Help Wanted

The Philadelphia Eagles will look to fill in missing pieces as best as they can ahead of a major matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

On the latest episode of “Inside The Birds,” Adam Caplan and Geoff Mosher discussed possible transactions for the Eagles to make and provided intel from the team’s latest performance.

Eagles backup LB Christian Elliss could be in line to start on Sunday against the 49ers

Christian Elliss

Geoff Mosher: “I would have thought the Eagles would work somebody out on Tuesday, but they did not. Even if you do sign Shaq Leonard or somebody off the street on Wednesday or Thursday, you don’t just throw somebody at linebacker against the 49ers. This is the team you have to have your keys, your fits.”

Adam Caplan: “If (Zach) Cunningham is not ready, Christian Elliss is starting, barring something highly unforeseen.”

Shaquille Leonard

Caplan: “He is supposed to visit over the next 24 hours, as we understand it. There is mutual interest.”

Mosher: “I would love to be a fly on the wall for those conversations because I personally don’t know how Shaq Leonard views himself and I don’t know how the Eagles present to him an opportunity beyond Zach Cunningham is hurt and we need a guy. When Nakobe Dean and Zach Cunningham are healthy, who are you taking out for Leonard?”

Caplan: “The Colts are seriously competing for a wild card spot in the AFC and they cut the guy? That is not a good sign. He has only played in 4-3 defenses.”

Ben VanSumeren

Caplan: “He is now out of elevations, so if they want to use him, they have to sign him off there. Here is the problem: if the sign him off it, they can’t get him back to the practice squad unless they waive him.”

Mosher: “If Cunningham is not able to play, you have to have VanSumeren on your 53. Not that you want VanSumeren in because he has played zero snaps of Eagles defense this year, but at least he knows it and practices it. You can’t not have that insurance.”

Dallas Goedert

Caplan: “If he is out there practicing Wednesday, even limited, I can’t imagine he won’t be cleared for Sunday. It is a left forearm fracture, his lead arm to protect. He has to be able to block.”

Brian Johnson

Mosher: “I bristle at the notion about the slow start. They had a really nice drive in the second possession and scored a touchdown on it. Their next three drives: interception, two punts, and a fumble. People want to call it playcalling, but on two of four drives you turn the ball over.”

Secondary

Mosher: “They just are not a dynamic secondary. If you go back to last year, they had so much more athleticism and speed with guys like Marcus Epps and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. The scheme, which was a lot more zone and passive zone, was better than Bradberry than the amount of man they are playing now. They have steady players, but they are not fast and not dynamic.” 

Caplan: “They don’t have a ball tracker like C.J. Gardner Johnson, they don’t have Marcus Epps. Four out of your five starters in the secondary including Bradley Roby is 30-years-old or older. That’s just not ideal. That is what makes their 10-1 record with this gauntlet and the way they won impressive.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.