Safety Play SURGING In 2024 With CGJ, Sydney Brown & Reed Blankenship? l Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

the Philadelphia Eagles look to have a lot more Talent at the safety position in 2024 than 2023 but is it enough to fix the problems from last year we'll get into it coming up next right here on the lockdown Eagles podcast you are locked on Eagles your daily Philadelphia Eagles podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's going on Eagles fans welcome into this Thursday edition of the lock down Eagles podcast I'm one of your Two Hosts Lou debiasi joined as always by Gino Camary we thank you so much for making lockdown Eagles your first listen each and every day today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use our code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms of course do apply we continue our positional previews today with safety and we finish things off tomorrow on Friday with cornerback and do you know safety's position for the Eagles over the years it's not like linebacker they've had some Bonafide studs at this spot of course we grew up watching Bryant Dawkins and then there was a l for a little bit but then you had Malcolm Jenkins for what five six years being the leader of your defense Rody McLoud to me was one of the most underrated Eagles defensive players of that Super Bowl era and then of course you had chony Garner Johnson in 2022 it it's kind of in the middle of I don't think ho Roseman takes an approach to safety like he does running back backer linebacker but he also doesn't invest in it as much as like the island positions right tackle receiver quarterback corner there's been a middle ground there's been some years where he tries the Band-Aid approach of an Anthony Harris tries to sign Marcus Williams to the biggest contract of any free agent safety and then there's kind of the middle ground of like the last two years where he waits till the last minute to trade for a chony gardner Johnson a Kevin buard this year I thought he was a lot more proactive than the last two years and I think when they're healthy this Trio they have right now of cgj Sydney Brown and Reed blankin ship it could be really good it should perk your eyebrows up at the opportunity that this safety group is going to give the rest of this defense to get back to their ways in 2022 because the position that made me fall in love with football the player that made me fall in love with football it was Brian Dawkins he solidified what it was to play that position a position where you can have your eyes downhill and no matter what he's going to get to the football and make a physical impact down in and down out now turn to 2023 what were they lacking in that element Lou they didn't have that physicality that gamechanging element close that textbook come up the middle I'm GNA just put my shoulder into you and take you down which chony Garner Johnson did in the Super Bowl for you last year they didn't have that guy and to come from a world of Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLoud when that Duo was so good together and then before that you had Brian Dawkins but for a time you were trying to replace that position and one thing I always look at at safety is that the variance between the very good years when the Eagles actually invest in this position versus actually you can't even say when they invest in this position because if you look at Nate Allen jaquinn Jarett they tried but when they have high level play at that position versus let's say some average play there is a clear difference in how the defense it's not running back or linebacker it kind of annoys me G when people throw safety in that group like yes again it's not receiver Corner quarterback but in the modern day NFL when there's so many versatile offensive weapons this position is crucial to me on defense to me it's puzzling how depends on how you use them I guess right the scheme I guess depends on the value of it that's fair but when you look at what safeties do and how much money corner back s are getting and you're saying at the same time are there any cornerbacks that are defending Travis Kelce who might be the number one receiving weapon in the NFL no that's going to go to your bigger bodied Kyle Hamilton type of safeties so why aren't these safeties getting the money that cornerbacks are and at the same time they also have to go and play linebacker it is the quarterback of the defense you have to be able to be a freak athlete to where you can probe the back end like a hawk you have to have instinctual ball skills to where you can make a play on the ball like that because you are one of the few guys with your eyes to the quarterback you have to be physical like a linebacker athletic like a cornerback but we're still severely underpaying this position but hoe Roseman Lou he is wise and he figured out we can't do what we did going into 2023 where we just do not address this position at all we have to have some Playmakers some guys that are going to make an impact in the pass game in the Run game and it all starts with a guy in the middle of your defense in chony Garner Johnson with that number eight on his back now yeah he's going to be the guy that should be the captain of this defense for however many years he is here in Philadelphia in my opinion yeah and he tried to take that big swing at the trade deadline the Kevin Berard move I respected the aggressiveness there of course you know we know it didn't work out and byard was just a guy we could see he definitely lost a step from a few years ago when at Tennessee he was with the Titans one of the best safeties in football like he wasn't that guy but you're right in the offseason it's crazy the extreme he took it to where not only did he let both starting linebackers walk but he also couldn't get a deal done with chony Gardner Johnson and then his main move was bringing in Terrell Edmonds it was going to be him and Reed blanket chip like that just wasn't enough and it wasn't even enough to get by but you want to do more with safety than just get by it's not linebacker and I think it was so obvious Chanty garer Johnson missing from the defense last year was one of the main reasons you weren't the same team not just because of all the different hats he can wear and the turnovers he forced two years ago but the energy he brings now the vocal leadership it seems like he's bringing to a young defensive backfield cgj again I still I almost think because of all the moves they've made on defense and all the young players and the question marks we're discussing CJ's role and just his presence almost goes a little underlooked and you could maybe say that about all three safeties on this football team he's young but he's a veteran man he got he's been in the league now for what this will be his six he drafted in 2019 yeah so he's a guy that you talk about the veterans that are going to help mold the youth I mean he look at what he did with Reed blankin chip in his rookie year you sounds he's been very Hands-On with Cooper deene so far during ota's goo cgj was a lot if you don't think he has kind of figured out his role now and if you hear the way that cgj has talked from his time previously in Philadelphia until now he has matured I mean Dr and I think he understands how important he is to Philadelphia and there's never been a player made in a lab better to be a Philadelphia Eagle than Chanty gner John you're not going to convince me otherwise he is a guy that's going to talk your ear up but he's gonna back it up he was the best defensive player for you in that Super Bowl Bar None and to me Lou having a safety like that is like having your queen on the chess board and when that Queen got knocked off in 2023 you didn't have anybody that positionally could cover the whole board cover the whole field no and what was the one thing that chony Garner Johnson brought to that team that he that how he Roseman rather did not make up in the guys that he acquired turnovers turnovers turnovers that's why he's going to be so important Lou if anything you teach these young guys to go at that ball with that Maniac ment because picking that ball off and giving your offense that they've invested hundreds of millions of dollars into better field position is going to make your offense more efficient more lethal and get back to the way they were in 2022 so this safety group man they have a huge burden on their shoulders but I believe they have the guys to carry that burden and execute it in a big way I think so too and I think all three players could wear different hats I think the roles of all three are kind of unknown right now we're going to get into that coming up next how is Vic fangio going to use these safeties don't go anywhere we'll be right back right here on the lock down Eagles [Music] podcast today's episode of the lockon Eagles podcast is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your 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free 247 sports streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming lock on sports today brings you campas analysis opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day we are talking safety today as we continue our positional preview chony Gardner Johnson Reed blank chip Sydney Brown that's going to be the big three eventually of course we know right now Sydney Brown Gino he's coming back from a torn ACL that he suffered at the end of last year so might not be ready for week one although he looks pretty good saw him running off to the side during OTAs on social media looked like he was running pretty good he sounded pretty optimistic in one interview a few months ago that he'll be ready pretty early on in the year and that's important I think getting all three of those guys healthy for Vic fangio's defense is massive because I think all three can wear many different hats like all three I think can play deep safety I don't think you want Reed blanket chip at Cindy Brown is like a slot corner like cgj Ken I think Sid kind of had to do that last year by necessity I think it's more let him crash downhill against the run or have him play as a deep safety but you know I think all three have versatility and I'm super curious to see how fangio uses them especially cgj like if you had to say is he more going to be used as the guy from New Orleans that was a slot Corner that roamed around the or is he going to be more of who he was with the Eagles in 2022 which was until Avante Maddox got down from an injury he was primarily a deep safety so the way you have to look at chony Garner Johnson and a Vic vanjo style defense is probably close to how Justin Simmons was used and he's going to be safety number one for you and everything is going to going to kind of perpetuate around him and he is going to be the strong side Defender for a lot of these situations he's going to be the first guy up when it comes to those matchups that you need him to defend these bigger bodied tight end these probably bigger bodied slot receivers for you and you can't put yourself into a corner with these guys because that's the situation you were in last year you had Justin Evans you tried the Terrell Edmonds thing you had Kevin byard who was more of just a guy not who he was in years past but now you have three guys who at worst are all solid to good athletes Reed might be let's say the least athletic out of the three but he's still a pretty solid athlete in his own right they're all very smart they have explosiveness Sydney Brown is probably the most explosive player on that back end especially when it comes to closing on the ball downhill so when you look at that Kareem Jackson type of role that you saw for the Denver Broncos when Vic was there that's probably going to be one of those guys the Reed blankin ship the Sydney Brown that yeah just go to the football crash to the football coming downhill you got to defend the alley which is going to be huge for these defensive backs in a Vic fanjo system that area between the tackle and that wide receiver those guys have to be rangy and they have to cover that element but why I say cgj should be the Justin Simmons for you is because of his ability to make plays on the football you want him to be able to probe with his eyes and see where the quarterback is going because he's one of those guys that is going to bait you into some of those situations where he's gonna kind of underplay his hand to overplay the football on the back end so if you stick them into that free safety strong safety type of mold which is very old school your free safety more than likely is going to be a combination of Sydney brown with chony Garner Johnson but at the same time what cgj does really well can also transfer to that strong safety position which Reed blank chip is probably the best tackler out of the three in that group allow him to be a pseudo offall linebacker for you you can have him defend the flat Get Out to the Ball defend the alley and at the same time Lou you still got a bunch of other role players that you could kind of add to this equation as well where we keep saying on this show keep the best 12 defensive backs well we know that Chanty Garner Johnson is going to be used as a nickel as a star type of player could Avante Maddox potentially hop back and play some of those safety snaps Cooper deine who we have yet to talk about who I believe projects projects best as a safety he could be used as that quote unquote fourth safety I think he will eventually that bigger type of cornerback to alleviate some of the burden from chony to not pigeon hole him and keep him in that department as well because you don't always want to allow the offense to know what your best player in cgj is going to be doing because if you just get him up let's say you're playing against Kansas right and Travis Kel's there and he's up at the line of scrimmage oh well we know we're GNA probably get the ball elsewhere out or if ch's always deep we know we can continue to exploit that if we have somebody else coming down don't get into the ways of Patricia and sha was super stagnant the great thing about fanj Jo's defense is these safeties man they are never just set at the SN they are out there they are always moving go watch that Miami tape go watch the Chicago tape the tape here in Denver those guys are constantly moving and creating a havoc in the mind of the quarterback to them a real puzzle on the back end and you know the good news is fangio has the Personnel now that he can matches multiple people he can ask a Cooper Dee to also do what he wants chany Gardner Johnson to do I think to a a certain level a certain floor he can also ask that of cydney brown of re blank and ship of Avante mad was playing a ton of Manon man coverage last year yeah was he great strong suit but he can absolutely do it and youo sometimes you want to like I I love the idea of City Brown playing in the Deep half of the field and just getting sideline to sideline I mean you see the rocket motor that speed I mean look at his pick six against Arizona like the speed is obvious as long as he controls it a little bit right with the tackling and the penalties if he can re that in like he can be a weapon coming downhill too against the Run he made some big tackles that game against Washington on the road I think Sydney Brown can be used in that way a lot of these guys can I'm I'm super fascinated to see the roles they have and that again you're right like last year you just none of those players presented that kind of Versatility and so you kind of just had to have each guy at one spot and you really the the scheme didn't have much creativity but the players really it just was a perfect nightmare of just vanilla secondary vanilla safety play they tried their best to get anything beyond what Reed blank and ship was giving them which started out with Justin Evans who was just a piece of snaps Wonder breed somebody that was just like a buck 25 at the store right like nothing great and then you're going to the other value section and you're getting guys like Terell Edmonds who were in the Walmart Bargain Bin just a bunch of guys man Sydney Brown was the only one that was giving you any meaningful snaps at that position but he really never came into form until he ended up getting injured closer to the playoffs but now man that the Personnel you have it matches what Vic fjo is going to want to do and you don't have those Bargain Bin guys anymore these are legitimately good football players and chony was paid as such cydney Brown was drafted as such Reed blankin ship he's thought of as such even though he was an undrafted free agent he played in a Super Bowl his rookie year he took on that safety number one role last year and like you said he got that extension so these guys they a huge burden but that Personnel it it cannot be said enough how much better it is even though a lot of it is the same when you look at it Sid read blanket chip on paper that's two fours of your defense from last year sure they've gotten so much better they've gotten exponentially better because of what chony is going to bringe and C changes everything I mean guys like even quinan Mitchell being back there as well where on the back you think you think he he going to translate to safety and be a Brian Branch type of player that's something you also have to add into this equation you mentioned re blankin ship again he stepped up last year when there was really nothing else to this position and showed he could be a steady presence as a top two safety and he was that two years ago as well I will say in an Ideal World a perfect scenario plays out he probably is your third safety though I think the upside of Sydney Brown and chony Gardner Johnson I prefer at the end of the year that those are your two best players this position because that mean Sid panned out and I think again Reed is a very good player has a super high floor right and I think he's going to have a role in this defense for a very long time but I think Sid's a special talent like I think that explosiveness is really enticing at this spot I would hope at the end of the year he's one of the two best players at this position if we're going to say the best case scenario here is those two guys being quote unquote your safeties that you are going to give a majority of the snaps to or maybe just based on production efficiency like who's your two best players here I hope one of them sit it's got to be cgj yes is it it sit I don't know but they're going to have the opportunity because we talked about linebacker yesterday A lot of these sub packaging a fanjo type world are bigger nickel bigger dime situation where they're going heavier at defensive backs all three of these guys are probably going to be pretty close in snaps Chon will I think Far and Away but'll be close when they're healthy probably yeah they're still going to be close to 85 to 90% of the snaps between them I don't think you're going to see Reed blanket chip off the field all too much because you only have two linebackers right now that you can really field with any certain only for now we might find out that you can't even rely on one of those guys what are they going to do go heavy on the line heavy the back yeah you might need four corners and three safeties which is something interesting Chris Franklin of nj.com was on our show a few weeks ago and he said maybe early on because Sydney Brown's coming back from that injury they're using avonte Maddox in different ways they might throw out some packages where you see at least four cornerbacks out there and that could be a madx playing safety but you could also see some times where not only do you have slay and quinan and maybe dein out there but also oringo or Rogers fangio is going to use a lot of defensive backs and that's at least for me that's music to my ears well should be music to everybody's ears because they know that the strength of their personnel on the back seven it's in the defensive back that is one thing I used to like about Jim schwarz's defense Gino is a lot of the times it was only Nigel bradam out there a linebacker and it was just all defensive backs they've done that in the past couple years especially two years ago in Jordan Davis's rookie year where they did these Penny type of fronts where they went five down one type of linebacker I think you'll see more of that I mentioned something similar to that where you'll see a a zero Tech over the center two three techs between the guards and the tackles and then two standup type of guys right is that a combination of linebackers or Edge to be to be seen but those one linebacker sets it's going to give the defensive backs those other Edge rushers that much more of an ability to make an impact down in and down out to where I want re blanket chip on the field all the time I've seen enough out of him to where I know I can let him Patrol on the back and let him Patrol up by the line of scrimmage better than what you're going to get out of noobe Dean and Devon white right away right in my opinion he led your team in tackles last year so I totally agree I think safety this year as you mentioned it doesn't look totally different compared to 2023 but it's substantially better we'll talk about the depth of this position as we wrap up our positional preview of safety coming up next right here on the lock down Eagles [Music] podcast as we finish up this Thursday edition of LOE we have a message from our friends over at FanDuel it's summertime baseball is in full swing Copa America is going on you have the Euros going on as well and if you want to get in on the action there's only one place that I suggest you go and make your wages and it's over at FanDuel the official sports book of the lockdown Eagles podcast and the entire locked on podcast Network and Heck if you're a new customer right now a single Abraham Lincoln a $5 bet if you win you're going to get $200 200 crisp Ben Franklin's back to bet on anything from next year's Super Bowl winner to who's going to win the USA Copa America match tonight I'm putting in a future on myot zurri in the euros and if you want to get in on the action visit fanduel.com loock on and add a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America's number one sports book and the official sports book of the entire lockdown podcast Network [Music] all right so Gino behind Chanty Gardner Johnson of course you have eventually it's going to be Reed blank and Chip Sydney Brown once he's back from his torn ACL that's three solid safeties that you're going to use I think a vast majority of the time on the field a lot of nickel a lot of dime packages feric fangio's defense behind the three though I I think right now it's honestly you're probably going to rely on if one or two of those players were to go down I think fangio is going to ask a lot of these Corners to start playing in hybrid roles he's already trying that with Avante madx we know eventually they want Cooper dein to translate into that role where he's kind of doing everything for this defense and I guess it sounds like James Bradberry even quietly was being tried out at safety to when he was on the field during OTA so I I would say again you've got like Maki Gardner you've got TR McCullum out there at safety I think though behind this this three main safety group like it's probably Corner that would fill in if there's any sort of like massive stretch of injuries and you add in that Isaiah Rogers now is going to be primarily an outside quarterback at had surface that he's not going to play inside as of recently so it would have to be somebody like a Cooper de Jee to step up because let's say that Darius SLE is playing at a high level and quinan Mitchell is playing at a high level and you have the boundary Corners solidified ha throw key Ringo into the equation as well you're not just going to keep Cooper dein sitting on the bench you're not going to do you want on the field bad business if you are a defensive coordinator you are going to find a way to get him in in sub packages early on so that he can get a hold of the NFL Pace understand what it is to see it from that speed and then if somebody fingers crossed were to go down L he's probably the next guy up there because you've heard Rumblings of Avante potentially taking some snaps there and James Brad where potentially taking some snaps there but I keep going back are you going to have these quote quote Band-Aid guys who aren't going to be here in a year year or two to take away snaps of heck even guys like a Tristan McCollum or a maai gardner who this team trusted last year Lou those guys were also taking Snaps outside of Justin Evans by the way another former Corner goino that they cross train to safety so he's not even I talked about like traditional safety backups Gardner really isn't even one of those guys he's a six2 outside corner for the majority of his career and that's what we have to remember as well Vic fanjo what is he going to do he's going to get the best five to six guys out there at any given time and I think going back to the idea of having these young guys being next to good football players how instrumental will it be in the growth of Cooper Dee to be out there and let's say it's 25 to 35% of the snaps that's on the low end in my opinion yeah but to just hear the communication between chony and Darius and hear what they're saying and then to the Mike backer and hear how they're calling the front that's going to take you so far and we've seen how that investment is paid off at other position groups look at who's your new center we've talked about that you wanted cam Jurgens to be next to Jason Kelce and that was one of the talking points howy Roseman even mentioned in his press conference and lead up to the draft getting these young guys in the building next to these veterans this is another one of those situations it's a good point I didn't even really think about it we talked about that on the show a few weeks ago about having Darius Slay opposite qu Mitchell how that's that new version of Kelsey next to cam Jurgens right and quinan has said again that he masks his game emulate off of slle but Cooper deene like again I think Gino eventually in an Ideal World he's not one of your main boundary Corners he's not even your top slot corner you want him to be what you're going to ask chony Gardner Johnson to do in 2024 so who who better to learn from than cgj like I I totally agree that's another perfect mirror where he's not being red shirted he's learning he's playing on the field at a different position a different position than by the way he's he's never played slot either he was a boundary at Iowa and he's learning from chony looking at what he's doing playing a deep safety role playing in the Box playing nickel covering tight ends and running backs yeah that really will be instrumental for not just him but every one of these young defensive backs who are asked to be versatile in this scheme it's a very very young room but for the first time there's a lot of room for growth and that ceiling I don't know what it could be but I have a lot of belief into this group right now I was sick of watching just guys you know that that was my favorite position to watch and it's it's so hard to watch just a group of guys that can't get to the landmark and can't make a play on the ball and I mean hecky who El who else was the slot Corner that this team had the last couple years that they tried to fill in even last year so Bradley Roby was in there not Roby it was oh Josiah Scott you saw when Scott the drop off between chony Garner Johnson to Josiah Scott in 2022 and 2023 you can't allow something like that to happen anymore and Howe Roseman has done a very good job in upping the ante here at this safety position and not just drafting syny Brown last year not just sitting on his hands bringing in a young player in Cooper Dee who can also learned from these guys in that room and having a good player in read blanket ship to be opposite a trony Gardner Johnson safety room is back in Philadelphia you have to feel really good about this young group and in a couple years this could be the the back seven in the the quarterback group back there and these three guys that we have continuously talked about y being the the heartbeat of this defense I totally agree and I think corner is even more exciting than safety and we'll preview Corner tomorrow as we wrap up our positional previews right here on the lockd down Eagles podcast thanks so much for making us your first listen each and every day we're going to sign up for now though for Gino caler I'm lud debiasi signing off thanks so much for downloading watching and listening and let's go Birds Fly Eagles Fly