Closing in on Chris Polian?
Posted: January 25th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 147 Comments »Chip Kelly’s search for a personnel director might be progressing.
Chris Polian recently had 2d interview w/ Eagles for "GM" opening, NFL source said. Emerging as serious candidate, as @caplannfl noted.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) January 25, 2015
Polian is not my preferred choice for the job, but there is a case to be made for him. First, he certainly has the experience. He began working in the NFL in 1994. Obviously Polian got into the league because of his dad, but he stayed for 20 years. Chris was fired by Indy after the 2011 season. He was then hired by the Falcons for the 2012 season. Longtime friend Dave Caldwell got the GM job in Jacksonville in 2013 and brought Polian along to be his Pro Personnel Director.
Chris worked with some really smart, really successful people. Guys like Dom Anile, Tom Telesco, Dave Caldwell, Tom Gamble and Thomas Dimitroff are all excellent personnel evaluators with strong track records.
Chris had chances to leave the Colts while working for his dad, but didn’t.
Dom Anile calls Chris Polian “the best research-and-development guy I’ve ever seen.” In recent years, his duties have grown to include contract negotiations, and he has helped modernize the team’s personnel department, aiding the transition to computers in a way that not only streamlined the college scouting process but helped merge it with the pro player-personnel system into one seamless whole.
When the Miami Dolphins came calling two years ago with an opportunity in their front office, owner Jim Irsay stepped up to convince the younger Polian to stay in Indianapolis. After talking with his wife about the possible new job, Chris Polian didn’t need much convincing. “I was talking with her on the phone and she said, ‘If your name was Joe Blow, and you were somewhere else, and had a chance to work with Bill Polian and Tony Dungy in Indianapolis, what would you do?’ I said, ‘We’d put the house up for sale and we’d get our ass up there.’ That settled it. One, she was right. Two, I guess other people’s interest in me confirmed that I had some competency. I’ve kind of made my peace with the fact that I’ve only worked for my father.”
Tom Gamble worked for the Colts from 1998-2004, alongside Chris. Chip Kelly thinks highly of Gamble. You wonder if he reached out to him to ask about Polian. There are some rumors that the reason Gamble left the Colts is that Chris got promoted over him and some others. I have no idea if that is true or just idle speculation.
I would not want Chris Polian to come to the Eagles as “The Man”. He had that role for 3 years in Indy and things did not go well. In his defense, the Colts were cutting back on scouting costs and he didn’t have the kind of resources the team used when they were built into a juggernaut.
Chip Kelly is looking for someone to be his right-hand man. He needs someone that can gather, organize and prepare information for him. I do think Polian can handle this task. He did a lot of that in Jacksonvill over the past 2 years. This video interview offers some good insight into his role.
Polian failed in Indy. You can bet that was a huge piece of humble pie for him and he’s going to be a very different guy if given another position of power. That could also help in dealing with Kelly and stepping into an awkward front office situation.
My preference is still Scott Fitterer from Seattle, but it just doesn’t seem like that is going to happen.
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Rick Gosselin put the Eagles as the #1 STs unit in the NFL. I wrote about that for PE.com. Beyond the good play, I wanted to look at how the group was built. It took a couple of offseasons, but Kelly fixed that unit. Let’s hope he can do the same with the defense.
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Sorry, this would not be a good development. That’s a downgrade from Howie.
I’m rapidly losing my faith in Chip.
Lol so now we are pretending that we even have close to enough info to be able to speak on which is the best hire amongst the candidates? … No one posting on this site truely has enough Intel to speak on which of these candidates is the best hire, which is the worst. I could understand if we were talking about retread GMs with a track record at the position we are interviewing them for… .. Sometimes you just have to play the wait and see game…. But if we are going to pretend, I’ll go with Fritterer because he has the cooler last name… I’m sure every candidate has his strengths and his weKnesses.. But unless you can speak to the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, I’m not exactly sure how you can have a favorite?
Polian is a retread GM with a track record to evaluate. The other guys are unknowns.
Exactky. Unless we have a good grasp on all the candidates, how can we say who we prefer hiring for this position? Also lPolian ismt some GM with years and years of experience working for like 3 different franchise, he is still growing as an executive….like Spme head coaches learn from failing at their first spot and becomes successful in their second coaching opportunity….. Everyone knows Polian didnt do a good job, but is he going to learn from it? Or is he doomed to repeat the same mistakes?
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We can’t say who would be the best hire, and once he is hired, we will never even know if he is doing a great job or not since wen lur the responsibility lines in our front office,…. Whoever we hire, we probably won’t ever know which decisions are his and which are someone elses, so I try not to get to into this search. Even if I know it’s really important….. Look at the teams THAT made the championship games last week…. Good players, good coaching/GM tandems for the most part(bellicheat)
Roseman had a better track record the Polian.
I prefer Grier over Polian easily..
Dear Les,
How is saying one of the two presumptive favorites will become the GM at all “bold”?
I think you missed Les using a joke there.
Les doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.
Les is a good guy. Loves to joke.
Good guy, doesnt mean he should be covering the Eagles….
New thread. Good. I was getting too argumentative in the other one.
All in good fun!
It’s the off-season. Everyone gets a pass.
LOL – we all have nothing better to do!
So, is Bowen saying that Grier has interviewed? There’s not a lot of info out there about Grier, one way or the other.
So…..Polian’s crowning achievement was teaching daddy how to use a Mac?
If it means we can get a ‘Lin’ extension as well I’m fine with that move.
I would say it was being so terrible at his job of roster construction the Colts won 2 games the year Peyton got hurt which allowed them to draft Luck.
They were bad intentionally that year to position themselves for Luck
I don’t think we hire anyone til after the SB.
Barring the unlikely move for Oregon’s QB1, bring me DB Q. Rollins in the 1st. He’s gonna be a baller.
I’d prefer a competant and high quality professional to a “baller”, but oh well.
Haha. Potato, Potahto
No doubt. I would just rather see a guy “play great” than “ball out.” Color me old.
Well, we desperately need some of either in our secondary!
I like Rollins too, but the 1st round seems a bit rich for someone who only played one year of organized football and at a lower level as well. There are questions about his top end speed so his forty time will answer some questions there. I can see him absolutely killing the 3 cone drill though.
A DB Who won’t be able to play as a rookie in round 1? Exactly what this smart, supportive, nurturing fanbase wants….lol draft Rollins in round 1 and in this city, he will be a bust by October lol
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I do like the kid, but if I have to draft a corner in round 1, Id rather have Jalen Collins experience
You’re giving the majority of our fans and media too much credit if you expect them to wait til October. If he’s not starting in training camp, they’ll be out with their swords and pitchforks.
I think 40 time is overrated with CBs, the jumps and the agility drills is much more important.
What makes Sherman and Revis so good is their ability to flip the hips and with Sherman also to have the leaping ability to jump and get the football.
Also in 2013 we drafted an OL who had only 2 years experience of playing OT and yet he is now playing really well.
Depends on how much safety help you’re planning on giving your corner. If you play a lot of man 0 or single high for that matter, a slow corner will be exposed. If you play a lot of tampa-2, top speed isn’t as crucial. Haven’t we watched Fletcher get run away from often enough to realize that top speed is important? Revis and Sherman are both really good at getting jams, and they have good top speed. Sherman’s not really all that sudden, but makes up for it with really good top speed while Revis is a bit better all around. Sherman’s also a natural ball hawk, something I’d love to have in Philly and that has been missing since Asante left.
Sick of this “GM/personnel lacky” saga. I just don’t care who we get because I’m sure Chip will pull all the stops to get the guy he believes is his best option.
Any thoughts on the Senior Bowl game itself Tommy?
I liked what I saw from Abdullah at RB, Laken Tomlinson at OG, Coates/Lockett/Mayle at WR, Rollins & Nelson/White (even though they’re small) at CB, and Kikaha at OLB. Just to name a few, but I liked quite a few of the prospects that went to the Senior Bowl.
Doesn’t it seem like Tyler Varga is a Chip Kelly guy? Jack of all trades (RB, FB, WR, ST contributor, etc), smart (Yale graduate…), and an extremely hard worker/gym rat (looked as rocked up as any player at the Senior bowl). Looks like Chip’s ideal late round/UDFA for his #culture.
Speaking of Varga, and don’t get me wrong (lol) but I was especially impressed with his legs. They looked absolutely jacked and rock solid.
Is it a bad psychological sign that I obsess not only over who the new GM will be but also who the new assistant DBs coach will be?
We’re Eagles fans. I don’t think anyone would expect our obsession to be anything less than a bad psychological sign… I just like to obsess over the backgrounds of future NFL players as opposed to the backgrounds of personnel guys and assistant coaches. Tried it before, and it took me to a dark place… Come back to the light! Draft is only 94 days away!
I liked Cobb too. From what I read, Abdullah couldn’t block anyone in practice. If you can’t block, you can’t play for Kelly, so it’s probably safe to scratch Abdullah off our list.
Well, improved blocking can be coached. Many college RBs have trouble pass blocking right out of the gate. I don’t think you can scratch any draftee off your list (especially one as talented as Abdullah) just because he can’t pass protect like a veteran. Thats why we have coaches right?
He was getting run over. Wasn’t so much bad technique, although I’m sure that played into it, as it was he just wasn’t strong enough. That might come with time, but that’s pure projection. Me, I’d like a bigger nastier runner who can block, catch and run. I’m also not thrilled with his history of fumbleitis. I wouldn’t remove him from my list, but I suspect he’ll be higher on other teams than on ours.
Good point concerning the fumbles (we had enough this year to last a lifetime). I also want a bigger back with the skills you mentioned. Personally, my darkhorse RB for the Eagles is Jay Ajayi. He has size, speed, vision, can catch the ball without effort, and ran a ton out of shotgun (which I think is something not many people talk about when discussing possible Eagles RB targets). We need a RB that is used to the vision and timing of shotgun running. I like that kid.
Did anyone just catch what that Stat was that ESPN just showed that JJ Watt leads the league in?… The ranking was:
1) JJ Watt
2) Justin Houston
3) Connar Barwin
…
What was the stat that Barwin was only behind watt and Houston ? Was ift sacks,tips,fumbles, INTa
Combined?
Think it was passes defended (I think Bradley Fletcher was 4th)
Wattt, Houston and Barwin are the 3 league leaders in passes defended? Can that. be true?
Probably passes blocked at the line of scrimmage.
I think Watt and Barwin bats a huge amount of passes, so yes
Tampa hired Dirk Koetter who is real close with Oregons coach and the QB Coach Tampa has is well versed in Spread Offenses…Hello Marcus Marriotta. Hope Tampa takes him 1st, doesn’t trade with anyone…I don’t want the skins to end up stealing him. Hopefully Tampa falls madly in love
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Cool of shady to stick up for Foles again when NFL network asked shady about Marriotta..shady been supporting Foles left and right this offseason , cool to see
At least the GM in TB is putting in work to get Mariotta the right system etc. Clearly aren’t bringing in those guys for Glennon. Glennon isn’t bad if they drop him i’d take Matty B.
If they get Mariota AND that RB in the second they’ll go from bad to pretty freaking good. Especially if Lovie can get that defense right.
Always liked Glennon.. No clue why they didn’t give him a chance
Chris Polian would be just about the last guy from their list that I’d want. I agree with Tommy that the Seattle guy sounds a lot more interesting.
Adam Caplan
@caplannfl
1m1 minute ago
Congrats to #Eagles pro personnel asst Joe Hastings (also a former #49ers WR) who just landed a job with U of Michigan football.
Hastings is a guy brought in I’m sure at Gamble’s suggestion. He was a lower level guy and he did play under Harbaugh so I wouldn’t necessarily connect this to Gamble leaving. It wouldn’t surprise me though. Probably more job security at Michigan than here when whoever we hire will probably bring in his own guys.
Or he is just leaving to advance at a different place because if Kelly stays long, there wont really be any chances to advance internally with the Eagles
Not a fan of this move if it happens. Polian rode his dad’s coattails in Indy and failed there. Jacksonville has been a dysfunctional mess ever since he’s been there. This guy literally has zero track record of success.
Hoping Fitterer ends up with us instead.
from 24/7, speaking about Polian:
“Their 2014 draft was outrageous, as they got major contributions from 8 out of 9 of their picks, Bortles, Marquise Lee, Allen Robinson,Brian Linder, Telvin and Chris Smith, and Aaron Colvin, excluding their 7th rounder, Storm Johnson. If Polian played any role in that process we should feel pretty good.
Honestly their 2013 draft wasn’t far off that mark, landing them Joeckel, Cyprien, Dwayne Gratz, Dennard Robinson, Josh Evans, Demetrius McCray, all of whom played a ton of snaps this year.”
They played, and were terrible. Means very little that they played.
I’ll openly admit all I know about the Jaguars is their putrid record. I heard Robinson had a good year, but outside of him, I didn’t hear about any one of those guys doing anything well.
Bortles struggled as most rookie QBs do. Lee didn’t do much of anything. Robinson played well and their latter round guys got a lot of playing time outside of Storm Johnson.
To play devil’s advocate, it is a lot easier to get contributions from draft picks when they are picked at the start of each round and put onto a team with so little talent entrenched as starters.
Jacksonvlle has been a dysfunctional mess for a lot longer time than Polian has been there.
So we need even more people:
Congrats to #Eagles pro personnel asst Joe Hastings (also a former #49ers WR) who just landed a job with U of Michigan football.
DVRing it and I’ll watch later. It tends to be borderline unwatchable anyways.
I’m still confused by the new power arrangement. Chip is the de facto GM. Howie handles negotiating contracts. What exactly will the official GM do?
Pretty sure that’s what Howie’s new title really is. I think that should be a new title for front office people who don’t do a !@#$ thing. We’re promoting you to ‘Jason Garrett.’
Director of player personnel. Manages the scouting staff and Kelly’s right hand man for player evaluation.
He will coordinate between Kelly and the scouts and between Kelly and Howie most likely
Just listened to the National Anthem at the Pro Bowl. Why on earth can these sports organizations not get a singer with talent? With a real voice? Who can actually sing outside of the studio?
In Denmark we have no singers, instead we have the whole stadium singing our National Anthem and it gives one goose bumps to stand in a stadium with 40k people (largest stadium in Denmark) signing it.
That seems to be a European thing. Sometimes we have a singer here in Germany, sometimes only a band that’s playing the melody while the crowd is signing, like in Denmark.
I like the American anthem, but I like the European way of signing the anthem.
Different take, funny but true, slightly off topic:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/richard-sherman-deflategate_n_6523248.html?cps=gravity_1787_759206607101857904
I thought the SNL parody of the Belicheat / Brady press conference was pretty funny.
Blast from the past:
Adam Caplan
@caplannfl
23s23 seconds ago
Veteran coach Chris Palmer is expected to join the #Bills as a senior offensive assistant, league source confirmed.
ODB makes me sick. WHY IS HE SO GOOD ALREADY
He’s a stud and it pisses me off
Going to have to pull a Packers and draft CBs that could hopefully slow him down.
Back in the 90’s the Eagles actually drafted Bobby Taylor and signed Vincent to shut the Cowboys down.
The Eagles actually have 1 CB who can match Odell in terms of athletic ability and that is Boykin and somebody on twitter said after the game that Odell did all of his damage in the last game away from Boykin
Yeah it’s fuckin ridiculous that kid…
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We need to just do what seattle did, start having our DBs hold and interfer on every single play til the refs can’t keep calling it and start letting us get away with grabbing and holding like the seattle corners..
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Pretty Vocal about not believing that we will sigń Byron Maxwell, so I try to hide how much I love that kid and how happy I would be to see him become an eagle, but I know it will end in heartbreak, him signing a mega deal with some bad team with a horrible owner, Riders, skins, Jets… People argue that he benefits from all the great players around him, I actually think the opposite… If you are a QB and you trying to attack the legion of Boom, you aren’t throwing Sherman’s way, you aren’t throwing earls way, and if your grow at Chamcellor you will get your wide recievers head knocked off, so because of how talemted that secondary is, QBs are usual stuck trying to go after Macwell. Byron is no Richard Sherman but he is really really good corner. not only does he have good ball skills which our corners lack, but he is so damn battle tested, everyone is forced to throw his way, and he ends up holding his own. Maybe more then the rest of the LOB because of how frequently he is targeted ….. With a scary pain on the ass like ODB, Id dance naked in the street if we signed Maxwell, I just don’t see it happening….
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Hopefully we can get Devin McCourty who wpuld help our corners out a ton… I think if you take our current secondry and you can only add 1 new player. McCourty probably has a bigger Impact on our defense then Maxwell would….McCourty is also the perfect fit in every way possible, which is what it takes to get the Eagles to bust open the piggy bank in free agency……, Cary, McCourty, Jenkins, Carrol is better than Maxwell, Nate, Jenkins, Carrol…
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We eally really need McCourty to reach free agency, which means the patriots chosing to keep Browner and Revis instead… No way they keep all 3
Need DBs can’t deal with this kid lol
Bracket coverage his ass every single play for the rest of his career
He will destroy us lol, need some studs to cover Dez, and Beckham for the next half decade …*sigh*
They better not let Dez get to FA.
So if you already dance naked in the streets should the Eagles get sexy Maxy, what would you do if we even end up getting both Maxwell and McCourty?!?
Problem is: what if NE chooses to let Browner walk and re-sign Revis and McC? Chip won’t sign Browner, because, let’s face it, he’s a trouble maker (his style would fit, though, very big, physical corner). If Maxwell turns out to be too expensive, we still have no secondary impact player besides Jenkins.
And I know you don’t agree with me, but I still have around 10 percent hope Revis could hit the market. Boy would I love it if we can get him to Philly.
He’s always been that good… 🙂
Am I the only one who doesn’t really care who we hire? The position to be filled is a fairly castrated one, I doubt they’re going to cause a major impact with Chip basically running the whole show now.
I suspect the only reason most of us care is it’s one more way to stay involved with our beloved Iggles after the disappointing end to the season. Truthfully, very few of us, if any, have any real idea of whether any of the names on the list will be a good or awful hire.
I don’t know man, after the way this season ended I basically have blocked most Eagles stuff out of my brain. Between the catastrophic collapse, the embarrassing loss to the Cowboys, and Chips power play in the front office, I’m basically ready to hibernate until next year.
Dying for free agency, combine, drafts…
That’s why I’ve been so quiet…… Just such a boring time.
I hear you… I’m enjoying college basketball, as a sixer fan it’s like window shopping for franchise players
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Plus I already know all the kids I want to draft… Hopefully we get to free agency soon.
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ATleast I have Nick “middle fingers up” Diaz vs. Amderson Silva to look forward to
Talking with my fellow Eagles fans here helps keep me sane. It also helps to limit my own tendency towards pessimism. Many of the people on here make me feel like an optimist by comparison.
Basketball players improve the most during the offseason…. Give the kid an offseason to grow before you proclaim what he won’t ever be able to do.
.,,
Dude sat out all offseason with shoulder surgery, how exactly did you want him to improve his shooting? It’s literally not possible for him to have improved his shooting yet…
MCW isn’t a good shooter, fundamentals are bad there. Hell never be a great shooter just have to hope he improves elsewhere
I’ve been in full Sixer’s mode for a while this is just a backup site until free agency
I would love if Sam Hinkie’s plan worked out and the Sixers become a contender. All the WIP hosts wold have to eat so much crow, it would be awesome.
I think MCW is gonna have to go though, he simply can’t shoot and it’s not getting better. Noel is starting to show his potential, but Embiid is the big question mark. Who knows about that guy playing in Europe too. It’s an interesting time to be a Sixers fan. Shame they didn’t get Wiggins, he’s starting to tear shit up.
MCW didn’t even have an offseason yet… Relax
I dunno man, he couldn’t shoot in college, and he’s in his second season in the pros and shooting worse than ever. I don’t think he’s such a good ball handler that he can play the Rajon Rondo role and dish out assists all game long and no one cares about his shooting.
Just my opinion, but I think MCW won’t work out.
Embiid ceiling is astronomical if the dude stays healthy, MCW if trade if I got the right deal but only if. I like Russell a lot as a replacement and they could pay together too, I need a lotto pick to move MCW though. Noel has been a monster defensively but he is atrocious on offense and it’s sad lol. I’m super optimistic and I think we’ll pick 3 times in the top 20
How is it interesting? The team is unwatchable on the offensive end and until Embiid and their high pick this year play next year you can sleep on the team.
I’m actually afraid they are winning too much.
I was afraid before but honestly I love some many dudes after the top 2 I’d be fine picking 4th or 5th if that’s worst case
I don’t care because none of us will ever know if the gu we hire was the best guy available, amd whoever we hire, none of us will know if he is doing a good job or not, so no, I don’t really care at all…. I’m not going to pretend I know enough about each of the candidates to be able tp offer a worthwhile oppinion
Normally at this time of the year I’d be following the Lakers. They’re painful to watch now and most of the games are late anyway. Yes, I’m a Lakers fan. I was a kid in the 80s living in SoCal. It’s not my fault.
How does a kid from SoCal become an Eagles fan?
“I’ve never seen hands like Odell Beckham”…STFU Gruden
He’s kinda right though. ODB is absurd. The Giants absolutely stole him at pick 14. The guy is sensational.
12*
Jerry rice
Raymond Berry. Lynn Swann. Dave Casper. Steve Largent. Drew Pearson.
Chris Carter? Larry Fitsgerald? Jason Avant (Odell is pretty much Avant in an athletic body)
Round 1 Pick 23 (DET): Ereck Flowers, OT, Miami (Fla.) (B)
Round 2 Pick 20: Jalen Collins, CB, LSU (B+)
Round 3 Pick 20: Ramik Wilson, ILB, Georgia (B)
Round 3 Pick 24 (DET): Devin Smith, WR, Ohio State (A)
Round 4 Pick 14: David Cobb, RB, Minnesota (B+)
Round 4 Pick 20: Ladarius Gunter, CB, Miami (Fla.) (C)
Round 4 Pick 23 (DET): Durrell Eskridge, FS, Syracuse (B)
Round 5 Pick 20: Kwon Alexander, OLB, LSU (A)
Round 6 Pick 20: Sean Hickey, OT, Syracuse (D+)
Round 7 Pick 20: Erick Dargan, SS, Oregon (C)
Devin and jalen would make me happy
First-pick.com is a fun website, although it lets you get away with some scandalous trades and picks. I mean look at this draft:
Round 1 Pick 23 (DET): Kevin White, WR, West Virginia (A)
Round 2 Pick 20: Nate Orchard, DE, Utah (A)
Round 2 Pick 22 (DET): Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska (B+)
Round 3 Pick 20: Kevin Johnson, CB, Wake Forest (A)
Round 4 Pick 14: Daryl Williams, OT, Oklahoma (A-)
Round 4 Pick 20: Devin Smith, WR, Ohio State (A)
Round 5 Pick 20: Jordan Hicks, OLB, Texas (A-)
Round 6 Pick 20: Xavier Williams, DT, Northern Iowa (A)
Round 7 Pick 20: James Sample, SS, Louisville (B+)
Totally obscene (saying that if you could pull this draft off so would be my underware…. Kevin white and Ameer in this offence? bring my a box of tissues.
Yes, I know they are a bit ridiculous, that’s why I try to make them as Eagles centered as possible. For instance, I doubt we draft Orchard because he has virtually 0 cover skills and our D-line is relatively stacked. Kevin Johsnon doesn’t have the size we are looking for. Devin Smith in the third is a stretch but the 4th is not realistic but I know what you mean. It’s all I have.
6’1 is not big enough for a corner in our system? Johnson needs some work in the weights room, and will probably always be on the lanky side but i think that wont take him off our board.
Nate Orchard will never fall to pick 52 unless he ends up turning up to the combine and selling crack to toddlers, and i agree he is more ideally a 4-3 guy… but he can pass rush and i think with time he could be as capable as a Trent in coverage, if he did fall in the draft i think the eagles would be interested.
Cole and Graham had 0 cover skills as well first, it can be learned. Orchard would be great because of his pass rush skills
I would think they would ideally like to get someone with better pass coverage skills than either.
Round 2 Pick 9 (STL): Cameron Erving, C, Florida State (B+)
Round 2 Pick 20: Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State (A)
Round 2 Pick 23 (ARI): Eric Kendricks, ILB, UCLA (A)
Round 2 Pick 27 (DEN): Jalen Collins, CB, LSU (A-)
Round 3 Pick 1 (T.B.): Kurtis Drummond, FS, Michigan State (A-)
Round 3 Pick 8 (STL): Tevin Coleman, RB, Indiana (A)
Round 3 Pick 20: Laken Tomlinson, OG, Duke (B-)
Round 4 Pick 14: Ronald Darby, CB, Florida State (C+)
Round 4 Pick 20: Vince Mayle, WR, Washington State (C)
Round 5 Pick 20: Max Valles, OLB, Virginia (A-)
Round 6 Pick 20: Xavier Williams, DT, Northern Iowa (A)
Round 7 Pick 20: Antwan Goodley, WR, Baylor (A-)
Matt Lombardo
@MattLombardo975
37m
37 minutes ago
We’ll see how this plays out, but I’m hearing all signs point to Chris Polian being #Eagles ‘guy’ for GM hire. 2nd interview a ‘formality’
Lombardo is some talk radio guy. I don’t know if he has a good track record or not.
Yeah he’s actually a good guy.
Damnit. Did not want Polian at all.
like the rest of the offseason #underwhelming
Very disappointing. Chip has come up small with his hires at some important positions. This will be just the latest.
Cory Undlin was a very good pickup. I’d suggest everyone wait until the Eagles actually hire Polian before they bitch too much.
Who cares, its a neutered position he’s getting anyhow. Not terribly important who gets hired.
Lombardo isnt that famous, but he is one of the only local media members I respect. One of the few media members with an accurate track record since chip was hired..
Will say that we have a great STs because we went out and got the best STers available. That unit didn’t turn around organically, just take scrubs and make them STers. Aside from Trey song Burton everyone was acquired and those guys made the Unit better (and probably made the home grown guys better b/c they were passionate about teams).
It only makes sense to extrapolate that to other units on the team. Get the best – be the best (if you can coach them right)
Not the way it works. Sure, if you draft players that develop quickly on their cheap rookie contracts, you’ll do well. As far as FA acquisitions go, the more money you spend in one area the less you can spend in other areas.
undoubtedly you have to be good at drafting something and get FAs to cover what you can’t draft / develop. Obviously STs are cheap ways to upgrade a team — probably gave us 4 wins this year.
Sure. But if you can patch your worst problems in FA, you can devote more of your draft to finding the future cornerstones of the franchise instead of just plugging holes.
So Polian is the Bill Davis of player personnel?
Tried to only take realistic trades in this one. Back from 1(20) to 1(26) and 3(26), up from 2(20) to 2(6) for 3(20) and 4(20), down from 4(14) to 4(28) for 4(28) and 5(27)
Round 1 Pick 26 (BALT): Landon Collins, SS, Alabama (A)
Round 2 Pick 6 (WASH): Quinten Rollins, CB, Miami (Ohio) (A-)
Round 3 Pick 15 (S.F.): Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska (A)
Round 4 Pick 28 (DAL): Jesse James, TE, Penn State (A)
Round 5 Pick 27 (DAL): Deontay Greenberry, WR, Houston (A-)
Round 6 Pick 20: Phillip Dorsett, WR, Miami (Fla.) (A)
Round 7 Pick 20: Derrick Lott, DT, Chattanooga (B-)
Would have liked to get at least one linebacker in there but there wasn’t anybody available that was good value for each pick
Even those with delegated responsibilities are vital to success, but this will, as usual, be a situation where it’s hard to tell who is doing what, exactly. The one thing we will know for sure is that Chip makes the final decisions. What he is basing those decisions on, and whom he is most relying on, will likely remain a mystery. I imagine this position to be someone who takes information from the scouts and organizes it; who gathers intel to get an idea of what opposing teams are likely to do; who presents the information to Chip; might be the middleman between Chip and Howie at times in terms of contract negotiations. These would all be important roles, but I would have no way to determine whether Polian is the best man for doing that stuff or not.
Odell Beckham – 5 catches for 89 yards
Darren Sproles – 3 runs for 42 yards, 6 catches for 79 yards
Darren Sproles > Odell Beckham
Eagles > Giants
[…] Closing in on Chris Polian? – Iggles BlitzPolian is not my preferred choice for the job, but there is a case to be made for him. First, he certainly has the experience. He began working in the NFL in 1994. Obviously Polian got into the league because of his dad, but he stayed for 20 years. Chris was fired by Indy after the 2011 season. He was then hired by the Falcons for the 2012 season. Longtime friend Dave Caldwell got the GM job in Jacksonville in 2013 and brought Polian along to be his Pro Personnel Director. Chris worked with some really smart, really successful people. Guys like Dom Anile, Tom Telesco, Dave Caldwell, Tom Gamble and Thomas Dimitroff are all excellent personnel evaluators with strong track records. […]
[…] Closing in on Chris Polian? – Iggles BlitzPolian is not my preferred choice for the job, but there is a case to be made for him. First, he certainly has the experience. He began working in the NFL in 1994. Obviously Polian got into the league because of his dad, but he stayed for 20 years. Chris was fired by Indy after the 2011 season. He was then hired by the Falcons for the 2012 season. Longtime friend Dave Caldwell got the GM job in Jacksonville in 2013 and brought Polian along to be his Pro Personnel Director. Chris worked with some really smart, really successful people. Guys like Dom Anile, Tom Telesco, Dave Caldwell, Tom Gamble and Thomas Dimitroff are all excellent personnel evaluators with strong track records. […]
Anyone know of any Charecter issues with Titans OLB Derrick Morgan? Wondering if he is a cheaper Barwin type addition in free agency if we lose BG and COle doesn’t agree to restructure…. OLB and 4-3DE experience which makes him well suited to play in our multi front defense
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Also looking at Micheal Johnson if the Bucs waive him.
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Love Jabbal Sheard
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tamba hali is vocal about being willing to take a pay cut, but KC has Dee Ford and will have to hand over a brinks truck to Justin Houston. If COle doeamt wanna take a paycut, wouldn’t mind adding Tamba as a stop gap veteran, depth addition.
I’m not saying I would be happy about Polian, because the Colts had a strange value system in their drafts when his father was the GM and I think value setting is the thing that Chip lacks the most when it comes to the draft. I trust Chip to see which players are good and fit with his system (you could say: the evaluation part), but we heard the stories about Matthews in the 1st and Hart in the 3rd. You simply can’t draft well if you draft players who will be there one or two rounds later. In fairness, the Seahawks do this in the first round sometimes, but they find gems in Day 3…
One area Polian would probably be pretty good at is pro personell and trading. Aren’t the Colts one of the teams that trades the most (like Howie, who did a lot of trades)? If you trade a lot, you know how to negotiate trades. Also something Chip can’t know because he never did it.
You also have connections with the other league offices, which could help generally.
Altough, the trading much trait could be the new front office in Indy. Don’t know if they were like this before.
A 1st rounder for Trent Richardson. Tho that wasn’t Polian, it wasn’t a smart trade.
Of course it wasn’t. I’m not saying all trades will be good, but it’s important to have good connections, imho. Best example is Parkey.
True. I figure Polian does have the connections Roseman did (or on that level at least) since he’s been around the league so long with his father.
Chris Polian and the disaster he caused for the Indianapolis Colts: http://www.bluesundaycolts.com/2011/11/yes-chris-polian-is-that-bad.html
Tommy Lawlor “In his defense, the Colts were cutting back on scouting costs and he didn’t have the kind of resources the team used when they were built into a juggernaut.”
This would hamper any GM.
I’d LOVE to see a reference for that. During his tenure, I was paying close attention and I don’t ever remember any cutting of staff. Maybe they are referring to the highly respected personnel guys that quit because of what he was doing to their department.
Took some digging but here’s one article.
http://m.espn.go.com/nfl/story?storyId=4152147&src=desktop&wjb=
Yeah, that is what I was talking about. Chris ran those guys out because they were opposing him at every turn. It leaked out later what happened.
Okay, I found this. It seems it’s more nepotism than anything else.
http://www.coltsgab.com/2009/05/08/longtime-player-personnel-official-dom-anile-let-go/
And another.
http://www.stampedeblue.com/2009/5/11/871875/more-cost-cutting-for-the-colts
Nice finds.
> “In his defense, the Colts were cutting back on scouting costs . . . ” How does he get a pass when HE was the one who was running things when the changes were made?
Seems to me that this is still more things against him.
I decided to put this link up here. Per a conversation on this thread about whether Chris Polian is tough to work for, I’m presenting an article from a blogger in Indy. He doesn’t take that approach and breaks down Kravitz’s attacks on Polian (for the most part). Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem.
http://coltsauthority.com/coltzilla-2011-archives/is-colts-general-manager-chris-polian-a-toxic-byproduct-of-nepotism.html
This subject has me slightly spinning. My impression drawing from topical NFL news is Chip needs more of a shaman than a data collector, collator and regurgitator. ” Success has many fathers and failure is an orphan” This seems to be a great truth in the realm of talent evaluation. Any energetic secretary can identify the “types” that Kelly prefers, but ranking them in terms of NFL fit, and correctly naming the best choice, and correctly projecting who will flash at the next level is what I would think is Kelly’s first need. And those folks who can perform those feats are wrong as often as they are right.
The NFL is full of smart guys who know how to work a board (draft) and have mental catalogs of hundreds of candidates, and I’m not deriding their value. But talent evaluation, from what I have observed, is more art than science.