PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Were you more confident in the Eagles depth chart last offseason or this offseason?

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

Do you feel more confident in the Eagles’ depth chart today or on this day last season? At this time last year, the Eagles had questions at right guard and linebacker. Zack Baun became an All-Pro and Mekhi Becton became a guard, and those were no longer concerns. Much can change, so Zach Berman and Jamie Lynch will break down how the depth charts compare — with a focus on right guard, safety, and tight end — along with other Eagles topics. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's May 5th here on the P. H.L. Y. Eagle Show, brought to you by True Mark Financial Credit Union. That means Cinco de Mayo. Happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone watching at home. And especially the Jamie Lynch here with us on the P. H.L.Y. Eagles show, someone who appreciates Cinco de Mayo. Jamie, how are you? I am doing well, Zach. I went to a little derby party Saturday night. So I don't think I'll be enjoying that type of side of Cinco de Mayo today. Yes, happy Cinco to My Ato All out there. What better way to celebrate it than talking about depth charts, right? Ah, I woke up excited to talk depth charts. I was literally, this is no joke, I was literally in bed in the middle of the night thinking about this. Because, you know, we discussed the defensive depth charts last week. We discussed, you and Rich had a great show on Friday.

I joined in. There was so much going on. We briefly went over the offensive depth charts there. So I wanted to return to it at the start of this week, but with a different spin. And that's the think back to May 5th this time last year when you looked at the Eagles Dept chart. And at that time, you didn't know Zach Bond was going to be an all-pro linebacker. You didn't know Mackay Beckton was going to be a card. You didn't know, frankly, Bryce Huff was going to be a non-factor as an edge rusher.

So as we analyzed the depth charts last week, it's always a helpful exercise to consider the 2014 team. that goes on and wins the Super Bowl and the 2020 team, see where the strengths and weaknesses are, perhaps identify some of these breakout players, someone who could be Zach Bond for this year, and to see where maybe we had concerns a year ago, and then you look at it now, and it's like, why were we even concerned about that, right?

If we had with the crystal ball would show. So that's the premise for this, but then we have a lot of other fun topics to discuss throughout the show. So let's get right into it with... It's funny you mentioned that, Zach, because like if you had asked me this last year, who was more likely to be an all-pro, Zach Bonn or Bryce Huff,

I almost 100% would have said Bryce Huff. 100%. Yeah, you're absolutely correct. I mean, frankly, Zach Bond, like at that time, you would have said Devin White was going to be the start. Yeah, yeah. And in positions where you said,

all right, there's going to be a competition here. There really wasn't much of the competition. and positions where maybe there was a relative weakness might have looked a little better going into the season. So that's why this is interesting to look at here. So we'll start with the quarterbacks. The big change here, of course, is that going into this year, you have, Joy is telling me to tilt the computer down. I'm sorry about that. You have Joan Hertz, I've heard of him.

You have Tanner McKee. And then you have a competition here between Kyle McCord and DTR, you know, during Thompson Robinson. Okay. Last year, you had Kenny Pickett as the backup and you had Tanner McKee as the third quarterback. So going into it, which one are you more comfortable with? Are you more comfortable with last year's group when you had that backup quarterback with legit starting experience, which Kenny Pickett had? or this year where you have probably more promise from Tanner McKee and then more, you know, you'll have the intriguing rookie in Kyle McCourt.

I've always been a little bit of a Kenny Pickett doubter throughout his career. I mean, I affectionately called him doll hands back in my previous career. It's all right. Yeah, I mean, a quarterback that has to wear gloves, I just, I'm sorry, I don't have confidence in. You know what I mean? So, like, McKee, I'm not Bo. you know, McKee wasn't my end-all be-all. I always thought he was intriguing, you know, had the height, the size, a little bit of the arm,

and the decision-making ability to be a good backup. But now you've kind of seen it, so you feel better about that. So I would take Tanner McKee as a true backup this year over Kenny Pickett. I mean, Pickett had the experience, but, you know, I'm going to roll with Tanner McKee as the better backup option. And then if you look at the third string, Kyle McCord is in, you know, similar ish territory to what Tanner McKee was last year. You know, an unknown kid with the size, the intangibles, the arm, a lot of the things

you like in a developmental quarterback. So that's like similar footing. So it basically comes down to McKee versus Pickett for me. And I give a slight edge to Tanner McKee there. How do you feel about Jaywin Hertz going into this season relative to last season? I mean, so much better. You know, last year was, I've had such a. weird roller coaster ride with Jalen Hertz. I love the draft pick when they made it. I thought

he showed so much promise. And then at one point, I was like, I don't think this guy has what it takes. And then obviously he had everything and more of what it takes. So definitely a thousand percent better about Jalen Hertz had entering this season than I did last year. Yeah, I think you you framed it well. Top of the depth chart, Jalen, with the way he obviously finished last year, being Super Bowl MVP, fewer questions than there were a year ago. And I think there's room to build off of last year as well. And then obviously with the backups, I thought Kenny Pickett presented just more reliability, but there's more upside with Tanner McKee.

And I think what you saw in the preseason last year in training camp too, then week 16 and week 17 showed enough there that I thought they made the right thing trading pick at going into this year with McKee. And I like the upside of McCord. We're going to get to it a little later, but the Eagles showed some behind-the-scenes footage from their passion meeting. That's what they call it, the passion meeting on the Saturday morning of the draft. And you heard Dave Caldwell, former Jaguar's GM, now senior executive with Eagles, really stump

for Kyle McCord. You heard the analytics group, you know, a Zach Drapkin stump for Kyle McCord. So there's things to like about McCord. DTR is intriguing as a as competition there. I'm not expecting him to make the 53. So then let's let's let's

I think that's right. I think Kyle McCord definitely has the advantage there because he's he's cheap, he's young and he's guy you can develop in your own system for years to come. So not the DTR is in, but you invest in draft capital in Kyle McCord. And he gives Anthony endless material.

So, you know, I mean, I don't think. I don't think the Antigargana show, which you can watch every day from 9 to 11, will be any more excited than the days after the preseason games when Kyle McCord gets in there. And, you know, throws 10 for 12 and just looks awesome, right? It's going to lead the show. On a selfish level as a PCL alum, it was tough to see Abdul go to the Giants and we end up with the prep guy. So selfishly, that's a little hurdle for me to get over. But, you know, I see why they do it.

Yeah, there's many prep guys every year. So let's go to running back where there's not a prep guy. But there is someone who went to a prep school in New England. And that's A.J. Dillon, he's the big change here. So last year's running back group, Sequin Barkley, Kenny Gainwell, Will Shipley, turned out to be the three that, you know, the top three there. You know, there were other guys that they had. And this year, your top three looks like Sequin, Barclay,

AJ Dylan and Will Shipley. I would probably put Shipley before Dylan. And then you have, you know, Montreal Johnson. You have Bois' favorite, Lou Nichols, trying to make the favorite. But really, you're looking at the big change here being doing for Gainwell. Obviously, what we know about Sequin this year

relative to last year. And then Will Shipley going in the year two compared to year one. How do you feel about the running back depth chart? I think it's worse. with the caveat that Will Shipley can grow into a better role. But I think, you know, A.J. Dillon, we haven't seen in what, a year and a half on a football field. He's kind of lucky to be playing again.

Love the kind of, if he's ideally what he is, I love the thunder and lightning aspect there with the big beefy running back and Saquant. But, I mean, Kenny Gainwell is a more proven running back there. So I think the running back depth chart actually got worse with the capability. that Will Shipley can change that. Can he be a Kenny Gainwell type? You know, you saw in a small sample size last year, he did okay with his opportunities. I think you've talked about it before,

how much they like him internally. You think he's the running back too. But I think on paper here, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, last year's running back room probably a little bit better on paper than this one. Yeah, I think Bo would probably agree with you if you were on the show. I'm going to disagree with you because I, I like Shipley. And I think Shipley, I'm more optimistic about Shipley going into the end of this season than I was Gainwell going into the last season.

And Gainwell had his believers, Nick Siriani among them. AJ Dillon, you're absolutely right. I mean, it's a lottery ticket. It hasn't played in a year and a half. But what I like about AJ Dillon is that he provides something different, right? Yeah. Then Shipley does. So there's some like, you know, diversity of skill set in the in the backfield that I like.

Now, Sequin, I thought Sequin was going to have a huge year last year. Like, that's not really makes me. Way to go out on a limb. Yeah. I'm a little, I don't want to say concern. That's not the term I would use. But I think expectations need to be tempered relative to the way he played last year just because of the amount of carries that he had, number one, the workload.

Also, he was remarkably healthy. And in time, you know, history shows that it's hard to count on a running back being healthy like that back to back ears? Yeah, I think so. I mean, he had arguably the greatest running back season of all time. It's not going to go up, right? Like we probably saw the ceiling of what we got from Saquan Barkley, both in terms of health, in terms of workload, in terms of production. So that can't possibly get better. It can unfortunately only get worse. But his worse is probably still better than 95% of the running backs in the NFL. Well said. And yeah, so I see in the chat and please leave your chats, comments.

Let's get that thumbs up button working here, too. Come on. Exactly. No mention of both son, Lou Nichols. I mentioned Lou Nichols. If AJ Dylan doesn't make the team, and I should mention, I'm Ty Davis Price, someone who I had been relatively high on as like a down-the-depth chart guy. He was cut this weekend.

So, you know, the Eagles are making room for undrafted rookies. And so he was kind of the odd man out there. They have Montreal Johnson. But Lou Nichols could factor into the. that RB3 mix if AJ Dillon just doesn't look right. While we talk about running backs, though, we should mention fullback. Because this time last year, we were not talking fullback. This year, on the roster, Ben Van Sumeran, is listed as a fullback.

And why is this? There's no word that today? Well, Jeffrey Lurie, Eagles owner, went on WIP this morning for, you know, they're doing a Brandon Graham day there. Shout out to Brandon. And he mentioned in conversation, with John Ritchie, I should say, a former fullback for the Eagles. So that's how it's playing in the crowd.

Exactly. The Eagles are going to quietly try to resurrect the fullback position. You know, they had Kevin Turner. They had John Ritchie. He said they'll see what Ben Van Sumerin could do. I'm curious. I'll leave Cecil Martin out of that discussion. Yeah.

I'm just quoting Jeffrey here. You can throw Cecil Martin. I mean, Leonard Weaver for one season. Oh, yeah. Fullback that they had. But if we just took away, let's play with this for a moment. And I think that Jeffrey was, you know, being personal with John Ritchie here.

I don't think the Eagles have these grand plans for fullback. But suppose they do, what do you make of how they can use fullback in the offense in 2025? Well, see, why say you the article? Because I read the words. You heard the words. So you're more apt to talk about, you know, him playing to John Ritchie a little bit there. But it does seem like there's a little bit. bit of the trend. You know, obviously Kyle Shadahan, but Baltimore and Dallas also got behind

the fullback kind of re-revolution a little bit as well. And you saw the Eagles tinker it with it with Van Sumeran. His athleticism, I think, intrigues them a little bit. And then you bring in Ty from Nebraska who, you know, lined up at fullback, I think eight times during its time with the cornhuskers, all of which were like goal line pushes. And my first thought was, are they preparing for the tush push to be banned. If the tush push is banned, which they would know better than I, which is going to be coming up again for discussion in the very near future, yeah. Are they looking for that next wrinkle of those short yardage situations?

That was my first thought that came up when I heard him say that. Yeah, I think that's good thinking, Jamie, because I am expecting the tush push or the push play, as the NFL likes to call it. I'm expecting that to be modified, and so there's going to be no pushing allowed. Now, I think what you'll see is just the traditional quarterback sneak. And I would expect Eagles to convert that at a high rate. I don't think it would go to like a nine formation, if you will. But to your point, I do think that they are sincere about Ben Van Bansumer and playing fullback.

And Ben Van Bansumer, you're absolutely right. Really good athletes. Someone, you know, he was more of a convert. linebacker than he was converted you know converted full like he he played running back at one point in college switches the linebacker so is a good athlete someone in the chat asked about his hands i've seen it can catch the ball um you know he's coming off acl injury but yeah he is he is going to be a fullback he's listed on the roster as a fullback uh so i i i just don't think this is going to be used at the rate of john ritchie or cecil martin or let me i think it's it's going to be uh matchup dependent

you know, formation dependent. So we will, we'll see there. I don't think it's necessarily really, I don't think it's because of the tush push, but I think it's more just trying to diversify and evolve the offense. I do know one thing that Nick Siriani really wants to do this year relative to two years ago is add more wrinkles to this offense,

not just master what they did, but try to bring it, you know, try to evolve it, not just do the same things. And so one of the different looks they can do is to have more two-back formation. So, yeah, it's definitely worth mentioning Van Sumerton here. I'm just not running with the idea that they're going to be a full-back offense per se. Yeah. And the other thought I had off of it outside of the tush-bush was just maybe that, you know, Dallas Goddard is gone.

And Grand Calcutera, not nearly as good of a run game blocker as Dallas is. Dallas is elite. So in particular running down situations, do they want to get that full back in in the fold a little bit more for some better run game blocking. You know, that's that's another part of this that came to my mind. We'll see what happens, whether it be, you know, AJ Dylan in that fullback role with a two running back slash fullback kind of set up there or if Van Sumeran gets just more snaps than he did last year.

So actually, let's stay on the idea of the tight end here, right? And we'll get the wide receiver after tight end. You brought it up. And I think this is really a sweet. spot discussion when you're talking about the offensive deck chart. Tight ends this year, you're looking at Dallas Goddor as of now, Grant Calcutera, Harrison, Brian, Kylan Granson, E.J. Jenkins, Cameron Latu, and Nick Muse. A year ago, you were looking at Dallas Goddard, C.J. Uzama, Grant Calcutera, Albert O., pushing

for a roster spot. They had an undraft rookie who ended up getting injured. But so it's a different type of situation here, mainly because of the uncertainty surrounding Dallas Goddara. We talk about this every show, and I'm still expecting Dallas Goddard to play elsewhere next year. I still think Dallas Goddard's best football situations in Philadelphia, and as days go on here, I think it should become clear. Now, I don't know what the money, it's going to come down to money. It's going to come down to if Dallas Goddard can get more cash somewhere else than he can with the Eagles, because the Eagles are not prepared to pay him $14 million this season.

And Dallas Goddard will have to decide is there a number closer to what the Eagles want where he'd play here or is it or is it better going somewhere else? But if I'll say if Goddard's back, I like this step chart this year because I think Harrison Bryant has some upside. Calcutera showed something last year. I would like a young developmental tight end more than they have. They obviously didn't address that in the draft. Which shocked me. Yeah. But if they don't keep Goddard, this is a concern.

This is a major concern for me. Yeah, I mean, definitely. You're going from, I don't know, what he plays, because health is a big caveat with him. He's what, a top six or seven tight end at worst, most likely. Very good blocker. Good yak. Has that explosive kind of touchdown capabilities,

which we saw in the playoffs. I mean, that's up there with one of the biggest plays of the playoffs. So to lose him, going to be worse. There's just no denying that. Whether you bring in a Michael Mayor, like you've talked about from the Raiders or somebody like that, that's obviously to be determined. I'm with you. I wish they could work out a situation here because I do think Dallas Goddard could maybe make himself some more money down the line if they could figure out some kind of one-year deal, maybe a two-year deal, but it seems more and more unlikely. So it does appear like the

tight end room is going to be worse on the depth chart. Yeah. I would say Howie is not like ignorant to this, right? Like he recognizes that if Goddard goes, this is a spot they're going to have to continue to look at. I think internally they're more optimistic in Calcutera that maybe the fan base is. They won without Goddard last year, right? Now, they didn't lose a lot last year, but the offense functioned decently without Goddard last year.

There is a big drop ball from a run blocking perspective, and that's something that, needs to be considered. But I think they believe their offense can function. I do think, though, that if Goddard's not here, they add to this position. And I was,

I was, I would think so, right? You have to. Yeah. And I think they have some ideas in mind, too. And there's going to be, you know, Howie has picks the trade. And he'll be aggressive. You saw they acquired Jahan Dotson.

during camp last year. So they have some opportunity to do it. They have the resources to do it. It's just a matter of other teams kind of seeing how their depth charts develop. Like, you know, one thing I'll say is in Cleveland, let's say they go complete youth movement. And they're willing to move on from David Njoku. You know, they drafted Harold Fannie. He's one of Stafanski's favorite players on the roster.

Yeah. And look. He loves Joku. If they're trying to win this year, you know, if they're starting. Flacco and Injoku had a great combination. So that wouldn't be an option. But I'm just throwing that out there. And if you look at teams that drafted tight ends early, you know, there were five tight ends

drafted in the first 70 picks of the draft, Harold Fanon being one of them. So if they want to move Fanon up that depth chart, it's definitely something to watch. Like those are the types of situations that the Eagles should look at. I still think Michael Mayer makes a lot of sense. but how he's not going to be sitting on his hands in this situation. And then as far as them not taking a tight end, I thought Harold Fanon made sense if they had it, you know, at 64, they traded back a few spots.

There was an early run on tight ends like Terrence Ferguson went earlier than some thought. I didn't think there was any pick on day three that really compelled them to do it. And frankly, I think it's a time of the process when you don't just force the position because of need. The reality is they took a fifth round tight end. We wouldn't be having this conversation today. And like that player's really going to move the needle on the debt chart. Yeah. And in your opinion, Zach, how much does the George Kittle extension in San Fran

kind of change this market? Like what do you expect from Goddard's camp now and the Eagles vice versa and that with the new, you know, contract set? Yeah, it's a great question because it's George Kittle. it's it's it's it's um it's tray mcbride you've seen the tight end market moved during the past month and so i i'm not saying goddard's going to make that but uh he's going to want that well just you know the it it raises all boats so to speak right and so at that point you you you look at it i i think goddard's probably a 16 million dollar a year player the eagles don't want to pay him 14 so if you're saying all right goddard

play for eight, then it's like, wait, that's, that's 50% of what my market value might be. Now, is there a team out there that's going to pay him? 16 million? I don't know if that's the case. But I do know that it's a, the Eagles really need to convince him that there's not another team that's going to pay him if he's going to take that type of pay cut. Now, I mentioned, I mentioned Jahan Dotson. And after this break, we're going to talk about the big difference between the wide

receiver core this year. and the wide receiver core last year. So stick around. I want to talk about Empire Today. I always enjoyed discussing Empire Today because just like your favorite team needs a home court or home field or home ice advantage, you're seeing that in the playoffs in the NBA and the NHL,

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It's coming up quickly. Oh, yeah, yeah. The second annual P. H.L.L.Y. Liberty Open. You know, I'm driving by all these signs for a big golf tournament in the area this weekend. And how much the golf room that matters in this area is the P.HL.I. Liberty Open. The 2 p.m. You think we can get Scotty Schaeffler out there? Maybe Rory wants to come by?

Yeah. Well, you know what? I keep hearing about the break club. The place to go is Valleybrook Country Club, right? The shotgun start, T.m. And by the way, shotgun start means everyone starts at the same time. I have learned that in the past week. But that's among the exciting events we have here. Can I ask what before you learned what it was, what did you think it was?

Yeah, good question, Jamie. I wasn't sure. And so I'm reading the script or not the, the script, but the graphic. And I'm like, the shotgun start. And I'm like, wait, what does that mean? The shotgun start. And then I think I was on with Fran.

And Fran said, everyone starts the same time. I said, all right, that makes a lot of sense. Did you think it was like a 21 gun salute at the beginning? I didn't know what I mean. But, you know, I feel like if I misspeak on this show, then Bo brings it up every day for the next X amount of year. So I read shotgun start and I'm like, oh, no, did I say somebody like, so yeah, shotgun start means everyone starts at the same time, okay? That's great.

You can tell I know very little about golf, but I know it's going to be a fun event on June 14th. And by the way, we have a lot of fun events here at PHOI, including, you know, I think our Flyers guys are having fun tonight with the draft lottery. I am curious, your view, because look, the NBA draft batteries next week, the NHL draft lottery tonight. Good luck. Yeah, would you want the NFL to have a draft lottery or do you like it that the worst team makes it? I go back and forth on this all the time. I think I like what the NFL does, but I do like the randomness of like if you're in the top five, you got a shot.

Yeah, it does. But I feel like the NFL is the. least tankable sport in a way. So like I don't mind it. But I am intrigued, like said, the top five worst teams, you know, had a, you know, a tier of getting the top pick. I wouldn't hate it. I don't think. I like lotteries just for the, you know, the randomness. It's an event. Yeah, I agree. It is harder to tank in the NFL. Although I do need to say in recent years that there's been this phenomenon of the coach who knows he's getting fired who wins the final year and screws is, you know, I think Mayo did it last year at the Patriots. Lovie Smith did it two years ago with the Texans, right?

And there's always like, you know, the difference between the number one and the number two spot is huge. And so it's always. I feel like the Giants have been doing that for like the past three years. Like they're always winning one late. That's like, why did you win that? Yeah, Tommy DeVito screws them out of a quarterback. Yeah. But if you watched that Eagles Giants game, by the way, at the end of the season this year, week 18, you saw Jahan Dotson on the field. How about that transition?

Wow. This guy's a pro, ladies. And I bring that up because John Dotson really is the big difference here. When we talked about the Eagles Dept chart, a wide receiver a year ago, our big question was who's the wide receiver three? They had A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, entrenched that as the top two. Then it was Paris Campbell, Naya Smith, Johnny Wilson, Britain Covey. There was kind of this group of receivers in the middle. This year, you look at it. Jahan Dotson, the Eagles gave up draft inventory from last year, came on, had that big game in week 18. Obviously, you know, played well in the Super Bowl, played well in the postseason.

So Jahan Dotson is the number three receiver here. After that, Johnny Wilson and Nia Smith are back, have Terrace Marshall. former second round pick who they signed. You know, there's a handful of undrafted rookies in camp. So it's kind of a, it's a big group of players in there. But do you feel that Jahan Dotson's presence gives you more comfort in this spot? Do you think the Eagles need to continue to improve that wide receiver position? I could be wrong here, but I do feel like John Dotson got thrown in late last year,

a little bit of a learning curve. So I expect a better Jahan Dotson this year. I think that's a fair kind of assumption to make. And then, you know, look, you got a bunch of young guys. I'm a sucker for LSU back with that squad. So like part of me is like, all right, they're going to make Marshall really, really pop here. You would like to see Smith or Wilson kind of take it and run and earn a spot. But I think they have a good mix of like when you have Smith and Brown,

your set. Dotson should be better. And then you have competition for that fourth spot. And I think they have some youth here that can give you a good competition. And hopefully somebody earns the right and it's an easy decision to make. But it's hard not to feel pretty good about the wider C-WR-R-R-R-D. Yeah, it's a good point. And the thing we can't take for granted here is the top of the Jeff chart might be the best in the NFL.

Them, Cincinnati, or Miami, you know, those. are the three teams in conversation for best duos in the NFL. And I think AJ and Devante are prime of their careers will continue to get better. Congratulations, AJ Brown, by the way, on getting engaged. What an engagement, Zach. Seriously, John Legend coming in for that. That's a legendary. You didn't have John Legend at your proposal?

I did not have John Legend music. I probably should have music. Where did you propose? Is this too much information? I'll tell my story if you want to share yours. Yeah, I proposed on a porch down the shore. And, yeah, there's a whole backstory. Nice.

I was, I proposed on a porch down the shore. Nice. I was in Valley Green. I was going to go to Europe and do it, but I got really nervous about two weeks prior to traveling with the ring. And I had like TSA visions in my head that they were going to be like, sir, your metal detector went off. What's that?

because I wanted to have it on me. So I pivoted, made sure. So walking Valley Green, I had to, Adi is very much a don't want anybody around, private moment type of person. So I had to wait for everybody to like stop walking. So we just kept walking and walking and walking. And everybody kept like being around. So I had to strike as soon as nobody was around.

But it was good. I'd be nervous about the woman saying no. And then you spend the rest of your European vacation. I would suck. I guess I'll go to a hostel. But yeah, so, yeah, AJ Brown, by the way, got to engage. She did not say no.

She said yes. Congratulations to AJ Brown. And I mean, I think Jehan Dodson is better than I felt about Paris Campbell last year. Although I did like Paris Campbell. Britton Covey, who's not going to be back. He said farewell on Instagram this week. this week. The Eagles are counting on Anaya Smith to show them more than he did last year.

Johnny Wilson looked better in camp than he did during the season. So I know they've been intriguing down the depth chart players, but I still think four and five here can be upgraded if, you know, there's a wave of wire situation or a player gets cut late in camp, that, that, that, that, you know, I don't think those guys are guaranteed to be on the, on the team. But I think for number three receivers, John Dodson is more promising than most teams have, and I do expect the Eagles to utilize him more this year than they did one year ago.

Yeah, I agree with that. Do you think either of those, whether it be Wilson, Smith, Marshall, do you think any of them have a chance to be Bose Camp Crush this year or no? So I think Wilson and Smith probably graduated from it. And Marshall is definitely not Bose type, right? Yeah. If a viewer has, if a viewer has ever heard of the player before, then he can't be in camp. He's out. He's someone that's so esoteric that like, you know, you need, he's a trained football eye.

He's an astute camp observer. Okay. So his ability to ascertain the player's worthiness in camp. Terris Marshall Jr. was a second round pick who, you know, played for the national champions. That's way too trendy. That's like going to the restaurant that everyone tells you to go to, right? So, so a hipster when it comes to his camp crushes.

Oh, yeah, 100%. 100%. Like, frankly, him and Fran's stand there during practice, and it's like no one else can watch practice the way we do, right? That's that's good. But honestly, if you want to know where Beau's camp crush usually is, look at the offensive line. Okay.

So the offensive line last year. Look at that transition. I'm trying here. You're a pro. Last year you had Jordan Myelot of Landon Dickerson, Cam Juergens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson, Mackay Bechton, Fred Johnson, Matt Hennessy, Trevor Keegan, Dylan McMahon, Darren Kinnard, among others. And at this time last year, Mackay Bechton was thought to be your swing tackle. And Tyler Steen was the frontrunner to be guard. That changed quickly in the camp, of course.

This year, you got Mila, Dickerson, Juergens, Johnson back. But right guard remains a question. It's between Steen and Kenyon. Eagles also have Trevor Keegan. They have Drew Kendall, their fifth round pick. They have Miles Hinton. Their six round, a six round pick, Cameron Williams, in there as well. They have Kendall Lamb, a veteran swing tackle, Darren Kinnards Brack, Brett Tooth, Lacken, Bacolani, Holland Pierce.

So, you know, so they're, they, I'll jump in here. I actually like their options more. This year, in terms of the depth, I think Mackay Beckton was more intriguing than anyone they have outside of their top five. This year, although if you consider Kenyon Green, like this year's version of Mackay Beckton, the first round pick you're building up, I can certainly get behind that. And I know you and Rich talked about it, but you think Kenyon Green is going to beat out, Tyler Steen? I don't. I just, I think that's going to be a really good, I think that's the biggest camp battle that's going to have. happen. Tyler Steen, if he can't take it entering year three, I feel like that says a lot about what

they think about Steen. Obviously, Kenyon Green, some high, you know, draft pedigree behind him. So I think they're going to give him every chance to win the job. I think they like that size. We'll see how much Stoutland University here can change him in. It's just a year ago where I wouldn't have thought Mackay Beckton could have been what he ended up becoming. So the Eagles have a lot of credit. on their side and their building of how they develop these guys. And it doesn't hurt playing next to Juergens and Lane Johnson, right? So I think Kenyon Green, if he is going to resurrect himself, this is the perfect opportunity to do so.

We'll see. You'd like Tyler Steen to win it entering year three. And what's your thought on Drew Kendall? Is there a guard capability there? Or do you think he's strictly going to be a center backup? Because if he's in the mix, I know Baldi is incredibly high on Kendall. See, it could be a great camp battle.

Yeah, I think Kendall's going to stay at center. And I think that the guard flexibility is more valuable if he's active on game day, right? You know, you want someone who can play multiple spots. And it's probably better to have a center who can bounce the guard than a guard who can snap. So I like that. Yeah, I like Kendall in in that role. I'm with you. I'm intrigued by Kenyon Green.

I look at it. Tyler Steen's had two years to win that job already. He could have beat out Juergens two years ago, didn't do it. Certainly could have beat out Bechton last year, could have done it. Now, players take time to develop sometimes, and development's not all linear. And I've spoken to some of the veteran offensive linemen who really liked the way Steen's developing. And he is bigger and longer, right? There's that jump set.

Like, he's a tackle that moved the guard, whereas Kenyon Green's more of the natural guard. but I'm real intrigued by Green and I like the fact that they have more options at like death tackle this year. Miles Hinton and we'll get to it when we talk about the... Yeah, I was going to say he really, he was one of the things that stood out to me about that video was how pumped they were about Miles Hinton.

Yeah, yeah, they really like Miles Hinton. I'm curious to see if Cameron Williams plays guard. He played tackle the other day. I don't think both those guys make the team coming out of camp, right? So one will probably be on practice squad or IR stashed. We'll see about Trevor Kagan, friend of the show, came on around this time last year. But I would tell Eagles fans, like, you can be more optimistic about the offensive line going into this season because Cam Juergens is less of a question mark.

You've seen Cam Jurgens now be a Pro Bowl caliber center and are going to continue to grow. They have left side of the line, prime of their careers. Okay, Elaine Johnson, you want to seem to stay healthy, but no signs of that. of slowing down. So I would be more, you know, as we look at the offense overall, I'd be more optimistic about the offense going into this year than I was at this time last year, unless, and it's a big unless, there's a big question mark of tight end going into the offseason. Oh, I'm sorry, going into the camp.

Yeah, I think that's fair. I think the depth and the potential in some of the behind the scenes, behind the starters is better than it was last year. It's just can somebody become, Mackay Beckton-ish. Maybe Kenyon Green can be, but he had some pretty horrible stats in Houston. So if Jeff Stoutlin resurrects that one,

then just put that man in Canton next week. Let's get to the defense right after this break, because the defense is going to be a fun conversation. It is on. And what I mean by that is the Memorial Day sale at Ashley. Save $100 off every $1,000 you spend. get amazing savings on outdoor furniture. That's not all. You get 60 months of special financing and you have your furniture delivered locally for free.

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to eat and drink and play some games while you wait. Parks Casino, this is how you win. Must be 21 and older. Gambling problem call, 1-800 gambler. A quick question for you, Jamie. This time last week, I was down in D.C. When the Eagles visited the White House, in D.C. in two years, it's going to be the NFL draft.

Yeah. That got announced right before we came on air. It's going to look cool visually. Like, it's going to be right on the whole thing. You know, you went to college down. there. I used to work in Washington. So yeah, I think it's a great spot for the draft. But I'm biased here. I thought the coolest remote draft that I've seen was in Philly with the art museum as kind of the backdrop, you know, down the parkway or all the fans. Would you want to

see that again in Philly? Absolutely. It's me and my cousin and Addy, my wife, we talk about it. It was one of the most fun weekends in Philly. We were living in the city at the time, so everything was super convenient for us. But we had such a good time. Our plan was only to go one day, and we had such a good time that we ended up running it back the next day. It was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I got way too excited about the Sydney Jones pick.

Okay. I was all Sydney Jones stopped that year. It was great. It went off without a hit. it was beautiful. I'm with you. Like Lambeau Fields a cool backdrop, but they were just like standing in a parking lot. You know what I mean? And it's Pittsburgh

next year and then DC the following. It's hard to beat Philly when it comes to that scenic in that area. It's such a beautiful kind of perfect situation for it. I would love to see the draft come back. I agree. And I give the NFL credit for taking it out in New York City

and it's real cool on the road. I thought Nashville was up there when, you know, when it was on Broadway in Nashville, that was nice. But I just thought the art. I went out to Chicago, too, for the Carson Wentstrap. They did a nice job with it, too. But it wasn't. Yeah.

It was kind of late. Yeah, it's better when, you know, I think they, I think they frankly learned from Philly to not put it in a theater, to put it outside. And, and so I mean, Bo is going to roll his eyes when if he watches this when. Oh, he's watching. He's taking notes on you, Zach. He's not giving you two weeks of freedom here. Yeah.

I love Washington, D.C., and I think it's so cool. Like, you know, you have the Washington Monument in the background. You have on the other side, the Lincoln Memorial, that's awesome. It's going to look awesome, yeah. It's going to look awesome. And this time of year in D.C. is beautiful. It's right after the cherry blossoms. but Philly is that was such a cool visual and such a great crowd too that I would urge the NFL

to bring it back to Philly. Yeah, fun story from that weekend. I was hanging out with Freddie Mitchell in one of the VIP booths upstairs. Yeah, yeah, big flex, big flex. Me and Fred X were hanging draft weekend and one of the VIP tents up front. It was a pretty good time. We'll save that for a different day. And make sure everyone sticks around, by the way, for overtime,

because we'll be talking about the video inside the Eagles draft room. So after the 3 o'clock buzzer, we'll get to that. Before then, though, let's round out the defense here. And we'll start with the defensive line. And last year, the Eagles had Jan Carter, Jordan Davis, Milton Williams, who goes on to be a $25 million year player, Moro Ojima, Marlon Tootou, and Gabe Hall. And then this year you're looking at Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojima, Ty Robinson,

who you mentioned before, the fourth round pick from Nebraska, who they're real excited about, Thomas Booker. I should have mentioned in the group before Thomas Booker made the 53 last year to have Gabe Hall again. Gabe Hall, okay, I want to make that clear, Gabe Hall. But the big change here is that, Milton, Williams isn't back. And that Jordan Dave, I'm sorry, that Jalen Carter's established himself as like the,

as a star in the NFL, Ty Robinson's with this group, and more of Ojojo's is an emerging player. Did you feel better about the D-Line last year or the D-Line this year? I think I felt better about last year. Now, I think OJMO is a guy that's pretty exciting. He's young as hell. Me and Vinny got to catch up with Coach Washburn before the Super Bowl. and seeing Coach Washburn's excitement talking to Vinny about OJMO really kind of is seated

in the back of my brain. So, you know, I think he's a guy that can emerge into that Milton Williams type of productivity. But it has to be seen. So I think on paper, when you look at last year, you feel better about it because you knew what Milton Williams was and what a big factory was. On paper, you like the potential of this unit, but you need to see. see it before you can say it's better. So I think last year's better. This year has possibility if Ojoimo can become what we think he can become, it can become all of a sudden

very exciting. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, there's a reason why Ojoimo was in the thumbnail for this show because he is going to be a big part of this defensive line. I think obviously the year Jalen Carter had the head last year, you're expecting him to continue to take off year three. The Eagles are hoping Jordan Davis develops more into a pass rusher this year continues to play more. They obviously picked up the fifth year option. The wild card here is Ojima, but I would also say Ty Robinson. Ty Robinson is someone who is going to play, I don't want to say more than people think,

because I don't know what people think. 25% of snaps? What do you think? He'll be in the Ojima role from last year. So 25% of the snaps around there. You can play different spots on the line. Thomas Booker's back as a backup nose. We'll see what they add.

Byron Young is a player that they're. liked when they claimed them off waivers last year. And we'll pay attention to his progress. But really the two wild cards here are more are, are Moro Juma and Ty Robinson. Now you would know this. Byron Young, was he the one that was, there was two Byron Youngs drafted in the same year, like seven picks apart? Yeah. He was that one from the. Yeah, he was the Alabama one, not the Tennessee one. He was, he went to the Raiders. And, you know, the Byron Young, who who went to the Rams has been a more productive player. It's a shame we couldn't have that Byron.

That's probably the Byron. Yeah, I think he's got what, like 15 and a half sacks over his first two years and the other one was released. But that's how we ended up with the Eagles. Yeah. So you look at the edge rushers. And I mean, it's hard not to be more optimistic about the group going into last year because at this time last year, you thought Bryce Huff was going to be a major difference.

I mean, the Eagles paid him more than Sequin Barclay. They made him a $17 million year player. It's crazy. But they had Josh Sweat, Bryce Huff. Now, Nolan Smith, you didn't feel as good about last year as you do this year, brand and then Jalick's Hunt was an unknown in that group a year ago. And they had guys like Joy and Okara, you know, as kind of their, you know, rolling the dice, lottery ticket types.

This year, you look at it. Nolan Smith is now the top of that group. Then Jellix Hunt, Azizzo Chilari, Josh Yucay, Antoine Powell Rylan, Patrick Johnson. But you don't have, you know, Josh Swett was a Pro Bowl player, right? Bryce Huff was a double-digit sack player who the Eagles were paying $17 million to. You know, Nolan Smith was an ascending first round pick a year ago. So it's a different type of group.

How would you assess the edge rushers May 5th this year compared to May 5th last year? I mean, I think May 5th last year clearly wins. Jalen Carter will, it'll be determined how much he's going to get better. you know, I assume how much more ceiling is there to get to TBD. Nolan Smith, you got to love the opportunity he has here to kind of cement himself as one of those kind of tier one. You know, as Fran Duffy breaks him down, the tier one type of tight ends where he can make some serious money in this league with a big year. Ojimo or excuse me, not Ojojo, but Oce is one that like can he be a reclamation project here? Can he find that ability to emerge, almost like the ANOJO, or excuse me, not OJMO, but OJ is one that, like, can he be a reclamation project here?

to emerge, almost like the anti-huff, where it's the scrap heap, hopefully turning into a good player, as opposed to a good player turning into a scrap heap player here. You know, we'll see. There's some opportunities for these guys to win jobs to emerge. But I think Jalick's hunt is the big X factor here. If he shows you some of those flashes, he showed you last year on a consistent basis, you know, we could revisit this conversation nine months from now and be like, oh, man, this year was actually better.

But it's, it's clearly last year's group. Josh Sweat, it was a really good player. I was always a big Josh Sweat fan. So they have their work cut out for them, but I think there's potential there in that group. Yeah,

you're absolutely correct. And Josh Swett provided a high baseline. You thought Bryce Huff was going to give them, you know, a percentage of what Hassan Reddick did, you know, or that percentage, and that obviously didn't happen.

And then you weren't as optimistic about Nolan Smith. or Jalx Hunt going into last year. Now you have more optimism about Smith and Hunt, but you don't have kind of that high floor player. Sure, yeah. Spock provided. And then even the upside that Huff provided,

you're not getting that from Ojo Lari going into the year, but Ojo Lari is going to be more productive for the Eagles this year than Huff was for the Eagles last year. I'm confident, you know, what's crazy. It's crazy to think that. Yeah, Josh Uchay is a wildcard. he's a he's a lottery ticket i know there's some excitement about pal ryan about pal rylind um was a big sack producer at vatech uh but um it it's clear we thought edge rush was a strength going into the

last year with sweat and huff and then nolan smith and brandon graham as the next in that group and this year you're you're hoping with with hunt as a starter i mean you're hoping o'sillory becomes more of a player. So yeah, I think it's fair to say edge rushy and more optimism about a year ago. Now, what are your thoughts on Bryce Huff? Is he here? Can he be saved? What's your gut tell you right now on Cinco de Mayo? Yeah, I think this is, it's a good question. I'm looking at it like James Bradbury a year ago. You know, if I was doing my 53 last year or James Bradbury, I'm like, I mean, I don't think he's going to be on it. I think the Eagles will eat the money. And right now with where they are with Huff, I think they'll try to kind of figure this out

and they'll give them a chance to make the team. If they have to package them in a deal, they will. I don't think they're going into this year relying on Bryce Huff being a major part of the pass rush. And if he turns into that, it's great for them. But I just don't think that's what their expectations are going into the year. Now, as a linebacker, this was a big question a year ago. Huge question a year ago.

Sure. I had a conversation a year ago, we would have said, Devin White and Nacobi Dean are the top two. We would have said Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is pushing for playing time. And we would have thought Zach Bonn was just a special team guy who's going to help in multiple roles. And Orrin Burke's is a roster hopeful, right? Now you look at it this year. And Zach Vaughn is one of the best linebackers in the NFL.

Jahad Campbell is a first round pit, right? Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is a backup and you feel good about that. Smile Mondin, backup, you feel good about the athletic ability that he brings. And that's not even mentioning Nicobi Dean, who proved that he was a starting caliber player, but is obviously recovering from a significant injury here. Do we know an actual timeline on him? Are we expecting maybe November, December? Well, earlier than that, now he's saying, every time I've spoken about it, he said earlier

then you're asking, but we'll see. I mean, I'm thinking like a month into the year. I'm thinking probably October. But I don't have a clear. You know, he's optimistic. Everybody's different. Yeah. Exactly. As it approaches, we'll see. But it's clear that we feel better about this group going into this year than last year. Is that fair to say? Absolutely. Absolutely. We have an all pro linebacker. We haven't been able to say that in a long time here in Philadelphia. So that's really exciting. Obviously, that's better. Jehad Campbell, I mean, it's 1979. Jerry Robinson, you haven't had that type of investment forever. So I think it's, you know, friends,

snuffing out what's right there. He's going to play linebacker until he doesn't have to. Maybe you get Nikobe Dean extended on a cheap kind of prove it type of deal for the future. And Bonn and Dean can be linebackers next year when we're doing the show a year from now. And Jihad Campbell's in that defensive edge group. We'll see what happens. But I think you feel great about it with Nikobe. I think Trotter Jr. is a guy that is a depth guy in the NFL.

I mean, if he gets the opportunity to start somewhere, it could have. happen. I can't rule it out, but I think you feel good about his depth there. So I think, yeah, absolutely. This is a group you feel better about. And then smile, am I saying that right? Smile. Yeah, smile. Yeah, smile. Yep. Yep. Smile. I think, again, we'll talk about it in the Howie breakdown, but he's a guy, you know, when you start and play as much as he did at a program like Georgia, you wonder why somebody slips that far in the draft. But internally in that draft, room, they seemed excited about his potential.

And I'm sure they're excited about every draft pick they make when they make it. But I think there's serious depth in the linebacker room now. And it's pretty excited. Yeah. And this is also why this exercise is intriguing because it shows you how little you know on May 5th, right? Yeah. The linebacker's perfect example. Like we said earlier, you would have thought Devin White was a top linebacker for them last year.

You would have thought Zach Vaughn was more of a depth. special teams guy. And that's why, like, we see it with our own eyes. You know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the linebacker last year is a great example of that. It became pretty clear that Devin White wasn't going to be the starter, uh, and that Zach Bond was the clear top guy. Yeah. I mean, he didn't even fly to Brazil with you, you know? We were like, oh, man, this is, this is over, huh? Yeah, think of all the caprianas he could have had for capriana's he could have had, or capriena. You're looking for a good sinko de Mayo drink. You, you, you, you, you, you pound those facts. I'm, I'm going to, I just, I just saw the comments, Zach, we're a linebacker factory now, you know, this is, this is nice.

You know what? If Howie Rose never, if you wanted to have a good sense of humor on draft day, he should say we're just building a linebacker factory. That is true. And, you know, I don't mean to gloss it over. The Nicopi Dean of this is going to be an interesting thing to watch because if you put him in the group, I do think Jehad Campbell plays more edge. and I think you see him more on the edge, on third downs in particular. I've had so many people ask, ask, ask, ask me this. And I say, obviously he's, he's an offball linebacker.

Like, that's what they draft him to be. Well, I think the ultimate determination is where does he play on third downs? Where does he play on, on those money downs? If he's going forward on money downs toward the quarterback, then to me, they drafted him for the, for his ability to affect the quarterback. If he's dropping in the coverage on third downs, then he's an off-ball. linebacker. Like if he's if he's doing run fits on first down, yeah, that's what I'm expecting, right? But to me, in money downs, what is it on those money downs? What is he doing? And if he's

rushing the quarterback, then to me, he's more of the edge rusher. So we'll see how that transpires. And we were going to talk about the secondary and we were going to talk about the outstanding work that the Eagles production crew did, uh, giving us behind the scenes of the draft of the, of the jihad cop, of the Jihad Campbell pick, of the Smile Monde pick in overtime. What a say. I've been hosting now for a week and a half. And that's the first time that I got the overtime on time, I believe. So, you know, next time, Vince, next time you did my performance review,

make sure you get the overtime in there. So let's knock out. the secondary here quickly because I do want to talk about Howie. Cornerbacks, last year you had Slay, Quignan Mitchell's first round pick, Keely Ringo entering year two, Cooper the Gene as your second round pick. You didn't know about Mitchell and the Gene then, but you obviously knew about Slay, Eli, Ricks, Avante Maddox, and they had Bradbury in the mix as well. This year, you don't have the same veterans that you had last year, but you have Quigionan,

Mitchell and Cooper the Gene, you feel strongly about that combination. Keeley Ringo entering year three, Adore Jackson gives them. the veteran stability, if you will. Mack McWilliams, a fifth round pick, Eli Ricks, and three year three. This is an intriguing one. Did you feel better about it last year with more of the known entity in Darius Slay

or with the upside that these year, two, year three players give you this year? Yeah, it's hard because Cooper and Quignan obviously became probably better than we all thought they would be. And I think we all thought they were going to be something good, but to be immediately as good as Quignon was, was such a pleasant surprise.

Losing Slay is real. I've been a big Slay fan. I think he got over-criticized a little bit here during his time. I thought he was excellent last year. So I think there's, it's tough to evaluate. Kili Ringo, we know he's younger than a lot of guys, right, Zach? Yes. He is younger than on the roster.

He is younger than Quignan Mitchell. That counts, even though it's in overtime. That counts. The streak stays a lot. Yeah, so it's he's the unknown because if he's going to be slotted into that starting spot, he's not as good as Darius Slay. Is Quignan Mitchell going to get better? Is he going to get tested more this year? Cooper DeGine had a phenomenal year.

So it's hard for me to say that they're better. I think there's the capability of them being better. But losing Slay is a big loss. That veteran kind of stability, you knew what you were. getting you knew what you were counting on healy wringo is not going to be as good most likely as darius sleigh was last year um you feel pretty solid about the depth but it's hard for me to say that they're better uh but they can be question mark i think they have more upside this year and i i agree like if you're just going all right what do you you know are you are you going to sleep

easy at night with last year's group or or or this year's group last year's group last year you you just had more known entities, right? You knew Ariely, was a 12-year pro. He gives you that stability there. But I mean it that I just like the upside of this group. Maybe I'm in the tank for Kili Ringo. We'll see. Cooper, the Gene, I think the inside, outside versatility,

I think you'll see him more on the outside, maybe in some base situations this year than you saw a year ago. Mack McWilliams, I've watched more. film on him during the past week. I'm trusting friends. Evile there. I think Adora Jackson gives them a solid, like, you know, veteran cornerback four. So I would lean toward, I would lean probably more toward this year because I'm expecting gains from Quignan Mitchell and Cooper the Gene. Like, I think now, as I said, progress is not linear. So you've seen guys at great working years and take a step back. You see injuries sometimes come up. But to me, like last year,

is the baseline for Cooper to Gene in particular because Cooper the Gene didn't start to get it. He didn't get into the lineup until late in the training camp. And he was still trying to find his feet midseason, I felt like. So I am, I'm feeling better about Cooper the Gene going into this year than last year. Quignan Mitchell put himself as a good starter. And I think he has the chance to be a great starter. So I might give a slight edge to the corners this year. And that's no knock on sleigh.

but I think where you have the most concern of any position going into this year compared to last year is safety. And I say that because a big conversation when we had this on Cinco de Mayo last year, we were saying, all right, they got Sidney, they got C.J. Garner Johnson. He's back. You feel good about this group. You know, C.J. Gunner Johnson reed Blanketship, Sidney Brickley. Bonti Manix can slide over to safety if you need them to. Now you're looking at it. You have reed blanket chip and then what?

Andrew McCuba, or I should say Drew McCuba, second round pick, but unknown. Sidney Brown didn't have the year two that Eagles wanted. Tristan McColl, Louis Cien, who was on a practice squad last year. So this is the spot where if you're saying, all right, where are you concerned about the roster this year compared to last year? Safety is what jumps out. Yeah, absolutely. I got to get used to calling him Drew McCuba. They seem excited about him, and he's certainly going to have an opportunity to go out there and win a start.

starting job. Sidney Brown hasn't taken the range yet and really forced their hand in any decision making. McCollum showed you some great flashes in preseason looked serviceable when he, you know, was thrown into the mix at times last year. But I think you're absolutely right. I think this is the position you look at and you go outside of maybe right guard. And there's probably some, I don't know if you call it more proven options there. But here is where you really need somebody. At least with that, you have surrounding pieces next to them that you feel great about. If Reed Blankenship was to go down with an injury, knock on wood, you know, all of a sudden you're looking at your safety's like, oh, no, you really need Drew McCuba at that point to step

up and be confident. So I think it's, this is an easy one. I think last year's depth chart was a lot better of a feeling than this year's depth chart. That being said, if Drew McCuba can play, he's he's he's he's got a job for him for the taking because i don't think it's going to be hard to beat out sidney brown at this point um so we'll say yeah and and and so then the overall takeaway here is i i personally feel better about the seagulls roster going into uh o'tia's this year than i felt last year uh i i think that the internal improvement from from guys who were coming back is a big part of this uh there are guys who who who who who who who improve themselves. But I think the value of this exercise is that the questions we had on the

roster last year, right guard, linebacker, for instance, those were answered in a big, big way, and in a positive way. And if that happens this year at safety, if that happens this year at edge rusher, the Eagles are in a good spot. If it doesn't happen, if those questions aren't answered, then the Eagles have vulnerabilities. If right guard's not answered, then they have vulnerabilities. And that's kind of going to be the big story here throughout minicamp, throughout OTA, or throughout OTAs and training camp. But I would say the Eagles fans who are concerned about the roster, use this or concerned about the Eagles, quote, unquote, getting worse.

Just look at this exercise. I mean, I would feel better about this team going into this year than I felt about them last year when they won the Super Bowl. Yeah, I think you're right. I think if, you know, if Jalix Hunt can step up, if OJMO can step up, and then those cornerbacks can get better, I think you're absolutely right. You can start to feel better about this roster.

You know me, Quinyon's perfect. He's only going to get more perfect. So, yeah, I mean, I hope you're right. I think Jalick's Hunt, Kili Ringo, and Ojumo are the three that you need to be pretty damn good. And if that happens, which is totally realistic, yeah, you can start to feel real good about this roster. It's just some positions, maybe the depth isn't as good. but if these guys emerge into what we think they can become, then you're in good shape.

Now, the audience has waited 68 minutes for the main event here. And that is Jamie and I watched the outstanding work Eagles production crew did on the behind the scenes of the draft. It's always good getting that type of footage. I spoke to skeptics who say, oh, it's edited. You don't know. Look, it is still raw footage. like you're still getting what they say in that moment, you know,

they're not playing for the cameras. Like those cameras are on, on Howie when he's on the phone, right? And so this is what's happening. Okay. So I bring that up as a well saying, I have my thoughts, but I'm curious your notes,

because sometimes I could be a little too close to it. Like I know all the characters involved. And I think it's good to kind of get, I mean, not to say that you don't, but like to kind of get, more of the the fan perspective on what you were able to watch yeah i think uh my first observation i jotted down was they made calls with the chargers packers ravens and commanders to try and move up the access they give you is is so cool because like i wish i could have seen andy reid in

the war room back in the day you know trying to move up and get guys they liked so so it's clear I think Jihad Campbell was obviously the guy they were trying to get regardless of where they were going. And it's funny to see them making the calls and then later in the video, seeing Howie kind of smirk when Atlanta makes their trade up and goes, oh, well, now I understand why nobody's taking our offers. It was a very funny way of, say, nice overpay Falcons, you idiots. So, but I do think it's in an apt observation by Howie that they wanted to move up. and he was being shrewd as he should be, and nobody was taking it.

I think it's a little bit of a credit to him in that you know who's calling you and you know how they handle their business. And people were going like, no, there's dumber GMs out there that we'll try to take advantage of. So the first thing was just I was amazed how many calls they were making to try and move up there from 32. Yeah. And, you know, it was clear that 64 was in play with the charges conversations, which got pretty deep. I don't know what they were going to get back if they were going to get the Chargers third round pick back.

But that's a big pivot point there. And by the way, that means how he was pretty lucky because if you give up 64 to get Jahad Campbell, it changes a lot in the draft. So now if they got the third round pick back, maybe Mukuba's on the board in the third round. But the bottom line is that they got fortunate there. I've seen some online speculation that Jihad Campbell wasn't the target.

Now, I can't tell you definitive. they were calling the Chargers to take Shahat Campbell at 22 there. But it's pretty clear they're moving up to try to get Campbell as opposed to like Malachi Starks because after Starks was off the board, they were still trying to trade up. Like the track with Washington, Adam Peters said there was an indivision tax, right? Pretty funny. Yeah. You saw, by the way, Josh Connerley was a player I liked in the draft.

The Eagles clearly. I wrote that down. That was cool to see. Yeah. He goes, oh, that's a good pick. Yeah. Conner Lee's, Connolly's a guy

to, I mean, he's 21 years old. So that those negotiations, day one were strong, but it was, or it was strong footage. But it was,

it was cool seeing the behind the scenes that they clearly were trying to move up for Campbell. And then also like the, the smile on Vic Fangio's face. Oh, yeah. And when Vic Fangio came in the room and Howley said he got him, Campbell,

uh, it smiled. It happened. Smile, like that, like more than the Super Bowl. Like that, like that.

I got you the slide back. you can be creative with that. That was pretty neat to see. Yeah, the other notes I have written down, Alec Hallaby, I thought he was no, I don't think he was BSing. I think he was genuinely excited about the McCuba pick. You know, he said this is a guy that we targeted all along in the process. He's got all the intangibles we like. He's a hard worker. We like his versatility for the position, you know, not only in his ball hawking ability, but in its physicality. So I thought, Alec Halaby talking about MacCuba there was a pretty cool little insight too. Yeah, that's a great point.

And it's like by definition when you draft someone, you're higher on him than the rest of the league. Right. But Deals made McCuba the third safety. I didn't expect him to be the third safety off the board. And I thought there was a clear top two. And then there was ambiguity among who was, you know, three to seven or three to eight. And so it was clear they viewed him as three or if not higher. but let's say three for the sake of conversation.

And I thought maybe a bit overdrafted at 64, but this is an example of you, if they have conviction and they clearly had conviction on Drew McCuba, you'd rather be a few picks early than a pick late because if you're pick late, you don't get the guy. So I can understand it there. Yeah, I thought that was a pretty cool little insight. And then the last kind of note I made there was,

I didn't know about the Saturday morning, kind of like hype sesh. Oh, the passion meeting, yes. Yeah, the passion meeting, I thought was very cool. Now, obviously, that part was edited. Obviously, each guy probably went on for a couple players. But to hear the scouts and these executives talk about the guys they like and why they like, they were raving about Miles Hinton in it. They think he has starter potential down the line, just need to work with them.

To hear the Drew Kendall talk was very cool. to hear all. I think the one that wasn't touched on was Mac, Nick Williams, but obviously they liked him. Yeah. It was very cool to hear the room go around and talk about the guys that they, they fell in love with and that they wanted. So to see that kind of, you know,

camaraderie and workmanship amongst the room, I thought was pretty neat. Real quick, before I respond, just want to give some breaking news to anyone who's still watching here. I shouldn't say anyone who's still watching. You all still watching. yeah, Britton Covey is signing with the L.A. Rams on a one-year deal. So Britain Covey, that goodbye last night was because he signed with the L.A. Rams today.

So something to watch when the Eagles play the Rams. So, yeah, so the passion. Is his wife going to wear him as a backpack and put out a congratulations video? Did that happen before? Yeah. I think he was a birthday. He jumped on her back. If I jumped on my wife's back, she's,

going down and needing a trip to the hospital, you know? You see, I'll say this. I didn't know about that. You didn't know about the passion meeting. We're teaching each other some different things to that. Yeah, so the passion meeting is something that I've spoken to Howie about extensively in the past. And it's something that, you know, they feel strongly about it going into day three. And the reason behind, you know, they say day one and day two, you're serving different,

you're just, you're serving different constituencies, right? There's a lot of different people involved. Day three is really a scout day. And so Howie's point has always been like, if there's someone who you feel strongly about, don't tell me tomorrow morning, right? Tell me right now or forever hold your peace. Exactly.

And so that's what it does. And now clearly there are more players who come up than what they mentioned. Sure. But the reason why this is important is because, like, you know, if you look at the footage last year, Alan Walking pounded the table for Johnny Wilson, like, like talk about how you. unique Johnny Wilson was.

There were different people who stood up for different players that they ended up taking in those meetings. And so you just see like the way, you know, they're talking about Ty Williams or the way, you know, Miles Hinton was the one that really jumped out to me, right? Because, you know, Miles Hinton is someone who there was some ambiguity about going into this, you know, he might not have had his best film when he was with Michigan. you know, especially two years ago. But, you know, you saw, for instance,

Phil Baya, the director of player personnel, stumped for Miles Hinton. You saw Jeff Stoutland's face when they took Miles Hinton. It was Lee Di Valeria, the Southwest Area, the Southeast Area Scout, who scouts the SEC, who said, Smile Mondin was the best guy on his board at that point. It was interesting hearing Dave Caldwell talk about Common Court, especially because, look, we don't know if the Eagles,

we're going to take Shador Sanders there. The Eagles are pretty mom about it. You know, there's people saying no, clearly Cleveland wanted to jump in front of the Eagles. But it's clear in that meeting that Kyle McCord, they went into the day with people saying he was the best available quarterback on that day, right? And when you heard Zach Drapkin talk about, you know, the efficiency stats that he had at Syracuse, you know, that jumps out a lot. And so, yeah, there were a few guys, you know, like we didn't see Cam Williams' discussion. we did not see Mac Mac Williams discussion but I thought it was pretty

revealing the behind the scenes and I'd love the more the Eagles put that out it's helpful for us, it's helpful for the public Yeah I think it's the unscripted series in general whether it's on the field and I'm going to miss hearing BG miced up on future unscripted

but that type of access is like the stuff as a fan you dream of because you always want to know what that war room is like to see guys kind of pounding the table a little bit for their their guys and to see how we obviously trust them and say like come on let me know who you got i think it's a really cool process that was a that was a cool insight into the draft war room and then to see lorries you know rolling it and seriani kind of with his feet up at times wearing a hoodie you know not really participating i think how we came over to him with the one trade and nick goes oh that's a good deal

Yeah. It was just a cool process, and it's, it's very cool stuff. Yeah, my one piece of advice is, yeah, I get the PHOI Eagle Show on the second screen there. You know, they have the end of the house there. Yeah, I get the PHOI Eagle Show on there. Let's see that. Yeah, seriously. And I guess one other observation I had was I didn't realize how, like, tied into the broadcast they were. Because it appears, you know, they're just watching the, you know, they're getting the news kind of a little bit ahead. but to see them like watching like we all do is pretty funny. Well, yeah, they're watching the announcements there, but you also see based on the timing,

like they're like four picks ahead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, calling the player up, yeah. But no, that is, yeah. And then they have the NBA final, or I'm sorry, not the NBA playoffs on in the back. Gerion is probably watching. Real quick chat from Polar Jam. Always appreciate your contributions,

Polar Jam. ZB finally nails overtime just as both. Life is cruel. Yeah. Puller Jam, I appreciate that. I mean, I got to tell you the notes that I've kept on the hosting from the past two weeks here. I'm trying, you know, I mean it when I close the shows out saying, we'll be better tomorrow. So, yeah, I had to get that in.

So I appreciate that. The sign of a good show is when you budget for an hour and you're an hour and 20 minutes in, you still got good things to talk about. So, Jamie, this has been fun. I appreciate you. I always appreciate you stepping in. you're a big part of the show. Julia, as always, the best head of production in the game.

We will be back tomorrow with Fran Duffy doing player comps. Okay, so Fran and I are going to be in studio. And Fran is, he's grounding film right now in 2026 players, but he's going to go through the 2025 players and find the NFL comps for each of those guys. So make sure you tune in tomorrow 2 p.m. for Eagles draft pick player comps tomorrow night. Look, you can't sign up anymore. It's sold out already, but France may breaking down film for the diehards.

Then we got some exciting shows in the bank for the, or our exciting shows ready to go for the rest of the week. So make sure 2 o'clock every day you're watching the P.H.L.Y. Eagle show. Until tomorrow, that's Jamie Lynch. Thank you to Julia. if Bo is here, he would say, as always, we love you. I will say we'll be better tomorrow. Thank you for watching. See ya.