Football at Four: Assessing the Eagles Latest Free Agency Moves

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All right, we got a lot happening today.

But first, I want to congratulate Shawn

in the Villa's Scott Internor'sville.

They will be live tomorrow at the Anchorage

and Summers Point for our Philly's Watch Party.

And they have a shot now to win tickets to see

the Philly's and the Orioles at Candon Yards.

Right now, joining us for another edition of football

and for Jeff Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast.

And PhillyVoice.com is here.

What's going on, Jeff Mosher?

It's a Wednesday and how he, Roseman, continues

to shape this filled off the Eagles roster.

Yeah, and I got a bone to pick with him.

I wouldn't mind if he made all these moves a little earlier

in the day, not at eight o'clock at night.

Right?

The laptop is put away.

And then all of a sudden, there's a move.

There's another move.

You got to start banging out stories.

Just talk about the first move, Fred Johnson is back.

Good move, they needed that last year.

He was on the team in 2024.

He then got a free agent deal to go to Jacksonville.

Wasn't working out for him.

The Eagles bringing him back.

And that was a big addition for them last year.

So they signed him to come back.

And that kind of solidifies their swing tackle position.

It does.

I think it does.

Obviously, Fred wants to be a starter.

And he tried to be one for Jacksonville last year.

Didn't work out.

And he was in free agency for, after starting several games

this year, he was in free agency now

for what's about almost three weeks.

Obviously, he didn't get what he was looking for

in terms of being a starter.

So we'll come back to the Eagles.

I've had questions, Mike, about the body type

that the Eagles are going to be looking for

on the offensive line with a new offense

where they might be prioritizing people

who move laterally and horizontally,

more so than road graders, big mallers like Fred Johnson.

But at the same time, it's not a, you know,

you know how bad offensive line plays and league.

If you think you've got a good backup,

and he can play in your offense,

or even if he's not a perfect fit,

but he's a good enough backup,

you want to sign that kind of guy,

especially if he's been in your organization

because they're just not, you know,

they've tried other guys for depth last year.

Remember before Fred, they had Kendall Lamb,

and Matt Pryor and Lamb didn't even make the team,

and Matt Pryor didn't did, but didn't play well.

It's hard to find.

A couple of years ago, they had nicknates as a center guard,

never really played him,

even though he had some starting experience.

So it is hard to find capable.

It's hard to find starting offensive line,

but it's also hard to find good fifth and sixth and seventh guys.

Yeah, Jeff McLean, you went right down the road.

I was going to follow up with Liz.

Hey, now you have a new offensive line coach.

Those are Fred Johnson fit here.

And you know, a lot of these guys had the success,

you know, because Jeff Stoutlin got the most out of them.

I think this is a complete unknown now.

You're bringing back a guy that you feel kind of safe

and warm and fuzzy about,

but you now don't know whether or not

you're going to get what you were getting from him,

because look, he went to Jacksonville,

and they said, I don't know what they saw on this guy.

Yeah, well, not necessarily.

Jacksonville basically just wasn't going to start him.

And when he didn't become a starter there,

Jacksonville felt okay, trading him to the Eagles,

because they were getting compensation.

It's very possible.

But the reason they go get a Fred Johnson is,

well, he plays for Philadelphia, he played a lot there.

He's got to come here and be better than what we have.

Sure, sure.

And he wasn't better than their best two tackles,

but he could have easily been their swing tackle,

but who's not going to trade a backup offensive lineman

for a pick?

So like the Eagles were willing to,

even if it's day three,

you're getting something for a backup offensive lineman.

Yeah.

And by the way, Jacksonville,

so to talk about fit,

under Liam Cohen and Grant Udinsky,

the offensive coordinator,

that is a Sean McVeigh disciple group right there.

And Udinsky has also been with McVeigh

and Shanahan style guys.

So Fred was at least practicing in that style

of a somewhat style,

but everybody has their own version of it.

But I imagine some outside zone was a big part of that.

And so Fred probably got a little bit of an indoctrination

into it there.

All right, well, Fred Johnson's back.

That's move number one.

Then they go out and get a wide receiver.

Elijah Moore.

Now this is a guy who had talent.

Second round picked.

Had a couple good seasons,

hundred targets in a row.

This is the guy that, you know,

it's not like he's been a stiff.

He's had some good years.

Last year he goes to Buffalo,

a wide receiving starved team.

And he really doesn't do all that much.

He ended up in Denver last year

and didn't appear for them.

Now he's in Philadelphia.

He's also very close with AJ Brown.

Is this because they like the player and the talent

or are they trying to smooth things over with AJ Brown?

Yeah, I'm not sure this has anything to do

with AJ Brown being on the team.

More so than that.

A, you know, they need depth of the position

whether they have AJ Brown or not.

I have been, you know, this.

I've been talking to you about this for a while.

They really need a guy who's a,

to me, a natural slot wide receiver.

Now he has played slot and outside in his career.

So I don't want to just say he's just a slot receiver

but he can, he has played there

and played well there at times.

Now this is last chance you for him

because as you just mentioned,

he was with the bills last year and caught nine balls

and didn't even make it through the year.

They got rid of him to get branding books

who actually played well.

So the fact that, you know,

then he went to Denver and they didn't play him at all

and they could have used some help shows you that

as Adam and I always say on the podcast,

the league tells you what it thinks of these players

by the contracts that it signs or the availability.

So he's on his last legs and, you know,

the Eagles will give him a chance

but this is not an area to be fair

where the Eagles have really thrived

and flourished these veteran guys going back to

the Vante Parker or Paris Campbell or John Ross

or even to be fair,

John Dotson for a third-ground pick

did not give you the type of production.

Now it might not be as fault.

I'm not trying to put that all on Dotson.

He was the fifth guy in the pecking order

when all was set and done but the point is,

you know, the receivers have not come to Philadelphia

and rehabilitated themselves the way they were hoping to.

So I can't say I sit here and have a whole lot of faith

that Elijah Moore is going to rediscover himself here.

Well, and then I guess the follow-up is,

let's hypothetically say that AJ Brown is traded

is that Elijah Moore, Hollywood Brown,

Devante Smith, group of receivers,

has had a good enough room.

I mean, what do you think?

I don't prefer to get that one in the room, but yeah.

Well, I mean, if you're bringing these guys in,

are you bringing them in to be prepared

for the possibility of trading AJ Brown

or to compliment AJ Brown?

I mean, like we've said both,

because the Eagles are very top-heavy at receiver after,

let's say AJ Brown's here,

after AJ Brown and Devante Smith

with Dotson now no longer here.

What do you have, you have Darius Cooper,

you have a punt returner in Britain, Covey,

you have Johnny Wilson, a six foot six receiver

who was used as a blocking receiver.

It's not like you've got a ton of bodies there,

and you do have two wide receivers,

who can either be brittle or hurt, I got.

I think you just needed bodies there regardless,

but now, yes, especially if you're gonna trade AJ Brown

the need for more bodies is there.

But if you're going into week one of the season

and your top three receivers are Devante Smith,

Hollywood Brown, and this guy,

Elijah Moore, I don't think that that's really

gonna inspire a lot of confidence.

I agree.

And I also think that wouldn't happen, by the way.

What do they think of Darius Cooper?

They like him, they like him a lot, Mike.

You know, they played him immediately.

He made the team, which was already half the battle

for a rookie, undrafted rookie,

and then they were playing him in the slot, by the way,

on run down.

So they were just trying to get him involved

in some form of fashion.

And when you're a rookie free agent

who makes the 53 and you're out there

like that quickly, even in just a package, right?

That just shows you that the team believes in you,

wants to get you reps, wants to be able to find

a usage for you.

And so I would imagine that's gonna continue.

I hear, listen, he's not a prototypical slot receiver

and Devante Brown's not here.

I bet you'll start taking reps on the outside.

He's strong, he's 210 pounds.

He's kind of built like AJ Brown,

although I'm not making any comparisons.

But I thought he was a really interesting find.

And I'm very interested to see in year two,

how his development comes along.

Because it could be, I wrote this story,

I don't know if that's why you asked,

but I wrote this story on Philly Voice yesterday about,

who will be the next version of Reed Blanket?

Reed Blanket was the next version of TJ Edwards, right?

An undrafted free agent who actually emerges over time

into not just a good player,

but an impact starter for a good team.

Could that now be Darius Cooper?

That would be an excellent story for them.

Yeah, that would be interesting.

He definitely opened eyes in camp.

And then of course he didn't play much.

And then as you just chronicled towards the end,

they gave him a little bit more burn.

But as you said, there's just not a lot of targets

for these guys in this particular office.

So I don't know how that changes,

but you now have Elijah Moore.

You now have Hollywood Brown.

They like Darius Cooper.

You brought back Goddard.

What is your thoughts now moving forward

on a Tanner McKee trade?

I know we talked a little bit about this on Monday,

but is that kind of like the next thing

or are they focusing on trying to land an edge rusher?

Like where are they in trying to now that next move?

Is there still something big they need to do?

Yeah, well, what we've reported on inside the birds

is that they don't feel like they have to trade him

or that they even really want to trade him.

They want, as always, every year,

they want to have a backup quarterback

that they feel really good about

who can step in and win games if the starter goes down.

And they prefer to have that guy at a decent cost

and not having to pay him.

Remember when they had nick falls of the backup

and he was making a lot of money.

And then that's what led to them drafting,

Jalen Hertz, this idea that you really want to cost country.

You don't want to, they dedicate so much money

to their starters.

And then everybody else makes so little money

that they're really trying to do this thing

to have as much cost control talent as they can.

And right now, Tanner McKee is that for them.

But they are, how he knows business better than anybody.

He enters the last year of the deal.

And so if someone's willing to give them a high enough pick

to make it worthwhile, that's why you have Andy Dalton here now.

He can slide into that number two spot.

You can draft another developmental quarterback.

But what you'll have, if you're how he rose

and what you have to measure is,

you might get like a third round off or fourth round.

Or you have to measure, well, is it better

to take a third round pick now for this draft,

which might be, you know, you might find be fair value

or hold on to Tanner McKee.

Have him potentially help you win a Super Bowl

if that's how far you go because he has to go in

and play a couple of games for an injury.

And then you're going to wind up getting a comp pick.

The following year, because he's obviously going to leave

after next year and sign, what probably will be

a good enough contract to at least get you a four, right?

Depending on what kind of contract you sign.

So you have to weigh the idea of getting maybe a higher pick now

versus a lower comp pick, but another year out of him

and that important role of helping you win games.

And then also the X factor is, and I got to throw this in.

I'm not trying to disrespect anybody,

but they're running a new offense here.

You know, you imagine Jalen Hertz is going to do fine

or at least as good as he's been the last few years,

if not better, but there's a chance it doesn't work

and he's going to make a whole lot more money in this.

Kat, this is a big year for Jalen Hertz.

And if he falls on his face or if he suffers an injury

or he's out a long time and it might be career threatening,

well, then you have to decide like what you're doing with him

and then you've got Tanner McKee.

So there's all sorts of things

that how he would have to weigh there with Tanner.

Let me ask a question about AJ Brown real fast

in terms of what you just said.

If you didn't trade AJ Brown, like let's say you don't trade him.

There are precedent that you can get a first round pick.

That first round pick likely will not come until next year.

What do you think the value of him is one year later?

Wait, what do you, I'm sorry, you're saying

if you don't trade AJ Brown, what about a first round pick?

If you traded AJ Brown after the draft,

you're getting a first round pick for next year.

Yep.

But if you don't trade AJ Brown

and you hold on them through the season,

what kind of value does he have playing another season here?

Does that lessen?

So you take the first round pick when you can get it

or do you have them play here,

maybe try to trade a next off season,

but the value is what?

Yeah, I mean, that's a top hypothetical.

Only because, I mean, we're sort of discounting the element

of he may not really want to be here.

And you know, you're talking about what,

if you just have mom team and playing here

and that might cause you all sorts of dissatisfaction

and he may be.

So in your mind, is that the most value

if he's not happy and he's playing the way he did

in the playoff game, his value's not going to be very good

because he's not going to be a very good receiver, right?

But in your mind, is that the most,

is that where we are right now that he just doesn't want to be here?

I think that that's, I think that that's the most likely

scenario that he prefer to be elsewhere, yeah.

So like, now if you said AJ Brown,

your only option is to play for the Eagles

or get traded for the Browns.

I think that that's a different conversation, right?

Like I don't think it's as cut and dried as,

does he want to be here, does he not want to be here?

I think it's be like, well, what are my alternatives

of where I want to be?

Right.

You obviously know how it feels about the Patriots.

I don't think anybody needs to be alerted

to the fact that he wants to be.

This whole Patriots thing is almost,

this whole Patriots thing is almost like

when he got traded to Philly and we were hearing about him

and Jalen Hertz being these great friends.

It's like, who knew that these two guys were connected

and such great friends and now it's the same thing

with the Patriots.

Oh, I'm a Patriots fan and all, you know,

the label stuff obviously makes some sense.

So are you at the point to still where it's Patriots or bust?

I mean, there's always a chance

another, because if it's after the draft,

a team that may think it's getting, you know,

like the Arizona state kid in the first round

or something like that or a great wide receiver class.

No, it's not a great wide receiver class.

So, but there's always a team that thinks

it can get a guy and doesn't get a guy

and then reevaluates the situation.

But I would still handicap it, yes, more likely

that the Patriots and anybody else.

All right, so if this puking the coolest stuff,

which is really crazy, I mean,

now you see why the Rams were probably interested

in AJ Brown with what's come out about Puko

over the last 24 hours.

And this is the second time he's been in the news

for doing some crazy things.

So I don't know, we'll see.

All right, we'll get back in or something.

Possible, right.

And keep in mind, yeah, he was sued over

some alleged anti-Semitic remarks.

Apparently, he bit somebody.

Yeah, yeah, keep an eye on what's happening there.

As well, by the way, as we told you about a half hour ago,

the NFL will be opening on a Wednesday next year.

The Seahawks will play on Wednesday night.

That is because the Australian game will be on Thursday

at 810 and that game will be played in Australia

at 1030 in the morning to be able to be on television here

in prime time.

It'll be the Niners and the Rams in Australia.

The Seahawks will play on Wednesday night

to kick off the season.

And that was just announced a little while ago.

By the way, the Tush push is not on the vote this year.

I'm actually a little surprised.

I know all the big sarcastic comments

while it didn't work for the Eagles.

So, and very fair, fair to say that, you know,

the NFL was hypocritical about this from the beginning.

I always felt the play was gonna get outlawed,

but apparently I was wrong about that.

Yeah, all right. Well, if the Eagles were to want to Super Bowl again,

I'm sure. And that was the reason why it probably wouldn't be around.

I would think so. It was interesting.

If the, if they're successful within this year,

does the NFL have the audacity to bring it back up?

That would be ridiculous. That would, I mean, I know,

but the NFL is ridiculous in time.

So, all right, Jeff Mosher, of course,

check out his work over at fillyvoice.com

and of course all the Eagles coverage inside the birds inside the birds.com.

The inside the birds podcast,

which you can get on all podcasting platforms.

And you to check us here tomorrow, Adam Kaplan's back on Friday.

Have a good weekend, man.

You too. Talk to you tomorrow Monday.

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