Hope For Momah?

Posted: June 29th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 34 Comments »

Tim McManus wrote a great piece on WR Ifeanyi Momah and his second shot at making the Eagles roster. Momah was a non-factor last year, but rather than give up or be in denial, he did something about it.

The message going out the door from the coaching staff was that he looked uncomfortable and unconfident. Momah agreed.

“I just felt kind of out of place. I wasn’t good in and out of my breaks, I felt slower,” said Momah, who showed plenty of rust after sitting out most of his senior year at BC with an ACL injury. “Last year I felt like I wasn’t pushing myself too much because I was in my own head.”

So he went back to Long Island to reflect and to train. And to teach. Brady was running the All Long Island Football Academy and brought Momah in to work with the receivers, which proved beneficial not just for the kids but for the 24-year old as well.

“When you’re trying to teach a seven-year old how to run, how to get out of their breaks, this and that, you have to break it down. It really helped him perfect the little things by teaching the younger kids,” said Brady.

The two would put in work before or after the academy sessions. Momah focused on the finer details — setting defenders up, using his leverage, getting in and out of cuts in different ways. Having some experience in a Kelly system, Brady had a basic understanding of what was being asked of him in Philadelphia, which helped streamline the process.

Momah put on a show at his Pro Day in 2013, but we never saw that athletic ability in his time with the Eagles last summer. This is a perfect example of how timed speed (and quickness) is different from real speed (and quickness). Workouts and athletic tests are designed. They have specific movements that you can practice and rehearse.

Football practice is very different. There is the play-call. There is field position/situation. There is the player you’re going against. All of these factors can change on every single practice rep. The player must be able to let his athleticism show naturally. That didn’t happen for Momah last year.

Momah has played much better this time around. He’s been all-in on football for about 18 months. That covers playing, practicing and even teaching. His comfort level is up, as is his confidence.

The next step for Momah is playing well in Training Camp and preseason games. He needs to run routes well. He needs to get open and catch the football. Momah also needs to stand out as a blocker. He is 6-7, 239. He should get the best of every DB he tries to block. It would also help for him to come up big on STs. Momah has the size and speed to be a factor on the coverage units.

There is no question that Momah is a talented player. It does remain to be seen whether he has NFL talent or not. He’s certainly making a much better case for himself this summer. I am looking forward to seeing Momah in action, but my expectations are realistic. I still think the roster is a long shot.

The ideal situation for Momah would be to win a spot on the practice squad. That would give him a full season of practice without the pressure of expectations from the fans and media. Momah could then make another push for the roster next summer and would be better prepared for it. He will turn 25 in October so this isn’t a do or die situation for his career.

I know some Eagles fans fear Momah looking pretty good this summer, then getting cut and being picked up by another team. I would prefer to see Momah make it as an Eagle, but more importantly is him making it somewhere. This is his life’s dream and I hope he’s able to have some success in pursuit of that dream.

_


34 Comments on “Hope For Momah?”

  1. 1 Sconces said at 3:26 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Wow. I’m a Momah supporter just because there was a lot of hype last year and he ended up being terrible. So it’s just as a joke, or so I thought. Pretty sad that one year later blogs and writers are still giving a training camp body this much attention again.

  2. 2 TommyLawlor said at 4:17 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Huh? Just because Momah was bad last year doesn’t mean he can’t get better?

    You write about new information. Last year the stories were about his size and his potential. This year the stories are about his attempt to improve from the poor showing he had last year. That’s completely different and is newsworthy.

    If the stories were about “He’s big and it will be interesting to see a player his size in action…” then you would have a point. That’s not what’s being said at all.

    Momah sucked last summer. He knows that and went and did something about it. He’s playing much better. Again, that is newsworthy.

  3. 3 Sconces said at 4:45 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    I don’t think he’s more worthy to get coverage than all the other WRs (and players) on the roster bubble is what I’m saying. I know the stories aren’t saying “He’s big and it will be interesting to see a player his size in action…”, but articles are written about him because he’s big and it will be interesting to see a player his size in action.

  4. 4 Neil said at 5:04 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    6’7″, 240. Tests like a WR. I want to hear about this guy.

  5. 5 Jernst said at 6:22 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Exactly … I’d rather hear about him than Will Murphy. Neither is likely to ever play a down for us but one has a chance, albeit small, to be something special if he does. Or we can just shit on Tommy for putting up an article like this on a Sunday in the middle of the slowest news time of the off season, because there’s soooo much other stuff he needs to be covering right now.

  6. 6 eagleyankfan said at 7:30 AM on June 30th, 2014:

    I think all have worthy stories. T-Law will it on all of them. He happened to go with this story line. This is better than the obligatory “our punter is great” ever year on the other site….

  7. 7 GEAGLE said at 4:47 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Good stuff… Been hearing from all types of different people that Momah took a major leap in quality of play. Heard he has really started to play BIG..boxing out DBs, coming back for balls, going up for balls…
    .,,
    Momah and Villanueva are two guys I’m really hoping can make the practice Squad. We learned that those spots won’t just be given away(proof was Momah not making it last year)..but Momah and Alejandro are special athletes who could pay off in major ways if our coaches can whip them into football players..

    I don’t know that I hear of too many human beings who go from 270lb to 300lbs in 3 months at 6’9. This monster is able to work out as a defensive lineman every day, put on that type of.Bulk and still be able to run 5 miles?.. If these two special physical freaks earn practice squad spots it would just be huge. Momah has allegedly improved a lot on his own. Be nice to see how much more he can improve with a year of working with our coaches…
    ..
    can’t wait to see how Villanueva holds his own in the NFL trenches during the preseason lol.
    ..
    Tom did you hear the story about what Villanueva jumping over the standing bag at practice? Vinny Curry told some of it during the PE podcast…basically at 6’9 300lbs, Villanueva easily jumped over something that freak athlete Barwin needed a few attempts to jump over….I wanna see this dude in the trenches ASAP!!

  8. 8 Insomniac said at 5:15 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    I’d imagine it was something like this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WgICz4I20c

  9. 9 GEAGLE said at 6:37 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Clifton Gaethers certainly wasn’t doing ish like that last year..

    Love to see him throwing OL around and eating QBs during the pre sason

  10. 10 Michael Winter Cho said at 10:05 AM on June 30th, 2014:

    Holy ….!

  11. 11 Insomniac said at 4:25 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Why is a freak of nature getting attention that didn’t cost us nothing getting attention? There were tons of guys that were physically gifted and relied on that to get by. Momah being one of them. Everyone wants to ride on the Matthew’s bandwagon since he says what you want to hear. Yet the guy with the bigger ceiling who’s putting an effort to get there is just redundant news? Yea ok.

  12. 12 Sconces said at 4:46 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    MOMAH NOW HAS A BIGGER CEILING AND WORKS HARDER THAN MATTHEWS….I’M DONE

  13. 13 GEAGLE said at 4:48 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    I don’t think that’s what he said mate

  14. 14 Sconces said at 4:52 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    “Everyone wants to ride on the Matthew’s bandwagon since he says what you want to hear. Yet the guy with the bigger ceiling who’s putting an effort to get there is just redundant news? Yea ok.”

    didn’t say work harder so my bad, but higher ceiling is just stupid. And we’re on “the Matthews bandwagon” probably because we traded up for him in the 2nd and he’s been the most impressive player throughout practices so far.

  15. 15 Insomniac said at 5:07 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    40-yd dash: 4.45s (T-10th)
    Vertical jump: 37.5″ (5th)
    Broad jump: 10’9″ (T-5th)
    3-cone drill: 6.70s (4th)
    20-yd shuttle: 4.08s (8th)

    Momah’s pro day results. Sure he’s not on Matthew’s level as a receiver but you’d have to be a fool to not realize that Momah has Megatron-like potential. Last time I checked, Djax was the most impressive player in practice too..so what?

  16. 16 Sconces said at 5:55 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    “Momah put on a show at his Pro Day in 2013, but we never saw that athletic ability in his time with the Eagles last summer. This is a perfect example of how timed speed (and quickness) is different from real speed (and quickness). Workouts and athletic tests are designed. They have specific movements that you can practice and rehearse.”

    Megatron-like potential. lol. I’d have to be a fool to drink that kool aid.

  17. 17 Insomniac said at 6:06 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Go watch his tape before you question his athleticism on the field.

    and oh..

    “I just felt kind of out of place. I wasn’t good in and out of my breaks, I felt slower,” said Momah, who showed plenty of rust after sitting out most of his senior year at BC with an ACL injury. “Last year I felt like I wasn’t pushing myself too much because I was in my own head.”

  18. 18 Sconces said at 6:11 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    yeah I saw his one game before tearing his ACL…in college years ago. I’m sure that gives him HOF potential.

  19. 19 Insomniac said at 6:18 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    And what makes you think any of our WRs have a higher ceiling than Momah?

  20. 20 Sb2bowl said at 9:50 AM on June 30th, 2014:

    Obviously Momah has the highest “ceiling” of any of our WR’s………….. he’s 6’7″– no other WR on our team “needs” a ceiling that high. Derp, solved that one pretty easily!

  21. 21 Cafone said at 4:20 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    I agree on the practice squad thing. You can’t worry about him getting picked up by someone else. I think that would be a long shot anyway.

  22. 22 Neil said at 5:03 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Or he gets picked up, gets cut because he can’t play and finds his way back to us, like Marsh.

    Who’s actually a really good overal comparison for Momah.

  23. 23 Insomniac said at 5:10 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Actually, I think Bryce Brown is the best comparison overall. Both guys didn’t play much and are diamonds in the rough if they put it together.

  24. 24 Neil said at 5:14 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    True, that is a better comp.

  25. 25 Insomniac said at 4:21 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    We need our groomed talent to show what they can do now. Bamiro and Momah have all of the tools to be studs.

  26. 26 Avery Greene said at 4:31 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    I’d rather see him then Maehl.

  27. 27 Charlie Kelly said at 9:54 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    me too

  28. 28 Dominik said at 5:22 AM on June 30th, 2014:

    Same here. It would be a bad sign for our (deep) WR depth if Maehl makes this team. He has nothing athletically and nothing that makes him special on the field.

    You must always value the field over athleticism. But you should have at least one thing that makes you special if you want to make a good roster in the NFL. And we all hope we have a good roster.

    Maehl making the 53 would mean a bad TC and Preseason for Smith, Benn, Momah and Pratt. If that happens to Momah and Pratt, no problem. But at least Smith and Benn hopefully pan out.

  29. 29 Sb2bowl said at 10:02 AM on June 30th, 2014:

    I think the end of roster spots for our WR’s come down to 2 spots, for 3 players (really, 1 spot for 2). Huff, Mathews, Mac, Coop are all locks. The last 2 (I’m assuming 6 spots for WR’s) spots are between Benn, Smith and Maehl. I think Smith is a “lock” (versatility on offense, outstanding ST player @multiple positions) so that leaves 1 spot for either Benn or Maehl.

    In my scenario, I’m leaning towards picking Maehl over Benn; whoever stays healthy through TC is the first deciding factor, however, I think the real battle comes down to value on ST, and then value on offense. Maehl has stayed healthy Chip knows him, and while he didn’t offer a whole lot last year on the offensive side of things, he played well on ST and filled in where necessary. I’d rather have Benn on the roster, but I think Maehl beats him out for the last WR spot (assuming 6).

  30. 30 GEAGLE said at 4:32 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    Bwahahahahahahah remember Akili Smith? He says Johnny Manziel reminds him of himself. LOL.. All I know. Is You don’t hear Ryan Leaf talk about bow Nick FOles reminds him of himself…

  31. 31 Charlie Kelly said at 9:54 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    so glad we didnt call johnnys money phone on draft day.. no way chip wants that guy on his team now that he knows who he really is.. no way!!!

  32. 32 A_T_G said at 9:33 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    So, Momah-mentum is building?

  33. 33 Charlie Kelly said at 9:52 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    genius !!!

  34. 34 Charlie Kelly said at 9:53 PM on June 29th, 2014:

    i thought he had a couple nice plays on STs last preseason.. i think..