PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Philadelphia Eagles training camp: Stock report through Week 1, plus OL Nick Gates added

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

We’re through the first week of training camp, so it’s a good time to take stock of the players who have improved their odds of making the roster or having an impact and those who have started slow thus far. Jalen Hurts has looked better than he did in the spring, which seems like good news for the whole offense. Who else is standing out?Zach Berman and Bo Wulf go through their lists and speculate on why the team likely added veteran interior offensive lineman Nick Gates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the PHAY Eagles podcast on a Wednesday, 2 p.m. Bowulf, Zach Berman. It's a walk-through day for the Eagles, so a chance for us to take a little bit of a step back, a stock report. We know Zach loves his stocks. We're going to talk about that. Eagles made a signing after we spoke yesterday. We will unpack all of that. Plenty to discuss. Zach, how you doing?

Doing well. Excited for the show. Looking forward to talking about players who are raising their stuff. stock lowering their stock, the new edition on the offensive line. And having a good show with you, I got a few text messages from people a little concerned about yesterday's show. I said, look, it was the first day of pads. The pads are on. The pads are on on the show. The testosterone is flowing. Yeah. So I'm like, you know, now it's a walkthrough day. It's a chance to kind of catch your breath. Right. And so that's what today's show. I think we did learn a lesson yesterday that

that the post-practice shows, it's a bit of a frenzy, right, because we're making our way from the facility to the show. We're trying to write out our notes for all p-h-l-y.com as well, so there's not as much prep time. There's so many notes from practice that you want to get through. I think we need a little bit more structure on those post-practice shows moving forward. So we hash out. We will do that moving forward. I love it.

There's like, you know, there's like a relationship advice sometimes where it's best when you make it, you know, the other person's idea. And that way you, it's easily enforced, right? Because like, I've been calling for structure for five years, right? So I was thrilled now that you've come to that conclusion and we will have structure in the show. It's awesome. Do you think part of the relationship advice is then rubbing it in and making it, making a very passive, aggressive comment about how we should have been doing this all along? Do you think that works? Do you think that's the advice that you might get? I think I'm excited.

Because now I don't want to have any structure. That's what you have just done. All right. So I don't know where to go with that. Other than I'm excited to talk about the stock up, stock down today. I was. And now I'm not. Now, Zach, you are also stepping in on the PHLY Sixers show after this right at 3 o'clock with Derek Bodner.

So you're pulling double duty. How you're feeling about that? a little nervous about that. Honestly, I mean, I'm a huge NBA guy, but outside of the Eagles, which is getting the most of my attention, I've been paying a lot of attention to baseball the past few weeks. I've caught up with the Olympics basketball, but since free agency, it has not been at the forefront of my mind. But I do have a number of, you know, Sixers' opinions. And Derek structured a very good show.

that I am ready to attack with enthusiasm and information. Okay. Here's a question for you, before we get to the Nick Gates edition and the stock up. What did you make of the final episode of the Giants Hard Knocks and the screen grab that made its rounds last night of the Eagles having drafted four players who look to have been medically red flagged by the Giants, including Quinnian Mitchell? Sure. Appreciate the question because, you know, I was thinking about this one. And I thought it was, it was my least favorite of the episodes so far. I thought the show itself was outstanding. I thought this one was my least favorite, although I did have some opinions from it. To answer the question succinctly, I found that board interesting there because, like you said, four players red flagged. Dan Duggan from the Athletic had a tweet. weed up that suggested that the red flag means injury concerns. And if that's the case, Quinyan Mitchell, I don't know what the injury concern was around the draft.

Perhaps that's part of the reason he slipped. I don't know. And then there was- I also, I just want to say I don't know for certain that that is the actual way that their board looked. Like, I think there's a possibility that that was sort of retrofitted after the fact. Like, I think a lot of the graphics are not exactly the graphics you would see on the screen if it was real.

Yeah, good point because like a lot to didn't. have a red injury concern there. There weren't enough colors to really make it accurate it felt like. Yeah. And then if,

so the players who had the red flag with the Eagles drafted and there were 17 red flags on there and four of them were drafted by the Eagles, right? So it was and I think 17 was the number. Quignan Mitchell,

Cooper DeGene, Anaya Smith and then Dylan McMahon. And then the purple flagged ones, which reportedly it would indicate measurement or size concerns or Trevor Keegan and Will Shipley. Do you make anything of that? It's interesting.

I mean, maybe they have certain requirements for arm length or something like that. At running back, what would it be for Shipley? I'm trying to think where he, which measurement wouldn't fit up to the standpoint. standard. It's good question. His body size, probably. Well, no, but he's, he's not like a small running back is my point. You know, there are other.

He's not a big running back. I mean, he's, how big's Tyrone Tracy relative to Will Shipley? I don't know. Tyrone Tracy, who they drafted, is 511-209. Okay, Will Shipley is 511-209. So I guess my guess is there has to be an additional measurement that would factor into that. And I don't know what the Giants information is. Anyways, so a few thoughts there.

Overall, I thought the show was well done. I'd like how, you know, going into day two, you kind of see the process. You're hoping, you know, they're hoping for one of those corners, Lasseter or McKinjury, the fall. the one quibble that I have with the Giants approach there is there's this idea that because you have six picks, you can't trade up as if you're not able to trade down the next, you know, in the third round to recuperate picks. He's like, we can't give up our, you know, we now look, look, if you don't think it's worth trading up, that's one thing. But the idea going into the day, we're just going to have to let the board speak to us, right? And or we're not going to be able to trade up. That I don't totally buy that because you can always trade down.

I thought their strategy was okay in their first round, right? You don't need to move down from 6 to 15 if there's a player there that you really like. And it was clear Malik neighbors is someone that they really liked. I don't know who they would have landed at 15 that that would have. excited them. So I don't have an issue with them not taking that Colts trade. Who do you think the Colts were trading up for neighbors or a dunze? Is that how we're operating?

Yeah. I would imagine it was not Bowers. Yeah. Yeah. I know they like Bowers, but not Bowers. Well, if it wasn't neighbors, then you would think that they would have maybe been able to make a trade up. But also to move down from 6 to 15 for a second and a future second doesn't feel like quite

the overpay that you might expect to move down. that deep from six. I thought that the like process wise, I mean, the show continues to sort of lay bare like how unimpressive, uh, the entire process is. But I thought it was from a,

from a like planning the draft standpoint, the way that they flash back to, well, you know, if we come out of this draft with a wide receiver, a corner and a safety in the first three rounds, like they're retro like they're pre-fitting the positions. You talk about letting the board talk to you.

Like, that's not, that doesn't seem like good process. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. You know, I think some of the acknowledgments like Andrew Phillips with that's, that's the last corner there that you feel can contribute before it's the developmental part of it. That's the way teams think there, right? We talk about that often. There's tears. And drop off in tears is important.

So you try to get something before the drop off in tears. But I think you're right. You can't say we need to come out with X, Y, and Z. We need to come out with the Y receiver, a corner, right? I don't think that's the best way to think. And then from a production standpoint, I thought there was a missed opportunity. Show us the, we always hear about how hectic and crazy undrafted for agency is, right? Like that's this unbelievable, like hectic dance of everybody passing phones around and making calls.

show us that. Give us five minutes of that unfiltered. That would have been, that would have been good stuff. Sure, they went straight from the draft to the bar, right? Yeah. And then like the wives are waiting there and then. Yeah, Joe Shan's wife, credit to her, several drinks in. And then, and then like the very next day, he's doing staff evaluations. Didn't you think that was so weird? Like, don't you need a little bit of a time to step back? Like, exactly. And obviously, they didn't show anything that was negative, but like. No, but now, as, as you know as well or better than me, the scouts live around the country, right?

So they're in town. So you're meeting with them. But they can't stay until Monday. You know, it's like you're, you're fitting into staff evaluations before your daughter's birthday party. It's, uh, I'm like, so anyways. But no, I really enjoyed this show. And I'm going to get on my. my so i don't if i would call it a soapbox on on this or not i i i don't like when you see these

media members being like they should never allow you know i can't believe they're allowing them to show this like this is why team should should never have cameras in no like let's do more to desensitize the idea that that these aren't state you know when you show stuff after the fact the world's going to go on like the giant like the giant's organization's not going to fold because they had hard knocks watching this process. I mean, there might be some questionable selections in there. I thought the rationalization about the 24, 25-year-old running back, I didn't necessarily love, unless you're saying, look, he's going to be a one-contract guy anyway,

so all that matters is his age 24. I think that that bad of a bit. I mean, you know, the explosion. Fifth round. Yeah, fifth round, exactly. I'd rather have a I'd rather have a 24 year, 25 year old running back who is that old and only spent one year at running back and looked good than a guy who was in college for like six years and was like middling production. I think that's a, we're talking about a fifth round pick. Yeah.

And like I just said, if you're operating under, I don't want to say the assumption, but the presumption that your running back pick is just going to be a one contract guy. I don't think you're ever drafting a running back with a second contract in mind, to be fair. Exactly. So then the age doesn't bother me as much there either. Okay. All right. After the show yesterday, just after the show, our show, the Eagles made a signing, adding Nick Gates, the veteran interior offensive lineman who has sort of an inspiring injury recovery recovery story, very nasty injury he suffered with the Giants, went on to play for Washington. So he's continuing his tour around the NFL.

the NFL is obviously not a great history of players who have been around the NFC East joining their team, but that's neither here nor there. Before we get to Nick Gates, Zach, I do think, so they release Mario Goodrich to make way for Nick Gates, and a good reminder of like the arc of the summer and how quickly things can change. I mean, last year, Mario Goodwich was the feel-good story of roster cutdown day, making it onto the roster as the backup nickel after Zach McPherson had suffered a season-ending injury and they didn't have another backup nickel on the team. Goodrich gets thrown into the mix early in the season doesn't look super great.

They end up putting him on the practice squad. And he was absolutely buried on the depth chart this year. So things can change quickly. A good reminder of that just because you make the team doesn't mean you're going to stay on the team. But how will you remember the Mariet Goodrich era? A few things. First off, I also think it's a good lesson that a strategy of having like a bunch of undrafted corners and late round corners and just hoping one emerges is probably not the like of this a sound roster building strategy.

Because he was part of that group from a few years ago. Don't you remember when they had you? What's that? Luigi Batpore. Yeah. Yeah. No, but they had your take down and Carrie Vincent Jr. and who was Josh Blackwell might have been in there, right?

I'm trying to think of. They had a handful of like a... Yeah, I think you're there's, there's, you're conflating the mid-season additions and then the following Okay. The guy's job of the guys. I thought, but yeah, but I did think that was a talking point. Look, it's, it's hard. It's hard to make it in the NFL.

Like Mara Goodrich, a nice guy, hard worker. I remember talking to him last year. Like you said, he makes the 53. It's a good story. And then it's also. it kind of goes into we pay so much attention to who makes the 53. They make a roster move a few weeks later, right?

He's then on the practice squad. This is a hard business. And I get it here. Like I was watching Zach McPherson in practice yesterday. And I'm like, Zach McPherson, who is a real solid special teams contributor for the Eagles, you know, fourth round pick, a guy who going into the last year competing to be backup slot.

Like, he was a contributing member of the Super Bowl team. He's probably in his hotel room at camp saying, like, how am I going to make this rock? I can't get on the field. Yeah. So, yeah, this is a hard business because every year, you know, like, I'm proud of our show. You and I, I think we've built a really good show. Can you imagine if every year they just draft new people to come in and try to take your show from you, right? it's a hard business.

So yeah, you feel from Eric Goodrich there, but that's the name of the game. Curious to see if he catches on. And I am, I did, I text you today because I am curious, your thoughts in particular as someone who I think more than anyone in the media core has, has a good grasp of the offensive line depth and kind of what goes into their thinking here. Why do you think Nick Gates was a priority for them here?

Well, you don't need to guess. too much, but obviously I have been thinking about this. I think there are a few ways to read it that are potentially interesting. I think the most likely thing is they have suffered an injury with Tyler Steen. You know, they had a couple guys banged up yesterday. Landon Dickerson might be out for a few days. You know, they had a couple other guys banged up. They need bodies, and he was the top guy on their PFA list.

I think that's probably the most likely answer. You know, they had guys pulling double duty yesterday. You need 15 guys. you want 15 guys to get through practice. But if I can interject real quick, there's a type of player you can get. You can get the journeyman offensive line. I'm sorry, you can get the undrafted rookie, a guy who kind of fits that profile, more of the camp body, as opposed to someone who has, you know,

five years of NFL experience, significant starting experience, signed a decent contract a year ago with Washington. Sure. And so then you look at the rest of what you've seen. You could make the case that this is, they don't like what they've seen from Max Sharping. You know, they want a little bit more from that spot. I think the way that I read it is right now, McGi Bechton is in that right guard, right, and has been up and down.

They're going to see how he does. I have been impressed with Matt Hennessy so far. And with Matt Hennessy right now focusing on right guard. as the second team red guard. They don't have, you know, Brett Tooth is the nominal second team center at the moment. We have tried the Brett Tooth at center experiment for a while. It has been underwhelming. Dylan McMahon is the third team center practicing with the second team in team drills.

I think they're excited about him. But if they don't think that Dylan McMahon is necessarily ready to be the backup center on game day, and there's a chance that Matt Hennessy is going to be the starting Red Guard, which maybe is just a little bit more likely than they thought a couple days ago, then maybe you do need a veteran backup center, and that could be Nick Gates. It could be that they want to see Nick Gates at Red Guard, see if he can be a competitor there. Maybe the Steen injury is a little bit more significant than it seems,

and they have been overwhelmed with Mackay Beckton. I think the rational takeaway is that they, not to overvalue the new 90th man on the roster, but I think they would like to see a little bit more from the interior offensive line. We talked about it yesterday. They got overrun a little bit. Good point. Just to kind of give the audience a quick Nick Gates synopsis here. He has 37 career starts, 6-5, 312 pounds, has played centering and guard like Boe is discussed.

here a year ago signed a three year, 16.5 million dollar contract with Washington with 8 million guaranteed. So certainly he is someone who was cut, is someone who is available, but he is not your, you know, camp body journeyman type. He is a legitimate NFL player. Well, yeah, he's, he's, he's saying, this is not, this is not like signing. I'm sorry, I'm sorry to throw this, like, uh, that's just the name of the, comes my mind, Malcolm Punch, right? Oh, shot. It was stray in the direction of Malcolm Punch.

That's tough. No, I mean, this is someone who's started and played in the league. Yeah. And still relatively young, right? Yeah, I'm curious to see where he lines up tomorrow. I guess, or I guess my guess would be second team center, maybe. We'll see. Maybe third team center, though, let Tilla McMahon be the same.

second team guy for now and get Gates acclimated. Maybe he'll be at right guard. I'm curious. So, definitely, definitely interesting as the often of lying starting right guard. Before we move on, Zach, and get to the stock report, it's time to talk about our friends at Bet365. And I can pull this up in a minute because with Bet365, it's never ordinary. Not once, not ever. Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide and streams over 780,000 events each year. Early payout offers across NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB, Bet365 has pioneered live in-game betting. And today they offer the widest range of games and markets available for live in-game betting across 78 different sports. at Bet365, they don't do ordinary, and they believe every sport should be epic, and that's why you've got this incentive to join and open an account.

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And throwing back a nice cold Miller Light. Because a lot has changed over the years. One thing that hasn't, it's great to watch day baseball. Another thing that hasn't is the great taste of Miller Light. So what is the great thing that were the best thing about the original light beer? Miller Light sparked this debate in 1975. we still have not settled it. Miller Light keeps it simple. They have undeatable quality, great taste, and only 96 calories. It's the beer that strips away everything you don't need and holds on to what matters most.

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And I want the prognostication of whether it will continue to grow or recede. So why don't you go first? Give me your first stock up. Good wrinkle. And I have that in my notes. So I like that. I'll be a little impromptu. First stock up, Thomas Booker.

No, no, I'm just. Oh, I'm just trying to have some fun. Yeah, I know. Just trying to have some fun, loosen up. J-1-Hertz. And look, I get it. Off the board. Off the board that this would be your first stock up.

But I honestly, I do not. I do not disparate you. I think it is very reasonable. No, exactly. And I did, in all earnestness, I put thought into what we were saying on yesterday's show. And I think there is a medium between talking about or focusing on J-on-Carter, focusing on Thomas Booker.

And I'm saying that was leading with J-1-Hertz here. And I need to. pointed out because how much time did we devote in the spring to this summer with questions about jow and hertz right so if you were selling jail and hurt stock uh in the spring you probably could buy it at a better price before the before training camp and that's and that stocks appreciated during the first week here i think he's looked good he hasn't thrown in an interception yet uh the ball is is not touching the ground that often although a little more in yesterday's practice i think he looks quicker than he did a year ago. Clearly, he was playing with a knee injury a year ago.

I noticed a little bit of a hitch in his step yesterday, like just a little bit slower yesterday than he was at the start of Kent. Ooh, okay. I mean, I've been kind of talking on the aggregate, but that is something I will be paying attention to. And then the reality is we've, for all that we've broken down about the team, we all said the big part of this season is going to be how Jalen Hurts takes to Kellen Moore's offense, right? And I, for all. get a control setting is only showing you so much. And when you're facing against a defense that has a game plan specifically geared toward you,

a lot could change. But through five practices, I think his stock is up. And this is probably a hold. I don't know if I would buy more stock of him right now. But I think whatever shares you own, hold it, take some dividends on it, treat it like, you know, three, four years from now, you'll be in good spot. Compound interest, right? You can't just throw out vocab terms and pretend like it means something.

I'm not throwing. No, compound interest means that you're contends. You know what compound interest means, right? Yeah, I know what it means. It doesn't really apply here when I'm asking you to follow ourselves. It absolutely applies here because, Beau, if it if you bought it at X, okay, and now, Now it's X plus Y. Okay.

And it increases one and a half percent tomorrow. It's not increasing from S. It's increasing from X plus Y compound interest. Okay. So you're saying you would buy. You think it's going to it's going to raise his stock is his stock is going to continue to rise. Yep.

I'm saying I would hold the shares that you have and see it continue to grow. I wouldn't no because okay, because there are other players here who I'm like buy more stock in them like really but you know you know take this buy more stock i'm saying the jail and hurt stock what you own is because you didn't buy it at like a bargain we don't need to get it bottom line uh i think you should feel good if you have jell and hurt stock the appropriate amount you have the appropriate amount yeah i think i mean i think you're right and there's no doubt that we were i think concerned is too strong but but it was very much on our writer that Jillen Hertz did not look super awesome in the spring.

So there was a big question about what he was going to look in camp. He started camp looking awesome. Those first three practices were like dynamic. Everything was on the ball was coming out on time. Everything was accurate. You know, he was making the right reads. I think the last couple days have been a little bit slower just because the offensive line has not really held up a little bit, but he has seemed to react to that well.

And so, yeah, importantly, he has he has looked good and, better than he did in the spring, you know, NASDAQ, closing time, all that good stuff. Opening bell. Okay. All right. I'll give you my, go ahead. No, no, keep going. Okay, I'll give you my first, my first stock up. I'm going to go, I mean, I think this is, we don't need to go into this too much. This is a little bit obvious, but Kili Ringo, the fact that he is getting the majority of the work as the first team, opposite Darry Slay is a positive development for him. He has looked good.

With those reps, Isaiah Rogers has looked good too. Both of those guys continue to look good. I feel like that's a little bit less interesting just because we... So I will go instead. I'll say, I'll say C.J. Garner Johnson, who I do think has flashed lately. Had a very good practice yesterday, around the ball. You know, he does read things quickly coming downhill, both in the run game and the passing game. That stands out.

the energy stuff, hard to say how much that matters. But he has been the most vocal guy on the starting defense. So the Eagles are getting what they paid for in that sense. And the thing that they talked about feeling like they needed. We can debate whether that's an overcorrection or not, but they are getting that. And I think that C.J. Garnard Johnson has looked good. And importantly, has been healthy for a guy who has had trouble staying healthy over the past couple of weeks, or the last couple seasons, rather.

Yeah, I would agree there. And I do think that the movement skills that he has is an asset to this offense, like especially relative to what they were at safety a year ago. I think the athleticism has been apparent. So that's a good one. Did you see his Twitter discussion of the Madden safety ratings? I did not. He was no, what did he said?

He was chagrined not to be in the. the top 10 of the Madden safety ratings. And I generally really could not care less about the Madden ratings. And as they come across my feet, I mostly gloss over it. But I did look at these safety ones. They have like, they have Kevin Byard as like the fifth or sixth best safety in an 87 overall. I mean, what are we doing? Yeah.

I imagine that's going to be corrected quickly. We know, with the ratings adjustment. We had a babysitter here last night. You know, Emily and I went out to dinner. And so get home and Reed played the babysitter in college football. And let the babysitter be Georgia. And she beat him. And I'm like, I'm like, Reed.

It was her first time playing. And I'm like, I'm like, how did you lose, man? and he's like, I was Kansas. I let her be Georgia. I was like, still, she hadn't played before. He's not allowed to have dinner tonight because he lost to a girl in college football. Well, there's nothing to do with the gender. It has everything to do with the fact that he's playing and it was her first time,

but he's going to get better from the experience. I promise you that. You promised me that. I was so worried. Thank you. So my next one up is the thumbnail for today's show, and that is Keely Ringo. I think Keely Ringo's stock is up. And the reason I think he, unless did you put him in there because he thought a stock was down.

I did just talk about him. You were talking to CJ Gardner Johnson. Yeah, the preamble to that was Keyley Ringo. Okay. Okay. So then I will go on from Keely Ringo then. Okay. I thought your pick was C.J.

Garner Johnson. But anyways, I'll move on from Kili Ringo. I thought we could have extensive more conversation about Kli Ringo. But I'll tell me about Kili Ringo, but. Now, here, I will go Zach Bonn. I'm going with Zach Bond. And this stock was in decent shape during the offseason, right? But the fact that he's been the first one up by a linebacker, five straight days here, says something to me. I'm actually not convinced. So to use your thing,

I would sell the stock right now, right? You bought it. It's appreciated here. I would sell it because I am not certain that he is going to hold the top linebacker spot. I still think that Kobe Dean can make a push.

If you watched our show on Friday, not you, but the audience watched a show on Friday. You made the case for Jeremiah Trader Jr. At some point this year, I thought you outlined the Zach Bond case that day better than anyone I've heard, which is New Orleans saw him for four years. Did not, they were invested in him.

They drafted him in the third round. They had him in the building for four years. They never said, this is the guy who should be our starting inside backer, right? So I tend to think that a player who is taking on that role with you, it needs to be someone who like, there's a strong reason why he didn't start elsewhere. Or maybe there was injuries or maybe there was a contract thing like the Devin White situation. Maybe there was a Nigel Bradham thing where he underperformed.

In Zach Bond's case, he could have taken the starting job with the Saints. could could could not take that over. So I don't think that he's he's going to be as big a revelation. I can see him starting early in the year, but I would imagine someone like Nicobi Dean or Jeremiah Trotter Jr. can push for that spot. I think he said it well. There's no doubt that from the start of camp to now, the stock is up because of the role that he has had.

But I am, I am skeptical that it will last this long. Actually, and I do think that he's looked okay, but that's well said. I will give you the very low-hanging fruit that corresponds with this. Can't make the clump in the stump. Stock down right now, Orrin Burks, like at some point he's going to have to get on the field. Probably out of his control, you know, he can only do what his body can do. But the longer this goes, the less likely it seems that he is going to have a spot. on the roster he's going to have to fight a nut bill battle if he's not back within the next few days i would

say i don't want to jump ahead of our shows here i imagine we'll be doing an all 53 show at some point but if if you were making your 53 man roster right now would berks be on it would van sumeran be on it linebacker tbd to be on it i think right now if i was doing it it would either be van sumer in or neither of them and it would only be four um if i was doing it right now i would have to The top four, you know, Devin White, Zach Bond, Jacoby Dean, Jeremiah Trado, Jr. And then maybe Ben Ben Zimmerin right now. If I can build on this conversation, we're kind of take it into a different direction a bit. We didn't talk much yesterday about the kickoff.

We haven't spent much time at all talking about it. I thought Rick and Covey gave an interesting answer about how some teams are going to be using like DB type bodies. some teams are going to be using D.N. linebacker type bodies, and he thinks the returner is really going to be based on the matchup or kind of the personnel, you know, depending on who's out there. Or at least that's the way I interpreted what he said. Ben Van Suman, do you think that he's going to be a key part of the Eagles? Like, do you think his ability on special teams, he does look active out there? Do you think that's going to help his roster chances?

Do you think there's so much unknown right now about the kickoffs that we still don't have, have a sense of, like, who the special team's demons going to be? Well, I don't think that the unknown nature of the kickoffs necessarily changes who the best special teams players in general will be. There's no doubt that Ben Van Sumerin's special team's ability will help his chances of making the roster. I think the Eagles will have to decide whether it's more likely that he gets claimed or not, because if he doesn't get claimed, they can put him on a practice squad and elevate him

and see how things shake out after the first. couple weeks. I don't know necessarily if they're going to be super concerned about losing him on the wire. I mean, the kickoff stuff, it's fascinating from a this is something new standpoint. And I do think you will see a bit of a push and pull early in the season with, you know, heavy personnel out there versus lighter personnel out there trying to maximize speed. But I also think we can probably overstate its impact and how much teams are going to worry about it from a, from our roster building standpoint, especially early in the season,

if you don't know what to expect and you want to just see how things play out, I mean, you can just kick it out of the back of the end zone and give them the ball in the 30. Like, you know, you shouldn't, you shouldn't lose a better player at the bottom end of your roster because you are super concerned about,

oh my gosh, what is the other team going to do here? Yeah, and it's, look, it's both sides of the kickoff too, right? So it's something to think, about as well. You know, it's when you're returning and it's it's when you're defending that you obviously need to factor in punt returns as well and punt coverage as well. But yeah, I do know Van Sumer is someone that they really like from a special team's perspective. I don't know how that's going to factor into the roster math. There's obviously new faces across the board. But Orrin Berks is someone who's been a productive special teams player in the past. That's part of why

he was signed. But I think you brought up a good point. about the fact that Orrinberg's has missed time here. Sorry, I lost you for a second there, but... Is it my connection or your connection? General, just... Yeah. I don't know. Okay.

I don't know. All right, do you have one more stock up? There's, yeah, so the stock up, and then there's obviously a corresponding stock down, which we can get to after the break. But a stock up, I have his grand calcutera. and I have his stock up because I thought there's going to be more of a competition for that number two tight end job

and Grant Calcutera seemed to run away with it. Now, I don't know if it's performance related per se. I'm not watching these practices and saying they need to get Grant Calcutera on the field. But I do think Grant Calcutera is someone who he's been the clear number two tight end, anecdotably watching it, but also comments from speaking to the players,

from hearing press conferences from, you know, Kelly Moore and the grant Calcutera as the number two tight end. I don't want to say it's a foregone conclusion, but it's kind of the way the conversation shifted. The amount of work that he's taking with the ones, with the ones when they're in 12 personnel, again, I thought we would see more C.J. Uzama in there. I thought there might be maybe more Albert Ho.

They signed out or no quickly during the summer. Oh, I'm sorry, during the off season. It's been very much through five days, Grant Calcutara is the number two tight end. Yeah, I think this is where there's a distinction between like stock up for, like you said, just the usage and the role that they seem to have versus the level of play. And like, I don't, I don't think that Grand Calcutera has particularly done anything super notable in the offense. he's looked awesome, but it is it is certainly worth mentioning that he has taken like all the reps as the number two tight end. But this this seems to me more stock up as a function of how he's being used than necessarily what he's done. True. But that's my exact point is if I think about

what I expected the tight end depth chart to look like in camp, I thought this was going to be a competition more for that number two job. And I think he's, he's comfortably ahead on July 31st. Yeah. I think this might be one where I'm selling. I would too. And I got to say, Donald Parham's still out there. You're bringing the material today.

I appreciate that. I like what I make you laugh. That's what I'm shooting for. This is another one that we have talked about, but I'm going stock up just on the movement skills and what I've seen from JLX Hunt. as the rookie third round pick, I was expecting there to be a little bit more of a rawness to him, a long runway ahead.

And right now I see a guy, I mean, it's only been one day in pads, but it's a guy who looks apart. And I will not be surprised now if he's an actual member of the game day rotation. Like, if you would ask me a week ago, I would have thought that J. Alex Sun had a good chance to, you know, compete for the feely and just be a red, shirt player, you know, spending the year learning how to play the position and getting acclimated to

the change in physicality. And he does not look like that to me right now. He looks like a promising player who like body type wise, movement wise, might be able to make an impact as a rookie. Good point. Just want to give a quick shout out. Dave Zingarrel from NBC Sports, Philly. You know, I think you need to respect bits, if you will. Like if someone said, I'm going to do the Which player has impressed me the most story, you know, and asking, you know, doing the player survey, I'd be like, what are you doing? That's, that's Bo's piece, right? Well, to be fair. Yeah.

Dave Z does a great job every year with the rookie diary. You know, he catches up with someone throughout training camp, and it's like surviving camp. And he's doing J-Ox hunt this year. But I point this out because Dave has an impressive history in picking the. the players that, like, he did T.J. Edwards when T.J. Edwards was the undrafted rookie. He did Jordan Myelado, and Jordan Milato was the seventh round pick. And they obviously both went on to be good players. So perhaps he, you know, he finds like the most charismatic guy who is, who helps, but it has a good track record. So his first one came out today. I was reading that.

And I agree with what you said about J. Alex Hunt. I was relatively, skeptical of the player, but I said a third round pick on a guy who is a project, and he's less of a project than I anticipated for the reason that you mentioned, the movement skill jumps out. Well, Zach, don't sleep on Dave Zangaro, and especially don't snore when you're lying next to Dave Zangaro. That's what I think. And that's what they think at Sleep Healthy PA. That's what they can help you with because at Sleep Healthy PA, they are committed to helping Philadelphia residents, the snore and find solutions for sleep apnea that will allow you to rest well and improve your health. What causes sleep apnea? You know, it's that choke point in the throat that causes

snoring kind of like a kink in a garden hose and Dr. Andrew Cohen can help you uncink that bad boy because he is board certified in dental sleep medicine and his staff will work one on one with you to provide first class care that will meet your needs. Many physicians are not equipped to provide other options outside of CPAP machines. And if you're tired of a CPAP machine that's too cumbersome and, you know, making too much noise and distracting your significant other from being able to sleep, well, give Dr. Andrew Cohen a call. He's based in Jenkins Town and he has worked for years to educate dentists across the country on his personal approach to helping those with sleep apnea.

His team is committed to stopping the snore. So tell him, Ph.L.Y sent you. and receive 15% off your initial workup. The process is a two-hour initial exam split into the information gathering and then the reviewing of results and sharing of recommendations. Once again, if you are experiencing sleep apnea and are looking for a custom solution to stop the snore, reach out to Dr. Andrew Cohen at sleephealthyPA.com or call 215-337-2501 and tell him PHLY sent you.

I was up late last night, waiting for Jim Salisbury to send in a story because I was eager to read it. And the story you can read on all phtly.com right now if you are a diehard member. And it got into some details of the Phillies at that the deadline, including a player, a high profile player, they were hot after and what their plans would have been for him had they made that deal. So you can check that out on Ph.LY right now. but you can also check out our practice observations. There's going to be a story up in the next day that I'm working on. There's Charlie O'Connor has his mailbag up right now. And the great thing, too, is in addition to premium written content from the best collection of writers in the city,

you also get 20% off events. You also get a discount on merchandise. You get a free shirt when you become a member. You get access to the members-only Discord, which we call the P.H. HLY Lounge, which I'm monitoring every day. Head over to all phtly.com now and join the best sports fans in this city. All right. Give me your first stock down, Mr. Berman.

First stock down, so Cooper to Jean. And this is a clear one for me. I thought going into camp, he was going to be the starting slot. And right now, I, you know, I think as you outlined well, Quinyon Mitchell could be in the convention for that. And Cooper to Jean, even if he does play, like in the first month or two of the season, he's missing valuable time here. So I expect him to play early.

And I think this missed time is going to affect his rookie year. Now, it's not going to totally, like, shelve him. And I think back to guys like Odo Beckham Jr. and Justin Jefferson, who had historic rookie seasons. miss time early in their seasons, but this is valuable time that he's not out there. No doubt about it. But an opportunity to buy. Well, that is true.

Yeah, so I suppose the stock is down, but it's a good chance to buy. Well said. There you go. Another rookie, overwhelming start to camp at a position where the egos could use somebody to, you know, make an impact and flash. and that's Ania Smith, who coming off not really getting to do much in the spring because he was hampered by an injury during the draft process, has not really flashed from what I've seen. And usage-wise, you know, he's with the twos and the threes.

But you also don't really see, like, dynamic movement skills yet. He also, I mean, he hasn't had a chance to get the ball in the open field, so we can't see that. I'll be curious to see if he's able to do stuff in the preseason games. but for now, I would say stocked down for the first week of camp for an IASM. I am with you there. He is on my list. I don't want to be anchored to opinions that I had on draft weekend, but my opinion hasn't changed.

Is that if you don't have standout size speed and you don't have standout production, okay, then you really need to be a standout on the practice. field, right? Because like, what are you buying right now? And so you're, you're buying the football player going into a different opportunity. And I don't think he has, he has ran with that yet. I thought when they drafted him, there's a chance for him to be the number three receiver. And he hasn't taken that yet. It's still, it's five practices into a rookie season. We'll see what happens in camp. But I do think the stock's down. And this is not a stock that I am buying right now, even at a lower price. Interesting.

All right. Who do you got that? Yeah. So I have Kenny Pickett here. And I have too. Okay. And reason being like, small hands.

Well, that's that's not why I have to stock down. But it's funny, I was on Anthony's show. And VG said, how's how small hands picket doing or something like that? Here's the thing is that if you took all context out of it, if you came to the practice. You didn't know who they were. And I said to you, one of these guys behind G. Owen Hertz was a first round pick and is the front runner is, and it's going to be their backup quarterback this year. And the other one, uh, was a late round pick who like is more of the developmental type. You would think that McKee is the first round pick who's the backup.

And you would think pick. And you would think pick is the developmental type. Now, again, it's five practices. I watched DeOvers preseason last year. I thought Pickett looked really good in the preseason. Maybe there's something to the fact that he's a gamer. Maybe there's something to the fact that he's acclimating to the personnel around him. I can't say acclimating to the offense because they're all acclimating to the offense, right? But this is new personnel around him. That said, I expected to see more from Kenny Pickett during training camp than I've seen.

I'm trying to be generous here and think back to. the backup quarterback that we have seen throughout training camp over the past decade or so and it does seem like a difficult job you know last year was Marcus Mariotta

was like looked worse than almost anybody in camp even Gardner Minchu who was a good backup quarterback did not look super great in training camp Nick Foles notoriously not a great practice player I think maybe there's something to be said that that job in particular is pretty difficult there's probably

a case to be made that like defense tends to be a little bit deeper. Yes, exactly. And so you are up against it. Like if the offensive, the second team offensive line is probably going to be worse than the second team defensive line. Because the second team defensive line plays, right? And if the second team wide receivers are out there, those guys don't get on the field that often. And corners, maybe there's not a huge difference between who are the starters and who are the backup. So maybe it's maybe that is, it is just a difficult job.

and nobody's going to look great there. But I think what is telling is that compared to Tanner McKee, Tanner McKee does look better. He seems to have a better tempo in the offense. He seems to have a better understanding of where the ball should be going and when it should be coming out. He has, to me, thrown a more accurate ball. So like the picket stock down, I think, is a little bit more about the comparison to McKee.

than it is about just how he has looked exactly. But there's no doubt that he has not looked like a first-round pick who the Eagles are going to be thrilled to have at this unbelievable price for the next two seasons. He just looks okay. And to build on what you just said there, that is 100% accurate about backup quarterbacks. And it's something that I've talked about and that I believe there's more mixing and matching personnel. on the back end of defense,

then there is, even on the front end of defense, right, then there is with the offense. You're playing with the second team offensive line at all times, right? You're never playing with A.J. Brown and Devante Smith. There's a clear drop-off at wide receiver beyond A.J. Brown and Devonte Smith. So the personnel and more than anything,

I would say quarterback, in practice, your personnel matters so much. If your receivers aren't making plays on balls, if your offensive lines is not blocking and you're under duress, right? There's only so much that a quarterback is able to do in a practice setting that a relative to, you know, I think his personnel matters quite a bit. So we will see.

But yeah, the way you framed it compared to Tanner McKee is the key part of that. All right, Zach, in a couple minutes, we're going to let you get going. so you can prep for that Sixers show with Derek Bidner. So with that in mind, if there are any questions that the sickos in the chat would like answered over the past, you know, five minutes of the show or whatever, put those in. And I will do what I can. But give us through. There are some in the starred part of this, J-1 Hertz number 15 on the NFL top 100.

I'm not a big NFL top 100 guy. And it seems to be a high rating, but it's there. Okay. Do you have one more you'd like to get off your list before you go? The one guy in the stock up that I didn't get to was Keely Ringo. Will Shipley. And again, maybe it's like stocks where I thought, but Will Shipley is getting work with the ones. And Will Shipley is he's been a part of this offense, right?

like compared to Anaya Smith who you would think, look, a fourth round running back and a fifth round receiver, they're both day three picks. Who has a better chance of playing with the ones? Your fifth round receiver or your fourth round running back, who should be your number three, your three running back compared to, you know, Anaya Smith who should be like your fourth or fifth receiver. Anaya Smith hasn't really mixed in much with the ones. Will Shipley has mixed in with the ones. and I stand by what I've said that if if Sequin Berkeley goes down, I think Will Shipley would get the plurality of the snaps

at that position. Okay. I'm not so sure I agree with that, but that's okay. Okay. I mean, he's worked with the ones when Sequin's been out. No, he's worked with the ones even when Sequin's been in. Like, yeah, I think there's, I think you're totally within your rights to say, stock up Will Shipley.

He's been involved. He's made some plays in the passing game. Let's see what it looks like when the pads are on. What's it going to take for you to pay Will Shipley, for you to like Will Shipley? I just said, you're within your rights to say stock up. He's looked solid. Okay.

He said it like reluctantly. There was like a reluctance to your admission there. Not really. Okay. I just let's, you know, let's see it. Fair enough. Yeah. Okay.

All right. Well, Zach, go ahead, have some fun. with Mr. Bodner talking. Yeah, once this shows over, if you want to jump over, the great thing about PHOIs is we have programming throughout the day. We'll be talking about Joel and Bede and Team USA. We'll be talking about players in Philly Sports who have had their legacies heavily influenced by a specific game, a moment, a playoff run. We'll be talking about whether there's like legit or manufactured concern for some of the questions about the Sixers. I might have some KJ Martin trade ideas to throw out there.

So you can check that out, and I will be changing the channel over to the Team USA basketball game in the corner of my eye as well. So this was fun. I look forward to seeing both you guys in studio tomorrow. I should have both of you in studio tomorrow, and I will do better tomorrow. Thank you, Zach. Go have fun. I will continue and give you a couple more. stocks, some stock tips, a player who we have talked about, but has not super impressed.

We talked about it yesterday. Bryce Huff, he has a difficult job going up against Lane Johnson so often, but for the guy who is the highest price addition of the offseason has not made a ton of play so far. So that's a stock down, but one where I think it's probably fair to buy. And then another defensive player who part of the core four last year, Yeah, all of those guys looking awesome. Reed Blankenship continues to hold down the safety position. Tanner McKee looks awesome.

Christian Ellis is probably going to win DPOI with the New England Patriots this year. But Morrow Ojamo, you were hoping to see, I think, a big jump year two. This is a guy who's probably the safest of the non-starting defensive tackles in terms of making the roster. I just, I would like to see a little bit more from Morrow Ojima so far. So somebody to keep an eye on. Let's check out these starred questions now. A lot of questions about the, I don't know how to pronounce this. What is this?

The Ospre, I don't know what that is. So I'll have to get with Julia on that. Not sure what that is, although I will say that there is a possibility, there's an idea percolating. I could potentially answer that question, but I will not commit to it or not. Any other questions from the chat before we go? Reminder that tomorrow evening is the Eagles open practice at the link.

The only time that you lay people have a chance to see the Eagles before the regular season at the link. We will have a show at 2 o'clock beforehand and then a show at Friday to talk about what we saw. Thursday night, big chance to see Nick Gates' debut for the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, more questions about this thing that I cannot necessarily discuss, but we're thinking about it. We're thinking about it. Also on my list, stock up Matt Hennessy, stock down Max Sharping, but I think we'll have plenty of time to talk about those things. So that'll do it for this episode of the P.H.L.Y. Eagles podcast. We will be back once again tomorrow at 2 o'clock. Go check out Zach and Derek Bodner talking Sixers,

root on the U.S. women's soccer team with Sam Coffee. And that's pretty much all we got. For all of us here at PHLY, we will talk to you tomorrow. And as always, we love you.