PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Emergency Pod: Philadelphia Eagles sign A.J. Dillon to compete with Lew Nichols behind Saquon Barkley

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

Finally! The Eagles are on the board in free agency with Howie Roseman reverting to draft-pedigree bias, adding the hulking A.J. Dillon to the Eagles' backfield. With Will Shipley set to be the No. 2 running back, is Dillon looking at a realistic shot at the roster? Or will Zach Berman call him the DeVante Parker of running backs? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the first real true sicko emergency pod of the new league year. This is the P.HLY Eagles podcast. It's free agency frenzy presented by the good folks at TrueMark Financial. Visit TrueMark.com for rates, and to learn more, TrueMark Financial, federally insured by the NCUA Equal Opportunity Lender, rates are subject to change, and we are here. We will be brief. This will be about two hours in and out.

That's all we need to know. The Eagles, their first free agent signing of the offseason as Super Bowl champions. Who do they add? A.J. Dillon, the former second round pick, running back of the Green Bay Packers, the only man in the NFL whose quads rival, Sequin Barclays. The Eagles have now amassed all the quad power in the NFL. You add Fran Duffy's thighs, and this is a veritable Hall of Fame. of leg attributes, but the question to you, Zach Berman, is this. Is A.J. Dillon this year's Devante Parker?

No, I think A.J. Dylan is a smart signing for the Eagles. It makes a lot of sense in terms of the player, the profile. Obviously, health is the question here. Missed all of last season with a neck injury. For those who don't know about A.J. Dylan, he's a running back from the Green Bay Packers, a former second round pick was part of that backfield combination with Aaron Jones for four seasons. If you remember Quackatology last year, he's someone who we discussed quite a bit in quackatology. I actually thought then he made sense for the Eagles. I didn't think they were going to go out and signs what it would take to pay for

Sequan-Barkley at that point, right? Obviously, Seacquan-Barkley was a much better choice. But A.J. Dillon has been productive as a, he's kind of thought as a big-bodied running back, right, because he's 247 pounds. He was kind of the thunder to Aaron Jones's lightning, if you will. But he's known as a productive blocker out of the backfield. You know, and he can help you in the end in the passing game. He can catch the ball.

So he's a different type of back than Will Shipley. I see Lou Nichols in the headline here. He's actually Lou Nichols' former teammate with the Packers. But yeah, I think on a, we haven't seen. the money, but I got to imagine this is a very low money deal, a one-year deal. We spoke today about the need to add depth to that backfield, and that's what AJ Dillon provides for the Eagles. So on first blush, I like the move because I like the play. I like the player when he was with the Packers. Yeah, let's be serious here. I wouldn't, I would be surprised if there's any

guaranteed money in here. I imagine this is a, this is a flyer. This is a player who missed the entire 20-24 season with a serious neck injury and had to get like clearance from as your boy Mike G said the top neck specialists in the NFL and I do feel you know as as a running back how Zach would you rank the importance of the neck the back and the crack well I can speak to the first two I mean I would think that the neck and the back are are significantly important and especially you know as a running back probably probably of almost all positions that neck you're you're dropping your head on on some place so it's it's it's nothing any type anytime there's a neck injury it's serious something that that must be

taken under consideration so that's why i kind of started this by saying it all depends on the health so but if so yeah i agree with you i can't imagine there's much guaranteed money here but he's someone who if he were healthy i would think that I'm not saying there'd be a robust market for him, but he'd be someone who would certainly be on an NFL team next year. The arc of his career since joining the Packers as a second round pick in 2020, it is a steady decline in yards per rush every season, 2020, 5.3 yards per rush, 2021, 4.3, 22, 4.1, 2020, 3.4.4. That's not an uncommon story for a running back. really trying to sell yourself on AJ Dillon. You're thinking, okay, this is a guy who can come in

and be a short yardage back to maybe take a little bit of wear and tear off of Sequin Barkley, maybe a little bit off of Jalen Hertz's plate. That's not who you think Will Shippley is. I just did a quick little search on true media. All the running backs in the NFL since 2020 on carries when there are three yards or fewer to go. Is it true that A.J. Dillon is actually good at this? It is. He's a. He's a. He's. He's the sixth best in terms of first downs per rush on those carries for guys who have at least 100 carries in those situations. It's Kyron Williams number one, Gus Edwards, Derek Henry, Leonard Fournette, Jamal Williams,

then A.J. Dillon. So over the course of his career, he was successful at that sort of one party trick. We'll see if he could still do that. He has to prove that he's healthy. Maybe you want to stay yourself on a year away from football for a neck injury, but nowhere and tear on his legs. that's a good thing. He is only 26 years old.

I mean, we don't need to totally over-analyze a sign that's probably no guaranteed money. And the guy who's competing for the backfield, this is like a, this is when they, like when they added Carry on Johnson a couple of years ago. You see if he's fresh. You see what it looks like in the summer.

And it's totally reasonable. It makes a lot of sense. And for the reasons we talked about on today's show, I actually do believe that paradoxically, the Sequin-Barkley contract extension and all the money they gave to Sequin Barclay makes the backup running back more important than it was before because I think now they need to think about preserving Sequin Berkeley beyond just this season. And so, yeah, you want some different options in the backfield guys who can spell Sequin a little bit more than they did last year.

Yeah, yeah, I think that's good analysis. And he's a different type of running back than Will Shipley, right? Like when you mentioned the quads at the start, like he is, he is that. big bodied running back. There aren't that many guys like him in that regard. I would say he's kind of like the old-fashioned bruising back at 247 pounds, but he always had an intriguing athletic profile, right? I mean, he ran a four, five, three coming out of Boston College. He was productive in college. The Eagles pay attention to broad jump. He was 97th percentile in the broad jump. He was 96 percentile in the vertical jump. So he's not just, you know,

size. I mean, there is athleticism. That's why the Packers took him in the second round. It was notable when they took him that early because that was a year kind of when they needed wide receiver help, but they kind of looked at it like the value was too good to pass up for AJ Dylan. And he did have a defined role in that Packers offense for a period of time. I also like the possibility that just as an FU to the Packers for their complaints about the Tush Push, what if the only way they ever deploy A.J. Dillon, the only time he ever sees the field is just to push Jalen Hertz. Just to use those quads to get behind Jailen Hertz and give them a little extra push just to thumb your nose at Mark Murphy. Yeah, I mean, look, that would be a. a way to put your thumb and mark.

I would say worth a while. Listen, I am all about the 53rd roster spot being used for pettiness. Yeah, no, I don't imagine

pettiness was the impetus for this, but if it's an added bonus, then sure. Someone asked in the chat about the past protection. Yeah, I mean,

that's kind of been the book on him is that he's good in that area. I mean, he was, I know you said it take pro football focus. stats with a with a grain of salt but he was he was among the top 10 in past blocking grades

the last time he played you know in the 2020 three season uh as you know um of when he was with the packers and that's kind of that was uh that was a big part of the way green bay used him was as you know even though aaron dillon oh i'm sorry Aaron jones i conflated the two Aaron jones was such a good receiver out of the backfield actually Dylan's versatility was a big part of how the packers used him I will give you Fran Duffy's scouting report on AJ Dillon when coming out of Boston College. At the end of the day, on film, I'm not sure if he's more than a situational goal line slash short yardage back. And I remember, AJ Dillon was considered like, you know, one of the top three backs in the class.

Fran was a little bit lower on him. He says, but with his size speed combo and the potential physical style, he brings to your running game paired with the success of Derek Henry and the Titans this year. I think a team could view his usage that way and make him a hand. on early downs as a primary backup to a more all-purpose player. He says, I was down on him compared to consensus. He was my RB-10, though he was more of an RB-2-3 than an RB-1-2. He was not shocked he went round two, but that's way earlier than I thought he should have gone. Yeah.

Yeah. And look, he's obviously not here to be starting running back. I mean, that's pretty clear. He's not even here to compete for, you know, meaningful running back staff. I think that honestly, he's competing at this. point with Ty Davis Price and Lou Nichols to be the number three running back for the Eagles. We'll see if they draft somebody. But right now, you know, Will Shipley's the, I would imagine Will Shipley's the number two running back.

And then you have AJ Dillon and Lou Nichols and Ty Davis Price competing for that third spot. Do you know what AJ is short for? No, tell me. Algiers, Jamil. Gotcha. Okay. Okay, he's, yeah, I always like an AJ Dylan. I can tell you that.

I always like an AJ Dylan. No surprise. Watch that. There's additional reasons why I like an AJ Dylan. Such as? If you actually, if you do some research on him and his background, he's really a fascinating guy. And I'll get more into it in some future shows. Why are you unwilling to get into it now?

You want to know, you want to have the specifics buttoned up. You don't want to speak without having. Yeah, there's stuff there that, yeah. Okay. But, yeah. Interestingly, unlike A.J. Brown, A.J. Dillon does not put a period between the A. and the J. It's just a J.. Yes. Correct. That's correct.

Well, I know it's correct. Sorry. That is actor. Yes. All right. Any other thoughts on A.J. Dylan? Do you feel like this is the splash that Eagles fans were hoping for? It's not the splash that Eagles fans were hoping for, but I said on social media that there's probably a segment of the Eagles fan base that's excited about a 247 pound running back on the same day,

that the Eagles sign a fullback on the same, and we'll get to that in a moment. Yeah, what did you make of that? Yeah, and one week after the Eagles have the highest paid running back than the league and, you know, pay $16 million for a linebacker. if buddy Ryan were still alive and you know the Eagles board Kelly Green I think there'd be a segment of this band base to be excited about this week so what I was referring to there is an irony there is an irony to the best you know arguably the best team in franchise history being the team that didn't follow sort of the concussion uncle playbook for a very long time running backs linebackers and they're paying those guys and maybe this is a bit of an offering to the concussion uncle gods making the first official signing be a huge running back yeah yeah Maybe so. As Dave, as Dave in the comment says, since getting hit by a beer can in the head,

Howie has signed four players, two running backs, one linebacker and one linebacker slash fullback. Yeah. So actually that linebacker slash fullback, the Eagles announced him as a fullback. And that's what I was referring to, which was interesting. They didn't announce. And who was that? That is Ben Van Sumer. Eagles bring back Ben Van Sumer on a one-year deal.

And he's coming off an injury. but yeah, that's interesting that they identified him specifically as a fullback. And I wonder if he's going to be full-time in that role this year. Do you take that announcement to be an indication that they're leaning that way? Yeah, I do. I do. I think that's where, I mean, look, last year he was more fullback than linebacker, right? He was full-back special teams than linebacker. But if you want to get behind the scenes here, okay, the, the, the, the, the, original story on Eagle's website had linebacker because the URL had linebacker.

Sure. But then it got updated to fullback. So at some point there. Somebody somewhere said. Said fullback. Exactly. So that's why that kind of stood out to me there. You know, I saw it when I was on the team website before the tweet came out.

And I said, oh, that's pretty interesting. That is interesting. All right, Zach, let's close this out. Give me a guess or no. Will we at any point in the 2025 regular season see a play when the Eagles have A.J. Dillon and Ben Van Zumrin on the field at the same time? Yes. Yes. And we will call that the March 12th Scramble or the March 12th Madness or March 12th because they both signed on March 12th.

That's why. Yeah. So we will remember. March 12 as the day of Ben Van Zuma and AJ Dillon. All right, I'll take that bet. I don't want to be a Donovan Downer, but I'm going to say that that doesn't happen. Does the preseason count? No, I said the regular season.

Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, well, I'm not putting anything substantial on it, but. Call it 500. Hey, I'm not in Boa territory here, right? But, yeah, I will, yeah, let me a fun bet. Let's go with that. Okay.

Before we go, a quick super chat from Shea who says asking for Colin, does Ben Van Van Sumeran look like ZB? I mean, I can't say someone looks like that. That would be presumptuous for me to say that. Do you think Ben Van Sumerun looks like me? No, no disrespect to Ben Van Sumeran, but he's nowhere near as attractive. Oh, that's very nice you to say, though. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome.

One thing, too, because everything kind of becomes official today. And so the NFA tenders were due today. and the Eagles did not tender Britain Covey so he's officially an unrestricted free agent. Do you think he'll come back? I think he'll come back, yeah. Okay, we'll find out. That'll do it for this episode of the P.H.O.Y. Eagles podcast,

an emergency free agency frenzy presented by our friends at TrueMark Financial. Stay tuned. We'll be here. If something else happens, who out there is another highly drafted player on the market for absolutely no guaranteed money. If you're out there, Hannah Roseman will find you. For Zach Berman, I'm Bo Wolf and Julia for making it happen. We appreciate it. Why?

Why? I don't know. As always, we love you. Like the mayor.