PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Inside the decision room: Howie Roseman & co. set the Philadelphia Eagles’ 53-man roster

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

On the eve of the Eagles announcing their initial 53-man roster, we’ve gained exclusive access into the meeting room where Howie Roseman, Nick Sirianni, Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio have bunkered to decide who has earned their way onto the Eagles’ roster. Does James Bradberry make the cut? Parris Campbell? Tristin MF’in McCollum?Join Zach Berman, Bo Wulf and Fran Duffy for some high-level theater. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

after countless hours of practice, walkthroughs, meetings, and three preseason games. The Eagles summer has come to a close. It's time to set the 53-man roster. Welcome to the decision room. All right, thanks guys for coming in. By the way, this meeting today is presented by Bet365. Download the Bet365 app and use code PHLY365

when you sign up and find out why it is never ordinary at Bet365. But by the way, no betting on football. I think we all know that. Okay. Thanks everybody for coming. It's been a good summer. Nick, I feel like you've done a great job getting these guys ready.

Vic, I know that like you wish we practiced more, but everybody's healthy for the most part heading into the season. I feel good. I'm feeling good. How are you guys feeling? Well, I need to say this is one of the hardest days of the year for me. Yeah, I know that. I believe so much in connection, and we've done a great job this summer with connection.

And I think this group that we have, these 90 players, and credit to you, you put together a good roster. And Vic, you and Kellan have been great additions to the room. But I really feel like when we're in those meetings, that group is connected as well as any team I've seen probably since I won this national championships at Mount Union. And so now I need to look in the eyes, and I look in the eyes of all of them, and I need to tell these guys that their future is not here or that they're going to be on waivers or on the street and join up our practice squad. It's tough. So to answer your question, I'm not doing that great because this is a tough day for me,

but I'm excited for what's ahead. Well, it is a reflection of how well you guys have all coached these guys up that they have made these difficult decisions. And I will say as the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator of this team that I'm going to give my take, but obviously I'm leaving it up to you guys to make the final call here. Well, yeah. I mean, listen, we all know that it's in my contract that I have the final say here and like these are my decisions. I will put my name on them. But this is a collaborative process. We're going to work through this together. Okay. Let's let's start a quarterback.

I mean, it's pretty, I feel like this is pretty cut and dry. The only question I have for you, Kellen is if I, if somebody calls me, if, you know, I don't know, Chris Ballard calls me. up and is like, you know, yo, bro, I need a better backup quarterback. And I'm willing to give you like a fourth round pick for Kenny Pickett. Do you think is that worth listening to? Yeah, I think it's worth listening to. I think that Tanner McKee has shown that he can come in and run the offense efficiently and effectively.

I'd be interested to see what he would look like in that scenario. But I've got a lot of confidence that he'd be able to come in and keep the ship upright and keep us rolling along as an offense. Nick, what do you think? Well, I think the backup quarterback is important, right? And honestly, I've spent most of my time and focus this summer. I'm on the relationship with Jalen. But when Jalen went down, we had Garner Minshue in here.

And Garner Minshue is a guy who, you know, I played basketball with him on his draft visit to Indiana or to Indianapolis. So I like him. I like what Kenny brings now. Tanner, we did a great job developing him. We have these periods at the end of every practice where their developmental periods were down the depth chart guys. And Tanner last year did a great job. job and you saw the strides that he made but i still value the experience that kenny has so i want kenny there but if you get a great offer okay i just need to say that a fourth round pick in

2025 is not helping me keep my job here this year so fortunately i'm safe so i got to keep i'm protecting the franchise i'm looking up for you i will say this is my sixth year now as an offensive coordinator only one time in my five previous years have we had three quarterbacks going into the fall all the other years I had two quarterbacks on the 53 so I'm okay if we only have two going into the fall interesting now that you know the rules are different that you need to have the third quarterback on the active

roster if you want that emergency guy but but that's a good data point that's good to remember will career we don't we're not worried about will greer no I think he's your guy he's your guy yeah I think we're okay quality control he understands the situation at this point yeah okay I just want you to know howie okay and and when you talk to

Jeffrey you can let him know there's a lot of talk about this third quarterback rule and the news today came out that they reverted to the 2023 rule where the player has to be on the 53. But the calls for this rule from San Francisco, we beat them because we were well coached, because we were well prepared, we were the more connected team, we competed better. It wasn't because they didn't have a third quarterback ready in the playoffs two years ago. I just want you to know that. You don't need to tell me twice. This is not a press conference, Nick. We're among friends here. Okay. All right. So here's what we'll do. We'll put down all three guys for now.

And then if I get a call about Kenny, we can have another conversation. But for now, I think we're pretty safe with all three of those guys. Running back, Kellyn, how do you feel about what Sequin has shown you this summer? How do you expect to use this guy I paid a lot of money for? I think he's going to be a three down back for us. I really do. I think when you look at the way he can contribute both obviously as a runner, but in the past game as a receiver and as a past protector, I expect that he's going to have a very very, very prevalent three-down skill set for this football team. I don't anticipate taking him off the field all that often. I know we want to mix in Kenny. We want to mix in Will. But when I look at Sequin, he's going to be one of the focal points of this offense

and certainly of the rushing attack. You feel good? Nick? Yes, I feel very good. Now, I've leaned on Kenny down the stretch in past years. And I really liked what I saw from Will Shipley this summer and on the Clemson film. but Sequin I was so excited when when I mean first off I don't have to coach against him anymore right and now you you bring him in he's going to be a true 300 touch guy in this offense so I feel very good about this group and I know that we did a good job developing Davis Price hearing in Davis Price and Lou Nichols was on the practice squad last year and I liked what he did but we're fine with three actually last year we kept forward because because you really like to shot, Penny.

But... Don't put that... I mean, do you want me to kick you out of this room? In my first... Why would you take a shot at me in this scenario? In my first two years here, in my first two years here, we had three running backs. Yeah, we're going to get to...

Let's talk about these other three running backs. Okay. Okay. I understand we don't necessarily need a fourth, but it may get down to it. We're going to circle back here. But I thought that Lou Nichols popped early on, but once the games were live,

it did seem to me that... that Tyrian had the most juice there, some between the tackles heft. My question is if, if Sequin goes down, do you guys think that Gainwell and Shipley have what it takes to succeed between the tackles in short-yarded situations when we need somebody?

I mean, Nick, I'll defer to you in terms of how you've used game well. I'll give it back to Nick because Nick doesn't really have a say in how the offense works. It's yours, Kellyn. I will say you have had experience with Kenny over the course of the last few years, the duration of his career. But from what I've seen so far, I think that he can certainly be serviceable in that role. I think then that allows Shipley to really kind of elevate into that complementary piece.

And then we can get a Tyreon back. If he makes this to the practice squad, hopefully we're able to keep him here. We can elevate him and he could take on some of that load as well. But Tyreon would be the top of those three between Milton and Lou? Based off what we've seen from this summer, I think that he's a guy that has shown the ability to create his own yardage. He's got more forced mistackles than the other two guys combined. I think when you look, he doesn't do as much on special teams.

We can talk with Michael and bring him in and get his thoughts there. But for me, I think Tyrian helps the offense more right now than Lou Nichols does. And now, Kellynne, I want to ask you this because I agree. I like what Davis Price is shown from the running game perspective. I haven't been impressed with him catching the ball. How are you going to use the passing game or the passing ball to the backs in this offense? And between Kenny and Will, who's impressed you the most there? Yeah, I think that when you look at Will, he's done a little bit more this summer in terms of catching the football.

But I think back to when we had that scrimmage situation during the open practice at Lincoln Financial Field across the street, we saw Kenny in that two-minute hurry-up situation. He was the back in that situation. We feel good about him there. But I do think that Will, the value he's going to bring right now to me is going to be as a pass catcher. All right. So let's stamp in Seekwon, Will, and Kenny. We're going to circle back on Tyreone once we get to the bottom of where we need numbers. I have a question for you, Halley, because this is your specialty here, is that I'm okay keeping three, but I don't want to lose these guys to a different roster.

We're going to get there, Nick. Okay? Let's get our locks in, and then we're going to circle back on the bubble, okay? That's how it works. You've been here before. You've been through this process several times now. Have you been hit at Mountain Union? How many times you get hit in the head?

We won a lot of games, Hallie. I just wanted you to know that. We want a lot of games there. Unbelievable. I had Coach Carras here this summer. He can show you the rings. All right, Nick, I have a question for you. Do you think A.J. Brown should be on the team.

So I'm a wide receiver expert, and I need to tell you what I've seen from A.J. Brown this summer, what I've seen from A.J. Brown since he got here, AJ Brown's the best years of his career have come in my offense, working here, This could have been a yes or no question. Yes, AJ Brown should be on this team, and I feel great about AJ. And you got to understand, being a head coach, it's not just putting the players in a position, but it's how they feel in the locker room. And it's the relationships and the connections you have.

And I feel very good about my relationship with AJ right now. I agree. So AJ, Devante, Jahan, we're all excited about him. Kellan, I'm fascinated to see how you can use him. I'm sure that with all the attention on those other guys, he's going to get some more exciting opportunities. We think Covey has done enough to just be on this team, right? I mean, you know, if we want to bring in Michael Clay, he can tell us that he was one of the best punt returners in the league last year, right?

And I have had experience with kind of that undersized possession slot receiver. You're like a little white guy, don't you? Yeah, feeding a little, feeding some volume to him inside between the hashes. I think that we can use Britain in some of those ways periodically in this past game. And then Nick, I mean, I know that you're a wide receiver guy. Yeah. You like the guys who do the dirty work. Johnny impressed you, right?

Johnny really impressed me. First off, he can play the slot better than people think for someone six foot seven. He has good, he's more fluid than a lot of receivers I've been around that size. And then blocking, he's not a tight end. I know some other teams look at him as a tight end. He's not a tight end. He's a wide receiver here. But he can kind of fill some of those blocking responsibilities, especially when he lines up in the slot in 11. But we do have Jahan now. And Jahan's going to be the guy that we lean on. In 2020, when I was down in Dallas, we had a rookie wide receiver. receiver named Noah Brown that kind of filled that role as a wide receiver war for wide receiver five came off the bench nice blocker some special teams I feel like that can be the role this year for John I hadn't heard about no brown until I was watching the pH of my Eagles podcast back in the spring and that guy that that that loser Bo Wolf kept talking him up and I looked into it he's actually pretty good player how many times has as as Bo Wolf won the roster competition he really seems to know what you think that guy he knows stuff better than I do yeah he really back to back to back he

knows how to get in your head yeah it's kind of weirds me out sometimes Yeah, some people will take it as a compliment. Yeah, not me. All right, so I think we've got five guys here, and I think we're going to circle back on whether we need a sixth receiver, but tell me, like, you know, Paris, you know, he had that second round pedigree. We brought him in. He's had injury histories.

He got injured this summer. I didn't really see, like, the juice, certainly not downfield that I was hoping to see. What did you guys see from Paris? And then let's talk about Anias, because another guy who, I think, a little bit disappointed, long term, who would you have more hopes for, an IRS or Paris Campbell? Well, I'll just say what we saw from Paris here this summer. We saw a little bit of everything that we've seen from him so far in his career. We saw the ability to get him down the field in terms of those deep overrouts.

We got that deep overrout in the game the other day. We saw the screen game, be prevalent, get the ball in his hands fast and let him work. I think that's a way that he can help this offense. I think the fact that we have Jahan now means we don't have to force him into being, hey, run the full route tree, impact all three levels type of player, and he can be, if he's on this roster, he can help us as a gadget type of weapon, a guy that we can get the ball too fast and see if we can create some explosives in that way. I do think he's got that potential, but I think ultimately just not, the level of consistency is not what we need right now to crack

that top five. But if you want to tell me that, Howie, we have an extra spot for another receiver, I wouldn't be against keeping in Paris Campbell. I planned on Paris being part of this team until you made that. great trade for Jahan Dotson. When that happened, it just doesn't seem to fit. I think he makes more sense as the third receiver here with Dotson. I don't see a place for it. Now, Anaya Smith has theoretical upside, haven't been impressed with what I've seen from him this summer, did come on during the past week. The medical staff told me that he was dealing with something early, you know, from the draft process. We didn't see him during OTAs. He wasn't quite himself during the first

two, three weeks in camp. I don't know if he's one of our 53 best players. but Howie, I see all the hard work you do during the draft. What's your history like cutting draft picks? I don't love to do it, but I also owe it to the team. I owe it to the players in that locker room and the millions of fans of this team around the world to do what's right by the team. And if I don't see what I need to see from Mania Smith, then he's not going to be on this roster. In my time here, we, because we make these decisions collaboratively, we, I'll let you think that. We have not cut a draft pick during that period.

I did research. I actually found this great website, all p.hly.com. It's be a diehard, but it's worth it for all the great coverage. I'm glad you found something to do. For all the great coverage. I saw this reporter, Zach Berman, point out that you haven't cut a draft pick since Jacoby Stevens in 2020, but there is precedent for cutting a fifth round pick. You did it in 2017 with Nate Gary, got him through to the practice squad.

came back onto the active roster and ended up being a starter for you. You really don't see the value linebackers, it seems. But regardless, what kind of path do you see for Anaya Smith? Well, to be fair, I don't know how deep you went on that, but we didn't have as many draft picks the last couple of years. I was here, I'm aware. There were fewer guys to cut. I'm just giving, I don't know, Burman gave that context in the story that you read.

We had more picks this year, so chances are not everybody's going to make the roster. I have not seen enough from Anias, but if we get to the bottom of the last, with this conversation and I've got we've got one or two spots left. I'm open to the to the idea that maybe a nias, you know, whether it was the injury or just the fact that he was behind the eight ball because of the injury, that maybe it's worth keeping him around. So this is another one that we're going to circle back on. I would say just for me, really he and Britton Covey do so much of the same thing that if we know Britain Cove is going to be on this team as the wide receiver four, wide receiver five and it's going to be that possession slot underneath be the punt returner we've got

davanti in the slot too i'm not sure though he's going to be worthy of a roster by now i i i love an i i'd love to be able to keep him and continue to try and develop him and see you know let him be the best version of himself but for me i don't think he can make the 53 right now all right let's talk tight ends i think dallas and grant are are pretty well set here uh Dallas is dealing with this little injury so um i don't know if we need to keep a third we agree that if we do keep a third from this roster at Z.J. Jenkins? Yes. I think so. And I will say, me personally, I feel more comfortable having that third tight end if we can. I was going to ask you about this. Yeah, I think the way that I want to be able to deploy personnel, I'd rather, I have not had a year as an offensive coordinator

where we did not have at least three tight ends when we got to that initial 53. I think like 16th in the league and 13 personnel percentage, right? I would be a little concerned about that going in. Yeah. And so to me, if we can keep EJ or if there's another player out there that slips through the cracks, I would feel comfortable. Keep in mind, guys. We've got, you know, our roster tomorrow is not going to be our roster week one. We've got a week and a half. We're going to make some claims. I'm going to get you a third tight end. We will decide at the end here if we're going to let EJ be that guy to start with. And then we'll see what the waiver wire shakes down. Yeah, I'm trusting you on this Howley. Last year, you know, we only had four receivers on that initial 53. that that was was rectified later on.

I'm okay keeping on with two. I agree. EJ's been the third best tight end that we had. I had some hopes early in camp for C.J. Uzama did not pan out. And then behind them, why you made me sign that guy. Last year, we traded for Albert O.

We cut it. You know, that one, that one's on me. I'll take the loss on that one. That one's me. We kept them on the roster. Has not popped either. So, you know what, I can't help myself.

I just, I have this fetish for like wide receiver or super athletic tight ends. You know, it's the Tyree Jackson that I love. It's the, you know, Albert O. And I've gone for all these guys, you know, these Hekeem Butler types over the years.

I kind of think that E.J. Jenkins is the best of all of them. Yeah. I still think, though, we can look around the league. We can see who's cut. Maybe a Tanner Hudson with the Bengals. Maybe we can go after Donald Parham from the Chargers. Yeah. You know what?

I knew you were going to bring that guy up. like Donald Parham. You coached him last year. I think that he could do some things for us in the red zone. All right. Why don't you guys run the team? All right. Let's talk offensive line.

And I know we'll get, we'll get stout conferenced in here, I'm sure. But, you know, we've got our starting five. I thought it was, you know, was encouraging to see what Mackay could do at right guard. Fred, Fred's going to be our swing tackle week one. Now, I don't know if we need to bring in the medical team, but how are we feeling about Tyler Steen right now? Do we think he's going to be ready to be ready to? to play in these first four weeks.

Where do you think he, like, if he's healthy, is he our top backup? I feel confident in putting him in there as our top backup right now. I think when you look at his present, his versatility as guard, or tackle, left tackle flex. No question. Maybe not left guard, but yeah. You guys were here last year to be able to see what he could do on the left side. But I know, you know, from coming from Alabama, he certainly has that value.

I think when you look at Tyler right now, is it a complete package? No, but I think even going back and watching the tape in the summer, in the offseason from last year. I think he has made strides. So I'm excited to see him when he gets back fully healthy, what the value he can bring this football team. Yeah, I like Tyler Steen as... I'm so glad you remembered his name, Nick.

I like Tyler Steen as a potential swing player for us. I think early in a guy's career, sometimes when you're going to a new position, you don't have that quite down. But we saw him play tackle at Alabama, like Callen said, or Coach Moore said, I'll offer my deference and respect to you there. And the reality is this, Fred Johnson, from my view, has been the most improved player on this team.

He's a guy who's really stood out. But Jordan Mila, Elaine Johnson, are so important. And if one of them goes down, I don't quite feel comfortable having Fred as the only offensive tackle backup. And I think Tyler, if the medical staff signs off on it, I don't get involved in the medical staff's decisions, but the medical staff signs off on it. I like the idea of him being maybe a backup right tackle or even a backup left tackle for us, more so than putting him on IR just to sneak someone else on the team. Yeah, my sense is that Tyler will be back sooner than later.

And so I think I'm with you guys. Let's make sure that he's ready to play if something catastrophic happens for us the first couple weeks. I will say, I mean, I've been here now for eight months and seeing Tyler and seeing Fred as the backup offensive line, as the backup offensive tackles, me coming from the Chargers last year, I would have loved to have those two guys as backups

because I think that those are champagne problems to be worried about what those guys are bringing off the bench. I think they could bring a lot of value. Hey, what a pick I had in Dylan McMahon, huh? I think Dylan had a nice summer. Now, is he going to be a center only? I think that we can talk about it, how often would he be active?

What's the thing that Boatwolf does where the guy is inactive all year? The feeling. The feeling, that's right. Yeah, I feel like Dylan could be ticketed for that. If, you know, fingers crossed, everybody stays healthy. I think that could be him. Well, I did want to ask you about this, Howie and, and Callan or coach Moore.

One thing we're looking at here is not just who our 53 is, but who our 46 is, right? Because I'm focused on game day. And as I look in this offensive line room, I'm not as compelled to keep some of these veterans like Brett Tooth or Nick Gates because I like the upside of some of these younger guys, like you mentioned, Dylan McMahon. And if you watched our game on Saturday, and I know you're on the phone a lot, but in Saturday's game, Dylan McMahon took all those center snaps. We didn't put Brett in there. We didn't put a nick in there.

And the reason is because we wanted to see if he's ready to be a center of something where to happen to camp. So let's say that we pencil in Dylan as our backup center. He's not going to be acting. He's not going to dress on game day. He's not going to be one of our 46. In that case, are you comfortable moving Landon over in an emergency situation? And if Cam goes down in the third quarter of a game, and we have some backup guards.

You okay playing Landon Dickerson there for the rest of the game, and then we'll put in Dylan McMahon if Cam's out for three weeks or five weeks. Yeah, I don't think that's the most ideal scenario. Keep in mind, you know, we've got those practice squad elevations. And I think we're going to add, I think we're going to keep one of these veteran offensive linemen. I do, but as we get to it. But even if we don't, we're going to have some guys in the practice squad. So, like, I know the stout, you know, like he's calling me nonstop. He's yelling at me.

like I want Brett Toff, I want Brett Tooth, I want Brett Tooth. He's like, you know, it's getting a little bit weird. I keep telling him, like, I think we're going to be good getting Brett to the practice squad. I don't think he's going to go somewhere else. And so he'll be available for us. I think we can make a case for Nick Gates. Matt Hennessy, we can talk about those guys. But I think you're right that McMahon is our backup in theory.

But on game day, we need somebody who has a little bit more flex. And I will say, as long as we have either Brett or Nick Gates in the building by the time we get to next week, I think I will feel okay long term in terms of if there is an injury to Cam that we have a solution to step in and we won't have to rely on Dylan in year one. Now Trevor, I think we all like what we've seen from him, but in this conversation of, you know, game day flexibility, we have only seen Trevor play left guard. We haven't seen him play right guard at all, certainly not center. He's not a guy who's going to be active for us early in the season.

He's got this injury. I'm seeing this as a chance to put him on injured reserve and bring him back if we need him at some point, but otherwise let him develop slowly. Is that good with you guys? I will say personally, he's probably had some of the lower moments of the guys up front in that unit.

So if we can put him on ice for this year, I'm okay with that personally. Nick, I don't know if you agree. I'm okay with that. The one thing I want to ask both of you here is so I was studying up on the rules here because I knew we were going to have this meeting and we're allowed to have these two IR spots.

before 53. In the past way, we had to keep players on the 53 and then put them on an IR if there was hopes to return. But we have to designate them for a return. And so we're able to put them on, but we only have eight spots for your four return designations throughout the year. Are you ready

to use one of them on Trevor Keegan? Because I don't like the idea of putting them on IR for the entire season. I'm okay with the designation to return. Are you okay using one of your spots here? I think, I mean, eight's a lot of players. I would let you guys make the final call there. I just feel like he's not a player that I would feel comfortable with if it's week two, week three,

and we need to help at guard to put him in. I'm not expecting him to be able to come in and hold down that job at a high, high level right now. Obviously, I have a lot of faith in Trevor in his long term development. But as a rookie, I think I want to kind of stave that off as long as we can. Well, I see, you know, looking in my eyes, Nick, and trying to, you know, peer behind what's going on over here. The problem is I got these shady rays on. Wow. And the thing is that one of the ways that I like to get ready for the season ahead,

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All right, guys. We got 21 locks on offense so far. We're going to circle back on some of these guys. But let's talk defense. Vic, first of all, good to see you. Thanks, guys. Do you mind showing Nick your socks over there? Because you really, I mean, wow.

Unbelievable. I'll tell you, Vic, you need some more swag, man. You know, there was a game. There was a preseason game last year where I was considering. coaching in shorts. But yeah, you need to up your swag game. I don't know if he needs more swag. If he's pulling stunts, like I turn around, you know, I got a call about a potential

trade during the preseason game the other day. I turn around. It's the second quarter. You still got Nolan Smith on the field. What's up with that, man? I think Nolan is a player that we just want to get more reps for. And he was all about it. We talked to him as a staff last week and we said, you know what?

We think that you need as many pass rush reps as you can. The more you can bank, the best. better for your long-term development. And he embraced that. And that's one of the things we appreciate about Nolan. All right. Let's talk numbers. B.G., Bryce Huff, sweaty, and Smitty.

Those guys are all good to go. We've got four on the edge. Jalix. Now, he's dealing with a little something right now. Do I consider using this IR designation on him? Or is he in your immediate plans, Vic? Would you use him week two, week three? Or would he be enacted?

I love his talent. I'm really excited to use him. But if you're saying that we can put them on the shelf for the first month, and that can help us get an extra corner onto the roster or somebody else that can help us here in the next month, I'm okay with that just because we do have some numbers here. I'm used to go, listen, I was in Miami last year. We carried three outside linebackers going into the regular season.

So if we're a little bit light there, I'm not too worried about it. Okay, that's interesting. Vic, I trust you with the defense or Coach Van Geo. I trust you with the defense, but I am not comfortable putting J.O. right now on on on on i are i think we're going to smack him he's talking about your defense this is nuts i think we might need him earlier this season uh he impressed me more than i anticipated during camp i thought he was going to be more of a developmental player frankly i'm i'm not sure that nolan smith should be getting all the snaps over him right now we'll see how that plays out i believe

in competition it's going to be a competitive situation uh but my preference would be to have Joe Exx Hunt on the 53. I understand oblique injuries are tough. That's more of an issue for your Phillies, though, than it is for... Tell me. Nice. So, with an oblique injury, if we can get it, we do have some time here, you know, after the Brazil game, if we can get him back for that Falcons game, the Monday night game when

Jason Kelsey's in the house, Nick Foles' numbers being retired or Nick Foles is being honored, I think that would be ideal to get J. Alex Hunt back by that. Well, let's let's let you know, to your point earlier, Nick, about, you know, do I want to burn all of these I art designations if I've only got eight of them? I don't want to do both necessarily for him and Kegan. And so if I have to pick one of these two guys, I mean, I'm guessing we, we will make better use early on of JLix if we need to than Trevor. So let's let's for now put Jalix on the team. And then the other thing, you know, I know Michael Clay loves a Patrick Johnson. I was pleasantly surprised by his pass rush juice this summer.

him, Julian O'Quara, who had a good game on Saturday, and then Torel Lewis, who's flashed as well, how do you see those stacking up, Vic? I like what Patrick has brought for this guys. Well, that's the thing is if Jalix is definitely going to be here, we have Nolan, we've got Josh, BG, I feel like we can kind of almost count him with the group. We'll talk about next with the interior guys

just because of how I plan on using him. But I think when you look at the volume we have at that position, I love Patrick, and I've been excited about what we've seen from him so far. I do like that he offers some position flexibility as well, that he can kick into an off ball role. I know you guys have done that with him here in the last couple of years. It wasn't pretty. Look, I think the more you can do,

we know he can help us on special teams. This is the guy who is improved as long as I've been here, off the edge as a pass rusher. Okay. I like a Patrick Johnson. You like a Patrick Johnson, right, Nick? Always have. Now, I'm loyal to my guys,

and I have been impressed with Joy and Hocard. That was a good future's deal by that you made, Howie. between the two though I think Patrick Johnson gives us more special teams value more game day value I like the way he rushed the quarterback this summer so I would lean toward Patrick Johnson I'm fine with both if we can have both these guys here

over the course of the practice squad I'd be happy with that it's your roster Vicky we're gonna we're gonna put Patrick on here so we got we got six edges now inside Jalen Jordan those guys are looking good good summers from them Milton hoping for a little bit of a jump from him and Morrow made that year one to year two jump this summer. It certainly seems like those four guys are good. How many guys do you need on game day, Vic?

Because if you're going to be playing Jalen and Jordan Moore, how deep do I need to go here? Well, I carried five going into last year. My last three years in Denver, I always had six. And that's one of the things I wanted to mention earlier about BG. I feel like BG most of what we're going to be asking him to do will be coming off the bench and offering us some snaps inside. And so I'm okay if we go in a little bit lighter here,

knowing that if BG counts in that previous group, that he's going to give us some of those snaps. And so for me, Thomas Booker, I think Thomas said they had a great summer, but it's BG and Thomas Booker. I think there's some duplicity there. I don't know that we necessarily need both guys for what we're going to be asking those guys to do.

That said, between Book, between Tui, to we below two. I feel like I like Booker more. I think that Booker's done a little bit more, both against the run and the pass here. But in terms of role, if we don't keep Marlon, who's your backup nose? I was going to ask you that. Do you trust Marlon there? I do, but I don't, I think that right now, I'd feel a little bit how you would know better than me, but I'd feel comfortable with saying, okay, let's try and see if we can get them into the practice squad. And if not, that we could find somebody else that could also do some of those same things out on the street or on the waiver wire.

What about you, Nick? Well, first off, with Thomas Booker. You know this Howie, and I believe Coach Van Gio, you have seen this. I emphasize competition, and these reps matter. And I think Thomas Bookers earned a spot this summer. And before every preseason game, or the final preseason game, I put up this video of guys who've earned roster spots with the way they've played. And I've seen it with Austin Echler.

when I was with the Chargers, for instance. He's in the league because the way he played in that final preseason game. And Thomas Booker, every day, has put on film that I think merits a roster spot. Now, that said, I am concerned if Jordan Davis misses time, how are we going to plug the middle here? So I wonder, do we go with Marlon Tuipoleto until we can find maybe a better nose tackle on the open market? Do we feel comfortable that Marlon T can be the guy to step in, not in a situational role, but a starting role if something were to happen to Jordan Davis.

I think we'd probably have to try and massage around that. It would not be an ideal scenario. But, I mean, how often are we in that true odd front? I would not feel great about that, but that might be something where we try and find a solution with one of the veteran free agents available. Well, I have two other questions for you, Vic, because I think this, you know, entering camp, I was a little bit worried about this group, and it turned out to be pretty deep. P.J. Mustifer, has a little bit of heft, you know, could be a potential nose guy. And especially if he lands on the practice squad, maybe we elevate him if we need a guy. And did you see enough from Gabe Hall?

Is he interesting to you? Yeah, he's just, he won't be that nose tackle for us. Oh, certainly not. In terms of, you know, a penetrating guy. If we, you know, I'm trying to sign Milton to an extension. But if Milton goes and I need to find, you know, another potential penetrating defensive tackle, can Gabe be that guy, you know, a year down the road? He can be down the road.

I think we've seen some nice flashes from him. I like his length. I like his athleticism. he needs to get a lot more consistent with his technique right now. He gets pushed off the ball a little bit too often. And I think pad level is a big reason for that. So he's going to have to get with his coaches and really embrace that coaching here over the next few months.

That's going to be pivotal for his career. All right. So right now I'm going to just keep us with the four that we know we have. And then once we get to the end, we're going to circle back on how many of these other guys who want to keep. But for now, we've got book as more valuable than Tui, but potentially Tewy for the nose tackle responsibilities. Vic, you know, I still am trying to make sense of what your plan is at linebacker,

given all this rotation that you've had, but it certainly seems like Devin, Zach, Nkobi, and Jeremiah are good to go, right? You like those guys? Yeah, I feel good about all four. I would say that, you know, Nukobi's had an up and down summer. I think Trot has had it up and down summer. I like what we've seen so far from Devin. Zach, I think, has come on nicely and has done, he's impacted the game,

both as a run defender and coverage, and we know what he can do as a blitzer as well. And so I really like the value that he can bring to our football team. When you look at the guys a little bit further down the depth chart, depth chart as well, I like what Ben Van Sumer has done. I think he's come on a little bit. On defense, not just special teams? Not just, yeah, not just special teams. I think that he's done some nice things here this summer. And so, yeah, this is a, to me, this is a good conversation for us to have.

Nick, what's the, what's the best ability? Availability, doorability. Can you make the club in the tub? you know what this is an football is a collision sport this is an oran burke's question yeah can i possibly justify this guy missing all of camp and then having a good third preseason game as a 29 year old veteran

and think that that's going to get him on the roster it's a it's a conversation that i've had in my own head and i really like what aren't what orn burke's delivers i thought saturday's game he showed he can play i i he's he was in the super bowl last year playing meaning full snaps. He's been in high leverage games. We know he can contribute on special teams, and we targeted him early in free agency for a reason. My question, though, Howie, because I think this is kind of where your roster mechanics comes in, is do you think if we let him go,

another team's going to sign him? If another team's not going to sign him, I would rather cut him, bring him on the practice squad, and not expose one of our younger players to waivers. just because you, once a guy's out of the building, you don't know if another team's going to claim them. You don't know if another team's going to offer more from a practice squad perspective. I'd rather keep some of these younger players who would be exposed to waivers and then bring Warren Burke's back to our practice squad. Yeah, I mean, I can't guarantee we're going to get Oren Burke back,

Burke's back. I'm sure that there will be some teams around the league who are potentially interested in, but I will let his agent know that we like Oren. We just, we can't put him on the roster right now. We'd like to have him back in the building if we can't. I will say you guys know that I run my own analytics. I run my own numbers. I will just going back through my numbers here through my notes after watching film.

Orrin Burke's had as many run stops in just this one game against Minnesota as Nacobi and Trot did over the course of the entire preseason. He had more TFLs than both guys in one game that they had the entire preseason. I mean, those seem like counting stats. Hey, the production. Look, the numbers are the numbers. You don't look at this sheet, but the numbers are the numbers. Look, I like Orrin. I like what he bought to the table.

but I do hear what you're saying in terms of, you know, maybe we need to put a little bit more value in some of these younger players. Okay. Well, let's put a pin in order. Go ahead. If a team calls you about Nacobi, are you answering?

Because he was your third round pick. I need to say, Nicobie's really impressed me during the past two, three weeks of camp. And I, frankly, like him over as Zach Bonn as a starter. Now, that's Coach Vanjio's decision. But if a team calls him,

you? Are you moving one of these linebackers? I mean, my answer is totally dependent on you, Vic. I mean, this is your defense. How do you see the starters playing out? To me, for Nicobi, he has to be exactly what David Long was for me last year in Miami. An undersized linebacker who can come down

and he's going to be ferocious and tenacious playing through contact and finding the football. I don't know that I've always seen that to a consistent level from him, but this is a young player, still inexperienced here in the NFL. I, you know, I do have some faith that he can get there.

But if you do get an offer for him. You see that from Zach, Bon? I see it from Zach and I see it from Trot as well. And so to me, all three of those guys, I think, can offer that value. You're giving me a yellow light. If I get a good offer for Nacobi, you're okay with me. I'm not going to shoot that down. All right.

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premium regular beer. All right guys, let's talk corners. Quinyan, love what we've seen from him this summer. Excited to see how you use him, Vic. He's on the team. Cooper, let's see how you bring him along. He's on the team as well. Slai, good to see. He's still got those legs. And Keeley Ringo, good summer. Nick, my question for you, I was watching the game the other day. Did you send Isaiah Rogers home? I couldn't find him anywhere. You sound like one of those pesky reporters right now.

I'm trying to find that out. Look, when there's information that I'm ready to share, I will share it. But that is, that's, that was a good observation that you had. I'm curious. Is he hurt? I don't know. Look, if he's hurt, that really changes the roster map here, right? That opens a spot we can that we can allocate elsewhere. But this is, this is a harder decision that we've had in any of my three years here previously.

And certainly when I read the coverage about the Eagles, going back for a while, you know, there are times, I think back to last summer. Our backup corner was Josh Job. We were going into the summer with Zach McPherson as the top slot guy before he got hurt. There's a wealth of options now. So an injury, I don't want to say it's a good thing, but it could open up a potential spot if it's not serious. I was curious, though, where Isaiah was on the sideline. Do you like Isaiah? Vic?

I do. This is a guy that can turn and run with basically anybody in the NFL. I like his nose for the football has shown up since our first practice back in the spring. And so to me, I would look at Isaiah as a guy that can come in. I feel comfortable putting him in. You guys know, I don't love throwing rookies into the fire right away. I think Q has had a really nice summer and he's really come along nicely. It's exactly what our expectations were.

We've had to throw him in in the slot. It's a different position in playing corner that our plan for him long term is to play on the outside. But I love what Q has offered. That said, if I don't have to throw a rookie in and, you know, year one, day one, I don't want to do that. And so if Isaiah can come in and if he's healthy, I would love to have him as the starter on the outside opposite sleigh. All right.

So we've got five guys we feel good about. That safety, CJ, and Reed are good to go. Oh, wait a second. There are six guys I feel good about. There's five guys you feel good about, Hallie, but you didn't ask me my opinion on Eli Ricks. Yeah, I was going to get to that, Nick. Okay.

I'm the one running this meeting. Okay. Do I need to ask you to leave again? proceed okay we have reed we have cj now now vick is avante your top backup as safety yes i think so i think when you look at what he's done we well we started off with him in the slot um but i think what he has shown at safety i feel good about him being the first guy off the bench there okay now let's have the discussion about the other guys because that is already uh eight guys in the secondary. Beyond this, we're probably only going to have at least one more if nobody active on

game day. Let's start with Eli. I'm going to ask the person whose opinion matters here. What do you think of Eli, Vic Fangio? I think Eli's had a nice summer. I went back. I watched all the film that he put on tape last year that had good preseason. He showed some flashes during the regular season. You guys had to put him in the slot there at times. That didn't go great. But on the outside, this is a very aggressive press corner that shows a knack for being able to find the football. Now, if we keep Eli, he's probably going to be enacted. Right. We don't need him on game days and he's not as good on special teams as a guy like Josh Job, who Nick, you know, has been valuable for us there.

But if we're thinking this guy can down the roads be a third outside corner quality, I don't want to give him away for free. Purely for me, I think he brings more to the defense than Josh Joe does. So long term, I would feel a lot more comfortable having Eli here than Josh. I mean, look, all right, Nick, sell me on Eli. I have three points I want to make. Before I sell you on Eli, I just want to say, I've been working this entire offseason on my demeanor.

I read a great leadership book where they said, when you scream at the refs, you're making an excuse. What kind of message is that sending? So you won't see me screaming at the refs. So I'm really doing my best right here when you belittle my football intelligence to make sure that I am calm. But I want to make clear you know, Howie, that in my three years here, three playoff appearances, a Super Bowl appearance, okay?

Two double-digit-win seasons, okay? If I were out of work tomorrow, I wouldn't need indeed. Someone would pick me up in a heartbeat, okay? Now let's get to Eli Ricks for a moment. Hold on, do you mind for a second? I'm just Bill Belichick is texting again. I think he's on the Pat McAfee show right now, so he probably won't respond. Yeah, he wanted me to watch the clip.

Sorry, go ahead. So Eli Ricks, okay. Yeah, I mean, I think a 22-year-old corner with a 6-2 frame who can who uh has ball skills who's sticky and gain coverage i don't like letting that guy go even if there's a surplus at this position now a few of my friends texted me about this p w this p hl y eagles post game show the other day uh fran duffy tough loss for the i love that guy i miss him already i mean yeah but uh he's doing a great job there and and him and and bow wolf we're talking about this potential trade eli ricks for lewis seen yeah

that's a pretty good idea. All of a sudden, you're throwing your boy over the bus. If we could take some ideas from the media. That's a pretty good idea. But overall, I think Eli Ricks is one of the 53 best players

on this team. I like the age profile. Like the size profile. I like the player profile. And I would rather go deep at the position than let him walk. I was on the fence here. I was going to consider letting Eli go

or shopping him around the league. I'm still going to listen if somebody calls, but you guys have convinced me. I'll put him on the roster for now until somebody comes. A couple other. conversations here in the secondary. Trista McCollum or Andre Sam, who do you like better, Vic, and are these guys like

actually playable? And considering that we have, not just Avanti, but Cooper DeGine, who could potentially play safety, you know, I'm not, I don't think it's beyond even Isaiah Rogers in an emergency situation to move back there. Do we, do I need a fourth, quote unquote, safety? I think we do want another guy back there. You do? Yeah, I think. I think, that when, you know, there was a year back in 2020, that COVID year, where we went in with three safeties when I was at Denver. And I didn't feel totally comfortable with that last year, or the last two years now that I've run a defense, we've had five going into the season. So I would say, you know, the amount of sub-package we want to be able to play, the flexibility that having four or

five safeties in at least six corners, because I've had six corners basically every year that I've gone into a season. So for me, having a wealth of defensive backs, I think that's very important for me and my scheme. So yeah, to me, you ask, do I like Tristan or do I like Andre? You could tell me you like James Bradbury too, but my guess is that you don't. No, I think that James does bring some value to us. I think that the flexibility there, especially if you do want to go light, I think the fact that he can help us theoretically in a number of different positions, you know, that does help his value there. We've got a lot of young DBs, guys. Playing DB in the NFL's hard. It's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows for Q and for Cooper.

And so having another veteran in the room like James, who, you know, I've been around a little bit over the course, not just here this year, but in years past. And he brings that veteran steady leadership that and that mentorship that I think will be important for Q, be important for Cooper. So for me, I think that he does bring value. That said, I do like Andre a little bit more than Tristan. Really?

Tristan's been around the ball a little bit more. But I like Andre's ferocity downhill. I think that he's a little bit more steady there. tackles on Saturday. You like the willingness. My numbers would say that him and Tristan have been about equal from that standpoint. They both missed the same amount of tackles here this summer in game. So I think when you look at both players, I just think Andre is a little bit more steady and talking with Michael before the meeting. So he offers a little bit more on special teams as well. Yeah, I'm going to back up my defense coordinator here. Really? Because look, the most special team

snaps in that game on Saturday was played by Andre Sam. There was a reason why we gave Andre Sam. I do have a question for you, Nick, before you continue. Is it Andre Sam or is it Sam Andre? It is Andre Sam. That's number one, is that if you were talking purely from a coverage perspective, I like Tristan McCollum better. But from what value do they provide to the team, how are they different? How do you prevent some roster duplication here or positional duplication? I think Andre Sam's different. I like the physicality that he plays with. I think he can be an asset to the special teams. Additionally, you know this well, Howie. In our time together, we've kept an undrafted rookie every year we've been here. It's true. Okay? I know this is a smaller undrafted class.

I know. I know we, when you're talking about undrafted rookies, it's not as much the second contract. You're thinking about the guy for three years, right? For three years here, if that, I think Andre Sam can contribute. Also, if you think back to two years ago, we kept re-blanketship. He was old. And we kept him because- quite this old. We kept him because... 25 sounds pretty young to me. We kept him because he showed up.

And Andre Sam showed up this summer. So... The low bar? He showed up? I'm not giving out free tickets here. I like Andre Sam. Andre Sam. I saw Zach Berman kept him on his...

on his 53. Zach has a really good nose. You love that guy, huh? For what's going on. I'll tell you what. I'm getting a little bit tired of you talking about that guy. He works his butt off. I'm going to make him the head coach.

He asks good questions. He's in tune to the team. So yeah. Well, how do you feel about James, Nick? I mean, I know you love that guy. I watch a lot of games. I want a lot of games with James Bradbury. And I'm loyal to James Bradbury.

And this is where the business side of this is particularly tough to me. I don't see where James Bradbury is providing the game day value for our team. If we're keeping it based on the value, he provides the locker room, I like it. I respect the heck out of the fact that he took on a new position this year. He's done everything that we've asked him to do. But he's not one of our three best safeties. He's not one of our five best cornerbacks. And so when you look at it that way, is he going to be a special team's player for Michael?

My guess is not. I have too much respect for James Bradbury just to keep him around because of the money obligated on his contract. To me, Howie, I know you gave him that contract. And I was, I thought, given the circumstances at the time, I liked the idea of running it back with some of these guys. but I think it's important to cut your losses and this is the time to cut the losses. All right, you guys have convinced me. I'm going to put Andre on this roster.

I'm a little bit surprised, but I'm going to let the consensus win out here. I'm a little bit surprised. Now, that leaves us at 49 roster locks with four spots to go and that is a 46 because I have three guys here, McKee, Jalick's Hunt,

and Dylan McMahon, who are not going to be active on game day. So now we don't have to worry quite as much about the game day roster for four spots left. one spot that I do want to talk about game day roster wise. Let's circle back to the backup offensive linemen, these veterans. Nick Gates, Darian Kennard. We have Vic in the room. Brett Toad. Yeah, I know. Vic, you can, you know, you know, Kellynne. You know football. And also, you know,

Matt Hennessy, I kept them around. My guess is it's not going to be him. But between Gates, Kinard and Tov, now, I'm going to tell you, I think we can, I think we're going to be able to keep Brett Tooth. I think we can release Brett Tooth and we're going to be able to get him back in the building. Canard, I think that Nick Gates is a better player. I think that Nick Gates gives us what we need right now, which is that internal, that interior versatility. But if you tell me you love Darren Kinnard,

I'm open to a conversation. I don't want to speak for Kellyn as Vic here, but I think the fact that this guy played every single snap for us in the preseason, it's commendable. I will say, as an old school coach, I like what this kid's made of. But in all seriousness, I think that Darien's got that flex capability to play. He's played some left side for us in practice.

It hasn't always been pretty over there. But I think that having that right tackle that can come in, beat people up off the football, he's got some guard flexibility as well. But I've already got Fred. And Tyler can play out there too. I agree. To me, I don't know that he's one of the 53 best players in the team. There are guys on the defensive side that I feel a little bit.

more strong about. Okay. Nick, you like a Nick, obviously. I like the idea of having someone who's played center in the league before, because that is important if Cam goes down.

I don't think we need to keep him. If you tell me we can get by for one game with Landon there, then I'm okay. I don't want, we talked to Stout earlier. He does not want Landon to have to play center. I need a guy on the active roster, on the game day roster who can play center.

In that case, either Nick or Brett. And we can play practice squad gymnastics here. But the reality is that's too important. Your back and your top interior backup is too important to just leave it to practice squad. So if you feel that Nick Gates is worthy of the roster, I think that job is too important. And I will say I was having dinner with Stout the other night. And he couldn't stop talking about the versatility of a Brett.

Brett Toe. So we talk about there. He's bugging everybody. He's putting a bugging. everyone's year in the entire building. The fact that Darien, we're talking about Darian and what he can do is as a tackle. Brett Tooth played some right tackle force this summer in preseason games. And we know that he's played, he's played some tackle force in the past.

He's played both guards. How could I look myself up on the mirror and keep Brett Tooth over like Thomas Booker when Thomas Booker was demolishing him in the middle of practice every single day? We're just talking about the offensive side. I think if we're going to put a pecking order there, I think that Brett brings a little bit more to the table. I want to have a Dary and Knorrh conversation if we can. Okay. Well, you can laugh dismissively.

These reps and games in practice, these are bars of gold. I didn't give them all these snaps in games. You didn't kill and did. Just for vain. I did it because I want to see if this guy can play. And I'm impressed by the physicality with which he plays. I think that there's some athleticism. I mean, the Chiefs had him as a fifth round pick.

they were kind of moving around tackle guard. I think he's a tackle. I don't like the idea of moving on from a 24-year-old tackle who we spent time developing when we can use these practice squad spots on veterans. You've told me since I've been here, spots 50, 51, 52, 53. Those are more for long-term development because we can use the practice squad to kind of plug immediate things. I don't want to let Darren Kinnard out the building if we think he has talent just to keep someone

who's 30 years old and is only going to be here for this season. I don't see in Darien what you see in Darien. Okay. I mean, you've been around offensive line quite a bit. You've been around Jeff Stoughtlin quite a bit. I'll defer to your judgment there. How often do you think players who matter are playing entire preseason games? I would need to look at the data to do it.

I do know that we did not put him out there for every snap just for him to get filmed for every other team. We did it because we were genuinely curious how he looked. There's a reason why. I kept telling you to put Anim Danqua in the game. I want to see this guy. I gave him a nice undrafted bonus. I want to see what he looks like, and you wouldn't put him in. We don't want anyone else seeing him, too.

We want to get him on the practice squad. All right. Well, before we keep going, guys, I just want to remind everybody else in this room who was watching us that they should become a PhD-O-I-die-die-hard because that's where you can read the kinds of things that Nick is reading all the time about what Zach Berman has to say. No, I read Bo Wolf's piece on players 1 to 91. That was actually great preparation for this meeting that we had. And I think any Eagles fan should make sure they read that.

Because if you weren't at practice, and I know we're not at the stadium every day, so only a confined number of people are at practice, that will tell you what you need to know about what happened this summer. All right, guys, we got three spots. I'm putting Nick Gates on, and I'm going to try to get Daring Kinnard onto the practice squad, but I'm not giving him a roster spot. So we've got three spots left.

Now, one of the things that this has clarified for me, we're not keeping Oren Burks. We don't need six linebackers active on game day anyway. I'm not giving him one of these spots. So Oren is gone. So we've got three spots left for whether we want Tyran Davis Price. We could go with an Anias Smith or a Paris Campbell. We have to have the conversation about whether we want E.J. Jenkins as the third tight end.

And then we've got several defensive tackles who we have not given a spot to yet between Thomas Booker and Tewie and Gabe Hall and P.J. Mustafa. Who wants to pound the table for one of these guys? I will step up for Thomas Booker. I think that if we're going to preach competitiveness and the film speaks for itself, I think that Thomas has had the best summer of all the players that we just talked about. So for me, you know, we feel really good about a lot of the young defensive tackles on this team. I think that Booker has proven that he can be one of those guys if we continue to develop them.

You can't keep everybody. I know this well. So my question for both of you is if we waive these guys and they get claimed elsewhere, Who are you most disappointed to lose? That's a good way to frame it, Nick. I think that's a good way to frame it. For me, you know what? I gave all of this money to Sequin Barclay.

And in my imagination, we have this offense that is now a little bit more running back-centric. I have fully addressed the weapons on the outside. I feel good about that. But I don't want Jalen taking quite as many hits as he did last season. I want him healthy in December and January. And of these guys, I tell you what, I really liked what I saw from Tyrian Davis Price. And I know that there are, I know that running backs are a dime a dozen. I believe it to the core of my being.

But if I, if you tell me that E.J. Jenkins gets claimed. I think I can replace him. If you tell me that Anias gets claimed. You know what? I missed out on that one, but that's okay. There's, there's wide receivers who are available. If you tell me Tui gets claimed, I like, I like Tewy. I'm one of, if it's a good seventh round or sixth round pick, I like Tui a lot. But I do think that nose tackles can be found.

Everybody remembers when I signed Lindvald Joseph and Dominic and Sue the exact same time and then did it again with Miles Jack and Zach Cunningham. I kind of like Ty Davis Price. He surprised me. I think he's a guy who I want to keep. Sounds like a little bit of a camp crush there. No, I don't know. That was E.J. Jenkins.

Now, if you follow the money, we gave Davis Price the most money of any player on a future's deal this season. So there is something there. This is someone who when we talked about the roster back in January and February, you pointed him out. And I like what I see too. I just keep going back to all those draft meetings that we had. And I go back to the meeting that we had before the third day of the draft where the scouts were on the road all year long. Okay.

And they're in these schools. And they're getting the real intel on these players. And we ask them who they feel strongly about. and the amount of people who felt strongly about Anaya Smith. And are we sure? I don't think he was a red star for us. He was not. He was not.

But there's a reason why we took him where we did in the fifth round. Now, we did take Will Shepley over him because Will Shibli is the highest draft of running back. We've had. But no, I look at Anias and I say, are we sure? I know, but Nick, we can't, you know, you read all those leadership books. We can't be clinging to our priors. Agreed. And I just, I haven't seen enough.

Are we sure the player we've seen is the person? player we scouted or do we think that the injury was the complicating factor here what do you think killing i think for me i don't know how we can keep uh anias on the 53 i just think even even if it is the injury um i don't think that he has shown enough in these preseason games i mean the average five yards of reception uh of course the summer in games much less what we saw on the practice field outside i think that uh no team is going to look at this and say hey you know what let let's claim him to our 53. I feel pretty good that he's going to be able and how you would know better than me on that

one. But I feel pretty good that he would probably be able to sneak through to our practice squad. As I said earlier, I don't want to give up on an IAS, but I don't know that I can look some of these other players in the eye and say, yeah, we're going to move on from you. I mean, I'm speaking for myself, if I see a team cuts a fifth round pick, I am usually thinking they must know something, you know, but. Well, I want to ask you that because you've been in a lot of buildings in your history in this league.

In your experience, do teams, when a draft pick gets cut, are they going based on the preseason film? Are they going based on their draft grade? I think you're going to, you have the draft grade as your base. But right away, you're going to the pro scout, and you're going to say, okay, well, what's the deal with Ania Smith? And they're going to say, hey, you know what, we've been reading all of this coverage,

where we are subscribed to all PHLY, and we've been reading these practice reports from these astute practice observers over there. uh nias did not have a great summer it seems like on the practice field we looked at the preseason tape there there was nothing really to speak of there and so i don't know that he's going to be there's going to be a line around the corner for people trying to uh to bring him into their building all right i think i'm okay i'm okay to letting it letting a nias go um so we've got one spot left and to me it seems like it's between you know we could keep towey if we want to have the extra

heft there uh we could make it a long-term bet on gab hall or, and I think this is probably the sensible thing, Dallas has this little Nick that I'm a little bit worried about. I know that E.J. Jenkins is not the best player in the world, but just in terms of being safe, making sure that we have three tight ends. I know you want three tight ends, Kellyn. I'm okay with E.J. And then if we survey the wire and there's a better guy,

I'm happy to just cut him after that. That's what I would feel most comfortable with EJ of the names that you just listed out. And again, there might be someone that becomes available, that shake loose. that's better than E.J., but right now, I'm good with going to E.J. as our third tight end. Yeah, I should be thinking about the next two weeks and not the next two years, but for the sake of this conversation, and I believe strongly that when you're in this job, you're stored for the franchise, I don't think we keep E.J. Jenkins just to get by

while Dallas Goddard has an oblique injury. I think we can pass E.J. Jenkins through to the practice squad. If someone else claims him, good for E.J., but I think there's going to be tight ends out there who are of comparable or maybe even more value than E.J. Jenkins. So I'd be more inclined to keep someone with more long-term value than E.J. You want Anias? You want. Anai's just the guy I would keep because, look, it was beautiful outside back in April. I could have been in my son's Little League games. Okay. He's a great pitcher. I could have been at those Little League games. Instead, I was in this windowless draft room, okay, hearing our scouts talk about Anias Smith. And two weeks ago, three weeks ago.

Nick, we have so much more information now. Two weeks ago, three weeks ago, I was ready to move on from Anaya Smith. But now we get Jahan Dotson. Jahan Dotson's entrenched as the number three. Okay. We got a Jahan Dotson for two more years. Yes. He can play inside.

We want Devonthe to play inside. We're keeping Britt and there's nowhere for Anaya Smith to play. I think we keep him here and we develop him. And look, this is why we believed him in the first place. Now, I'm all about competition. And I don't think a nice Smith earned a spot on the 53. How could you be Mr. Compete? I mean, Ben Van Suman runs better routes than Ania Smith.

Because in these leadership books and also some of these books that I've read about good podcasts, it's the thing you don't want everyone to agree with everybody, right? What's you're trying to do is present different opinions here? What kind of books are those? You're trying to present different opinions. And the opinion that I have here is that let's not cut our losses after one summer. I mean, I don't want this to be, you know, the big takeaway is that you have no juice. in this room, Nick, but I am I am going to overrule you here.

I'm going to keep E.J. Jenkins because Kellan wants to make sure that he's got enough tight ends. And so that's our that's our full roster here. And I can read it to you. All 53 guys. Jalen Hertz, Tanner McKee, Kenny Pickett, Sequin, Barclay, Kenny Gainwell, Will Shipley, Tyreon Davis Price, A.J. Brown, Britain Covey, Jahan Dotson, Devante Smith, and Johnny Wilson. Grant Cockatera, Dallas Goddard, and E.J. Jenkins. Cam Juergens, Nick Gates, Landon Dickerson, Tyler Steen, Mackay Beckton, Lane Johnson, Fred Johnson, Jordan Milata,

and Dylan McMahon. That's 24 guys on offense. We're putting Trevor Keegan on injured reserve. We've got the three specialists, Jake Elliott, Rick Levato, and Braden Mann. And then Vic, you know what? You've got the juice in this building. You've got 26 guys on defense. Brandon Graham, Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat, Patrick Johnson, Nolan Smith, and Jalick's Hunt,

Thomas Booka, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Morrow Ajuma, and Milton Williams. No, Marlon Tuey-Polotu, a bit of a surprise. Zach Bonn, Nacobo Dine, Ben Van Zumerin, Devin White, and Jeremiah Trader Jr. at linebacker. And then in the secondary, Boy, Are We Deep, Avante Mattox, Eli Ricks, Keelioringo, Isaiah Rogers, Darius Slay, Quinion Mitchell, Cooper DeGene, Reed Blankenship, C.J. Gardner Johnson, and Andre Sam. ladies and gentlemen, good job, guys, our 2024 Philadelphia Eagles, for now. For now, until you make three moves tomorrow. You know, I like to. Yeah.

I love those, I love those memes. Don't you guys love those memes when I'm making moves? Howie's, Howie season? It's good stuff. It gives me a little serotonin boost. By the way, I don't know if you guys saw this, but one of our scouts, Brian Pumper, he said Coach Belichick is talking pretty glowingly of Howie on the McAfee show.

I can't wait to tune in. He's keeping an eye on the birds. And then, you know, one of our player development people, our performance staff, Chase Daniel Planned view, said, Nick, so this is a question for you, Nick, remind Howie that you aren't the one that brought Maddie Pian, forgot to add linebackers to the roster and threw tons of money to old corners. You know, when you're good, you don't need to tell everyone. Look, it's all on tape.

You did it like four times in this meeting. It's all on tape. It's all on tape. And my record speaks for itself. I also want to say, though, that, you know, we have our pro scouts and some of our quality control people check tweets from other writers and elsewhere from around the country. And I saw this place DOLS open today, part of the All-City Network. And look, I know people, I know our fans don't like Dallas.

But sometimes you want to know what's going on in Dallas. Sure. And this is the place to turn. Clarence Hill, their writer 27 years, covering the Cowboys, an exclusive. Jerry Jones. He was talking about how no one can do the job better than him. You should check that out, Howley. But I think that's all DLS.com and you can watch their coverage on YouTube as well. You know what that is? That's a ring. Jerry hasn't had one of those since any of my kids were born. Although he does have three of them, I believe, right? It's been a long time. It has been a long time.

Last question, guys, and I know that we've gone a little bit over on this meeting. I know you guys have stuff to get to. I'm always late to press conferences. Don't worry. Based on our roster, you know, I'm scouring. I've got the pro scouts telling me who they think is, you know, potentially worth claiming. But what is a, is there a position that you think that we most need help in? Definitely tight end. Tight end would be one. Yep. As Kellynne, as the offensive coordinator right now, I would say, I would just say tight end would be one where I'd be looking at who could be that tight end three that we'd feel really good about.

All right. Well, unfortunately, I don't know if you guys know this, but maybe we made a mistake because the chat is reporting that Andre Sain. Sam was waived, but he must have gotten his reporting wrong because I haven't done that yet. I thought that you guys told me to keep him. I guess we'll find out. All right. Well, guys, thanks for meeting. I look forward to doing this again next year.

But for now, Nick, I know you don't have anything to do tomorrow afternoon. So you might as well check out the PHLY Eagles podcast tomorrow at 2 o'clock. Maybe you'll find out a little bit more about what I have decided to do without your input. And to everybody who was just, you know, peering in. from the outside the situation room. We thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. And we thank Julia for making it all happen.

We'll talk to you tomorrow, not us, but the other people. Thanks for watching. And as always, we love you.