Saturday Morning Update
Posted: August 30th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 100 Comments »A few news items broke on Friday evening that give us an even better idea of what the Eagles final roster is going to look like. Still just unconfirmed reports, but we’ll go with them for now.
The bad news came from Jeff McLane.
Sources: #Eagles LB Travis Long tore the ACL in his left knee. His season is over. Casey Matthews to stay. More: http://t.co/PGdNMYdTHk
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) August 30, 2014
Really hate to hear that about Travis Long. He is a played the coaches liked, especially because of his versatility. He was an OLB that got cross-trained as an ILB. Long could play the run, rush the passer, cover and anything else you wanted from a LB.
The thinking was that the Eagles would go heavy at OLB, with Long being able to shift to ILB if needed. Now the Eagles will keep 5 OLBs and will need to choose another ILB to keep. The report is that Emmanuel Acho will be cut and Casey Matthews will make the team. This won’t sit well with some fans, but there is absolute logic to it. Matthews is a solid STer. He’s no stud, but is reliable and productive. He can also play ILB and OLB. Acho might be a tad better at ILB, but isn’t as good on STs.
I’m sure the Eagles will scan the waiver wire to see if any interesting ILBs get cut. It isn’t like Matthews is a player they love. The hope was to go with Long and cut him. This situation also was impacted by Jake Knott. The Eagles hoped he would take a big step forward this summer and become a key STer and backup. Instead he got suspended for 4 games and was hurt and unable to practice/play.
Matthews isn’t plan A or B. Heck he might not even be plan C. That could have been Jason Phillips. Matthews did what he seems to do best…survive.
Back to Long for a second. You hate to see a young player go through this. Long tore one ACL as a Senior at Washington State. Now he’s torn the ACL in the other knee. The good news is that he’ll have almost a full year to get ready for next Training Camp. Good luck to him.
* * * * *
A bit of news that will make some people happy.
#Eagles have decided to keep Cody Parkey, multiple sources have confirmed to http://t.co/9oo2avuO9a. http://t.co/zELFC44PLG
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) August 29, 2014
Parkey had one great game and a week of practice, but it turns out that just might be enough. I think going with him is the right move.
* * * * *
Roster projection
QB – 3 – Foles, Sanchez, Barkley
RB – 4- McCoy, Sproles, Polk, Tucker
WR – 5 – Maclin, Cooper, Matthews, Smith, Huff
TE – 4 – Celek, Ertz, Casey, Burton
OL – 8 – Peters, Mathis, Kelce, Herremans, Barbre, Tobin, Molk, Gardner
DL – 7 – Thornton, Logan, Cox, Curry, Bair, Allen, Hart
OLB – 5 – Barwin, Cole, Smith, Graham, Braman
ILB – 4 – Ryans, Kendricks, Goode, Matthews
S – 4 – Jenkins, Allen, Wolff, Maragos
CB – 6 – Williams, Fletcher, Boykin, Carroll, Watkins, Carmichael
STs – Jones, Parkey, Dorenbos
I went with Roc Carmichael as the 53rd player. I’m not sure who else to go with based on numbers. That and Carmichael plays a lot on STs. Nolan Carroll could fill that role, but if he gets hurt are you ready to rely on Jaylen Watkins?
I would prefer the team to find a Safety from somewhere else to keep, but if we’re going strictly with Eagles I’m keeping Carmichael.
This would be my practice squad
WR B.J. Cunningham
WR Quron Pratt
WR Ifeanyi Momah
RB Kenjon Barner
OL Dennis Kelly
OL Kevin Graf
DL Damion Square
DL Wade Keliikippi
S Ed Reynolds
open … maybe a LB or an OL
One interesting player would be Davon Morgan because of his versatility (S/CB). I thought he looked lost at S, but he interested me as a CB. If the Eagles go 6 deep at CB, they may want more of a pure S for the PS to develop along with Reynolds.
The practice squad is about both player development and…practice. You need guys that practice hard and can do a good job of acting as the upcoming opponent.
_
Great post Tommy! I agree with your reasoning except for Carmichael. To my untrained eye, he can’t cover and I will never forgive him for his playoff blunder. I think he should be cut and we take our chances on the waiver wire.
After one game they decide to keep Parkey? I’d be fine with that if he was here since the beginning of camp but him coming along so quick makes me a bit uneasy to be honest. I somehow think Eagles keep 2 K’s on the roster, but if that isn’t the case, I hope we’ve made the right choice.
He made his preseason FGs with the Colts. I could not find the distances for those kicks. I think his mental toughness was a determining factor. Henry seems to crumble under pressure plus he does not have the leg of Parkey.
Henery was known for his clutch kicks coming out of Nebraska, including a 50+ yard one at the buzzer of one game. I think it’s more likely he missed some kicks at the wrong time recently. You can’t expect one or even two seasons to be representative for a kicker. The amount of kicks per year is simply too small.
Don’t discount his lack of leg strength on kick-offs. Parkey led the NCAA in touchbacks and averaged over 50% touchbacks on kickoffs for his college career.
If it’s a toss-up on field goals, go with the guy that has a chance of putting it out of the end zone on kickoffs.
I really couldn’t care less about touchbacks. If your coverage unit doesn’t suck, you don’t need them. By getting a touchback you forfeit the possibility of pinning them inside the 20 or forcing a fumble. And if you give up a long return or TD, it’s not the kicker’s fault.
I guess kicking it out of the endzone would have been a better strategy than what we employed against Cordarelle Patterson, but at what cost? Holding onto a guy who made 75% of his college FGs?
The Eagles coverage units were pretty good on punt coverage and bad on kickoff coverage. Maybe they are not all the same guys, and maybe Fipp is good at coaching one but not the other, but the glaring difference between those two teams was Donnie Jones and Alex Henery.
Saying you don’t care about having a good kicker on kickoffs doesn;t make a lot of sense, especially on a team that scores as often as the Eagles.
Henery consistently gets it 0-5 deep in the endzone. Not sure what else a coverage team needs, except apparently to not have to cover the kick at all.
You know they actually keep kickoff distance stats now? Where do you think Henery was ranked? I’ll give you a hint: he was as close to #30 as he was to #20.
Oh, I found a kickoff stat where Henery ranked #1!
touchdowns scored against.
Haha, because it’s Henery’s job to tackle the returner.
Too bad he wasn’t known for clutch kicks for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Again, probabilistic reasoning.
If it is true, as has been said, that kickers are essentially fungible, then going for kickoff length isn’t a bad strategy. To me, it all smacks of overreacting like cutting someone because they miss the last freethrow of the season or something.
I thought I read rumors that Dennis Kelly had made the 53, but could be wrong.
The Parkey decision is rash IMO, Henery has the stronger resume from college and NFL levels in relation to consistency and accuracy. Parkey may have a stronger leg for kickoffs and longer FG, but consistency and accuracy are more important and who can forget him shanking the 33 yd FG in the BCS game. I think Parkey is only a short term bridge and they are waiting to pick someone else up after Week 4.
Someone else? or McManus?
I think McManus is very likely the target once Prater comes back from injury for Denver – we have to hope he sucks for the Broncos so they will let him go before having to send the conditional 7th rd pick to the Giants. The other options could some of the available retread vets (Bironas, Feeley etc.) although I hate that possibility since they are even worse. Perhaps Hopkins comes available again somehow.
Wait, why would we want a kicker that sucked for another team? Isn’t your whole point against Parkey that he sucked for another team?
McManus has already missed at least one FG this preseason.
I like giving McManus a shot. If he turns out to be as unreliable as Henery, then we bring in someone else.
The point is the Eagles may want McManus to be available after week 4 once Prater returns healthy. I do not know Prater’s contract status, but if McManus excels in his absence perhaps the Broncos cut him loose and keep McManus – its all speculation anyway
Hopefully McManus will not suck for the first four weeks. The Broncos are not keeping two kickers. One good kicker will be on the market after week 4.
Henery has a long history of missing field goals in games where we’ve lost by 3 or fewer points. And don’t forget how many times the Eagles went for it on 4th down instead of kicking a 50+ yarder and didn’t convert.
Sounds to me like even if Parkey misses as many FG’s as Henery, his ability to hit long ones and touchbacks makes him worth it. Remember the Vikings game?
Let’s look at the facts:.
At Nebraska, Henery posted a 89 FG% over his career. He was drafted by the Eagles.
In 2011, Henery missed 3 FG all season, 1 of them being a 63 yder. In 2012, Henery missed 4 FG all season, 1 of them being a 58 yder. In 2013, he did show some cracks in the armor, but missed 5 FG all season. Overall, he has a 86 FG% and went 22-26 from the 40-49 yd range over the 3 seasons.
I do not see this “long history” you’re referring to. In 3 seasons, he has missed 12 kicks total and 3 of those were from 58+ which are long shots for any kicker. In the Saints game for example, yes he missed a 47 yder early, but made a 31 yder late to pull us within 3 pts. His kickoff at the end went 3 yds deep into the EZ and the coverage unit allowed a great return + the stupid penalty by Williams added on. Then the D could not stop the Saints run at all which led to the loss. Somehow, Henery got most of the blame.
Parkey is a rookie so all we have is the small sample of this TC/preseason where he has gone 5-5, including the 53 and 54 yders vs the Jets.
In college at Auburn, Parkey posted a 75 FG%
Parkey won’t miss many. He has “the LOOK”. A very intense guy who is very focused.
I’m not sure if this is a facetious post or not, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it is.
So three games is a “long history”? It happened the fourth game of Henery’s career in 2011 (when the defense blew a 23-3 lead), the game against San Diego last year, and the playoff game (where I feel pretty certain the Saints would have easily scored a TD had they needed it). Parkey is probably the right move, but not because of Henery’s past FG performance, really. Kickoffs, for sure, and Henery may have looked worse than last year in the preseason. Parkey missed way more FGs in college last year than Henery did in the pros, so it’s very possible he is considerably worse at FGs. It’s obvious that Kelly had lost confidence in Henery though so the move has to be made.
Yeah, I think they’re gonna keep two kickers for a while. People have a really short memory with Henery. He was the best kicker in college history, came into the NFL for two years and was one of the two best young kickers along with Dan Bailey, at one point nailing 22 straight FGs in one season, that streak being broken by a near 60 yard attempt if I recall correctly.
Then he had a down season and now everyone wants his head at a position where down seasons are inevitable for even the best due to the small sample size.
College kicking success often does not translate to the pros.
Why come?
good question… I don’t know, but that’s the way it works and why it’s is typically moronic to draft kickers. Only two were drafted this year, both in the 7th round.
Well, empirically, you could probably say that that happened to people. Deductively, it doesn’t make sense. Ball is held the same way, etc. You’re not switching like a dlinemen from engaging boys to engaging men.
So even if it appeared statistically to happen to some kickers, it could just as easily be statistical noise. Good college kicker comes to the pros, gets two years in the NFL where he’s off. Heck, maybe he can’t handle pro football, moving to a new city, new pressure, etc. So in his first two years in the NFL he only hits 80% of his FGs and is dumped, having hit 88% in college. But the problem is that two years in the NFL is 50-60 FG attempts. The difference between 80 and 88% is like 3 kicks. So basically external factors or even just randomness could do in a lot of guys. I don’t think kicking is different enough at the NFL level to reasonably posit it as the cause.
Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is not that Henery is some great kicker. The point is that kicking is a crapshoot for everybody, Henery was an amazing kicker through college, a very, very good one minus distance in the pros for two years, and then he had a bad year. He had a bad year in a position where you get 30 shots per year. Can you imagine if Nick Foles’ season was the Dallas game? He’d be out of the league, not in Canton. If we cut him and keep Parkey we could be sitting here next offseason doing the same thing to Parkey. It’s highly unlikely Parkey would last the three years Henery did.
Evidence?
Look at the top 10 kickers in the league last year… how many were drafted? 2 or 3?
Houston cut LB Quentin Groves – anyone know anything about him? Craig Loston (LSU) surprsed me when he wasn’t drafted – and now the Jags have cut him – is he just one of those great college players who’s game fails to translate to the NFL? or has he not found the right fit yet?
I was intrigued by Loston but as you eluded to, if you don’t get drafted plus you get cut by the Jags, you may not be that good.
Too hetero. I like more flamboyance in my SEC linebackers.
Smoke rises from the ruins of the once-great city. There is silence but for an occasional breeze whistling through the empty, mangled structures. Bombs have rained death upon this civilization; there was no escape.
But wait! A lone survivor emerges from the wasteland, scraggly hair pulled back from his face.
“Hey, where you all at?” asks Casey Matthews, the human cockroach.
Zombies cannot be killed!
Love it! Through tears I will re-post my own inane ramblings, as they seem more appropriate now…
– Nothing is certain but death, taxes, and Casey Matthews.
– After a world war induces a nuclear winter in which the sun vanishes for five years, the only life remaining on the planet will be cockroaches and Casey Matthews.
– Casey Matthews will officially become the human equivalent of “Other” memory on iPhones and iPads.
– Before the bye week, his helmet will have oxidized, and his white jersey will have aged to a creamy “parchment.”
– Even after we die, hair, fingernails and Casey Matthews’ potential will continue to grow.
– We will be forced to recognize that God has chosen to send his next messenger to us in the form of a special-teams only backup linebacker.
– Freddy Krueger will start to hear footsteps.
– The Franklin Mint can officially release the Casey Matthews commemorative coin.
– At a loss for other things to try, the coaches will give him a wispy goatee and introduce him as Casey’s evil twin.
– I will cry.
How can the birds keep Polk when he hasn’t been on the field? His injury problems won’t suddenly go away during the regular season. He can’t make the team on reputation alone; he’s not a star.
I go with Tucker and Posey. They’ve earned it.
I think they saw enough of Polk last year to be comfortable he can continue developing – the hammy injury can be a nagging one so hopefully being careful with it during this period will have allowed total healing and he can produce in the real games. Tucker should make it as the 4th RB.
Is Chip Kelly really in Baltimore for the Ohio State vs Navy game?
Yep. Not a huge deal. Cuts have already been decided, just not announced. Howie is the key decision-maker for picking up players cut by other teams. Can talk to Kelly on the phone about any of those type moves.
Thanks for confirming. It seemed legit.
Just means all the cuts and meetings were done yesterday and maybe some early this AM.
Kelly is not one to waste time.
I hear tonight Kelly is going to Las Vegas for the Flying Elvis combine.
Yes
There is a report that the Jets will cut WR Stephen Hill. He’s been a huge disappointment for them. Wonder if the Eagles would have interest.
2012 draft everyone on Eagle’s boards were insane for Hill. Size, speed, hands – huge debut game – then nothing. Was the problem the scheme, the Jets, the coach or the QB?
Considering you are talking about the Jets, the answer is all of the above.
I certainly would be Tommy, I certainly would be.
Now people seem to have a problem with Parkey over Henery? strange…
Ask yourself this hypothetical: Week 1, the Eagles have a 48 yard FG try to win the game with 2 seconds left on the clock. Who do you want on the field? I’ll take Parkey over Henery.
I sure hope the Eagles are not trailing the Jaguars with 2 seconds left. I would have more concerns than who is the kicker.
To answer your question: Parkey
Based on…2 kicks?
based on 3 years of watching Henery struggle with distance.
Hypotheticals are fun and all, but we actually have facts which are helpful…Henery was much better than Parkey in college (89 FG% vs 75 FG%) and has gone 22-26 from 40-49 yd range (85 FG%) during his NFL career. All we have for Parkey are 5 kicks this preseason; he has nailed them all which is great, but I’m not sure how one could feel confident projecting on such a small sample especially after his inconsistent college career including the shank of a 33 yder in the BCS game.
Haha, Parkey only hit 75% in college? I’m surprised an NFL team even gave him a chance. Until I remember we signed Carey Spear.
Parkey has leg strength. Henery has a weak leg and has not done enough to improve it.
So now leg strength is the ruling criteria for a good kicker?? Hmmm
Has Parkey done enough to improve his inaccuracy and inconsistency?
Kicking in college is actually harder because of the wider hashes
Henery is 40% over 50 yards for the Eagles.
So far, Parkey is 100%.
You don’t seem to be very good at probabilistic reasoning.
Do you understand the concept of small sample size error?
Also you must not have read my earlier posts carefully since I mentioned that 3 of those were 58+ yders including a 63 yder which would be a stretch for any kicker alive.
The two kicks Henery made were both 51 yders. Does he have the strongest leg? No, but let me know when Parkey makes a 58, 59 or 63 yder kick at this level.
Henery is a “guy off the street” quality kicker. If Parkey fails, we bring in another guy off the street.
Actually, Henery is the opposite of a guy off the street…one of the best college kicking careers in history and highly touted coming into the draft…gets drafted and has one of the best NFL rookie kicking seasons in history followed by another very good year and a somewhat good year.
I agree that if Parkey fails, they will bring in another option and the only ones available will be old retread vets and really young inexperienced options. That is the risk of this move, we may end with a worse kicker and have created a problem where one did not really exist.
Are you from Nebraska or something? Because you really seem to give Henery a lot of credit for his performance there.
As far as I’m concerned, Henery has more than used up his “look at what he did in college” pass.
“Henery hit only 82% of his FGs last season and has a career 86% rate in the NFL. I know, let’s BURN HIM!!”
Maybe you were on vacation when this article came out last year: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/Putting-Alex-Henery-under-the-microscope.html
No, I have zero connection to Henery or Nebraska…all I’m doing is looking at the facts and making solid conclusions based on that evidence.
Did you miss that Henery had one of the best NFL rookie kicker performances in history and had a very strong 2nd year as well? He is not a college fluke; he had a wonderful college career which led to him being drafted and he rewarded the Eagles with two very good seasons of performance. Last season was not as good, but still solid yet the Eagles obviously felt they could do better.
Listen, thats my last attempt and I’ll give up now because in the end the discussion is moot; Henery is gone, Parkey is the Eagles kicker and we’ll have to see what happens. I think it was a rash decision based on small samples and the facts support that conclusion, but who knows, maybe Parkey becomes a star or we find another option that does better than Henery or Parkey.
Sadly, or not, the world is “what have you done for me lately“ and Henery blew it against the Saints, also again in preseason. Parkey did what he needed to do to get the job. We all hope it was the correct move.
Henery is 2-2 from 50-55 yards. His three misses were from 58, 60, and 63. Parkey has never hit one in a regular season game yet. (This is not to say that Parkey is the wrong move… I think it’s the right one… but he could be a lot more erratic than Henery.)
All that you say here and in the rest of this discussion regarding Parkey as an unknown is obviously correct. We know very little about how the guy will perform. With his future on the line, though, the kid came through in a big way with those two 50 yarders. At this point, put me down as someone optomistic that he can be clutch and, at least, worth a shot as an upgrade over Henery.
I am no expert and agree Parkey is an unknown quantity outside of his college production which has some red flags.
If you feel comfortable losing a kicker with a much better track record and a NFL career 86 FG% for an unknown quantity, thats fine.
All I’m saying is I am not comfortable with that and think it was a rash decision made based on a very small sample size. Parkey may be good, we’ll have to see what happens.
He can do things that Henery physically can not do that you would expect from an NFL kicker. Picture this…in our loss to the Saints what happens if he hits that feild goal? What about this, what if he still missed tht fg, but his kickoffs go for touchbacks instead of constantly giving Saints good starting feild position. Really changes that game.
Hypothetical — you have a 33 yard field goal in a championship game. Who do you want on the field? 😉 (To be fair to Parkey — it would have been good from the NFL hash mark; the kick was too straight and just missed. Auburn lost by 3.)
I love it. People are just nervous because we only saw him in one game. The thing is he did what Henrey cannt do 2 in that game. The way i see it, having Parkey means you need to gain 10 less yards on the feild to score. It also means opposing O’s will be starting at tbe 20 more now then the 25 or 30. Sorta big deal. I understand why people are nervous, but hey sometimes u need to gamble to succeed.
Again, Henery was never given the opportunity to kick a 53 or 54 yd FG during a game. He had 5 total kicks of over 50 yards; he made two that were 51 yds and missed 58, 60 and 63 yders. Parkey posted a lower FG% than Henery in college which is the only large sample of data to analyze we have. If you are comfortable using a sample of 2 kicks to choose your NFL kicker, so be it. I disagree that is smart.
Henery did have more opportunities to hit 50+ field goals; and the coaching staff opted against it.
You may discount that fact, but I think it says a lot about what Henery is capable of.
One, I doubt that is a fact or it is at least an unproven one. If you can provide factual evidence that Reid or Kelly purposefully did not use Henery in 50+ FG situations because they did not trust him, I’d love to review it. My sense with both Reid and Kelly is they would either go for it since they trust their offense or would punt it to pin the other team deep and force them to go the whole field to score vs our defense.
It’s point number 4 in this article:
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2013/10/27/kelly-explains-game-decisions/
Look, I get you’re scared of the unknown, but Henery has just gotten worse and worse. The fact that his job was on the line and he still missed a 31-yarder shows his head just isn’t where it needs to be.
Parkey may not be the answer, but the staff has seen him in practice and in games (his time with the Colts included), and they decided he was a step up. If he’s not, there are still veterans on the street, most of whom are probably past their primes and not much of an improvement from either of these two.
Again how about he has attempted less 50 yard fg then any other kicker. In a way its common sense. The guy lacks in leg strength, therefor he would not be good at 50 plus.
And there is a reason why our coaches decided to punt more often then not when presented with a 50 plus yarder. There is a Reason why Henrey has attempted less 50 fgs then any other kicker in.the league through the past few years. The kid missed a fg in the playoffs. Cant make a TB and is missing in preseason. One of them a 30 some yarder!!!
Makes sense.
https://twitter.com/LesBowen/statuses/505746588556623872
Apparently I was wrong about Roc Carmichael.
https://twitter.com/GeoffMosherCSN/status/505751046279663616
Curious to see what the team does with the 53rd spot.
Reynolds
Dennis Kelly
Tommy, why Barner over Josey for PS?
It sounds like Dennis Kelly might be #53. Backup G/T Matt Tobin hurt his ankle in the Jets game. Kelly would be insurance for the OL.
If Parkey didn’t get the job over Henery, the Eagles would have been admitting they brought him in and took reps away from Henery for absolutely no reason at all. Parkey couldn’t have performed better. It seems that the Eagles brought him in as competition, and he won that competition.
He won it in a clutch way with that performance against the Jets. Makes me hopeful for his future.
I’m hopeful, but not overly confident. I wish they had attached more importance to replacing Henery early on instead of that farce of a competition with murderleg.
But at the very least we got rid of Henery and the sooner the better on that one.
My summation of the kicking situation, by Philadelphia fans: GET RID OF HENERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Parkey is signed* WHY DID WE LET GO OF HENERY!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
Barkley’s interception in the endzone killed his chances with the Eagles. I’m sure Howie is negotiating a deal. But who does he/Chip want and with whom?
Casey Matthews is the George Blanda of linebackers. He will be here when Howie retires.
So long Henery…
https://twitter.com/howardeskin/status/505771555558010882
Wow, Tucker and Barner got cut?
Tucker surprised me. Maybe his shoulder injury?
Could be putting Tucker on PS for now, then calling him up if there’s an injury. I’m guessing Polk’s injury must not be too bad if they’re going with three.
Only 3 RBs currently on roster: McCoy, Sproles and Polk
I think that may change but it is shocking considering how Chip likes to run the ball.
The cuts are in.
http://igglesblitz.com/2014/08/roster-for-now/
James Harrison announced his retirement today. If this is true, what happened to him and could the Eagles tap him to reconsider and work out some kind of trade?