- 6/3/2025
The Eagles had their 2nd and final OTAs practice open to the media today, and we received some huge answers. Vic Fangio discussed some of the new faces, young player development, and even compared last year to this year. He answered a huge question surrounding Cooper DeJean's position this season, clarified why CJ Gardner-Johnson was traded, and responded to yesterday's quote about Jalen Carter still having to learn the position. In other news, we received some big injury updates on Nakobe Dean and Jihaad Campbell. Today, RB discusses all of this and more!
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00:00The Eagles had their second open OTAs practice today and there's certainly a lot to get into
00:05but most importantly Vic Fangio finally spoke to the media discussing player development some of
00:11the new faces that we're seeing and answered a couple questions that nobody really saw coming
00:16so we're going to get into all of his answers and a whole bunch more but welcome into A to Z Philly
00:21I'm RB and we started off with a nice view of Eagles OTA practice today this is the second one
00:28where there's media availability so after this it'll really just be waiting for mandatory minicamp
00:33on June 10th but other than that man let's go ahead and dive in because we definitely learned
00:39some things today and we'll start it off with the guy who is no longer a part of the team anymore
00:44that is Bryce Huff Vic Fangio asked about Bryce Huff and his presence he says that his injury and
00:50the emergence of Nolan Smith and Jalex Hunt were the main reasons why they traded Huff to the 49ers
00:56he says that he thinks Bryce Huff will play well in San Francisco gave him some kind parting words
01:02but we all knew right it's not a secret Vic Fangio was not a fan of Bryce Huff
01:07and just being a pass rush specialist so he's excited to keep working with the young guys we saw
01:12the success there and happy to finally turn the page there and close that chapter speaking of
01:19young draft picks let's talk about what the Eagles have now after the Bryce Huff trade
01:23they ended up saying it was a mid-round pick but it is contingent right now based on Bryce Huff's
01:29injury and his physical passing and things like that so they can't make it official yet
01:33but let's say the Eagles are going to get a mid-round pick a fourth or a fifth
01:37I mean look at this man 13 picks in the 2026 draft which is insane I mean this team had to make some
01:45tough decisions this offseason they just won the Super Bowl in dominant fashion
01:49and they have almost everybody inked for the next several years they have young guys who they're
01:54going to pay eventually and they have all these draft picks to help replace players that they
01:58might have to part with so I think it's just really special but let's talk about some of the guys and
02:03the starters here was the most accurate read on who the starters were today on the defensive side
02:09we talked about this last week during the first practice but we were very curious to see you know who
02:13would be out there who would be uh starting in the seven on sevens and according to Anthony DeBona
02:19who went through a bunch of it he says that the two corners in base defense were Cooper DeGene and
02:24Quignon Mitchell and Reed Blankenship and Sidney Brown were at safety but in the nickel defense and this
02:30is what we've all been kind of curious about right with Cooper DeGene and his positional versatility
02:35you know would he stay at nickel so in terms of the nickel defense it was Quignon and Keeley Ringo
02:40out on the outside corners and Cooper DeGene slid back into nickel corner Reed Blankenship and Sidney
02:46Brown both at safety so I do think this is pretty interesting as well right last week we saw Andrew
02:52McCuba get some of the first team reps and we thought okay the Eagles invest in a second round pick
02:57Andrew McCuba looks like he's going to have a real shot to compete and he probably does right he probably
03:02will but it feels like now they're going back to the more veteran option of Sidney Brown is that
03:07because they didn't like what they saw from McCuba have they always been intent on Sidney Brown being
03:12the starter those are things we have to wait to find out but very interesting to see both of them
03:17get some first team reps and I'm not out on Sidney Brown either I do think he can still be a really
03:22good player but it's just more about having the sample size and proving it and being healthy
03:27amongst a lot of other things so we'll see what happens but those were the starters today
03:31and speaking of Vic Fangio and his defense he spoke to the media and man my favorite thing
03:37about Vic is that he's so unfiltered he just shoots you straight he gives it right to you he
03:42doesn't care he's you know too old and set in his ways to worry about what anybody thinks so he just
03:47comes out and he gives you direct answers and he was asked about the report from after the Super Bowl
03:53that Vic Fangio you know brought the team together before the parade and was going over film and was kind
03:58of you know getting on them for certain mistakes they made and he says that that was quote fake
04:04news he never ripped into the defense he says that he got the defense together and complimented them
04:09and not a negative word was said nonetheless these players have a lot of trust in Vic Fangio and one
04:15player who did have a lot of trust in him that's no longer here is CJ Gardner Johnson and I thought
04:21this was one of the most interesting answers of the day he was asked about the decision to move on from
04:26CJ GJ right because Vic Fangio is involved in these decisions and these choices and he said that it was
04:33simply a salary cap decision he was fine with it he didn't care when they asked him the question he
04:38kind of almost thought it was shocking that they were asking you know he's like yeah it was just a
04:42salary cap thing like I don't care you know so I'm not that worried about it so I think that is
04:48pretty telling of how they felt about CJ me on the other hand I'm pretty big on him and I thought
04:53that losing him was a big impact so I guess we'll just have to wait and time will tell
04:57but um you know we'll see who Vic goes with at the safety position and then Vic Fangio also commented
05:03on the quote yesterday from Jeremiah Trotter that we talked about where he said Jalen Carter doesn't
05:08really know how to play the position yet it's just all natural talent right now and here's what Vic
05:13Fangio had to say in response to that point he's trying to make I do think Jalen the good news about
05:22Jalen is twofold one he played very well first last year and two he can still improve a lot
05:28so Vic Fangio with a straight answer he says one you know he played very well first last year
05:35right second team all pro pro bowler but on the other hand like he also has a lot of room to improve
05:42and seems like there is a valid claim there to be made so I think that's really promising the fact
05:47that Jalen Carter is this good demands this much attention but is also going to get better right I
05:53mean this guy honestly has hall of fame potential so I think that's a very telling quote by Fangio and
05:59I think he's excited to coach him you know I think as you get older you still try to find those
06:03different thrills and Fangio seems like a guy who's never content you know he wants to go out there
06:09and win it again and I love his attitude so shout out to Vic Fangio he also talked about Cooper
06:14Dejean here is Cooper Dejean today at practice got a little video clip of him in a drill here you'll
06:22see at the tail end of this he's poking the ball away so they're working on different drills like I
06:26said can't get too hype about OTAs seven on seven drills things like that but that's a nice powerful
06:33punch there by Cooper Dejean and really excited to see what he can do this year in year number two I
06:38think he's only going to get better and this time he actually has a training camp to go through you
06:43know Vic Fangio was asked about Cooper Dejean being at the nickel compared to on the outside corner
06:47he says he would like to keep Cooper Dejean at nickel and then in base at corner or safety he added on top
06:54of that saying that Cooper Dejean's versatility would help him play very well at safety it fits his
07:00skill set and even going back last year before the draft when a lot of people wanted the Eagles to take
07:07Cooper Dejean mostly in the first round even though he ended up sliding a bit everybody talked about
07:11Dejean saying he was a Swiss army knife right they said he was tough they said he was quick they said he
07:16could cover a lot of the field his instincts were great and he could play corner he could play safety
07:22he could play nickel all those things right now are coming to be true he is the perfect chess piece
07:28the perfect blueprint for what Vic Fangio wants in a defensive player don't you think Vic Fangio
07:34is going to have so much fun just moving Dejean around the chessboard like this guy can play
07:39anywhere and I agree 100% with Vic I'm very happy to hear him say that he's going to start Coop at
07:45nickel and he's going to play there a majority of the time because he's better there right why mess up
07:50something when there's no need to you know if it's not broke don't fix it as they say Vic Fangio also
07:55talked about Tristan McCollum gave him a lot of praise in this press conference saying that you know he's
08:01very talented he's going to be right there in the mix when battling with Sidney Brown and Andrew
08:05McCuba so like I've said before I think my favorite thing about Vic is that he doesn't care what you
08:10look like who your name is where you've played before if you've won a Super Bowl what your contract
08:15is the best player the best talent on the field is the guy that's going to start in week one and I
08:20think that's how it should always be unfortunately that's not how it always is but with Vic Fangio it is
08:26and that's why I think this team has so much success speaking of being on the field in day one
08:31though a couple guys won't be Vic Fangio talked about this linebacker core a lot of interesting
08:36comments even brought up Zach Bond and how nobody knew what Bond was a year ago so he was talking
08:41about a lot of the new faces saying look it's very comparable to last year right we had a lot of
08:45turnover from 23 to 24 we have a lot of turnover from 24 to 25 there's going to be hidden gems there's
08:51going to be guys who really compete and you know step over the bar there's going to be guys that
08:56kind of fiddle out a little bit you know but that's his job to figure out and he's going to put the best
09:0111 on the field Vic Fangio talked about Nikobe Dean who obviously is still rehabbing the injury he
09:06says that he will not be back for a while what does this mean for Nikobe is he going to miss half the
09:11season are they going to put him on the physically unable to perform list like what's the designation on
09:17Nikobe doesn't sound like we're close to knowing that which is a little bit concerning but thankfully
09:22you go out there and you draft a stud in the first round that falls all the way to the end his name
09:28is Jihad Campbell and Vic Fangio talked about Jihad Campbell saying that he will not be on the practice
09:33field until sometime in August he says he is working him at inside linebacker now because there's more
09:39to learn there but the potential is there at edge so I think we all thought this right Jihad Campbell
09:45would start off as an off-ball linebacker he would continue to work his way in but who knows
09:50with Vic Fangio like I said he brought in Zach Bond last year he instantly knew where to plug him in
09:55he knew how to get him from point A to point B so I personally trust whatever Vic has to say about
10:01this I think he will develop him the right way and the hope is that Jihad Campbell can be ready to go
10:06in week one I don't know if he will be but if he can that would be huge if not Eagles are going to
10:11have to kind of you know claw around and figure something out he talked about Jordan Davis as well
10:16right obviously the Eagles picked up his option not for this year but next year and Vic Fangio was
10:21very impressed with Jordan Davis he said he is now quote in the best shape of his life since arriving
10:25with the Eagles then he was asked why it took so long for Jordan Davis to get here why did his
10:30conditioning take so long and he said he was going to duck that question probably doesn't want to
10:34throw shade right had some of the other coordinators that have been here and coaches and things like
10:38that uh or maybe Jordan Davis himself but good to know that Davis continues to get better looks to
10:43be in great shape and hey if he can continue to build on last year especially those last you know
10:48last third of the season maybe last seven eight games I think uh the Eagles are in a really good
10:54spot here lastly we have a couple clips of our boy Jalen Hurts there he is QB1 and also Tanner McKee
11:01getting those QB2 reps Jalen of course in great shape why wouldn't he be and you know I like me
11:08some Tanner McKee man he's awesome Tanner McKee is going to be a starter one day you heard it here first
11:13lastly Jalen Hurts hands it off to the new Madden cover Saquon Barkley look at that Saquon by the way
11:22looks a little bit stronger maybe maybe he was on an interview they asked him if he believes in the
11:27Madden curse about guys always getting hurt he says I believe in the Lord and I'm going to come
11:31back and have another great season love Saquon's attitude so happy he's an Eagle so that is where
11:36we are at today man give me all of your thoughts down below who do you think should be starting
11:41right now in the Eagles defense as we approach OTA's mandatory mini camp and training camp give
11:47me all your thoughts on this team down below appreciate everybody for tapping in as always be
11:52sure to like comment subscribe we'll keep you up to date with everything and I'll catch you on the next one
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