ITB RADIO: IMPACT OF PHILADELPHIA EAGLES LB DEVIN WHITE MISSING SEASON OPENER VS. GREEN BAY PACKERS

it is the Eagles and the Packers this Friday night on 973 ESPN it's time now for football at 4:30 Adam kaplan's here pinch hitting if you will for Jeff moer today on a day where Phillies uh lead 3-2 by the way uh the Eagles made an interesting uh designation today and let's bring Adam Kaplan you were on yesterday when the injury report came out and Devin white was listed as limited today he is out and it has started a lot of speculation about what could be next for him Adam uh so out for white what does it mean for this defense all right we're gonna let me break this down because there's a lot of confusion people are are saying a lot of stuff some of it's not true so let me explain something first of all Mike we've talked since I've been doing football four on football four here that every once in a while we have what's called a pop-up injury that's not known this is a pop-up injury he did not end preseason with this ankle injury one this is a new injury it's legit people are thinking there's conspiracy because he didn't have a good training camp very inconsistent that oh they're making this up so he doesn't have to play come on folks they owe him so let me go over his contract Mike at being that he's a vested veteran his $2.25 million base salary became fully guaranteed this week plus they owe him that the signing bonus of over 27 so Mike they owe him just under five million this season if he never plays a game of course they want him to play it's it's it's it's just funny people people people think there's some kind of conspiracy because he he he he they this injury came out of the blue well it ha it apparently happened in practice Yeah so that that you know that that and now let me also explain this part this is important because the league cracks down on this stuff so for many years um going back to the mid-2000s players like let's say you have a Sunday game right and a player did not travel with a team but they they never downgraded them that left the players questionable the league said enough of this like if if a guy's not traveling he's obviously not playing you have to downgrade the guy out well the the the the final statuses on the players are not due today they're due tomorrow but because the Eagles traveled today he had Devon White had to be listed as out that is why they did it I think again there's some confusion anytime a player is listed on the injur report and he does not travel he's out no matter what he's listed on Friday he cannot play that that's a League rule uh the league started cracking down on even the Patriots by the way are great at doing that they're big on the Saturday Saturday downgrade if a guy's not traveling they don't travel players and those guys are not playing so that that's the League rule for the again just and this will this may happen again when the Eagles have to travel if a player is listed on the injury report and he does not travel he cannot play that that's there was there was um exceptions with covid but that we're not dealing with that right now so again if the guy's on the injury report with an injury and he's not traveling he cannot play um so and you like you look at Devon white he's out for the game not playing noobe Dean Zack Bon will presumably be the starters but will white jump right back into the lineup do you think that he is the starter or do you think that these two guys Dean and Bon will be the starters moving forward a couple things here first of all we have no idea with this weight injury the severity of it because it came out of nowhere so I don't I don't know what it is yet but here's what I do know Mike it was bad enough that he couldn't play now I get it they're in a short week so they're two days short they're not playing on a Sunday they're playing on a Friday so we don't know yet and we also don't know did they not want him on we don't we don't know anything about the turf that they have there or whatever we don't I don't I haven't even looked I don't know if it's natural grass or not I I I by the way there was something about this uh they are using the same surface that um Lambo and Lincoln Financial Field use and Lambo and Lincoln Financial Field are the only two venues that use that type of grass they both use the same grass that's going to be at Corinthians okay so that's good that's good so again Mike we don't know what their plan is now here's what's interesting I don't know if you noticed and I usually dismiss their their depth charts you and I have talked about this I kind of laugh when you bring them up to the Eagles credit because this is the way it closed I think you kind of passed you mentioned this in passing at the at the Mike linebacker spot they listed white first and Dean second but or they listed or yep which is interesting that they don't do that that that I found it very interesting again but they did list white see here's what happened Mike number one and the reporters are practice know this and I was there a lot White had the most snaps of any inside backer you know they have two inside backers they will start two inside backers they're two in they're a typical odd man front you start you have two overhangs three down and and and two two inside backers right one to week side one to Middle that's the way they all are so the question is when if this is not a serious injury if it's only day to-day or he's back in a week or two what do they do well they got to see him in practice here's another thing which I've tried to explain to people because this is a new staff mic we don't know are they going to specialize these linebackers none of them cover well by the way none of them are good in coverage or they G to have Dean who's the best run run Defender they have is he going to be the run is he going to be the rundown guy when they're in passing situations who who are they going to who are going to be the two backers and dime who's going to be the one linebacker we don't know that Mike so people want answers and and by the way you heard I'm sure you read or at least heard what Vic Fango said he said ideally they like to have the settle with their backers but they're still going through it yeah I I know um uh this linebacking stuff you know and when they got white the anticipation from a lot of the fans was wow they got Devon white he was a All Pro and yeah five years ago right exactly 20 uh 2020 had that really big season 140 tackles nine sacks helped to win a Super Bowl he's not the same player that he was in Tampa regardless if he's the guy here or not correct oh my Mike he's first of all what you know I could talk about this because we already put this out on on uh patreon I I could just give you a really good nugget so Jeff and I are pretty friendly with the current NFL defensive coach who's was uh part of his job for free agency was degrade the the the linebackers we're talking about um nonp pass rushers on the ball linebackers uh excuse me off the ball sorry off the ball line backer Mike and uh the um this player Deon white was given a a DNS which means do not sign that means his tape was bad so I I can't get into the Eagles heads I the contract the only reason why I thought Mike to start training camp and I'll be honest with you I I started I thought he'd start and he may we don't again we're not sure we'll see what happens we'll see what his rle is when he's back is that his contract he's Sur highest paid linebacker by far by the way he is upside to make 7.2 million with incentives I I just was like wow they really think this much of this linebacker no one else does but listen it only matters what the Eagles think and contracts with uh the Eagles particularly ho Roseman their general manager mean a lot now the fact that the Eagles listed two co-starter for that Mike linebacker job tells you that Devon white is's a no lock to play a lot when he comes back when he's ready to go yeah that a decision was not made we'll see um by the way he had a very inconsistent Camp is my understanding but as I've been telling you now for I guess I started I started this about a week after Dean had that bad practice at the link right after he started taking it off then I then another week week I remember I came back from my Camp tour I said Mike I have no idea why Dean's not starting I don't understand it I I and you know that because I kept saying it well and and I guess the question would be it would be Dean would be starting over white uh if white comes back he would replace Dean not Bon correct correct yeah cuz I did not see white play at the um the weak side spot but here's a here's a here's a nugget for you Mike and if every team I spoke with saw Devon white as a weak side linebacker not a Mike so I don't know what I I I can't get you know I wish the reporters would ask why they have why they thought white could play the the weak side excuse me the mic spot he's a weak side linebacker he he plays like that he's not he's not a instinctive linebacker like n de by the way niobe Dean I did see him play a little bit of that other spot Bond spot very little by the way I did note it at one of the practices that they were mixing and matching but he mostly line up at the mic spot so on your question to answer that no I I don't see it I don't in fact we don't know yet where um well van Surman line up a lot at the mic spot um or Burks by the way we don't know where he's going to line up yet that's the guy to keep an eye on as we go forward with his musical chairs yeah well that was going to be up and you led me right into it Adam Kaplan football at four uh from the inside the birds podcast it's brought to you by bet 365 whatever the sport whatever the moment it's never ordinary at bet 365 so if White's out Burks dresses then Friday night and is he the third guy or is that Trotter see troter on I I would think Burks I would think bur Burks with his experience he is healthy now van Suman should dress because he's a supreme special teams players he their fastest linebacker right now we're expecting Dean and Bon obviously we're expecting van Suman to to play on specials right the question is we don't know yet what they think of trer we know that we know that he's more of a mic linebacker though they list him as a week we we definitely saw him practice at the weak spot he's another really instinctive smart linebacker but Mike the whole point of discussing this as much as we do we rarely talk about their inside backer job this much there's so much uncertainty what and and I look forward to getting the all 22 also I should have that I I'll take a look at that probably Sunday I want to log at how many snaps each guy played not only snap how many snaps which we'll know anyway how much what situationally how did they play how were they used because I it was really hard to tell in training camp Mike that up till their last couple days they still did not define who the passing down backs were the run down backs the the rundowns Goan yes to a degree but Burks so you mentioned he throws a wrench to it by the way he's their tallest linebacker uh he's actually their him and Burks and yeah he's actually taller than Bon Bon's 6'2 and a half Burks is 6 fo three one10 of an inch uh we talk with Adam and of course um one of the big things uh as we move on to some offensive things real fast uh sure a lot of talk about Herz and what he said and then Jason Kelce said H what Herz said was kind of being misrepresented but he did address that they did have issues against the blitz last season do are you confident that they have fixed those issues Mike here's the thing though I would tell you that it was more on Jaylen than their coaches I I we moer and I beat up their coaching step pretty badly scheme bad lack of adjustments we got a lot of that from the teams that Eagles would would fa they' face they just very critical of the scheme very vanilla and you heard what serani said that said it he called it stale and he's right I think Mike overall with Jaylen he just didn't see it well everyone who worked for us Greg coell others said the same thing he didn't see the blitz well that's on him and we talked about the nonsense of there was no hot routes which is made up of course there's hot routes they we we we confirm that their hot route was China uh that's a that's a short area route and angle route it it it it's he didn't he he just didn't see it I I nobody could get into a quarterback's head Mike I I've asked coaches we we talked to John T John Works he's a contributor to inside the birds John explained what those conversations are like when they watch tape they don't try to overwhelm them on the sideline when they come off the field they they do this in the classroom but they think that they're not hot routes I mean I don't know what people are looking at that's just not true well uh that was obviously one of the big offensive things there a lot of talk about one saquin Barkley the national media comparing him to Christian mcaffrey and uh saying that the all Eagles offense needs to run through saquan Barkley will this be a saquan Barkley Centric offense uh Friday night and this season great question Mike well his contract would tell you at two and a half 12 and a half million per season Mike 27 million uh is really what he's guaranteed to get it's real simple if it doesn't go through him then where's it going to go because yes for decades we we always would talk about how the Eagles are a passing team that's that's what Joe Banner wanted that's a Jeffrey Lori wanted they're they're they're they're forward thinking but when you're when you're paying a running back that much as much as we don't believe in Balance we think that's overrated you got to run the football you you got to justify the contract so Mike to answer your question you move this forward yeah in fact here's another thing on that yes I believe it'll somewhat go through it yes they're going to throw a lot too but how much is Herz going to run anymore are they're going to take out of his hands more to Runner they're going to design as much that's the next question Mike so actually a major question War Herz run the ball as much as he has in years past that will be something we're all keeping an eye on uh the evolution of Jaylen Herz it all starts Friday night and you can listen to the game right here on 973 ESPN Adam Kaplan is over at insidethe birds.com and of course the inside the birds podcast which you can get on all podcasting platforms don't forget their patreon page and their YouTube channel just search inside the birds Friday night right here on 973 ESPN all right Adam appreciate it buddy hey by the way on patreon night we've got CH at 8:00 p.m. see you all right there he goes That's Adam Kaplan here on the sports bash as he said 8:00 P.M tonight on the patreon channel uh their patreon stuff if you're a patreon subscriber I know a couple listeners of ours who are patreon subscribers and love love some of the uh insight and Analysis they bring uh inside the birds