Eagles Trade for DE Depth

Posted: March 28th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 30 Comments »

The Eagles shipped FB Stanley Havili to the Colts for DE Clifton Geathers.

Geathers has been around the league, playing for Cleveland, Miami, Seattle, Dallas, Buffalo, and Indy.  Of course, Marlon Favorite would call that a stable career.  

Geathers lists at 6-7, 325.  He is here to compete for a spot in the rotation at DE, I’m assuming primarily on the left side.  Whether we’re 3-4 or 4-3 Under, you want a guy at LDE that can set the edge and handle the run.

Geathers has played in 15 career games.  His best football came last year for the Colts.  He got into 8 games and became a solid part of the rotation.  There are no guarantees that he’ll even make the Eagles roster, but Havili had no shot since he’s a FB and we’re not going to use a FB.

Smart move.  Add a player who fits your scheme, helps add depth to the spring/summer rotation and see if the guy can play.

Here are my pre-draft notes on him:

“He mainly played LDE at SoCar. Moves well for such a long guy. Can eat up a lot of ground in just a couple of steps. Tremendous length. Looks real athletic at times. Needs more lower body strength. Very vulnerable when he is too high. Blockers can easily get under him and move him off the ball. Looks like a man-child on some plays/days. Geathers had 4.5 TFLs vs Florida. Looked great at times in the game. When he fires off the ball and stays low, Clifton is really hard to block. I see him as a mid to late round pick. Limited experience, production. Had 6 career sacks.

Geathers came out early. Dumb decision. I partially mean that as a compliment. Geathers is huge at 6’7, 299. He also has some athletic ability, especially for such a big guy. There is a lot to like about him. He only started one full year at South Carolina and is still raw. Unlike Jason Pierre-Paul, Geathers did not have a break through year. The timing wasn’t right to come out. Another year could have really helped him develop into a solid prospect. As it is, he’ll be drafted on his size and potential, but Geathers is very much a boom or bust type that won’t appeal to every team.”

The depth chart looked very sparse at DE so the move helps, even if it just gets us through mini-camps and Training Camp.  He does have the kind of size that Chip Kelly wants.

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I posted a quick FA update over at Eagles Blog.

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30 Comments on “Eagles Trade for DE Depth”

  1. 1 Adam said at 2:37 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    I come for the trade news, I stay for Marlon Favourite.

  2. 2 Eric Weaver said at 2:38 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Are the Colts the Eagles new Patriots in regards to trades?

  3. 3 Davesbeard said at 2:52 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    The Ryan Grigson effect.

  4. 4 nicolajNN said at 2:45 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    I believe there’s a contractual obligation for this somewhere http://i.imgur.com/nNblV.gif

    It’s quite a annoying that there’s no gif of his belly rub to be found anywhere. I don’t suppose you have it on tape Tommy?

  5. 5 TommyLawlor said at 2:55 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    I should have the belly rub. This spring/summer when it is quiet, I need to search for that.

  6. 6 Mike Flick said at 3:09 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Every time I see this, I hope he can get that extra 5 ft on the next jump.

    come on, come on, almost….come on, come on, almost….

  7. 7 TommyLawlor said at 3:52 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    If you believe in alternate/multiple universes, there is one where Marlon makes the play and become a legend.

    I want to live there…

  8. 8 Flyin said at 8:36 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Marlon really is an elegant player in that universe.

    Nova explains the theory behind multiply universes… http://video.pbs.org/video/1512280538/

  9. 9 ICDogg said at 3:54 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    And here’s Ziggy making his dive tackle

    http://gifsoup.com/view/4601786/ziggydivetackle.html

  10. 10 Iskar36 said at 4:03 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    So with the majority of other prospects, we have talked about how they need to bulk up to 290 to be effective. At the combine, Geathers was 300 lb, and now he is 325 lb. Do you think that is the most effective weight for him to be playing at or do you think he could benefit from shedding a few pounds and playing slightly lighter?

  11. 11 ICDogg said at 4:06 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    At his height? He doesn’t need to lose any bulk, that’s for sure.

  12. 12 Mike Flick said at 6:58 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    We may not be better, but we will be bigger.

  13. 13 Anders said at 9:31 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    I think 325 is good weight for him. Looking at college photos of him, he was very lean, almost skinny at 300

  14. 14 A_T_G said at 4:19 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    I misread the title as TE instead of DE, so I was very surprised to see he is 6’7″ and 325 lbs. looks like another low risk, medium reward signing. If we can string together a couple of medium rewards, we might have something.

  15. 15 ICDogg said at 4:28 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    or at least block a couple of field goals

  16. 16 Andrew said at 5:01 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Does the fact that they are looking at Ansah as a DE (he’s about 265-270) and the report that Curry will be used at DE make you think it’s possible Cole or even Graham could see some time as a base LE as well? If they’re serious about using Baldwin as the LOLB/Pass Rushing Linebacker spot (as some of the comments at the press conference implied), using Cole and Graham at that LE spot would seem to get the best talent on the field.

  17. 17 Anders said at 6:28 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Ansah would be the LE. Also the LOLB and pass rushing LB is not the same. Usually the pass rush LB is the ROLB.

  18. 18 livingonapear said at 11:36 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Are you asking about the predator or the linebacker that rushes the QB 70% and drops back into coverage 30%.

    My understanding is that most of the pass rushers who were pure DE in the 4-3 (Graham, Cole) were going to occupy predator position while Barwin was going to be the weak side linebacker with coverage and rush responsibilities.

    Also, I think a lot of this is predicated less on left and right, and more on where the tight end lines up. Am I right about that?

  19. 19 T_S_O_P said at 5:02 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Is he related to ‘Jumpy’ Geathers?

  20. 20 ICDogg said at 6:10 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    He’s Jumpy’s nephew

  21. 21 EaglesHero87 said at 9:23 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    Based on the defensive players we’ve acquired so far (e.g., through free agency and trades), I think you’ve made it seem pretty apparent that Chip is leaning more towards a 3-4 or 4-3 Under defensive scheme. Most of the attention lately has been geared towards the type of defensive scheme Chip, and very well Bill Davis, want to install. Now, how about the defensive line coach, Jerry Azzinaro? Do you think he must have had a say about Geathers, too? I don’t know a whole lot about Azzinaro, but what does he like in his defensive linemen?

  22. 22 Anders said at 9:27 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    He was the DL coach under Kelly at Oregon. Up there nearly all of their DLs where 6’4″ and above

  23. 23 A_T_G said at 10:03 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    “More violence!”

  24. 24 livingonapear said at 11:31 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    How VIOLENT can you be?
    How violent can you BE?
    HOW violent can you be?

    No matter how he says it, I get chills.

  25. 25 SteveH said at 9:52 PM on March 28th, 2013:

    So… championship?

  26. 26 A_T_G said at 12:05 AM on March 29th, 2013:

    At least.

  27. 27 T_S_O_P said at 3:41 AM on March 29th, 2013:

    Tommy, I like the way Dave has set out a division’s needs on Scouts Notebook.

  28. 28 Ark87 said at 8:51 AM on March 29th, 2013:

    I’m excited that we get a 2 week head start this season. Voluntary offseason program begins on Monday! No real football but it will be nice to finally get the roster in to meet and learn the new regime. Football will be here before we know it.

  29. 29 A_T_G said at 12:38 PM on March 29th, 2013:

    Yep, definitely a nice perk to having a new HC. I’m thinking that if we convince Kelly and Azzinaro to alternate who has the HC title and Asst. HC title from year to year, we can do this every year. I’m sure no one would notice.

  30. 30 Ark87 said at 1:13 PM on March 29th, 2013:

    Brilliant! Don’t let the Mara’s see that comment, they will tattle or copy.