Nick Sirianni expresses confidence in Eagles wide receivers when asked about OBJ

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni spoke to reporters on Friday afternoon and gave some injury updates ahead of their game against the Chargers on Sunday. He also talked a bit about how he develops his teach tape for players, and why he needs to say thank you to whoever it is that keeps his headset working on game days.

When asked about the possibility of adding Odell Beckham Jr., the head coach said that he can’t speak to any rumors out there but that they are always looking to make their team better. However, he did point out that he’s very happy with the Eagles wide receiver room and how they’re developing, saying they have three young guys who can make plays and he’s also comfortable with their backups.

Here’s what else the head coach had to say:

Injury Updates

• Anthony Harris, Jalen Reagor, and Jack Driscoll will be up for Sunday’s game.
• JJ Arcega-Whiteside is the only player who will be out with injury this week.
• When asked about Tyree Jackson, Sirianni said that they have another day to figure that out and they’re still working through some things.
• As for protecting John Hightower on the practice squad this week, the head coach said that he’s got great skills and speed, a good ability off the line of scrimmage. He’s got some unique talents and they are glad that they have him around still.

On the development of his teach tapes

It was pointed out that Sirianni often refers to Keenan Allen when talking about player development, and the head coach said that Allen is someone he still talks to and is someone he was glad he had an opportunity to coach. He said it’ll be nice to be able to give Allen a hug before the game, and talk to him afterward about how his family is doing and those types of things.

He noted that Allen is someone who will always be part of his teach tape because there are so many things he does well, and fundamentally that Sirianni instilled early that are still good teaching points.

The head coach was asked which former players will always be part of his teach tapes and whether he things any of his current players would end up on that film, and Sirianni noted that some already have, and that the goal is to have these young players become the teach tape. He talked about how you’ll always have reference to some of the veterans and older players, but there is something special about turning on a teach tape and having the guy in the room — so they’ve already gotten some plays from Jalen Hurts, Dallas Goedert, DeVonta Smith, and Quez Watkins.

“You can always take different things from different people. You want to try and find the guy whose kind of similar, but DeVonta [Smith] is a unique player. But, I’ve said it before, I think DeVonta has some Keenan Allen-type qualities off the line of scrimmage and so with the release stuff, we look at that quite a bit.”

Sirianni went on to say that he doesn’t like to just zero in on player, though, and will sometimes look at college players or has used some Larry Fitzgerald tape before too.

Other notables

• Giants HC Joe Judge talked earlier this week about having issues with his headsets almost every week, but Sirianni said that isn’t something he’s had an issue with. He went to joke that he doesn’t know whose in charge of that, but he should find out, because he’s thankful it hasn’t been a problem for them.
• The head coach talked a bit about Jamal Singleton and said first and foremost, he’s a great running back coach, but he’s also someone that he can to bounce schedule thoughts, a team message, he’s another ear to talk to.