PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Kyle McCord, John Metchie, Jakorian Bennett close out Eagles preseason vs. Jets

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

The Eagles closed out their preseason with Kyle McCord under center flanked by the likes of Darius Cooper, John Metchie, Montrell Johnson, EJ Jenkins, Kylen Granson and more on offense while Jakorian Bennett, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Mac McWilliams, Patrick Johnson, Azeez Ojulari, Ty Robinson and more plied their trade on defense. Fran Duffy and Bo Wulf break down what you need to know. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the PHAY Eagles podcast, live from the Xfinity Mobile Studios, presented by Doodad Dental, Xfinity, and True Mark Financial Credit Union, Bowulf. And we've got the Duffman back from vacation looking, hand, rested, and ready. We're here to talk about a game none of us will ever forget who watched it as the Eagles. Closed out the preseason with a memorable defensive stand to secure the victory, something to something, Fran, how are you? I know, I think we will all remember where we were the day Dallas Gant made that stop on the goal line.

Just a, just a, how good play. Yeah, great play. I thought when they first, before they showed the replay, I thought it was more Sykes than Gant. Yeah. But, uh, definitely more good stick. What will you remember most about this, about this game? The Dallas Gant stick or Eli Ricks getting hit in the little canards.

I thought you were going to go with with yeah all the testicle talk that followed after Eli Ricks is the collision but Oh my God, you get there there You're going to need a long counter a car Yeah there was a lot there I think that What am I going to remember most?

I mean, how about I was the John Metchy catch On the very first play of the game It was all down there I think if I remember anything from this game it will be the Keelan Robinson trying to down the punt deep into the end. That was funny.

I mean, that was good stuff. I mean, we had quarterbacks and running backs running into each other. It was like the final preseason game is always like typically bad. This was like a bad, bad one. This was this was a memorable bad game on both sides. And yet, and yet things in this game matter that we need to discuss. And so let's get into it. let's start with the righteous felon beef of the week

Fran now what you need to know is that at righteous felon the beef of the week is what they bestow upon their employee of the week so this is you identifying we will both pick one identify who you thought was the the player of the game here for the Eagles or at least in the sense of like pushing for a roster spot who moved the needle today you know as far as who moved the needle you know I thought that Montreal John

your guy, Manchelle Johnson, I thought he showed some nice things. I would like to ask you what you make of some of the inactives in this game. Yeah, there were some very interesting ones. So Montchal Johnson will stay on this topic. Manchell Johnson plays the lion's share of the snaps. We don't have the official snap counts yet, but it seemed like he was out there most of the time. We saw some Keelan Robinson there. 15-Carr, 57 yards and a touchdown.

Yep. A couple really nice runs in there. then AJ Dylan inactive. Now is it a case of we've seen enough of AJ Dylan? We don't need to do an evaluation here, whether or not what he does in this game is not going to make or break his roster spot or is it he's on this team?

I think it's what he does in this game is not going to make or break his roster spot. And more to the point, we want to see Montreal Johnson because we are evaluating which one of these guys who want to keep if we want to keep either of them. I thought Montreal Johnson looked good tonight. I don't think he looked too good that you have to keep him.

Right. You know, I wish there was a little bit more, just a little bit of make you miss at the second level when he does get through the line. Yep. You know, he ran over that one guy in the open field, which was nice, but there were a couple other opportunities where he had either a chance, I thought, to either run around a guy or run through another guy and didn't really offer that. So to me, it's less about do we need to keep Montreal Johnson over?

a. J. Dillon and more about if we choose to play some roster shenanigans and cut A.J. Dylan and we lose him. Are we okay with Montreal Johnson as the, you know, the practice squad elevation backup plan if we don't claim somebody else on waivers? And I kind of think, I kind of think I would be okay with that. Yeah. And it's, it's, I know you and E.J. talked about that a little bit this week, about, you know, some of the, some of the things that we could see from Howard Roseman in the Eagles front office as we get closer to Tuesday. I am going to be fascinated to see that position in particular, running back. And I think you actually pointed that position out specifically as this could go in any of number of ways.

I do think that that is going to be interesting. Montreal Johnson, he showed some flashes tonight. I would agree that it's not enough to say like, oh, yeah, we definitely want to make sure we keep this guy on the 53. But there are a few other ones as well in terms of like interesting and actives here for this game as well. So also an active for this game. Now, we had talked about this before, expected it, that Matt Pryor did not play on the offensive line while Daring Kinnard and Brett Toh

did have to play into this game. And that one I actually do take as Matt Pryor's on the team. And we don't need anything to evaluate there. I agree. I think that that is mostly priors on this team. Now, do you take that as prior as left guard? I don't know if I take it that as that. it doesn't take a single snap there.

That's like that doesn't, that's not what Stout does. He wants those guys to get the reps together. So I don't know. That's an interesting one. Now Josh Ushay only recently came up with an injury, with a groin injury, which I thought was an interesting one. But I guess if he's injured, you can't play him. I don't know if he's on the team.

I think he's likely to be on the team. And then Kili Ringo similarly has an injury. so he couldn't play in this game and I think he otherwise would have played in this game. Yeah, obviously, no Adore Jackson as well in this one. Right. You know, I'm, I would say when I go through the film this weekend, I will be interested to just see like the Mack, Mac Williams, Jacorian Bennett reps just to see how both of those guys looked over the course of the night.

It felt to me like Mac was better, but he might have just popped more. but that that's a position where you do want to really watch the film and see how those guys look. So I would say of all the players that played, those are the two I'm most excited to see. Well, it was interesting from not only who was inactive, but who, like, who moved around because, you know, Mac McWilliams started this game on the outside opposite Jacori and Bennett and then played most of the rest of the game inside as a nickel, which, you know, that's where he played the first preseason or the first, you know, a couple weeks of camp and he missed a preseason game, then he comes back, he only plays on the outside. So he did a little bit of both

in this game. And then, you know, you see, you see Dary and Kinnard moving all over the line. I thought, Jacorian Bennett, you know, by the broadcast, it was kind of like the, you know, the Ronald Darby thing we've, we've always seen where he was in a lot of tight coverage, but still surrendering the catch. Yes. That is what it looked like a, you know, a number of those times. So that's why in that position, especially like, you know, when you get to these, the preseason broadcasts typically don't show you a ton of great replays just so you know just in terms of like overall reps like with the crew being together usually don't see a ton of great replay angles so that's one where i am going to rely heavily on the all 22 there all right well that'll that'll do it for

the righteous felon beef of the week use code p h l y 20 for 20% off your order at righteous felon dot com. And that takes us, Fran, to be forward play of the game, which I'm going to give without question to the very nice interception by Perry Nickerson, the veteran Nicol Corner, 30 years old, who has played very well in both of the last two preseason games. I agree. Came in. Last game for Brennan Johnson. Did a lot of nice things.

And here is my question for you, Fran. is there a chance that Vic Fangio is so disappointed in the outside corners that he does actually consider playing Perry Nickerson in the nickel with Cooper Degene on the outside this is a guy who is not spectacular but he is going to be in the right place number one the interception was awesome just a great play you know in terms of of understanding what your role is in the coverage. He's got to get wider than the widest underneath. So he is the buzz defender there in cover three.

So he's got to get out towards the sideline. That receiver is running out toward out that way. He's got to be outside that route. But his eyes never leave the quarterback. And so he matches the route stem perfectly. The receiver did a nice job of working up field before breaking out. But Perry was able to just mirror that movement. And then you saw that closing ability.

This is the guy that ran, you know, in the four twos, low four threes when he was coming out of college and that burst did show up there. I thought it was a great play. I do agree with you. I thought that he popped on the film last week against Cleveland as well. So a nice stretch here in the preseason for Perry Nickerson to answer your question, I don't think so, man. Like I would put it like under five turkeys that they go that round. I know Ross Tucker alluded to it on the broadcast that he would be very surprised if the Cooper regime wasn't the nickel just because of the value that he brings there. And, you know, obviously we know that Scott Graham and Ross

are in production meetings with coaches leading into this game. So I would be surprised, especially even just watching last year. Like, I just think that to remove him from that spot, I think that that would just have such a number of ripple effects in the rest of the defense. But could that possibility just as a plan C be enough to keep Nickerson on the roster? Yeah, practice squad. I think that he's a prime like practice squad candidate.

And I think that, you know, I'd be interested in that would that would be an interesting study actually is how have teams, you know, since the since the change of the practice squad rules and the expansions there. How teams have really divvied up like between like vets and like young developmental players. I think Perry Nickerson has been in the league long enough now that you would, you know, categorize them in that that former group. So I think when you're looking at him, I do think that he would make sense as a guy you want to try and keep around on the practice squad. Okay. So that'll do it for the forward play of the game. Nice job out of Perry Nickerson. Okay, a couple things.

We're not going to stay long here, Fran. I want to get to the quarterback. But just a couple other players in positions and things I want to talk about. Yeah. I was thinking about, you know, Anaya Smith making the roster last year where like everybody who watched all summer was like, man, he has had. had a tough camp. Like it is hard to make the case that based on the camp, he deserves to make this team. And yet he made the team probably enlarged, well, you know, he was on injured reserve and then

brought back, but in large part because of the draft pick investment. Is there anybody this year who we think has looked not great, but who could still slide on based on whether it's investment or, you know, or draft pick, whatever it is? Like, you know, could Cameron Williams make it, even though he hasn't looked great? Could Antoine Powell Rylan make it? He had a very nice sack tonight. That was the first time he's flashed all summer long. All summer.

That was a nice, nifty pass rush movie had to get that sack. Could Lewis Seen make it? You know, because he has that first round pedigree, even though he hasn't really done much all summer. Is there anybody like that where, you know, we're kind of starved for choices at the back end of the roster? Why don't we just keep this guy around a little longer? Does Kenyon Greenfield?

fit that. That was the other one. That's the other one I meant to. Yes. Kenyon Green would be one of the first names that would come to mind there just because, you know, look, he came over in the CJ Gardner-Johnson trade. You have the injury to land to Dickerson. There's a proven level of, you know, adequate play there. Now he hasn't done it here, but he's done it in the NFL. You know, you were at practice this week. Was he still with the three with the threes all week and with the backups all week? Yeah, so nothing has changed there. Yeah, so I don't know.

I feel like, I mean, there will be some surprises come Tuesday. Okay, what did you make of Kyle McCormick? So I played the entire game. Yep. No Dorian Thompson Robinson. And it was also coming on the heels of him getting most of the reps with the twos all week because Tanner McKee is dealing with a finger injury. And that, frankly, is something that we will have to pay attention to.

But Kyle McCourt on this game, 15 for 35, not ideal, for 100. 136 yards, zero touchdowns, and an interception for a 42.1 quarterback rating. What did you make of it? Could have been like three or four picks. Yeah. What wasn't not game. What I would say is that this is the case at every position, but it's especially the case of quarterback.

What we see is an incomplete picture. What we, there's the, it's the tip of the iceberg. Everything that's underneath the surface of the water is the stuff behind the scenes. the locker room in the in the meeting rooms you know dealing with coaches what what is this guy doing behind the scenes to uh to earn the faith and the trust of the coaches and of the front office this is somebody that we can develop if uh if what we've seen from uh or what if what they have seen from him is that you know what like i'm not i'm not quite sure like if we want to be able to keep this guy and then he goes out and he has a game like this then it's it's an easy

decision. If he's if he's done everything right and he's been aces and he's like, hey, this guy, he's got the scheme. He's he's completely locked in. We feel like he can develop into QB2. Even if he's not QB2 right now, by the end of his rookie deal, we think he can get there, then yeah, then you keep him on the 53. But what we've seen, what I, what I've seen, you know, up close at practice over the course of the summer. And I know that you and E.J. have talked about that extensively over the last few days about how EJ is just, just flit. Is it just, flip-flopping back and forth here on the on the the the QB3 discussion but i think when uh when you're when you're when you're looking at what mccord it it hasn't been great for the for most of the

summer and the and the areas where he needs to be good he's not he's not there yet right and so um it's been flashes here and there uh but yeah tonight was not a good night for Kyle McCord to be fair um i actually thought his best stretch of the summer came this week in practice when when you were not there. And he got to work with the two is a little bit more and a better quality of receiver and better offensive line. Tonight was not great. And, I mean, listen, I don't think that Doring Thompson is going to make the team over him. I think it is more likely that if they're not thrilled with McCourt, that means they're going to try to find, you know,

they want to have a developmental third quarterback. So it could be somebody they find from elsewhere. I am not willing to write off Kyle McCourt. but I would say, you know, you think about the Tanner McKee preseason, and obviously that that's a much different level of performance. But it was very clear then that, like, this is a guy who could, has the tools to potentially develop into a starting caliber quarterback. Like, that is the ceiling here.

And I don't even, I don't think Kamakort has that ceiling from the physical tools and stuff. I think it is more, man, if everything goes right and he puts it all together, he could be a mediocre backup. That's like, that's the level I feel. Yeah, I think that that's, which is still a valuable roster spot. But I don't, I don't see the ceiling that you would see with. I agree with everything there.

And again, the thing that could change that would be if he has just been awesome in the meeting room. And the coaches are like, yeah, like this guy has everything that we want from an intangible mental standpoint. it's just that we have some things that we have to clean up on the field, then they'll feel a lot better about keeping him on the 53. I also feel like just aesthetically, like, listen, we can, maybe some of the decisions are not great,

maybe some of the ball placement is not great. Like, just the aesthetics of the ball that he throws is not my favorite. But, yeah, I mean, but that's kind of where I was with him at Syracuse, though, man. It's like, you know, Ross. talked about it on the broadcast tonight where it's like he he is a pure pocket quarterback and it's all right well if you are right if he's a pure pocket quarterback then it's you're relying on decision making ball placement arm strength like pocket mobility like those are the things that you're going to rely on those aren't like areas of strength for him right now right and so that's that's that's

that's troublesome when you're talking about what that ceiling could be all right uh let's go quick hit on a couple other things yeah anything john meshie had a cash for four 10 yards and I dropped in this game. Notable anyway to you? A little bit of what I've seen from him, both with the Houston Texans and going back to Alabama. There were a few times where I just like, all right, let me like just lock in on METCHI because I didn't get to see him at practice this week.

So you see the Twitch. You see the quickness. So, you know, the burst in and out of cuts. I didn't see like every blocking rep from him tonight. But I'm excited to see that on film. But he has had issues at the catch point at times. And so the drop didn't completely surprise. me, but he showed, I mentioned that Twitch.

He showed that ability to, you know, kind of, you know, separate quickly at the top of a route. And he showed that a couple of times. And certainly on the first play of the game where McCorm was able to hit him for the first down. He and Darius Cooper both played a few series in this game. And I Smyth played deeper into the game. Cooper had just, just one catch for eight yards.

Although, I mean, I'm in the tank for the guy, but I did feel like just that one catch, you know, it was not a good throw. He was thrown behind him, and he plucked it so clean. I just good player have you have you fit him for the jacket yet like check it

check it out for the for like the boss no because I expect that over the course of his career he's going to you know his body's going to change right you know right by the time he's getting into canton who knows sure how shoulders will have gotten right what do you make of Jeremiah Trotter Jr. playing as much as he did

jihad Campbell's going to start week one yeah I think that was the first thing I thought I think, listen, Trot had some really nice plays tonight. He did. Like he has all summer in the box. And yet there was one play tonight where it was like a, it was an end-around or just like a, you know, a wide sweep by the Jets offense. And you just saw Trott have to go to the sideline from the middle of the field. And you just, you could notice that he's just a tick slow there.

Yeah. And, you know, Howie has. focused so much on team speed, speed, speed, speed on defense and traits and stuff. And I think Jeremiah Trader Jr. is an ideal backup linebacker. He's very well suited to do that. But traits-wise, he is lacking something. And you saw it there. And when you have somebody like John Campbell who has all those traits, he's going to get on the field.

The last thing I had in my notes that I wanted to hit you with. but see like these are the things that I wonder how much you are willing to divulge knowing that we have the the king of the beats competition no I'm an open book because I haven't decided anything because okay well there are a few guys that you know have flashed during practice and you know during preseason games that didn't get a ton of run tonight or didn't get run until the second half yes and so to me like these are some of the situations you know the coyote iwashekas of the world where it's like hey you know what, we're trying to hide this guy in the preseason games to try and see if we can sneak him into the practice squad. What was the most notable example of that for you in this game?

The most interesting one to me there tonight was Max and Hook, who had sort of moved up a little bit in the depth chart by the end of the week and was taking second team reps in place of both Andres Sam and Trista McCollum. And he did not play until like midway through the fourth quarter or it felt like maybe, maybe fourth quarter in this game. Now, he had an ugly mistackle on that touchdown run. Yes. And they get another mistackle as well. So I think this is kind of one where maybe it worked out for the Eagles. If they were thinking about keeping him and he had these reps and they weren't very good, they can probably just still sneak him through to the practice squad.

Who came out on that front to you? Lance Dixon was the first one I came to mind there. Yeah. We were seeing Dallas Gant as much as we did. I was like, all right, where's Dixon at? that. Yeah, and Dixon, we did see him late in the game, but he was one that. I think there was a series where he came in before Gant, actually.

But then, again, there was some kind of rotation there. Yeah, but the big thing is, obviously, with trying to plot out the 53, you're not trying to hide the guy if you're going to keep him on the 53. You're hiding the guy to, if you're going to cut him and trying to get him through to the practice squad. And so that's the, you know, that's why I didn't know how much you were willing to divulge there for our, for our peers. and you know defensive tack was interesting because all those those guys did play byron young and game hall and tie robinson did you notice tie robinson at all nothing that uh that moved the needle uh one way or the other biren young snuffed out of screen nice i don't even in his play out to out in the flat um Patrick joneson

continues to crush the preseason yeah yeah he could make the team you know i don't think that would be crazy no he could uh you mentioned antoine power power island it was really the only time i've like I want to say thought of him. The play before he had a good rush. So he put together a little two play package. Ironically enough, I actually noticed him a couple plays after the sack fumble. So it might have been not a two play pack. It might have been a four play package.

Now we're talking. And then last thing, the tight ends. E.J. Jenkins had a catch on the sideline. Colin Grants had a nifty little move in the open field. You could lean either way there. I think I feel good about the Granson. I was, I was, I was alone on Grantson Island back in the spring. You were, you were.

I guess you were actually. You were, because you and our former co-worker, high-fived behind me. It was the only thing you guys agreed upon all offseason. It was August 19th Harrison Bryant Day. So no, no, no, no. I didn't agree on Harrison Bryant Day. I just agree that it was, that it was Harrison Brian as tight end three. No, but I'm talking like 35 to 30 turkeys.

Yeah. Well, I feel that, especially with what Grantson does on special teams, but it's not that E.J. Jenkins doesn't do anything on special team. So he has a role there as well. I think that Granson just does a little bit more. Okay. All right. I think we've over delivered here.

Van Sumer with a catch? Yeah. And then to the end that one, they had that one 21 personnel, a fullback offset. And after Manjel Johnson, like, Benz-Vin-Sumrin gets like a mediocre block off, okay. You-you-you-hurted for them. Ben-Sum-Rin as a person. I just like this idea that he's a lock on the roster. Like, dude, we're talking about one-playing game.

You got to throw a parade for that. Yeah, it was, uh, look, he's got a role. He's got a role on the team. Yeah. He might be, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's on he's on the bubble for me but right now i without going through the paces of it i feel like he's going to be on my 53 by the time we get to uh you know whenever our whenever it's due sunday sunday midnight i believe okay all right uh i guess i'll do it for this recap of the

eagles preseason finale bo-wolf friend duffy we will be back all next week two o'clock although i believe we're going to move tuesday show to four o'clock so that we can we can dissect it all live right here on p hl why lots of fun stuff coming up uh check out the feed for more content this weekend and uh go ahead we got a super chat we have a super chat we sure do wow about that oh from salute to jaco says they say you learn football by playing football what do these second team guys do to stay ready all season while they're not playing in games. What a great question.

Redster alley, friend, go ahead. It's a great question. Tell me about the player development. Yeah. Well, look, there's the second team guys. And then there's like that tier below them where that's where when you're talking about like the real like player development guys and not just guys are on the practice squad, but maybe the guys that are inactive every single week. They are working very hard behind the scenes. You know, there was the, I know that they talked with Jordan Davis during the broadcast and alluded to the workouts that players did before that weren't.

playing in the game with the workouts they went through on the field. Obviously, those are the starter. You know, the starters did that today. But usually that would be the deep reserves. They're going to go through and they're going to go through a rigorous workout day of game. But throughout the course of the week, they're doing a lot of position specific drills, really honing in on individual like fine focus parts of their game to just try and improve. And there's a, but there's a lot of mental toughness and mental aptitude that's required to be ready. Well, when you, when, your number is called and so to your point you know well what do these second team guys do to stay ready all season while they're not playing in games that's why like well you know when it's draft time

and you're evaluating college players and projecting them to back up roles it's not just oh yeah like this guy's not good enough to be a starter he's got piece of backup you also have to like have from a from a mental and intangible standpoint to be able to have that kind of role as well and i would the only thing i would add is that the eagles feel internally like they have a competitive advantage in their player development program. They feel like they do that better than or as good as anybody else in the league. And, you know, they point to like Thomas Booker's development while he was here. Even Gabe Hall, who was probably going to make this roster,

these guys who were not here or we're not playing for a whole year, but we're working off to the side, you know, in these development periods and stuff like that and really did improve over the course of that time. Yep, no question. Good question. Good way to close it off. Like the video, subscribe to the channel, please. Help us out.

We will talk to you on Monday. Thank you, Julia. Shout out to Josh, who's covering the game for us. And as always, we love you.