Rookie Expectations
Posted: May 18th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 172 Comments »Let’s talk about how the Eagles rookies fit into the lineup and what some realistic expectations are for 2014. Some people have questions about just how much this group can contribute this season.
I wrote my PE.com piece on the subject.
I’ll add some additional thoughts here.
* Jordan Matthews has a chance to be a key player right away. He will take over Jason Avant’s role in the slot. Matthews can also play outside, which Avant couldn’t really do. He simply lacked the speed to be effective outside the slot. While Matthews brings speed and athleticism, I wondered about his ability to be a clutch receiver. Avant was very reliable. I was shocked when I checked last year’s stats and saw Avant only had 6 catches on 3rd down.
I think Matthews will catch at least 30 passes this year. It wouldn’t shock me to see him get closer to 45 or so. Fantasy football experts think he will be a player to watch. He’s 10th among rookies here. And this guy really loves Matthews, ranking him 5th among rookies. I’m not a big fantasy football guy, but they do a good job with statistical research and projections.
Matthews can become a workhorse receiver in the future. We’ll have to see how things play out with Maclin and his contract before we know the Eagles WR situation, but Matthews has the ability. Heck, he could push Riley Cooper to being more of a role player in the future.
* I covered Marcus Smith in the article as a guy who could be both a backup OLB and a role player in some sub-packages. He will play as much as he earns. The Eagles don’t have to force him into the lineup, but Smith also isn’t a project that absolutely needs years to develop. He has the size, skills and ability to play as a rookie.
The key hindrance for Smith is adjusting to the NFL. The line of scrimmage is much different in the pros than in college. The level of power and physicality can be overwhelming to some rookies. Smith might take time to adjust or he could be one of those rare rookies that adapts quickly. You never know.
Just because Smith isn’t likely to start doesn’t mean he won’t have some impact. The guy is an athlete and he can rush the passer. Something tells me that Bill Davis will find a way to use him.
* If one of the Eagles rookies is going to steal a starting role, Jaylen Watkins could be the guy. He has NFL measurables and good man-to-man cover skills. My guess is that Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher keep their jobs, but they’ll get pushed more by Watkins than they did by Curtis Marsh and the backups last year.
* Taylor Hart will contribute as a rookie. He will be the backup LDE. Clifton Geathers had that role in 2013 and was awkward. For every play where he flashed big time ability, there would be 4 to 5 where he looked marginal. Hart is new to the NFL, but he knows how to play DE in a 3-4 that uses 2-gap technique. I think fans will enjoy Hart. He’s a big guy with some athletic ability and a good motor.
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The x-factors to all of this are injuries and performance. We all expected Isaac Sopoaga to be the NT last year. He was underwhelming and got traded. That cleared the way for Bennie Logan to start. You never know which veterans will struggle and need to be replaced.
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I know most of you know this, but it can’t be said enough…The Draft is About the Future.
When the Steelers were at their best, they sat as many rookies as possible. They drafted for the future and let their veterans play while the young guys learned and got worked into the lineup.
Smith, Matthews and Watkins could all be starters as soon as 2015 and should all be starting by 2016 for sure. If not, that’s when we know the Eagles missed on picks or there were some extenuating circumstances (like injuries).
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I really like the addition of Smith as he will improve our nickle package a lot.
As you mentioned in the PE.com article, the Eagles liked the 3-3-5 nickle with Cole as a DE and now we can swap Ryans for Smith and have 3 very athletic LBs who can all cover and blitz.
That would be a very solid sub package. I’m still partial to a 4-2-5 as long as Cole is on the roster, but that is base 4-3 me talking.
Projected depth chart time! This is what I think/hope happens, so there are some weird projections.
One note: I still think we trade Brandon Graham before the season starts for a pick next year.
QB: Nick — Sanchez — Barkley (3)
RB: Shady — Sproles — Polk — Henry Josey (4)
TE: Celek — Ertz — James Casey (3)
WR: Maclin — Josh Huff (2)
WR: Cooper — Jordan Matthews — Kadron Boone (3)
LT: Peters — Barbre (2)
RT: Lane Johnson — Dennis Kelly (2)
LG: Mathis (1)
RG: Herremans — Tobin (2)
C: Kelce — Vandervelde (2)
24 total on Offense
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LDE: Thornton — Curry — Taylor Hart (3)
NT: Logan — Beau Allen (2)
RDE: Cox — Kruger (2)
LOLB: Barwin — Bryan Braman (2)
ROLB: Cole — Marcus Smith (2)
ILB: Ryans — Goode (2)
ILB: Kendricks — Jason Phillips (2)
LCB: Bradley Fletcher — Nolan Carroll — Roc Carmichael (3)
RCB: Cary Williams — Boykin — Watkins (3)
S: Malcolm Jenkins — Ed Reynolds — Keelan Lewis (3)
S: Earl Wolff — Chris Maragos (2)
26 total on Defense
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K: Henrey (1)
P: Donnie Jones (1)
LS: Dorenbos (1)
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I really wanted to put Travis Long on there, but couldn’t figure out how. Same with Knott, I think his suspension hurts him.
I don’t think Nate Allen makes the team.
I have Henry Josey and Kadron Boone making the team.
Comparing this roster to last years, its really easy to see the upgrades. No Casey Matthews, Kurt Coleman, Curtis Marsh, Brandon Hughes, Jeff Maehl, Emil Igwenagu, Patrick Chung, Sopoaga………
I think Long makes it over Carmichael, as I cant see 6 CBs. I also have a hard time seeing Keelan making it over Allen.
I also think we go with 4 TEs and only 8 OLs. I also think Molk will be backup C and Tobin will be backup guard, with Barbre and Tobin able to backup at T as well.
I like Burton a lot, but have to believe there was a reason Dennis Kelly made the team last year. I think Trey is definite practice squad material though.
We opened the year last year with 7 CBs, so not sure how we go with 5….
We might have went with 7 CBs, but we only had 3 OLBs, also we hardly played any of the 7, now with Carroll and Watkins we will actually play them
I agree with this, Roc and non-Allen were the only issues I saw. Would like to see Long make it. Curious if Bamiro does as well.
@mksp:disqus- definitely enjoy (and agree with!) the Boone and Josey spots.
Keelan Johnson by the way. I disagree about Nate Allen, but the rest is solid.
Oops, fixed. I still had Keenan Lewis on my brain.
Agree
I still have a suspision that Curry is going to be traded along iwth Graham.
Dion for Graham and a 2nd, June 1st!
The Dion dream is over…until he becomes a free agent 🙂
I think they keep Curry for this season.
My only complaint is 3 TEs. The eagles carried what’s his weird name (Emil something), a fringe player, as a 4th TE last season. I bet they see 4 as a minimum amount of bodies they need there.
Where’s that spot come from? Carmichael?
Carmichael would make sense. The 24 on O and 26 on D is how it was last year, so maybe Boone or Josey.
One of the OLs
Igwenagu.
I think Square will beat out Beau Allen. I remember the coaches being very high on him, but do they ever give reasons why? Is being smart and hard working enough to win a roster spot?
It is when you have almost nothing for depth at that spot like last year. Square is really far below what it takes physically to be more than a marginal player no matter how the intangibles are. Allen has no reason to lose a camp battle to him.
No way!!
Matthews won’t have Avant’s hands or knack of making clutch plays this year. The only rookie WR that’s capable of that in their first year is probably Jarvis Landry. I expect Matthews to work the intermediate routes and have some occasional screen plays called for him.
I’m curious as to how you see Landry making a lot of year one impact with a bad QB and worse O-line.
Dude already has it. He’s just in a situation where he’s not going to be able to show it often.
Landry has hands that even Chris Carter would be jealous off. He will 99% sure be Tannenhill’s go to WR because he still wont have time for bombs to Wallace. Landry also runs great routes and already used to off target throws by his college QB.
But Matthews is a big boy and is gonna eat up those nickel corners NOMNOMNOM. Especially Thurman in New York (just cause he tried to call out Boy King.)
We need Matthews to take one to the house and throw the ball in Perry Fewell’s face!
Do you think that would “fuel” his rage?
soon as i saw jarvis landry, i knew it was you
re: the FFL guy who ranked Matthews #5
TL, how could you not link to the article he includes in his “p.s.”?
“Even if Matthews is only the Eagles #3 option in 2014, that’s still enough for him to pay dividends to your fantasy team.
Note: As an organization, the Eagles are leaving the New York Giants in the dust.”
here’s the actual hyperlink (wouldn’t carry from site)– http://rotoviz.com/index.php/2014/05/fuing-gain-yards-whats-your-plan/
Giants = dust!
I love it!
F New York.
I don’t disagree with the idea that big receivers in general are superior, but to conclude it because they have a higher TD stat is unconvincing.
The Watkins article is pure idiocy. It’s clear that he has a Matthews boner and wants to skew any stats on paper to make Matthews on the same level as Watkins.
Sure. But you can’t deny the physical attributes.
and to be perfectly fair, while he has a man-crush on Matthews, you’re at the other end of.the spectrum. The ol’ double bias
Nah. That hack is just a fanatic for Matthews. All of his points are just out of ignorance. If you did your own research then you’d see why this article is so laughable.
Facts are being presented, he just gives his interpretation – You just dismiss it as laughable yet do not provide any arguments. While I disagree with his interpretation(there’s no consideration for volume of passes thrown, the fact that Vanderbilt probably trailed a lot more in those games making it easier to rack up yards, and the fact that Watkins most special attribute, his violence, does not show up in the combine numbers), I respect it a lot more than your lack of one.
Lol. I can’t quote from the article since I’m not going to pay for a subscription because there’s a limit to how many articles you can view for free so I’m just going to go from memory now.
Matthews (4 years played)
262 receptions
3759 yards
3874 yards from scrimmage
14.3 YPC
24 TDs
Watkins (3 years played)
* missed 3 games in 2012
240 receptions
3391 receiving yards
3730 yards from scrimmage
14.1 YPC
28 TDs
That’s so much more production than Watkins. His spin on this is basically numbers. Now I don’t know what he based the level of competition on but I highly doubt it’s solely based on the level of CBs opposed. Why neglect that Watkins played less games?
http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/cfb/46006/349/peshek-top-4-wr-metrics
http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/cfb/46136/349/peshek-wr-metrics-20
They were used with little variances. We already know Watkins is more explosive. Stevie Wonder could even tell you that. I don’t remember what else he mentioned.
The whole point is that he compares both of their numbers vs the exact same opponents on a game per game basis. He does not base his analysis on the whole career numbers like you do, but for example Watkins vs Wake Forest compared to Matthews vs Wake Forest. Overall his point is that vs the exact same opponents they had the same production overall, while Matthews was the focus point of the Vanderbilt offense which makes this “more impressive”. His analysis is in fact pretty good, even though I slightly disagree (see my points above) with his conclusion. You make it look like he has no clue, but his points are relevant.
*sigh*
Just to support Insomniac’s point here…
1) There are a *lot* of NFL high grade WR prospects with broadly the same physical measurables. Some even have similar numbers.
2) What the scouts are looking for are characteristics that will allow dominant performances to translate into the NFL. Kelvin Benjamin’s forty time is much slower than Matthews, but he’s probably has better long speed, in the same sense the Kaepernick has good long speed despite not having a super fast 40 time. Benjamin also probably doesn’t lose very much in agility terms, given the under-current about Matthew’s ability to get separation. If Benjamin can consistently catch, no sure thing, he will almost certainly justify his higher draft selection in big fashion. Put Matthews against Sammy Watkins? I’ve actually seen Watkins play, unlike Matthews. Watkins actually breaks college defenses, not snatch something here and there. You may well see similar pro numbers as well, depending on the relative situations. That doesn’t mean Matthews is necessarily on Watkins planet any more then Peerless Prices was on Eric Moulds level.
Too add to this, college production hardly matter, just see D Thomas from the Broncos, he played in the triple option at Georgia Tech, but because he has all the tools, he got selected high
yeah – just like Stephen Hill
Not sure what your point is other than “Watkins is good”, and not sure how the whole thing relates to the original post. Both of you critic someone’s argumentation by either not reading it or not understanding it. Please read the article first.
For the record, as it’s off topic, I think Benjamin is one of the biggest fraud of this draft. Labelled as a “freak athlete” on so many articles while he is just a big WR who runs like…a big WR. He is not fast, he is not agile, he is just big. The bust potential is off the charts.
He’s just using numbers with the same opponents and calculating the production differences. I have no problem with that. Before that said data, he tries to justify the difference in athleticism with just numbers and disregards that athleticism isn’t measured with paper and pen.That was my main issue since he’s trying to spin whatever he could to make it a level playing field for Matthews. Someone else posted the same link last week and I said something along the line of putting the players on Sports Science to get real facts instead of trying to mislead people.
Keenan Allen put up good numbers but AJ Green did too. Who’s the better athlete? Here look at my data to prove that Allen is dynamic too. That’s his logic right there.
FYI facts don’t need interpretation. Opinions do.
I had the same discussion on BGN about Matthews and how great he is (or isnt). People kept arguing that he would be great because OMG JERRY RICE COUSIN or SEC LEADER IN YARDS, instead of looking at film and Im happy Im not the only one who isnt overhyped for Matthews
I think this article really shows what Matthews lack
http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=bloomoverratedmatthews
As he shows Matthews wont break many tackles or get many YAC unless the play is perfectly blocked (see players like D Thomas or Bryant who can break tackles and get YAC because of that or Watkins in this draft).
People want to look away from what his flaws are because he’s saying all of the things that we want to hear right now.
I want Matthews to succeed but he has to improve on every aspect of his game.
Agree, Im rooting as hell for Matthews, but I doubt he ever becomes more than a solid option posting numbers similar to Cooper’s last year.
Not having to start rookies is a good thing. But I have a feeling this coaching staff will get young players to contribute early on..
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September 2015 Maaaarcus Daaaarling will be starting as our 3down OLB.
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Jaylen,Marcus will both have roles in subpackages as rookies
Read somewhere years ago that it generally takes until the third season before Pass Rushers become the studs that they will be. Can’t find the article now, though.
Taylor Hart desperately needs some weathering to his face. He looks like a man boy in his press conference. How is he supposed to be the next Brent Keisel without a beard or an axe!?
Yeah I’d prefer he kept his helmet on during interviews like Ricky Williams rookie season 🙂
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Kruger and hart will prove to be awesome additions to our future
Tommy, what are Jaylen Watkins’ weaknesses? I’ve heard a lot about how great he is in man coverage and how versatile and what a good scheme fit he is. It sounds like he’s got all the speed and agility you’d want. Why was he available in round 4? Why did you prefer Breeland (did I remember that correctly)?
Tommy talked about this in a previous post. Because Watkins was the only CB at Florida versatile enough to play safety, he did and that may have hurt his value because he didn’t get to showcase it at his best position?
He was the best CB at Florida.
Exactly, but the only who could play safety.
He has all the raw tools you look for. He has good hips, speed, agility, relatively willing tackler. The problem is he was just inconsistent. That’s kind of to be expected when he was constantly moving around. The angles and reads change so much from CB, to nickel back to Safety. You can see the wheel spinning in his head but he’s slow to trust his eyes, another likely symptom of being moved around. His technique needs to be cleaned up, he got away largely on athleticism, but once again, hard to be a technician when you aren’t consistently playing one position. His tackling ranges from diving at ankles to solid hits. However most of the time he does the strangest tackle I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure he wrestled at some point because he gets to the ball carrier, breaks down wraps his arms around him and then “picks the ankle” of the runner. The first couple times I thought it was just a coincidence but he keeps doing it.
Typical CB tackling.He’s not Asante bad but he’s not great either. Part of his concerns were being the #3 CB behind scrubs (Roberson and Purifoy).
The focus on rookies ignores last year PS and offseason “quiet” acquisitions:
RB – Josey or Fluellen might make the roster, but they’ll have to beat out Tucker.
WR – Matthews and Huff have roles, but don’t be surprised if Brad Smith provides a challenge.
TE – Annen is a long shot in any case.
OL – The only guys with shots are newcomers Molk and Bamiro off the PS.
DL – Kruger v Hart will be a good contest, Allen will have an edge over Square.
LB – Goode, Phillips, Acho on the inside, Smith will have to compete with Graham, Long, Braman and Kaddu on the outside.
CB – Carroll v Watkins for #4 CB, Carroll has the experience edge.
S – K Johnson and Maragos v Reynolds at safety.
So if some draft picks don’t play, doesn’t mean they’re failures, just means Howie did a good job building quality depth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTJSq4b5on0
How cool this video is?
This is a cool video. Watching MS(mostly in the clip provided), he seems to be an arm/hug tackler. There were sure tackles and completed the play which I guess is what’s needed. However, I wouldn’t have minded if he lowered his shoulder once in a while and popped the qb. Maybe he does do that but just not in this clip.
Mah…seems like he prefers to try and strip QBs, which I prefer to just blasting them..tho my sadistic sides guilty pleasure is watching 300lb angry eagles crashing into Romos back. I like beating on that schmuck more than forcing him to turn it over…now Eli, you don’t want to beat on, you want to pressure so you can pick him and see the horse face with a hint of down syndrom “Eli face” …think the love child of Mr. Ed and Corky
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RG3 I like to make look clueless, like in philly this year, where it looks like they put a WR in at QB for 30 snaps..a combo of beating on his fragile body and forcing him to look inept and turn it over
Also seems to turn the QBs hips while wrapping up where the ball would be.
Awesome…wish it ended with highlights of FOles making it rain, and shady dancing in the snow
Personally, I find it encouraging that there weren’t 100 college kids that are unquestionably better than the players on the team. A team is not in a good spot if you top three or four picks are anticipated starters as soon as they are picked.
Sooo true! If our rookies don’t start this year, it won’t be because they are in bad picks, it will be because we have a good situation and quality starters ahead of them… People see young players and think that’s all they will ever be…just watch how many of our young and second year defenders take their games up a notch this year…
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bad teams have to give starting jobs to rookies…sticking our puppies on the bench until they earn their spot because you can no longer justify keeping him on the bench is the best case scenario…seems like we have that…..and if a really good team drafts a rookie and gives him the job day one, it’s probably because they had to cut a starter do to the salary cap… We are in a better position than both scenarios..we shouldn’t be complaining about rookies not being given a starting spot instantly… Heck, I don’t even like the talk about already projecting Mathews as the starter In the slot..even if that’s true I wish the coaches would have kept that to themselves…fortunately he seems to be wired in a way that giving him a starting spot before earning it won’t make him complacent, so it shouldn’t hurt….but I would hate if Marcus smith and Jaylen were already handed starting spots..let them claw and scratch for it
yes and no. Eagles have quality starters, which is true, but we don’t have the starters to compete with the big boys. Chip/Howie is building to be strong in the future while staying competitive today. I doubt Chip will hand anything to these guys. Chip seems to make the players earn it. Except for Vick last year, which he fixed a few games into the season…..
What happens if guys like Cox,Kendrick!Boykin, Curry all reach that next level? Heck two of them reaching that next level would change everything!
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When your team commits to drafting and developing it’s stars, you need to give the young talent some experience, continuity and time to grow before they can develop into the players you want them to be…
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After the coaching trash, comperable to KOTITE coaching that rookies Kendrick,cox,curry and Boykin got during their rookie season on a team so dysfunctional that jerry springer wouldn’t touch it, how can I really view last year as their second year in the league? If you combine those guys with last years rookies we were playing with like 12 under developed players. Guys who we haven’t seen the eventual level they will play at…We had Cox for 33 games, and he is barely 22yrs old, which means there is no shot that we have seen him play yet with the strength he will have at his disposal for the majority of his career..
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If you liked our young talent, and you believe in our coaches, I don’t see how people can just assume we have no stars on defense, when we have so many promising candidates who haven’t even had enough time or opportunity to fail yet…2 of our defenders reach that next level and how much differently will you look at our defense…it’s not guaranteed that we have young defensive superstars, but We sure have some pretty damn promising candidates in Cox,Mykal,Marcus,Boykin,Wolff,Curry.kruger.Logan..
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Two of those guys reach their full potential, and this defense reaches a scary level..
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We also haven’t seen anything yet in terms of defensive schemes. Last year was vanilla foundation, with Billy Davis having to play the flute and schematically plug holes and put out fires constantly because we didn’t have the pass rush or the horses at safety. All things considering, last years defense flashed so much more potential then most people realize…
I expect at least 2 rookies to make the pro bowl this year, or I am providing the pitch forks!
If one isn’t inducted into the hall of fame by our bye week, this draft will be a bust
Good point, I will call WIP now!
Rile up the troops! Hall of fame or bust!!
Tommy – is there any chance that Jaylen Watkins comes in and can play the slot – maybe even next year – and the Boy King moves to the outside. I know he might be the best slot in the league, but like Harris bak in the day maybe he is also a top outside CB. I like the idea of Williams, Boykin and Watkins as the starting trio…and then we can work on upgrading Williams…thoughts?
More likely that they Boy King stays inside, gets paid, and we go with two outside CBs on rookie contracts…Jaylen on the outside. He is almost 6ft and literally has only played press coverage since Florida switched DCs 3 years ago…
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Corey Graham got 4yrs 16mil from the bills to be their slot…Boykin will sign a 24mil contract, we will lose our veteran corners, and pay our outside CBs on cheap rookie deals
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But for this season, we will implement a dime package with Jaylen/Boykins as the slot CBs
I wouldnt be surprised if your 3 CBs in 15 is Carroll, Watkins and Boykin with Wolff and Jenkins at safety
It wouldn’t surprise me either…but I also wouldn’t be surprised if Chip likes our outside CBs more than everyone thinks and they get extended for a year or two at more cap friendly numbers…
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Dudes shutdown a murderers row of Top WR tandems for the better part of two months, and they were rarely allowed to play to their strengths and really battle WRs at the line of scrimmage because we didn’t trust our abysmal safeties…Jenkins and a year two Wolff should allow Cary and Brad to play to their strengths next year and see their play improve a notch…there will be bumps in the road with those two, but they really battled and came up pretty big when it mattered against some top WRs. Like Cary shutting down Dez Bryant in a second half two pt conversion in the second half of what was practically a playoff game.
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Both being back next year, both being gone next year, neither would really shock me…
I don’t know that it was the DC’s at Florida who controlled the scheme. Muschamp played S at UGA and came up as a defensive backs coach. It’s his scheme. Dan Quinn was the DC in 2011 and 12. DJ Durkin took over last year.
Slice it how you want it, Jaylen played press corner for the past 3 years, which is the relevant part of the discussion….who gets to choose Floridas defensive schemes was not a debate I was interested in getting into…gladly take your word for it tho
Love how because a few jerkoff analysts labeled him a reach, people act like Howie drafted someone he could have gotten 15 spots later…you trust Walterfootball and Mel Kiper over Chip and Tom gamble? Same dopes who cry about where we drafted Marcus! thinking he could be had in the 3rd were mocking 7th rd pick Yamin Smallwood in rounds 2-4…THAT proved to be an analyst reach….not the eagles turning down more trade comp because we would have lost Marcus had we traded back any further,,,
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I’m sorry, but if you continue to echo this Marcus is a reach crap, you are just a simpleton who’s opinion shouldn’t be made public
It is the name of the game. If as an analyst you rank a guy as the 45th best player and he gets picked 40th then that was a reach. It he gets picked 50th it was a steal.
We will have enough time to figure out if this kid is a player or not. If he is, then when they do the redrafts in a couple years he could have been picked by the Texans instead of that Jedavion kid 🙂
Just hate how stupid the public is…and I mean STUPID! A kid who they never seen, shouldn’t be drafted and immediately shit on by media and the fanbase….now if you really took the time to watch how Marcus grew as a prospect since switching to defense and you think he was a bad pick, it’s fair game to criticize….but to crap all over a kid who they haven’t even seen, is just trashy stupidity..
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Kid was 2nd in the nation in sacks, after only being a defender for a few years,.he also racked up those nation leading sacks while spending a ton of time dropping back into coverage..how many sacks would he have had, if he just pinned his ears back and rushed the passer every play?
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He isn’t Dion, he isn’t Anthony Barr…but he is much closer to them, than a stiff like Trent Murphy or Bjoern Werner who both went top 50 these past two years..getting Marcus, in such a weak passrusher draft is a friggin Score that should have been celebrated, especially when you talk about the extra picks we got in the process..
Actually you bring up a good point. The way Howie worked the draft board was outstanding.
In every trade we got the upper hand. If you look at the trade value chart, we won every single time. And by a lot.
ESPECIALLY if we wanted to come away with a quality ROLB in such a weak draft..
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We got extra 3rds while other teams in similar positions got a 4th. We didn’t make any trades unless we got the upper hand..and that Bryce brown trade is insanity. As fragile as spiller is, Bryce is talented enough to put up numbers if Spiller misses time, and turn that pick into a 3rd which would just be amazing..
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After the horrible Reid drafts where we would go into them with like 13 picks and be lucky to come away with two NFL players, it’s been torture to see Chip/Howie/gamble drafting well, but having so little picks compared to what we are used to. Seemed like Howie forced himself to sit on his hands at all costs, not give up any of next years picks, and start loading back up so we can go into a draft with a nice amount of picks
Next year. Sucks that we won’t be getting many comp picks next year for losing superstar Kurt Coleman…
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Howie definitely didn’t listen to your prediction that he would take crap value to move back and acquire more picks.
Don’t recall being silly enough to make predictions with the 22nd pick.. I may have said something like “I’d almost be inclined to undercut other teams, accept less in a trade so we can ensure we get to trade back and take Marcus”…..
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So my GM got what I wanted, and got better value? Am I supposed to complain and curse Howie because he didn’t settle for a 4th which is what i wondered it might come down to, to ensure we can trade back and get Marcus??.
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To talk shit to one of the few fans who actually suggested we would take Marcus in round one sounds a little silly to me….but have at it…
I wouldn’t be surprised if Howie has a poison pill for this
draft, and is so desperate for more picks that be undercuts the market..what I mean is, even if teams don’t use the chart their is a consensus for what appropriate value is in trades. So if all GMs know that moving up to 17-25 range from 30 cost an extra 3rd..Howie could be so desperate for the Niners to Choose us as the trade partner that he screws up the market and tells the Niners he will take a 4th to move back…if we want a 3rd and the cardinals sitting at 20 want a 3rd, naturally Baalke won’t choose us..but if we don’t want anyone at 22, andwll end up reaching for someone we could have at 30, I’d rather see Howie trade back and get a 4th, than stay put because we demanded a 3rd..you can still dosome damage with an extra 4th in this draft..and only having 6 picks is absurd(we are used to like 10-13)…whatever Howie needs to do to draft morethan 6 guys. Fine by me
You said:
“actually i could see us screwing up the market and undercutting the rest of the teams so we can aquire more pics..what I mean is: say a team like the Niners wants to trade up, they will call around and look for the best offer. Teams don’t use the value chart, but they all pretty much have a consensus on what picks are worth..so normally it would cost a 3rd for a team to move from 30 to 18-25. We have the 22nd pick, if the team with the 21st pick wants to trade back, than I’m sure the Niners would chose to move up to 21 instead of 22 if the cost is the same…because we only have 6 picks, when we typically have 10, I could see Howie screwing up the market and accept a pick in a later round than everyone else…so if normally it cost a 3rd to move up into 18-25 range, I wonder if Howie screws the other GMs and accepts a 4th instead to ensure that the team that wants to trade up does business with us instead of the cardinals,packers, dolphins and jets. Although that would probably really piss GMs off…but this is such a deep draft, it may be worth accepting a pick a round later than it’s worth to assure that teams do business with us instead of the other teams in our range..
I’d rather get a 3rd round pick trading back to 30, but if I’m not getting that 3rd because the cardinals want it and they pick two spots higher! I’d rather get a 4th round pick and move down to 30, than be stuck at 22 because I insisted on a 3rd round pick..
I was throwing a strategy out there…call it a prediction if you want…don’t see why the fuck I’m even having this discussion
“Every trade . . . .”?
There were two trades.
Roseman moved down from 22 to 26 and picked up Cleveland’s 3rd. That was a winner for the Eagles using the trade value chart.
But Roseman’s trade of Cleveland’s 3rd to Houston for their 4th and 5th Rd picks went in Houston’s favor, again, if you stick to the trade chart.
Also the trade up to get Matthews.
We gave up a 2 + 4 while Dallas used a 2 + 3 to trade up.
Trent Murphy drafted in the top 50 is a reach!
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Dallas paying a 3rd to move up at the beginning of round two for Demarcus Lawrence who will need to barrow Dez Bryant’s babysitting detail is a reach… As a prospect Marcus is in another league
Have you seen the Dallas coverage of that pick? They are literally comparing him to HOF Demarcus. Three games into the season, those same fans will be calling for the coaches heads because he is a 2nd string guy.
It is that time of year where every pick is a home run.
We got a good group of players and they seem to be intelligent and hard working and should push for some playing time. Even the back half of the draft with Beau, Hart have a chance at some rotation minutes. And Watkins + Reynolds should get ST reps and a shot at some nickle + dime packages.
Can’t wait for training camp!
Yes sir…so hype for camp:
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Can’t wait to see Cary “bad cop” Williams give Jordan and Huff some “tough love” and rough them up at practice,,
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Barwin brought his motto with him to philly “OLBs do not let a TE block them”…well we have a bruising blocker In Celek, can’t wait to see how the Barwin/Celek battles play out..
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Malcolm Jenkins should have his hands full with Ertz who really started to win on routes late in the year..
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Kendrick having to cover Sproles out of the backfield
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Rookie, Marcus Smiths introduction to JP and a hall of fame level tackle
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Kruger opening eyes at camp
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Huff and Mathews competing with each other
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FOles first training camp as the MAN! Fans and media keep crying for Chip to give his endorsement of Nick! but Howie said all that needed to be said after the draft! when asked why he passed on young QB talents in the draft, talking about how Nick is the man and it’s important for the entire organization to back it’s young leader, in his development. Expecting a surgical Nick FOles…loved that he got to see how Brady practices last year, would love us to do a joint training camp with the Pats again.
To be fair, there are a lot of similarities between him and Ware. They both have the same name, and…
Well, there are similarities.
They both line up on the edge..
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I got nothing….
Did I miss something in the article or comments, or are you just venting over other sources? I didn’t see anyone down on the pick here.
Venting over the general treatment by this city of our first round pick…Tom was one of the few, on team Marcus, so I got no Beef with him…actually I tip my hat
If Avant was any good, he’d still be here. Avant is “ok” and easily replaced. Even he has some drops, Mathews will still be more effective in this offense.
Avant is gone because:
1) he doesn’t really fit here for
2) the money he was getting paid
Matthews is an upgrade in both of those respects as well as in size and athleticism, seems to have just as big of a work ethic, and has serious leadership potential to possibly match Avant in that category as well (down the line).
In the combination of Maclin, Cooper, and Matthews vs Jackson, Cooper, and Avant, Matthews development and how much of an upgrade he can be over Avant will be the key piece that decides if we are better off in 2014 than 2013 (as far as the WR position is concerned).
Leadership is overrated. WR for 2014 will be a concern all season because of Maclin. If he goes down at any point — oh boy.
Leadership isn’t at all over rated, it’s just more replaceable than people think. We lost Avant and Vick, but does anyone doubt that guys like Kelce, Barwin, Cary, Meco, Celek and Peters will step up and fill their shoes?
Leadership != championships.
What champion didn’t have admirable leadership?
That’s an easy and broad statement to make to say every championship team has an admirable leader. Are they only admirable that year they won? Who’s a better leader Eli or P Manning? Don’t get me wrong – it’s nice to have team leaders as a voice of the team etc. etc. etc. Since the start of the SB era, the Eagles never had an admirable leader?
Not saying ONLY the Elite teams have them..but not all teams do, and without it, you really don’t stand a chance to be taken serious as a team. Your telling me that Dallas had quality leadership? How about the skins? Seemed to me like London Fletcher wasn’t even to overcome that mess….leadership is the difference between turning it around when you start 1-3, and losing faith in your new coaches, team mates, and either mail it in or start playing playing selfish football. In a league where their is no certainty and you are always playing for the next payday, it takes leadership to get 53 talented players to maybe Sacrafice doing some of the flashy things that get you paid, and do more grunt work so the man next to you can shine.l.
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I do not at all think losing Avant and Vicks leadership matters, but that’s just because of the character we have emphasized in player selection,..let’s see how the sexy redskins play this year….talent is number one, but you don’t even stand a chance with 53 Desean types, Cowboys been proving that for how long now?
OK, let me ask this — AR least year — was Avant on that team? Did that leadership help? Using ‘Skins and ‘Boys aren’t fair because I always hope their bus goes off a cliff. Leaders do help but every year, a new leader steps up(or tries to step up). Leaders are like a roll of toilet paper — once your done with a roll, you put in one.
Leaders extend to the coaching staff. What chance did Avant or Meco have to keep that mess together? You got a DL coach thinking his DC is a bitch lol and treating him as such in front of players…you lost your entire line…leadership won’t just waive a magic wand and make everything ok, but it is a necessary Ingredient. But you need it everywhere from the front office, to the coaching staff, and the locker room. Don’t think you can survive without talent, don’t think you can survive without the right coaching and don’t think you can survive without leadership… Team with the most amount of those ingredients, typically are the top teams
oh, I agree 100%. But leadership is listed like number 20 on key ingredients to winning…
Ok, Eagles go to the SB and play NE. Did they make it there because of TO or leadership? Did they lose because of leadership or 5? You only find great leaders of teams after you win the SB.
I’d rather have it, than not have it….if our coaches can keep getting talent that comes with character, we will be better off. It’s not like you are seeing Chip keep slow Avant because of his leadership and cutting young talent
I agree. I think teams do need leaders – but Chip has to be the leader. I think a great coach can get his team.
to be fair, I saw that defense fall to pieces when they fired Juan, they were actually on a pretty good pace up to that point. Especially the back end just called it quits. (Don’t know if it was really the absence of Juan, or Todd Bowles not being able to keep on their asses in the secondary with the whole D to worry about)
That’s a whole other argument. JC was a joke in IMHO, no matter what that D did before or after.
Russell Wilson is a day one leader — sherman is also a leader. RW came day one and owned that team.
True. Absolutely. So you’re saying, while RW and Sherman are in Seattle, they’ll continue to win SB’s until they retire? No, that would be a silly statement. Seattle will win/lose based on their play. If that defense falls apart and they never win again, it doesn’t mean RW is no longer a team leader.
You are confusing a necessary condition with a sufficient condition. Leadership is a necessary condition for winning, but it is not a sufficient condition.
http://philosophy.wisc.edu/hausman/341/Skill/nec-suf.htm
It always is until you don’t have it.
then why do we only pick guys that were team captains?
I’m not following your question….
Eagles resigned Rejus Benn…..shocker,not
They simply wanted to save money.
Which tells me guys like Casey, Jason Phillips and Smith needs to play up to their salaries or they are getting cut.
Surely they would get a chance to restructure before getting the Axe…guys like Benn and Phillips definitely can’t afford another injury. Casey is safe. No way Chip is comfortable with only Ertz and Celek, and he brings it on ST..
No way Howie is paying 4 mill for a ST only guy.
We have a coach who values multiple TE sets, and a QB who was his most efficient with two TEs on the field. Chip ain’t the type to leave himself with his pants down. Cut Casey and a 2-4 week injury to Celek or Ertz is problematic. For a coach that wouldn’t shock me to see carry 5TEs in the future, he won’t cut the 3rd TE when he is drastically better than the other depth options,,think it’s more likely Chip falls in love with another young TE and we keep 4 including Casey, than to see Casey cut! and that young player Chip likes ends up being our #3
This is the FO who just cut 2 of the 3 starting WRs last year.
So yea, I can 100% see them cut Casey if they do not think he is worth 4 mill for only ST work. Of course your assumption is that Casey will actually contribute on offense, which isnt a given.
No, that’s not my assumption at all…my assumption in they view him as high quality insurance on offense, and that’s very different than paying Colt Anderson 4mil to just play ST.
Then we did we cut the the insurance at WR in Jackson and Avant?
Also how are Casey an insurance when he hasnt shown any real contribution on offense?
Because we were confident we could fill that void with talent, which they went on to do….did they invest in some sure fire TE talent that I’m unaware of?
No sane teams think like that. They had an idea, but they was also ready to role the dice and go in to TC without a high drafted WR.
Hell Matthews and Huff aint even sure fire talent. Eagles also signed two talented TEs in Burton and Annen.
Please burton and annen are major long shots…going into the season with Jeff Maehl and Brad smith as emergency backups is more sane, than assuming you can stick burton or annen in a game week two if Celek gets hurt.
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Ertz can be replaced with a WR if he gets hurt….Casey is the only player we have to take over if Celek gets hurt early on
No sane GM will pay a TE $4 mill just to ride the pine and be ready in case your primary run blocking TE gets injured, that’s absolutely ridiculous.
Casey played only 13% of the offensive snaps all year, and if Howie doesn’t anticipate him making a much bigger contribution this year then he is either A. taking a pay cut, or B. getting cut.
Seriously, his best season of his 5 year NFL career consisted of 34 rec for 330 yds and 3 TDs. Those numbers don’t look very reassuring.
It will be interesting if we carry 5 or 6 WR. I tend to think 5, since we’ll carry 4 RBs (we are a run heavy team and need that, imho) and one of those 4 will be Sproles, more of a slot receiver.
I think we’ll also carry 4 TEs (again: run heavy team). Don’t think you can go 4 RBs/6 WR/4 TE. That’d be 14 roster spots for those 3 positions. With at least 3 QBs and 8 OL that would make for 25 roster spots for the offense. Unlikely, I think.
My point is: WR #5 could be a very interesting camp battle between Smith (who also can do KR, but Huff can do that, too), Benn, Maehl and the UDFA kid from LSU, Boone. Boone has the advantage of being PS eligible. Damaris Johnson is also in the mix, although I doubt he’ll have a chance. Matthews, Huff, Sproles, even Maclin can play the slot. And there’s no way in hell DJ will ever be a outside WR for Chip Kelly.
2/3 of our $$ is spent on offense, we are way more talented on that side of the ball so i dont think itll be 25/25/3
Not so sure about that. defensive investments:
Barwin 46th pick in the draft
Jenkins top 15 pick
Cox top 15 pick
Meco 33rd pick
Marcus rd 1
Kendrick rd 2
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That’s 6 top 50 draft talents that we have gelling and growing on the defensive side of the ball. Another summer of coaching and continuity can make more of a difference than people think..
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Donnie Longball is also like playing defense with 12 guys. Dude is a defensive weapon…wait til people see how Joe Kruger plays when Donnie hits a coffin punt and pins teams on the two yard line..kid makes ish happen in those situations
Not so sure about that. defensive investments:
Barwin 46th pick in the draft
Jenkins top 15 pick
Cox top 15 pick
Meco 33rd pick
Marcus rd 1
Kendrick rd 2
…
That’s 7 top 50 draft talents that we have gelling and growing on the defensive side of the ball. Another summer of coaching and continuity can make more of a difference than people think..
..
Donnie Longball is also like playing defense with 12 guys. Dude is a defensive weapon…wait til people see how Joe Kruger plays when Donnie hits a coffin punt and pins teams on the two yard line..kid makes ish happen in those situations
Not so sure about that. defensive investments:
Barwin 46th pick in the draft
Jenkins top 15 pick
Cox top 15 pick
Meco 33rd pick
Marcus rd 1
Kendrick rd 2
…
That’s 6 top 50 draft talents that we have gelling and growing on the defensive side of the ball. Another summer of coaching and continuity can make more of a difference than people think..
..
Donnie Longball is also like playing defense with 12 guys. Dude is a defensive weapon…wait til people see how Joe Kruger plays when Donnie hits a coffin punt and pins teams on the two yard line..kid makes ish happen in those situations
Sorry..internet issues
I think it will be 24 O, 26 D, 3 ST, like @mksp:disqus posted it in his depth chart. Neil wrote that this was the distribution last year – I didn’t check that statement, though.
We are more talented on the offensive side, yes, but I think Chip thinks he can do it with 24 players, while the D needs all the depth and development it can get.
I’d rather cut WR#6 than f.e. Allen (as insurance) on D.
It all boils down to Special Teams for that last RBWRTE position.
You have to remember TE 4 or WR 6 could very well both be guys on the practice squad that allows you to keep somebody else until injury forces them up the depth chart. Annen/Burton and Boone/Cunningham are probably all pretty safe guys to stash on the PS for depth. I would rather do that and be able to have Curry, Kruger, and Hart at backup DE or keep an extra ILB/OLB.
I could see Sproles and Ertz both being viewed as 1/2 WRs and going light there.
Wait til Yous hear what Shady s saying about Nick FOles ability and potential on Stephen smith and Skips show. Exciting to hear
Shady’s always been luke warm on Foles. Finally without Vick (who he idolized) around he can finally move on and get excited about Foles with the rest of us.
That’s why hearing him speak this way is so exciting, talks about he thinks people still don’t really understand how good FOles is and how he will really show he is the real deal this year.
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Lol @ shady continuing to brutalize Knowshon
hah, Shady HATES all the running backs picked higher than him. But it’s awesome that he’s coming around
Wonder if Jordan can get up to 220lbs-223lb in these next few years and maintain his speed. For someone with questionable hands he has made some insane catches
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Kruger is up to 290lb after redshirt year. Hart is already at like 280lbs..wonder if he maxes out as a 295lber
10 pounds might be tough.
The Eagles just said Logan is upto 315 and Johnson upto 317 sp both are around 10 pounds heavier and both a big guys compared to Matthews
I mean a 10lb gain over the next two or three offseasons…but looking at his frame, it very well may be too ambitious of a weight gain, especially since he already lacks some “wiggle” at his frame…
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If I had to bet money on the weight he settles into and plays at over the majority of his career, I’d say ATleast 218lbs if he is at 212lb now
I think 212 is fine, AJ Green is 207.
Johnson and Logan up to 317 and 315 respectivly. I know Geagle will love to hear this. Johnson looks RIPPED. He is gonna be a monster.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bn4cCeCIcAAKkEz.jpg
GJ Kinne- because if I make myself look more like Howie Roseman they can’t cut me.
Kinne do not look like an NFL player at all.
I honestly thought that was some lucky fan that won a chance to play hoops with the Eagles.
The other night when it went up on twitter, if he hadn’t been tagged I would’ve assumed it was just one of the front office or PR guys.
He’s got grit though! He plays on special teams!
i see why they couldn’t move Brandon Graham – doesn’t look so good
Yeah saw that pic this weekend. Lane looks beastly
Hate Manziel! but I hope he becomes amazing, so that even when it looks like jerry took his smart pills(drafting Zack), he still ends up looking dumber than his plastic surgically altered face
Bonus points if Romo craps the bed some more.
YES!!!! Eagles headed to New England for training camp this summer!! Think FOles practicing with Brady is invaluable
I agree. After last season, Brady needs to pay attention to how Foles does things.
He could probably learn a thing or two about how to get his interception ratio down.
The way the media was blowing TB last year it’ll be interesting to see what it looks like this year – defensively and offensively.
It will be interesting this year to see how we stack up compared to last year.
Geoff Mosher wrote this in his recent article:
“Opposing defensive coordinators have 16 games worth of film to study and bare down on Nick Foles’ strengths and weaknesses. And McCoy, for the first time in his career, will see what boxes look like without Jackson’s presence commanding at least one safety about three miles downfield.”
Someone tell this guy you only need to bring up one safety to load the box and have 8 defenders in the box.
The Eagles faced single high man which seemed like 99% of the time. Teams took away DeSean with a corner and a safety who just played deep but not just on DeSean, per say. They essentially played the run with 8 and had everyone else play man.
My Point:
Teams aren’t going to be focusing more on McCoy…they ALREADY WERE. They didn’t fear DeSean’s speed, they feared McCoys breakaway cut back ability. Foles also does not specialize in the leading the receiver type of deep balls that Vick was capable of throwing. Nick will more so throw the ball up as a jump ball for his receivers to come down with.
DeSean struggled a lot in press man coverage. Essentially got taken away.
Think its abit of both.. Stop Shady they stack the box but also shaded the S to help the CB cover DJax.. Pretty much everyone else had to just beat their man which in this case last season Cooper benefitted from.. DJax struggles is it always coz of Press Man that everyone says?? Is this from actually seeing it or what his stats were on the day? Dont get me wrong ive seen DJax get pressed n struggle to fight off but seems to me everyone just gives him that label now as not being able to beat press..
I think the best example was DeSean vs the Saints.
He was invisible while Keenan Lewis shadowed him all over the field 1 on 1. I agree he’s an underrated CB. But DeSean is getting paid like the best (12 mil per) and you have to win more battles than he won. He only showed signs of life after Lewis left the game with a concussion.
DJax is a great player, but he makes your offense one dimensional cus he is not a versatile player. He isn’t comfortable playing in the slot and dealing with traffic. Hence doesn’t fit in Philadelphia.
Ive watched that game a few times on gamepass. He did shadow him but he also had S cover. In saying that he did get open a few times but Foles didnt throw the ball?? So who is at fault there? Thats what i was trying to get at is it really DJax not getting open, getting shut down or the QB just not throwing it or throwing him open?
Facing a loaded box is also a very overblown concept. Actually, since 2008, LeSean McCoy faced the second most loaded boxes out of any RB in the NFL, and only behind Thomas Jones.That being said, he only faced a loaded box 21.9% of the time.
So even with Desean stretching the field, McCoy still faced a loaded box more than any other active RB (yes more than Peterson, Lynch, Foster, Rice, Charles, Forte, ect.) and was still able to put up the numbers that he did.
Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/tennessee-titans/post/_/id/6159/best-rbs-dont-face-loaded-boxes-that-much
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