PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Undersized OL Willie Lampkin is the newest Eagle and your new favorite player

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Mina Kimes and Fran Duffy agree, Willie Lampkin is awesome. The Eagles claimed the undersized OL to add to Jeff Stoutland University and we were all over it. Jason Kelce? Old news. Willie Lampkin is the truth. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Waivers have hit. The Eagles have made a claim. And what a payoff this is for a long time, P-H-L-Y sickos. Think about this. We talked about it on the PHLY draft show with Fran Duffy, his favorite player in the draft. We talked about it last week with a certain national reporter.

We, Willie Lampkin, the offensive lineman from UNC, the undersized guy who had everything else you could ever want. claimed by the Eagles, E.J. Smith. He is an eagle. We will talk about it in a sec. But first, let's hear what Mina Kahn said about it. How has Willie Lampkin looked? Oh, I got heard the last game.

We did? I didn't know that. Yeah, I was, okay, this is a funny one because, like, Rams preseason, which I call, I truly didn't know that they picked him up in free agency, right? I'm not keeping track of the UDFA signings around the league. Then you're looking at the depth chart for the first preseason game. and I see him and I get really excited comes into the game and I'm like gassing him up to the point where everyone's like are you really like this is the you know we're in the third quarter this is an undrafted center he's tiny are you making fun of him yeah yeah I was like no like I'm telling you guys and and um I got a little grief for people were like you weren't grinding with okay it's like yeah I wasn't I was watching omarion Hampton like Drake May like all of us who do the draft have just watched a lot of UNC over the last couple of years because of those first rounders.

But watching O'Mary in Hampton, I thought I was, I was like, this kid looks unbelievable. Like, I was so impressed by him. And it's also just like so physically unique. I mean, when he's on the field, it's just really. Yeah. And like, centers are short. Obviously, Philly is no stranger to that with Kelsey, but like, he is short, right? And he played so well in week one.

Then a week two, he got injured pretty quickly, which was such a bummer. So we'll see what happens. The Rams are in a unique spot because they actually have a ton of center depth. They brought back Coleman Shelton from Chicago. and Bo Limmer, who started for them. Jalen Carter knows Bo Limer, by the way. And Dylan McMahon, my guy, Dylan McMahon. Dylan McMahon, yeah.

So they have a lot of center depth. So I'm not sure what's going to happen with Lampkin, but I feel like he's going to get picked up somewhere. All right. So the Eagles have Dylan McMahon. E.J., give us the scoop. Welcome to the show, by the way. Yeah, I had to give you the clear out today.

This is an ISO-Boe type of, yeah, type of... Give us the scoop on the transactions the Eagles have made since we last spoke. Yeah, so the Eagles have waived Trevor Key. and Tristan McCollum to clear two spots on the roster for Charlie. Like vindication for people who didn't have them on the roster, but you know, that's okay. I'll give you, I'll give you credit because you did call the fact that they could go thin at safety because Cooper to Gene factors into that position. But yeah, they wave those two players to clear space for Charlie Hewlett.

He is back with the Eagles after being out in the cold yesterday. So my, my guess there is they tried to bring him back on the practice squad and they had a nice handshake deal with the agent until another team. came calling and wanted to put him on the active roster. So they said, okay, we'll bring him back. Yeah, yeah, that's a good reading of the situation there. And then, yeah, Willie Lampkin is the addition on the waiver wires. Really?

Yeah, no, he's an interesting player. I'm very excited to talk about just how unique of a guy he is. And I mean, come on, there's not many times you're going to read in a Fran Duffy scouting report. But damn it, he's a good player, you know? Well, what a tease, EJ, because guess who joins us now on the Xfinity Mobile call-in line, the biggest fan of Willie Lampkin. Look at the smile on this guy's face. Fran, congratulations.

Just what a wonderful, wonderful day. I just teased my appearance on social media by saying this, the biggest acquisition for the Eagles since Sequin Barclay. Just an unbelievable, momentous occasion. Not literally, though. Not literally, no. I mean, this is a true outlier from a size standpoint for the offensive line. And we did our draft shows back in the spring.

And, you know, you allowed me to wax poetic on Willie Lampkin. I remember the day when you're like, you know what? I have my guy. Yeah. And I remember you, you watched it. And you're like, I just love him. I can't talk about this player without smiling. I was thinking about that earlier.

He's just, look, he's five, ten and a half. I remember when I was down at the senior bowl in January and they, you know, you give out the measurables. And I'm looking at the weight. And I was like, 270 pounds. It was like, that's got to be like a, misprint. There's no way an offensive lineman is here at 270 under 511. I was like, oh, maybe he's maybe, maybe is it a linebacker? Did they mean? No, this, this guy goes out.

And he is just, he's a rolling ball of razor blades every single time he takes the field. You wouldn't know that he's like a size mismatch from like a frame standpoint. You watch him every single practice down at the senior bowl. You watch him on tape at North Carolina. You watch him in the preseason in the NFL. And honestly, I wonder how much of of it, you know, was, because this was a guy I thought would be a good fit here in Philadelphia, given the success that Jeff Stoutland had with Jason Kelsey and certainly what

we've seen from Cam Juergens, guys that are on the smaller side, certainly at center. And when you look at Lampkin, I was all right, this would make a lot of sense. Now, the Eagles passed on him numerous times. He goes to undrafted free agency. He ends up with the Rams. But then you see him when he's healthy in that first preseason game and he's just, I mean, he's

got a body count of like five or six off that game. And then he gets hurt. Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't. Look, Willie Lampkin, he gets me fired up. I'm excited. So I have, well, clearly the Eagles really like him because he was waived injured. So they're carrying him right now, even though he's not going to be ready to play, presumably. But I think you know what I'm going to ask.

Is there any chance that not only is Willie Lampkin working with Jeff Stoutland, but he's also potentially coming for Ben Van Van Sumerin's job? Could be. You know, look, he. they moved on from Trevor Keegan, a guy that you insinuate that I hate. So it's only right that you would then say that's Ben Van Van Van Zuma player that you hate.

Yeah, that's a fair shot. You think I did think that that was a fallback plan for Willie Lampkin was that he could be, you know, Scott Matlock out with the Chargers. And you look at there, there have been like some heavy fullback tight ends that are essentially sixth offensive linemen, but line up with the time.

ends. There are a couple of those around the NFL, and I thought that that would be a fine fallback option for Lampkin if center just proved to be too much. But I got to be honest, like watching him, you know, from the preseason. I'm like, yeah, this guy, this guy belongs in the NFL. That was actually something I wanted to ask you about, Fran. You know, obviously the size limitations, seeing him against bigger, you know, grown men on the interior line. Obviously, the preseason is limited sample size, maybe not going against the best competition at times. But what did you see from him in the preseason and also, I guess, the senior bowl as well that would inform how he will transition playing in the NFL.

Well, just going back to the senior bowl, you know, again, when I saw the official measurements from down there in Mobile, I'm like, all right, like this could be a bloodbath. Every once in a while, that happens where, you know, the numbers are a little bit short at a certain position. So a guy gets invited from a bigger school or even from a smaller school and they'll say, all right, well, let's give this guy a shot. And it just doesn't go well. The guy's, he sticks out like a sore thumb and he just gets overwhelmed.

Going through watching him live and then watching through the tape, I'm like every single rep, this guy just, he just gives everything he's got and he wins more than he loses. He just gets the job done, even though he's significantly smaller than so many of the guys he's going up against. Now, the problem that Lampkin had, the reason why he went undrafted, honestly, is that he went to his pro day, wasn't invited to the combine, went to his pro day, and he didn't test well. So you're really, really small, like you're an outlier, and then you don't test well. Once that happened, I was like, yeah, he's probably. not going to get drafted. But then when you go into the preseason and you show that one game of healthy film

and you look the way that he did where, I mean, again, he got like four or five guys down on the ground. Yeah, it's second half of preseason, right? You have to keep the context there. But to see what he showed in that small sample size, I think it's certainly good enough to be able to take a shot on, especially, look, I had a draftable grade on me. He was in my top 175, in my top 200. I thought that this was a guy that you can come in and potentially become a starter down the road.

I think it's worthwhile taking a shot here to see what he's got and get him into the building. And so, so technically, what are, as Jeff Stoughtlin likes to say, the unique traits that Willie Lampkin has that allow him to overcompensate for being so slight? Yeah, I mean, number one, you know, you talk about like the low man wins and all that stuff. I mean, he has got the we love a low man wins. We love, we love a low man wins, right? Even though he didn't test well, like this is a good athlete on tape. Like he is excellent as a polar, like on those sweet plays.

You get him out in the move. He's really, really good in that area. I thought that he climbed to the second level well. He would latch on to linebackers and finish. And again, it's something we saw not just in North Carolina, but then you go and you see it in the preseason here this summer. I thought that he recognized things well. He was really smart and he's exceptionally tough and competitive.

And so to me, when you're looking at it and you say, all right, well, really smart, really tough, and he's athletic. Like, yeah, like, that's something that you can certainly work with. Now, he just didn't test well, but I think when you look at it, it's like, all right, play speed versus time speed kind of situation here with Lampkin. I can't explain why the pro day went as poorly as it did, but it certainly is something that, you know, that happens every once in a while. To your guys point about the utility potential here,

Tyler Steen did play 20 snaps as that six offensive linemen last year as an inline tied in. So I do wonder, obviously, you know, we're dreaming a little bit here about this guy being up on game game. But I feel like he could have, you know, he could eventually have that role from what we're hearing from Fran here. Fran, I want to know from your experience watching the Eagles kind of, I don't want to say they insulated Jason Kelsey because obviously he was, you know, a great player. And but at the same time, like being able to handle the smaller, the smaller center within the scheme and almost using that, using him as a weapon, you know, the pinpole scheme, you know, getting him out into space. I guess do you think,

that those types of mechanics that are already in place for the Eagles can extend to this, you know, I guess, the even broader extreme with Willie Lampkin and the size limitations he has? Yeah, and that's why, honestly, Jay, like, I felt that he would be a good fit here in Philadelphia for that reason, you know, and I think that when you look at him, uh, yeah, it's, it's not ideal to have a center that small, but when you like bigger guards like Jeff Stoughton does, that can offset it a little bit. And so I think that, uh, that is certainly an area, that, that's why it felt like that this was a scheme where he certainly would be able to fit. All right, Fran, I know you've got places to be,

and we need to give you time to have a cigarette for a little bit. I'm going to take a cold shower. Yeah, you got to get yourself, you know, cooled down before you go do a kid pickup and stuff like that. Scouting report gets get me a little hot under the collar. Unbelievable. You know, state champion. I'm so happy for you, Fran. This is wonderful.

I was downstairs. I'm heating up lunch. I had like you ever like you take something out of the oven you're like oh just perfect timing and you open the door and you put it out and I'm letting it cool off and my phone's like blown I'm like what he's going on like two or three people texting me saying lambkin lambkin lambkin and I'm like unbelievable just uh just just a just a great day great day all right fantastic friend we will we'll see you tomorrow for the spread your wins and fly draft I don't know if I'm gonna be able to focus but hopefully by that I'll be ready to go