Evaluating Howie
Posted: May 14th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 241 Comments »Howie Roseman has now run the last 3 Eagles drafts.We’re starting to get an idea of how he does things and there is enough of a track record that we can make some judgments. I’m sure some of you will say “But what about waiting 3 years to see how the players turn out?”. That’s not all on the GM and scouts. A lot of that is on the coaching staff, in terms of player development and how they use the players. The focus with the GM is how he handles the actual draft.
Normally I would save this subject for a quiet time in June, but it just so happens that Peter King wrote a bit about the Eagles and Roseman this week.
As we look at the NFL draft with some perspective now, the one pick that fascinates me is number 22. And not just because Johnny Manziel got taken there, but because there was such heated competition for the pick.
An impeccable NFL source told me this on Monday night:
- The Eagles, who held the 22nd pick in the draft, informed teams after several players they loved at 22 were snatched—LSU wideout Odell Beckham, who went 12th to the Giants, and Virginia Tech cornerback Kyle Fuller, who went 14th to Chicago, among others—that they were auctioning the choice.
- Six teams inquired about pick number 22. Philadelphia got four solid offers.
- Though it was reported by Jay Glazer that the Vikings and Browns jousted for the 22nd pick (absolutely true), they were not alone. The source said that another team, not Minnesota, was the leader in the clubhouse when Eagles GM Howie Roseman told Cleveland GM Ray Farmer with three minutes left in the 10-minute draft period that he had to make a better offer than the one Cleveland had on the table.
- Minnesota and Cleveland wanted Johnny Manziel. But it’s clear that the second-place finisher, which already had a good quarterback, wanted another player at 22. I wish I knew that other team. I do not. I don’t believe it is Houston.
- Cleveland, as I reported Monday in my column, did sweeten its offer to move up from 26 to 22, by improving its last offer to the 26th pick and 83rd overall. (I don’t know what Cleveland’s offer was before this, but GM Ray Farmer had less than 30 seconds to improve it to Philadelphia’s satisfaction, and he did.)
- If Farmer didn’t include the mid-third-round pick in the deal, Philadelphia absolutely would have made the deal with Team Unknown for the 22nd pick. Cleveland would have had to move on. In that case, Cleveland would have called Kansas City at 23 and Cincinnati at 24 to try to get a deal done. I am told Kansas City would have been receptive to an offer for the 23rd pick, but Cincinnati, in love with cornerback Darqueze Dennard, would have held onto the pick.
- The finish line: Cleveland won. The anonymous team seeking a player other than Manziel finished second. Minnesota was third—obviously because the Vikings didn’t want to include the 2015 first-round pick. (I don’t blame them.) The Eagles would have likely made that trade knowing the three or four players they liked at 22 would have been gone at 40. And another anonymous team finished fourth.
Very interesting stuff. It sure sounds like Roseman did a terrific job of getting as much compensation as possible. He was in negotiations with multiple teams and it sounds like he treated everyone fairly. That can be tough. You want to give everyone a chance, but you are dealing with time restrictions that put enormous pressure on all parties involved.
Roseman pulled off other deals during the draft and got good return on all of them. That’s not always going to be the case. When you deal from a position of strength you can get what you want. There are other times when that isn’t the case (see the DeSean Jackson situation). You don’t want a GM who is too greedy and looks for the perfect offer every time, but you also don’t want someone that settles too quickly.
Even if you don’t love the Eagles picks, you should still appreciate the job Roseman did with moving around and getting good value in the deals.
* * * * *
As for the picks, this year’s draft was more complicated than the previous 2 since the Eagles were picking later in the round. Identifying targets at pick 4 or pick 15 are much easier than doing it at pick 22, especially with such confusion about which QBs would go where. Based on comments by Roseman and Kelly, the Eagles had 6 players they hoped would fall or they might even be willing to move up for if the price was right. Those 6 players all were gone when pick 22 came up.
This is where the discussion gets difficult. We have to mix speculation with fact and try to come away with a reasonable explanation. It doesn’t sound like the Eagles had any other players graded as 1st rounders at that point. The object then is to move back as far as you can and then take the highest rated player on your board. That won’t make the values perfect, but the draft is an imperfect situation.
The Eagles looked at their board. Marcus Smith is the player they wanted. There weren’t any other pass rushers slotted in that area so if they lost him, they would have had to go in another direction. And the choices in other rounds were far from ideal. This is when Howie started shopping the pick, with the idea that he wouldn’t move too far back if possible.
The Football Gods smiled upon the Eagles and gave them a 3rd round pick and only forced them to move back 4 spots. They were able to get the player they wanted and had the extra pick to help out. Thank god for Johnny Football. Teams wanting him drove up the price, which is a scenario we talked about prior to the draft.
In the 2nd round, the Eagles moved up to draft Jordan Matthews. They dealt a 4th rounder to jump up and get their guy. If you don’t like Matthews all that much, you won’t like the move. I like the fact they felt strongly about a player and went after him aggressively. Matthews wasn’t my favorite player, but Kelly raved about his intangibles and how impressive he was on the visit to the NovaCare. If we’d known those stories before the draft, we might have been screaming for the Eagles to take Matthews at 22.
Roseman then dealt pick 83 to the Texans for the first pick of the 4th and 5th rounds. The Eagles were hoping they could then spin that 4th round pick into even more. The 4th round starts Saturday at noon. That gives teams a lot of time to talk about deals. The Eagles were hoping to drop back a few spots and pick up a 6th or 7th round pick.
There was one small problem.
The Eagles really wanted Jaylen Watkins. This was another guy they didn’t want to risk losing. I’m betting they only were willing to move back 3 or 4 spots. When those teams didn’t want to move up, the Eagles decided to just take their guy. I like the thought process here. They weren’t just trying to add picks for the sake of it. They focused on certain players. They weighed the risk/reward factors and decided when to be aggressive and when to just take their targets.
The Eagles stayed put and took Taylor Hart, Ed Reynolds and Beau Allen with their final 3 picks. I would love to talk to Howie about the final pick. I was on Twitter typing my wish list a few spots prior to the Eagles pick and the first named I mentioned was DL Shamar Stephen. Before I could post that, the Vikings used pick 220 on him. Kelly admitted later that’s the player the Eagles wanted.
Beau Allen was good value and a good fit. The Eagles needed a backup NT. But Stephen was a clearly better player. He showed good ability at the Senior Bowl. He could have been a backup at LDE and NT. I wonder if the Eagles considered moving up for him or if they just rolled the dice since both he and Allen were left. Allen is a good consolation prize, but Stephen was the preferred player.
Would I have given up a 2015 7th rounder to get Stephen? Yes. I just thought he was good value and a terrific fit for what the Eagles needed. The Eagles might have tried to move up. We have no idea. Just because you offer it doesn’t mean the other team will say yes.
* * * * *
I think Howie Roseman just had his best draft yet, in terms of how he handled the situation. He got creative at times. He was aggressive at some spots and conservative at others. He didn’t wheel and deal for the heck of it. He made calculated moves that landed players the Eagles wanted. We know this because the Eagles showed interest in all of these guys before the draft. All but Huff made a visit to Philly, and obviously he and Kelly already had a strong relationship.
Time will tell if the picks pan out. We know some of them won’t. The numbers prove that. Guys get injured. Guys get lost in the shuffle. Some just can’t handle the NFL. If you believe Spinal Tap, some prospects will just spontaneously combust, leaving only a tiny green globule.
* * * * *
So what were your thoughts on how Howie did? Some of you aren’t his biggest fans. Is Howie growing on you?
_
It all comes down to how good the players fit. But from a ‘managing the draft’ point of view, Howie did a great job. I don’t think you can even debate that. You could also add the crazy good trade for Brown.
But, like I said, you can manage the draft as good as you want, if the players are busts you had a bad draft. If you found 2 or 3 starters and 1 or 2 contributers, good. If you found a Richard Sherman in the 5th, you’re a genius.
In 2 or 3 years, it will be as simple as that. And we see it already: most fans love the 2012 draft. Boykin in the 4th was a steal. Foles, probably our future at QB, in the 3rd.
I think howie is a great GM. He works well with the coaches and gets them what they want. He moves in the draft very well. He may be one of the best negotiators we’ve had in a long time. Gets the deals done, be it contracts or trades. I think we are fortunate from ownership to gm to coach. When I think about it that way, how long can that damn trophy really elude us?
I really liked Howies last two drafts, but I think this was Howies best yet….
…
Tom, don’t forget to include in your analysis of Howies draft,getting a 4th or 3rd round pick for a RB we drafted in the 7th round. That was a major coup. You talk about trading next years 7th to move up for Shemar. Well I liked Shemar, hated him rated ahead of Beau, but I think lack of draft picks these past two years drove Howie nuts, so he was Commited to staying dicaplined and not trade away any future picks, so that we can get back to the days when we have a nice amount of picks..we kept next years 7th, and we added the conditional pick for the Bryce trade. I’m pleased…my wish list for round 7 was NTs Deandre Coleman, Shemar and Baeu…baeu was my 3rd choice, but I can’t complain cuz I still got a player I wanted and believed in.
…
Like you said, I loved how Howie tried to get more picks, but not at the expense of losing the players we wanted to draft…we knew how far we could trade back and still get Marcus, and a 3rd..I call that an A+ where I come from!
..
You bring up a great point. Had we known about Mathews intangibles before the draft I’m sure he woulda climbed on all our wish lists… We considered trading back at the 4th but weren’t willing to lose Jaylen, a player they really wanted..I have to applaud them
..
Chip wanted Hart in the 3rd, Howie promised him we would get him in the 5th…props to Howie once again…
….
yeah, 22 turns into marcus, jaylen, & hart. THAT is great GMing
That’s how you make a dollar out of 15cents lol
…
I just don’t get how any “expert” who knows anything about Marcus game, and knows what we require from that position can say anything bad about the pic….
..
I don’t even know where to start..first of all,man guy who has only been on the defensive side of the ball for a few years should not be helping his DL and secondary calling out the check and audibles..His QB experience you can tell has had an effect because a guy so raw shouldn’t have the understanding of what the entire defense is doing, shouldn’t be helping his defensive team mates with the calls and checks…should not have been able to be moved around so much so soon. Like Lane Johnson I just know we will see this kid grow drastically in short periods of time…
…
his weakness next year will be setting the edge and playing the run, but that’s pretty darn common with college OLBs having to spend their rookie year as Nickle pass rushers, while they gain the strength to play the run and be a 3down OLB in year two…say what you want about Trent Cole, but he is ELITE against the run, so Marcus is coming into the perfect situation where we can bring him along! hide his weakness and let him play to his strengths. Because we want to cut Cole at the end of the year, it’s imperative that he is ready to play the run at the beginning of his second year and be a 3down backer, which I think he is on track to do, where as I worried it would take Dee ford two years til he was strong enough to handle run responsibility..
…
Heck of an athlete who will grow to be more than just credible in coverage. Giving us another option to run with TEs, also enables us to send Barwin and Kemdricks at QBs more. Schematic disguise will be maximized because QBs really can’t know if Marcus or Barwin are coming after him because both are capable of covering TEs..
…
eagles edge rushers have to be able to rush standing up, which he has done plenty of in college, but we also play a lot of 4man lined where he has to stick his hand in the dirt as a DE. From a 4man line he will also have to do plenty of twisting and stunting..where we crash him inside, while cox loops around hm rushng from the outside, and stunting where he has to fake a few step up field, but then change direction and more inside looping behind cox…Marcus got plenty of experience in all theses aspects under Charlie strong…ihe really is perfect for what we ask of our ROLB…everything we will require from him, he has put on film,NAND just improves as a staggering rate
..
To really appreciate the prospect we are getting you have to watch his games in order so you can see just how much he is improving as an edge terror in short periods of time…..I’m still on cloud 9 that we managed to draft Maaaaaaaarcus Daaaaarling
I don’t get why they paid such a premium. They do have Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller still. They act tough in their response to Shady’s tweet, but none of them should be sleeping well if their team invested all that into Brown.
A87:
Interesting question.
Brown — after his first two rookie starts against dreadful run defenses — showed very little.
In terms of cost, a 4th next year equals a 5th this year. (And if it’s a 4th in 2016, it’s a 6th this year.)
Maybe not such a high price after all.
Anyway, Jackson’s nearly finished. Injuries the past couple of years.
Also, Spiller’s coming up on the end of his rookie contract — and his 5th year in the NFL. He’s building up more wear on the tread.
Maybe Buffalo will line up Brown in the I-formation and just let him run. He’s like former AL power hitter Rob Deer — feast or famine.
I get the concept of immediate payment being worth more than payment deferred but I have trouble applying that to players because of how much nuance there is when talking about players in disjoint drafts and roster building in general. would a 6th round pick this year really be worth as much as a 4th in 2016? It’s difficult to say really, there is some benefit to the deferred payment though. We lost Bryce Brown and whatever contribution he may have made (which is arguable but impossible to know). We did gain a roster spot in the immediate time, which has value in itself. So while we are missing out on the potential impact of a 6th round player this year, we are gaining the potential impact of whoever get’s Bryce Brown’s roster spot, which gets incredibly muddied trying to project and imagine scenarios.
Ultimately to me, a 4th round pick is a 4th round pick.
My understanding is that’s not how NFL front-office people view draft picks.
A pick in future drafts is discounted . . . just, as you suggested, money to be received in the future must be discounted to determine its present value.
Not a big deal. In 12 months, the Eagles — hopefully — will have an extra 4th Rd pick.
I think you can make yourself a good living if you are building for the long run and play with this “future” card. Think about it: we may have a 3rd rounder in 2016 – for free. If you do that kind of move a few times, you’re loaded with picks like the 49ers are seemingly every year.
Of course, it always comes down to who you draft. But it’s always great to have more picks – can’t harm you.
You’re exactly right and your point stands, as it is understood in the business, the Bills may feel that they didn’t really give up that much. Just saying for me personally, the financial concept of interest, which is based on 2 principles. 1) inflation is going to continually devalue my dollar, so my 5 dollars is never going to be worth as much as it is worth today, so you’d best reimburse me if you’re going to pay it back later. And 2) Given enough time, I will turn my 5 dollars into 10 dollars through some form of smart investments and returns. If I give up my 5 dollars now, you will pay me for that assumed lost potential growth in the form of interest. Another important aspect of finance is that that initial capital can grow indefinitely.
For me this doesn’t translate to NFL rosters. For one, players are temporal in nature (where as money will keep growing, so the sooner you start the better, this is why they tell kids to start saving for retirement young, they don’t tell them the reason why is because you aren’t adding year 1 and 2 to your end funds, you’r adding year 51 and 52 or whatever it may be, mathematically tremendously important to build capital early). Players can appreciate with time, but there is an unavoidable depreciation that comes with them. So a player now isn’t inherently more valuable than a player later because immediate returns don’t buy you any extra potential down the road. You aren’t buying yourself any extra time.
It honestly comes down to: what will be the specific circumstances? Are we fighting a closing window right now and we need impact very soon? In that case the pick now is incredibly more valuable than a pick later. How deep is the draft now vs how deep will the draft be in 2016 (no way to know that)? Or maybe lets look at the source of the pick: The 49ers owning the 29th slot of every round this year, aging some of their HoF caliber talent gives a very nice chance for the 29th slot to go down to perhaps an earlier slot? And again, where as there are no benefits to being out 5 bucks, you will be using that roster slot, there is built in compensation for not having the pick now.
I guess that whole thesis adds up to: to me draft picks don’t inherently appreciate in value like money does over time (specifically here, I don’t think a 6th round pick now would naturally appreciate to being worth a 4th round pick in 2016). They change in value over time, but it is extremely situational. Again this is just my personal philosophy and a completely tangential point to build on your post, not a rebuttal to your point.
It’s going to be interesting watching San Francisco and rooting for Stevie Johnson to have a huge year.
Allegedly they had been trying to trade for Bryce for a while…and we couldn’t turn down their recent off. “They made an offer we,couldn’t refuse”‘and,chip didn’t have to wake up with an eagles head in his bed to get us to accept
Bryce has some attribute I can see a coach or gm falling in love with. My only issue with him was the intangibles. He was a bit contact shy, possibly because of his fumbling problem, crowded areas scared him, didn’t always fight through contact, almost like get down while you still have the ball. Maybe it was that, or maybe he just naturally wasn’t a physical guy. You have to be a little crazy to be a running back, Bryce might have been a bit too sane. That potential was fun to dream about while it lasted though. Best of luck to him.
Possibly…I see his skill, but I don’t know that I see his skill as a good fit with a Zone read based attack..kind of looks awkward running them..
That’s the thing, he had absolutely no decisiveness, yeah you sweep towards the outside in the zone read, but you gotta hit the hole if you see anything, he always just kept on running right to the outside. He either had no feel for it, or was afraid to dive in.
To be fair he had extremely little experience. Maybe 1 full year in college, and ( at the time) a full year in the NFL? It’s not as if he’s hopeless.
I can’t remember which reporter wrote it, but I think its clear that the rest of the league are more than happy dealing with Howie.
He’s made many trades, both up and down the board and for players.
Paraphrasing a comment i made in the last thread:
The anecdote about Kelly wanting Hart in the 3rd and Howie holding firm until the 5th shows he has at least an equal voice to Kelly in the draft room. It doesn’t feel like this is a Chip Kelly run draft – the players are Chip Kelly players but the draft process is Howie’s.
I seem to recall everyone wanting Boykin in the 3rd but Howie stating afterwards that they trusted he would be there in the 4th.
It just feels like Howie, and his team, are still plugged in to the rest of the NFL FO’s. Which I think Tommy highlighted as a strength of Hecket’s.
This does give me pause around assuming that Smith was a ‘massive’ reach.
Overall I’m pleased Howie is our GM. He seems to have forged a positive relationship with Chip, which appears to be well balanced about roles & responsibilities and not a ‘power’ discussion.
The fact he helped get Chip on board is still a huge positive as well.
Clearly, Howie is no Rich Kotite when it comes to being prepared and thinking on his feet. He didn’t panic like Kotite when his choice[s] was gone and select a TE from PSU when he already had a stable of them on the Jets.
That story is not about Kotite.
It’s about Bill Belichick’s reaction in the ’95 draft when he coached Cleveland.
The Jets, at No. 9, selected Kyle Brady.
Brady was the guy Belichick wanted . . . and nearly had a meltdown when he went off the board.
One month before the draft, Belichick traded the 26th pick in Rd 1, along with Eric Metcalf, to the Falcons for No. 10 overall.
Belichick’s target was TE Kyle Brady.
When Brady went off the board at No. 9, Belichick dumped the 10th pick to the 49ers in exchange for the 49ers’ 1st pick, No. 30 overall, 3rd Rd and 4th Rd picks . . . plus SF’s 1996 1st Rd pick.
Cleveland’s 1995 draft didn’t go well — getting LB Craig Powell with SF’s 1st, DE Mike Frederick in Rd 3, trading the 4th Rd pick to the Eagles — who chose QB Dave Barr — for a pair of 5th Rd picks who were just as forgettable as Barr.
HOWEVER . . . in 1996, that 49ers 1st Rd pick was used — by the now-Ravens — to select an undersized MLB from UMiami named Ray Lewis.
Your knowledge and recollection of said knowledge is astounding
or a little sad…
Sorry, but I’m referencing Kotite having honed in on one player with the Jets first selection that year and when he was gone Kotite had no plan B. He panicked and turned in a card for Brady, the only name player he could remember, when he already had a full complement of TE’s. This lead to some of the best live TV ever when the the assembled Jet fans hit him with a chorus of boos and leather-lunged calls of IDIOT and MORON. The moment was savored in Philadelphia for he was now NYC’s IDIOT/MORON and not ours.
As always, fascinating, AC.
Are you a Cylon AC? That would be very cool & also explain a lot.
Yes!
Man, it’s hard to imagine Bill Bellicheck nearly having a meltdown when something doesn’t go his way…
Just look at how Howie built this team. 3 most important positions QB, LT, ROLB/RDE..
…
1)!QB plucked FOles out the 3rd round, paying him chump change while getting some serious QB plAy out of him
..
2) LT Lane, QB brain, high character, recently converted to Tackle, still learning position, insane ceiling, grows leaps and bounds
…
23) ROLB..Marcus is basically the Lane Johnson version of OLBs..QB brain, recently moved to OLB, grows leaps and bounds, high character, insane ceiling
…
Ertz and Jordan are similar as well:
1) two high Charecter, smart, driven pass catcher.
..
Jordan, 6’3 215lb nightmare matchup in the slot for Nickle CBs…versatile to line up all over the place..
…
Ertz, 6’5 250lb nightmare matchup for CB and LB. Versatile to line up all over the place…
…
How about Bennie Logan and Hart? Mid rounds, few experienced college two gappers, long arms, high character, tough rugged two gapping SOBs
…
Watkins and Wolff…both serious athletes, intelligent. Watkins known for his brain, Wolff known for his work ethic. Wolff versatile to play either safety position and ST, Watkins is so versatile that he has literally played CB, Nickle CB and Safety all in one game…
…
We are building a juggernaut folks…just wait til we add the 2015 draft and start developing all our puppies…we will be feared!!
Think you gotta separate Chip from Howie. Clear that Chip is making the calls on player eval, required measurables, intangibles, etc., i think its a pretty tight mold.
Where i give and should give howie more credit is management of draft resources and contracts. Chip wanted to drop Djax, it’s great that you’re in the position to drop your best WR w/ no dead $. It’s great that he can move up and down to get the players that Chip wanted. Great that he can structure team friendly deals, etc.
I think Chip gives the guidelines, but he defers to Howie on the actual players. Like Chip says I want X Y and Z from a slot guy, Howie says Huff fits that perfectly and seems like a good player besides. Chip then keeps his input to a minimum because Huff is his guy and he feels like he won’t be able to speak impartially about him. Even on guys who aren’t Chip’s old guys, Chip is basically just a voice in the room. He’s said multiple times he just coaches and doesn’t want to deal with personnel, but he does give his input and that’s where all the prodays come in. It makes sense because he knows what works for his systems better than anybody, but he doesn’t have the time to get to know prospects like Howie does, so he shouldn’t pull the trigger.
Kelly has final say on football matters, though. The draft is Howies, but when the cut times come, it’s Chips call.
It’s not like Chip is ‘just’ a coach like Andy is in KC or like most coaches are, besides Belichick and Carroll. I do think Seattle was the role model for Lurie. Everyone knows Schneider is their GM and he’s doing a great job, but it is Carrolls team. Carroll, on the other hand, praises Schneider whenever he can.
Agreed,
Separating is pointless. The dysfunctional front office of the Niners, separates…you want to seperate Chip from Howie? Then where does gamble come into play? Where do the position coaches come to play? I really believe them when they say the coaches and FO are working really well together, I think it shows in how this team has been built…Howie is here to get the payers Chip wants…not to be ego driven and try to chose his own guy who turns into a stud…I believe that our decision makers are working well together, and I see no point see rating Howie and Chip…I don’t think Desean gets cut if both Howie and Chip were on board…Chip said he removed himself from the Oregon players, didn’t give his opinion because he wanted to hear Howie, gamble, Bicknell and scouts opinion of his Oregon plYers he knew so well
Chip does not hire nor will he tolerate YES-men. He wants different views and opinions from people he trusts. He is not a know-it-all. When he says team, he means TEAM.
I’m quite impressed with the fact they contacted the other teams before the draft started about pick 22. I think they had a few models.about how the draft might go, and believed if all their players were gone, that meant there was a very good change manzel was still there. Throw in a little pre draft rumor.about how much the Chiefs needed a QB and we drive up the value of the pick a week in advance.
that’s a good GM.
I give Howie an “11”.
I’d upvote this, but it’s currently sitting at 11 upvotes, so I’ll let perfection be.
Glad you didn’t forget the left side quotation mark. That would’ve been awkward.
I love how fans and analysts talk shit about us drafting Oregon players..can anyone really be upset if all these players were eagles?
1) Dion Jordan
2) Kyle Long
3) Kiko Alonso
4) Taylor Hart
5) Josh Huff
6) DAT
….
Would drafting those players these past two years really the worst thing in the world? Lol
..
We will be drafting in the 20s next year..gonna be interesting because there might be two Oregon prospects in that range: Ifo EKpre Olomu CB and Hroniss Grasu C/G?..
…
Like I said, if we were blindly drafting Oregon kids last year it would concern me. But after Chip got to see the league up close this last year, he knows what works and what doesn’t, so forget my thoughts on huff, the fact that Chip who knows him so well, and knows what it takes in the NFL believes in that kid so much that we have to have him, I find that extremely exciting….Chip doesn’t seem like the chump who would bring a kid from his past who flops….I’m very excited about how much Chip values huff. Expecting big things from the kid
Sure — I question it. I’ll question it next year too if they take 2 players from that college again. I like Huff. I’m not overly excited about his size. But he sounds like he’s Chips guy and he wanted him. I’m not overly excited about Huff. Huff seems like a spot player at best. He’s not a “stay in there for 3 downs” guy. My point is — it’s odd that with so little number of picks that 2 of them are from Oregon. I never said these guys stink.
The eagles want depth rather than star power at the skill positions. Huff is a guy who could become a decent outside WR and potentially a great slot receiver.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/nfl_draft/20140514_An_insider_s_view_of_Eagles__draft.html
Judging by this, this is probably equal to Marcus Smith in that fans are going to look at this pick and say “well all the mock drafters on the internet said he was going in the fifth.” True but immaterial to where he will go in the real draft.
Neil’s edit begins:
“let be a little more clear . . . . ”
_________
Should have read:
“And let me be even more frank; just to show you that I’m not a hard-hearted man, and it’s not all dollars and cents . . . “
so who’s the “greatest piece of ass” in that metaphor?
Josh Huff = Heinz Ward??
OD . . .
Before the draft, my Christmas wish was for a WR who plays like a RB.
Huff fits the bill.
(Can’t put in the H-Ward class because Huff, as far as I know, can’t throw the ball like a mediocre QB — which Ward was at UGA before moving to WR.)
His gametape is very good and like I said above: Some people loved Moncreif but Moncreif could catch, Huff can.
I hope so. HW was pretty good. I’ll take that talent in the 3rd round…
Would you be mad if we got Mariota and Ifo?
As long as they help us win the SB, I don’t care if we take every player from Oregon. I’ll still post “2 more from Oregon — wtf” :).
It’s gotta be better than taking a flyer at a BYU player every year.
One “BYU practice squad slot” every year.
Why was that?
The talent of the players?
Had to be loyalty to the alma matter.
It’s a good thing I’m not in charge of the draft, then, or we’d end up with a player like Jon Harris. Oh wait…
His tape shows an excellent player and unlike someone like Moncrief he can actually catch lol.
Tommy brought up something that I’ve argued with my family and friends who think Marcus Smith is a reach. If the Eagles only had 20 players with 1st round grades then you have to treat #22 (#26) as a 2nd round pick. Who were the pass rushers with 2nd round grades? Ford, Smith, and Lawrence. Ford and Smith are probably pretty close, followed by Lawrence.
People get too carried away with BPA. It’s not black and white. Yes, maybe Marqise Lee was rated higher than Smith but there was plenty of depth at WR. There was good depth at CB. The Eagles clearly weren’t sold on any of the safeties after Pryor and Clinton-Dix. Knowing they could still get WRs and DBs later, they wisely chose their pass rusher. CK has assembled a great coaching staff and I have full confidence in them developing Smith. People also have to remember that whether it was Dee Ford or Marcus Smith, they were going to be a role player this year behind Cole. You draft for the future, not for now. And when you’re drafting in the bottom 3rd of the round, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a player who will step onto your team and win a starting job.
John Kincaid (formerly of ESPN Radio and now working radio in Atlanta) was on WIP this morning. He said in all respect to Ray Didinger and all of the draftniks, they are wrong to think that Smith could have been taken late in Round 2 or in Round 3. He was told that Atlanta was trying to get #26 from the Eagles and Smith would have been the pick. He said Washington was also trying to get into the first round for him. He said at least one other team wanted #26. We already know that Dallas moved up to make sure they got a pass rusher.
Ray Didinger is dead wrong every year with amazing consistency. Last year he wanted the Eagles to take Chance Warmack with their first pick. He even said he’d take Warmack with the overall #1. And let’s not forget Ricky Williams, Cade McNown, and so many others he’s said were can’t misses.
Ray is SOOO bad when it comes to draft. He is only valuable at watching game tape and giving you post game analysis of what happened in a game
I LOVE Ray and it makes me sad that what you say is true. He loved Dee Ford too, and I don’t see Ford being any better a prospect than smith.
Now Ray has been right on a few guys over the years so I will give credit it where it is due: Reggie Wayne, Vince Wolfork, Earl Thomas
Ray is great if you want to know who played center for the ’48 Browns, but has less ability to evaluate players than most of us here. I’m not bashing him, it’s just true.
Not sure Ricky Williams belongs on a list of failed can’t misses…yes he couldn’t stop smoking pot, but he was a legit RB and a lot of RBs would gladly trade their career for his.
He wasn’t a legit RB until the latter half of his career. Bernard Williams was a legit OL for the Eagles in terms of talent, but same problem.
Marcus smith is only a ready to the uneducated mock community that didn’t know any better…close to the draft some respected media members had in climbing into round 1..they weren’t just guessing. They moved him into round 1 because that’s what they started hearing from front offices… We turned down offers to trade further back because we didn’t want to lose him so how the hell can anyone call him a reach? We got an extra pick and Marcus as 26, cowboys had to trade up to 34, use multiple pics on a lessor player in Lawrence…Murphy who is a much lessor prospect went in the 40s…Marcus at 26 is only a reach to FOOLS!
Oh, and fans in Philly are still convinced that we lost the playoff game because of Benny Logan and that we should have picked Louis Nix. I guess these people forget that Nix fell to the 3rd round when he was supposed to be a top 25 pick. Why it is so unfathomable that Smith was taken at #26 is beyond me.
Preach
Come on Beagle …… sell it, baby ….. sell it!
With the value we got in trading back, that more than made up for any “reach.”
According to the trade value chart, what we got (pick 26 & pick 83) equals 875 (700 + 175), and what we gave away (pick 22) equals 780. But if you subtract the 3rd Rounder from our 1st rounder, you get 605, which is basically the value of the 31st pick.
So if you imagine taking Smith at 31 (essentially a high 2nd rounder), it doesn’t seem as much like a reach.
People just get themselves worked into a frenzy so easily. The pick was fine. These folks just have to calm down.
It’s a shame that the media has convinced fans that Marcus is a reach and a bad pick at 26….fools are In for a surprise when they realize we got our 20 plus sack terror
What?
Edit lol
lol indeed
To evaluate Roseman fairly and fully, I think we’d have to evaluate all 32 teams’ moves on draft day.
For example, how’d Team “X” do given (a) the picks it started with, (b) the picks it finished with, (c) the players selected, and (d) where the players fit on Team “X”‘s board.
Judging Roseman in a vacuum is like saying, “The Eagles got better” without considering that 31 other teams also participated in the draft.
Re: Matthews intangibles
We knew that Matthews showed up at the Senior Bowl having studied tapes of the WRs. We knew he’d already graduated. We knew he was related to one of the two or three hardest working WRs in NFL history in Jerry Rice (Raymond Berry being another of the hardest working at that position).
His pre-Senior Bowl request for film of the opposing CBs said volumes about him back in January.
So while watching Eagles’ tape and showing up at Nova Care with questions — something I’d wager he did for every visit — is something we didn’t know, it’s entirely in keeping with what we did know about him..
Bottom line, I think Matthews intangibles were substantially evident when the Senior Bowl story broke.
But I don’t remember anyone screaming to draft him.
A lot of people wanted him, before the senior bowl people had Matthews in front of every WR except Watkins (Beckham, Cooks and Evand havnt had their great combines). After the combine the hype died down, but at least on my twitter feed, the Matthews hype was still strong.
A —
I’ll buy it.
At least locally, though, the call for Matthews wasn’t raging.
Will be interesting to see Matthews v. Latimer v. Robinson over the next few years.
Matthews has the best long term situation. Next year might be Manning’s last good year and Robinson is playing with Bortles
I don’t know.
Josh Gordon posted some monster numbers with some bad QBs.
Gordon also has out of this world talent
That’s for damn sure.
Who knew that Gordon would be so good?
Stupid, yes.
But so good? No.
in the supplemental draft too.
I really like him coming out.
In 2012’s season opener he opened some eyes and had some people talking about his serious potential. While we were trying to court Chip in 2013, Cleveland was a big competitor. A lot of people felt Cleveland had more talent on the roster than we did, and Josh Gordon was a big part of that. I think a lot of people knew Gordon was a great talent…but I don’t think anyone thought he would reach these levels while still on the Browns.
can you help me find the news about JM requesting tape of the opposing DBs for the Senior Bowl? my google searching didn’t work so well…
His lack of separation at the Senior Bowl game is what scouts really cared for.
John Kincade was on WIP getting on eagles fans about prejudging the smith pick and then says he knows for a fact Atlanta had Smith as a 1st round grade .
There are few blow-hards bigger than John Kincade.
Not to say he’s not correct. Just that he’s a blow-hard.
I heard that interview too and mentioned it in a comment above. The Cowboys moved up to take Demarcus Lawrence (probably because he was the last pass rusher left on the board). It’s easy to believe Kincade when he says that Atlanta (and others) were targeting Smith.
Reports were out that DC was targeting him eight picks or so later.
He (Howie) certainly seems to have an interesting blend of intuition, awareness, patience, understanding, and aggressiveness. He doesn’t seem like someone that’s uncomfortable in his skin, nor with his decisions. He is not looking over his shoulder, even with Gamble on board (should he?!). No chirping from players about him either.
Wow, that’s some ( extremely ) keen insight, from someone from the ” outside. ” Just how can you come to, ALL those ” conclusions ? ”
I may be wrong, but wouldn’t somebody have to be ( in the room ) as they say, to draw those conclusions ?
Ha. You may be right.
Browns owner is sticking by Josh Gordon, didn’t aft a single WR…Jags owner seems done with Blacmon, gave away his locker and drafted Lee and Robinson…sounds like Blacmon will be cut soon. Wouldn’t mind Lurie making Blacmon his next rehabilitation project, taking a cheap flier on the very talented wide out
No chance. No chance.
It’s one thing to be involved in dog fighting and serve time.
It’s another thing entirely to smoke dope.
Dion Jordan smokes weed, Chip loves him
I thought you were referring to Laurie.
He’s an NFL owner.
The NFL frowns on dope smokers who are too stupid to avoid getting caught.
At the very least gotta question whether he loves the game — chips gonna say no way in hell. SF will pick him up just because.
If you’re SF, why not.
Great point about love of the game.
Means that Blackmon suffers from Bernard Williams-disease.
The problem isn’t that he smokes pot…the problem is that he is dumb… 100s of thousand of People smoke religiously working all types of different jobs and don’t get caught….he shouldn’t be punished for smoking pot, he should be punished for being too lazy/stupid to refrain from getting caught like 100s of thousands of people do in corporate America and all kinds of different industries…..plenty of NFL players smoke pot..you are a dope if you are one of the few that get caught
The NFL is helping the players…
“Graziano reports that the new substance-abuse policy will “significantly increase” the threshold for a positive marijuana test, something that the World Anti-Doping Agency already has, while also lessening the penalties for positive tests.”
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/13/report-higher-threshold-for-positive-marijuana-tests-in-new-drug-policy/
Too late to help Gordon?
Maybe not.
Regardless, the kid has to get his head screwed on straight.
Not that he can’t smoke dope. But be smarter about it.
Flyin ….. Actually, it will significantly ” decrease ” the threshold. Not increase.
All Oregon players smoke weed, trust me 🙂
how serious is it?? If he’s a moron and just cant put down a blunt, then bring him in and see if we can’t fix him. If he’s on hard stuff, than forget about it
I’d take a flier on him all day and take advantage of his desperation,,,1 more mistake and dude will never play in the league again..young enough to where he probably hasn’t made that much money that he can afford to continue being a jackass and piss his entire career away…I wouldn’t trade for him, but when he gets cut, I’d definitely take a flier on his talent and sign him to a cheap prove it deal…by then we would have a strong locker room in place and a plethora of talented weapons to where he wouldn’t have any leverage with us……
..
I mean if we can sign people fresh out of jail, we can sign someone who’s crime is smoking pot…how can I condemn him for life for doing something I’m doing at this very moment? Lol especially with the new pot testing rules that will be in place by the time he gets cut…we would have a stacked arsenal and strong locker room in place by then…what do we have to lose by bringing him on the team and him getting busted again? It’s not like Josh Gordon screwing the browns because he is their entire team..
…
Please in 5 years society won’t even care about pot any more, and Blacmon is a serious beast talent…what do we have to lose?
Tom you are a lucky man! you get to love this team but not be in philly to put up with the ridiculous crap us fans are exposed to…yesterday a radio host said this will be FOles last year as an eagle and that we had a D draft lol…..how can people who cash good checks to cover this team be so bad? I I don’t understand
GE —
Question for you.
Why do listen to sports-talk radio?
The job of the hosts is to say exactly the kind of things that upset you . . . and, like a bad car wreck, keep you from averting your eyes — and ears.
I listen to it for the entertainment value. There are some hosts that really know football and others that I won’t listen to at all. I would love to know which host said that this will be Foles last year though .. I definitely missed that.
That’s why I listen to the Sirius/XM NFL Radio instead of “fan” radio. The Sirius guys are mostly ex-players and know the sport in and out. And they aren’t on the air to stir up trouble. And since they are national, they aren’t homers. It’s actually enjoyable to listen to.
See I wish I could get eagles coverage like that
What else am I going to listen to during a long far ride? I really don’t listen to it tho..I try, but usually change the channel after two minutes of listening to absorb crap…sure their job is to envoy convo, but shouldn’t they have some clue at out sports?
…
Hope to catch an interview or something…I just don’t get how someone who lives sports every day because it’s their job could be so clueless
If you think Philly sports talk radio is bad, you should spend a week or two in Charlotte. I’m from the Philly area and have lived all around the country. I agree with your criticism of WIP et al, and I can’t say I miss it, but there is a level of polish that you can’t appreciate unless you have to listen to boobs from a second-tier city muddle there way through basic facts.
Huff’s a WR who plays like a running back — which is what I wanted from this draft.
Look at the last 10 NFL drafts. You’ll find only a handful of WRs like that. And I don’t just mean because of their size. I mean because of their attitude and style.
Cordarelle Patterson. YES. As much as any WR since Warfield and Taylor.
Dez Bryant. Yes. Built like a HB. Runs like a HB.
Not sure I can think of any others.
Steve Smith (the good one) plays mean, physical, and *tough*, I’ll never forget him breaking his arm to break the Giants in what was it, 2010?
A87:
I thought about including him. But as tough and mean as he is — and he was both in his prime — I think his size kept him from being the kind of player I’m envisioning.
Nonetheless, Smith’s style is exactly what I’m thinking about.
Nice catch.
For me there are 2 versions of Steve Smith. In his early days he was a speedster that was just an electric play maker. He wasn’t all finesse but the play making defined him. As he aged he started to lose a step, the chip on his shoulder grew and he packed on the muscle. He just beat dudes up. The context behind “Ice up son” was a perfect demonstration of how brutal it could be to face Steve Smith.
When you say WR that is built and plays like a running back, later day Steve Smith is my guy, thick and plays low, will hit you or throw one of the meanest stiff arms you’ll ever see from a WR if you approach carelessly.
http://gifsoup.com/view/338729/steve-smith-stiff-arm.html
For me there are also two Steve Smiths. I wish there was only one.
I’m sorry, I have no recollection of any other Steve Smiths. And don’t you even DARE try to remind me.
I would never.
Besides, if I did try to remind you I would probably come up a few yards short in some critical area anyway. I might as well just flop on the ground now and give up.
Off-topic…Tommy, any chance the Panthers would give up a pick next year for Graham now that Greg Hardy is in a heap of ish?
McDermott could plug Graham right in at DT.
Think they drafted an edge rusher
With all of Howie’s wheeling and dealings, we could have a 3rd or 4th round pick next year that we can use to trade up and get Mariota. Just kidding!
I like the point about trading just to acquire more picks. It used to drive my absolutely insane when Reid would shop his picks around and we’d wind up with a 2nd rounder and five 6th and five 7th round picks (I exaggerate slightly) and no real talent. I’m pretty happy at this point with the draft, except maybe picking up a receiver in the 3rd round when we had just grabbed one in the 2nd (picking nits). We’ll see what happens when OTAs and training camp starts.
A possible theme for Howie was to draft win-superbowl-now-players.
Draft thoughts:
– Matthews and Huff played in nearly identical offenses to eagles in terms of routes being run, nearly plug and play. Instant culture change to tough catches tough runs, no going out of bounds when 2 yards from db. No learning curve.
– Smith was in a defense almost exactly like what Billy Davis and Chip have been saying they want. Smith has done the Psycho-Time-Square-Zone-Blitz (all front seven stand around at snap). Smith covers, sets edge, rushes passer, is not a DE convert. Smith will not be doing anything new he’s done it all. Dee Ford has never covered a TE or the flat in zone. Fills a huge need and is not an athletic project but has upside. Smith is as plug and play as you can get at 26.
– Hart has done the same exact blocking technique in same defense, plug and play.
– Watkins, Db is db, but with Watkins he has done, press, bump and run, zone, off, even safety and slot. Smart enough to get complex system immediately before season.
– Allen will be doing same 2 gapping, back up to Logan.
Also,
– 5 of 7 are on defense, players tend to contribute faster when on defense, similar roles, similar terminology, concepts etc. as in college.
– the players at positions eagles drafted that take longer to develop, either played in a very similar system and have a great work ethic and graduated early (Matthews) or played in exact system and have great work ethic (Huff). The two wr chosen were close to the best two that are ‘ready out of the box.’
– No players drafted that will be stuck in the depth chart, like a QB or RB would this year.
– Foles and shady are playing out of their minds. Those two alone can win games even in playoffs. Not into whether there is a ‘window’ because good teams think ahead, like drafting Barkley.
– the OL played out of their mind and can win a game on their own too.
– NFL still adjusting to his schemes, speed, etc. college has changed radically with the tempo, spread, etc. not all chip’s doing but NFL is moving slowly and chip set tinned inoffensive records with same core that underachieved 2012, 2011, albeit injuries are wild cards.
– Defense may have jelled at end of last year, played better teams on beginning of year but the end of year defense was definitely playing better and theoretically would have done better in later part of season, and did with nfce teams b
– doesn’t make sense to cut DeSean though.
– doesn’t make sense to be so quiet in FA.
DeSean`s cutting was a smart football move.
FA got a leader for the defensive backfield.
Well, the Eagles started with six picks at the 22nd spot, in each round. That’s a tough place to start. This was NOT a great draft, except for a few positions. Few good pass rushers, not a lot of OL or safety depth–things we needed most !
I think we did pretty well anyway, by wheeling and dealing.
What I really like is that we picked smart, mature guys who will come to camp in shape– take coaching, and work hard. Improves their odds of success.
There was tons of OL depth.
I liked the Eagles draft a lot. 6 picks at 22, and as Howie said before the draft, if you can get 3 starters its a good year. I believe Smith and Matthews will definitely be starters within a few years with Huff, Watkins and Hart all having a chance.
I totally, 100 % disagree with Mr. Lawlor. The name of the game is drafting impact players ( starters – potential pro bowlers ) in the first two ( 2 ) rounds. Rounds 3 and 4 should net you ( at minimum – good depth ) players, who will push the starters for playing time in one to two years. The 5th – 7th rounds, should get you core special teams players, who ( could ) become solid to above average back ups and role players. Nobody ….. I mean NOBODY, looks back after 3 – 4 years after a draft, and cares ( at all ) about how the general manager ” wheeled and dealed ” in the draft ( unless they make unrehensible mistakes ) like moving up to draft Brandon Graham, and passing up on Earl Thomas. Or if they f__k up, basically a ( whole ) draft, by blowing the first, second and third round picks ( see
1. It is hard to draft impact starters when you already have a good roster. If that was the name of the game then the GM would build a perpetual powerhouse who no one could challenge.
2.I look back at the last 3 drafts and realize that Howie has done a good job.
3. I don’t think you can limit yourself to getting immediate starters in the first 2 rounds, projection starters in the 3-4, and core teamers in the 5-7. What about Trent Cole, Todd Herremans, Richard Sherman, Tom Brady?
every team/GM hopes to strike gold in the later rounds. Thats where our high character drafting hopefully pays off at some point. Then again, you might miss out because of that so it might all balance out. Good point about building the roster, and Id also add that certain positions get weak really fast. That is where drafting for need becomes a problem or can also be a smart pick taking someone earlier than expected if it pans out. OLB is a tricky draft position having to convert DEs and train up.
Dude, can you read …… ? I SAID ….. at minimum. What part about that don’t you understand ? Yes, there are Trent Coles and Brent Celeks in every draft. You ( should ) understand, that they are ( bonuses ) they are not the norm. Right ? If the team ( knew ) that they were really, really good to great players, they would have drafted them higher. Right ? I never suggested ( any ) limitations to where a player is drafted to where he could elevate himself to. The reality is that the higher you are drafted, the higher the expectations there are for your performance. ( see – NFL salary tier – based off of draft position. ) Do you think they do that just for kicks and giggles ? If you buy a $ 10,000 dollar car, you are happy with that much performance. If you buy a $ 40,000 dollar car, you are expecting much, much more bang for your buck. Get it ? Not hard to understand.
Yes I can read. That’s how I can interact on this discussion forum. And yes you are right, I didn’t read the (coulds) and (should). However I would also argue the Eagles did exactly what you wanted them to do. Mathews and Smith ARE both probably going to impact this team immediately. They both played in schemes that are similar to what we run now. Huff and Watkins do provide depth already to the positions. And the final picks do provide special teams and will already push for back ups spots. Looks like you like Howie more than you think 😉
In fairness, it’s hard to read with all the superfluous punctuation marks strewn about.
How else do you show emphasis, kelvin ? What is this a f__king football website, or a educational format for English grammar ? Bruce Lee once said, ” see the finger pointing at the moon …… do not focus on the finger …. or you will miss, all of the heavenly glory, of the moon. If you disagree with my opinion, cool that’s fine. Don’t resort to being petty.
Not with parentheses. Ever.
Sorry Mitchell, your right, I don’t think we disagree. Good points, but like Howie …. nope … sorry. Love Chip, love the Birds …. but, that’s where it ends. No love for Lurie and Howie. ” The Last Samurai ” quote : ” I have introduced myself …. you have introduced yourself …… this is, good conversation.
I mean Howie is obviously a bum. We made seven picks so we should have been able to draft 7 future Hall of Famers! I mean come on, why didn’t he draft Clowney? Greg Robinson is really good, why not pick him? Foles clearly sucks so we should’ve taken Johnny Football because I heard this one analyst say he would fit well in Chip Kelly’s offense. If Howie wasn’t so stupid we could have traded Desean for like 23 first round picks, and then gotten Calvin Pryor and Mike Evans because Pryor scares people and Evans is big. Anyone who doesn’t agree with my narrow opinion is stupid and drinking the Kool-Aid of any writers who don’t slam the team for every roster move they make. I’m sorry but anyone who thinks drafting two players who will develop into long term quality starters and then another handful of players who can contribute instead of a bunch of hall of famers is an idiot. God, if only you guys understood like all the other callers on WIP.
Dude, I didn’t f__k your girlfriend, so calm down. I didn’t blast the draft either. As far as your comments ….. grow up, re – read your rant, and realize you have some serious, serious exaggeration issues. Instead of addressing ( my ) issues, you clearly presented totally ridiculous and laughable scenarios, as your ( so called ) rebuttal. Go take your Prozac, and chill out, you might hurt yourself.
One of us had a hyperbolic response.
The other made three personal attacks.
Personal ? How ? I said you over reacted …… you did. Over reacting is a common action by immature individuals. It is also a reaction that is caused by emotionally or mentally imbalanced individuals. I just tried to cover all the potential bases, when I tried to understand and evaluate your unwarranted ( hyperbolic ) outburst. Also the girlfriend comment was not a personal attack ….. I don’t know you or your girlfriend. The girlfriend comment was to say that I did not commit a act ( such as that ) that would warrant, a total ballistic response. No hard feelings, enjoy the Season. Go birds !
“Over reacting is a common action by immature individuals. It is also a reaction that is caused by emotionally or mentally imbalanced individuals.”
This perfectly describes one of you.
Wow, i’m impressed by my re – quote. Thanks.
Lol
But what about our UDFAs? They should at least make the Eagles Honor Roll right?
yes but its a bit more nuanced than that. By the end of round one and into 2 it gets a lot harder. Technically you have to nail a top 10 pick, if not that is where you get into trouble. You want starters like you said in those later spots. The compensation and trades is just part of the equation so hes not leaving that out. That value can pay off later. As for how Howie ranks, that will have to come later. I think his leash is as far as Kelly takes him, he wont survive spreading the blame to coaches etc with more miscues.
I totally agree with your assessment, that it is a lot more nuanced ( love that word ) but, I already posted a TOO long of a comment, to hold peoples interest, to elaborate any further.
I disagree. Lurie knows who made what decisions in 2010 and 2011. He fired Reid and Banner who had the power in those yrs even though Howie had the title. He kept Howie who had two consecutive good drafts, maybe three including this yr. , when he ran the draft. We don’t know what Howie said about Watkins, JJ, Graham etc before those drafts. The owner knows and absolved Howie of blame. That is good enough for me.
That’s cool, but my opinion is that he kept Howie because he is a ( world class ) suck up and Mr. Lurie wanted to keep someone around who he was comfortable with. I don’t think that Lurie wanted to bring in three ( 3 ) new people, and be surrounded with a whole new upper management staff. You can support him all you want, but the bottom line is, he never should of got that job. He ( NEVER ) would have got near a NFL team, nor the inside ( access ) to the positions that he ” achieved. ” He was brought in and groomed by the PRESIDENT of the team. The second in command, Joe Banner controlled Howies ascension to the GM spot, that was 100 % unwarranted. Two people who had many years of scouting / player personnel experience were passed over, to ( push ) Roseman up the ladder. They now have ( on merit ) GM positions in the NFL. My major issue is not with Roseman ( god bless him – enjoy the ride ) my issue is with ( Gold Standard ) Lurie. The fans would expect for the team to hire or promote a ( qualified ) GM, and not let a accountant do ( what amounts to ) years of on the job training. If Howie wasn’t pushed into the position of GM, and Lurie would have hired a qualified experienced GM, maybe there never would have been the ( much reported ) power struggle between Andy Reid and Joe Banner to control the player personnel decisions. That never would have happened, if there was a strong GM presence controlling his department. Reid and Banner tried to usurp control because they ( knew ) Howie was out of his element, and could be controlled. One thing to be said is at least they have surrounded Howie with very qualified advisors ( Tom Donahoe ) and experienced player personnel people ( Tom Gamble. ) That I am encouraged by. At least they, or Howie, know what Howie doesn’t know.
Howie has been a good GM. we already know that much at this point. His picked a good coach who may be great and has helped get together a quality staff around Chip.
In a 2 year window he has got a roster that matches Chips needs (which is nearly entirely different than Andy’s excluding the Offensive Line). He manages cap well and his contracts the team can get out of after a couple of years.
To be great Howie needs to deliver championships, but he is one of the best young GM’s in football, and is considered thus across the league.
and he’s not a dick like Banner?
Sorry, I guess I never got over the : assistant salary cap guy > director of football operations > vice president of football operations > vice president of player personnel > General manager. I despise it when people get their jobs / promotions through cronyism. Roseman never ( in my opinion ) would have even got close to the player personnel job, let alone the GM job, if it were not for his being hired and personally groomed by Joe Banner. Many, many people, who busted their asses for the Eagles in the scouting / player personnel department, were passed over by Roseman, without justifiable merit. Two of them are now currently GM’s in the NFL. I will ( never ) respect Roseman, or Lurie, for that matter, on principle alone. If Mr. ( Gold Standard ) Lurie would have had to earn the money to buy the Eagles ( and not get it from his mommy and uncle ) he would have understood, and respected hard work, and loyalty. He would have not allowed people in the personnel department who earned the opportunity for those jobs that Howie got, to be passed over, for a guy who ( earned ) nothing, in that department ! Lurie got his career handed to him, so it wasn’t a reach for him to allow others to receive the same luxury as him.
I am not a psychiatrist and don’t play one on the internet,
but it appears to me that you have serious personal issues clouding your
judgment. You may have been a victim of cronyism,
or believed you were, so you see it where it doesn’t exist. The simple fact, which you seem unable or
unwilling to accept, is that, in the opinion of the owner, Roseman was more
qualified for the job of GM then the other candidates.
There was nothing ever written or spoken by any of the reporters following the
team, by other front office people, by any Eagle player, or by anyone on another
team or by anyone else that would lead any reasonable observer to conclude that
Roseman is a world class suck up, or that Lurie kept him as GM because he wanted
to keep someone around with whom he was comfortable. There is not a single fact
you can point to which supports this opinion.
Lurie said he hired Roseman as GM based on
merit. Unlike you, Lurie believed he was more qualified for the job than
other more experienced scouts now working for other organizations. You said he
never should have gotten the job. Clearly, Lurie is a better position to know
Roseman’s qualifications than you and I see no reason for him to lie. I wonder
how you would feel if Roseman had traded a future first round choice for a
running back that can’t play.
“They” didn’t surrounded Howie with qualified
assistants. He interviewed and hired his own staff, including Gamble,Donohoe
and the others. It is further evidence of his competence.
Meh …….
she shut you up,…job well done
Alternate title suggestion: Howsie doing?
One thing I have been pondering of this roster: Teams need to be able to evaluate talent, groom talent, and then if talent doesn’t fit or the right offer comes around, trade the talent. I’m so excited to see the eagles take a 7th rounder and flip it into a 4-3 round pick!
yea, Howie gets major props for that trade in my book. i think any GM (and any fan for that matter) would be thrilled to take a flyer 7th rd pick and turn it into a 3rd/4th a few years later!
heck, even if he turns out to be a pro-bowl player for another team, i still think it was the right move.
Impressive for sure..also happy that as hard as it probably was, Howie sat on his hands and didn’t trade any of next years 6th or 7th round pics so we can get back to the days when we have a bunch of picks….Andy would have like 13 pics, and we would be lucky to get 2 decent players out of a draft…WTH would happen if you give this regime 11 picks? Hope to find out next year
For TheRoperPodacter:
Here’s a pre-Senior Bowl story on Matthews, including his request for game tape of opposing CBs — citing a tweet from Sr. Bowl Exec Dir. Phil Savage.
http://fansided.com/2014/01/11/senior-bowl-2014-vanderbilt-wr-jordan-matthews-requests-tape-cornerbacks/#!NvQmB
THANKS!
coming into the draft, i really wasn’t sure what to think of this kid. didn’t follow college ball as much as the rest of you. all i know is that a lot of people had him farther down their list of WRs that they wanted.
hearing about this and his preparation for the meeting with the Eagles FO makes me excited to think of his potential. i mean… who does this kind of thing? that can’t be a regularly occurring request for the senior bowl, can it?
i don’t read too much about professionalism and dedication like this. its great hearing stories of Avant staying late to help a guy work on the jugs machine. but hearing this sort of dedication from a guy that wasn’t even in the league at the time is really amazing to me. i’m really pulling for this kid to succeed. even moreso because we got him : )
MMQB writer Andy Benoit’s brilliant take on the Eagle’s draft:
It’s hard to see where Marcus Smith fits up front. Yes, soon-to-be 32-year-old Trent Cole might play fewer snaps going forward, but that’s where former first-rounder Brandon Graham comes in. And, though he’s more of a down lineman, 2012 second-rounder Vinny Curry has the explosive first step to be a part-time standup rusher. Smith’s role this fall could be to back up Connor Barwin, which means the Eagles would be getting less than 10 meaningful snaps per game from their first-rounder. The Eagles at least traded down before taking Smith.
WTF???
Stupid people should be banned from writing.
Sadly stupid people gets hired by MMQB.
It’s ran by Peter King. Not sure what people expected out of the staff he chose.
Total sycophant, unbridled, unquestionable loyalty is expected. Nothing less will be tolerated. Your opinions ( if detracting in any way ) will be throttled, ripped and maligned.
you are speaking of….. ? Peter King?
No, speaking of anyone having the audacity to comment here or share someone else’s opinion here, that doesn’t reflect other commenters opinion. Apparently, only positive ( rainbows and unicorns ) type of comments are permitted, when evaluating the Eagles personnel moves. If you disagree you are called ( stupid, or ridiculed ) for your opinion. I always try to include in my comments some type of ( reasons ) why I feel the way I do, and not just ” bash ” people who have other opinions. Yes, I can get sarcastic sometimes ….. but ( only ) when treated with comments from people who somehow feel as if their opinion is so superior to others commenting on here.
i think everyone is poking fun at this national writer – the entire quoted paragraph appears to show that this writer is rather out of touch of eagles football…
not really anything to do with agreeing or disagreeing with the draft being great or awful or whatever.
i think you just misunderstood 76mustang’s post…
Are you trying to outdo me or something? Should I be jealous of my ranking of the highest number of negs?
I only regret that I have but one up vote to give.
This is my favorite comment in a long time.
Alas, it may be the only comment I liked of his.
You don’t say things that get you flamed. ‘Cause as ATG says, we all know FOles is a noodle-armed play misreading flash-in-the-pan.
There’s a new Tater in town hehe. And no offense shah.
easy now,,,gonna havta get mheil to set you straight again
Yeah, your right, any opinion other than YOURS is to be ( blocked – disqualified – criticized ) sounds like your perfect world, huh ? Genius.
Well, yes, when an opinion is stupid. YES. Andy Benoit’s opinion is stupid. Your opinion can be stupid. If I said it’s my opinion that gravity only exists because of the sheer amount of wool on the planet earth that would be a stupid opinion. See opinions need to be
If the opinion had been brought about intelligently and with good foresight without bringing up how Brandon Graham was going to be just great in an OLB role based on… nothing.
Either way here’s a really good essay on opinions that you won’t read (it’s a bit wordy) http://skepdic.com/essays/opinions.html
Happy arguing.
Your so lucky i’m stupid, or I would explain to you that a ( opinion ) can not, be stupid. It is a subjective / personal ( feeling / thought. ) You may disagree with ( my ) opinion, but you are not ( on principle ) able to or entitled to decide it’s validity, merit or value. Nor am I, able to conclude the value of yours. You may feel ( your inner, personal feelings ) that my opinion is stupid … but, does that ( in itself ) make it so ? No, of course not. I do not need to read a essay to understand what a opinion is. Either do you. If you ( subjectively ) feel that my ( thoughts ) opinions, are stupid, I respectfully disagree. They are however, still ( your ) feelings, and the value of them can only be decided by ( you ) not me, or anyone else. Do you, as a practice, base your feelings about yourself, on other peoples ( opinions ? ) I hope not. Nor should you. I personally find it respectful to say, ” I disagree with you ” rather than to say that your opinion, is ” stupid. ” For what it’s worth, my post earlier was based on a mistaken thought. Actually, was trying to warn you. Totally, misread the WTF, part.
76mustang, beware of the Kool Aiders, they will destroy you for your audacity to challenge the almighty Eagles personnel staff. God forbid you express a opinion. Isn’t that what makes these comment sections roll …. opinions ?
Womp womp womp
Wow, another comment from the editor at Mensa. Hey Beagle, did you come up with that all by yourself ….. or did your mommy help ?
Run along, practice for 6months. And then you can come back and try again lol
Practice ….. practice …… your talking about PRACTICE! Sorry d__b a__ , but you walked into that one.
….
Beagle, what makes you think i’m a kid. I’ll eat your lunch ALL day, and twice on Sunday. You can’t handle the truth …. We live in a world with websites …. and on those websites you have a comment section ….. on that comment section, you NEED people to give opposing opinions ….. who is going to do that ….. you ? I have a great responsibility. You weep for Howie, and curse me. You have that luxury. I don’t have that luxury. You have the luxury of ( not knowing ) what I know. My presence here while grotesque and reprehensible, creates dialogue. You don’t want the truth …. but deep down , you want me on here. You need me on here. You use words like ” womp, and doushe, and use them as a punch line …. and I use words like freedom of speech, opinion, and debate. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ” debate / opinion ” to you. I am here expressing ( my ) opinion, and you question the ” manner ” in which I use it. I would rather you thank me for my opinion, and be on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a dictionary, and develop a argument. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think ! You need to elevate your argument ….. dude. A argument – 1. a quarrel; altercation 2. a discussion in which reasons are put forward in support of and against a proposition, proposal, or case; debate: 3. ( sometimes plural ) a point or series of reasons presented to support or oppose a proposition. So far, your ” argument ” has consisted of : womp, womp … run along …… and, doushe. Not compelling.
You understand this is basically an admission of trolling?
…and plagiarism.
And how does his soliloquy both anoint him the champion of debate and contain the line “I don’t give a damn what you think !”?
I liked it better when it was Jack Nicholson doing the speech.
Sorry ….. I tried. Swings and misses.
Soliloquy ….. nice. Buy the way, I was having fun with him. My ” soliloquy ” was based on Col. Nathan Jessup’s famous quote from, ” A few good men. ” It ends with ” I don’t give a damn what you think your entitled to ! ” I used some creative liberty and changed it for my purposes. Sorry that my ( attempted ) humor, was lost on you. Was trying to lighten things up, and have some fun. I thought I was being creative, and providing fodder for laughter. Sorry, my bad. Was hoping some movie fans would catch it, and find it entertaining. No championship belt anointed. No winners or losers, just give and take. I hope.
??? what. Explain your premise please.
1. You claim to have superior knowledge, yet thus far have given no specific evidence representing that claim.
2. That because websites exist and have a comment section a dissenting opinion is necessary.
3. You claim being a dissenter is somehow noble and just.
4. You have been here all of 24 hours and yet act like the board would be devoid of any argument or conversation without your presence.
5. You invoke “freedom of speech” for some reason.
6. You claim to be for open dialogue and a challenging of the minds, yet claim to not care what another commenter thinks.
On top of those things in that single post. You have thus far,
1. Claimed Tommy and BLG are shills because they don’t share the same opinion as you.
2. You have made a number of personal attacks. You can argue a point without attacking the other commenters. You suggested Mitchell lacked the ability to read. You suggested I lacked either maturity or was suffering from some form of mental issues, and prescribed me medication to take. You sarcastically called another poster a mensa member and suggested his mother assists him.
3. This isn’t ESPN, this isn’t philly dot com, that kind of stuff happens other places, Tommy lets lots of argument occur in the comment section and believes in well thought out arguments, however he doesn’t appreciate commenters who turn every conversation into a scorched earth argument or personal attacks.
4. Most of your arguments today have been I’m right you’re wrong LA LA LA LA LA I can’t hear you because I’m correct.
Never claimed superior knowledge. Dissenting opinion thing was a joke, go back and re – read. Never claimed the Nobel and Just thing. Is there a ( 24, 48 , 36 ) hour rule ? Freedom of speech thing was obviously sarcasm. Not caring what people think was part of the ” Few Good Men ( speech ) humor. I actually encourage, other opinions. Tommy leans towards mostly agreeing with the Eagles, and I stand by my criticism of BLG. Defended myself against you, Mitchell and Mensa boy. I’m not going to apologize for that. If your gonna give …. be ready to take, too. Man up. Just in case you missed it, I actually gave props to Tommy Lawlor for allowing, a healthy, sometimes heated free flow of opinions, without knee jerk reactions, and blocking people. Tommy has a tough chin and he knows his stuff, no issue with him. I’m sure he doesn’t lose any sleep over ( my ) comments. Can not even conceive where you came up with the ( i’ right and your wrong ) fa, la, la ,la , la stuff ? Go back and read the posts, 99.9 % of my posts were responding to criticism of ( me ) and my opinions. Sure i’m going to defend myself, from the ( womp, wompers. ) I tied to make a light hearted joke using quotes from a well known movie. Your calling that plagiarism ? Really didn’t think anyone reading that would think that ( I ) wrote that stuff. I thought it would be funny to some, because it as ( soooo ) over the top. I will, in the future, try to play nice. No promises, of somebody sucker punches me though. Other than that, all punches will be above the belt, with no elbows.
Ok, my main beef was with the personal attacks which were way over the top, extremely rude, and unwarranted. By the way “You have the luxury of ( not knowing ) what I know.” implies superior knowledge.
Sorry dude …… calling a truce. No hard feelings.
this is funny for so many reasons. i love it.
Does Mensa need an editor? Aren’t those folks smart enough to proofread their own work?
Touche …… very nice.
You missed the WTF at the end, huh? Not to speak for 76mustang, but I was assuming “brilliant” was sarcastic and he was sharing the opinion because he, in fact, disagreed with Mr. Benoit’s opinion.
I think you might have hitched your wagon to a horse not headed the direction you thought.
Correct A T G, was rolling on adrenaline, battling with BEAGLE, and got all twisted up on that one. I really ” womp, womped ” on that one. Good call. Thanks.
rp – you chose the wrong post to state your disdain for people that criticize the naysayers that express their “opinion(s)” without the veracity of a well thought out argument. Not sure if you mis-read the post, don’t understand the meaning of WTF, or don’t understand naming an author and citing their “take” means I was sharing their opinion on the matter. Whichever it was, you missed on this one…
Sorry. Good catch. My bad. Wasn’t trying to criticize Koala nut, Was on a roll, and missed her sarcasm. Consider me embarrassed.
ok. Back up Andy Benoit’s claims. GO!
Sorry, my bad. Saw criticism of draft pick, and misread your post. Stop!
Appologies if I was a jerk to anyone these past two days. Tough time, if I took it out on anyone, I’m sorry
How about we just chill out with the stupid “legion of zoom” nickname. Its bad enough that Seattle had to rip theirs off of the 90’s Flyers’ front line, but to again copy the nickname of another team in the same sport is just extremely lame.
If you aren’t going to add anything, other than be a prick and tell people how they should enjoy their eagles famdom…there are about 100 other peoples posts you can respond to, so please refrain from commenting under mine unless you have something football related to add. Thanks
I had something football related to add. I said that it was a dumb nickname for a group of football players on a football team that is directly copied off of another group of football players on another football team.
You’re the one who didn’t contribute anything football related and instead just proceeded to personally attack someone else…….just like you always do……which is why you got banned at BGN…..and why you got banned at BGN a second time…….and why you got banned at phillymag.
Isn’t it bad enough that the Flyers had to rip theirs off of the 1978 “Challenge of the Superfriends” Children’s cartoon? 🙂
Well in fairness to Le’Clair, Lindross, and Renberg; the Legion of Doom was the Superfriends’ arch nemesis’ organizational name (not nickname), hence the Flyers front line owns the rights as being the original nick (emphasis on nick) name.
/lawyered
Wait ….. didn’t he just apologize for being a jerk, like a hour ago ? Now he’s back at it again, calling people ( pricks. ) This is not the intelligent and cordial ” Geagle ” we have become accustomed to.
Seriously, the guy flips a lid at anyone who doesn’t treat his novel length, ellipse-laden comments as football gospel. I didn’t attack him or point him out personally,
I just said that copying a nickname off of another team, especially a team in the same sport, like a lot of people are trying to do with “the legion of zoom” is just lame. But apparently that makes me a prick for some reason.
Relax, you can tell from all the misspelled words that he’s just a kid.
I agree, the Defence was pretty solid the second half of the season, excluding the Vikings game. The reason why we lost the Saints game was due the fact we struggled to move the ball against man coverage in the first half and get drives started.
All the moves this off season have been about getting off man coverage and kick starting drives so we dont go 3 and out. Defence wont be great but it will be good enough to let our offence win games. Post season success will be on Foles this year and i have a feeling we will be going to the championship game.
I felt like we mainly lost the saints game because the strength of our team, crap the bed…the strength of our team was shady and the OL, neither played well enough to win a playoff game..FOles, Cooper ended up doing their part..defense held their own…had we had some type of run game, we probably win that game….shady better show up in the playoffs this year..we can blame ST, Desean not being open, the DL, the kicker…but we became a playoff team on the backs of our 5 hogs and shady, and they simply didn’t play playoff football that day
the offense left the field with the lead. NO`s offense worked the clock, scored the winning points…
when push came to shove, the defense did not “hold their own“ when it counted.
What about times prior to the past two days?
Looks like it will be a dog fight to make this roster at certain positions, and it looks like there will be a battle for practice squad spots…we have come a long way from two years ago the Andy teams where our backups were players we dreaded having to put In games…instead of having Akeem Jordan on the bench, we will have kids like Jaylen Watkins, pushing starters relentlessly for playing time…
..
Iron sharpens Iron….THE TOUGHER it becomes to make the Philadelphia Eagles roster, the better we will be…..
.,,
I just don’t know what’s going to happen with BG. Too soon to cut Cole, and I’d rather have Marcus smith. Bryan Braman and Travis long on the roster…
…
If it was just a one year thing, of course I would rather have BG than Travis Long. But at the end of the year BG is leaving in Free agency, which I don’t even think it’s up for debate. if Long develops we can have him for ATleast 3 more years…so I’d rather have Long potential on our roster this year, than a better back in BG….BG can’t backup Barwin! and if Trent gets hurt, I wouldn’t want BG playing instead of Maaaaaarcus Daaaarling…
…
The only positive I see with keeping BG this year, is letting him walk in fre agency helps us in the compensatory pick formula, especially since he plays an extremely valuable position that gets grossly over paid in the free agent market. Figure a DE who has never proven to be a long term starter, Everson Griffin just got 20 million n guarantees. Even if BG only gets 10 mil in guarantees, we won’t be signing many free agents next year, so BG would tip the compensatory pick scale in our favor. Hopefully Nate has a good year, and someone offers him a nice contract next year, because Reynolds will prove to be a better pro than people think. So if Nate can show enough to get a decent 3year deal, and BG gets a deal, it’s a nice start for compensatory picks…
…
But that’s not an exact science. How much teams offer him isn’t known, how agressive we will be or not be in free agency isn’t known…so it’s hard to rather have all that unknown, than a young edger rusher like Long who is experienced rushing the QB both as a stand up LB and with his hand in the dirt.,
How do comp picks work again?
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/red_zone/2014-NFL-compensatory-pick-projections.html
Thanks, seems kinda complicated but basically if you lose x number of players worth x amount of dollars but you sign less than x, you get a pick calculated by the NFL.
More or less. You know I’m a huge football nerd and even I don’t really care too much or completely understand the intricacies of it.
Looks like it will be a dog fight to make this roster at certain positions, and it looks like there will be a battle for practice squad spots…we have come a long way from two years ago the Andy teams where our backups were players we dreaded having to put In games…instead of having Akeem Jordan on the bench, we will have kids like Jaylen Watkins, pushing starters relentlessly for playing time…
..
Iron sharpens Iron….THE TOUGHER it becomes to make the Philadelphia Eagles roster, the better we will be…..
.,,
I just don’t know what’s going to happen with BG. Too soon to cut Cole, and I’d rather have Marcus smith. Bryan Braman and Travis long on the roster…
…
If it was just a one year thing, of course I would rather have BG than Travis Long. But at the end of the year BG is leaving in Free agency, which I don’t even think it’s up for debate. if Long develops we can have him for ATleast 3 more years…so I’d rather have Long potential on our roster this year, than a better back in BG….BG can’t backup Barwin! and if Trent gets hurt, I wouldn’t want BG playing instead of Maaaaaarcus Daaaarling…
…
The only positive I see with keeping BG this year, is letting him walk in fre agency helps us in the compensatory pick formula, especially since he plays an extremely valuable position that gets grossly over paid in the free agent market. Figure a DE who has never proven to be a long term starter, Everson Griffin just got 20 million n guarantees. Even if BG only gets 10 mil in guarantees, we won’t be signing many free agents next year, so BG would tip the compensatory pick scale in our favor. Hopefully Nate has a good year, and someone offers him a nice contract next year, because Reynolds will prove to be a better pro than people think. So if Nate can show enough to get a decent 3year deal, and BG gets a deal, it’s a nice start for compensatory picks…
…
But that’s not an exact science. How much teams offer him isn’t known, how agressive we will be or not be in free agency isn’t known…so it’s hard to rather have all that unknown, than a young edger rusher like Long who is experienced rushing the QB both as a stand up LB and with his hand in the dirt.,things would be so much easier if they just offered us a draft pick or swap a players they are about to cut at a different position
i think BG still has two years left on his contract, right? this season (2014) and next (2015)? though http://eaglescap.com/Players/BrandonGraham.html makes it sound like it is already a given that his last year will be voided.
i think we are all just in the dark with him. i was right there with everyone else that expected him to be traded before the draft. then again, expecting him to be traded DURING the draft. now, i can only think that he will be traded sometime during the offseason when another team loses a DE to injury.
but maybe you are right… we’re holding on to him until we either a) get a decent offer for him, like a 4th or 5th rd pick or something, or we keep him around long enough that he walks in FA and we (hopefully) get a compensatory pick for losing him.
i wonder…. if the team does void the last year in his deal, and he then becomes a FA, do we still get the comp. pick? i would assume so, but doing it that way is more of a forced release of a guy than a ‘let the guy walk in FA’ kind of thing…
No…we declined the option on his 5th year…if he had two years left he wouldn’t be so damn untradeable,.. No one wants to give up a pick for a one year rental who is dying to hit free agency…having one year left on his deal is the problem!! If he had two years, not only could we trade him, but I’d be glad to keep him. See how much he can improve this year and if he surprises us we can offer him an extension next year…but only one year left on his deal cripples us and complicates the BG situation in every way possible…yes since we voided his 5th year, if we let him walk after next year he still counts towards the compensatory equation….but if we cut him, like Desean, we get nothing
We, ….. you got a mouse in your pocket ?
;~}
ahh i see. thanks man.
i didn’t know we already voided that year!
when did that happen? seems like a silly thing to do… you got a guy under contract that has some potential. his price is going to go up at the same time Cole is expected to be let go because of his price tag so the cost shouldn’t be that bad… hmm. oh well.
Howie is a very good GM. I was a little skeptical of the idea that he only got control of the 2012 draft onwards, but the last two drafts seem to back it up. Very unReid-like in maximizing value. He knows how to move up and down in the draft for fair value. The Eagles are never in cap hell (see Cowboys, Redskins). The contracts he designs are usually very easy to get out of. He can find good bargain-bin players (Connor Barwin, Cary Williams, Bradley Fletcher, Donnie Jones, Allen Barbre). Do I have a few problems? Sure, I’m still not happy about the DeSean ordeal (although that responsibility might fall more heavily on Chip) and am not happy about the lack of a competent second starting safety (hopefully, Earl Wolff proves me wrong). All in all, though, I am pleased by Howie’s management.
Ed Reynolds may prove you wrong 😉
I hope someone proves me wrong. Maybe Nate Allen will. (Cue laughter)
Overall I liked this draft B plus Mathews is nice on film.2 picks I didn’t like but understood: huff and Ed Reynolds. I would have rather had martavis Bryant but huff was impressive at the senior bowl. Reynolds is horrible can’t tackle but has good hands/athleticism . Also I thought deone bucannon would have completed our safety corps and will be an all pro. Passing on dennard hurt too but I understand.my guys were Dee Ford,bucannon,Phillip Gaines n Bryant I’ll follow their careers.
Reynolds can tackle. From 2012 to 2013 it looks like he improved vastly on that aspect. Actually one of his strengths is that he CAN tackle. His drop in int’s came because, per Reynolds, qb’s didn’t throw at him. Unfortunately Deone got taken way to high for us to even consider taking him and Ford just didn’t fit what Chip/Davis wanted. ie to short, can only rush from one position, and can’t really cover.
I know that this is moot now, but couldn’t the Eagles have worked out a ( potential ) trade for Dion Jordan from the Dolphins ? Couldn’t they have said that ( if ) their desired guys were off the board by the 21st pick, they would deal their number 1 pick ( # 22 ) and Brandon Graham to the Dolphins for him. I only say this because there were many rumors that the Eagles wanted Jordan for a second and Graham, and the Dolphins said no, but your number 1 and Graham, is doable. The Dolphins could have easily prepared their draft for that contingency and had laid out plans for that option. I’m just saying would it be better right now to have Dion Jordan or Marcus Smith ? Just wondering. I for one would have loved It if they traded for Jordan when their magic 6 players went off the board. Everything I’ve read says that the Eagles were drafting Jordan, before the Dolphins jumped up and snatched him, last year. No crying over spilt milk, i’m pulling for Smith, seems like a great kid.
id rather have smith, watkins and hart than jordan. I might be in the minority here, but I think Smith and Watkins will be studs, and hart will be a solid contributor. Id rather have two studs and a rotational player than one stud who might be a little better than smith
There’s a very good chance that Miami is completely opposed to trading Jordan just because of the massive cap hit they will take by moving him.
my suspicion is that we would have had to make it worth it for them to have a 10 mil cap hit for a guy not on their team. thats in addition to the compensation for the player himself.
would have loved to get him for something reasonable, but i just don’t think it was really feasible.
So many people have kept on about a pick and Graham for Dion? Why? Besides the cap hit the Dolphins would have taken, what do you think makes Graham so desirable to Miami?
Spontaneous combustion…what happens every time Romo is in a critical situation.
http://www.baylor.edu/content/imglib/104940.jpg
[…] Evaluating Howie – Tommy Lawlor, Iggles BlitzHowie Roseman has now run the last 3 Eagles drafts.We’re starting to get an idea of how he does things and there is enough of a track record that we can make some judgments. I’m sure some of you will say “But what about waiting 3 years to see how the players turn out?”. That’s not all on the GM and scouts. A lot of that is on the coaching staff, in terms of player development and how they use the players. The focus with the GM is how he handles the actual draft. […]
[…] Evaluating Howie – Tommy Lawlor, Iggles BlitzHowie Roseman has now run the last 3 Eagles drafts.We’re starting to get an idea of how he does things and there is enough of a track record that we can make some judgments. I’m sure some of you will say “But what about waiting 3 years to see how the players turn out?”. That’s not all on the GM and scouts. A lot of that is on the coaching staff, in terms of player development and how they use the players. The focus with the GM is how he handles the actual draft. […]