The DiCecco Daily: Updating Key Eagles Week 1 Developments vs. Commanders

0:00Hello everyone and welcome into another episode of the Checo D'Ale. I'm Andrew DeCecco. Eagles be reported from inside the birds.com. Today was Thursday which means we are one day closer to kick off Eagles commander Sunday afternoon and we'll get to the entry report. We'll get to some of the things that Vic Banjio had to say and a lot of it's going to center around John I think Bernard and we had a chance to hear from John I think Bernard today that was really the primary talking point coming out of the locker room and before we get started I just want to remind everybody that my rookie diary with Eagles guard, Micah Morris. There are six round pick out of Georgia. You should be available on all podcasting platforms and on YouTube and of course make sure you're reading that on inside the birds.com. That'll be tomorrow I believe and I'm looking forward to that season long series. Micah had a lot

1:06of fun talking to Micah. He has a lot of personality to him and we have as we get to do these every week we'll learn more but right off the bat we have some common ground and our love for movies and this is a really young developmental prospect that I like coming out of college and I thought he did some good things in training camp and who gets to learn probably behind the scene that can't imagine that he's going to be active on game day you never know but he's the 10th offensive lineman in a very deep room but who gets to learn from the likes of landed Dickerson and Tyler Stink, Cam Jirgins and then of course you have Chris Cooper of the offensive lineman coach who Micah had a lot of really good things to say about and he's not alone in that that's been a common sense mid throughout the summer whenever I asked about Chris Cooper and so far the you know the same size is limited but I think you have to be really intrigued with what you've seen from Chris Cooper in terms of just overall player development and a lot of the young

2:10lineman that we've talked a lot about so anyway make sure you're checking out the rookie diary series all season long I'm very much looking forward to that okay Jonathan Grenard and Eli Stowers were both listed as limited Wednesday and that was again the case Thursday Grenard of course with the pack Eli Stowers with the hamstring but that's a positive sign it's a positive development that they were back out there for the second consecutive day and working in a limited capacity again we're going to have to wait and see how things go. Vic Fangio said that they're taking things day by day he also mentioned the practice element of it as it regards Jonathan Grenard and even though he is a veteran he needs that there's certain practice you know real practice like Deagle's have on the field and not so much the mental rep aspects that has to be taken into account and with Stowers we'll just have to see it soft tissue injuries can be fickle and it's not something that Deagle's are

3:11going to rush I can't imagine they would and we'll see how things progress there's still one more day Friday's practice we'll get the injury report in the afternoon and we'll have some a little bit more clarity as to where both players lie and Vic Fangio today spoke about the safety position it's not really a surprise but he did confirm that veteran Marcus Epps will be the safety beside Drew McCuba when the Eagles are an nickel let's not forget that Cooper D'Achein will be the safety when the Eagles are at peace and he cited the solid summer that Marcus Epps had and he also mentioned that it didn't have anything to do with Michael Carter and his versatility being a valuable asset that maybe they didn't they didn't want to put him in a starting role and he can develop what's to play him wherever they see fit he said no no so that tells you that Vic is really confident in Epps and there's a lot of trust there I've talked a lot about that that I don't believe that you have

4:15to be a superstar to thrive at the safety position in Vic Fangio defense what Vic seems to prioritize his players who are sharp-minded assignment sound they're not going to make mistakes they know where they need to be and Epps is that he checks off all of those boxes he's been around for a while he's familiar with this system and he's going to provide a stabilizing presence there next to a young player in McCuba who let's not forget play just 11 games 10 starts so Epps is someone that I don't have a ton of questions about you're not going to necessarily see the splash plays that Michael Carter can give you but Michael Carter is new to the safety position and a lot of what he was asked to do this summer was was new and so with that mistakes can happen you can become sort of a high variance player early on as you're feeling your way out and while I believe that Michael Carter would elevate the ceiling of the defense market steps gives you a little bit more of a known

5:18commodity there on the back end and I think him being that that communicator who has a really firm grasp with the defense it'll help McCuba it'll help the secondary in general and that's one of the you know one of the selling points of of having someone like market steps and giving him such a prominent role is because there's not a lot of guest work there you know what you're getting and I think he is someone that I sort of view as a as a glue guy on the back end sort of a leader back there and that will be where things stand as it pertains to safety not really a surprise there that's the way things were pointing all summer so John thing Bernard we heard from him today and that was somebody that obviously we hadn't heard from from a while because he's been injured but as I mentioned before he's been available he's been active on the on the field he's been around I should say and you know seemingly attentive on the sideline he's been a presence every single

6:19day a training camp we saw him out there and it seems like he's been doing a lot of work behind the scenes he's doing everything possible to get him ready get himself ready but I just don't think that at least in my estimation and if you listen to some of the things that Bernard had to say you know I'll try to quote some of that from what I have here it seems like he's taking things day by day as well and doing everything that he can to get the pecs stronger and so I'll try to get some of those quotes for you from Bernard and what he said today in the locker room he mentioned balancing wanting to get back out there but also being able to prioritize his health and slowly build back up and he said yeah that's that's literally the game right now and he said I I could feel good doing a couple reps and doing xyz and then I'm you may feel a little something but at the same time it's

7:24a matter of this is a marathon so as much as I'm ready to get out there I just got to listen to my body listen to the training staff and know when it's and I'll know when it's right and he said when asked are you playing this Sunday he said that's up to them I'm literally just trying to work day by day I'm literally out there every second trying to show what I can do and it's up to them but I feel pretty solid I do and then he mentioned do you feel like you could play on Sunday he said that's not for me to decide I feel good though I will say I feel I'm in a good spot just to know that I know that I'm working every day to continue to just try to get this thing stronger he said we're close I know that so there you have it there with Bernard that was just some of the quotes that I was reading from my from my transcription and did the nature of the entry is very difficult it's a pec injury you have to get that stronger

8:27you have to probably build yourself back up physically because I can't imagine he was able to lift weights and I know that I'm reiterating a lot of what I've talked about but this is really the the big talking point of the day here and I think that's something important to know that while he is out there on the field and he is trying to get a positive direction it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't play and if he does he's going to be on a pitch count and I think with this injury the last thing you want to do is run the risk of re-aggravation and starting the clock all over again and it might take a little bit of time just to build back up that stamina and again those practice reps and let's not forget he's going to be asked to do things in this defense that are totally new to it and so when you take all that into account and you realize that he really hadn't been since December prior to right now that he's really been on the field practicing there's a lot of lost time that even a veteran of 29 years old who's been in different defensive

9:30systems are going to have to account for and there may be a little bit of a feeling out period and you have to learn how to drop the recovery you have to learn terminology the herbage and all those things and Bernard talked about that he did mention that it's just been super frustrating not being able to be out there on the field and participating you can only do so much in the meeting rooms and things like that but what defensive line her should say outside linebackers coach Jeremiah Washburn has said is that he's been an A plus in the meeting room so he's been very diligent behind the scenes and that's something that I was so we're not privy to but what we have heard that from Bernard we've heard that from his position coach from Pig Vantio at different points summer so you just got to kind of let this play out we'll have more clarity on Friday something that I'll be keeping an eye on Friday by the way and I really started to think about this after listening to special teams coordinator Michael play speak today the

10:33the special teams aspect and I think about it in the through the lens of Morocco under we use a young lost a young rookie long snapper and I would imagine that you're going to see the commander and try to maybe test that it's something that don't bother me the more I thought about it the commanders don't have much of an edge in this game the Eagles are the clearly better team certainly in the trenches at which is where I think the game's going to be won but special teams Michael uh Michael Clay spoke about their their gunners and their vice guys Percy Butler being one of them who's a really good player like to madam I believe who we see on a laugh yet coming out to defensive back and then I think this could be one of those games where you see a team like the commanders try to see where underwood a young long snapper is and maybe provide some pressure which really puts a spotlight on your protection team of course namely will shipley who is your personal protector on time so those are all things that I'm sure many don't think about but it is something

11:38that will be in the back of my mind because special teams is one phase that they get talked about until there's an error or there's a big play like the Rams game last year but I'll be keeping an eye on that the leaders on this group let's not forget that over the last couple of years Michael Clay and he mentioned that's not something that you know he's gonna make a fuss about because the nature of being special teams coach is that you're constantly going to see a lot of those players that are prominent members of your unit turnover they've lost Van Sumer and they've lost Cam Lattu they've lost Kylen Grants and Sidney Brown there's probably other players and I'm not thinking of right now JT Gray didn't make it past the first preseason game Josh Job was a casualty after the 2024 the summer he's now starting for the Seahawks and I'll have a comment on that because I do have to you know there's something there's a sentiment out there that I just

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16:50something that I wanted to throw out there. Josh Joe had the game winning interception to seal the game you all know that I've been a Josh Joe guy I was coming out of Alabama even more so watching his skill set the physicality his ability on special teams and I can see the potential but I'm seeing a lot on social media that this is one that the Eagles missed how could they let them go that's uh you know that's a mark on how he rose but no that that's not the case. Josh Joe was given chances here in Philadelphia he was very uneven in those opportunities he was very grabbing in fact I remember asking thick van geo in the summer of 2024 about Josh Joe but he left Ricks and he was fairly praiseworthy of Ricks but he said the Joe be to clean up the PIs that's something that he was flagged in the first quarter I think in that game on on Wednesday night it didn't work for him here in Philadelphia and that's fine because not every system is a fit for every player

17:52he went to Seattle started out on the practice squad worked his way up and seized his opportunity he seemingly is a good fit for that defense but to say that the Eagles missed on that and how could they not give him chances they did give him chances and I'm saying this is someone who's been a proponent of Josh Joe for years now he wasn't able to put it together for whatever reason and sometimes it's as simple as the light goes on for players at different stages of their career and it takes a little longer for some maybe that is it he was slow to develop and now at Seattle he started to hit his stride but I think the Eagles and they had that log jam there of keely ringgo Eli Ricks and Josh Job and Job didn't have it he had a sort of a rocky summer in 2024 a little inconsistent up down and he was pretty apparent that he wasn't going to be able to help the Eagles as a defensive back very good special teamer I would say that during his time as being a special team where he's not really factoring that much because he's a starter now he was one of the best in the league

18:56but he wasn't good enough to just to latch on to the rosters and extra defensive back and the other part of it is I'm saying and I saw this last night the Eagles kept keely ringgo instead of Josh Job keely ringgo was a trap pick keely ringgo is also I believe four years younger if not more than Job and he also has the athletic profile so he's a toolsy player that he was wanting to continue to work with and see if they can get out of him so naturally yeah if you're torn between the two it makes a lot of sense especially where they were in 2024 to go with someone like keely ringgo so this isn't some short-sighted move by the Eagles it wasn't some hasty transaction so context is really important when in everything but in this case in particular and I just wanted to highlight that anyway that's it for me that's going to do it for this episode of the Czecho daily I'm Andrew DeCecho and I'll catch you all on the next one