PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | James Bradberry in, Dylan McMahon out: Bizarre initial 53 for the Philadelphia Eagles

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

The Eagles pared their roster to 53 players Tuesday afternoon with some surprising decisions. James Bradberry is in, even though Tristin McCollum also made the team. Sixth-round rookie Dylan McMahon was waived, despite an impressive preseason, leaving the Eagles with no backup center. Darian Kinnard surprisingly made the team. Plus, the team used its two IR to return designations on Albert Okwuegbunam and Ainias Smith.Zach Berman, Fran Duffy and Bo Wulf react to the decisions made by Howie Roseman as the initial roster is set. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the P HLY Eagles podcast for this emergency pod on Cutdown Day. This emergency pod is brought to you by Indeed. Listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash all-city. That's Indeed.com slash all-city. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. You need indeed. Now, we have made our hires, and one of them is the the man himself, Fran Duffy, who you see in the middle of the screen.

And to his left, but you're right as the viewer, you have Zach Berman, our Eagles insider. And we have a lot to talk about. The Eagles have set their initial 53-man roster. Let's get right to it. We're going to talk about it, dissect it the decisions made by Howie Roseman, who we heard from this afternoon along with Nick Siriani. Let's go right down to it, guys. Quarterback, three of them, Tanner McKee, your possible week one starter.

Jalen Hertz and Kenny Pickett. Running back. Three again. Sequin Barkley, Kenny Gainwell, and Will Shipley. Five wide receivers, A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Jhaun, Dotson, Britton, and Johnny Wilson, with Anaya Smith, the rookie fifth round pick, placed on injured reserve, but designated to return if the Eagles needed, one of their eight spots. At tight end, just two, Grand Calcutera and Dallas Goddard. Offensive line, a little bit heavier and a little it's surprising, probably the biggest surprise of the day, I would say. You've got your projected five starters, behind them, Fred Johnson, Tyler Steen, Trevor Keegan, the rookie, and Darien Kinnard, Darren Kinnard making the roster, no Dylan McMahon. We will get to that. That's 22 players on

offense compared to 28 on defense. Those 28. You've got six edge rushers, Nolan Smith, Jalick's Hunt, Brandon Graham, Josh Schwett, Bryce Huff, and Patrick Johnson. You've got six guys in the middle of the defensive line. Thomas Booker, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Marlon Tuo Pallotu, Milton Williams, and then at linebacker. You've got five linebackers. No, Orrin Berks, Zach Bonn, Devin White, Nicopi Dean, Jeremiah Trader Jr. And Ben Van Van Sumeran, and then the Eagles going very heavy in the secondary. James Bradbury does make this roster.

Eli Ricks does make this roster. and Tristan McCollum makes this roster as well, in addition to the expected guys in the back of Ante Mattis, C.J. Garner Johnson, Reed Blankenship, Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper, Dijin, Isaiah Rogers, and Keeley Ringo. We are going to get to some of the big decisions made, but I do want to start, and I know, you know, when Howie starts these press conferences today,

I know you guys are, you're smoldering, you're waiting, I can see it, Zach wants to talk, how he likes to talk about, you know, today's a hard day. You know, there's a lot of difficult, conversations made. You're letting guys, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, snuffing their dreams for just a little bit of a second. So let's talk about a few of the guys at the top who have had a really interesting road here and deserve their moment in the sun

for making it. Okay. I'm going to start with Thomas Booker. Thomas Booker, 24 years old, a fifth round pick by the Houston Texans in 2022, played 10 games as a rookie, including one start, cut during final roster cuts last summer and immediately signed to the Eagles practice squad spent all year on the Eagles practice squad all year improving behind the scenes showed up to camp this summer. Zach, you and I, you know, had that debate a couple weeks ago. I said the story of the day was Thomas Booker. You said it was Jalen Carter.

Who needs to know about Thomas Booker? Thomas Booker continued to impress over the course of the summer. And I've got to say, Fran, I was standing next to you on one of those days when Thomas Booker is flashing. What did you see from Thomas Booker this summer that earned him a roster spot? A guy that was just always around the football. And so whether it was the run game or the past game, and we know, you know, when you're in practice and it's not live tackling to the ground, there's a little bit of a grain of salt there. But to me, you saw an explosiveness there with Thomas Booker. You saw a disruptive ability from the interior where he didn't get lost in the

shuffle with guys like Morrow, Jomo, and with Milton Williams, and certainly with Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, didn't get lost in the shuffle. I thought that he could. consistently showed up. Yes, it was against a young and at times inexperienced backup offensive line. But I thought that booker, I mean, I said it yesterday on the show, guys, and I meant it that if you're just ranking it in terms of 1 to 53, he was one of the 53 best players this summer on this team. And so to me, definitely earned a spot on this 53 man roster. Now, Zach, I'm going to ask you about another one of these players, Darien Kinnard, 24 years old, also a fifth round pick in 2022. he of the Kansas City Chiefs played one game as a rookie, waived last summer during roster cuts,

spent the entire 2003 season on the Chiefs Practice Squad, and then after the Super Bowl, a few days later, the Eagles sign him to a futures deal, a fairly pricey futures deal. And Zach, Darren Kinnard is someone who has been on your radar for a long time. You were telling us that in the building they liked this player. What was it that you heard that they liked about Darren Kinnar? Well, sometimes you follow the money, right?

So they paid good money on a futures deal for Kinnard and Davis Price, the running back, too. You know, both after the Super Bowl, they targeted them for a reason. As I'll defer to Fran on this, but typically like we talked about, when you sign a guy to a futures deal who's only played really one NFL game, two NFL games, you have training camp film on him, but you're also looking at your college evaluation. And he was a big time player at Kentucky, like a big time recruit there, big. time player for them. And I knew when he was with the Chiefs, they were kind of trying to figure out tackle or guard. They were looking at him at both spots. And you saw that with the Eagles in camp this year. Early on, he was playing more guard. He settled in at tackle, right tackle. And the amount of snaps that he took in the preseason, I made this point on the show. Like, I didn't think they

were wasted snaps. I thought they were doing it because they wanted an earnest evaluation of him. and the fact that he barely came out of games, they were intrigued. And it's as I mentioned on the show yesterday, that when you're looking at a 24-year-old with that type of size athletic profile on the offensive line, inexpensive from a contract perspective, I thought that that would appeal to them for depth,

and that proved to be the case. What do you like about Kinnard, Fran? I think his ability to do you know, with his sheer size, and play strength. I mean, that is the strength of his game. And that's the thing is that when you look at Fred Johnson, his ability to win that way, certainly Jordan Milata, his ability to win that way. I mean, their ability to bully people at the point of attack. It did not shock me initially that they thought, okay, he's going to be a guard because we know that, you know, Jeff Stoughtland typically likes those guards to have a little bit of heft, have a little bit of size to them. And so he would have been a bigger guard and he's still a bigger tackle. Zach, I mean, you were, you were pretty honest in your evaluation of it and how strongly you felt yesterday on the show where we went through the paces as Howie Roseman, Nick Siriani, and as the coordinators about how you felt like he was going to make it. And I'm going to be honest, I did not think he would make the 53. So kudos to you on that one. I thought that when you looked

at some of the other guys that maybe they had earned a spot, but to me, like having that tackle guard flexibility at that size to be able to win at the point of attack, that's what you're hanging your hat on there if you're Darren Kinnard. All right. Now, one other player, I think worth highlighting from a journey perspective, all the credit in the world, to a couple like known commodities to Eagles fans. Patrick Johnson and Marlon Tuy Polotu, seven and sixth round picks, respectively, working their way onto the roster for the fourth straight year. That is impressive. Britain Covey was a lock this time around after not making it initially last year. He deserves respect. But the last guy, Tristan McCollum, 25 years old, undrafted by the Texans,

part of the same rookie draft class in Houston with Thomas Booker in 2022. Maybe it was all the Eagles work on Deshawn Watson. They were doing that offseason that found them these. guys. He spent his rookie season on the Houston practice squad, no games played, cut in January, and then signed quickly to a futures deal with the Eagles a couple of days later in January of 2003, spent last season with the Eagles on the practice squad, elevated for three games, and then earned his way onto the roster this summer with some particularly splashy plays in the preseason games. And I do have to say, you know, great job by Tristan McCollum, But we have joked.

I have joked about like all the Eagles are doing is just signing these first round picks and training for first round picks. Like they're big moves this off season. They've added six former first round picks. Kudos to the, you know, the pro scouting department. All of these three guys, guys who were signed at some point to either the practice squad or futures deals who were a little bit, you know, more unknown commodities. I think, you know, you give that part of the front office credit for finding these guys who earned their way onto the roster. And also to the player development team. I know Howard Roseman gave a hat tip to that crew as well that's led by Connor Barwin.

And there are a number of people on that staff that deserve a lot of credit as well for what they did. You know, especially look at Thomas Booker. This is a guy that didn't come to the team in February or January, but it'd been with the team, as you mentioned, over the course of the fall last year. And those guys are always working hard behind the scenes on trying to improve those guys. And, you know, even if it's just finding that value in the margins with these players and say, hey, you know what? this is a guy that we got essentially for free. Can we get something out of this player? And I think that these are three great examples.

I think with McCollum and specifically, I said it to Jamie in the postgame show the other day on Saturday after the game that if you're hoping for pie in the sky, he becomes a Marcus Epps type of presence where, hey, year one, he's developmental, he's kind of in the background, and you're just watching him kind of grow. Maybe he turns into a special teams player in year two. And then hopefully you have something here in year three with McCollum.

And I think that that would be a worthwhile path to try and pursue with this player. Yeah, I look at the three of them, you know, so each of them signed futures deals, but the data points for each of them were different. And that Tristan McCollum played for the Eagles last year, right? He was in that playoff game. So you actually saw him in live rep situations. Then Thomas Booker, that's more of a behind-the-scenes development thing. And then Darien Kinnard, that's one where you're kind of trusting your evaluators from the notes you had before.

But in Tristan McCollum's case, the part of it that surprised me, I thought he was a better defensive player than Andre Sam. I didn't know if he was quite the special teams player. I think they're really valuing the defensive upside here because I agree with Ferran. He made some splash plays during games and in camp that just jumps out that you think there's defensive upside here. Okay. Now, saying that what everybody knows, that this is not the final 53 men roster, waivers process tomorrow. tomorrow at noon. So there is a chance, I would say a likelihood that the Eagles will add and have to subtract somebody from this roster. But if James Bradbury stays, I want to talk about James

Bradbury first because let's focus on the guys who are on the roster first. Zach, James Bradbury makes this team. Do you think that is a reflection of they're paying him anyway? So they might as well have him on the roster. How do you see this? Because it is not like they're desperate for numbers in the secondary. Bradbury and McCollum make it. Sydney Brown is on PUP. They've got some reinforcements. Why do you think James Bradbury is still here? I've been trying to think about that. And because I don't think it's purely money. The reality is if you failed to trade him and, you know, as Jeff McClain reported that there were conversations about trading him, right? Once you don't trade him, if you cut him or if you keep him, you're paying the

financial obligation is the same, right? Because no one's absorbing his salary. So the financial obligation at that point is the same. So I just think that they look at the skill level. They think they look at like the football intelligence, the character of the player, and they say he's value added to the locker room at this point relative to other options. Like I'm not saying he's going to be on the team in December or January, but I think you feel comfortable even if the skill level is not the all pro caliber player, that if he's active and game that you can put him in a game,

And it's not too big for him. That said, I don't like the idea of a fourth safety who doesn't play special teams. I think that he could be one of those guys who shuffled out. But I just think that they trust the person. And I think that that had to factor into it. Friend, I mean, look at the roster. How many people are going to have to go down for James Bradbury to get on the field? I would say it's probably three, right?

I would imagine that he's going to be fourth in the pecking order at safety. That would be Maddox would be the first guy off the bench. And then it would be James until Sidney Brown. us back from PUP. To me, where we're kind of turned for my opinion on James Bradbury in terms of his prospects at making the team guys was, I want to say it was a couple weeks ago. It was right after I was not, I was no longer at practice every single day. And so I'm soaking up every year, you know, as many interviews as possible, all the press

conferences. And I want to say it was two weeks ago, it might have been right after the New England game, where Vic Fangio, who guys, every press conference we've seen for Vic Fangio, he has been extremely honest. And sometimes brutally so, right? And we appreciate that. And Vic Fangio said, like, James Bradbury has done a nice job. And it hasn't all been perfect, obviously.

There have been some moments. But even then, like, I went back through the film. It was of that New England game, right? Bo, that was the one where you were like, I'm not sure. I thought that was like a disqualifying performance. But you tell me what you saw. Well, to me, there are a couple of the things that he had in the past game. I didn't see those as physical things.

I saw them as like how his eyes were in the wrong place. And again, this is a guy that's converting to a new position. The one when Hooper runs by him. That's, yeah. To me, that was it. His eyes were in the back to a little bit longer than they should have been. I didn't see that as, oh, man, Hooper ran right by him and he had no chance of catching up. I saw that as, all right, like, that's a, that's a teachable moment for a guy that's moving to safety,

playing there for the first time, getting, you know, his first handful of reps at that position in game. So for me, I looked at Bradbury as a guy, I felt like was going to make it. When I said that yesterday on the show, you know, cosplaying as Vic, but I do feel like going in, If I had submitted a 53-man roster for the King and Queen of the Beats competition, I would have had Bradbury on the 53. I will say, I do think that, and Jeff said this in his reporting, I don't think that it's guaranteed that he's here for long. And Howie Roseman also sort of talked around this in the press conference when he was asked about it, Zach.

If you think about it just from a process standpoint, if you are expecting to make an addition or two, you don't want the person you then waive to be somebody who is on the roster unexpectedly, right? Because then you're signaling to the league who may not have known that this guy was worthy of a roster spot that he is and he's worth a claim. This is the original sin of the Casey Two Hill, you know, a mistake, right? Of course. So if this is a, if you're then going to cut James Bradbury, it sort of makes sense. What did, what did how we say about and Nick about Bradbury, Zach? Yeah, basically that he's converting to a new,

position that safety is not corner, but that they, you know, they like what they've seen from him this summer. That that's kind of, that was Howie's big emphasis is that he always had good football instincts. You see the ability to diagnose from those football instincts. And he says he's got a skill set. When you hear you a skill set, that's sometimes like, all right, I don't have anything more to say. He's got a skill set, right? But he says, it's a long season. We already know that he's had tremendous success in the league playing outside corner as well with the goal we have for this football team having a veteran player like that on the roster that we know we can rely on when called upon it felt like that was important. So that's kind of, you know, my analysis there in terms of

the default being someone that they know, someone that they trust, even if the upside is minimal at this point, you know, if you have to put them into a game, you at least know the player. And I think that's probably, no, I agree with what you said, Bo. I think he could be one of the first ones out here if they get their claim. They're at that what, 22 on the waiver claim. So you don't know who's going to fall to you. Now, if you sign someone who was cut, who's a vested veteran, then you don't have to worry about that.

I'm not even saying that, but, you know, it could be an offensive lineman, right? But yeah, I really look at it like, if you have to go into a game tomorrow, you at least know James Bradbury can play. Okay. Now let's talk about the omissions. and the biggest surprise to me is Dylan McMahon. Right now, this team is without a third tight end and without a backup center.

We expect both of those things to be addressed, how we talked about it. Nick Gates and Brett Tooth and maybe McMahon can all be back on the practice squad to some degree and be elevated and serve as backup centers on game day. Here is why, well, before we get to the process, Fran, your evaluation of Dylan McMahon from what you saw this summer.

I mean, a lot of what we saw from him at NC State, where you see an athletic player, a guy that can do a lot of things for you in space, certainly in the run game, can get overwhelmed by size at times. Still needs to come along from a technical aspect, but so to pretty much every rookie offensive lineman is going to have some growth to there. So I think that you see a player that has some physical and technical growth that's required. So there's going to be some development. He's not going to be plug and play. But to me, the big thing, and this is what I kind of was. trying to insinuate a little bit yesterday was as a center only that that is something that you have to take into account in terms of trying to make that 53. So to me, I was not super

surprised that he'd make it. I did have him on my 53 going in, but was not shocked that he was left off. Here's why I think that this is bad process, several of the things. Okay. they've had put Anaya Smith and Albert Okuwegbenam on injured reserve designated to return. So we talked about this this afternoon. There were eight, you know, you get eight spots over the course of the season. Two of them now burned on Anaya Smith and Albert Okuwebana. To use one on Albert O is, to me, insane. And I think tells you that, I don't know what pictures,

Albert O or his agent has of Howie Roseman or if Howie has some kind of like mental block where he looks at Albert O and thinks it's Vernon Davis or Jimmy Graham or whatever it is. Albert O waived last summer, the Eagles trade for him. He's here all year,

plays four games, has one target, no catches. Then the Eagles race out to sign him to a deal, guarantee him, you know, $750,000, like half of his contract. And now he's injured. He's out for, according to Jeff McLean, six to eight to ten weeks. The notion that if you wave injure Albert O, someone's going to scoop him up when the league hasn't looked like they have any interest in him at all. And we saw him this summer on the field when he was healthy.

Do nothing. Absolutely nothing. The idea that you need to make sure you get him is wild. And so if you had not done that, you could have done the same thing with Trevor Kagan. Now, Trevor Kagan's got a minor injury, but you could have used that. Trevor Kagan, so far, you talk about positional versatility, has only played left guard, has not shown he can play a right guard or center. I don't imagine that he's going to be active on game day because you've got Fred Johnson

and Tyler Steen and now Darren Kinnard can play potentially four positions. So I don't think you need Steehan or Kegan early. You could have done that and then you slide. McMahon on to the roster. Now, McMahon is an undersized player. You can tell me there's a good chance he gets through waivers because most teams in the league

or however many teams in league don't wouldn't just, it would be a automatic box check. He's not for us because he's too small. We don't play that kind of scheme, right? That's fine. And maybe he will get through waivers and I'll be wrong. That's fine. But like the Albert O of it all

is insane to me. And from this thing that how he mentioned this afternoon, Zach, about how we have such this top heavy roster. We're paying all these stars. We need to have all of these young guys on rookie contracts. Well, the guys who they have on rookie contracts, or not draft picks, are not super long-term investments at that price point, like Booker and Kennard and McCollum have been in the league. I think that Dylan McMahon is a, projects to me as a good backup center, if not a starting caliber center eventually, and you would have him for four years on his rookie contract.

I just, it is, it's, it's flabbergasting to me. This is the process they made. The Alberto thing is nuts. Yeah, so we'll address the Albrado part of this and then the Dillianne with Man part of this. First off, the Albert O part of it, while I agree with you, this is something that, you know, Francies every draft season where are you the evaluator or the forecaster, right? Because from an evaluation perspective, yeah, you're right. He hasn't done anything, right?

From a forecasting perspective, the Eagles have signal to you what they think of Albuano. They traded for him last year so he wouldn't go on the waivers because they didn't think he would get to them. They kept him on the roster last year when you were talking about them with Christian Ellis, right? They signed him. By the way. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm saying they cut Christian Ellis before Alberto, keeping a fourth tight end. They signed him before he could hit free agency because they wanted to keep him.

So clearly their evaluation. of him is different than your evaluation of him. I'm not saying that that you're wrong here, but I'm saying like, you're flabbergasted by this. They're showing you what they think of, Alberto, because there's been three data points right now

where they literally haven't let the league get him. Because they, because they don't feel, they clearly don't feel that he would bet, that he would either revert to their practice squad, like they think someone else is going to claim him. That's why they traded for him. That's why they didn't cut him last. year. That's why they signed him before free agency this year.

Fran, in 12 months, have you seen one, one play in which Albert Oko-Ebanom has looked like an intriguing prospect to you? Anything to show it? In games and in the practices that I have seen, no. But that doesn't mean that they don't have that. I agree with that. Zach, you're right. I mean, you're right about the signal. Yes. To me, I would say this too, about the tight end position. It is very much a late-blooming position, but we've seen this a number of times over the course of the last even just several years, you know, the Darren Wallers of the world that, you know, take time before they're able to hit. A lot of guys don't, aren't able to hit their full potential until they hit that second contract. So to me, it's not surprising that

that that's the bet that they are willing to make. I'm with you, though, that in terms of what I have seen with my own eyes, yeah, we haven't necessarily seen that from Albert Okue, Abun. It's just, it's wild. And now the Dylan McMahon part of this, I agree with you. I thought that was a mistake. And I thought it was a mistake because I thought he showed upside as a center. I'm not sure that he does clear waivers. I think that's a risk I would not be willing to take.

I understand Fran's point about the only position. And that was why, or that he's a one position player. And that's why I struggled when I put the 53 together. And I noted there is that, you know, you would have to rely on Gates or Tooth as an elevation to be your backup center. because I wouldn't feel comfortable. Or you go into a game with Landon Dickerson as your emergency center. And then if something happens to Juergens, then McMahon steps in. I thought McMahon was the second best center they had this summer.

Now, Gates didn't really play center. Okay. So Gates can play center, but he did not this summer. I thought it was a mistake for them to cut McMahon. Now, they're dealing with more information than I am. I get he might be disqualifying to some team. I just don't like the idea of trading someone with that athletic ability, I'm sorry, letting someone go exposing the waivers with that athletic ability when you just don't know.

And that's my concern there. And if they do lose him, if he gets claimed, it's another case of like bad order of operations because they gave him like the whole game on Saturday as the starting center. So you gave a full length of tape against, you know, mostly backups, not just third teamers, which is what he played against in the first two games. So you put that on tape. I think it could be, I think it could be a case of better. process. But my question for you, Fran, is now, you know, Stout was in the building when they drafted Dylan McMahon.

So it's not like he didn't approve that. But I do think that we have seen a little, and I don't know if this is more recent or it's what's been going on all along. But I feel like Stout is becoming a bit of a size king, if you will, like the Mackay Bechtin over Tyler Steen, when it seemed like that's kind of what they wanted all along. And even though Beckton was still a work in progress, you know, Stout has talked about he likes those big bodies out there. Darren Kinnard makes this team, a player who, by your estimation, friend, didn't necessarily show a ton on the field, but certainly has the body type. Is there a, do you think Stout has like changed his mind about what really matters up front and really cares about just pure size? No, I don't think he's

changed his mind. I think that it's just more, look at the end of the day, like, you can't keep all of them, right? So if it's Keegan who also is a one position guy right now, we haven't seen him play anywhere else. But if it's Keegan who they drafted first over McMahon for the last few months, we can say

like, all right, they value Keegan more. They had the ability to be flexible with Keegan, right? They could have put them on injury reserve, a short-term IR or even long-term IR to say, okay, we're going to kind of put them on ice and save them. But clearly they have value in it and they have faith in what Keegan can be.

I don't necessarily think that it's a change in philosophy. I think it's just more like at the end of the day. Like you can't keep every one of those guys. And, you know, to me, McMahon probably ended up with the short straw. And you also, you know, like, that's one of the things where we'll see how this all plays out tomorrow. And I don't know about you guys, but whenever there's any of these 10 poll events, whether it's the draft, you know, free agency, you know, roster cutdowns, I always end up doing a little bit of self-scouting on my own where it's like, okay,

in terms of my projections and how I view this, to me, like one of my blind spots through this process has been the expanded practice squad and what that can mean, you know, because it is a relatively new development. I think in our, in our minds, it's like, all right, we still, it's that eight-man practice squad that we, that we always knew for so long. But when you increase it to, and how I know howie Roastman talked about it today is like it's a 70-man roster, if when you look at it that way, Sarah, like we feel like Dylan and man is going to make it through. And certainly they are exposing him and taking, a risk there and making him available via waivers. But that's up to their pro department to kind of

weigh and decide if he's going to make it. If he doesn't, do we feel like, all right, like the value lost versus him versus Nick Gates and Brett Toh as our backup center that's on the practice squad, when those guys have additional position flexibility, that's something that you have to take into account. As we keep bouncing around here, Zach, I want to ask you about an eye Smith. You had the report today that the Eagles were going to put him on that IR with the return designation. And you and I spoke off air, and you did make a very good point

to me, because to me, it was like, you know, Anaya Smith has not shown enough this summer. In my estimate, I don't think he deserved to make the roster. And so, yeah, I agree. Why not just put him on IR and put him on ice and see, you know, if a full season

of getting healthy makes him better next off-season. But you made a very good point that if you want, if you believe, even Anaya Smith, and that's what they're telling us they do, then you want him to be able to practice. And to have the return to designation means that he can be working on the practice field and getting better that way, right? Exactly. It's what Fran was talking about before with Thomas Booker. It's and, you know, with what Connor Barman does behind the scenes from a player development perspective. The Jahan Dotson trade, and this is why I thought Smith was going to make the team.

The Dotson trade really kind of cleared up any need for him to play this year, right? Now, of course, there could be injuries. So you want him to develop behind the seats. And if he's on IR for the entire year, he can't practice. And I understand we can talk about mental reps. You can talk about learning the offense. But if he's going to be healthy at some point this year and you believe that there are skills here that made him a fifth round pick and that you want to keep him around, then it behooves you to have him on the practice field, even if he's not a contributor in games. Because I agree.

My evaluation is that he's not one of the 53 best players. And I wouldn't want him to be a factor in. the game. But if you think that this time next year, he could be in consideration for one of your top four receiver spots or he can kind of have that second year jump, you want him to practice this year. Go ahead, Fran. I was going to ask, and you guys have a better sense of this, I think, than I would, how often have teams, at what rate have teams used the designation of return, right? Because that's up to eight this year. I said it yesterday that that's a lot of players. So I don't know what that number has been for the Eagles or for all 32 teams. I'm sure,

Somebody out there has tracked that over the course of this offseason. I think it's rare that you would hit you would hit the ceiling. Yeah. To do to this early, he's a little bit risky, especially on a player of Alberto's caliber. The good thing is that you don't have to designate ahead of time from now on. From now on, you just put a guy on IR and you can see how they're doing. And once you start their practice window, it counts. But it doesn't mean that you have to take them off IR.

but it's still count. So as SAC said, I don't actually remember if it was today or yesterday, the good news is like once you're on their roster, even if a guy's going to be out for five weeks, like you could just let him be inactive and get better that way. You don't have to put them on AR, obviously. Yeah. Okay, what else jumped out to guys in terms of omissions?

Anybody else do you think is worth discussing? Now, guys who made the roster who not everybody expected to, Eli Ricks, we talked about, makes this roster. I think, again, that that is a reflection of, Like to trade a guy now is it's kind of a buyer's market. So you keep him around. He's worth developing. Defensive tackle.

We talked about Booker. I think Tui Polo too is an interesting player. Could be potentially, you know, on the bubble. If they do make an addition, let me ask you this, Zach, and I'll give you a chance to tout your boy. They're going to add a center or whether it's inside the building route. They're going to add a tight end. There's somebody that Kellymour has some familiarity with. Sure.

And I've mentioned Dona Parham going back to the spring because I saw the Chargers load up on tight ends. And I just think from, you know, he was number two tight end for Kelmore last year. Howie Roseman likes these converted basketball players or, you know, these big frames. You're looking at a 6-8 frame. He had decent production last year. He's still kind of a developing player. I know he's in year five, but he's still a developing player. He's a guy I will look at who you can just sign.

I also think, you know, the 49ers cut Cameron Leight to, third round pick two years ago from Alabama. He's someone who, you know, there's draft pedigree there. He had a production at Alabama. He had an injury with the 49ers. But if you're kind of looking at like a player with draft pedigree who was cut at the position, it would be late to. Why did you shake your head, Fran? He was a top 100 pick last year. Wow.

They've burned a lot of. Yeah, look at the drafts. It's wild. Yeah. You know, I think Parham would make sense in terms of like the profile, the archetype that they need. He's not the best run blocker in the world. So I think you start getting into like the E.J. Jenkins kind of discussion, right, in terms of what is his value for this roster. But look, this is a guy that has receiving chops.

I remember him coming out of. Zach, do you remember the school? Stetson, right? Nice pull. Yeah, coming out of Stetson. I mean, he was as if there's anything in the world about Donald Parham. He knows where he met his ex-wife. What's his favorite insomnia order? I think when you look at...

I mean, when you look at Parham, there is a role to be had there on this team, but, you know, you just got to have the understanding of what he brings. He's not going to be like a plus blocker at the position. I mean personally, like, Jack Stoll might be a little bit more attractive. I was going to ask me, with Grant Calcutera entrenched as the number two, what do you think, what's the skill set that they should look for in that number three tight end? Yeah, I think that Grant gives you good effort as a run blocker. And I don't think he's like a minus there, but he's not as good as Jack Stoll. And I think I think he's, I think it's for me, for a team that is going to be able to run the ball and wants to be able to run the ball at will in the second half of games when they've got leads. That was a formula that has worked for this team in the past.

I think you won a guy that could be a hammer up front. And Jack Stoll, he's not, you know, he's not a top five run blocker in the league by any estimation. But this is a guy that I think can bring you value there. Tackles included at the point of attack. What's that? Tackles included or just in terms of tight end, yes. No, I just, oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Go ahead, Zach. You had mentioned some surprise omissions. So I did have one I wanted to point out. Oh, good. Okay, yeah. So, Orrin Berks is a name that I didn't have him on my 53. just because I didn't think they would keep, you know, seven linebackers. I'm sorry, six linebackers.

Yeah, yeah, six. I didn't, I thought six was, was too deep for them to go. But I thought that, like, they signed him for a reason. And he played well on Saturday. We didn't get enough of a sample size, but he's someone who contributes on special teams. He's played snaps in games. I imagine that they think they'll sign him to the practice squad. But of the players cut, he was probably the one that I said, all right,

I think he's a rosterable player for you. Yeah. And if they have an injury and he's still around, I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back in some capacity. I think they like what they saw in that last game. But, you know, Zach Bond was healthy and beat him out. I will say, you know,

obviously there was some silliness in the exercise yesterday, where we played the roles of Howie Roseman of Nick Siriani and the coordinators. I don't know what you're talking about. That was just found footage. Of course, the found footage of their meetings. Yeah, yes. But that said, I mean, looking at,

at a lot of the moves that they made. It's a lot of the conversations that we had yesterday, and we didn't go 53 for 53, obviously, but we had the Orenberg's conversation. We had the Nick Gates and Brett Toh conversation, and just going through a lot of these guys, we had Eli Ricks making it. To me, we were able to hit on a lot of points

that ended up coming to fruition here today. Now, I will say, if people are talking about the competition, I believe it sounds like E.J. Smith of the Inquirer is going to win the award, 52 and 53, which is very good. And I got to say, I mean, E.J., who's copying who now? Who's taking who's bit? What are we doing? Congratulations to E.J. who just celebrated his 30th birthday. What a way to ring it in. Nice job by E.J. Well, that's good. Unfortunately, I was going under the presumption when I put my 53-man roster together,

that somebody smart was going to be making the decisions. And so that's where I fell apart here. You know, the idea that Dylan McMahon wouldn't make this team and that Trevor Keegan wouldn't go on IR at the expense of Albert O. I mean, I thought I was dealing with a rational actor. I actually think you're overstating the Keegan thing. Like, you know, and by the way, I put Keegan on IR too. I like the points that that you made.

I heard you told me about it. That like, you know, that he's just a show and for. My understanding is it's not a significant injury. Okay. I understand the injury gives you an excuse. But I actually think they like Keegan more than you're suggesting. Like I think now he's not going to be active on game days. You know, they'll have Fred Johnson and Tyler Steen presumably if Tyler Steen's healthy.

But I think that they look at Keegan. If we accept that he's not going to be active for the first four weeks, then why not just put him on IR? Because someone could get hurt in week one, right? Like if Land of Dickerson went to, down in week one. And that's what you have Brett Tooth and Nick Gates on the practice squad for. But that's my point. It's I think they like Trevor Keegan more than Brett Toh and Nick Gates. Well, I understand. But now you lose a player because of that potentially. And I know that we overstayed the likelihood the player gets claimed. But but nevertheless. And I do, by the way,

like let's just say, just because these are the decisions they have made does not mean that they are the right decisions. Like, of course. You know, a year ago, we're congratulating, we're going through the same process. Like, what a great job from Mario Goodrich to make the roster after not making a year before. And then he gets on the field. They see him play one time and he's gone. And he's like the first cut of this summer.

So like, we can't, like, we deserve and we are right to be skeptical about some of these decisions. When it looks like bad process. That's fair. I agree. I'm very skeptical of the McMahon one, for sure.

There's one other move that I think is just worth mentioning. because we haven't really talked about it this summer. Now it's affirmative, and we did talk about at the end of last year. And that's Sidney Brown is, you know, he's on Pup List. So he's out at least the first four weeks because the Eagles had, you know, one thing I was talking to someone recently who said that the Eagles early buy is actually beneficial for someone who's on like Pup or I are because it kind of buys you an extra week. That's true.

It's that you miss four games, but it can really be six weeks before you play, right? But Sydney Brown is, you know, I think you're, and I had like a lunch bet he would be back by September. And yeah, you're going to win that one. And I remember talking about his locker and he really thought week one was realistic. But now that's that that that's someone who should be a value to the team this year. And he won't be back. The earliest, he'll be back now.

It's week six. Is that what happened to your boy, Caden Stearns? I just, I just realized. Yeah. I mean, I guess they, they think that no one else is going to claim them. All right. I'm wrong there. I raised my hand

I totally forgot about that I raised my hand when I'm wrong and I was I was wrong about Caden Stearns I frankly would put Caden Stearns on IR more than Albert O me too

I would have put you on IR before Alberto O but they clearly disagree you got Ben Van Van Sumer in those act yeah I was I was right on Ben Van Van Van Sumer we do have a super palpable buzz was

was disparity I want to say that we do have a super chat from Mike McMahon who wants to know if there's any space on the team for him. The Mobile Joe Montana. Yeah, I don't think they're going to have a fourth quarterback on the practice squad.

So no, is my guess. I don't know. Sometimes they do carry a fourth quarterback on the practice squad, actually. Sometimes they do. Ian Book is available. Yeah. I just want to say. I gave that Ian Book draft inventory thing a lot of life last year.

All right. We've done a good 40 minutes. Any final thoughts? Anything lingering, anything you're looking forward to seeing over the next 24 hours? Fran, you can go first. Yeah, yeah, Frank. To me, it would be interesting to see what they do at tight end. Obviously, you're hoping that we'll see which of these guys that they waived or is able to make it through to practice squad, who clears.

But I think what happens at the third tight end spot, whether that affects the 53 or if it's someone added to the practice squad, I think that's the number one thing I'll be looking for here in the coming 24 hours. Yeah, to kind of build on that. I'm very curious to see what they do with claims. I actually think waiver claims are one of the more interesting days of the roster building year. And there's two ways to look at this. A, not just who they claim, but who they put claims in for, right? Because they're 22nd. So that could signal something.

And then, you know, Bo brought up a good point about Thomas Booker earlier, right? You can see by the composition of the practice squad, because you assume that like 13 or 14, maybe even 16 players on your practice squad are your guys. but if you sign 15 of them, but then you sign one guy from another team, I think that shows you that this is someone that you really liked and you convince them that they should come play for you. How good does that Thomas Booker claim from last year? Look, what a great claim.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, well said. All right, well, as you said, Zach, you know, this is, you know, we like to talk about the few times of the year that the Eagles have to tell us the truth. And, you know, they can go on and have their press conference and not tell the full truth, but they told us the truth about what they thought of the roster

and guys' likelihood of getting claimed around the league. We will see how that works out over the next 24 hours. But an interesting day, 28 players on defense, 22 on offense to start. I don't know. Maybe Jeffrey Lurie doesn't believe that offense wins championships anymore, Zach. I disagree with that. Just look where they spent their money. I was going to say, where's the guaranteed money?

Exactly. Just the draft picks last couple of years. Yeah, okay. All right. Well, that'll do it for this emergency podcast presented by Indeed. Fred Frand Duffy, Zach Berman. What a ride has been. We will be back tomorrow at 2 o'clock, Zach Berman.

And if he doesn't call out sick, Shil Kapadia, joining us for some big picture Eagles conversations, a little game as well. Although, Zach, are you going to be there tomorrow? I might not actually. So the Eagles have availability and practice during the show. I want to be there so bad. I love doing every show.

I love being there with Shield. But depending on some of the people I think might be at the podium, I think it's important that, you know, we have someone there in the building. So I might actually be at Novacare as opposed to with you and Shield. Okay. Well, if that's the case, the format we have tomorrow does invite itself where that will be okay. You will still have a say in the show even if you're not there.

So that's good. And then on Thursday, Fran, how much work are you doing in preparation for your first spread your wins and fly draft? I did an initial run through today. We got power ranking set up. I'm going to go through a final comb through tomorrow and really stack the board. So I'm excited. This has been one of my favorite games on this show for years, and I'm excited to finally be able to take part.

Well, we look forward to that, and we thank everybody for watching and listening to this episode as hashtag Parham Watch reaches a fever pitch. Now is the time it has never been more palpable than it is today. For Fran and Zach, we thank you for watching and listening. Thank you to Julia for making it all happen. We'll talk to you tomorrow, and as always, we love you. You're all silly like the mayor