Bennie’s Getting Bigger
Posted: June 8th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 50 Comments »Eagles NT Bennie Logan had a good rookie season. He took over as a starter at mid-season and the defense played their best football with Logan in the starting lineup. He finished with 2 sacks, 2 TFLs and a FR.
Logan understands that he needs to play better in 2014. He must build upon the success he had as a rookie. The first order of business is bulking up. Logan is now up to 319 pounds. Zach Berman has some more details on Logan.
Logan entered the starting lineup in Week 9, and the Eagles went on a five-game winning streak. He averaged 20 snaps in the first eight games of the season and 41.5 snaps in the last eight. The winning did not begin because of Logan, but the Eagles liked what they saw.
When general manager Howie Roseman was asked at the scouting combine in February about getting a bigger player for the middle of the defensive line, he gave an ardent endorsement of Logan. Roseman said Logan has the frame to hold 320 pounds and raved about his athleticism.
The Eagles’ offseason moves served as validation. They did not sign a nose tackle in free agency. In the draft, they bypassed Louis Nix – a prototypical 3-4 nose tackle – when he was on the board in the third round. The team spent a seventh-round pick on Beau Allen, who could provide depth at that spot.
Defensive-line coach Jerry Azzinaro asked Logan to add 10 pounds after last season. Logan returned to Louisiana State, where he worked out and took classes. His weight swelled to 320 pounds, and he shed a few pounds to get more comfortable. Logan said he wanted to ensure he was “still quick and explosive,” although he recognized the need for more weight.
I know some people want a mammoth NT, but Logan can get the job done. The added bulk will help him to anchor against the run, but he’s also light enough to still move well. The Eagles like to move the DL around with loops and stunts. Logan’s athleticism helps him to be effective when they do this.
“Most people, when they picture a nose tackle, they picture a 330-plus guy, just clogging up the middle,” Logan said. “But the way we play our defense, you’ve got to be able to run. And I don’t feel I’d be able to run or do the things our coaches, in our scheme, require us to do. That’s why I’m not 330, or put on that much weight.”
Beau Allen is 330 pounds and is more of a pure run-stuffer. He can be a good role player. Damion Square is the player that really needed to get bigger and stronger. It will be interesting to see how he looks and how he plays this summer.
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Mike Kaye put together a cool piece for BGN on where former Eagles are playing.
How many people remember Simoni Lawrence? He’s now in the CFL, along with a slew of former Eagles. This was an interesting trip down memory lane.
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I’m very excited to see if Bennie Logan can make everyone forget about getting someone to replace him this season. I was listening to him on the PE website talking about how he ‘loves’ playing NT – Go here: http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/videos/videos/Video-Eagles-Insider-Podcast—Bennie-Logan/d1c944a6-e11a-47f3-96b2-861c63f2310a
He talks about it at about the 4:40 mark. Hearing him talk like that, I hope to see Bennie using that additional strength to demolish opposing centers all season long. Just before that he also talks about how the defence started to ‘click’ during the season.
Also, if you have time, watch the whole video – I thought it’s pretty funny how some of his teammates can barely understand his accent.
See that podcast you are pointing to? There is also one with Evan Mathis, and another one with Barwin…
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All 3 podcast episodes were pretty entertaining and informative…
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I think it’s funny how shy Logan is
How could Mike Kaye not mention Ware’s game-winning blocked-FG TD-return against the Chargers?! (That’s a lot of hyphens)
That game… Remember our run defense performance, especially Trotter, against the in-his-prime Tomlinson? Without looking, I thought that we held him to a stat line like 18 carries 20 yards, and I think he was even in negative yardage at half time or something? Wasn’t it Mikell that blocked the FG and Ware that returned it for a TD?
Yup. Q blasted through the right side and ware caught the bounce. The run D was awesome. The week before Tomlinson had tied the record for consecutive games with a TD (I believe it was 18 or 19). He was looking to set the record and we shut him down. And yeah, there was a point where LT was in the negatives. What a game. The O sucked. McNabb was still hurt from the chest contusion he suffered in Atlanta. God that season sucked. That chargers game was one of the few bright moments.
I was there– and was so disgusted that our O had wasted the performance of our D, that just before that field goal attempt, I had convinced my Girlfriend that we should leave, and beat the traffic out of the game.
Needless to say, as we were pulling onto I95…… I about wrecked us as I was screaming and pounding the steering wheel as we blocked the kick, and returned it for a TD.
I’ll never forget that feeling……
I think it was 18 carries for 7 yards……. at one point he had over 10 carries, for negative yards.
And our O couldn’t do CRAP that game, I was so ticked
http://youtu.be/PzZ4i8aWs_s
Everything is better with an Airplane reference.
I considered making the title “Logan’s Getting Larger” with this specific reference in mind.
Just initiated my son to the wonders of this movie on Friday night.
Really never understood the whole, “lets get someone better than Benny because he sucked after his FIRST year” mentality. Of course he was going to struggle, of course he needed to add weight. Benny played well for his first year for sure.
I didn’t think he came close to sucking at all either, people wanna give him shit for that NO game….when really our whole front 7 looked bad there.
no it was more like let’s get a fat nt since we run a 34 and got embarrassed by a couple of OLs last year on short yardage situations.
Please dude… On,y RB to gain 100 against us was Rashard Jennings in garbage time when we were blowing them out. Only team to run on us was the saints, and we we selling out to stop their passing game…. I also find it really stupid and ignorant to judge a rookie on his first playoff game matched up against an elite SB winning veteran like
Grubbs
It’s not useful to cut and paste the same argument in every post. I also specifically mentioned short yardage situations so I don’t see why you’re bringing up Jennings. I also never said he needed to be a rookie. Maybe read the post before insulting me.
I’ll add that the Vikings 3rd string RB also ran it in 3 times in that game. Of course one could say that having the worst passing defense had something to do with the fact that we didn’t get run on a lot. We also faced a lot of teams without their starting RBs — but you know that.
We did end up taking Allen, someone from the big boy mold that can hopefully spell logan / come on 3rd and short / goal line situations. Seems like some of us got just what we wanted.
If you can’t appreciate the year he had for a rookie NT, I don’t know what to tell you….you crapped on him all offseason, and 100 times I promised you NO FA NT was coming and that we would wait til round 7 and add one of the 3: Deandre Coleman, Shemar Stephan’s or Beau!Allen……
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Simple: if you don’t understand what a promising rookie year he had, then obviously you will think we will be signing a FA or drafting another one high in the draft… But you just watched the Eagles pass on Nix in round 3, and wait til the 7th round to sign a N?… That should tell you all you need to know about what a promising rookie year he had for a NT and how high the eagles are on him…
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What more do you need to see to understand that Logan is our NT, he is who we want? What more do you need to see? It was his ROOKIE YEAR, it’s absurd how half this fanbase treats that kid smh
Also, look at the defensive fronts on a few of those drives on 3/4 down…. Billy D didn’t do our line a lot of favors by having some serious room for guards to block down and double team our NT.
Yeah it’s pretty simple minded,,.. NT is ones f the hardest positions to play as a rookie.. Everyone’s favorite NT these days Dontari Poe sucked as a rookie. Logan’s rookie year was much better than Poe’s…
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Bennie is exactly what we want… If we wanted Bigger, we damn sure wouldn’t have drafted Bennie 20 spots ahead of Georgie’s Jon Jenkins..
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It’s SOOO ridiculuos and simple minded for fans to see a rookie, and think that’s the best it will ever be for a player. Logan anchored the 10th best run defense, and 5th best against runs up the middle, and he did that without the eventual size and strength he will put on in his first 3 years in the league. It would be extremely hard to find a NT who will play better as a rookie than Logan played…
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Dumb fans want to replace him, yet he will be one of our most improved players this year.. Not to mention, if we are in obvious run situations we can stick Beau in the middle and slide Logan to DE.
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Logan will prove to be a brilliant addition..that rare NT who can anchor the run yet also get after QBs
I just hope the weight gain transfers over to functional strength. We saw how another undersized NT (Jay Ratliff) did against us for a few years.
Ratliff was good against big boys like Jamal Jackson.. When he faced an athletic C like Kelce he was put in check.. Hatcher gave Eagles OL fits thats for sure.. Functional strength right on
Ratliff and Kelce actually only really matched up for one year. 2011 was Kelce’s rookie year and Ratliff actually gave Kelce alot of headaches. 2012 Kelce was hurt, and in 2013 Ratliff was on the Bears playing a 43, and aging.
http://bloggingthebeast.com/2012/07/05/film-breakdown-jason-kelce-vs-jay-ratliff/
Nice!
I so miss blogging the beast!
I am sure Chip demanded 10 pounds of muscle and even more sure that Benny complied.
He seems like the type of player that is willing to do whatever coach wants and do it well.
He was given the #18 at LSU which is handed down by players exhibiting great work ethics and leadership qualities.
That’s enough for me to believe in him.
Simoni Lawrence the pride of Delaware county football at Upper Darby High school, played against him Dan Connor and Mark Herzlich. My Penncrest teams although had a 9-2 record and 8-3 and a very hard 3-8 senior yr never beat those great teams those guys where on. Very underrated talent area for sure. Hope he gets a shot at the pros again.
Also big Shout out to my teammate and former IUP ILB Terrence Jackson, who if not for a knee injury after his senior year would probably b on a NFL roster as a Special teams Ace!! Also hope my boys Avery Coleman and Tyreke Kershaw from Shippensburg University make it!! Penncrest pride lol!!!!
Shout out to my teammate and former IUP ILB Terrence Jackson, who if not for a knee injury after his senior year would probably b on a NFL roster as a Special teams Ace!! Also hope my boys Avery Coleman and Tyreke Kershaw from Shippensburg University make it!! Penncrest pride lol!!!!
Bennie Logan absolutely had to get bigger but after seeing a few of those pictures of him playing basketball, I’m not sure if he actually gained any weight.
You’re talking about 10 pounds on a guy who is 6’2 300+lbs. It’s not going to be super noticeable.
Check out the pic of him lifting weights at Novacare… That’s one, muscular NT
Yup, and we don’t need a fat NT that can’t move– I don’t know how many times I saw B.Logan loop around and hustle down the line as the play design was made……. dude can hustle, and to lose that, he would lose what makes him special
Yeah it’s crazy talk,,, fans should be very excited about him,. Find it Embarressing that half our fanbase craps on him and wants to replace him after a year
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after this year all the NT talk will be done with… Logan and Beau will prove to be the NTs of this era of Eaglea fooseball
Tommy, read your article ‘Fan-Demonium: The Eagles’ Homegrown Talent’ on PE.com. Excellent take on developing our talent. Are there any plans to follow that up and compare the number of homegrown starters (incl. those with pro-bowl nods) compare to other playoff caliber teams? Would be interesting to see how correlated team wins and homegrown talent are as well as how we currently stack up with other successful teams. Thanks and keep of the great work!!
Hard to respect the acumen of a fan who doesn’t appreciate what a great rookie year Logan had… To all the ignorant simpletons who crap on Logan, who would you have rather added? Please enlighten me… The past two years, these are the NT alternatives:
1) Star LATULULIE. Would anyone rather have him instead of Lane? Lol
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2) Jon Jenkins.. Backed up Bunkley drafted 20 spots after Logan
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3) Jonathon Hankins… Was invisible for the giants
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4) Jesse Williams.. Hasn’t played an NFL down yet
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5) Brandon Williams… Quiet rookie year for Ravens
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6) Montari Hughes
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7) Kwame Gaethers…
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2014:
1) Louis Nix…
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2) Justin Ellis
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3) Daquan jones
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4) McCullers
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5) Shamar Stephens…
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None of the NT drafted in 2013 had a better year than Logan, and 2014 draft was garbage with nose tackles…so if you can’t appreciate the rookie year Bennie had, please enlighten me and show me a better option…only players I would consider over Bennie are Star and Brandon Williams, both were drafted last year in round 1, I’d much rather have Lane Johnson over those two..
Star Lotulelei anchored what was if not the best, then one of the best front 7’s in football last year. If you’re talking draft value, that’s one thing. If you’re just asking if he’s a better player than Bennie Logan, then absolutely, Lotulelei is the better player right now.
Star played on a 4man Line… What he was asked to do, is nothing like what we asked of Bennie… Would you rather have Star and a round 3 LT, or Lane with a friggin hall of fame ceiling and Logan?
seems to me like we get star (overdraft) and and armistead in the third. I wouldn’t hate on williams either seems to me bal has a pretty good NT no?
it’s sort of ridiculous that you think there’s no one better for the eagles than exactly who they drafted. Plenty of good players in that draft we didn’t pick.
I love Brandon Williams, but how are you getting him? Can’t take him #4 and won’t last til our second round pick…
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Terron Armstead is going to be a real nice player but he ain’t Lane type of special….LT is one of the 3 Valued position…it has soooo much more worth than a NT.. Would be foolish to take your NT in one, pass on the LT prospect who broke every combine record…
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Eagles played their hand beautifully, especially when considering we also got Ertz… Can’t help but wonder how great the draft could have been if we didn’t spend a 4th on a QB? Hopefully Kruger emerges as a 4th rd talent
Williams was taken 94th overall. Also Lane didn’t break every combine record. In fact Armstead put up a better 40, bench, and vert. The only record Lane may have broken would be the broad jump.
3rd round NTs were Logan, Jenkins, Brandon Williams..
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Thought Hankins was 3rd with B Will being 2nd, but that’s backwards..
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If we.go back and look at our posts from last years pre draft… I would have ranked those players
1) Brandon
2) Jon
3)’Bennie
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I hated the Logan pick, and trashed Walterfootball for like two months for mocking him to us in round 3, but the kid made me a believer.,NT IMO is one of the hardest positions to play as a rook and Logan for a rookie NT, I couldn’t really ask for much more…looks like Giants got the short end of the stick taking Hankins in round two
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Brandon and Jon both still look promising after last year but they weren’t given the opportunity Logan got. Those players flashed, but they didn’t have to be counted on, and Logan was able to answer the bell….considering how rookie NT have performed, I don’t see how someone can not be excited about logan..
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Doesn’t really matter. I suggest the naysayers take advantage of these next few months because come September, It will be the start of a big year!!! So enjoy what few months left of hating on the kid that people have left
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I think talking about replacing him after his rookie season is absurd,.. Only in this city we want to replace promising looking young players. Just suggesting that we were going to spend a high pick on a NT this year is Absurd!
“Only in this city we want to replace promising looking young players.
Just suggesting that we were going to spend a high pick on a NT this
year is Absurd!”
I seem to remember you being one of the founding members of the Louis Nix fan club.
I post 100 times a day during draft time…go find 1 single post of me talking about the eagles adding Loyis Nix… He is one of the players I despise lol.. I’m sure I fought with 100 of his fans about it and one can school you…
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I wanted Marcus Smith
Moncrief
Allen Robinson
hart
Christian Kirksey
KVN
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And I GUARENTEED we would draft a NT in round 7: Beau Allen,Deandre Coleman or Shemar Stephens…and I posted that 100 times so it shouldn’t be hard for you to dig up..
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Try again tho… Thanks for playing 🙂
Your argument is that you write so much that I realistically can’t read enough of it to disprove you.
I either love a player or I hate him…. I can assure you I want nothing to do with Nix… If anything I would have rather had Tuitt… No, you never once saw me post about us adding Nix, and I mean NEVER!
Lane and Armstead both broke the 40 record..Lane was a tenth slower…. Both Beasted the record tho
Ngata has played 3-4 DE more than NT, he’s really not a NT because he doesn’t play with great leverage.
I kno…just throwing out a Ludacris name
The focus on getting a huge NT has always made me wonder about fans, just how many first rate “big” NTs have there been outside of Ted Washington? Poe had a great start last year then faded the rest of the season, he’s still a work in progress and a question mark.
Best NTs in recent years have been Kelly Gregg (5’11 310 lbs once he grew up from a 290 lb rookie in Eagles camp) and Casey Hampton (6’1 314 lbs out of college who probably bulked up to 330 lbs maximum). Hoke, who weighs about 300 lbs, replaced Hampton in 2004 and the #1 defense didn’t miss a beat. Ken Dorsey is the NT for SF at about 310 lbs (up from 290 something at the combine).
So Logan at 315-320 lbs, with long arms and great upper body strength, is more than big enough to be effective, especially in a defense that keeps the NT on the field for more than 30 snaps a game (most big NTs can’t play that many snaps without wearing down and are useless on passing downs, see Harrison on the Jets – a problem when teams pass close to 50% of the time on 1st down).
The real question is whether he can improve his leverage and anchor better against double teams. And that’s less about size than technique and strength.
Good post…
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NT is also becoming one of the most under valued positions… Big NT like Cleveland’s Phil Taylor are complaining that their snaps keep falling… When it comes to the draft, getting pressure on the QB is the most valued…a NT who is probably not a 3down player won’t ever be high valued,… So with the holes we had it would have been foolish to fill that position with a first or second round pick….
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3 most valued positions are QB, LT, OLB… Coincidence we picked one of those positions in round 1 off chips drafts? So it makes sense to me to wait til round 3… And if you aren’t drafting a NT in round 1 or 2..your only options were Jon Jenkins, Logan and Brandon Williams…Ravens and Saints are hoping those two can take on a bigger role this year, Logan already proved that he can be counted on…
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I really can’t remember too many NT that played drastically better as rookies… And for those that are down on his weight. Howie and Chip are always quick to point put his frame, which suggests that they plan on adding weight to his frame which means he played without the eventual weight and strength he will pack on… I. Just don’t understand how people aren’t excited about him…