Speaker 1: Hey guys, thanks for coming in. Rainy Saturday. We met
Speaker 1: with a lot of players over the last thirty six hours.
Speaker 1: Tough time a year. From our perspective, this was a
Speaker 1: more difficult process, which is good. Means we're getting better.
Speaker 1: M had a lot of tough cuts and you know,
Speaker 1: now we'll go through the process of looking at everyone
Speaker 1: and trying to balance what we got and what we're
Speaker 1: looking for. And that process starts now. How it's it's five,
Speaker 1: it's it's five running backs, six receivers, eight offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: Why heavy on the skill spots and light on the line. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, we like offensive lineman, there's no question about it.
Speaker 1: We feel really good about our eight. From there, we
Speaker 1: felt like, um, there were a lot of guys, a
Speaker 1: lot of young players that we had. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's still the potential to bring some of them back,
Speaker 1: and so we just try to balance that and kind
Speaker 1: of our grading of those guys and um, if they
Speaker 1: were kind of in the same range, and feeling confident
Speaker 1: that we can get some of those guys back. But
Speaker 1: certainly different than we've done in the past with the
Speaker 1: old line only keeping eight one of them only plays tackle,
Speaker 1: one of them only plays guard, and more specific to Warmack,
Speaker 1: reserved offensive lineman that only plays guard isn't really thought
Speaker 1: to be a valuable thing. You know, only kept him
Speaker 1: but gave Hi a contract extension. So do you view
Speaker 1: him sort of as you know, a kind of a
Speaker 1: more of a special player as a reserve, but also
Speaker 1: do you see him as kind of maybe a starter
Speaker 1: option in twenty eighteen and beyond. We think we have
Speaker 1: eight starters on the offensive line, so not only him,
Speaker 1: but in Whiz and V. We think those guys are
Speaker 1: all starters in the National Football League. And I know
Speaker 1: I've said this a lot, so I'm going to sound repetitive,
Speaker 1: but it's hard to find offensive linement. It's hard to
Speaker 1: find those guys. And when we look at kind of
Speaker 1: the market for those guys and what they get paid,
Speaker 1: and having the opportunity to maybe keep them together and
Speaker 1: all of them under contract going forward, we think that's
Speaker 1: a good issue for us to have. So we looked
Speaker 1: at it more of kind of the talent of those
Speaker 1: guys and at a position that we always want to
Speaker 1: be strong at, and that's why we move forward there.
Speaker 1: Thanks your question, Well, I guess, more more specific to Warmack,
Speaker 1: do you view him as I know you said you'd
Speaker 1: see all your guys a starter, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: giving him a contract extension, do you see him as
Speaker 1: a guy that can you know, compete for a starting
Speaker 1: job next year. Yeah, that's why we did it. I mean,
Speaker 1: all those guys. Again, we feel like we're very fortunate
Speaker 1: to have eight guys that can go in and play
Speaker 1: at a high level, and we want to keep that
Speaker 1: as a luxury. You know, taking our quarterbacks a major
Speaker 1: thing for us. How the two rookie running backs, Pumphrey
Speaker 1: obviously struggled that talking about that kind of balance of
Speaker 1: keeping both how difficult to call that was and what
Speaker 1: was up with Pumphrey during the preseasons. Yeah, i'd say pump.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because as you go through the
Speaker 1: whole offseason with him, and he's a guy that was
Speaker 1: getting first string reps and everyone was talking about how
Speaker 1: excited they were on him, And you know, we spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time scouting that this running back class,
Speaker 1: scouting him in particular, and he's got a body of work.
Speaker 1: And not only is it the preseason games, but it's
Speaker 1: everyday of practice, it's every day through the offseason program
Speaker 1: and we also know that it comes from people quick
Speaker 1: sometimes and sometimes it takes a while for rookies. You know,
Speaker 1: we're in a unique industry where there's really no patience.
Speaker 1: You know, there's no other industry that you take a
Speaker 1: guy out of college and um, if they don't look
Speaker 1: exactly like you're hoping a month in, you just look
Speaker 1: to dump them. And we want to develop our players. Um,
Speaker 1: we trust our evaluations on our scouts, and we want
Speaker 1: to give guys time that we believe in. And I
Speaker 1: think both Pumping Corey are along those lines. Now, we
Speaker 1: I had to receiver spot. What was it that Shelton
Speaker 1: Gibson showed you that had him our spot over someone
Speaker 1: like Tregs or even market down. Yeah, when we drafted
Speaker 1: these guys, m we knew that they were there are rookies,
Speaker 1: they're work in progress. And we knew that Sheldon went
Speaker 1: back to school, didn't come out early. He's probably drafted higher,
Speaker 1: and that we're going to have to spend time to
Speaker 1: develop him and his skill set. And he does have
Speaker 1: a trait. I mean, he had more fifty yard receptions
Speaker 1: than anyone in college football last year. He can take
Speaker 1: the top off consistency, for a rookie is obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: something that sometimes takes some time, but he works really hard.
Speaker 1: He has the traits we're looking for to develop into
Speaker 1: a player, and now obviously you know we're going to
Speaker 1: spend the time trying to develop that. And I think
Speaker 1: it's important for us when we make these decisions. We're
Speaker 1: talking about the forty six, the fifty three, and then
Speaker 1: the sixty three, and we want to make sure our
Speaker 1: coaches have the best forty six guys that they need
Speaker 1: to go into Washington and then from there, there are
Speaker 1: also guys that we want to develop that we want
Speaker 1: to sit there a year from now and hope that
Speaker 1: they've taken another step. And you know, a guy like
Speaker 1: Marcus Johnson who deserves a lot of credit for what
Speaker 1: happened with him developing and in our offseason program and
Speaker 1: working with our guys. So we want to take these
Speaker 1: guys and understand that they need some development, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna try to be patient with guys that we think
Speaker 1: have talent. So howie with that set With that said,
Speaker 1: is it the fifty three best players or is it
Speaker 1: players that you you think will develop and may not
Speaker 1: be the best fifty three right now, you understand what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Fifty three best player, I think it's the
Speaker 1: fifty three best players for the Philadelphia Eagles organization. You know,
Speaker 1: I think we're looking we're trying to balance where the
Speaker 1: ceilings are of guys, and especially some of the guys
Speaker 1: that may not be playing, may not be active. We
Speaker 1: don't want to lose a guy that a year from
Speaker 1: now or two years from now we think has started traits.
Speaker 1: And so that doesn't mean that everything set, that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that we're not going to consistently evaluate them. But
Speaker 1: for us, you know, it's a bigger than just the
Speaker 1: preseason game, just the training camp practices. It's the offseason,
Speaker 1: it's the college state, it's the traits, and you know,
Speaker 1: we feel good about having a plan to develop these yus.
Speaker 1: So what you see is there's a player that you
Speaker 1: feel will develop into the and be one of the
Speaker 1: fifty three best players on that. I think what we're
Speaker 1: saying is we're trying to balance where guys have maybe
Speaker 1: higher ceilings and are we gonna be perfect on that?
Speaker 1: Probably not our but that's what makes us a tough day.
Speaker 1: And I think even more so, certainly we're looking at it,
Speaker 1: and we feel like we put some good players out there,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a tribute to our personnel staff
Speaker 1: and our coaches developing these guys. But it doesn't make
Speaker 1: it any easier. How you mentioned rookies in development, sometimes
Speaker 1: it makes time. So why expose Nate? Why was he
Speaker 1: the one guy the waivers? Well, I think it's credit
Speaker 1: to the other guys of that position. You know, when
Speaker 1: we look at the guys that we kept beyond the
Speaker 1: three starters, Joe Walker had a good preseason, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's another guy coming off a knee injury. Were
Speaker 1: really bummed when he got hurt last year. He's got
Speaker 1: physical traits. You know, it's hard to find Mike linebackers
Speaker 1: who have shocked and he's able to do that. And
Speaker 1: then you look at at Najy Nagy has versatility. You know,
Speaker 1: he can back up really a three all three of
Speaker 1: the outside of both the outside positions and play inside
Speaker 1: and a huge part of our special teams. You know,
Speaker 1: it's important for us to be good on special teams.
Speaker 1: And then Umu when we look at Kamu um we
Speaker 1: think he has a chance to be one of the
Speaker 1: better special teams A player not only on our team
Speaker 1: but in the league, and um, that was a tough one.
Speaker 1: That was one of the last ones we did right there.
Speaker 1: And we understand it's a transition from him and it's
Speaker 1: going to take some time. But it was just the
Speaker 1: nature of the numbers game. How you put um Sidney
Speaker 1: Jones on NFI as expected. So did that factor into
Speaker 1: how you looked at the cornerback position and do you
Speaker 1: know you have a better grasp of when and if
Speaker 1: he can play this year? You know, with Sidney, Um,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take it kind of. We have a protocol
Speaker 1: that our doctors are trainers, our strength and conditioning staff
Speaker 1: have put in place, and it's very organized, it's very detailed,
Speaker 1: and we're just going to knock it down. We have
Speaker 1: a checklist at every point. He's doing a great job,
Speaker 1: but again, you know, we have a long way to
Speaker 1: go and we want to make sure that we're getting
Speaker 1: the best of Sydney Jones. I think one of the
Speaker 1: benefits of trading for Darby was that we won't have
Speaker 1: that in urge to try to rush Sydney. But that
Speaker 1: being said, he's got amazing work effort and we're really
Speaker 1: excited about him. As a kid and his work ethic,
Speaker 1: and we'll just take it day by day. As a
Speaker 1: follow up to that, the league gives you a time
Speaker 1: table here. You know you have between week six and
Speaker 1: week eight. Is that realistic to get him back onto
Speaker 1: the practice field during that time? Yeah, we'll just have
Speaker 1: to see. Obviously we're talking about six weeks from now,
Speaker 1: but you know, we haven't mapped out. I don't want
Speaker 1: to put any restrictions on him or expectations on him
Speaker 1: at this point. It's gonna be day to day. But
Speaker 1: he is doing exactly what we ask of him, and
Speaker 1: we feel good about where he's at in the process.
Speaker 1: The fact that you guys kept two quarterbacks, I mean,
Speaker 1: does that kind of show that you guys are pretty
Speaker 1: confident that you know, Nick Boles's elbow situation is fine.
Speaker 1: I mean, is that kind of reason why you went
Speaker 1: with two instead of three? Yeah, certainly. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're sitting here worried about a quarterback, you wouldn't be
Speaker 1: able to keep too. So I know coaches talked about it.
Speaker 1: We feel good about where Nick's at and where he
Speaker 1: is going into the Washington game, and that's why we
Speaker 1: did that. How he getting back to the offensive line
Speaker 1: and the decision not to keep a swing tackle guard.
Speaker 1: Are you guys gonna be more prone to keep eight
Speaker 1: on the forty six on game day because of the
Speaker 1: fact that you don't have a swing guy, or would
Speaker 1: you you're looking at it some other way. No, I
Speaker 1: think when you when you look at our three guys,
Speaker 1: maybe I don't understand the question. Because Whiz can play
Speaker 1: both guard spots and center. V can play both tackle spots.
Speaker 1: Chance can play both guard spots. So you know, you
Speaker 1: can go a bunch of ways. But certainly Wiz has
Speaker 1: the versatility to play all three interior positions. V has
Speaker 1: the ability to play left tackle and right tackle. UM,
Speaker 1: as does Lane m I missing Yeah, No, um makes sense. Now.
Speaker 1: I think the other thing just part of that, because
Speaker 1: that's that's an uncomfortable position for us, just because historically
Speaker 1: where we've been, certainly in all my time here, and
Speaker 1: how many offensive linemen we've kept. But we actually went
Speaker 1: back and looked at how many teams keep eight, where
Speaker 1: teams are with their third and fourth tackle, and it
Speaker 1: made us feel better about the decision. How you kept
Speaker 1: Dexter mcdougle and then actually gave him an extension. How
Speaker 1: did you go about that, because he's only been here
Speaker 1: for less than a week. How did you look at
Speaker 1: him and see how we'd fit into the system and
Speaker 1: decide that he was good enough to not only stay
Speaker 1: this year, but next year too. Yeah. Really, when you
Speaker 1: look at it, means McDougal chance all guys that were
Speaker 1: going to be free agents all out an opportunity to
Speaker 1: kind of check them off our list and get him
Speaker 1: here for more than one year. You know, for Dex,
Speaker 1: he's got a skill set to play the nickel cool
Speaker 1: hunter position. We saw that in his jet tape. Obviously
Speaker 1: a little bit of a leap of faith because he
Speaker 1: only played in that one preseason game, but you know,
Speaker 1: we're looking for guys who can have defined roles, and
Speaker 1: we feel like he can do that. That's why we
Speaker 1: made the trade. You know, I'm sure Terrence made the Jets.
Speaker 1: I don't know that, but I'm sure Terrence made the Jets,
Speaker 1: And we knew when we were trading Terrence we were
Speaker 1: trading a fifty three man guy too, so we felt
Speaker 1: like that was a good trade for both sides. But
Speaker 1: you know, we've had in the past on our good teams,
Speaker 1: we've had guys dedicated to play the nickel position. You know,
Speaker 1: pe Rob's done a good jobs since he's moved in there,
Speaker 1: but we think Dex has a skill set to do
Speaker 1: it as well. How are you up? How much more
Speaker 1: difficult is the process this year? Now? That looks like,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody gets released at the same time, we
Speaker 1: got something like eleven hundred guys hitting the street. Um
Speaker 1: is it? Is it tougher now? And you know how
Speaker 1: difficult does the process become at this point? Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: hard talking to each one of these guys, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: all these conversations are not fun. You're letting you're letting
Speaker 1: guys go, guys who've done everything we've asked of them. Um,
Speaker 1: we think we bring good people into the building, so
Speaker 1: you're letting go good people. So, UM, this is a
Speaker 1: tough week. You know, this is a tough week starting
Speaker 1: with John. Thank John for all the contributions that he
Speaker 1: did to our organization. And UM, you know it's certainly
Speaker 1: the toughest day of the year, you know when you're
Speaker 1: talking to all of these guys and having conversations, and UM,
Speaker 1: as we get better and we get more talented, letting
Speaker 1: go players that you know, we're going to play UM
Speaker 1: in the National Football League on other the rosters. What
Speaker 1: I meant by that, though, it was I know, getting
Speaker 1: guys in here now, like looking at other players we
Speaker 1: got we got a thousand guys in the Florida game
Speaker 1: on you know, and and it's very distracted. All right,
Speaker 1: Oh good good, no question, I got one. UM. Seems
Speaker 1: like there was a well, yeah, we're talking about trade.
Speaker 1: I think some of us here thought you might make
Speaker 1: another trade. Understandable. How close did you come and how
Speaker 1: busy you know? Yeah. I think what we've learned over
Speaker 1: the past couple of years is, UM, it's easier to
Speaker 1: do it with more than time. UM. You know, we
Speaker 1: get a call on guys UM yesterday or today, you know,
Speaker 1: our immediate reaction is they're cutting him, UM. And then
Speaker 1: you have to then get that guy up to speed
Speaker 1: in your system. So it's a harder sell. It's harder
Speaker 1: to do UM. Obviously we've seen some trades here in
Speaker 1: the last thirty six hours. UM. But UM, we felt
Speaker 1: pretty confident that going into Thursday and Friday, and I
Speaker 1: think I said this to Brett that UM, it was
Speaker 1: gonna be quiet from our our perspective. Um. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: you talked about not wanting to give up on guys
Speaker 1: that you know essentially are new and might have a
Speaker 1: learning curve in front of them. Um. On the other
Speaker 1: side of that, and the fact that you invested in
Speaker 1: these guys and not weighing that too much versus what
Speaker 1: the tape is showing you. I mean, how much of
Speaker 1: a struggle is that as you're evaluating which guys to
Speaker 1: keep and not. Yeah, and I think it's it's also
Speaker 1: goes back to how much time you're really giving these
Speaker 1: guys and um, and then what we think when we're
Speaker 1: drafting them. And you know, the conversation we had this
Speaker 1: morning is when we drafted every single one of those guys,
Speaker 1: including some of the guys we let go. Um, we're
Speaker 1: not just going a you know, we just made the pick.
Speaker 1: We're excited, you know, and we're excited, and UM, when
Speaker 1: we make the decision to pick them, we have conversations like, hey,
Speaker 1: this guy may not be ready to day one, this
Speaker 1: guy may some time. Here are the things he may
Speaker 1: need to work on, and so we try to balance that,
Speaker 1: but we're also going to make a concerted effort to
Speaker 1: try to develop them. And spend the time not just
Speaker 1: you know, reading off cards on scout team, um, but
Speaker 1: really spending time with them and developing the person and
Speaker 1: the player and try to help them on some of
Speaker 1: the deficiencies that maybe they have. Now you have three
Speaker 1: guys now and Jenkins, Graham Watkins that can play corner
Speaker 1: and safety. Um. How big is that the benefits of
Speaker 1: it to us? For Jim? Yeah, Jim always talks about
Speaker 1: versatility and his defensive backs and um, those guys their
Speaker 1: ability to come down loan and play over the slot receiver. Um.
Speaker 1: And really if we got into buying to even play
Speaker 1: outside and Roddy did that in college too. UM. So
Speaker 1: having safeties with corner background is um really part of
Speaker 1: the prototype that he puts out for us when we
Speaker 1: go out and look for guys. So, UM, we're excited.
Speaker 1: You know, Corey we think was a good addition to
Speaker 1: our football team and it's going to really help us. Howie. Um,
Speaker 1: Billy Brown obviously didn't make a team. UM. What do
Speaker 1: you guys think of him overall in terms of your evaluation?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like he'll be a guy that can
Speaker 1: clear through waivers and you can get back on the
Speaker 1: on the squad, at least on a practice squad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think on all these guys, it's hard
Speaker 1: to know who's going to come back. And Um, we
Speaker 1: have different agendas than the players. You know, we're kind
Speaker 1: of going, hey, we hope you see you tomorrow, and
Speaker 1: they're probably hoping to get picked up. But you know,
Speaker 1: his transition wide receiver to tight end, Um, that's a
Speaker 1: tough transition as it is. Um did a nice job.
Speaker 1: And again it's these are the hard decisions. These are
Speaker 1: the ones that we all struggle with, and we had
Speaker 1: a bunch of those and m glad that we have
Speaker 1: some more hard decisions this year on our football team.
Speaker 1: Thank you,