Eagles and the Supplemental Draft
Posted: July 9th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 9 Comments »The NFL is holding the Supplemental Draft on Thursday. Before you get excited, this group of players is pedestrian, and that might be a generous description.
I wrote about the players over at ScoutsNotebook.
Assuming none of the players is drafted, I could see the Eagles considering signing one of them as a UDFA. DE James Boyd from UNLV is the guy who makes the most sense. He began at USC and might be a guy that Chip Kelly knows from back in high school (he’s from Cali). He does have a good frame. I just don’t know how interested Kelly would be in a guy who failed to do anything of note in college.
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A much more interesting idea is going after OLB Travis Long. He played at Washington State, but went undrafted because he had a torn ACL. Long had surgery back in November and is now getting healthy enough to work out for teams.
Long, 6-4, 245, wasn’t a great player at WSU, but was very good. He finished his career with 20.5 sacks. He played DE/LB in a hybrid defense. Long lacks the explosion to be a special pass rusher, but he could be a backup and role player in the NFL. Former Eagles scout John Middlekauf had him graded as a 6th round pick.
I’m sure Kelly is familiar with him. Long had 4.5 TFLs against Oregon in 4 games. Long had 42 TFLs in his WSU career. That production and his frame make him appealing as mid-summer addition. The key will be his knee checking out. As for the timing of that, Donovan McNabb tore his ACL in November 2006 and played the next summer and all season. Long playing this year isn’t a given, but is possible.
Here is Long in action.
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What about veteran free agents?
John Abraham is the top pass rusher on the market. He’s more of a 4-3 rusher at this point. I don’t think the Eagles will have interest. The team could use OLB help, but there aren’t good players available, either due to fit or talent.
Richard Seymour talked to the Falcons in June, but remains on the market. I don’t see the Eagles being interested. DE could be a position of strength already, with Fletcher Cox, Cedric Thornton, Vinny Curry, Bennie Logan, Clifton Geathers and Joe Kruger already in place.
You can bet Howie Roseman will keep his eyes open. He is always looking to improve the roster.
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The first part of camp will likely be a major evaluation period. The coaches could only see so much in the non-contact spring. It will be up to the coaches, scouts and personnel execs to identify weak spots quickly so the team can begin looking for help. The sooner you can bring guys in, the sooner they can get acclimated and really help out.
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I am a “threadkiller”.
Where’s my jacket?!?
I was a TK back in the day. I won’t try to explain that, though. Non-EMBers would be utterly confused.
The EMB was it’s own nucleus for some memorable times.
It was a place to talk football, talk ish or bs with friends… some you may have met or knew…but mostly online cool fools. Cudos to Dave for pushing the community/fans aspect.
Interesting read as always, Tommy. I agree with you on passing on the supplemental draft.
I’m a little less confident than you in our group of defensive ends. Don’t get me wrong: Fletcher Cox is a stud. After him, none of the guys are bona fide answers. Thornton did ok as a backup DT last year. Curry was a backup 4-3 DE who barely saw the field last year. When I watch Logan’s tape, I’m not thinking he’s a steal or future stud. He might be an ok player (or I could be completely wrong), but nothing about him makes me excited by the possibility of him starting. While I love Geathers’s size, he’s been cut 5 times in 3 seasons. That’s not exactly a good sign. Kruger is just fighting for a roster spot. Of course, a lot can change. The scheme, the coaching, the conditioning program, and the players themselves make a difference. It seems like we’re making a big leap of faith to feel confident in so many unproven commodities.
Back to football… my supplements include GNC Mega Men, old folk style. And beer. Draft, can or bottle… it’s all good to me.
Don’t forget the fish oil!
I don’t know any of these players individually, but typically players are in the supplemental draft because their kicked off of teams for thuggish behavior or have failed out of school.
I’d like to keep that element on our teams to a minimum.
Players to still keep an eye on:
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1) Jarius Byrd…I’m borderline obsessed with him
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2) Darnell Dockett..played terrible last year, and the cardinals will save 8Million if they cut him this summer.
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3) Packers are very high on Datone Jones, which means DE Ryan Pickett could be on his way out. Adding a veteran presence on the Dline to help out Sopo might not be the worst idea.
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4)Jared Odrick really struggled with the Dolphins transition to the 4-3. been hearing he could land on the trading block or waiver wire(they would save close to 4mil) for a while now
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5) Red Bryant…I don’t know if I believe it but I hearing rumors about him being on his way out.
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6)jabaal Sheard. browns coaches have been pleased with his transition to OLB, but once Barkevious Mingo is ready to log big minutes opposite of Kruger, they are going to want to trade Jaabal
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7) Micheal Johnson..The historically cheap Bengals will have to re-sign Atkins, Dunlap and Johnson within the next year. one of the 3 will walk, my guess is it will be the 6’7 OLB MJ!
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as for the supplemental Draft, I would definitely take a look at Travis Long. he reminds me of Chase Thomas(similar limitations).