John McMullen from JAKIB Media and the Birds 365 show joined us on the most recent episode of Crossing Broadcast. Good discussion with John, who is always a pragmatic Eagles voice. We covered everything, from the idea of separating important training topics from fluff, key observations from day 1, and how training camp looks different in 2022.

We also talked about the possible switch to a 3-4 defense, and why it’s less important than people think:

It’s an interesting topic. The common thought was that the addition of Jordan Davis and Haason Reddick made the Eagles a fit for the 3-4, with a big, space-eating nose tackle in the middle and a variety of edge rushers being used in different fronts. The Birds have been a 4-3 team for a long time now, going back to Billy Davis’ departure and Jim Schwartz’s arrival on Doug Pederson’s staff. Connor Barwin had a big year in a 3-4 defense and maybe a hybrid guy like Reddick thrives in something similar, if the Eagles end up doing that here.

But like we mentioned in the clip, the Eagles really sit in nickel for most of the game. More often than not, you’ve got Avonte Maddox in there as a slot corner with five defensive backs on the field. However you slice it up, you’re going to have some version of 4-5 down linemen, any combination of tackles and EDGE guys who can be deployed in multiple ways. You’re very rarely going to have more than two linebackers on the field, and you’ll see dime looks with 6 DBs and one LB, too. Jonathan Gannon has a lot more to work with this year.

Full show here: