about it like 20 minutes for the show. And I said, I just saw it for the third time, someone commenting on it. It makes no sense. It's former players, it's analysts, it's reporters, it's fans. Like the whole thing. from any angle, why would you be upset by this other than the fact that you're just like

sensitive and you want to find something to complain about? I don't get it. A hat tip to you here. I mean, you just cooked. And I completely agree. It's one of those, it's a good reminder that social media and particularly, let's just be honest, like the discourse on Twitter is not real life. Because it's one of those instances where I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. It's like every single person I see interact with this video is saying like Jalen Hurts through a and they put it on on social media. You know, this is, again, like, why would they put, why would they do this to your starting quarterback?

This is weird. Why would you do this? And it's just like, to me, I do think like two things can be true. You know, the Eagles have clearly been, you know, heavily, like, there's been, like, internal criticism of Jalen Hertz this off season. That is clear. I will not sit here and deny that. But to me, like, this didn't, that didn't even, like, cross my mind.

When I saw the clip, I thought about how we've talked on the show about Coyan Mitchell. and if he added interceptions to his game. And if you watch this clip, like, you tell me if Hollywood Brown does not have as much culpability on this interception as the ball placement from Jalen Hertz. I mean, Hollywood Browns, like, you know, we talk about Darius Cooper, like, attacking the football. Hollywood Brown's doing like a fade away there. Not a great throw from Jalen Hertz. Not making excuses for Jalen Hertz.

But, you know, like you said, that's a great player making a great play on the ball. I think that's probably what the Eagle social team saw. Like, I, you know, is there, what I, the only thing I would concede is, Is there a world where if the whole organization is in lockstep trying to defend Jalen Hertz, like would this clip not, you know, get vetoed on the way to making it to social media? Maybe. Maybe that is plausible. But I actually would argue that if that were the case, this is the type of like, you know,

deifying and coddling for the starting quarterback that we've been complaining about that the was in the past. I think, you know, there's a difference between not handling things with kid gloves and actually just like, letting a Quinion Mitchell interception speak for itself on social media. So, yeah, couldn't agree more. Just a weird, a bizarre unanimous reaction to this that, again, I just disagree with completely. Literally, like, it's okay that he threw an interception. The more is not going to end because he threw an interception to an all-corner. We're going to be okay.

He threw an interception to an all-pro corner. Yeah, I think that's a good way of phrasing it. Again, I didn't think the, specifically the spiral, I didn't think the spiral was bad. I didn't think it was a duck. Again, not the best placement, but I think Hollywood Brown could have helped them out on that one as well. So anyway, let's get through some more of these position rankings. Let's go through the corner group, Fran. And just to be, just for the audience, we tried to separate outside corners into one group.

And then we put, we put the nickel corners in with the safeties. So basically, we're looking at it almost like a base defense here. So an outside corner, why don't you tell me who you have, and I'll tell you who I have next. Yeah, I had three tiers here. The first three, I had Quinnian Mitchell, Rik Woolen, and then the veteran Jonathan Jones. Oh, you have him in the first year. Okay. I did have him in the first year, just because, like, all right, the guy's been there, done that

or you would feel okay putting him into the game, right? Okay. Yeah, I do think that he's battling with the next player on my list, who I do have the first name on my next tier, and that's Mac McWilliams last year's fifth round pick. But you have Mac Mac Mac McWilliams, Jacori, Bennett, and Keelioringo in that next tier. And then you have Ambrie Thomas, Taree Castro Field, and Sean Wade in the third tier. That's how I broke it up.

I thought it was clean 333. Yeah, I had my tiers a little different. I had Quinyan and Riequel in a tier of their own. And then I had Jonathan Jones and Mack McWilliams in the next tier. I've really been encouraged with Mac MacMick Williams this summer. So I wanted to give him a nod and put him in the second tier here. And then I had Jacori and Bennett in the next tier. I wouldn't feel great about him in there.

And then I had Keely Ringo 6, Tarek Castro, Fields, Ambrie Thomas, and Sean Wade. So yeah, I'm interested that you had Keely Ringo in with that second tier. and that you didn't have Jonathan Jones in there. But I hear you on Jonathan Jones. He's an experienced player you feel pretty good about. But honestly, I think we're pretty aligned there. Yeah, maybe some slight differences. So next we will do offensive tackle.

Offensive tackle. Yeah. We'll save safety for a little bit later here. I think this one is pretty straightforward, except for one spot. I had Lane Johnson, Jordan Milata in the first tier. Yep. Tier skim. I had Markell Bell three, Fred Johnson, four.

John Ojuqoo, I had in that tier as well. Oh, okay. And then I had the final tier. It's like, you don't want to see these guys on the field. Holland, Pearson, Cameron Williams. Okay. I just had, I had a juquo at the top of the third tier, only because like, I don't know, like, how many games has he played in the NFL?

You know what I mean? Like, he's been in the league for a couple of years, but it's been like at the bottom of the roster, like, you know, just kind of on the fringe. So I had Bell and Fred Johnson at three and four, a jukewu at five, Pierce at six, Cam Williams at seven. Yeah, I think for me, it was just. hard to put Ojuqwu in the same tier as Holland Pearson Cameron Williams. I think that was really all it was.

See, I look at it as it. It was hard for me to put him in the same tier as Fred. Yeah, John and Mark L. Bell. Maybe we needed like a mini tier there for him. Like, you know, this is always like the convenient. You can name the tier, John Ojuquo, just like try and have one, one player in one tier. Stop riding the fence, TJ. You got to make a call, man.

Well, I made my call. All right. Interior offensive line before we go to break here. This is a good one. Yeah, this is a, this is one that's, interesting at the top and the bottom. So you know what, Lindsay, why don't you flash the graphic up before we read them and then we can react to each other's because I want to see who you have one.

Okay. So we had this. Oh, you made the call. Okay. So I'm going to read yours. You had Cam Jergens one, Tyler Steen two. Then you had Landon Dickerson three. So you have Steen.

You feel better about Steen going into a game tomorrow than Landon Dickerson. I thought about it. I didn't quite get there. And then you had Drew Kendall at the top of your next tier. Number four. Really? Lampkin number five, which I think is on brand for you. Jake Major's number six, hate it, couldn't, couldn't hate it more.

Number seven, Michael Jordan, the goat. Michael Morris, eight, Miles Hinton, nine. I broke with you a little bit. I thought about putting Tyler Steen number two and having Landon Dickerson number three. You know, we can talk about Landon's summer in a second here. But yeah, I drew Kendall four. I had Michael Jordan five kind of deferring to the fact that he's played a lot of football. I didn't love that I had Michael Morris over Willie Lampkin,

but if you told me you had to go into a game tomorrow, this conversation we had on yesterday's show, which is like these players can be fun training camp stories, and they can be impressive in moments against other third team players, and you can see the flashes of the potential. But at some point, you have to ask yourself, like, if it's, you know, and we didn't talk about this much with Darius Cooper, but I think he's another player where it's like,

you have to earn the right to be, you know, subject to this question. But the question that has to become at some point, like if it's third and eight and on a game-winning drive against the Rams early in the season, do you want Michael Morris at left guard or Willie Lampkin? You know, if it's third and eight in the red zone and you need someone to run a corner route, you know, or you need someone to run a deep in, do you want Darius Cooper or do you want, you know, Mackay Lemon? You know, that's where you start asking. You can get, it can get slippery slope there because it's like, all right, well, if it's third and 15, who do I want running a go ball on the outside? Probably Kwez Watkins over Britain Covey, but I probably want Covey on the roster. So you kind of remove the situation from it, but it's just like if it games, like in the game setting, like it is a half to have it moment in a game. I probably just feel better about Michael Morris not having a like a catastrophic snap.

but at the same time Willie Lampkin has looked really good. So I struggled with that one. To me, the way I'm treating this right now is we're just going off what we're seeing, right? And that's why like I have Jake Majors in there like higher than you because while Jake Major hasn't been good, he's consistently playing

with the twos whereas the other guys are not. Right. And so like they are showing us that they have more confidence right now in Jake Majors. Now those guys are all in the same tier for me. So I'm looking at it. I'm like, yeah, like all right, like there's going to be shuffling here over the next two weeks as We get through preseason games and we get through joint practices next week against New England. So all of this is subject to change.

But taking the temperature of it right now, I would say like, yeah, they seem to have more confidence in Jake Majors than the rookie Michael Morris or like even like with Willie. Like he's getting, you know, Willie is starting to chip into those reps. But I would have him in majors like basically neck and neck. And that's how I had it. I did give really the slight nod just because the performance has been better. But yeah, to me like it is a what are the coaches showing us? And if you were to ask Chris Cooper right now, like, yeah, maybe long term they've got faith in Michael Morris. Or a long term, they've got faith in player X.

But just, you know, they're playing tomorrow. Like, this is what I think that the confidence would be. As far as the Landon decision, because I see, like, there's some reaction in the chat to that, too. Look, he's, he's, they're rotating him in and out over the course of practice. And I think they're just trying to, we're trying to get him to the season, right? They're trying to get them through the game. So I think the fact that you kind of worry about the durability, that's what gave the, Steen the nod. And I also think that there's like this aspect of like the discourse around Tyler

Steen where it's like, oh, he's like the weak point of the offensive line because he was the only guy that's not a pro bowler. Being a solid offensive lineman is a good thing. Like if if and when Tyler Steen hits the open market in the spring, he's going to get paid a lot of money. He's a starting guard in the NFL. So, you know, I don't think that he's like, you know, a bum. Like I think that he's a player that brings value. You know, I think with Landon, like yeah, the upside is certainly higher. Like if Landon's hell, and at the peak of his powers, like he's a better player. But I think right now they're showing us that like, yeah,

there's some cause for concern with Landon and his durability. Yeah, it's like the range of outcomes for Landon is obviously much greater. You know, you might get high level play from him. But I think that as much as Eagles fans won't want to hear this, like they're the 2025 Landon experience by the end. I think he's healthier. But I'm not sure that, you know, it's based off a camp so far, I'm not sure that you're getting 2024, Landon Dickerson.

I think that you're getting a different player. And I think he could still be serviceable. But, and you know, to balance this out, I think Cam Jurgens has looked as like encouraging as Cam has looked. Yes. I think Landon has looked as concerning, honestly. Like they are on opposite sides of that spectrum where, you know, Cam Jurgens has been getting up to the second level.

He's, you know, been on these pinpools. He's been out in space and he looks comfortable and, you know, a lot more physically capable than he did, you know, this time last year, especially midway through last season. And yeah, I just think Landon, like, he's been in my notes a lot struggling with speed. I think he's had some troubles like speed to power too because of the fact that I think his mobility is just limited. So, yeah, I think like it's kind of a mixed bag there. I will say there I will leave the light on for this possibility because there are guys where like, you know, from a health standpoint where they are just, when they get into training camp, they're not going full, full bore. Because they're saving themselves as well.

So not only is the team like trying to like keep him on ice, but he's also in like self-preservation mode. So maybe we're not seeing like the best of Landon Dickerson purposefully. Right. And it might just be like, hey, like I'm just, I'm literally, I'm just trying to get to the games. So that could be possible as well with him. Yeah, absolutely. The last thing I wanted to say here is I had Drew Kendall in the top guys. I know that it's an unknown.

You haven't seen him in games, but I feel good about him. Like if you told me that Landon Dickerson's going to miss three weeks and Drew Kendall's going to play guard for this team, I'm okay with it. I feel like, I feel fine with it. I don't know if I can be okay. I couldn't put him in the same tier as Tyler Steen. And you know what I mean? It's like, all right. I've seen Steen play for three years. Like Kendall hasn't played a snap or, you know, he's barely played. Yeah. I looked at it the other way. This is the, and this is the word it gets into semantics. I wouldn't have wanted to put him in the same tier with Micah Morris and Michael Jordan.

So anyway, I think that the interior line, the big story is I think the depth is a lot better than it was this time last year. But I agree with that. All right. We're going to get into a couple more positions. but first we're going to take a two-minute break, hang with us, and we'll talk about defensive tackle and linebacker coming up. Has anyone else maybe felt like a little chill in the air? You know, maybe fall is right around the corner. And you know if with fall right around the corner, back to school season is as well.

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I feel like this is one of the more straightforward ones. So we can speed through this one here. I got Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Morrow, Jomo, at my first tier. I have Byron Young and a tier by himself, actually, at number four. as you feel okay about this guy playing. And then I had Ty Robinson, Zion Wilson, Gabe Hall, David Blay, and UR. Bernard. I kind of just clustered all those guys together. Oh, you had UR over those guys.

That's interesting to me. Yeah, I mean, just, you know, it's probably because they're all the same tier. For, you know, UR, Zion, and Blay, I had all the same tier. Oh, man. I already, I just already, I already know what you're going to do at EdgeRusher, and now I'm upset. Lindsay, is it too late? Nope, nope. It pencils down, E.J.

No, I think that, yeah, they're, I don't know, what's your take on how much we're going to see those guys Saturday? We Ru and O'R. My gut is that we will see O'R. Like, probably for a series in like the fourth quarter would be my guess. Weiru, I'm less convinced, we'll see. You think, go hide. This is a guess. This isn't, you know, this isn't my reporting here.

Okay. I wouldn't surprise me if they played Wii Roo for like four snaps at offball linebacker. It would not surprise me at all. And if they do that, it's almost honestly like more encouraging that like they feel like they have something. I don't know. It's one of those things where it'll be telling either way, but you probably could read too much into it. If they play Wii Roo for like an entire half, maybe that's like that might that might tell you like, okay, he's on the team. You know, like they just feel like he's on the 53.

So it'll be interesting. It's interesting to see what they do. I'm guessing you don't see a ton of Oar just because, you know, he's still, you know, like he's still early in his development. But Wiru is ready to play a few series at the least. He looks ready for that. It'll be very telling if they actually let him play that much. To me, joint practices have made the art of hiding these players harder because you can't hide. Like, they, yeah, they, they can hide Josh Weiru from 30 teams, but it only takes one.

And, you know, if the, if Weirut does in practice what he's continued to do in front of New England, which is a team that would like a guy with that skill set, uh, I think they would be, they would be worried about putting him through waivers because I'm sure New England would be like, oh, that'd be a nice player for us to pick up. So I do think that, uh, it has become harder for teams to be able to hide a guy like that in game. So I, especially for a player that hasn't. played, it would probably be more better.

Like, let's get Weir these snaps. Like, this is important for him. And honestly, the chance that there's some bad tape out there might be helpful in that endeavor as well. Like, if he has a few ugly reps, that could work in the Eagles favor. So what do you think they do? You think you play as, you think we see a decent amount of these guys. Yeah.

Probably more so this week than next would be my guess. I hope we see them. I think if we see a lot of Wii Ru, then that cements it for me. I think he, we haven't done our 53s yet. No. I had Weiru on my 53. I had Bernard as an IR stash. I think that there's enough of an argument that UR.

Bernard... Then he can't practice, right? Right. No, I was... So I think there's enough of an argument that UR. Bernard could benefit from just like living in Philadelphia, watching tape, being in the meetings for a year. Yeah.

Like, yeah, he's not going to get that time on task. And I know that that's costly. But at some point, like it's roster math that you have to figure out. And I still think he's at a place in his development where a year behind the scenes would be really, really good for him. I feel like where where Wii Roo is, I feel like you don't want to take him off the field for a year. I don't think you'd want to IR stash him because he is at a place where a year of being on an NFL practice field for him, I think he can take more advantage of it than who are code right now just based off where they both are in their personal development tracks. So that's how I, that's how I guess it would happen.

But, you know, there's also the possibility that we are overthinking, like, the waiver, you know, poaching of it all. I wouldn't want to expose Joshua wee root of waivers, but maybe the Eagles feel confident they can get them through. Yeah. It's, it's, that's going to be one of the interesting storylines the next couple weeks. Yeah. What a nice guy, by the way. I mean, that interview. We know.

We know. We know. We know. We know. All right. Linebacker here. I had, let me go first in time. Let's hear you.

This to me was, really. this was probably the easiest one. It's two tiers, three guys in each tier. I'm so glad you said that. On Jihad and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. are the top tier. Chance Campbell, Smile, Mandon, and Deontay Lawson in the second tier. And that second tier is, it's a game of Yatze, where you're going to throw three, you know, shake up the cup and roll out, and it's a different combination each time.

All three of these guys have had moments. I think that Lawson and Campbell have probably had more moments than Mondin, but he's also got the leg up on them and being in the same. system a little bit longer. So, yeah, I'm interested to see this one play out. Now, Campbell's got to get healthy. He's missed the last couple of practices. I'm interested to see this one play.

To me, it's probably three guys fighting for one spot. If I had to guess. Maybe two, maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. Because if, you know, we ruined Bernard and then you've got, you know, what are they going to do with a tight end, receiver with McKayleman's injury.

Like, there are a few positions where it's like, oh, like, maybe they do have spots or don't have spots. So to me, it's definitely at least one. Two will be my might be a stretch. Yeah. I decided that I want to be out ahead on the Deonté Lawson ascension here. I feel like he's a, he's a, he's going to be furious with you about this sentence, about that exact sentence. Well, listen, I mean, he's trending upward. You guys are excited about him. I trust your eyes. I didn't, I don't think I was there for that, for that session. I think I was on the other field. But I put him four, you know, I'm buying, I'm buying the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, trajectory here. You know, I'm going to buy on the ground floor of Deante Lawson. And as he progresses

through preseason, if he makes the 53, then I'll ask Lindsay to clip this. And I'll ask her to, you know, well, you know, maybe I'll ask Lindsay to teach me so I can do it. So I don't keep making more work for Lindsay. I'll, uh, I'll splice out you saying Bo's going to hate this and I'll look like a genius. So, uh, yeah, I had a chance Campbell last even though that's a little bit harsh on him. I think really what's complimentary for the whole group is this is the only group I didn't have anybody in a third tier. Yeah. Like it's the guys you feel great about.

I agree with that. And the guys you feel like if they have to play, I feel all right about that as well. I know you said it on yesterday's show. Like Deontay Lawson and Chance Campbell in particular, man, those guys, they're just five years later. They're competing with Nate Gary for a starting job in 2017. I don't know if that's even a competition. That would be walking in those starting jobs there.

Okay. Ed Dresher, I'm going to warn you right now. The third tier guys, I got no idea. And I, you know, maybe like, I put, I'm not happy with where I have Weiru based off where you had Bernard. I think you're going to have Weiru a lot higher than I am. I thought it was pretty clear. Top three guys, Jalix Hunt, Jonathan Grenard, Nolan Smith.

I had Jailix 1 though. Right now, I feel better about Jailix 1 in this scheme, which I think really speaks to the summer that he's having. Like I said it on last week's show and when I said it, I'm like, ooh, man, that was like a strong statement. And the more I think about it, the more I feel fine about it, I think Jalick's Hunt has looked like a edge rusher one, the guy at the top of a depth chart for maybe not all teams in the NFL, but, you know, let's say maybe over half of the teams in the NFL. Yeah.

I think he's taking that leap and I think that we'll see it this season. So I had him one. I had Jonathan Grenard two and I had Nolan Smith three. I struggle with Nolan. I know you wouldn't have struggle with Nolan. I considered putting Nolan in the second, in the next tier down. The next tier down? And then I considered putting him in the next tier down.

You guys looked at one of the, the Cadillian, it's based on a defense. You might say that he's, like, not necessarily a practice player, but he doesn't look great this summer. He has looked worse than you would have expected. I think that's overplayed, personally. I have him number two.

I have him ahead of Grenard. Granard has to have him. You just, it's the same thing. Honestly, it's the same thing that you did with Lemon. Essentially, what I did with Grenard is what you did with Lemon. You had Lemon below the mark for yours,

if I remember, right? But the difference is that Granard is, like, played, a lot of very good football at the NFL level. And like, I like his fit in this game. Now, Vic said, like, he's going to have to, like, get used to the scheme. So that is, you know, something that he will have to figure out. But, like, no one has not looked good this summer, Fran. Like, I'm basically.

I think that's, that's harsh. I don't think he's looking at it. I've heard people, I think we had him in stock down. Bow and I, when we did our video after the first week. He hasn't, I mean, he's had some really ugly one-on-one pass rush reps. He hasn't done much in team. I know he's an early down presence, presence guy, and we're not going to necessarily appreciate that,

but I couldn't have him over Gernard. I couldn't have him over Gernard. We haven't seen Jonathan Garnard, like, lift his arm above his head yet. Like, I said that in jest. I'm assuming he can do that. But, like, he's not, it's like Mackey Lemon, where it's, like, not even close to, like, even seeing him rehab. So I don't know how they could have confidence in like,

oh, yeah, when we play week one, like, he's going to be out there. Yeah, this is like you doing my Lemon argument. But the difference is that Granard has played, he's been a double-digit sack guy in the league. I had AJ Appanessa 5. And then from there, the tier skip, I had Kishan, James Nubi, Jose Ramirez, Tehran Jackson, and Joshua Weiru. How could you possibly have Kishan James Nubi ahead of Josh Weiru? My argument is that like the light years ahead or light years away thing Vic said.

Like, are they, if you're doing this exercise is like, I'm putting them in a game right now, like Joshua Weiru hasn't played a game of football. That was my argument. Yeah. But as like the Joshua Weiru podcast at this point, I don't feel great about it. You know, maybe if we could change the graphic on the fly, I'd probably have him, I'd probably have him six. Yeah, I had him at, I had him at six, Ramirez at seven, James Newby, who hasn't practiced for a week and a half. I mean, honestly, I probably could have put him at nine.

Yeah, I think Tehran Jackson probably deserves the eighth or seven spot here. I mean, he's at least played in the NFL before. I was going to say, like, he might, I want to say. I might even put him ahead of Ramirez. You're right. I have an irrational appreciation for Taran Jackson. You know, this is a lesson. Like, I am an objective reporter, but like the guys who are like, you know,

accommodating in the locker room, you remember those guys. Yeah, you just remember them. That might inform some of the other things that we've talked about in this block. It's not true. Don't have that integrity of the question. All right. On that note, we're going to take a break. Stick with us two minutes.

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All right. We are back on the P.H.I. Eagles podcast. And before we get to the last couple of positions here, we got to talk about the Ospreys. I mean, do you want to see Fran bully me live in person? Do you want to see all of the work that Bo Wolf has put in to this award show? I mean, I've been hearing and seeing some of like the behind the scenes preparation. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun.

It's at the Fittler Club, August 26th, again, my birthday at 7 p.m. We're going to special guest, Zach Berman, BLG, Shiel Capadia, and, you know, maybe some other big guests, a big guest that we didn't tell you who the big guests. No, I'm completely in the dark. I asked, I asked about it after the show. I was like, are you, so you guys going to tell me who else coming in? And Bo just gave me a knowing smile. I was like, do you want to be surprised? I'm like, yeah, I do.

I do like being surprised. I hate being surprised, man. It's like the worst thing ever. I'm too anxious. I got a couple super chats here from D.D. D. Rip Sensei, 305. I thought that was like doctor, maybe drip sense. I don't know.

Yeah, I think it's Dr. Sensei. Drip Sense. That makes more sense. I mean. Dr. Ipsense. Sounds like a Dr. Ripsenze. That sounds like a blacky guy.

Sicko from SoCal. Love hearing the latest pot on my way. Way home for, way to work each day. Go bird. Appreciate that, Drip, Sensei. Sorry, I've butchered your name there. You know, this guy came up with his cool name, and I just butchered it. Dale Ridgeway with the $2 super chat, Darius Big Shush Cooper, our best kept secret.

Who is the best kept secret on the roster right now? It's got to be Joshua Weaver, right? Yes, I think so. I think that's probably the fair. If you were to give true serum to people in the building, yeah, that would probably be my guess. You know another one? Now, we didn't do safety somehow.

Maybe this will be a good segue. We have a couple positions we haven't done yet. Yeah. Yeah. You know what this will be. You'll be running back and safety left. This will be a good segue. Let's do safeties.

Okay. This will be a good segue into maybe who I think is a good, a well-kept secret on the, on the defense there. So at safety, I had Cooper to Gene 1. Again, obviously a nickel, but playing safety and base. And for this exercise, we have him here. And then I had Andrew McCuba, too. I had Marcus Epps three. and I had Michael Carter four

and that's my top tier I feel good about all those guys then I had Andre Sam and J.T. Gray 5 and 6 I had Maximus Pully 7 Kepenna Gishicken 8 and Cole Wisnski 9 I'll be honest with you Fran I've almost had Maximus Pully

in the second tier Oh interesting I couldn't get there yet I think he is a well-kept secret I think that you know when I was going through my 53 they don't have a lot of guys that they need to keep on the roster at safety Yeah I could see him

sneaking on to the 53. I could see him making a push over the next couple weeks. Pushing the Gush out? I'm more of a pulley guy than a Gush guy, if I'm being honest. I like them both, but I like Maximus Pully. I've been intrigued by what we've seen, and I think he could make the 53. It does feel like the shine is wearing off a little bit in terms of practice or like the Gush is, you know, kind of chipping into some of those reps with the twos, but yeah, that could have just always been like the plan anyway. And so. I think that was the plan. Yeah. I think that's like the type of thing where they're just going to rotate those guys. They've rotated the safety is a lot. I think it's honestly probably more telling that Polly got those

reps earlier than the gush. Yeah, I'm, I'm interested to see that group. And we were basically like in lockstep. I think it's all just like the tiers. The safety one is, is pretty cut and dry. You kind of know what we're getting from that group. It's just a matter of just one of those guys in the back end make it to the 53. Yeah. Just J.T. Gray make it to the 53. He's an interesting one because he's got special teams value. Again, they're kind of light at that position, Because you, like, figured the Gene's going to take a lot of those snaps. And then you also have Michael Carter who can kind of fill both roles, the backup nickel on the safety spot. Yeah.

I think that's a spot where they can keep some developmental guys. But if you feel like J.T. Gray is, like, integral to your special teams, then all of a sudden it's like you need a spot on him. So that's where the gush and pulley, David, they've got to make it. They've got to put good special teams film out there if they get a shot. Yeah. How many defensive guys can you harbor that are all just special teams guys? because Keely Ringo is that. You know, it's like that Sydney Brown role

where it's like, I don't think you can play on defense, but you're good on special teams. Yeah, you usually have space for a couple of those guys on the roster. But if Ringo's one, unless you don't think Ringo's one, you know what I mean? Like you're kind of start doing the juggling act there.

Yeah, and especially if it's eaten into the development, the developmental guys there. Quarterback, I'll be curious who you have two and three. I went jailer. Honestly, it's the one half dozen of the other either way. Yeah. I had McKee at two. So did I.

I had Tanner McKee, two, Andy Dalton, three, Cole Payton, four. You didn't have Cole Payton in the second tier, did you? No, he hasn't played a snap. I couldn't put him there. Yeah, I agree. I mean, McCoy Lemon hasn't played a snap. That's my argument.

They came in and McCai Lemon was with the ones on the opening day of camp. Yeah. He didn't look amazing. He was getting more reps than Hollywood Brown. He was getting more, like he was getting those reps. Yeah, I don't want to become the, the McKay Lemon, like, hater on the podcast. I think he could easily develop into a very, very good player.

But, you know, for playing a game tomorrow. I'd have Darius Cooper and Hollywood Brown over him. Running back, probably pretty straightforward for both of us. I'd sayquan one, Tank Biggsby two, tier skip from there. Will Shipley and Damien Pierce in that tier. Honestly, you could talk me into those guys being in the bottom tier. Oh, yeah, that's beautiful. Beautiful.

We're in the same. I like waffled on Shipley. Do I put him in a butt? He's been active basically every game over the course of his career for a reason. So while he has holes, like I think that, you know, that made sense. Yeah, that I love. So just for the audio listeners, Fran had Will Shipley in the top tier with Sequin, Barkley, and Tank Bigsby, and then the rest of the guys, Damien Pierce, Carson, Stealing,

to Quinnin Jackson, the tall new running back at camp on the bottom tier there. Yeah, I agree with that mostly. I, going through this exercise, we can talk about a couple big picture things before we get out of here. Tight end. defensive tackle and probably running back are the three spots where it's like if they could add somebody I could see that I don't think they'd use real resources at running back I think it might be a you know is there somebody that gets that shakes loose from another team that they have interest in tight end's the one for me though I think if there's a trade to make I think it's at tight end and

I could see them let's call it a fourth round pick fourth or a fifth round pick if you could use a fourth or a fifth on a guy who maybe you view as like a good complimentary piece to an Stauer's upside case, you know, like a combo tight end. You know, I think that you could you could talk me into making a trade like that. You know, Michael Mayer is the name we throw out there a lot. But yeah, it feels more and more like that's where their move is left to make. Yeah, it's, but it's tough because you would need one of these situations where, and that's why Mayer always comes up.

It's like, all right, well, he's not the tight end one. He's got draft pedigree. I have no idea what the other tight ends on that roster have looked like this summer. I know, but I also know that when you have Kubiak coming in as the head coach, that's going to be a tight end centric offense. Like it's going to be, like there's, you know, they're going to play a lot of heavy personnel sets. So mayor is going to have value to them, you know, in terms of trying to win games. So, yeah, it's tough at that position because especially with the way that the league is going now, everyone, everyone wants more of these tight ends, clearly. So that's going to be, to me, you would need a situation where there's a vet where the price is a little bit high and you had.

young players that you brought in that are you know you think could give you better replacement value there and then you move on from the vet and the eagles would pounce at that that would be my guess unless it's the someone's someone else's josh wieroo goes to where you know that your pro scyadding department identifies the summer uh it's like oh we can let this guy can help us right now and you scoop that guy up i thought you're going to say like could they make a um your unwanted player for my unwanted player trade maybe like keely wringo goes out for a tight end that's serviceable why would the other team do that if they were going to cut the guy anyway and LA let's call it like an Albert Oquibunum type trade not player but the idea where it's like

you know although I think they traded a seventh for him didn't they it was basically just like trade a seven to keep him from going through waivers I think that's what it was yes um yeah I uh I think that they could use like a real player there not necessarily just a just a body so um but otherwise I mean I feel I feel like going through the confidence rating, I also felt pretty good about the roster overall, maybe a little bit better, you know, of how many guys in that top tier they have throughout the roster. So, yeah, I think it's, it's been, it was a fun exercise to go through as much as I did waffle at tight end. It's August 12th. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I'm feeling pretty dang optimistic

about this team. Yeah. Like, I think, I think they've got, look, there's, there's questions. I'm not saying it's like Ironclad. I think there's a lot of reasons to feel really optimistic about this team. Yeah, I keep, you know what I do this almost every day at some point? I think about the questions we had going in and what the answers have been so far. Yeah. I try and like ground to myself. And I agree with you that like how does the O line look?

Like Dickerson doesn't look amazing, but, you know, I think overall the O line looks pretty good, better than they did last year. And for the rest of this assessment, and we're going to be out of the old line look. We're going to be out quick because Asson Villa's got a game. Fran's got to get out of here. But you're going to join us for a very brief overtime. Just to put a bow on this point here. Like the running game in general, I feel good about it. Jalen in this scheme, huge question.

He looks really, really comfortable in this game so far. It hasn't been perfect. You know, there's clips circulating in time. It's in practice. Like, let's not, you know, it looked amazing. What? He threw an interception to quit down. But Jalen has been all in from all from what we can tell and from everything that you hear, you know, and it shows on the field the way that he looks operating under center, you know, with more precise footwork, more clean footwork.

So, you know, that's a big question answered. You know, the defensive side is obviously rock solid as well. Like, you know, edge rusher was a position we worried about. Safety was a position we worried about all these questions that we had going in. I think that they have been answered. I think it's very telling that we are talking about tight end, you know, we're like, hey, like, what's the tight end position? They might need to make a move for a second tight end behind Dallas.

Goddard, you know, those are champagne problems. Those are good problems to have. So, yeah, I'm with you. I think that there is a lot of reason for optimism. It's that time of year where you're always going to have optimism, but the questions that we had about this team, we feel like have been answered. I think the tight end one is honestly one of the most pivotal. Yeah.

I think that that because Dallas has not stayed healthy for the last two years, and if he gets hurt, I think they'd be in some trouble there now. Like, Munt can do the, here's the thing. Johnny Munt is obviously a better blocker than past catcher, but he can be out there to do past catcher things, and that's fine. Yeah. He's just not giving you, like, game-breaking stuff. So if you are missing Mackay Lemon and then you take Goddard out,

that's a problem for Jalen Hertz in the past game, right? So I think if everyone's healthy or everything's healthy, that's great. You just, you can't count on that, as we know. Um, yeah, I'm not saying they're like, oh, Super Bowl or bust. I'm not saying they like, oh, like, you know, bet the house on it. But there are a lot of reasons to feel optimistic about this team right now. Yep. It's been a good summer.

Um, all right. I know you got to get out of here. Assonville are playing PSG in the Super Cup like right now. So we're going to take off. Yeah, it's, it's like a glorified friendly. But if they win, I'll be very excited. I'll be telling you it's an important game. Um, so we're going to get out of here.

Um, we will be back tomorrow at 2 o'clock, but we'll be back. And we will be fresh off the practice field with tons of observations. Maybe we'll go through our 53s tomorrow, too. We'll see what Bo has in mind for that. I think tomorrow's a lighter day. Yeah, I would suspect tomorrow might be a 53 day. I bet you it's a heavy day for the starters too since they probably won't be on Saturday.

So, yeah, we'll go through that, have a great show. And then we are going to be all Friday. And then, you know, obviously live for the game on Saturday. So for Fran, for Lindsay, for Bo, you know, in the chat earlier. Appreciate that. And Julia, who just sneezed outside. You got to go check on her. A big, big moment right there in the Smith household.

We're going to get out of here. And as always, we love you.