PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Mina Kimes: Keep Eagles' Cooper DeJean in the slot, where he is ELITE

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

ESPN's Mina Kimes joins the PHLY Eagles podcast to discuss Tanner McKee's league-wide value, Cooper DeJean's best position, the perfect WR to complement DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown and how likely Jalen Hurts is to be in the middle of the MVP race. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All right, joining us now on the Xfinity mobile call in line is ESPN's Mina Kimes from the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny as well. Mina, thank you so much for taking the time. Hello, thank you for having me. All right, so here's where I want to start. Your latest podcast, you're going over all the quarterback battles, as most of them have been decided and you're canvassing the league for these like mid-quarterbacks. Do you have a Tanner McKee opinion?

I think that he would be the starter on three of the quarterback battle teams I talked about. I would see him winning in Indianapolis. I think he would win in New Orleans. I think he would win in Cleveland. So does that qualify as a Tanner McKee opinion? I think so, yeah. I mean, do you think that he would, you know, we've been debating the, like what the trade value would be. The Eagles are not going to trade him right now before the season.

this would be more of an off-season discussion, but like, yeah, do you think he'd be worth a one or two? Not a one. Calm, calm down. It's interesting because of the timing aspect. Right now, I would, the three teams I mentioned, he would absolutely be worth a two. But as you said, they're not going to do it during the season because the Eagles are on a very different timeline from those teams. They have very different priorities, right? They are in this to win the Super Bowl again.

So he is arguably more valuable to the Eagles than he would be to most teams in the NFL because backup quarterback is more valuable, more important to them. However, if you wait until next off season, we'll see where those teams' records land. A lot of them are going to be in a position to draft a quarterback. So his value proposition goes down. You know what I'm saying? So it's kind of, yes, somebody would trade for him. Yes, certainly at least a mid-round pick.

but I think the ability to get that much moving forward is going to be really dependent on what position those teams are in. I think my favorite potential fit is one that you would be kind of close to. And I think I got to give Nate Tice a shout out here because I think he's the one who mentioned it, maybe in the offseason, the Rams, because if you're thinking this team is going to be good enough, they're not going to have a high pick,

but they need a succession plan. You know, if they fell in love with Tanner McKee, maybe that could be a fit. Yeah, it's a fun idea. I've seen the Rams brought up as like a place for a developmental quarterback like an Anthony Richardson type. But I think that the logic you just laid out makes a lot more sense to me. This is not a rebuilding team, right? Like they, the time for the Rams to draft a developmental quarterback was two years ago now.

And yeah, the Rams, though, you said they don't have a pick. They do have the Falcons pick. Oh, I forgot about that. Oh, that actually adds. I know, right? But that adds a lot of intrigue to they're playing on Monday night football, I think in week 17. I think it's the last Monday night game.

And I was looking at it because we're, NFLI, we're on site for the Monday night game. So I'm looking at the schedule, trying to figure out, you know, where I'm going to be at the end of the year when it's cold. And I first saw the first when I saw that game, I was like, oh, you know, like, how much is this going to matter? But that certainly adds an extra layer of intrigue to it and really incentivizes the Rams to go out and win it, even if perhaps they have the division locked up. because, you know, depending on how things shake out with the Falcons, that could be a decently valuable pick.

No doubt about it. All right. Go ahead, E.J. All right. Shifting from the Tanner McKee chat. We got enough to. Somebody who we might see on the field a little bit more than Tanner McKee this season is Cooper to Jean. Meena, I want to ask you about the second cornerback spot opposite Quinion Mitchell on the outside. We've seen Cooper to Gene start to get some snaps there in the Eagles base defense.

Vic Fangio did mention that that does not mean that he is necessarily going to be. be a full-time outside cornerback for them. I think some things would have to happen, both at nickel and on the outside. I'm curious, though, what your, I guess, projection for Cooper to Gene playing on the outside would be based off the tape he saw from him in college and what we saw from him in the nickel last season? He, based on what we saw in college, can absolutely play outside. I think the problem for Philadelphia is he is already one of the best nickels in the NFL,

right? So do you want to shake up a good thing just to copy? compensate for maybe the only hole in this entire roster. You know, the Eagles are primarily going to be a nickel. So it's not going to be like a massive number of snaps we're talking about. So I guess I don't have an issue with it situationally. But for the most part, I think Cooper should be a nickel first and foremost. Nichols also just so important in today's NFL and you really saw that at the end, right,

particularly against a team like Kansas City in the Super Bowl. But, you know, to have a versatile smart nickel who. who's outstanding at defending the run, who's a great tackler, who you can also blitz. It's so valuable. It's so important. So I wouldn't be thrilled if it was a huge part of how he plays. But, you know, CB2 remains the question.

It's a big question, and they're trying to solve it. And yeah, I mean, it has been bad enough this summer that now they have to flirt with the possibility of Cooper DeGine on the outside. but I don't think they have anybody they trust enough in the nickel to do that full time. Do you have a sense of like long term where you would like Cooper DeGine to be? Because there are some people in the building who think like safety, he'll be, he'll be an all pro safety. You can also be, you know, an all pro caliber nickel. But eventually you would imagine, you know, his agents are going to want him to be on the outside.

That's where he can make the most money. It is, but should it be? I mean, nickel is based now. Right. Like so I think you know who's I think Trent McDuffie's contract might be up that's one to watch although he's been playing he was another one though I mean I feel like I'm speaking both sides of my mouth I thought he should stay in nickel I think he is the best in nickel but he was really good playing outside they're pretty similar players in my mind I think similar caliber as well I think to jean could be similar to McDuffie but yeah Devin Witherspoon in Seattle is the other one there's a lot of guys who play inside, outside, and when you see the way cornerback contracts have gone really in the last just year now, they stagnated forever. And then we had the Stingley contract, the J.C. Horne contract, suddenly they're going up again. I wouldn't blame them. But if I'm their agents, I'm making a case

that that position is just as valuable. It really, I believe it's just as valuable. And again, think about like where offensive football is going with all the condensed formations, right? It's just I don't know. I do not believe that there's a good football reason why a all-pro nickel should make less than an all-pro pro quarter. I really don't. I can also see that being attractive to the Eagles because they're going to pay Cooper-Degene what Cooper-Degene is worth no matter what. And if they pay him that as a nickel, they are also, they're raising the floor for the rest of the league, for this position.

they're resetting that market and they don't have to deal with it because they've already got the best one. Yeah, it's a problem that we don't have to worry about right now. He is in his second year. But yeah, that's going to be an interesting decision for him. The other thing I think is possible is that the Eagles find a corner solution long before

Cooper DeGine's contract is out. I would hope so, right? Because, yeah, that would mean you have two or three years of substandard CB2 play, which I know they don't want. Do you have a Jacorian Bennett opinion after his year with the Raiders last year? Yeah, you know, I was actually a little bit surprised by that from the Raiders standpoint, just because they're so thin in their secondary. And I think he's given you enough, and I liked him enough as a prospect to where they're,

again, given the status of their secondary, it felt odd to me that they were going to move on from him. I know that they obviously also need help on the defensive line. but I would say with him, again, it's all relative. We're not comparing him to Queenie Mitchell. You're comparing him to Kili Ringo, right? And I guess Adori. Yeah.

Good in coverage. I think he can, he has good speed and athleticism and he is smart. I don't think he's complete in the way that maybe Vic Fangio would like his perimeter corners to be. terms of as a tackler and maybe we'll see it a little bit too much underneath. But this, I think he has probably a higher ceiling than those other two corners on the roster. I think that tracks.

Yeah, I think that that's fair. I do wonder from your perspective, Mina, like, is there very many ways to insulate that outside cornerback spot that maybe, you know, a layman might not be aware of? Because it does feel like it's going to be hard if this, because again, this battle has been uninspiring for most of training camp. has really separated themselves. Is there a way to kind of compensate for the fact that you might not be overly confident in that spot?

Well, you guys know, obviously, they'll cloud safety over. They'll give whoever it is help. Teams will largely avoid Quinn and Mitchell from a coverage standpoint. You can at least stop the bleeding. But teams are going to attack it. I think about Denver, right? And Patrick Sertan and last year when Riley Moss came back from the injury, before he was injured, he was actually playing really well.

But when he came back, I mean, that was just, and when he was out, it's just the teams attacked it mercilessly. There is some benefit to the predictability of it. This is why, and I know I'm kind of like contradicting what I said earlier, but why having a true shutdown corner on the outside is so valuable. And I do believe that the Eagles have that in Quigian Mitchell. You know what offenses are going to do. it's going to be pretty obvious, right?

But to me, it just comes down to like, who is the matchup? If you're facing a team that really can put a 1A, 1B type, and the Eagles don't travel with their quarters on the opposite side of the field, that's going to be another interesting decision that they're going to, Vic Fangio, if it gets so bad, do you consider changing the way you utilize your corners more so that you can't get picked on, that's going to be an interesting decision. We have seen that this summer.

Quinyon has been following and switching sides. So my expectation is when they play teams where that makes sense, we probably will see that with Quinyan this year. All right. I mean, I have a I have a stork rank for you. This is a, I'm going to ask you to rank these four things from least likely to most likely. Okay. You ready?

Okay. Jalen Hertz finishes top three in MVP voting. Okay. A.J. Brown leads the league in receiving. Okay. Jalen Carter wins defensive player of VIII. the year. Okay.

And the Eagles miss the playoffs. Okay. Least likely, hmm. Oh, boy. Okay. Jalen top three. Okay. J. Brown leads the league in receiving, you said?

Yeah, it's got, it's very specific. Yeah. Okay. Carter D.P.O.I. And then the Eagles missing the playoffs. Oh, Mina is predicting the Eagles are going to miss the playoffs. No, no, no, no. I wasn't ranking them.

I was just repeating you. Oh, I'm sorry. I was just, that was not my ranking. That was not my ranking. I was just, I just, I wanted to like take, I mean, you could make, I think that's not, that's not unrealistic that that is the most likely, you know, a couple injuries. Okay, so, all right, let's do this. I, I don't think it's most likely. I'm going to go so hard to win DPOI as a defensive tackle.

Yes, yeah. He is so clearly the best player in that, or the, the guy. Okay, I'm going to go most to least because that's just easier for my brain. Yeah, yeah. I actually think Hertz MVP is the most likely of the three. I can see that, yeah. I mean, if the team is really good

and it's not the best team and he takes another leap year, yeah. Then I'm going to go car. Man, AJ doesn't get that much volume though. I'll go Jalen next, then AJ, then the Eagles miss blast.

Wow. Okay. So you know no way they're going to miss the playoffs Mina Kimes says the Eagles are not going to miss the play Well God I know I guess like if Jalen Hurts got hurt And I still think they would make the playoffs They got Tanner McKee They got Tanner McKee yeah

Let me swap let me swap that one with I don't think AJ is going to lead to receive It's just not how it's hard Yeah exactly okay I think that's fair But else you got AJ Mina we've spent a lot of time in training camp Looking at the bottom of the depth chart wide receivers and there is a cult hero that is starting to emerge.

I'm not going to ask you about the cult hero, because that's pretty in the week. Yeah, let's get Rina's thoughts on Darius Cooper. Here we go. But I do want to know if you had to build like a wide receiver four for this Eagles offense into the in a lap, a guy who can compliment the players that they already have and the system that they run,

what would you be envisioning for that player? I mean, I would really love, it's a great question, because between because a j brown and devante compliment each other so well part of me actually which it wishes that you could have more of like a like a really super twitched up slot guy so that you can just have devonte as the flanker to stretch the field and then the eagles you're just somebody who can just be a check down guy who can constantly get you like eight or nine yards underneath but devante could do that as well but i think that if like you know like an edelman type would be in my mind,

because I would just love what that would do for Devante Smith. Yeah, it's interesting. And I don't like Devante like getting a lot of contact over the middle of the field. He's so efficient when he's in the slot. It's like, that's like their superpower

sometimes is putting him in there. But yeah, I agree, you don't want him in there all the time. Yeah, I think just someone who can do like a lot of the dirty work, a blocker would be really nice, somebody who's a good blocker. Okay.

You know, Metchy brings to the table a little bit. Metchy, right? Metchie fits that. That sounds like Darius Cooper to me. Yeah, I think Darius Cooper might be a household name at some point this season. Household name. I like that. Okay, two more quick things, Mina.

I want to, we've been talking like fanciful trades. I kind of want to just make a Seahawks trade with you. Okay. So what do the Seahawks need? Because I'm hoping we can borrow like a depth edge rusher from you. Oh, interesting. Seahawks have an interesting edge rush group, which is a Cheninous. It was just activated because they're like, they have a lot of really good players,

but no great ones at edge. Could we pry Derek Hall? Is that too crazy? Yeah, like that type. No, it's not too crazy. They're pretty deep there, too. I would say the Seahawks need... I mean, another receiver.

I know everybody's really excited about Tori Horton, who's a CX fifth round traffic, who's looked really good in the preseason. Derek Hall for Johan Dotson. We'll do it. I don't think that would be. A guard? A guard?

I mean, I know Anthony Bradford's like pretty good in the season, the preseason for Seattle, but you never feel good about the guard depth there. Although, you know, guard depth, I don't think that's something that Philadelphia. No, no,

yeah, we're wanting over here as well. It's a weird year. Yeah, I mean, I don't think Matt Pryor's going to move the needle for you there. Problem with Philly is like you, no team has a surplus of cornerbacks right now.

Right. Well, we could do, you know, if you liked Keelaringo coming out of the draft, maybe. Not my player. Okay. All right. We'll have to get back to the drawing board.

Okay. Last thing, I have to do this for our buddy Fran because he spent so much time in the draft process talking about his favorite player in the draft. Our All-City NFL analyst, Fran Duffy. How has Willie Lampkin looked? Oh, I got heard the last game. We did? I didn't know that. Yeah.

I was, okay, this is a funny one because. I like Rams preseason which I call I truly didn't know that they picked him up in free agency right I'm not keeping track of the UDFA signings around the league then you're looking at the depth chart for the first preseason game and I see him and I get really excited comes into the game and I'm like gassing him up to the point where everyone's like are you really like this is the you know we're in the third quarter this is an undrafted center he's tiny are you making fun of him yeah yeah I was like no like I'm telling you guys and and um I got a little grief for it. People were like, you weren't grinding with that. I was like, yeah, I wasn't. I was watching Omari and Hampton.

Like, and Drake May. Like, all of us who do the draft have just watched a lot of UNC over the last couple of years because of those first rounders. But watching O'Mary in Hampton, I thought I was, I was like, this kid looks unbelievable. Like, I was so impressed by him. And it's also just like so physically unique. I mean, when he's on the field, it's just really.

Yeah. And like, centers are short. Obviously, Philly is no stranger to that with Kelsey, but like, he is short, right? And he played so well in week one. Then a week two, he got injured pretty quickly, which was such a bummer. So we'll see what happens. The Rams are in a unique spot because they actually have a ton of center depth.

They brought back Coleman and Shelton from Chicago and Bo Limmer, who started for them. Jalen Carter knows Bo Limer, by the way. And Dylan McMahon, my guy, Dylan McMahon. Dylan McMahon, yeah. So they have a lot of center depth. So I'm not sure what's going to happen with Lampkin, but I feel like he's going to get picked up somewhere. Okay. Like that.

We'll take that. All right. Mina, thank you so much. We're going to talk to in a couple weeks. The great Mina Kimes of ESPN. Thank you. Thank you so much. I guys, hopefully know who's CB2 by then.

Hopefully. All right, back with more on the other side here on the P.HLY Eagles podcast.