👋 Good morning! Quite a day for our guy Seranthony in Baltimore.

The ol’ Ricardo Rincón! Ser then pitched a scoreless inning against his old mates in the second half of the doubleheader. Good for him.

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Let’s catch up on the Birds today.

As always, you can find me at [email protected]

Big baseball week, so let’s talk Eagles on hump day. We are currently one week, five practices, one padded practice and one Bo Wulf Camp Crush into training camp. Record timing, I would have to think! But hey, the heart wants what the heart wants.

Here are five storylines from the first week of football in South Philly. Well, besides it being hot. As Jalen Hurts put it, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” I feel seen.

Jihaad Campbell: We already touched on this, but the fact that the Timber Creek Thumper* is already running with the first team for stretches is an excellent sign. It sounds like Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is acquitting himself well at camp, but Axe Man Jr. does not have Campbell’s physical tools nor was he a first-round draft pick. If Campbell is healthy and not a total disaster in practice, he is gonna play.

I am excited for what Vic Fangio can scheme up with Zack Baun and Campbell. Two players who can both cover and rush the passer on those overhang blitzes that Uncle Vic loves. The pre-snap disguise is gonna be out of this world, which is the most Football Guy sentence I have typed in a while.

And I will try to be measured, because in the post-Super Bowl glow, everyone is positive about everything. Too positive, even if it is understandable. 12 months ago, I was incredibly skeptical about the Eagles linebacker position. On the eve of the Brasil game, I wrote a snarky newsletter titled “The Eagles' never-ending linebacker carousel.” And then we got the best Eagles linebacker play in over 30 years. Life can be funny.

With that in mind, Fran said that Campbell is gonna have to grow in the area of initially diagnosing a play. Is it a run? Is it a pass? Seems like he has nailed the other toolsy stuff (pattern matching in zone coverage, blitzing, etc.), but your initial instinct matters a ton at that position. I would imagine that we see Campbell a fair bit in the preseason, in an effort to sharpen that recognition.

With Trotter also playing well, I ask the following question: When was the last time that the Eagles linebackers were the best, deepest level of the defense? I am not sure. When Nigel Bradham and Jordan Hicks were at their best, the front-four was nasty. When Axe Man Sr. was in his prime, the secondary was all-world. And if Campbell is as good as we hope, what the heck is gonna happen with Nakobe Dean when he returns? That guy played really well last season!

All good problems to have. Let’s go elsewhere…

*Off topic, but one of my early freelance jobs in journalism was a Local Athlete of the Week feature. Basically, my job was to find three athletes (one from Philly, one from the Philly suburbs, one from South Jersey) who were either starring in high school or college, write up a blurb on their accomplishments and get a headshot from the school. Timber Creek was one of my go-tos for South Jersey. Nice athletic program.

The Paul Turner Award: This one is already over: 6’4” receiver Elijah Cooks, who has three catches for 38 yards in his two-year career. Based on the training camp reports, I am already sold. Cooks is gonna be taking Jahan Dotson’s snaps by October.

(Kidding!)

Muddled secondary: So, Quinyon Mitchell looks primed to keep on keepin’ on. Cooper DeJean just got voted the 60th-best player in the entire NFL (I kinda wonder if the voting was right after the Super Bowl). Reed Blankenship will be one of your starting safeties. Speaking of Coop and Reed, Exciting Mics has a couple of great guests to end Season 1 coming your way soon.

That is three. But what about the other two?

From all reports, it sounds like Kelee Ringo is fighting it a bit. Zach said that Kelee had to “shoot par” at camp to retain the job (who said ZB does not know anything about golf?), but it sounds like he already has a few bogies on the front nine.

So, maybe Adoree’ Jackson found an opening? That is what I thought, until Tuesday that is, when this Uncle Vic press conference answer should have been delivered over the Not Like Us beat.

Legit LOL. Howie wanted to sign him, I did not watch his tape, his past two teams dumped him for a reason. No gas, all brakes. Now I have absolutely no idea what is going on at CB2. Les wrote more about it all here.

At safety, Drew Mukuba missed two straight practices with a shoulder injury. As Bo put it, that is probably the last guy that the Eagles would want to miss time with a minor injury (along with Campbell). As Uncle Vic will tell you ad nauseam, young players need physical reps. Unlike last year, Sydney Brown is now the one getting them.

Worthwhile discussion brought up by ZB: DeJean very well might be your best nickel, your second-best outside corner and your best safety. Where do you play him?

Hit the Bille Jean beat: 🎶 Cooper DeJeannnn MIGHT BE a safetyyyyy! He’s just back there, with Mac McWilliams IN THE SLOT! And it’s all Howie’s faulllttt! 🎶

I certainly prefer Coop playing in the slot. He has proven to be incredibly valuable there, because he can cover and not compromise your run defense. But yeah, there are two spots in that secondary that are rather unsettled.

Is this good news or bad news? The classic training camp question. When one player is pantsing another player on the reg (figuratively, that is), is it because the one guy is great or the other guy is no good? Two classic examples...

Well, Moro Ojomo has pretty much dominated My Guy Tyler Steen (MGTS) by all accounts. I sure hope that ends up being Good News, and Moro has a monster season. The actual good news for Steen is that he seems to have no competition, and Jeff Stoutland even had some nice words for him today.

Other injuries: Looks like the Eagles are easing Jalen Carter into this camp, and there is nothing wrong with that. But four projected starters did not practice yesterday, which is something to keep an eye on.

Phillies 6, Chicago (AL) 3: Nice bounce-back, Tyler’s 60-second recap is here.

Jesús Luzardo had a scary first inning, but he made an adjustment that we were all asking for after the meltdown against Boston: He pitched out of the windup when the bases were loaded, and got out of the inning. And then Luzardo settled in and tossed seven shutout innings, because of course he did.

What I am saying is, gang, is that the Luzardo Coaster was goin’ up on a Tuesday.

And then Kyle Schwarber killed a baseball, because of course he did.

John Middleton, there have been three teams that let this guy go. None of them have made the playoffs since. You have only one choice here, and that choice is to do the right thing.

Big Brandon Marsh game (fielding, and then a big homer). And Daniel Robert is a weird pitcher, I would rather put him in a high-leverage spot than mop-up duty of an easy win.

And I highly recommend Tyler’s pods from the last two days:

The next two newsletters will be VERY trade-deadline focused.

Getaway day in Chicago (2:10 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). Can Tai get us two wins in a row? I really, really, really would prefer to not lose a series to the White Sox.

And for our young and single audience, Love is Blind is now accepting applications in the Philly area. My guy VG is ecstatic about that news, and not because he is going to apply (VG is a Love is Blind superfan).

Your tentative Wednesday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS