Tim McManus joined the Best Show Ever earlier today, to discuss things like how the edge rushers have looked if Jalen Hurts is over-targeting AJ Brown, and what to expect from the starters in the first preseason game. Here is some of what he had to say.
On How the Edge Rushers Have Looked in Camp
“Tarron Jackson has started to come on the last few practices. If that continues this pass-rushing group on the edge is going to look really nice and have some decent depth to it. Beyond Derek Barnett coming back, and I know people have mixed feelings about him, he’s really like more of a depth piece at this point. Josh Sweat has been coming on of late. Brandon Graham has enjoyed a really good camp even though he’s 34 and coming off a ruptured Achilles. And of course, they have Hasson Reddick who comes in having double-digit sacks each of the last two seasons. For Jackson last year there were some moments of promise. He continues to develop. As it stands right now, it’s looking like a pretty strong edge group coming into the season.”
On If Hurts is Targetting Anyone Other Than AJ Brown
“We know that (Sirianni) wants the offense to run through pretty much 3 people. That would be AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert. So the idea is to spread it out amongst those 3 and allow that to power the offense. There’s no question he has relied on Brown really heavily during the summer. But that also comes with the caveat that Smith has missed a good portion of this training camp. And he has been going to Goedert a fair bit. So even though we are highlighting the new addition of AJ Brown, which that is the recurring theme in camp… There’s been a heavy dose of Dallas Goedert too. And Siriannis made a point for Hurts to target Quez Watkins over the last handful of practices as well, just to make sure he’s not forgotten… I think that there will be a decent amount of distribution among that group. But our eyes are telling us that its going to be mainly AJ Brown. That he will lead the targets if the regular season is anything like training camp.”
You can listen to the full interview here…