The DiCecco Daily: Explaining Addition of Veteran DB

What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to another episode of DiCecco Daily. It's Andrew DiCecco, Eagles beat reporter for insidethebirds.com. The Eagles make the signing of Zach Gertz official on Tuesday afternoon. And he gets his number 86 back as one would expect. That number, for those wondering, was previously held by practice squad wide receiver Xavier Gibson, who now wears number 47. And Zach Gertz joins this Eagles roster. And I think that there's a strong chance that you see him Monday night against the Bears. This is a veteran player. I imagine that he's really going to be immersing himself in Sean Mannion's playbook. He's going to get a lot of time on task this week. And the Eagles really need him. He's going to give them a pass catching option. There's some familiarity there with Hertz and Zach Ertz. Remember, J-1 was there in 2020. They worked together a little bit in 2021. Zach Ertz, I believe, lasted six games that year and then was traded as Dallas Goddard took over that top tight end spot. But I think another underrated facet of adding someone like Zach Ertz, and I didn't touch on this in yesterday's podcast, is the mentorship that he can provide for someone like Eli Stowers. Zach Ertz has been sort of the epitome of what you want and what you hope to get in a veteran. He is someone who does everything the right way. By all accounts, he's been just the consummate professional and a great teammate during his time in the league. And when you talk about the route running prowess, he also is not known as a blocker. I do believe that he can have a positive influence on Eli Stowers behind the scenes. And anytime you can bring a player like that in, that's an added bonus on top of what he can give you on the field. So we'll obviously learn more about Zach Ertz and his involvement and how things are progressing in terms of his understanding and grasping of the offense. When we get to talk to him this week, I would imagine it would be Thursday. So there you have it. Zach Ertz officially back with the Eagles and donning the number 86 as expected. Reportedly, the Eagles also make an addition to the practice squad. And this is per NFL network. Actually, it was, I want to give this person credit because I believe it was Tyler Brooke who first reported the signing of Kenny Moore. So Kenny Moore is a veteran defensive back who played nine seasons for the Indianapolis Colts, was a pro bowler in 2021. And played 132 games, 111 starts for them. Was a big time player, 21 career interceptions. Actually, he was a 2017 undrafted free agent signing of the Patriots. He did not make their team out of that rookie camp, was claimed off waivers by the Colts and was viewed widely as one of the top nickel backs in the NFL. And it's expected, this is also per, this one is per NFL Network, that the Eagles will use him at nickel back and safety. Not really a surprise there because the Eagles are really light in terms of their depth at safety. And they haven't had the most success. So, I mean, I know Marcus Epps is a veteran, he's been around. I thought he had a tough go of it against the Tennessee Titans. Looked a little flat-footed at times, was a little vulnerable in coverage. Maccuba is a second-year player who I feel pretty strongly about in terms of him being able to emerge in year two. But it's been sort of an underwhelming start to this safety group. And I will admittedly say that I went into this season not having necessarily the same amount of concern. With this safety group, because you have Cooper DeGene, bullish on Maccuba, Michael Carter had a good training camp, and he's a very versatile veteran. And yeah, I mean, I just thought that they had enough there. And Marcus Epps, having played as much as he has in the league, I just felt pretty comfortable with that group. But needless to say, they just haven't performed particularly well through two games. It's still early. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time. But I think this move here is to give the Eagles more optionality, more depth, allow Vic Fangio to do some different things. And I mean, Kenny Moore is a player who's been around for a while. He overlapped with Nick Sirianni with the Colts. He's a scrappy player, not the biggest guy in the world. 5'9, 190 pounds or so. But he does give you a veteran who's been in the league for a while. He's seen a lot. He can take the football away. Players like that tend to learn things a little faster than younger players because of just their overall exposure to the league. And I imagine that he will be someone that even though he's on the practice squad to start, reportedly, he'll get to really study and get up to speed and eventually I imagine he's going to be on the 53, certainly helping the Eagles in providing some depth. We'll have to see if he has much left, but I think at this point in the season, you're not going to find a better option if you're trying to bolster that particular position or positions than Kenny Moore. So my initial read is that they're probably going to give him some looks there at safety to provide some depth. The Eagles are pretty lean there. We'll see what it all means for Cooper DeGene and maybe he undertakes a larger role at safety. But it tells you that the Eagles wanted to supplement that group with another piece that can give you some different looks and create some optionality. But yeah, I mean, I do want to make sure that I credit Tyler Brooke from the Best Available Podcast for first reporting this news of Kenny Moore. It's an interesting one and he does have a connection there with he was at Devontae Smith softball game. He's friends with Isaiah Rogers. So in those type of events, I'm sure there's some recruiting going on, I would imagine. And I think it's a really interesting move and leave it to Howie Roseman, who never stays motionless. He's always working to try to better the Eagles and give them some potential upgrades there. We'll have to see how everything shakes out. Football is finally back and PrizePix is bringing out their best offer yet. New users who sign up will get $150 in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. That's right. If you win your first $5 lineup, you get $150 in lineups. And now PrizePix is available nationwide. So what are you waiting for? Lock in for kickoff. Everyone and everything is on PrizePix. 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And it's a smart play to get ahead of these things earlier in the season rather than wait for things to potentially fester. Now it's going to be about, in the case of Kenny Moore and really Zach Hertz as well, getting up to speed as much as possible and doing everything that they can to be able to help the Eagles as quickly as possible. We have Dallas Goddard to miss a few weeks. Eli Stowers on IR, Grant Calcatera on IR with a back injury. So the Eagles are really light in numbers at tight end. So again, I imagine Zach Hertz is going to play on Monday night. We'll see how many snaps. We'll see how involved he ultimately is. But for a veteran player, they tend to ramp up a little faster. And you can use countless examples around the league. Not a lot of players, not every player needs that quote unquote ramp up period. And I guess with Zach Hertz, the big question is going to be how healthy is he? And well, I mean, I don't question what kind of shape he's in. He keeps himself in good shape. But it's about the how much can you lean on him at this this stage? He's nine months removed from the torn ACL or the knee injury, whatever the case was. And that's where that's going to be especially critical to see where he is and how much volume he can handle. And I look, they need him. And there's there's a built in roll form right off the bat. They have Johnny Mont, they have EJ Jenkins, and now they have Zach Ertz. And that's the group that they're going to roll forward with. Let's not forget that Eli Stowers is out till at least. The fourth game of the season as he's on injury reserve, but we don't know the extent of the injury. We know the injury that he has, but we don't know where he is in the stages of the recovery aspect. So the Eagles are really lean there, but when this group is healthy, they have quite a few options now. You have Dallas Goddard, you have Zach Ertz, Johnny Mont, EJ Jenkins, Eli Stowers, Grant Calcatera, Josiah Deguara is on the practice squad. And by the way, and this was, I believe my guy Tim McManus was the first one that I saw put this out there, but the spot on the practice squad is open because there's a team looking to, that's going to sign away Robert Longerbeam, the cornerback from Ruckers, who the Eagles signed to the practice squad to start the season. He was a draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens and had a good preseason, missed his rookie year with an injury. And I believe I saw Mike Garofolo of NFL Network report that it was the Atlanta Falcons, which makes sense that, you know, they lost AJ Terrell to injury reserve. So Robert Longerbeam moves on, at least that's what's being reported. And we'll see, you'll see Kenny Moore fill that spot on the practice squad. So it's a swap out there. The Eagles have a lot of talented players on their practice squad. I believe some that if you look at some of the other rosters around the NFL, I believe some of those guys can help. So it's not abnormal to have a player signed off of the practice squad. If there's a team out there that liked them in the pre draft process, or that thinks that they can be a short term solution, even a long term solution. I look at Caron Amidaje, the offensive lineman who's young and has developmental qualities. I can think of someone like Damian Pierce, who is a veteran who's played in this league. If you're a team that's short on running backs, Damian Pierce, I would imagine, would be an enticing option. Jake Majors, who can give you center guard versatility, young player, cerebral, and there's just a few that come to mind. Jaden Blue, the running back who just a couple of years removed from being a really enticing draft prospect, who might be able to help the team as a kick returner, perhaps. So I think the Eagles do a really good job of filling out their practice squad with upside players, some that they view as maybe being potential options who can help them down the line, push for a roster spot in training camp and so forth. But that's the nature of the NFL and the NFL practice squads. When you have young players who have ability, and you're a team like the Eagles who wins, you're naturally going to scan their practice squad and see what they have. And that seems to be the case here with Robert Longerbeam, who was just here for a couple of weeks. But good news for him is that he will be on an active roster and be able to contribute for the first time in his young career. That's going to do it for this episode of the DiCecco Daily. I'm Andrew DiCecco. Catch you all on the next one.