- 6/12/2025
Two NFL insiders doubled down on the potential connection between the Eagles and Jaire Alexander, who was released by the Packers a few days ago. Could he take a bet on himself and sign a prove-it deal here in Philadelphia? Or should the Eagles stick with the younger player in Kelee Ringo? In other news, Zack Baun made some intriguing comments on the newest episode of Exciting Mics with Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship. Lastly, we get some interesting quotes from Nick Sirianni and Saquon Barkley. Today, RB discusses all of this and more!
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00:00What felt like a pipe dream just a few days ago is actually starting to gain some backing as today
00:06two NFL insiders doubled down on a new free agent that could find his perfect destination in
00:12Philadelphia. Also, Zach Bond hopped on a podcast with his teammates and discussed this Eagles
00:17defense, but he made one quote that I think is monumental as we head into the next part of the
00:23offseason and one cornerback is starting to emerge as the front runner to win the job. We'll get into
00:28all of that and more right here on A to Z sports, but welcome on in. I am RB. Hope you are all doing
00:34well on this lovely Thursday. We are going to start it off with one piece of news from yesterday out of
00:40nowhere. We get a bomb. The Eagles expected to hire LSU director of player personnel Preston Tiffany
00:47sources tell CBS sports Tiffany before LSU was one of the rising stars in the college personnel world
00:55and was director of player personnel at Ole Miss. So Eagles take a big hit this offseason. And what
01:01do they do? Well, they're responsible, smart, intelligent, just, you know, ahead of things
01:06type of organization. They go out and they fulfill that void and they pick up a rising star in the
01:13college world to be a part of their player personnel staff. So shout out to Preston Tiffany. Welcome to
01:19the squad. Let's see what you can do. Now, one guy that doesn't need to change anything at all this
01:25upcoming season is Saquon Barkley. And he spoke to the media a couple of days ago after a mandatory
01:30minicamp. Not that we got too much out of it, but I really liked the Saquon quotes. He says,
01:35despite his touches last year, he did not feel like he had that many feels like he is still entering
01:41his prime. This guy just continues to amaze me. He says he has emphasized rest and recovery this
01:46offseason compared to previous seasons. Noting the workload, he says, I'm competitive by nature,
01:51seeing videos of Derrick Henry and CMC running hills and stuff. The old me would get the old
01:57that would get to me. But everyone around me has told me to sit my ass down. So I am listening.
02:03And last but not least, Saquon Barkley says his motivation for this season after winning the Russian
02:08crown in Super Bowl, quote, the thing that drives me and has since I was a kid, and I don't mean it in
02:13an arrogant way. I want to be the best running back that has ever lived. Man, just inject this
02:19into my veins. Put it up as a quote on the locker room wall. This guy's so hungry. He's going to come
02:24out and do it again. I'm telling you that right now. Like this guy had so many touches this past
02:28season, and that's not typical right in this current generation of running backs. And he's just
02:35continuing to defy what we know right now in terms of the running back position, continuing to extend the
02:41bar. And I mean, he's fresh, like he's running behind the best offensive line in the league.
02:46And I think he's going to come out and have another dominant season. Do you agree or disagree?
02:50One guy who had a very dominant season last year who deserves a ton of credit is the guy who keeps
02:56it all together, Nick Sirianni. He says that he spent some of his time this offseason studying how
03:01to sustain success. He talked to coaches in different sports who have had success about what it takes to
03:06sustain it. He mentioned a couple, but you know, we've already heard reports about this this
03:10offseason, you know, the Belichicks, the Sabans, guys like that. And I think that's a really wise
03:15thing from Sirianni to do not get too high on his ego and just continue to learn. He says everybody
03:21was there for mandatory minicamp, no excused absences, just goes to show, you know, the camaraderie
03:26of this team. Everybody's locked in and ready to go. But one guy's not there yet. He might be there
03:31though. We talked about him a few days ago, but we need to extend the information here because today
03:36two NFL insiders doubled down on this report. First, we have Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. He says
03:43that talking to people that have been around him or close to him, they believe loyalty is important
03:47to him. Connection is important. That's why I do have the Eagles on my radar with defensive backs
03:52coach Christian Parker, who was with him in Green Bay. They had successful years together, right? So we
03:58talked about Jair Alexander in our last video. We talked about his contract situation with Green Bay,
04:04where he's at in his career, obviously dealing with a plethora of injuries, but still a very
04:08talented former Pro Bowl player. Eagles have a void at cornerback to Keely Ringo's fighting for it.
04:14Dory Jackson's fight for it. But Jair is obviously better than both of those players. The question
04:19is, can he stay on the field? Very valid question. But also, where is he going to sign? You know,
04:24is he going to take a discount? Is he going to bet on himself for one year? If he does that to me,
04:28that's the only way this could even happen and be realistic. But apparently all these connections
04:34are things that Jair Alexander values, right? Who's to say he wouldn't come here, try to go on
04:39a run, be on a showcase, be on display for the entire world to see, and try to cash in next off
04:45season. Kind of like Josh Sweat did last year, kind of like Dallas Goddard plans to do this season.
04:50In addition to that, we hear from Adam Schefter, who says, quote, now Jair Alexander,
04:55if the price were right and you're doing a one year deal, whatever the number is, a low number,
04:59they can go make that work if that's what they wanted to do. Adam Schefter says Jair Alexander
05:04could be a fit for the Eagles if the price were right. So I don't know why Shefty and Fowler would
05:10come out and just start mentioning the Eagles if they didn't think there was at least some,
05:14you know, potential outcome here where Alexander ends up in Philly. No, they didn't come out and say
05:19the Eagles are the favorite. They're going to sign them. And I'm sure Alexander is frustrated based on the
05:24way his contract situation went. You know, he had two years left guaranteed on his deal.
05:29Packers came to him and said, hey, we're going to restructure this. He said, no,
05:32they couldn't make it work. So they granted him a release. And here he is. And my thing that I
05:37mentioned the other day was they couldn't even trade it. You know, obviously he was making a lot
05:41of money. I think it was like $21 million, but no team was interested in inheriting that money.
05:47We're figuring out a way where the two teams could split it. So that tells me there's not a lot of
05:51interest around the league. And that could, you know, spark a bright light for the Eagles where
05:56they come in, swoop down and sign Jair Alexander, you know, to a one year, $5 million deal or whatever
06:01it is. They have the cap space. They don't have to give up the picks now in a trade. So the question
06:06is, do they want to do this? You know, do they want to stir up the competition at corner? And I think
06:11that is a very valid question, but that takes us to our mandatory minicamp practice. A couple of days
06:16ago, this was the Eagles first team defense for the 11 on 11s per Brandon Lee Gowden. And the thing I
06:23want to highlight here, the biggest battle on the defensive side we've been looking at is cornerback
06:28and Keeley Ringo got the start. So during the two voluntary practices, Keeley Ringo had to start one
06:35time and a Dory Jackson had the other one. Now Keeley Ringo at the mandatory minicamp was the first
06:40corner out there. Obviously they've been rotating snaps, but this coaching staff is high on Keeley and
06:46they think he's going to emerge and be the guy still in a rookie contract would be very valuable
06:50as a player, but obviously doesn't have that much experience needs to continue to grow.
06:56And Elliot Shore parks put out a little clip after he was at the mandatory minicamp practice. Here's
07:00what he had to say about Keeley Ringo. He says, if he plays in training camp, like he did this past
07:06Tuesday, he will be the starter in week one. Keeley has made a few plays that stood out and shows the
07:12advantage he has over other corners, which is size and speed. Definitely long arms, definitely a lot
07:18lengthier than these other corners. But the thing is, he has huge hands. He has been a little bit in
07:24trouble before in terms of, you know, making contact and getting the penalties. So things he needs to
07:29clean up for sure. But I think sitting in the shadows last year and watching these corners go to
07:34work, watching Slay and Quinlan and all these guys just learn from each other. I think he's going to
07:39have a little bit of an edge. Not that Alexander, you know, couldn't come in here and make an impact.
07:44I do think he could. Question with him is, can he stay on the field? But if they go with the current
07:48rotation and the current guys they have in here, yes, Adoree Jackson is a nice veteran piece,
07:54but you want to develop Keeley. You want to get him to that point. The beautiful part about this is
07:59that the Eagles have all the assets. They have everything lined up and you're going to get the
08:03Jair Alexanders of the world that just appear over time. You know, maybe a guy gets cut
08:07after training camp. Maybe a guy wants to trade after training camp and the Eagles have the leverage
08:12to swoop in whenever they feel like it. So something to keep our eyes on. We'll see how it
08:16plays out. One guy on the defense who is here to stay. He's an absolute anchor. Zach Vaughn was on
08:22the new podcast with Cooper DeGene and Reed Blankenship. And this is what he had to say about
08:27the Eagles defense heading into the season. Quote, I feel like we're miles ahead of where we were last
08:32year. And that's a scary freaking thing. Imagine the Eagles defense being more advanced than last
08:38year. They were almost perfect last year. They were unbelievable. You almost couldn't even fathom
08:43how amazing they were at executing every single week. And you think about Zach Vaughn, a guy like
08:50him saying this, who went from a player that nobody knew, who was almost out of the league to becoming
08:56an all pro, getting a big time contract. For him to say that is very special to me. It has a lot of
09:01magnitude. It holds a lot of weight. And if they get even better, oh my gosh, the league better watch
09:07out. One way they could get better is by the addition of a big time draft pick. And if he gets
09:12back on the field quickly, look out for Jahad Campbell. He inked his four year, $14.9 million
09:19fully guaranteed deal with a fifth year option. A lot of high praise about Jahad Campbell. I think
09:25he's going to have a big impact this year. And he actually was going through some linebacker drills
09:29at mandatory minicamp. So he's obviously not ready to go. They said his timetable was really
09:35unclear right now. They would not give any clear updates. He'll probably miss if I had to guess
09:40like training camp and probably the preseason. Maybe he'll come back for the start of the season.
09:45Maybe he'll miss a few weeks, whatever it is though. When he and N'Kobe get healthy, watch out.
09:50And Jalex Hunt is looking to have a big jump this upcoming year. Jordan Davis as well, who said
09:55he fell in love with Peloton. These guys are young and they're hungry. They just want to work.
10:00And Jeff Kerr reported that Jalex Hunt and Jordan Davis frustrated Jordan Mailata the other day.
10:05We're talking about Jordan Mailata, who in my opinion is one of the best tackles, if not the
10:10best at his position in the entire league. Like Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata don't take these
10:16guys for granted, man. They are holding it down. And the fact that Mailata is getting frustrated
10:20by Jalex Hunt and Jordan Davis. That just goes to show there is so much potential in this defense.
10:26I feel like they're not even tapping into it fully yet. Last year was so incredible. And you're
10:32hearing these types of things from these guys. You see how mature they are. I feel like that's the
10:37tone that has been set by Nick Sirianni and he's been all business. So he deserves a lot of credit.
10:41There is a lot to be excited about with this Eagles team. So go ahead. Give me all your thoughts down
10:45below. What do you think the Eagles should do at the cornerback two position? Should they still try to
10:50get Jair Alexander? Give me all your thoughts down below as always. Appreciate everybody for tapping
10:54in. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe, and I'll catch you on the next one.
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