White needs to know what to do in this line in order to take the initiative, and it's not necessarily natural and I doubt people study this line, let alone any philidor lines. However, in the main lines I saw it can be pretty hard for black. For example, usually ...nf6 has to wait because of ideas like dxe5 followed by Ng5 (assuming Bc4 was played). But suprisingly if white tries to maintain the tension it's in black's favor after an eventual ...exd4. But the worst thing about this opening is that black's winning chances are pretty slim.
This next variation looks very cramping, and, well, I suppose it can be. However, it is still a very solid variation and it can occur via 1. e4 or 1. d4. Because of its flexibility, I have decided to show it some attention here in our forums.