PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Assessing the Philadelphia Eagles’ depth chart on defense: Does Quinyon Mitchell start Week 1?

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

There are plenty of spots up for grabs in a new-look Vic Fangio defense for the Eagles. Does James Bradberry stick around? Does Quinyon Mitchell start right away? Will it be Avonte Maddox or Cooper DeJean at nickel? What about linebacker?With the draft behind them, Zach Berman and Bo Wulf analyze how the roster stacks up on defense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

3 p.m. Bo Wolf, Zach Berman, ready to talk about the Eagles' depth chart on defense, maybe a little bit of a TikTok on the trade-up for Cooper DeGine. You wrote a good story today, which everybody can read on all-PHLY.com. If you're a diehard, Zach, how you doing? Doing well, excited for the show. Beautiful weather today. How about that weather? Yeah, yeah. Have you had a good morning? You got a little field trip with Casey.

You've got to go see Pinocchio at the Yarden Theater. Good time. Nice. You like Pinocchio? Are you judging that? No, not at all. You're looking down on that? Not at all. I guess if you like Pinocchio. I would say that I have no strong opinion one way or the other about the general story of Pinocchio. But I thought the actors and craftsmen and set design and everything, I thought they did a very good job.

Did the kids like it? They had a very good time, yeah. Nice. Okay. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, everybody else is sort of reading this as like, there's something unsaid and I don't know what it is. There's one other person in the room. I don't know who everyone is.

Julia senses it. She feels like you're wanting to get something off your chest, but you're afraid to do it, and I don't know what it is. No, not at all. Not at all. Yeah, that's great. Is this your normal way of having conversation? I asked you how your morning was.

I asked you about Pinocchio, yeah. I'm ready to talk to defense. It was good. Yeah, it was good, productive. Did some work, did some reading, preparing for this, and I'm excited for the show. You like preparing? Yes, I like preparing. Yes.

Yeah. All right. Before we get to the defense, because we talked about the offense yesterday, I do want to talk about your story. Austin wants to know why you're so insecure about Pinocchio about Pinot. Tokyo. I'm not. I'm not to have nothing to be insecure about. Had a good time.

Good, good, yeah. I just feel like you're being weird. Not at all. I'm all good, ready for sure. Cooper DeGine. Tell us why he wrote this story and a little bit of the background. Well, the cool thing is so the Eagles had behind the scenes footage that they released and covering the team for, you know, going on 13 years now.

it was actually more footage than they typically put out. I would say so. Inside the draft room, the particular machinations with the deal. And so I thought that it was, you know, we ask a lot of questions. We're asking questions at press conferences. We're asking questions behind the scenes. But when you get real-time footage of what's happening, and I understand there can be selective editing, right? There's parts of that that are not included, parts of that that are included.

But this isn't acting for the cameras. Like, this is actually happening. And so I thought you can take that footage, combined with some other things that we heard, and kind of weave together a narrative of how the Eagles landed the gene. And what jumped out to me from watching it from the comments after the draft, certainly the Eagles' actions, but then that footage in particular is how dogged the Eagles were in getting the gene.

You heard Jeffrey Lurie say on the call, the Cooper the Gene, that they didn't immediately go to sleep the night. before because this was at the forefront. I heard Howie Roseman on, you know, a number of different interviews where he said after the press conference, which was midnight on that Thursday. So is midnight technically Friday? It did technically, yeah, technically. So midnight Friday.

After that, they went right back upstairs and started like planning how they can get the gene. And then they go into the draft on day two. I think it was like 6.55 p.m. And how he outlines what their possibilities are. Actually, Jeffrey Lurie said it was an obsession. They had an obsession with getting Cooper the Gene. And so there were two possibilities that really stood out to them, Carolina and Washington.

They talked about the Chargers. Chargers weren't interested in their proposal. Talked about the Titans. Titans didn't have a third round pick, so moving back from 53 would not have been conducive. So the Panthers and the commanders, and the Panthers, that deal was a little more attractive in the sense that you didn't fall back as far in the third round. But there's competition for that.

And that was the Rams. The Rams trade up 239. And once the Rams trade up in the draft room, there's that, you know, the Eagles. They think that. And the Rams offer not that, it was not like definitely better because it was the, it was 52, which is in between the 50 and 53 that the, Eagles had a future second and two fifths. So, I mean, it depends how you value the future second. I guess maybe you're betting against the Rams and just planning long term, but that's

not a definitely better offer. Well, if you think next year's draft is going to be better and then maybe with the Panthers time horizon. But, no, that's a valid point. I mean, the Panthers would have traded back and gotten two first, you know, two second round picks. But the thing is, I think if you're Carolina, that third round pick is pretty high, right?

So in the Rams deal, you get to keep that third round pick. Sure. But so that's what, so anyways, in the draft room, there's like this dread. You see it on Howley's face. You see it on Jeffrey Lurie's face. And then the excitement when they take Braden Fisk. Yeah, it gives you a big fist pump from him. Yeah.

And then Howie, you know, how he says call it in. They make the deal with Washington. You hear the calls, obviously, to Cooper to Gene. They have the footage of Cooper de Gene, the emotion that he has in Iowa when he gets the call. Then Cooper DeGine comes the next day. And it's interesting. DeGine visited a week before, the Friday before the draft. And Dom DeSandro, the team security chief, and does a lot more than that, he says to the Gene, I told you you'd be back.

And that was also evidence that this was definitely a guy that they had been targeting. So I recognize in writing it, a lot of it is material, or I should say most of it's material that is provided by the team, right, in that footage. But I thought, A, not everyone watched the whole thing there. And B, you can really kind of put a narrative together about how they landed the gene. A couple of questions for you. Yep. Do you think that if Quinyon Mitchell had gone 21st, DeGine would have been their pick at 22? Do you think he would have been over Terry and Arnold?

I don't think so. Do you? I don't, but they seem to really love the guy. No, but I think there's a possibility that exists where if the two corners went in the top 21 and the offensive linemen are off the board, like say edge rushers and Brian Thomas fell, right? Right. It might very well have been the gene at that spot. When the Eagles did those scenarios during the week, let's say six quarterbacks don't go, right?

or let's say the edge rushers fall, you know, verse falls or Latu falls. Chop Robinson went up. Chop Robin, exactly. Maybe in that case, maybe in that case, it's Cooper the Gene. I do think, and we talked about this before the draft, that there were scenarios that they did in that room where they would be just fine coming away with Cooper to Jean at number 22. Right.

They would have had to stay, which I still think if one of those two corners goes, then they're maybe a little bit more aggressive in trying to move up a spot or two. But I think it's obvious that they had a front of. first run, great on him and wanted him. The second question is, if the Rams had taken Cooper DeGine at that spot, what do you think the Eagles do? I don't think they make the trade. You don't think they make a trade.

No. You don't think they were after getting a second corner and they would have been happy to get Kool-Aid McKinster. You think they wanted the specific player? Yeah, I think it was the specific player. I could be wrong there. There were, I think, more than one, there was more than one player with the first round grade who slipped, but I don't know who the other.

player was. So at that point, I think they would have stayed at 50 in 53. What were some of your other big takeaways from the all-access piece that the Eagles left put out there? Yeah, so you see at the the Red Star meeting, I thought was interesting. This is the pre-draft Red Star meeting, not the before day three. No, yeah. So the yeah. So, yeah, so and then the before day three meeting, but the Red Star meeting, which was during the week, and Ryan Myers is running it tiny, as his nickname is, there. And you can see certain scouts standing on the table or pounding the table. Nobody's standing on the table.

Pounding the table for certain players. To be fair, just to be journalistically accurate, I don't believe anyone was pounding the table. No one's pounding table. It's all theoretical. It's all as a matter of speech. Okay. They spoke with confidence and forcefulness.

Sure. But you are physically pounding the table. They were not physically pounding the table. Yeah. This thing's going to break one day. Will Shipley and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. You know, these are guys that... Trevor Keegan.

Trevor Keegan. I was surprised by that. Team captain at Michigan. Yeah. So those were a few players that jumped out. And then the meeting that Howie Roseman talked about, the 10 a.m. meeting, and we mentioned it on a show that Saturday, when they meet and they say scouts, like stand up for who you believe in.

And you hear them talk. about Trott Jr. You hear them talk about Anaya Smith and you hear them you know Alan walking a director of scouting for the Eagles he he mentions Johnny and unusual yeah yeah Johnny Wilson there so that that part of it jumped out there was also a scene when it was before the fifth round when the Eagles blurred out who was on the board but they you know how he says to the room we're going to go after these two guys and he's pointing to the tops of their board. And you see Anaya Smith,

and you see Jeremiah Trotter Jr. And so... One who's highlighted in Jeremiah Trotter, presumably because he was a star player. And Anaya Smith was not, but it doesn't mean they don't like him. Jeff Scott brought him up in that day three meeting. So what jumps out there is,

like, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was not a sentimental pick. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was very much someone that they had identified. Now, they waited until the fifth round, right? If they wanted him at the J.Ox Hunt pick, they could have taken him with the Jalx Hunt pit. If they wanted him at the Will Shippley pick, they could have taken him at the Will Shippley pick. But going into the fifth round, it was very clearly he was at the top of the board there at linebacker. There were a couple funny moments.

I thought one in particular was, I think it, I don't know if it was day two or day three. I don't remember, but like how he's doing all these things, he's got all these things going on. and then Nick Sirrani just walks into the draft room, like holding it like he's late for class. Yeah, rushes in. I'll just say, what's up guys? Were you ever late to class? Yeah, of course.

You were? In the entire history of my life, was I ever late to class? Definitely. Shadding in the hallways and like that kind of thing? I don't think that I was late to class as much as I did sometimes get kicked out of class for laughing too much. I can see that. Yeah.

At your own jokes? I don't know. I remember late to class. One time we had a substitute teacher in science class, a slightly older woman, and she farted in the middle of class. And, I mean, I think the whole class lost it, but I mean, I just could recover from that. Okay. Okay. It's about as good as it gets.

And they kicked you out. I think on that one, I just left myself. I had to take it upon myself. I'll see you everybody. Yeah. Okay. How about you? I don't know if I was late.

I don't know if I was late to class that often. We had, what, Joy, five minutes in between classes to get from one class than next? Not enough time. What's that? Not enough time? Especially if you had gym and then you had to go all the way across the school. Like, just forget it.

Five minutes between class? Yeah, five minutes between class. You know, that seems short. Yeah, but everything was, well, to Joy's point, Jim was a little farther away. I feel like 10 minutes as standard. Is that right? Was it, I thought it was five.

Was it five? Maybe it was 10. Maybe it was 10? Okay. We'll have to ask. Yeah. No, we had, yeah, we had like free periods in there sometimes. Sure.

So you were able to catch up, like, you know, with, like, other stuff during free periods. So class to class, I was pretty good at getting class. Now, when I was in class sometimes, like, you know, Bill Simmons had an article that was out. my mind might wander to that, right? Peter King's Monday morning quarterbacks, I always printed those off. You know, we had... Oh, so you're in there with a printout?

Oh, yeah, because, yeah, we didn't have, like, computers or anything in class. And so... So you're just sitting in there reading a printout? Well, they don't know that I'm reading that, but absolutely, I used to print off Bill Simmons. I used to go to the library, or was it called the CalCLAB, I think it was called.

Yeah, and I used to print off Bill Simmons articles and Monday morning quarterbacks. Yeah, to read that. Wow. Incredibly disrespectful. No, because I still listened and I still know what was going on. It doesn't sound like you were listening? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you can multitask, right? Anyways, what else stood out? So here's a little, I don't know, this is a, it's not funny, but it's, I've never seen Howie in reading classes before, have you? That was interesting. Yeah. Yeah. That was, and it seemed like it was just on day three, right?

Lenny was really just driving into the nitty-gritty of, you know. Okay, yeah. That was interesting. Julian Lurrie's presence, like right now. next to Jeffrey in those pre-draft meetings, I thought was pretty interesting. Yeah, definitely. I mean, Joy and you were the first to report this back during the Senior Bowl in 2021. Or it was before.

I think it was later than that. We noted that at, we noted his presence at the Senior Bowl, but you were the first to report that he had a formal role in the organization. And yeah, I mean, Joey and Lor is around. He's involved. I mean, he's not just, he's not just coming in one day. run the team. Like he's, he's, he's very much involved in, and understands and has input in the decisions that are made, right? And so, that stood out. I would say, just kind of the mechanics of the room. It's interesting to see, like, coaches aren't in the room. It's so, it's so fascinating

to just see how the actual stuff gets done. I think it's great. Yeah. You know, it's interesting they have on the TV, they had the NBA playoff game on in there, right? Nick probably asked for that. Yeah, like, he had something to do. He's watching the game. But no, it's, I mean, coaches play an important role, but like coaches don't know who their drag. Coaches get called in.

They get called in. They get called in. They get called in. Like the Cooper DeGine one in particular. Like they've already, they're already like congratulating him for me, him making him the pick and then people are filing in. Exactly. Exactly.

So it really shows you like how, how these decisions are made. The circle is small for the actual draft day decisions. Exactly. Yeah. And just the, the draft room take, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, draft room table seeing who sits where seeing who speaks up yeah I and I do think you know from all that we have talked about

the like reporting and guessing about Jeffrey Larry's influence I mean it's significant they're showing you like he is right next like he and Howie are talking about who like they're about to lose Cooper DeGine like that's it like you know Jeffrey is very very involved well as as we've written about Jeffrey loves the draft yes and he loves

the draft before he became an owner, right? And so he's, yeah, he's very interested in he asks a lot of questions. Like you saw, he says, he says, what about Carolina, right? I mean, that's, if you're, right, that's a, that's like an informed question there, right? That's, that's someone who's been briefed on this, who, who, who knows kind of the potential landmarks. So, yeah, I mean, I, I, I don't, I don't think Jeffrey's picking the right guard, per se, but, uh, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, He's certainly not coming in on September 6th and saying, all right, who's on the roster, right? So, yeah, you are correct about that. What did you make of the way that how he set up the team picture at the end?

Oh, saying we're all going to go down? We're going to take a little field trip. Oh, yes. What were your thoughts on that? It was okay. Okay. I thought, I was expecting him to have explained that a little bit better, but. Gotcha.

Were you in that shot? Did they get the back of your head at all? I don't, I don't know. I didn't notice. Gotcha. you. They had the back of my head in there. Yeah, I had a look. You got a good head of lettuce.

Thank you. I had the vest on that day, right? I was coming from the show. Oh, well, if it's the day that ends in Y, then you probably did. No, no, no. I mean, I was dressed pretty casually relative to the people running the show. You feel bad about that? I was just making an observation.

I have one last note. Did you notice the misspelling? Hmm See, this is why you're good You can pick up misspellings In my article or on the No, that's a joke No, what was the misspelling?

They had Alec Hallaby, two elves and Hallaby Ah, I did not see that, okay You can't be letting that happen Yeah, I don't read the descriptions I should see that, but You gotta just, those things got to pop to you, you know? Things got to pop to me, yep, you're right Okay

And then you also, You also see them kind of behind the scenes throughout the draft process, like at the Senior Bowl. Some of its stock footage, like, from past years. Sure. But, you know, they're talking about, you know, Alan Walking and Brandon Hunter talking about Quinniazza Mitchell at the Combine and how he's checking these boxes and the player on their radar. So that's interesting.

But look, I'll give the Eagles, you know, video staff and, well, not the video staff, like for putting together team film, but kind of the in-house production staff. I'll give them a lot of credit. Like that was really well done. They're great. They've always been great. And informative. And like I've had this debate with other reporters where they're like, oh, my nightmare would be for the Eagles to be on hard knocks.

And I'm like, I would love if the Eagles were on hard knocks. And we have this debate. And the other guys are like, that's so much more you have to worry about. And I'm like, that's so much more you can learn. Like you're getting. Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, frankly, and I'm not like dismissing what we do day to day. but when you talk to someone on when they're at the podium you get a sanitized version of kind of what they think or a version of events right people people remember stuff differently or in a way that's not always how it happened but when you actually get the footage like you see how it happens so even if they are controlling what footage gets out there it's still telling and it's still yeah it's still interesting yeah so now that said when eagles were on um what was the amazon one called all or nothing yeah when they were on i

I thought they could have had a little bit more. That was pretty sanitized. There was like almost nothing in there. There's a little too much like the WIP talk show hosts narrating. Yeah. And not enough like inside the meetings with the players. Yes. Yeah.

And basically like there was only one memorable scene and that was the Josh McCown walking off the field. Yeah. Oh, well. All right. Before we get to the defense, Zach, why don't you tell our listeners about what you've been cooking up lately? Ah, great transition there. Look, this time of year, I like to be on the grill, but I don't necessarily love to go grocery shopping. Well, the best solution is I came home from work a week ago, and on my doorstep, on the stoop, was Butcherbox waiting for me there.

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The CDC recommends that adults, oh, no, this is a shingles thing here, but they've got shingles. They've got COVID-19. I had a nice conversation about shingles with Cuzz on his show a couple of weeks ago. I think it was his cousin or his uncle had shingles, well, probably should have gone to the Rite Aid to get the vaccine. Wouldn't have been in that situation. Not a fun time, I would imagine. Select Rite Aid stores, have a dedicated pharmacist ready to administer vaccines

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Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. State age and health restrictions may apply. Ask a right aid pharmacist for details. When I lived in Washington, D.C., there was a right aid, a block away, and I was there far too often, like for everyday stuff to eat, you know, get my bread, my milk, things like that. I should have gone to see the pharmacist sometimes too. Bread and milk, that's all you're eating?

Peanut butter, jelly, yeah. I mean, I was on the road a lot. I think I did like 100-something nights on the road, my first year there. So I don't want to compare it to like George Clooney and up in the air. But, you know, I would put it this way. I would not get something that had an expiration date. Like, that was too far in advance because I would be gone. every weekend.

There you go. Yeah. I feel like there's a lot of George Clooney in you. I'll take that. I haven't heard that, but I'll take that. By the way, that reminds me when you asked what the pickup line was for Jason Kelsey to Dylan McMahon, right after the show it hit me, what the pickup line should have bit. What's that? Oh, you look, people are saying you look like you've got a little Jason Kelsey in you.

And the guy says, is that right? and then Kelsey says, would you like so? Okay. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to respond to that with, but... Just to cross my mind. Yeah. I need to give a... I need to give a shout out to, like, Jason,

to like the staff around Jason Kelsey, if you will. Okay. Because I don't even work for Jason Kelsey, but multiple times a week, I get, like, people reaching out, hey, is there a way I can get in touch with Jason Kelsey? I went to this wedding this weekend And anybody who hears that there's any connection to the Eagles Is like, do you know Jason?

Or I love Kylie Oh my gosh, we watched that documentary And I love Kylie Yeah, we know Like from every walk of life So I'm always like I mean, you want me to like reach out to Jason What am I supposed to do with this movie?

Yeah, it seems like a good guy, I agree Yeah, exactly So But yeah, I can only imagine Like the amount of requests that they get inundated with. Yeah, that's wild. That's why they're coming on our show tomorrow. Hey, what's going on?

Is the schedule coming out Thursday or what? I hope so. I mean, well, not as much as Emily, my wife, that's like the one day each year. She cares about what's going on to you. Yeah, she is. When are they releasing this schedule? And it's like because everything, everything in our life gets put. on hold until the schedule comes out.

And yeah, so she, it's the only thing that she cares about is when the schedule comes out. Well, yeah, I mean, it's planning her life. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And it used to come out in April when we, so we've, we've been together for 10 years. And early in our relationship, marriage, it was like in April. And so she associates it with April. So she's like, why is it so late this year?

And I was like, yeah, it's been past few years. Yeah. Yeah. They don't need to just keep pushing it back, but. They want an event in May, and that's what the schedule release is. So dumb. All right. Let's talk defensive depth chart and some of the questions that are lingering as we peer the long road ahead to training camp.

Why don't we start on the edge, Zach, where the Eagles have plenty of bodies, right? If you can pull those up, Julia, we've got, he got Bryce Huff, obviously, Josh Sweat. As your presumptive starters on the outside, you expect Nolan Smith to be a much more significant part of that rotation. Brandon Graham is there. And then you're starting to think about injuries or just extra bodies. Jalick's Hunt, the third round pick. I would say not significant expectations for him to contribute right away,

but probably a special teams player. Zach Bonn is an interesting player to follow. And we will see in training camp if they're going to use him at all as an offball linebacker, just as a way of getting him on the field. We know that Howie has thrown out the Andrew Van Ginkle comparison for him. and then you start to talk about the depth guys. You're talking Patrick Johnson, Julian O'Quara, to Ron Jackson, Terrell Lewis. I would say given the way that free agency and the draft played out,

probably a longer road to the roster for those bottom four than there might have been, you know, a month, two months ago. But it seems like an interesting group. Do you think it's enough? Barring injury, yes, I do. I think that top six will be on the team barring injury. I don't see Bonn as a surprise cut. I don't view it as a Cory Nelson situation.

they do have plans for him. J-O-X Hunt, unless there's like a Phantom IR situation, he'll be on the roster. Do I think it's enough? I do now. I don't know if it's better. I mean, they lost their best edge rusher, Hassan Reddick.

I don't think it's a one-for-one swap with Bryce Huff in terms of, like, talent. So I think Huff has upside. But, yeah, I think that group has gone backwards a bit. Now, the difference there is no one's, like you mentioned, needs to make a big jump year one to year two. If Nolan Smith can play like the first round pick, if Nolan Smith can have production that matches the tools, then I think they're going to be fine there.

If they're not getting production beyond Huff and Sweat, or if Sweat has the year that he had in the back half of the season, then Edge Rush is a major concern. Like, Bryce Huff has not been a number one guy. Josh Sweat, who I think can be a pro-ball caliber player, he's been a pro bowler in the past alternate but he was quiet during the back half he was silent during the back half of the schedule

Brandon Graham I don't want to bet against Brandon Graham but he's kind of like Chief Moral officer if you were right if you're getting 10 snaps a game you're fine so if no one there's a lot of ifs there but the biggest one is Nolan Smith I think that all three of those top guys have ips and that's what I was going to ask you and you answered the question of which of

which of those three situations that you're talking yourself into is most worrisome. Is Bryce Huff going to be a 1A guy? Is Josh Huff, Josh Shet, going to be who we think that he is? Or is Nolan Smith going to really make a leap in year two? I think you're probably right

that the Nolan Smith is the one that's the biggest question mark. I think sweat it's going to be probably somewhere between the first half and the second half, right? I think Huff, there might be some limitations to his game, but I think that he will

be productive if healthy, I really don't know what to expect from Nolan Smith. And that's, you hit it on the head there. Like the other two guys, you've at least seen it. You don't know if Huff's going to be a top of the league player, but you've seen him get to the quarterback. You don't know if sweats go into rebound, but you've seen him get to the quarterback. You have not seen this yet from Nolan Smith. That's not to suggest that he can't do it, but there is significant projection for him

to be like the no doubt number three guy. There is, there's clear projection there. I think that is a strength in numbers group, right? I think if you're looking at it as maybe you can get snaps from six guys there and everybody gets to stay fresh and it's a long-term thing. And even if not everybody plays up to their ceiling, one or two of them pop, I think that's okay. I mean, you know, think back to the Super Bowl team.

They didn't have a star edge rusher, right? Oh, that's not ready. Oh, you mean the 2017 team, right? Sure, yeah. I think it's built somewhat similarly to that. Okay, and that's a good point. If you can get that, then by all means, that's fine. And that year you also had a defensive tackle who was the best player on the team.

Well, that's exactly right. And that's, yeah, go ahead. But then the flip side of that is 2021, the year before the most recent Super Bowl appearance, they were bad, they were bad in terms of pass rush. and if you don't get that edge pass rush, if you don't get the rush from the edge, then it really hamstrings the defense and limits the potential. So, no, there are a lot of ifs to go in this season with.

You teased it, and I think that's right. And it's sort of the way I look at it is the bet on strength and numbers on the outside. We're going to get enough from these guys is in part a bet on we are expecting Jalen Carter in particular. to dominate and become the best player of this group and take some attention away from the guys on the edge. You look at that defensive tackle depth chart. You've obviously got Jalen Carter. You know, you've got Jordan Davis,

and are we expecting him to, you know, be a part of the third down rotation, or is he just going to be a first and second down player? I guess we will find out. I think you have to hope that there's some more upside. You see a little bit more of what you saw in week one from him. You've got Milton Williams, who's still around. You've got Marlon Tuipollotu and Morrow O.

Jamo, P.J. Moucester. You know, what, do you think that that's a group that is deep enough if you look at the defensive tackle group? Yes. When I look at it, you have, Jordan Davis needs to be the nose tackle that they want him to be or that they expect him to be, right? I mean, I'm confident John Carter is going to be a productive player for them. I saw enough of that.

I think the talent's there that he can be a true difference maker. And I think Milton Williams can be a good player for them, too. but in this defense, in this Vic Fangio-style group, and I'm hoping that we get a chance to talk to Vic Fangio soon, is Jordan Davis needs to be like the force, the presence in the middle of that line. Because if he is not commanding attention, if he's not occupying blockers,

then it's going to be much harder for Carter and for Williams. And so I think Davis is a big variable there, but I would agree that that Carter, the leap that Carter can make is critical here. As far as the depth, backup nose is a question, right? I mean, you have Marlon Tuppelotu, you have Peachy Mustafa, Moro Ojimo, someone who can take a jump in year two. But you talked about them potentially being like a Byron Murphy team if he had slipped, or we talked about Johnny Newton on day two.

You could certainly see like what a younger player, what a rookie's path the playing time would be here because beyond the top three, there's no one who you're saying, all right, this guy's going to have a big role. And they are going to have a lot of odd man fronts. So there are going to be times when Carter, Davis, and Williams are all going to be on the field together. We just, just to mention them, Thomas Booker and Gabe Hall, the undrafted free agent from Baylor, the other guys there. I would say, like, do you, on third down, maybe Brennan Graham can slide inside there again like he used to do. I do think that that is a spot, just given how young that group is where I would not be surprised if before training camp

the Eagles add a Cantavius Street type veteran, you know, a Hassan Ridgeway type just to sort of compete to fill out that rotation. And I can see why because you want some experience there. But ultimately, you need the investment from like you were big time players to play like it. You know, I heard before we came on, Howie Roseman was on WIP, and he was asked about all the money that they poured into offense, and how

like does that show that they care about offense more than defense? And his answer to that was, well, they kind of view it differently. Like, they view their high draft picks as similar to big contracts. Totally. And if you look in recent years, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith,

Quinn-John-Mitchell. Their last four first-round picks were all offensive players. So they need these guys to be like major, major factors on this team. And in particular, on the defensive line, the Eagles were preparing for this life after Hargrave, this life after Cox with these past two first round picks, and they need them to play like it. Yeah, I guess we will see how that pans out. All right, let's talk about the linebacker group. And this is obviously a spot always a focus for Eagles fans and maybe less so for the Eagles. Nicopi Dean and Devin White seem like your projected starters.

I think that would be, you know, it would be pretty, like, shocking if that were not, the week one starters. Barring injury. Jeremiah Trotter, Orrin Berks, who they signed from the 49ers. And then, I mean, it quickly goes to Ben Van Sumeran and Brandon Smith. Now, Ben Van Zumrin did

eventually find his way onto the 53-man roster last year as an undrafted rookie out of Michigan State. A very good athlete, but the book is that, you know, not the best instincts in the world, has a chance to maybe make an impression. This is a spot where, I mean, they've got six guys.

You need six guys just to get through training camp. Sure. Do you think they're going to add somebody here? Like, you know, Zach Cunningham is still on the market. I was going to ask you that. Do you think that they look at the top of the depth chart here to kind of push them there? Or do you think they're looking for more special teams' bodies? Because Zach Cunningham's the player who makes sense from, they know him.

We thought he was productive last year. He gives you that size, that length, the experience. But also, Zach Cunningham's not coming in to be a special teams player for you. Like, Zach Cunningham's not the Orrin-Burke's profile. Are they looking for a young regard to the-Ewan? Between Berks and Trotter and Van Sumer, and they've got enough special teams help. I think they could use somebody who might need to play on defense. And, yeah, I would actually, like, I think it's borderline more likely than not that Zach Cunningham comes back.

Is Miles Jack around? I don't know. You need plumbing help? I mean, Miles Jack from linebacker perspective. Maybe. Who knows? I'm still hanging on to my Miles Jack stock. I mean, it's like a penny stock

at this point, so you might as well. I don't need to cut my losses, and you never know. I think you do know. Yeah, they were pretty quick there. Do you think they'll bring back Sack hunting out? I think it's the kind of thing where if it gets to training camp and he hasn't found a home yet,

then the Eagles might say, you're going to come on in. Yeah, I mean, I really think. think that that that if devon white is the i mean devon white they made a bigger investment in devon white than any linebacker since nigel braddle bradham um devon white's not your zach cunningham zach brown type signing devon white's here like to be your definite starter on defense yeah but that's also not i mean it's also still a low bar i mean he's devon what's going to play yeah but i'm saying yeah but i'm saying like i think that that they're going to want to see this white dean trotter trio You think they already think highly enough of Trotter to pencil him in as the number three linebacker?

I do. Yeah, I do. I mean, I could be wrong, but I do. And do you agree that the biggest question mark about that group is what is Nicobi Dean? Without a doubt. Now, I think actually White might have the most upside, right? I mean, he's 26 years old, is that right? And he was a first-team all pro, and he was number five picking the draft.

He did not play like it last year. they explained it away by saying that he was in a contract dispute, right? But when you look at the sheer tools, Devin White has more tools than Nikobe Dean. I think Nikobe Dean is the biggest question because it's year three here and you still don't know who he is. And they cleared, I said stack the deck. They cleared the deck. Is that the better term? I mean, cleared the deck's not a card term.

Clear the deck would be a boating term, right? You're clearing the deck, is that? Sure. So, I don't know. Swab the deck. Swab? No. They cleared the deck last year for Nicopa Dine.

I would actually think I still lean, but I still go back to stacking the deck works because they fixed the deck for Nicopa Dine to be the starter. They didn't want anyone to take the job over him. Therefore, the deck was stacked. In any event, we don't need to relitigate that. That was a Studio A debate. Yeah, yeah. We don't want to travel from A to B.

We can't do that. We've progressed to the point that some of the Studio A debates are behind us now. Yeah, Nekobi Dean, I think, he's, without a doubt, the big wallet card here. All right. Is it Nacobie Dene or is it D.N.C.C. It is definitely Nikobe Dean. Okay, good to know. Well, before we move on to the secondary, it's time for me to tell you about our friends at Trumark,

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Okay. I do not think that. But okay. I was watching the Dodgers Marlins game last night. Frisky. And I wanted to pull out my phone and check out. Well, I was also watching some of these NBA games. But I had the Dodgers Marlins game on after that. Pacer's Knicks was fun, huh? Pacer's Knicks was fun. T.J. McConnell, man. But that call on Miles Turner, that was ridiculous. There were so many bad calls. That was ridiculous. We'll get to that in a second. because anyways, that's actually a good segue.

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Yeah, those calls last night. I mean, I don't want to be like, oh, the refs, the refs, but come on, you can't call that. You can't call that on Turner. That was bad. I mean, they missed the kickball, which was off his hand, like arguably worse. Yeah.

I mean, I guess Turner was not fully set. I think I was a crazy call to make. Yeah. And then you can't overturn it upon review because by the letter of the law, it's the right call. I'm just saying in that spot, it's like. Yeah, they missed so many calls. In both directions, too. Sure.

But the Knicks seem to be the beneficiaries of those quite a bit. And then the T-Wolves, man, Anthony Edwards is so much fun to watch. So much fun to watch. And then, I mean, Nas Reid, him coming on, I mean, from LSU, by way of New Jersey, Carl Anthony Towns. Is it Nas Reid or Reed Nas? It's definitely Nas Reid. I feel like Reed should be.

I got him with Nas Reid jersey. He has a Carl Anthony Towns jersey. I got him at Nas Reed jersey. Yeah. Carl Anthony Town is a noted Eagles fan, by the way. Playing really well. So, yeah, I'm enjoying watching the T-Woles, although that's the series I was most looking forward to. And I mean, it's not even competitive right now. Well, Zach, you talked about

Carl Anthony Towns being an Eagles fan. Why don't we talk about the Eagles? Ah, yes. Okay. I like that. Are you reading the commenters who say we're spending too much time talking about other stuff? No. Oh, you see there's 13 minutes left in the show and we've got to get to the corners and the safeties. Who's commenting? Who's commenting? Yeah. There's multiple. There's multiple. People are saying we're not talking enough about the Eagles? Sometimes, yeah. That one guy? that who does it over and over again? The most pathetic loser in existence? Find a new show, dude.

Please don't. Please don't. Watch us. He watches every single show. He comments on every episode. Clearly, he's coming back for something. For your sense of humor, probably. Jabrown.

All right. Let's talk about the corners first. First question for you, Zach. Quignan-Mitchell's starting week one, definitely. you're telling me you're asking me. Do you think he is definitely starting week one opposite Darius Slay? Presuming health. Yeah, I'm not saying definitely, but presumably.

I mean, if I was doing turkeys, I would give him 75 turkeys. Really? I feel like that would be disappointing. I feel like I would go even higher. Now, how much does James Bradbury play into your thinking? He does. I don't think James Bradbury is going to be on the roster. Do you think he even comes to camp?

That's a good question. I'm leaning toward no. But I can see the Eagles waiting for a cornerback injury somewhere else and trying to pounce. Like, you know, what's the benefit for them of just moving on? No, he could get hurt. Human decency. Sure. But no, I'm presuming Bradbury is gone after minicamp.

I'll quickly just read these down and then we can talk about some more specific questions. Darius leg, Quinyon Mitchell, James Bradbury, Keeley Ringo, Cooper Dijine, Avante-Matics, Isaiah Rogers, Eli Ricks, Zack. McPherson, Josh Job, Tyler Hall, and Mario Goodrich, and maybe Sean Stevens, who we talked about as being potentially signed yesterday from the rookie camp group. For Bradbury, I think part of the reason that I do think that the Eagles will now move on, and maybe they will wait to make sure that these rookies make it through healthy over the course of minicamp and stuff like that. It's a part of the same conversation we've had about at some point you've got to play the young guys. Sure. Like, if James Bradbury is here, he's taken valuable summer reps away from Quinyan Mitchell and Cooper DeGine and Keene and Keeley-Ringo guys who like need those reps, don't you think?

I agree with you. Yeah. That's a good point. And that will be my argument for moving on from him. Okay. Now, the reason I was hesitant was not Bradbury. I think Ringo can push to start. Really?

I could be wrong there, but I think Ringo can push to start. Yeah. Over Quinyon Mitchell. I expected to be Mitchell, but I'm saying I think Ringo is going to put up a fight. Interesting. That's just betting on the guy, or that's something you've just whispers, you've heard that you think that maybe the Eagles think that he could push for that. I know they liked the way last season ended. I mean, you're probably thinking about it more from the perspective of a Sleigh replacement down the line.

Yeah. Then your day one, you know, then your starter this year. I would expect Mitchell to be the starter. but I think that they were impressed with Ringo from the Seattle game on last year, and that was kind of part of their calculus for the offseason. Sure, but if we're doing follow their actions, not their words, they did aggressively draft two corners in the first two rounds. If they loved Kiel Ringo, that probably wouldn't have been the case, right?

Yeah, now, we'll get to it. I actually think the gene could be your day one starting slot. and that's actually I would put him over Avanti Maddox as your day one starting slot. You would go turkeys, you would go like 55-45-45 week one Cooper deGene over Avanti-Matic?

I would, would you? I think I probably would, but do you think that means that Avanti-Madix gets cut in that case? Probably so. Yeah. Or maybe he becomes part of the safety group? I don't know.

I don't know. It feels like a dirty way to treat the guy. Well, they let them look at the market for a month. Sure. I mean, he decided to come back here. Yeah. I think the Gene's going to really push for the slot job. Okay. And then the rest of those depth guys who, there are some interesting players in there, from Isaiah Rogers to Tyler Hall, who they signed, who has real starting experience in the slot, to Eli Ricks, who is most intriguing to you there? For the slot depth? No, just generally. Eli Ricks, I think. Where do you think Eli Ricks is going to be playing? Outside. Do you think he'll be on the outside?

Yeah, I think you'll see Slay, Mitchell, Ringo, Ricks as your top four on the outside. And I think the Gene's going to play a little bit of both. I saw a report today that the Eagles, like, don't want to put too much on them. I actually think the Eagles are going to put quite a bit on the gene. I think he's going to be the – I know you hate this term, the movable chess piece, because every chess piece moves. Correct. But he will be the chess piece for them.

Isaiah Rogers, I don't know, right? I think Isaiah Rogers was the lottery ticket signing. I don't think he was the signing like, ooh, we have big plans for him signing. I think that's kind of how it was perceived. But I think that was a lottery ticket type move. Do you? 100%. Yeah.

Yeah, they have no expectations for Isaiah Rogers. Yeah. But if he looks good, these guys have a path to a roster spot, potentially. They're very deep at corner. This is like this is the one spot where even if you cut James Bradbury, I think they're fine. like they don't they don't need to be scouring the waiver wire or whatever i think they're they've got pretty good depth there right now i think you feel good about that group what do you think are the chances quininelliott mitchell ends the season as the number one corner like the clear

best corner on the roster not not that far i think because dary slay's old and might be injured like you know darris stey's still playing at a high level or at least was for the first half of the season but yeah i mean i think you would hope that quignette mitchell can have send to that level by the end of the season, don't you think? Absolutely. Yeah, I just, I need to see it with Mitchell. I need to see him this summer. I need to see him this spring. Yeah. He also have to be realistic. I mean, he's a rookie corner, guys who he's drafted 20 second overall. Exactly. A lot of times those guys turn out to be just a guy. Emmanuel Forbes last year, although I still believe in Emmanuel Forbes. He's sitting right next to Miles Jack on your stock chart.

Well, there'd be a lot of room because Manuel Forbes is. doesn't take up a lot of space. There you go. All right. Let's close this out with safeties. And obviously you have C.J. Garner Johnson and Reed Blankenship as the presumptive starters, Sidney Brown working his way back from a torn ACL figures to be in that mix as well. And then you do notice that this is a less deep, shallower, if you will, position than

corner. Mackay Garner, Tristan McCollum, and Andre Sam closing things out. That's part of the reason why maybe Avanti Maddox would stick around us potentially. a safety option. Maybe that is a presage to Cooper DeGine being part of that group in some capacity, but I think the corner depth helps

alleviate any concerns you have about the safety depth because there are guys who have some flexibility. Yeah, I am with you there. That you can play guys in multiple spots. The big question here is Sydney Brown, his recovery. You're not really going to get a training camp from Sydney Brown or

much of it. So I mean, there's valuable stuff he can do behind the scenes in the classroom. But let's say he's back week one, week two, then you ease him in. I would think that the hope would be Sidney Brown eventually usurps Reed Blankenship as the second safety and Blankenship's the third safety. But I would imagine Brown, at least early in the season, as long as he's healthy, is the third safety kind of moving around different spots. Yeah, I think there, I think Reed Blankenship offers some reliability that you don't get with C.J. Garner Johnson and Sidney Brown, I think both of those guys offer like similar

volatility, and I'm not so sure you would want them both on the field at the same time. But I don't know. I could be wrong. I think here's my question. At some point, we will hear from Vig Fangio. Yes. Sooner than later. I mean, I hope so. It feels like he's, you know, been here for a decade at this point. But what are you, like, when you see the Vic Fangio defense in training camp what are you most curious to see about like individual player usage quick question i want to see uh zone man right like i want to see how much they're they're playing like press coverage although you you're not doing as much of that in camp but you know they're not going to give away the answers to the chest as nick likes to say but yeah i i want to see the

different coverage patterns you you want to see how much the edge rushers are dropping. I think that's a big question. But that's, I think those are the two big questions I would have. They're more personnel stuff. But look, Vic Fangio, you hit on the head better than anyone else.

I've heard describe this. You're hiring a baseline, right? I understand coaches can evolve, and I understand schemes can evolve, and they adapt to the personnel that you have. But part of the appeal of Vic Fangio is that, You have two decades of evidence of knowing what he does. So it shouldn't be this huge mystery of what their defense is going to look like.

Now, how they use the personnel is the mystery. But Vic Fangio's done this, as I said, for three decades, really, in the NFL, you're getting the Vic Fangio defense. You're not getting Vic Fangio running a different person's defense. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think personnel-wise, I'm curious to see what. does with the linebackers. If it's going to be to Kobe Dean and Devin White from day one

in every package, those guys, or is he going to be mixing in Trotter or, you know, playing dime with Avante Maddox and Cooper DeGio on the field at the same time, something like that. But a long way to go. And he's a linebacker's guy, so yeah.

I mean, what defensive coordinator is not a linebacker's guy? Well, some guys are D-backs guys. Yeah, but you know. Clinton hurts, a de-line guy, right? but yeah okay how was the Phillies game yesterday it was good it's all good game we're hot right now we didn't stay for the whole game but yeah it was good good time julia was there too with b i saw the photo yeah um that's awesome okay again i'm glad you're book-ending this episode with odd conversation

making conversation i i don't say this as a flex i i had a workout the other day on Sunday that has left me in so much pain during these past two days. Oh, interesting. That's like that... Tell me more. I mean, just, I'm trying, you know, I'm trying to take care of my body a little better,

but... What was the workout? Well, I don't want to get free advertising. It's a... Well, you don't have to say the specific place, but like, this is like a... Yeah, it's a place, people would know... It's like a cross-fit type thing?

It's a place that that does 45 minutes of you're doing, like different circuits basically. And when I say 45, that would kind of give it away what it is. Does it? It doesn't give it away to me. It's called F-45. Okay. So now you're giving it away.

You didn't have to do that. I didn't mean to be cryptic. But yeah, man, like I'm a little embarrassed. Where are you feeling it the most? Everywhere. I'm a little sore. You shouldn't be embarrassed about that. You haven't done that.

Presumably that was your first time doing it in a while, right? So you haven't flexed those muscles? I stopped the training camp last year. Yeah, that would qualify as a while. I do it. I sign up from the draft, the training camp. Okay. How many times a week we're doing this?

Like three times a week, two or three times a week. It's pretty good for you. And then, but then, you know, yeah, once the training camp hits, you don't, but then once, once draft ends, it's like, all right, now this is my, this is my off season, right? But, man, yeah, I am, like getting out of bed.

I was feeling it. Like lifting your arms up? Yeah, lifting the arms up and like the hamstrings and lower back. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so. That's good, though. You'll feel as you do it more often that you won't feel it quite as much.

But like as I was sitting here with you, every time I turn my head, I feel it like right here, right this spot right here every time I turn. So it's like I'm very robotic in my movements right now. Okay. Maybe that explains the awkward. I didn't think it was awkward at all. I didn't think it was awkward. I didn't think it was awkward. I was just trying to slowly turn my head.

All right. We are back tomorrow at noon. Zach will not be here. Going to have Jamie Lynch. Yeah, Vince is sending me out tomorrow. But yeah, I'm getting interested in listening to the show and hearing you and Jamie. Yeah, we're going to also hear from Brian Baldinger. So looking forward to that as well.

So plenty to talk about as we move forward. Now, we're still scheduled for 8 p.m. on Thursday night. We were hoping that was going to mean the schedule was coming out. if it's not coming out, maybe we'll readjust that and talk about that further. So just sort of stay tuned to Zach's social media feed. Not yours?

Yeah, I mean, I'll probably just be retweeting you. Fair enough. Fair enough. It is funny. Like, I, like, going down my Twitter profile thing today, it's just like, showtime, retweet Zach, showtime, retweet Zach. Like, I'm not, who cares? Yeah, I, I'm on there a lot, I admit. Good for you.

Trying to spread the brand. By the way, I want to mention Les Bowen. We're so thrilled to have less contributing. Les has a column up on Culture Corner, the leadership void that the Eagles are trying to fill. And as we've said with Les, he speaks with or he writes with the perspective, and he speaks too, but writes with the perspective of someone who's been around the team for two plus decades. So make sure you check that out on PHY. And we're going to have more stuff in the coming days that hopefully makes you proud to be a diehard member.

If you're not a diehard member, you do that. I look around in here. I just saw Derek Bodner and Kyle Newbeck leave. Charlie O'Connor, it's the NHL Draft Lottery tonight. He's writing there. Jim Salisbury has diehard content on the Phillies. You can read John Foley's, Phillies reports there as well. So make sure you're a diehard member on all-PHLY.com.

Well said. That'll do it for this episode of the PHLY Eagles podcast. Thanks to everybody for watching and listening. We will talk to you tomorrow at noon. And for all of us here, as always, we love you.