4 things Eagles fans want to see as they take on the Browns

It can be tough to get juiced up for a preseason game. Especially when your stars aren’t playing, it’s the second preseason game, a lineman got hurt and had surgery less than a week ago, the game is on a summer Saturday at 1 pm, and the other team’s super interesting quarterback isn't going to play.

That’s the exact situation this week, when the Philadelphia Eagles play the Cleveland Browns. However, there are a handful of interesting and potentially fun things that we’re going to see.

Appreciate your backup quarterbacks while you have them

Would it be cool if everyone could take it easy for the next three weeks before the season started? It sure would, but there are still guys that need to develop, a handful of positions that the Eagles need to figure out, and a certain backup quarterback that we need to appreciate. 

Drew Kendall development:

Landon Dickerson had his meniscus surgery on Wednesday and was walking without assistance after Thursday’s practice, which is awesome. The Eagles are hoping to have him back by Week 1… but because that game is on a Thursday, and Week 2 is on Sunday, it might be smart for him to miss the season opener and take the extra 10 days of rest. 

If he misses time, the Eagles would be without their starting left guard and a backup center. That means either Brett Toth or Drew Kendall (fifth-rounder from Boston College) is set up to be the backup. 

Toth’s been taking the starting reps at left guard, so (hopefully) that means Kendall is getting the work in the preseason. In the first preseason game, he played until there was 13:39 left in the fourth quarter. It’d be pretty great to get that same deal on Saturday.

You could also argue that he’s going to be playing against a better defensive line than he did against the Bengals’ starters and backups. Sure, it’s going to be a violently milquetoast offense, so there won’t be many opportunities for him to show off how he does with high-level stuff… but your mentals are going to be in a much better spot if he has a good game against a defensive line that’s not the worst in the NFL.

Johnny Wilson and Darius Cooper rocking:

The Eagles' depth wide receiver spots are ripe for the taking. Right now, Johnny Wilson, Elijah Cooks, Darius Cooper, Anais Smith, and Terrace Marshall are the real candidates for WR4 and WR5. 

Reports were saying that Wilson was having a pretty quiet training camp, and then during the first preseason game, he brought in three catches for a cool 75 yards. Cooper (UDFA, Tarleton State), on the other hand, was reported to have been doing pretty well in training camp… but no one knew what a Darius Cooper was until we saw one. He ended up shining against the Bengals with six catches for 82 yards and a touchdown.

At the risk of sounding like a weirdo: These two dudes also have pretty special bodies. Wilson is a little more so with a six-foot-six-inch, 230-ish-pound frame. When you’re talking about a depth wide receiver, I’d like to see a guy that adds something unique, not just another run-of-the-mill six-footer.

Cooper might be a six-footer, but he’s not run-of-the-mill. He looks like a smaller A.J. Brown, and that’s just about the highest compliment you can give a guy. My only knock on the guy is that he wears No. 41, which is an objectively hideous number for a wide receiver. 

Maybe another wide receiver ends up having a really good showing against the Browns, and in that case, my dumb brain will say, ‘Oh. I like that guy. Give me more of him.’ But until then, Wilson and Cooper are the two that I’m looking forward to seeing. 

A tackle by a cornerback:

The search for a cornerback to line up opposite Quiyon Mitchell continues. It would’ve been sick if either Kelee Ringo or Adoree’ Jackson separated themselves from the other against the Bengals’ starting offense, but that really, really didn’t happen.

If anything, you watched that game and thought, ‘Well, this competition is much closer than I thought, because neither of these guys looks good.’

Vic Fangio purposefully set them up for failure, which is great. He wanted to put these guys in uncomfortable positions so he could see how they fared (i.e., calling cover zero on one of the top two wide receivers in the NFL).

You have to imagine that he’s going to do the same thing against the Browns… just hopefully this time Ringo (or Jackson, or Mac McWilliams, or Jakorian Bennett) doesn’t have to make a three-point turn to try to make a play.

More ‘Tanner McKee is sick’ fodder:

After the Week 17 game against Dallas, Jordan Mailata said, “What about the Mormon Missile? What about the Mormon Missile? The secret’s out now." Indeed, it was. 

Tanner McKee came into that game late in the third quarter, went three-for-four for 54 yards and two touchdowns. He followed that up with a Week 18 game, where he went 27-for-41 for 269 yards and two touchdowns. He was a secret no more.

Just in case anyone forgot about those games, McKee reminded everyone by lighting it up against the Bengals. He was 20-for-25 for 252 yards, two touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown.

Next offseason, the Eagles should trade Tanner McKee for a million billion picks or the player equivalent of a million billion picks. So if everything goes right, we’re only going to see him make two more starts as an Eagle: Saturday against the Browns, and next Friday against the Jets. 

Dr. Seuss once said, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” That’s where we’re at with McKee. We need to cherish our time with him and appreciate every moment that we’ll get to watch the “Mormon Missile” in Midnight Green.