Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke with the media on Saturday. As always, he was open and honest, so we may as well write about all of his press conferences.
On Kelee Ringo’s and Adoree’ Jackson’s shaky performances in the first preseason game…
“Obviously they had some tough assignments in that game going against that quarterback and those receivers,” Fangio said, “but I think it’s a great learning experience for both of them and hopefully they’ll both come back. Obviously Kelee had more balls thrown his way than Adoree’ did, but I think it’s great that happened and we’ll see how much they can grow from that.”
Fangio called a zero blitz on the Ja’Marr Chase TD that beat Ringo. Why?
“Yeah, there’s a lot of times in the preseason where you’re calling stuff for the purpose of evaluation, whereas during the season in a real game, you’re calling stuff to stop anything that you can to help your guys,” Fangio said. “But during the preseason, a lot of times you’re calling stuff to get a good evaluation of everybody.
“[I like] to put them in stressful situations, which are going to happen during the season and games. We played Cincinnati last year and there was no cover zero because of Chase and their receivers and their quarterback, but it’s a good evaluation.”
What was the teaching point for Ringo on that play?
“He’s got to tackle,” Fangio said. “I’m not upset that the guy caught the ball on him. I’m upset that he didn’t tackle him and he’s got to realize where he is on the field, use the sideline, realize who he’s going against. Those are all things you got to process and factor in a millisecond and he didn’t do a good job of that in that play, but I expect him to learn from that and I expect them to improve from that.”
#JimmySays: I love all of that. That’s exactly what preseason games should be for.
On the acquisition of CB Jakorian Bennett…
“We’re going to find out here soon,” Fangio said. “Just throw him into the action and see what he’s got.”
#JimmySays: Obviously.
MORE: Jimmy’s training camp notes from Day 11
On whether he did homework on Bennett during the 2023 draft process…
“I don’t remember him in the draft process,” Fangio said. “Watched a little bit of his tape last year with the Raiders. He’s got some good speed, got some coverability. We’ll see.”
#JimmySays: Vic didn’t watch tape of Adoree’ Jackson, but he did watch some of Bennett’s.
On whether Bennett can compete for the starting job…
“Possibly. I mean everybody’s got the right to compete out here. I think we need to get his feet under him and get our eyes on him and see what happens over the next few weeks.”
#JimmySays: If the Eagles had a couple of Quinyon Mitchells, this answer probably looks a little different. I mean, sure, in theory everyone has the right to compete, but obviously the CB2 spot looks shaky right now and is wide open.
What made Thomas Booker expendable?
“He wasn’t expendable,” Fangio said. “We’re going to miss Book. I’m going to miss him personally, but to get something, you got to give something.”
There was then a follow-up asking if the Eagles’ interior D-line depth gave the team more confidence to trade him away?
“No,” Fangio said. “Obviously we have our three starters. Gabe’s been coming along, [Byron Young’s] been coming along. [Ty Robinson’s] been coming along. Are they where they need to be? No, but they’re coming along and hopefully that will continue.”
#JimmySays: It’ll be interesting to see what Booker can do with the Raiders. Their interior D-line sucks, so he’s going to get playing time.
On Gabe Hall, and what he has shown this summer…
“I think Gabe’s had a nice camp,” Fangio said. “I think Gabe’s, like I said before, a poster child for what practice squad is supposed to be.
“I think he just kept getting more confident coming off the injury he had in college. He needed some confidence in that regard. He needed to get stronger, needed to adjust playing against men, not college players. It was a great learning experience for him.”
#JimmySays: Hall is pretty clearly going to make the team.
MORE: Eagles 2025 training camp battle tracker
How did Sydney Brown play?
“I thought he did fine and I think he’ll keep progressing,” Fangio said. “Sydney’s got a lot of good stuff to his game. We just got to polish him up and see things a little better, a little quicker, which is a natural progression for young players, training camp last year from a defensive standpoint was a very small chance for him to grow. So this is his time.”
#JimmySays: It felt a lot like Fangio didn’t love Brown as a player last season, but he seems to be warming up to him a bit.
On Cooper DeJean, and whether he would’ve likely been a good player Week 1, had he been given a bigger role from Day 1…
“He didn’t practice last year all offseason and the only time he started practicing was the week of the last preseason game and he played a good bit in that game and he didn’t play well, meaning how to do things from a technique assignments, more of a technique standpoint,” Fangio said. “He wasn’t ready to play. Contrary to popular belief, practice is important and repetitions are important. There’s a lot of people that don’t believe that these days, but he’s a poster child for that last year. If you watch his last preseason game and then watch how he played once he got going, it’s night and day.”
#JimmySays: I think this sentiment can be applied to Andrew Mukuba to some degree, as Mukuba has sat out of team drills in 6 of 11 practices with a shoulder injury.
On the edge rusher depth…
“Yeah, we need some guys to surface behind the first couple and I think some of them are making good strides,” Fangio said. “I think Uche is getting better. He’s just got to keep learning how we want to do all the little details both against the run and the pass. Ojulari, same. Then the other guys we’re looking for somebody to surface to say, hey, maybe we need to keep this guy.”
#JimmySays: I think the “Hey maybe we need to keep this guy” guy is Ogbo Okoronkwo, who maybe has a ways to go as an edge guy who can play the run and drop into coverage, but who has some juice as a pass rusher.
MORE: Eagles 53-man roster projection, after the first preseason game
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
And on Threads and Bluesky: @JimmyKempski and @JimmyKempski
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy’s RSS feed to your feed reader
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
