Inside The Birds: Looking For Veteran Wideout?

With the Eagles’ coordinator press conferences commencing last week, Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon gave some important intel on what their units will look like in Philadelphia next season.

On the latest Inside The Birds podcast, Geoff Mosher and Adam Caplan analyze the offensive and defensive coordinators’ press conferences, and preview the wide receiver position.

New Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen has an extremely young corps of wide receivers to mold.

Shane Steichen

Geoff Mosher: “Clearly, the message has trickled down from Nick Sirianni to his coordinators that there’s no template here for what they do. You and I both know that there is a template, every coach has a template, but what they’re really trying to hammer home is that they will adapt what they do to their personnel, be it skill position players like wide receivers, running backs or in this case, Jalen Hurts. That’s basically what Shane Steichen was trying to say when asked about how he was going to tailor the offense to Jalen Hurts.”

Jonathan Gannon

Caplan: “I loved the part when [Gannon] talked about that he’s going to give his D-Backs freedom to do some stuff pre snap which is kind of what Harrison Smith has done over the years. That was really interesting.”

Mosher: “Yeah, if you watch Minnesota tape, especially in the last two years since [Andrew] Sendejo left and the roles are a little bit less clear, they asked more of Harrison Smith. He was all over the place. I honestly think they used him in more varieties than the Eagles even used Malcolm Jenkins, which is saying a lot.”

Pass rush rotation

Mosher: “One thing [Gannon] did say that we’ve been wondering about and weren’t sure of is he does believe in heavy rotation of the defensive line, and keeping guys fresh. Which makes sense and I know Matt Eberflus does it and so that’s good, too, because the Eagles obviously have given him a plethora of pass rushers to work with. So it’s not like DE3 or 4, or Pass Rusher3 or 4, is gonna have to wait for someone to get hurt to get on the field.”

Caplan: “I agree because the thing is, they are very light at D-tackle. That’s yet another big need for them, they need a veteran. So, I do wonder when you talk about the snaps in the rotation and keeping guys fresh, will guys like Josh Sweat play inside –  probably a little bit –  or even if Milton Williams is ready to go.”

Veteran receiver?

Mosher: “I mean I’m always a fan of having a leader or a veteran, but show me somebody who’s going to be worth it. Like if they wanted a veteran, they already had one in Alshon Jeffery, they didn’t have to cut him, they had to pay him the money anyway. But they wanted to kind of cut ties and start new. Why would you then bring in an Alshon Jeffery-like player and spend more money on him when you really want to go forward with this set of receivers?”

Caplan: “Then someone will emerge, now the hope is because they’ve been around [DeVonta Smith] and you and I have heard that he’s been as advertised in terms of not just an explosive player, but with coming with a purpose. This is the guy who’s going to probably lead that room.”

Receiver rotation

Caplan: “The way that I see it, they’re gonna have a three-man rotation at receiver between Smith, [Jalen] Reagor and Fulgham. Fulgham as the X, Reagor and Smith as Z’s, but you could use them any way you want if they’re in 11 personnel offense more than 12, which is what we think. You have to assume that Fulgham is going to grow up here, and that he’s going to play more consistent football. Those four weeks for real, I mean he was tremendous. I wasn’t just the numbers, the tape was phenomenal.”

– Justin Morganstein (@jmotweets_) is a staff contributor to InsideTheBirds.com

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