James Bradberry goes down; analyzing the practice squad | Eagle Eye Podcast

Hard hitting Brazil talk look at us Thursday pod season's almost here this feels right they all feel right Eagle ey podcast they all feel right no matter what day it is all right this is Eagle ey podcast presented by Nissan he's Ruben Frank I'm Dave zangaro we're getting close we are you're about to uh so I got a question for you so you're going to Brazil you leave and what five days sure so it's cold down there uh not really chilly 60s 50 chilly tonight yeah are I mean the last thing you want to do is pack heavy for a trip like this you're only going to be there a couple days you probably want to do a carry-on have you have that top been thinking I'm normally a check bag guy right uh I might check a bag anyway because we're flying with our photographer and he's gonna have to check bags so part of me thinks might as well so I haven't made that decision yet okay either way I think I'm G to pack pretty light but the tricky thing is in Brazil I understand like culturally if you go out to dinner like you're supposed to not get like dressed up to the nines but you're supposed to put a little effort into to there yeah so I wan to I don't want to stand out in the wrong way when I'm in a foreign country so I might have to pack a little more than I'm I'm used to when we had we had a preseason game in in London in gosh 91 um one of our traveling party we were all at a Indian restaurant about 10 of us and one of the guys um asked for his he wanted to take his food back to the hotel I guess so he told the the waiter he he's like take away take away he's like they speak English but he was like take away take away apparently takeaway means you hate your food and you want to fight the chef so like they were all offended and he was asked to leave and it was a big his a whole thing and it's somebody you know I thought takeaway was the takeaway is what like and isn't that like fast food almost maybe I'm wrong about that well I it was interpreted by the the restaurant people as I don't want this food anywhere near me not not can you please pack it I don't think they do I don't know if you do like doggy bags in other places anyway make sure you dress up for dinner yeah try to abide by any Customs I'm getting excited for it I know that there's a lot of logistical nightmare type things about this trip we'll talk about you know some of the Eagles were asked about their excitement level for this trip and it's it's not very high but ultimately like I get to cross off a cool country and I'm not paying for it so that's cool oh you're not paying didn't you hear news flash uh we have a lot to talk about today we have some news at the top of the show we we'll get to uh there was a practice today they were over at the link getting some operations working at the actual Stadium we'll have some questions at the end we talked to a few players but let's start with the big news of the day James Bradberry uh during Wednesday's practice James Bradberry injury news late in Wednesday's practice actually suffered a lower leg injury um he's out six to eight weeks that's the word he's already on IR so he has to miss at least four not great after they kept him on the roster yeah and it raises a bunch of questions I mean it's kind of it's kind of weird that this this the very same day they moved him from corner to safety or at least they that they announced it he got hurt taking his first rep as a safety and then the day after he makes the team against everyone's um predictions he gets hurt again now practice was open only for individual on Wednesday so we weren't in the building they were in the bubble uh we we had all been escorted out of the building U by the time he got hurt so we didn't know we didn't see it uh it was released through uh Eagles new service I guess um but yeah um look we talked about this yesterday why is he on the team and it's not second guessing because I didn't get it then I don't get it now now they got it they're kind of they have to pay a salary which isn't a huge number but um I didn't get it then I just don't understand it I don't know why he's here I've I've already seen like a bunch of people like um this is convenient it isn't uh like I I agree like some injuries are like the unied Smith injury we all look we get it what they're doing there this injury you you could say like well maybe they want to save face and this and that they want to trade this guy him getting hurt even though it's like obviously a pretty low percentage chance they'd be able to trade him if they could get anything for him they would do it and now that he's hurt like any chance they had to trade him is gone yeah and I think in their eyes he was more tradable if he makes the initial 53 because you're kind of like saying well we're committed to this guy we we don't need to get rid of him yeah we we're not we're not cutting him he's he's do good but we will trade him you know what he have um so kind of backfired um I mean they've been playing games with this all along um I honestly and i' I've been saying this I thought they should have caught him when last year ended um would have been a big cap hit but I think from their perspective they're like we're already we're on the hook for most of the salary let's try to get some value of it sure yeah well it it backfired and it's not like they have a depth problem of safety they still got their full allotment they got four healthy safeties uh they have three injured safeties Sydney Brown Kaden Sterns and Bradberry and the healthiest guy on the team is avonte Maddox who's a guy who used to always get hurt so it's it's great that he's healthy and Tristan McCollum so they're the backups so it is I guess a shot to their depth at safety but you're right they still have the two starters CJ Gardner Johnson Reed blankin ship they have avonte Maddox as the third guy who I'd imagine early in the season will'll see on the field a little bit when they go into into their dime package then you have Tristan McCullum who would probably be the next option so you's still have four safeties yeah on the roster and then on the practice squad you have Andre Sam and you have Kaden Sterns who's not ready Andre apostrophe Sam make sure you get that right yeah so only in some places that's right uh so they're fine there um I mean it's still a position where I mean ion madx hasn't played a ton of safety I think he can do it um trist mccum hasn't played a lot of football he was a call up for a few games four games I think last year rber hasn't played any safety so it's it's a position where I cdy brown who I guess you really hope he's back week five now or week six I guess it would be um he's one of their more experienced safeties so they'll be fine at the position I can't imagine I just don't think we'll ever see James Bradberry in Eagles uniform again because by the time he's healthy cdy Brown's going to be playing yeah and now with this you know you wonder if Cooper de might start taking some reps at safety too sure I don't know why they would want Bradbury I don't know why they want him in the first place yeah it's a weird situation now if he does heal up and he's healthy you hope they cut him free and he can go somewhere else he he deserves that but yeah honestly I I I think it's 50-50 whether he plays again in the league not for the Eagles in the league just's he's 31 he's had a nice career he's made a lot of money he's he's just I just don't know who would want them and what You' do with them yeah it's that's fascinating me too like if other teams are somewhat interested if he shakes free they don't they give up anything for him do they view him as a corner still yeah off of last year's tape which wasn't good obviously or do they think he can transition into being a safety yeah I don't know it's based on body tight yeah yeah uh I don't know and he's also GNA be coming off a pretty serious injury when he does come back so and six to eight is ballpark would he could be out you know three months I don't know a two-month injury is still pretty significant it's going to take time to ramp up I just don't think there's teams out there saying boy there's a 31-year-old injured guy that's never played the position let's go get himh it's just not going to happen the other roster moves um with his roster Practice squad review after Oren Burks gets elevated spot on the 53 they promoted Orin Burks from the practice squad interesting move because now they have six off ball linebackers on the 53 that's pretty heavy there twice as many as he had last year yeah or Burks is and last year remember uh the three on the the initial roster were Zack Cottingham ncoe Dean and Christian Ellis they had Nicholas Morrow on the practice squad and they elevated him and then he ended up playing a bunch right yeah noobe is the The Last Man Standing from that group uh I don't think Zack Cunningham ever got in a camp did he I don't believe so I don't think he's on a on a roster how he told us there were some good tape out there from Cunningham last year there was not good enough uh I thought Orin Burks came in and had a couple really good practices and then played well against a bunch of backups he's a guys played a lot of football I wondered if they wouldn't just go out and get somebody different because the practice squad these guys aren't going anywhere yeah I I guess there was nobody that and he's also a vested veteran so right he's they're going to not that it's a huge deal but they're going to guarantee a salary once he's on the the team for week one yeah I thought he looked pretty good uh in the very very brief time that we saw him last week and they I mean they I guess it doesn't really I wonder what again he missed I he missed almost all training camp with an injury that's we should mention that yeah knee injury I wonder what goes into that decision though because they're they're obviously going to have some people up for this game they don't have a third tight end they don't really have a backup center so they're going to have to elevate at least I would think they'll El Jack stole and maybe Brett to who is back by the way they signed Brett to to the practice squad so now they have Brett to Nick Gates and Dylan McMahon as the potential backup center for game days so they have three different guys who could maybe fill that role Brett to was the the second team Center all of training camp yeah I'm not sure he'd be the guy I'd promote but based on I think he will be though based on dep chart he would be uh so they know they're have to elevate those two guys why not sign one of them to the 53 and then I don't know I I just wonder what goes into that the is can you think of anything from a strategic standpoint that why you would promote Burks and then elect to elevate the tight end in the center Only If part of the reason Burks came back here was if you gave him some insurances he'd be promoted if there was an opening or something like that maybe but they didn't know no they didn't know there would they didn't know Bradberry was going to get hurt right there I mean but I don't know if that if that kind of conversation goes on take a TI ir and the James tomorrow no but like if there is a roster spot you would you you'd be the first guy will sign be you know I mean maybe there other teams involved I don't know no maybe I'm just guessing he he's not a guy that anyone could claim because he's vested yeah that's true so that's my theory okay you want to go through some of the practice squad guys we already mention them a little bit um so Brett to is back that's the new edition well new old edition six year yeah he's sticking around for a while here let's just go through the names on on the practice squad most of them you're familiar with uh Dylan McMahon cleared waivers a six round pick from NC State nice to get him back a lot of hand ringing for nothing I still don't love the process to cut a six round pick and ultimately yeah it's rare for a player to get claimed but they didn't have to do it yeah I thought it was an unnecessary risk yeah it worked out for them he's back uh Nick Gates and none of their players I don't know if we mentioned this none of their players got claimed yeah they didn't claim anyone none of their players well they could have claimed somebody but they didn't no they could have put in a claim they weren't awarded any sure and apparently they did put in a claim but they were not awarded anyone you're right good distinction uh Nick Gates the 28-year-old uh backup interior lineman had a chance to talk to Nick Gates today he is on on the practice squad he's played quite a bit Yeah and apparently when ESPN reported he was stting to the practice squad there was an expectation he would be elevated in week one but I don't know Brett to makes more sense there yeah if that's the case why wouldn't you have had him taking the second team reps at Center he's got more experience certainly than to yeah and he was saying he has worked on snapping the ball he hasn't gotten any time with Jaylen Herz yet I don't know how much time to has gotten because cam Jens has been healthy yeah but based on the depth chart now there were some days where they mixed in gates at the center so maybe maybe they they were just like waiting to put him out there and let him learn the offense from guard first could be it was a late addition during training camp Jack stole is back we talked about this a bunch uh the writing on the wall seemed like he was going to get released with the Giants and that happened and now he's back here on the back to Squad after like a few months away I would imagine he'll be elevated for this game you would think now what do you think it ends up being in terms of like the pecking order because he was the number two tight end the last two years last two and a half years I think Cal's a head on now okay I would think I don't know I mean also this is a new offense than what Jack St ran here that's very true so I would think at least at the start it's gonna be calcatera that'll be one of my favorite things to look at on uh on Saturday morning in sa Pao to see the snap counts that'll be yeah I guess it would be Saturday morning we are so committed to bringing you guys a podcast after that game we don't know how we're going to do it where he's gonna be what only thing I'm concerned about is there's a shuttle bus for media leaving at a certain time and they seem like we were talking this NF flpr people like we'll kind of leave when everyone's ready and I was think what if I'm in like some dark Closet in this Corinthians Arena doing a podcast and the shuttle leaves me well at least we'll have a podcast though that's true figure out how to get back to the hotel the rest is your your problem uh Gabe Hall the undrafted defensive tackle from uh Baylor is I I didn't see a ton from him right during training camp he was one of the guys I I was probably the drafted for agent I was most excited to watch yeah didn't see a ton but I think there are traits there worth developing we found out he was on the practice squad from uh was it Thomas Booker yeah Thomas Booker just let that sliit and then it was funny at uh Wednesday's practice they hadn't yet announced the practice squad guys but a few of them started walking in the practice bubble and well I guess they're back yeah that's how we find stuff out who's on the field hey there's number 42 I guess he's on the practice squad EJ Jenkins yeah who was the third best tight end all of training camp I went with my heart and put him on the 53 knowing better did get released but he sticks around I think he's worth developing yeah I do too yeah I liked what I saw yeah he's firmly in like the practice squad is pretty much split between guys who are extensions of the roster and then players who you keep around to develop yeah he's in the development camp but he he can work his way up to the help can help you on game day and and I think the Eagles are probably more they probably have more like veteran type extension of the 53 guys than most teams from what I've seen most teams seem to be loading up their practice squads with younger guys there's a few but for hoe I mean yeah like half these spots are veteran guys yeah I'd have to look around the league that's that's a that'd be a fun experiment though just to see I'll let you count you got a long flight I'll let you count those up on the way yeah uh Andre Sam the safety from LSU he had a nice summer I like Andre Sam yeah I think there might be something there definitely worth keeping around you know what I call him call him feisty you call him like that's his name I don't call him feisty I just well we're not allowed to talk to him but till next week but uh he's a feisty guy feisty kid Place Orin Burks was on the practice squad now he's elevated Paris Campbell another veteran who was gonna be the third wide receiver if they didn't make a move you agree with that yeah we talked about that I'm G to see if I'm G to find my projected practice squad all right go ahead okay I found it I mean most of these guys were already on the team Tyron Davis price if they kept the fourth running back he would have been it so he kind of still is the fourth running back just on the practice squad we were both Big Lou Nichols guys this was a Lou Nichols podcast for a while but TDP passed him yeah it's tough Will Greer on the practice squad what do you make of that coach career do you think they just like the dynamic in the quarterback room right now apparently yeah that's the only reason he'll never play I can't even imagine he's gonna run the scout team no I would think you give those reps to tenner mcke yeah it's that was a little that was an odd one yeah uh Brandon Smith the big linebacker from Penn State been around for a little while now but uh I like him I think he can offer something he's played special teams a little bit for the Eagles late last season yeah I think that might be poent they have so many special teams linebackers now but there are some injuries I could see them maybe helping this year Kaden Sterns still injured he was doing a little bit on the field today with the trainer looks a little better still not ready to play has a sleeve on his one leg uh lak and Baki left leg I believe right he say left leg Yeah uh vaki the Australian roster exemption he's there uh one new player though uh Marcus rosemy Jack Saint was with Washington this summer so maybe they were watching a lot what's his name Marcus rosemy Jack wasn't he one of spinal taps drummers it it does feel like a a name that's made up but he's not he Real Player undrafted out of Georgia okay do you think this is one of of those where they were like watching so much doson and they thought oh wait who's that kid no I think they just liked his name either that or you made it up it's the best Eagles name since um Weston steelhammer remember him the safy yeah like Jefferson steelx Weston steelhammer is one of my favorite football names ever Air Force that's the practice squad they still have a couple spots open all right let me check my uh I had um Darren Canard he's on the roster I had Nick Gates Brett to Paris Campbell Joseph Nagata um TDP Ty tyreon Davis price Kendall Milton's not he's not on it I had Griffin a bear he didn't make it I had Jenkins PJ muster he's not around anymore is he he's gone we just went through the names um yeah I'm just saying Sean Stevens no Sean Stevens uh Andre Sam Zack mcferson Terrell Lewis Orin Burks s about half of them life's rough okay glad we got through that uh let's take a break we'll talk about some practice stuff on the other side you're invited to the birds take Brazil pregame party meet NBC Sports Philadelphia experts for a live Q&A all about your Eagles celebrate with special guests and giveaways we'll see you at the bird's take Brazil pregame party September 6th presented by Toyota the official Automotive partner of the NFL I'm just going to go through some roster moves involving former Eagles you want to do that real quick or do you Former Eagles roster moves have a spot for that later you're giving me that look I don't have that like okay go ahead you don't want to do this how many do you have here just like three or four okay uh the bills signed Deon Kane to their practice squad our old friend Dion Kane I'm still not allowed to talk to him the Steelers uh released quz Watkins the Colts released both both Greg Ward and Tyreek Cleveland it's hard to imagine they have much of a receiver core after that um Dolphins cut Jack Driscoll a little surprising there I think it' be worth the Eagles signment to the practice squad if he doesn't have any other offers Giants released Mario Goodrich the Jets signed Bruce Hector to their practice squad wow that's an old name cards signed Julian aquara again and signed him to the practice squad Chargers signed Shaq quarterman former Eagle to their practice squad how about the 49ers adding TJ t y McGill to their practice squad T has made a nice little career for himself he really has the commander signed a former Eagles interior lineman Julian good Jones to their practice squad uh Panther signed Jordan Matthews they from the practice squad he was in Camp with them the Jaguars released Terrell Edmonds believe an opening day starter last year for the Eagles Ravens released Daryl warley quarterback Chiefs released Ian book I didn't realize he was there Carson and Ian book Cowboys cut Deontay brnette former Eagle um Chargers cut Boston Scott Dave's giving me a look all right I'll stop there okay let's talk about what you want to talk about now before the show we go through like this is what we're gonna do today never once did you see I told you I was gonna do it and you said that's fine Oh I thought you might you were gonna write something about it no I'm gonna write about it oh okay well there we go with the Steelers too they also released Kiren Johnson I said well you cut me off you I didn't cut you off you went through the Steelers I wasn't doing it by team I was just doing it randomly as I wrote them down okay well that was great for the podcast let's move people care about those guys let's go how about these guys who have been stranded in space for like seven months I feel like I'm stranded in space right now no way to get back to Boeing Starliner for Dave yeah uh practice today was over at the link they do this every once in a while Observations from Thursday's practice um it was funny because at the beginning of practice I'm watching individual drills but I noticed Vic fio is on the field and I was like why are they over here if he's not up in the booth and then before they went the team I watched him leave and he was going upstairs so they're working on operation stuff today still no Dallas GD no Isaiah Rogers no Johnny Wilson no jayx hunt those four continue to miss practice we don't know Isaiah Rogers injury but he's out there he's watching looks okay Sydney Sydney Brown running some Sprints looks good not not a ton of like lateral movement at least from what we saw but he looks good running Sprints yeah I wonder if week six is reasonable for him I think that that makes sense to me yeah I think that's a reasonable time frame he's obviously uh out four weeks but then they have a week five byy so I mean it to me it almost lines up perfectly yeah it does and that would be almost 10 months since the injury so yeah that'll be mid- October like I mentioned saw Kaden Stern's doing a little bit I still don't know how far away he is they I mean Vick vano must really like him some Kaden Sterns he must they brought him in a training camp he can't practice he's just taking up a roster spot they cut him with a failed physical designation he comes they put him on the practice squad he still can't practice they have to like this guy Vic has to like him yeah yeah it's it's Vic like Kaden Sterns the way Howe likes Albert oinam and Brett to that might be Stout that that's probably Stout I've at least seen something from Brett to yeah we've seen him get better each year have you ever seen anything from Albert o maybe in six years Albert o I've never seen anything from Albert o yeah last thing I saw from Albert o was in that preseason game with the Broncos and then he yeah I I mean the fact that he traded for him must he just like I got to keep him get something out of him to be fair he did have core muscle surgery so maybe that was affecting him maybe this summer because I did expect more yeah from a guy who's kind of known to be a pass catching tight end he was my number two tight end in my preamp predictions that did didn't go well yeah that certainly didn't go well talked a bunch of players Takeaways from player availability today uh I really enjoyed AJ Brown talking about Jan doson he worked out with him this offseason and AJ basically said he works out alone with he like he likes the one-on-one time with his trainer but doson had worked with his trainer before and kind of reached out and said hey do you think AJ would mind me joining this and AJ was like okay so then it ended up they they know each other pretty well from that yeah and that doesn't surprise me about about AJ he seems like a guy who just want that ultimate focus just just me my trainer and just let's go work because if anyone else was in that group and Dodson is an exception like they might slow him down or just kind of crampus style but yeah that's pretty cool yeah I thought it was fun fun little anecdote and he said of course like he got competitive in the in those workouts because he's like it's my workout I might wanna right I want to have a better workout than than doson and even Johan admitted that yeah there are certain things AJ can do that I I can't do he's he's a freak we know that yeah but I think that's nice that he has a level of comfort with the top receiver on this team already yeah and it tells you that dodson's is one heck of a hard worker because AJ's not gonna work out with somebody who's not really taking it serious oh yeah that's the last thing he would want talk to uh the players today were AJ Brown Devonte Smith um Nick Gates ni Gates and today's the last day Johson last day we'll have players spoonfed to us yeah eventually we'll have locker room access Sunday I would think I would think yeah it was nice to talk to these guys though a few of them are asked about Brazil and it seems very clear that this trip is not going to be their favorite thing it's very businesslike they're AJ said they had a meeting on Wednesday about the trip to sou Paulo and a bunch of don't dos he said so so um one of them was like basically don't walk down the street with your phone out like be aware of that stuff and he said I'm basically gonna stay in my hotel room and I think that's really what the whole team is going to do it's a shame they weren't able to figure out this trip in a way that the players could actually like make it an experience and see some of the culture but I don't even know if they want that I mean this is an important game this is an NFC game it's going to set the tone for the season it it's not a vacation they're going down there to win a football game yeah um boy it's it's a uh it's a challenge just the the length of the flight getting these guys um I mean I don't know what the exact schedule is when they get in you would think they do just go run around in a field somewhere just like have some sort of walkth through because it's a long time to be sitting keeping them hydrated on the on the flight making sure sure they get rest you don't have the jet leg issue so that's good it's only an hour different but I think a big part of this game is going to be who handles the challenges of the travel better you know which team has their guys more more ready to go on on Friday night because it's not easy yeah it's gonna be a quick trip I mean they're gonna be flying for almost as much time as they're in sa poo like 20 hours of flying and they're on a charter but still um and I get that the Falcons gamees not till the week from Monday but that's a tough turn around that trip will take a lot out of you being in the air that long 33,000 feet it dehydrates you you know two weeks from well a week from the game a week from Monday from the game yeah so um yeah I I I don't think it's a it's a slam dunk that by Falcons game everyone's fine and it's out of their system I think it's I think it's a it's a lot I mean when you travel a lot it takes a lot out of you yeah you have three give your first four are flights yeah they're going to need that week five by yeah I I agree I think it's it's early and I think it's gonna stink in the second half of the season when they're like man this is about the time we need to buy but mainly home games though and bu trips so well they still have the LA they still have the Dallas two are longer flights yeah so but like the last six weeks or something I don't think they got on a plane yeah late in the season they're home a lot which is nice and I think if you have to do this Brazil trip I think you would prefer to get it out of the way yeah I don't think you could do it in the middle of the season I guess you could but yeah I mean just timing wise you're gonna play Sunday and then just fly down there on well like when do you practice Yeah Yeah because they're they're starting like a day early right like Sunday you know what's funny I'm flying to Brazil but the Friday game like is throwing me off even more yeah I'm just not used to a Friday game yeah well like they pract they have like some sort of practice like they never do anything the day before a game yeah and so it's all different they're gonna have a practice at the stadium the day before the game yeah which is gonna be I think a glorified walk through yeah we not gonna actually practice no but but it's nice for them they get the practice at the actual Stadium because they're the home team technically for this game so I'm guessing that's why they get the practice at the actual stadium so they'll get to be in the stadium the day before whereas the uh the Packers are at the training facility okay every little bit helps but yeah it's uh it's a lot yeah uh talked to Devonte Smith about a bunch of different things one of my favorite quotes from Devonte though and we've heard this about Briton cvy for years that he he's kind of the the most well-liked guy in the receiver room he kind of brings levity uh Devonte Smith said he's the light of the room what a nice little compliment I would love to be called the light of the room on this room I mean it's like not a lot of competition but I think I'd probably be the light geez so I'm two of two yeah all [Laughter] right yeah cu's great he's a trip it it's funny because you think you think like does AJ Brown like Britain cubby does Devonte Smith like they love him yeah like he's their like favorite person Herz really likes him I he listening to him yesterday we talked to Britain yesterday Wednesday um boy he he comes across like a coach doesn't he like I could really see him coaching one day yeah let's we we haven't had a pod I'm Ser so these Britain Covey's reaction to Jahan Dotson trade daily pods in in training camp we haven't talked since we spoke with Burton cvy he understands why they traded for Jan doson I think he's understandably a little disappointed little myed he seemed a little mythed yeah he wants the opportunity to play offense and he look he's probably not g to get much of that anymore right so and I I appreciate that about him he's a competitor he really believes I mean look Johan Dawson's a better receiver than him I mean sure more I don't know better is the right word but just capable to do things it is man he's better um but he's so competitive like that in his mind you know he they didn't have to do that so he's disappointed yeah do you think there will be any situations where we see him on the field on I think there will be yeah I think I don't think there'll be a ton but I think maybe five or six reps a game he might catch a pass game he brought up the fact that Dawson has played more outside than inside I think that's what he's telling like based on we talked to JP Finley from Washington and he thinks that Dawson's best fit is actually inside so I don't know he's played more outside he has yeah so I don't know if that necessarily tracks but I like that Cub he wants to play I still think Johnny Wilson is going to play more than oh that's interesting I think the function of Johnny Wilson is easier to find yeah I I think that that could be the case but that could be a a fun bet for us we have our predictions coming up what are we doing now next week I guess has to be there's no other there's no other time to do it we'll do those on uh yeah we'll do them next week but um I think cvy might play more than Johnny Wilson I think it would take an injury for that to happen we'll see it's interesting okay I like that we were on the other side of that yeah it's good uh that's all I really have from these pressers got a chance to a few of us beat writers got a chance to speak with Alec halby the assistant GM who's kind of we talked to him last year really for the first time on record in a long time he has a fascinating backstory he really came in as an intern worked his way up kind of the analytics guy but he's become more than that he's really become like a right-hand man for Hoy Roseman he's one of two assistant GMS in the front office and he's a guy who interviewed for two general manager positions with Washington and Carolina during the off season so there's a good chance he's the next guy to leave here and become a general manager of another another another franchise or replace hoe If hoe gets fired sure could happen probably won't happen but yeah he's sharp guy good mind a lot of the questions to him were about Vic fangio especially after uh Vic talked about his proprietary analytics during the summer which is still one of my favorite things was a great conversation summer yeah he basically if you guys missed that Vic fangio said he loves analytics he'll take all the information you can get but he actually has analytics of his own that no one sees he just keeps those close to the vest do you share him with other coaches no no it's his stuff whatever uh but halby said that Vic does like the information and he said every coach is different about how they want it and and how much they want but he said vic is very receptive to it and it's in a good relationship yeah and I think it's interesting because I think there's a a sense that most Old School coaches like that don't want any part of it but and maybe there are some certainly that feel that way I'm sure there are and I'm sure there's some younger coaches too who don't want any part of it but it's just information it's just more information to help you make decisions and I like the fact that Vic is into that stuff yeah I think all coaches should at least be open to hearing it if it helps yeah doesn't have to be what guides them yeah well you just have it's just another another piece of info sure uh that's all I had I think from practice today and from the players and they'll be off Friday and Saturday and get back to work Sunday yeah then that's really where the the game prep begins and that's when we're allowed in the locker room for the first time it'll be good all right let's take a break questions on the other side you deserve a car that Thrills you a car that puts Goosebumps on your Goosebumps at Nissan we got everything from turbocharged SUVs to 100% electric vehicles that'll make your heartbeat faster experience the thrill for yourself and Shop your local Nissan store and nissanusa.com today celebrity Cooks Steve martarano brings his Italian American Cooking back home to Philly enjoy Marano's Prime at Rivers Casino and Steve's Famous meatballs with sunde gravy prime steaks and more make reservations at Morano's Prime time on Open Table it's time for some questions if you have one for us it's Eagle ey at Fan Questions! nbcuni.com if you're on YouTube you have that QR code you can scan it send a question right from your phone what's good Noel let's do it first one from Jared hey guys really enjoy the show I have seen Kenny gainwell in on two minute drill during open practice Etc I know he did a lot of that last year as well my question is do you think sequin will be in at those times mostly because of his overall ability or do you think Kenny will still be in I'm hopeful it will be saquin but wondering your thoughts good question I don't think you'll see wholesale like miles or de DeAndre Swift just comes out in those situations I don't think it's going to be that um but I do think at times you'll see gain well in those situations but I think it'll be mainly saquan yeah know I'm fascinated by this though because even when Kenny wasn't getting worked into the rotation you knew he had certain situations right he was gonna get his snaps no matter what and I think a big part of that was just that they trusted him more than DeAndre Swift and my sanders I think they're gonna be able to trust saquon like yeah saquon's gonna know the situation he's gonna know when to get inbounds and out of bounds and he's gonna have that football IQ to him yeah and I I think I think when we see gainwell be more all right let's give gainwell the series here I don't think it'll be situationally like we're in two-minute I think they'll be like all right saquon's got 11 touches we're at the two-minute warning or whatever I just think they'll they'll kind of try to keep that number down a little bit and that's when you'll see gainwell but I don't I mean you don't bring in a saquin Barkley to and nothing against miles Sanders and DeAndre Swift who had really good years here multiple years for miles but saquon's in a different class and you don't bring him in to to sit him in key moments yeah I mean the game's on the line you would hope that they're not like hey Kenny get out there but I do like Kenny and I think he's a good player and I think he will have a role but I think he'll be different I agree with that yeah I think he'll still play but gosh if the game's on the line and they're calling for Kenny gain well you shouldn't have paid saquon 13 mil a year Fair uh next question from John David Rubin I'm a 38-year-old Illinois Eagles fan whose fandom started with QB Eagles on techmo Super Bowl this is how I know who former Giant Eagles tight end Mark Bavaro is I have seen the Eagles play football in 12 different cities and have lucked out to see some notable games in Eagles history in person question do you all have a favorite Stadium to visit not just as media but for the football environment I rank all every Stadium I've been to I've been to something like 58 NFL stadiums um there's only handful of teams I've only seen in one Stadium a very very small number you had four in Atlanta right I had um I had Fon County Stadium I had three oh okay yeah Fon County Georgia Doma the new one um I even covered a game in Milwaukee at County Stadium the Brewer stadium where the Packers used to play three home games my favorite stadium is Seattle for for a great St for the atmosphere U just the location of it just being you know I do like a downtown State yeah you can walk there from from everything from the hotels um it's right around I mean there's just really cool bars and stuff and restaurants and shopping areas right there it's connected to the baseball stadium through a parking garage so there's a parking garage between the two stadiums wherever you're going you just park and walk over I love that place it's really good it's it's up there for me too if you haven't been to Lambo I think it's it's kind of a pain in the butt to get there but I think it's worth it if you haven't been there to go experience the game there yeah and to go check they have a museum in that Stadium it's expensive it's like 20 bucks but it's worth it I think it's cool to see yeah I went through there once um you know what's interesting about Lambo um you know that we we park in like almost like in someone's backyard it's in a neighborhood yeah yeah it's in a neighborhood there's like you know it's like a laundry mat like a um a a Jersey Mike's and then Lambo field it's like it's just in the middle of a neighborhood that that whole parking lot and that area where we park is not in Green Bay it's in a it's in a different the border is right at the edge of the stadium oh I didn't know that yeah that's why is it Mana toak I forget the name of the town but you see like the cops from the other town are in the parking lot it's pretty cool I don't think I ever noticed but um yeah and Seattle's the newer and Green Bay is the old school you have a least favorite Stadium FedEx yeah it's pretty bad that's a dump Astrodome is worse okay I never covered a game in the Astron you never covered a game there but did you but you were around I saw it you're not allowed in it there's ASB bestus everywhere yeah uh yeah FedEx Field is a it's the worst yeah I also don't like MetLife I think MetLife to me feels like uh a video game Stadium where there's no home team it has there's there's has no character yeah zero personality they had such an opportunity to and the actual field stinks which isn't what we're talking about here but right the field surface you're talking about a lot of injur injuries but they had such an opportunity when they buildt a new stadium to do something interesting and they didn't yeah two teams and neither of them came together to make a good stadium and they both suck any other Stadium you want to give a shout out to oh um I mean like you said any downtown like I like going to Baltimore and just you walk you know you walk around you have dinner you know you get your crab cakes and you just walk into the stadium yeah I like the location in Chicago I hated hated I can't emphasize how much I hate the uh the renov to it it looks like they put Soldier Field in a spaceship it looks like it's a it's like a um Parliament Funkadelic album cover it's very bizarre it is the old the old Soldier Field was pretty classy and not the location it's tough to beat yeah that's why I know they're talking about playing outside of the city gosh I the the location is so perfect right now I know I know we walked there from from your hotel last time we were out there yeah I walked the last game we were there a couple years ago and it was a bad decision it was a very cold day in December yeah that happens there my phone froze it wasn't good uh next question from John who do you think is the best healthy Eagles player that will not start in week one in Brazil their best healthy player who will not start in week one in Brazil oh noobe if but I mean I still think he might start um maybe key Ringo maybe key Ringo maybe Orin Burks I don't think it would be Orin Burks I'm I'm I'm on I'm big- time team Burks okay but Tanner mcke I was gonna say Tanner mcke I was gonna say Kenny gainwell I think he's he's a really good player um if if niobe doesn't start that's my answer I still think I still think he might you know it's not a good sign neither of us said a first round pick from last year yeah Nolan Smith yeah I don't I need to see it before I'm ready to go there that's a fun question yeah it is like that uh next one here from where is it Lars um Lars I've had enough of these International fan questions so here's one coming from Chester County Valley Forge area he said Lars I'm thinking he's like in Scandinavia he he's actually in kingdale um number one question here how did Eagle ey come about was it requested by NBC Sports Philly or did you have to pitch it do you guys choose how many episodes you make how did this start well this started with you had your own podcast called rub noose and then at the time we had was it I think we had the quick slant podcast with maybe Barrett and gunar maybe so we had two Eagles podcast and I wasn't on either is that right of them I don't remember yeah and then I I think if I could be wrong about this but if you go back back back back all the way to the beginning of like the this channel not on uh Alex has Milton Williams I think Milton might be a starter with their fiveman front um if you go all the way back to like in iTunes or whatever to the beginning I think this might be Ru noos really I think this took over so it carries the the linage yeah of a lineage Lage lineage I remember having this conversation with Jeff Garcia because I asked him about carrying on the the lineage of Joe Montana and Steve Young and he goes and he just made the same face I go is it lineage like yeah I don't know why but um I remember that but yeah uh I don't know when did we start doing it what year was it it was after 17 because we didn't do the it was be it was after 17 but before this month so somewhere in before Co too because then we had to go yeah we did all those remote pods remote pods uh yeah I don't know 18 did we do one maybe 18 or 19 yeah somewhere in there um I don't know I don't know all of a sudden we were just here doing a podcast I think it got pitched or maybe I was like a guest on yours I don't know it makes sense though we both cover the we both covered the team we we we talk every day yeah might as well like let you guys hear it yeah and then this is the only time we talk now which is it is last question although we do make a point not to talk during practice during training camp just because yeah sense yeah we don't want to waste good conversation don't do the show before the show exactly uh I ordered this purposefully next question from Jared hey my name is Jared Philly native living in Zimbabwe it's hard to keep up here so I rely on you guys my H dose of eagles my question he's not really in Zimbabwe why do you think Vic fangio had such a bad rep with the players in Miami it might not have been something that showed itself in training camp and developed as the season went on are you confident that it won't reemerge here this season it's a fair question I'm not sure how bad it really was and didn't sound great I think there's there's some some people look he he works guys hard and some guys don't like that and I don't know I mean I'm I'm not down there I'm not in Davey Florida I don't know what was happening in in that locker room I know they certainly they didn't finish as bad as the Eagles did but they kind of fell apart um but I haven't heard anything negative here and he's coached a long time a lot of places had a lot of success so I don't put a whole lot of stock in it well I don't I do put stock in it I think it's something to monitor it certainly didn't end well no so I I keep an eye on it I don't know mik McDaniel's coaching style I don't know enough about him I know the one thing about Nick is that he holds players accountable we've heard about his meetings where in front of the whole team like you screw up your number goes on the board you talk about that screw up in front of it but there has been a level of accountability now maybe doesn't always transfer into success like the end of last year but he's kind of created a culture of accountability so maybe that falls more in line with how blunt Vic fangio is that's like my one theory on it it could and look if if I mean Miami was kind of known as an offensive machine and it wasn't a great defense and I thought they were soft and maybe you have guys that are soft they don't want to be coached in vic fangio style yeah that's the one thing about Vic is that he's gonna I'll let you know exactly what he thinks of you yeah and he'll let us know what he thinks of people which we appreciate we do that's the only question I had today or the the last questions we had Eagle at nbcuni.com QR code is on the screen anything else here Pack Light yeah I have to start like thinking about what to bring yeah I'm a good Packer though are you that's you're playing the right team I see that was terrible not great good you got any plans for the off days um gonna work on my Portuguese we have uh we have Birds huddle on Friday so we don't really have an off day we have a Saturday off day yeah we do any big plans for Saturday might be the last off day in a long time yeah that's true um I'm working on a new piece on the piano oh okay it's a chopan waltz in U B minor opus 69 work on that a little bit nice I might get outside a little bit enjoy some good weather and then college football starts up oh really yeah well cross country season starts this weekend so there's a lot of meats um Temple has a new Cross Country course by the way at at Ambler you know their their campus up on 309 so if you want to go to the the meet this weekend with me let me know I'll get I'll meet you there I'll get us some tickets okay I'll meet you there I'll be right in the parking see waiting for you if you enjoy the eagle ey podcast please rate and subscribe wherever you get your pods if you're watching on YouTube please click the like button and subscribe there as well any final words no we'll see you guys soon y take care everyone have a good weekend this has been Eagle Eye presented by Nissan we'll talk to you soon [Applause]