Coaches Update
Posted: January 7th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 285 Comments »I don’t know how to break this news to you…but assistant DBs coach Todd Lyght has left the Eagles. He will now coach CBs for Vanderbilt. Clearly this isn’t a promotion. The Eagles may have told him to look for work elsewhere without wanting to have to fire him. Or maybe Lyght just wanted to try the barbecue in Nashville.
Lyght wasn’t holding back Cary Williams and Bradley Fletcher, but he wasn’t getting the best out of them. Chip Kelly will now have to find a coach who can help the Eagles get better play from whoever the starting CBs are. I’m focusing on CBs since that is the position that Lyght played when he was in the NFL. That’s his area of expertise.
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Speaking of the bad pass defense…
Since the NFL began tracking pass plays of 20+ yds in 1991, only 2 teams gave up more 20+ yd pass plays than the Eagles (72 of them) in 2014
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) January 8, 2015
Yikes.
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This nugget kinda surprised me.
He impressed RT @VicTafur: Was told not to sleep on Pat Shurmur for #Raiders head coach job & I have to admit, I was passed out on that idea
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 8, 2015
I don’t mean to be dismissive of Pat Shurmur. He has been a good assistant coach for a long time, but I just don’t think of him as HC material at this point. Then again, many coaches fail the first time around and then do better if given another chance. Mike Shanahan, Bill Belichick, Dick Vermeil, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden and Tom Coughlin are just some of the guys to win a Super Bowl with their second team.
Maybe working with Chip Kelly has had a significant effect on Shurmur and he’s now ready for another chance.
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According 2 report @eagles DB coach Todd Lyght is leaving 2 go 2 Vandy. As I tweeted last week I hear other defensive coaches will b leaving
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) January 7, 2015
This is certainly possible, but I don’t get the feeling Kelly is going to make a lot of changes. He should be pretty happy with the guys coaching the front seven. DBs coach John Lovett is the guy who might be most at risk. The secondary was a mess this season and didn’t exactly set the world on fire in 2013.
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Tom Coughlin fired DC Perry Fewell. This is bad news for the Eagles, but good for the Giants. Fewell has a Super Bowl ring, but didn’t do a good job with their defense. They were 7th, 27th, 31st, 8th and 29th in yards allowed during his time. Only one group got inside the Top 17 for scoring defense – 12th in 2012.
I hope they don’t bring back Steve Spagnuolo. He’s an assistant with the Ravens and I don’t want him coming back to the NFC East.
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I’ll answer some questions in a post on Thursday.
_
Chip should hire Fewell to become DB’s coach.
Yeah, going through NFC East defenses next year is going to be a much tougher row to hoe. Giants will be replacing Fewell (probably with Spags), Cowboys figure to get better guys for Marinelli who’s already pretty good, & the Skins look like they’re bringing in Wade Phillips. Hope Chip is up to the task.
We’re gonna take back the “toughest division” in the league soon.
We all remember Spags last defense right?
Also the Cowboys underlining defensive numbers aint pretty, they are just masked by a very consistent offense who has unatural high 3rd and long converting %.
The Redskins defense has 1 good player, zero great and tons of JAGs or older declining guys
I don’t get this narrative. You need TALENT on defense first. A good DC is nice, but there’s only so much he can do with mediocre personnel.
Need some scapegoats for the guy who should be really should be gone (Billy Davis).
Actually they should identify the issue and fix it instead of overreacting and firing the DC or assigning scapegoats and sweeping the problem under the rug.
That being said, considering the DBs appeared as if they were often in a possition to make a play but failed to repeatedly (or took themselves out of possition) I would think this is a talent or technique issue, not a scheme problem… If that is the case then I would expect the players to be held accountable as well as the positional coaches teaching the technique.
Of course I am guessing at what was happening but it seems pretty logical to me to attack the area of problems instead of scrapping the whole thing and starting over.
That’s a solid strategy in theory, EagleNebula, but sounds like WAY more work than simply firing Billy Davis and hiring a defensive coordinator with a name people have heard of before.
You make a convincing argument, do you think buddy Ryan will come out of retirement to take over being the DC?
Think bigger… Zombie Jim Johnson. (RIP)
Oh hell yeah! The intimidation factor alone would be awesome.
Can’t see Jim’s philosophy on D meshing with Kelly’s, but he was one of the best. RIP Jim.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
unclear if there’s anyone good around. Maybe Lurie will just pay Sexy Rexy a boatload to reunite with sanchez — maybe that was the play all along. Just a thought.
Then Rex puts Sanchez at corner since he has such intimate knowledge with interceptions? I like it.
Yes, the beatings will continue and all that…
haha, so damn true.
It would be silly of the not to evaluate the technique taught to the dbs and say,” perfect position to make plays but we don’t want them to turn around. It seems pretty good.” There’s no way Chip will go for that. I think it was one of those things where it was taught during the off season so you can’t change it mid way in the year.
The DB technique was so bad you gotta blame the coordinator. The coaches literally just do what they’re told. To be fair right now i think it’d be impossible for any of the secondary coaches to get an NFL gig.
Additionally, someone’s head’s gotta roll all the DB picks last year and Nate Allen is still the guy you’re starting (no rotation)? I know Allen wasn’t that bad he had as many picks as Jenkins i think quiet as it’s kept but man that’s sad.
Not what Kelly would want to hear, but it sure looks like a philosophical problem as much as it is a personnel problem. If you want to insist on playing a lot of man press, you should expect to get burned over the top regularly. Even the very best corners struggle when forced to man up on the island constantly, and our corners weren’t anywhere close to the best these last two seasons. Btw, I’m with you on Davis needing to go.
‘Raiders – Commitment to Excellence.’ Is there a more unfitting team slogan right now in the NFL?
Hopefully the barbecue in Nashville turns out to be better than the toast he burnt in Philly.
Perhaps the Eagles would get better results if they replaced DB’s coach John Lovett with Jon Lovitz?
Then he can do Subway commercials with Justin Tuck.
http://cdn.breitbart.com/mediaserver/2012/05/01/Jon-Lovitz-C.jpg
And now, a message from Pathological Liars Anonymous.
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I didn’t always lie. No, when I was a kid, I told the truth. But then one day, I got caught stealing money out of my mother’s purse. I lied. I told her it was homework – that my teacher told me to do it. And she got fired! Yeah, that’s what happened!
After that, lying was easy for me. I lied about my age and joined the army. I was thirteen at the time. Yeah.. I went to Vietnam, and I was injured catching a mortar shell in my teeth. And they made me a three-star general! And then I got a job in journalism, writing for the National Enquire.. er, Geographic! Yeah.. I was making twenty thousand a ye.. month! In fact, I won the Pulitzer Prize that year! Yeah, that’s the ticket.
And then my cousin died – Joe Louis – and I took it hard. Maybe too hard – I tried to kill myself. Yeahh.. I did kill myself! Sure! I was medically dead for a week and a half! It was a woman that brought me out of it – Indira Gandhi! Yeah, right.. And she told me about Pathological Liars Anonymous.
Oh, you’d be surprised how many famous people belong. In fact.. at one of the meetings I met my wife – Morgan Fairchild! Yes, I’m a change man now, and all because of Pathological Liars Anonymous. Why, I – I even have my picture on the cover of Newsweek magazine. Yeah. Every day! Yeah.. that’s the ticket! Yeah, you betcha!
Too bad the Giants fired Perry Fewell. Now we can no longer describe their defensive secondary as Fewell and far between. #Gold
Sadly Tommy’s prediction on Spags is rumored to be true.
Shame we don’t have room for that type of DC on this team.
yea because Spags was so great for the Saints
perpetual talent issue. Their D dived into the toilet again this year.
Spags single-handedly won the Super Bowl after the 07 season with his coaching.
Not hard to win games with Strahan, Osi and Tuck rushing the QB and David Tyree pulling miracles out of his helmet (along with Samuel dropping about his only Manning Int ever)
Don’t forget all the holding calls missed on that Tyree play.
didn’t exactly set the world on fire in 2013
We still made the playoffs though..#GoodOldTimes
Year 2 of the 3-4 era ended. Does anyone still prefer the 4-3?
I really liked the 3-4 this year when we was one, but I really dislike our secondary, but it has nothing to do with 3-4 or 4-3
I prefer the 3-4. It gives you the tools to be more creative once you have the required talent, can isolate your best pass rusher on TE’s and backs more often, and gives you more options of successfully dropping people who look like they are going to blitz. We just need to draft some linebackers ha, would love to see Benardrick McKinney and Hau’oli Kikaha if his knee checks out. McKinney to fill DeMeco’s shoes as a run defender and he can drop into shallow zones, Kikaha looks like a beast, can drop some when needed, doesn’t seem to be troubled by the knee, and from what I’ve read he has the same surgery as Mac did after both tears. Finished the season as the nation’s leader in sacks (19.0), and second the nation in tackles for loss, with 25.0, including a sack a game for 14 games so he was consistent all year not just feasting on poor opponents
I enjoyed watching the front 7.
It felt like Offences didn’t really manage to attack the front 7 well.
Of course that might have been because it was so easy to just pick on Fletcher…..
I preferred the 2-gap 3-4 prior to the switch, but I felt that the team’s talent was much more suited to a 1-gap system. Given the holes on the roster that already existed, I was somewhat against the switch short term, but fine with it long term. I don’t think anything has really changed my opinion from then. They’re still struggling to fill all the holes, and their best playmaker on defense (Cox) is less of an impact playmaker while 2-gapping, but I think the scheme is overall better. This offseason will be really important for the defense.
I like the 3-4 when the Eagles win. I like anything else when they lose. #igglesfans
I thought I was going to like the 3-4. I didn’t think I was going to like 2-gapping. I was wrong. Having LBs clean to fly around and make plays, combined with linemen that can ragdoll OLmen at select times is fun to watch.
we need better playmaking lbs then i think the scheme will come alive.
I don’t think one is better than the other, you need players to make it work. I think we have some good ones, but I think it’ll be even better when we add speed to the LB spot. Kendricks is a monster. Barwin is solid. If you could get speed (and skill) at the other two spots, this defense takes another step toward elite. MS2 might be the one for outside, and I’ll think we’ll get a better clue next year.
I’m a big front guy. If you win the LOS, good things will happen. I really like our DL. We could use some youth infusion both at LB and Secondary.
That said, Chip Kelly is always talking about looking for an advantage and doing things the new way. He has sports science, why not use science science. I’ll take a clone of Kendricks, Cox, Johnson…
http://bplusmovieblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/star-wars-attack-of-the-clones-title-card.png
if in time we replace Meco with someone with Kendrick’s speed, that would really be something.
i heard his little brother is pretty fast.
Not sure CK will like his measurable. 6′ 0″ in the UCLA program probably means he’ll come in at 5′ 11″ at the combine.
That is kind of like the time zone thing, right? Six foot in LA means 5’11” in Indianapolis?
Something like that. It isn’t often that someone measures taller at the combine than in their college program.
Don’t know about height transference, but I do know it takes me 50 minutes to drive 6 miles out here, so maybe we should keep an eye on UCLA 40 times…
Height DOESNT really matter at ILB
Tell that to CK.
Absolutely! The LB problem would be much less of an issue if we only needed 3 of them, and our front 4 would be deadly.
I assume we’d put Cox at DE, but also move him around so he got some snaps at NT. Cole/Graham at the other end, with Curry rotating in and getting snaps too. Thorton and Logan at DT.
Kendricks at MLB with Ryans and Barwin flanking him.
but the 43 isnt nearly as good at defending against the RO *shaking my head*
Flip Ryans and Kendricks. You want the speed at the Will position.
I think the scheme is of less importance than its application and its players. Belichick has been a master of application and he is not tied to any scheme. He gets the players who he can move around and be effective, but having the right players is a need that cannot be overstated.
SF has had great 4-3 defenses in recent years, but the scheme is one that hasn’t required much tinkering because of the player caliber. The problem with trying to replicate SF is payroll. If your goal is to have a nucleus of pro bowl names on your D, good luck keeping your whole roster at a high level.
I like Kelly’s approach which looks to be influenced by Belichick and LeBeau. Kelly has harped on versatility, and he absolutely has to have a depth chart of LB’s that can be plugged into different slots at different times. If you think back on the Eagles D under Jim Johnson, it was blitz-dependent, and that was always a concession to elite QB’s. Both Belichick and LeBeau have shown pass rush proficiency without blitzing, and game-changing moments with its application. As bad as our secondary has been, it would be that much improved by the addition of a freak or two at LB.
That’s a pretty impressive lists of coaches who failed before winning as coach. I don’t know where all the Chip “stinks” stuff comes from (well, the haters) but you have to give a coach a chance.
…..
Spags is old school. This is the new nfl. It won’t matter.
…..
The assistant was fired? They fired the wrong guy….
“Failed” is a pretty strong word for some of them. Vermeil, obviously, built the Eagles into a viable organization, Gruden was very successful with the Raiders, and Dungy turned the Bucs into a winning franchise.
Those guys were all clearly good coaches in their first stops.
All in the eye of the beholder. If you don’t get the job done — and they didn’t — what did they accomplish other than leaving a team with some promise from the previous season. Some coached did well but couldn’t get the team over the hump. In comes a coach and wins it. At that given time, that coach, even close to winning it(or creating a fine structure with an organization) and leaving — didn’t really accomplish anything.
…..
1995 — Coach of the Yankees — Buck — got close, didn’t get it done. Fired, replaced and championships galore.
…..
Leaving “winning franchises” … doesn’t really hold water. They probably leave great/good talent, but the next HC coming in puts his own stamp on the team and gradually changes whatever environment the previous coach left. (See Reid n Chip)
Disagree 100%.
In cases like Oakland and Tampa Bay, the “job [to get] done” was/is to build a winning team. Winning a Super Bowl wasn’t necessarily the job of the coaches.
Heck, if you want to look at it as cynically as you imply, the coaches job is just to make money for the owners. Getting fans in the seats and bringing in revenue is all you need for that.
Championships aren’t the sole measure of success. They often come as a result of many other successes. By that token, calling these guys tenures “failures” isn’t entirely accurate.
The nfl isn’t anything other than making money.
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My point is — you’re stating they turned the franchise around into winning systems. Where is Oakland and TB now? Those coaches(back then) did a fine job — and that’s it. There’s no legacy there from those coaches. To imply they started something like NE now has now is silly. They did an OK job and they left. AFTER they left, there was a winning season two, but that’s it.
….
The teams are only as good as the current coach — not as good as the coach that just left — UNLESS — that coach couldn’t get the job done with the talent he had. Even in those cases, the coaches who inherited a talented team won in the 1st year(maybe 2). After that, that coach wasn’t successful. If they were Gruden(for example) would still be coaching…
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“Winning a Super Bowl wasn’t necessarily the job of the coaches.” — you lost me with that sentence. If now the coaches job to win the SB — whose job is it?
Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl after Dungy left, so by your argument his job was a success.
The 3-4 is dependent on LBs and we are not yet to the point where that is an elite unit. We had 4 “above average” 3-4 LBs until Ryans and Cole got hurt. With both of them aging, 2015 brings 1 (improving to) top shelf ILB in Kendricks and 1 above average OLB in Barwin. This is not a good enough crew to run an quality 3-4. Even if they resign Graham, and even if Smith II takes a great leap forward, they still need to draft an ILB in the first half of the draft
funny the dl is the best part of our defense.
And it was when we ran the 4-3…takes time to change.
4yrs? i don’t see us finishing with lbs this year. 2lbs / 2 safeties (starter rotational), cbs. like how long to build something. kelly has a 5 year k.
have you an eye on anyone in the draft?
all the good players
Haven’t seen enough yet to have an opinion. Maybe Shane Ray from MO? Kendricks (UCLA) would be intriguing…brother combination and he is versatile and can play both ILB and OLB. Although he’s only 6 ft. Best size-wise is McKinney from Miss St. I’d be happy with any of the three.
Havent looked at Ray or Kendricks yet, McKinney looks solid, could probably hold the middle and allow Billy to be creative with Mychal Kendricks. Working my way down Draft breakdown on ILB at the minute, want no part of Hayes Pullard, he looks very timid and wont get involved in tackles unless he has to. Denzel Perryman looks great at times and over pursues other times, has his degree which Chip seems to value, only 6 ft again but can hit like a train.
Couldn’t disagree more about Pullard. For someone who led his team in tackles 3 of 4 years and was 2nd the other…he sure seems to tackle plenty.
I like Pullard the best. McKinney doesn’t look that great in coverage and I’ve seen him get blocked by a TE more times than I’d like. I love Perryman…but I can see Eagles Nation freaking out that we don’t have two 6’4 Patrick Willis’ in the middle of our defense
Maybe it was a bad game for pullard, he looks great in coverage, he just seemed a bit too nice I think, never saw him pop anybody like perryman can do
Barwin. ‘Above average’?!. Are you drunk?
No, but after listening to two coworkers bitch and moan about each other, I wish I was.
.
I looked at his career, rather than his career year. You could bump him up, but we’re still lacking
I wasn’t sure which way the outrage was coming from there, was about to jump in and defend Barwin. I think Above Average as an OLB is a good description. Average pass rusher, great general linebacker/football player, but the job description of OLB fairly knocks him down to merely “above average”.
I think drafting an ILB in the first two rounds would make me more excited than drafting any other position.
AR, with the 4-3 figured you could get LBs anywhere and never invested much in the position in the draft….and it showed, except maybe Disco Stu. When I look at the successful 3-4 defenses over the last decade, (Pittsburgh and Baltimore come immediately to mind) what stands out is the quality of their LBs. If I can see it, CK should be able to.
We also had top defenses even with bad LBs because we was elite everywhere else.
Yup. The pass rush is really the most important part of the defense. Good linebackers are a great to have, but if I had to pick a spot to put resources it would be the line every time.
I think it’s like baseball. You gotta be good up the middle. C – SS/2B – CF. DT – ILB – FS.
and was for majority of the JJ/Reid era with Simon/Patterson/Bunkley-Trotter/Disco Stew-Dawkins.
3-4 also requires very different types of players.
In a 4-3 you need 3 guys like Michael Kendricks (or at least two if you’ve got a Trotter to hammer down the middle).
3-4 really only needs two LBs. As we’ve seen you can have one with limited athleticism as still have success. The OLB -typically -are pass rushers or hybrid players.
Of course, none of it makes any difference if you don’t have a solid d-line. With the very good play the Eagles have been getting there, I honestly don’t think scheme would greatly alter the results.
4-3 you need a SAM like Kendricks. MIKE can be either a Kendricks or Trotter. WILL is the position I’m not sure of the skillset.
3-4, one OLB has to be able to cover and one has to be a pass rushing beast. And they both have to have some of the other skill… If they have both skills, fantastic.
I wonder how Javon Kearse would’ve been as a 3-4 OLB.
“WILL is the position I’m not sure of the skillset” Neither was Andy Reid.
Coming out of college, it’s pretty clear Kearse would have been a wrecking machine at any position. Maybe less contact in the trenches would have given him a couple more seasons.
Will’s are supposed to be big ass playmaking SS. The 230lbs guys who just run all day. They are typically the only “protected” linebacker. This guy is your playmaker, he just runs around and makes 15 tackles a game. Think Lavonte David.
I guess if Pat Shurmur is getting head coach consideration after being Chip Kelly’s “offensive coordinator” then being Chip Kelly’s new “GM” might not be a bad career move.
unclear — no one on our current staff is getting poached, gamble been VERY quiet
Apparently, the dysfunction with the Browns continues as Kyle Shanahan requested his release and they fired QBs coach Dowell Logains. Both had only 1 season. Apparently not everything there was Banner’s fault.
apparently GM was texting OC telling him to put in Johnny and the types of plays he should be running. That said — offense took a huge step back. plus kyle didn’t do much in washington either.
I still chuckle when I think about how Cleveland fans thought Chip Kelly might choose the Browns over the Eagles.
http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/002/571/269/ScreenShot2013-10-23at1.12.30PM_original_crop_north.png?w=759&h=506&q=75
that had to be ty detmer, right?
That guy’s gonna need a bigger step-stool…
to step in?
________
conjures memories of the coda to his Marine service by one Leonard Lawrence.
My Cowboys pick over the Packers in my work playoff sweepstakes looking pretty good now. 🙁
If the Cowboys make the SB and win Im gonna think the NFL is fixed
…and rigged, too.
If it’s Pats – Cowboys I swear I won’t even watch it.
well I said the damn same thing before the pats / Giants super bow which ended up watching. I still have nightmares.
i didn’t watch the first pats/giants SB because i hated both teams so much
I won a pool at a party, basically by picking the giants to win and Manning as MVP. there were like 20 questions, but those were worth the most points. All the Pats fans of course were tight around the same points, and I was like one of 2 people that picked the Giants. So when they won, I won about $200. hahahahahaha
f that, I would root for the Patriots like I was born in Boston
Hear Hear. Same here.
I just can’t do that. I would be paralyzed, unable to move in either direction.
It would hurt but my hate for the Cowboys would make me do it
no way
I guess not everyone heard the news ….
What’s a torn calf muscle to a drop back quarterback in the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field?
The same like Megan Fox to Tommy’s PBR?!
cowboys D has no pass rush, they could have AR in a wheel chair and still win.
You guys seem to be way overconfident. Reminds me of the times before the Dal/Sea game…
doesn’t matter no way they win
it’s just a flesh wound!
Holy cow moly, I just realised that Randall Cobb is only 24! Here’s me WR FA ranking:
1. Dez
2. Demaryius
3. Cobb
4. Mac
People don’t realize that Mac is 27 this year
Yeah, really old.
How good is Cobb w/out Rodgers and Jordy Nelson?
Cobb is a great slot WR, but I wouldnt pay him bc of Jordan Matthews
I thought u wanted to move JMatt to the outside ?! 😉
Fair question. I still give him the slight edge over Mac because of his Redzone Production and younger age.
James Jones led the league in TD catches last year — went to Oakland and fell all the way off. It’s the system not the player, I don’t think they let Cobb reach FA, but if they do i woudln’t pay a ton of $$ for him.
The difference between Jones and Cobb are roughly 6 years. Corn on the Cobb is good!
how much of the RZ production is Rodgers just been great versus Maclin mainly playing with Vick, Foles (in his bad seasons) and Sanchez?
Maclin is not dominant. He’s good. That’s just it.
Legit #1 WR after THIS year. Made the clutch 4th quarter catches that a number 1 should be counted on to make. Had FOles never gotten hurt, Macs numbers woulda have been BIGTIME
i think total yards would be the same, we’d be calling jmatt a bust probably. sort of like the Foles effect on cooper and desean.
Maclin is one of the best route runners in the NFL, he just play with terrible QBs
If our QBs are so terrible then what is the excuse for WRs like Mike Evans, AJ Green, DeAndre Hopkin/Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Josh Gordon, Alshon Jeffery and etc?
Size, maclin does not have it, so he like Cobb needs a qb with some accuracy to hit him on those sharp ran routes
You can have the size but that doesn’t mean you know how to use it. Look at Jordan Matthews.
Maclins sharp routes running would be scary playing with a QB with elite ball placement
I’m seeing a bunch of posts from you and me today…and several of the regulars, but I haven’t seen much from GEAGLE lately. Did he jump off a bridge somewhere after the Cowboys won?
Men in white jackets . . .
(To the tune of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”)
______________
GEagles is one of my favorites.
He’s the “Fire” to D3FB’s “Ice.”
Just having fun.
I guess a hookah smoking caterpillar has given him the call.
Bored with the stupidity this time of year. Post a lot, when I’m sitting in airports or trains, travel a lot for work.. Slow schedule this week
Just draft Bednarik McKinney . . .
The “Big People” v. “Little People” thing doesn’t get more clear with a pick than this guy at ILB.
And he can double as a goal-line TE.
Sadly he cant cover TEs or RBs
He’s just a straight ahead plow. Not worth the 20th imo.
Anders . . .
But does Bedarnik have the POTENTIAL — based on physical tools — to be a guy who cover TEs and RBs?
Also . . . how often in BDavis’s scheme are the ILBs called on to cover TEs and RBs?
1 time too many. Kendricks on Gates last year.
Can’t double team everyone, right?
That’s what Kelly says.
Didn’t need to with Carlos Emmons here.
Maybe the best OLB at covering the TE in the NFL in the past 25 years.
Hard to think of anyone else who shut down TEs the way CE did.
His downgrade to Dhani Jones was one of the worst moves ever.
Not in the wardrobe department…
Nothing beats Dawkins to who ever came after (macho Harris¿)
What about Concrete Charlie Bednarik . . .
and about 35 years of on-again off-again futility at MLB.
Too old for me,
Only for the moment.
Emmons really knew how to use the rules. Can’t really compare modern players with pre 2004 because of all the rule changes. I would have loved to see gronk versus Emmons pre 2004 rules
Also what an adult film actor’s agent says…
There’s no place like (Eagles’) home.
And don’t think for a minute all she did — red slippers girl — was skip down the yellow brick with those three guys.
What about all those stories about Munchkin orgies in the Culver Hotel during production of The Wizard of Oz, celebrated in Ivrine Welsh’s play “Babylon Heights”? Here’s a blurb from a trusted source: The New Zealand Herald.
“It has been confidently asserted down the decades that the Munchkin actors turned their Culver City hotel into a 24-hour bacchanal. The legend seems to have begun with producer Mervyn LeRoy’s statement, soon after the movie wrapped: “They had sex orgies in the hotel, and we had to have police on just about every floor.” Many years later, Judy Garland chipped in with: “They were little drunks. They got smashed every night and the police had to pick them up in butterfly nets.” And Hollywood raconteurs such as David Niven added their own embellishments.
There were tales of one German so drunk he fell inside a toilet bowl (a physical impossibility, even for someone 3ft tall); and stories of pie-eyed midgets having to be rescued from the hotel roof by firefighters using the overworked butterfly nets (unlikely, given that these are designed to support the weight of little more than a couple of red admirals). Irvine Welsh wrote a play based on such tales a few years ago.
But Margaret Pellegrini, now 85, who as a girl of 15 was one of the Munchkins, says: “There were a lot of them who liked to go out and have a few drinks, but nothing got out of hand. Everyone was having a good
time and enjoying themselves. There was no rowdiness or anything like that, and those stories are very upsetting.” Jerry Maren, now 89, who sang in the Lollipop Guild that welcomed Dorothy to Oz, said: “There were a couple of kids from Germany who liked to drink beer. They drank beer morning, noon and night, and got in a little trouble. They wanted to meet the girls, but they were the only ones.”
B:
Never heard that stuff. Great piece of HW history.
Coverage for ilbs is more about understanding routes and zone than athletic abilty (you need some). The ilb in the Eagles scheme has the seam, slants (getting under them) and crossing routes, they also have rbs on those short routes where he leaks through the ol and then option to a side
But what kind of a dent will he take out of the team’s facemask budget? I guess that’s a question for Howie Roseman in his new role as head of the equipment staff…
as my 5 year old would say, “double burn!”
We would need a good trade up to draft him.
Doubt it…. We can sit at 20, and be guaranteed to find either Benardrick, Kendricks or Shaq still available… Any would be a great LB addition
Yeah honestly any of those 3 at 20 and I’m good and IMT he umliekly scenario they all go top 19 that just pushed someone at another position down
You’re not kidding. He went one pick ahead of me at 19!
Round 1 Pick 20: Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State (A-)
Round 2 Pick 20: Maxx Williams, TE, Minnesota (B+)
Round 3 Pick 20: Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska (A)
Round 4 Pick 14: Kurtis Drummond, FS, Michigan State (B+)
Round 4 Pick 20: Tony Lippett, WR, Michigan State (A)
Round 5 Pick 20: Jake Ryan, OLB, Michigan (B)
Round 6 Pick 20: Sean Mannion, QB, Oregon State (B-)
Round 7 Pick 20: Bryce Hager, ILB, Baylor (C+)
I didn’t realize until now that Britt Hager’s son is an ILB from Baylor. He MUST be an Eagle. MUST.
I don’t know, I’m having trouble picturing some guy named Bednarik in the middle of our defense.
You AND Frank Gifford…
Every person wearing a Giants jersey should wind up like this. Field of play. Stands. Parking lot. Bars at the Jersey Shore.
Remember when David Tyree ended up like this, but there was a football stuck in his helmet? BARF.
I prefer to remember when Ike Hilliard wound up like that courtesy of Brian Dawkins.
Dawkins: “I DON’T like Ike.”
How can the Eagles NOT go back to these uniforms?
C’mon.
On the right players they’d be “Cloaks of Invincibility”
Annoyed that Andy Reid signed Terrel Pryor… And D’Rick Rodgers…. Typical Andy
..
But I got a good laugh out of trent Richardson being the #3 RB for the Colts, and they had him practicing on the punt coverage team today LOL
..
Maragos birthday was the other day, Acho tweeted how Maragos came and taught the Eagles how to have fun on special teams.. Seems like a solid modest signing
They also signed Da’rick Rogers
typical andy….. Andy Reid signs athletic running QB….shocker!!
crazy how Andy likes running QBs more than Chip has shown since arriving in philly
Andy should do what Pryor’s HS coach should have done; convert Pryor’s simple rear end to TE. All of the best coaches have been doing this for years and it should continue.
Disgusted with the bullshit farce of a Mueller investigation.. Surprised he ruled that Goodell did nothing wrong. As if he would rule against the man writing his check. What a friggin joke. Go insult someone else’s intelligence with that bullshit
There were already connections to the league there. What an embarrassment of an “investigation.”
Predicated by some lawyer who comments here before Mueller was even identified as the guy whom the NFL chose to do the investigation.
Yeah, who is that obnoxious lawyer???
Some ambulance chasing no-goodnick, probably.
Wonder if we ever see Howie do another interview, or if he will completly disapear from the public eye…. Chip kelly Def won’t be doing the weekly radio show at chickies now that he is the Eagles GM…
..
This is interesting –
Dave Birkett
@davebirkett
2h
Interesting side note, I was told yesterday Tony Dungy is involved with the Eagles
GM search. He, obviously, has Mayhew/Caldwell ties
That was related to the interest in Sheldon White. Implying not that the Eagles would hire Dungy as GM, but he’s helping them with potential candidates. Dungy’s son went to Oregon.
From McLane though:
Jeff McLane
@Jeff_McLane
59m59 minutes ago
#Eagles said that Chip Kelly is reaching out to various people in “GM” search and Tony Dungy was just one of them.
0 replies
52 retweets
So I guess while Chip and he may have had a phone conversation, he’s not officially acting in any consulting type role.
13 favorites
Dungey has mentored many players who needed a steadying hand and he maintains many contacts from his years in the league. An excellent person to ask for suggestions.
remember when Vick said Kelly taught him how to hold the ball so he would not fumble anymore?
why didn’t teach anyone else this “trick”?
What if Patrick Chung was actually a patriots spy…hear me out. I wouldn’t put it past belichick to ask Chung to go to philly for a year and find out everything you can about chip Kelly. Promise him that he woukd sign him back in a year and make him a starter. Chung has proven to be a decent player in new england, especially this year. He obviously showed enough in the off season and practice to deserve starting(on our roster lol), but in games he was awful. Some of his mistakes were comical, almost like he was trying to sabotage us. Bill is definitely smart enough to orchestrate something like this, and if true he now has an inside look into the eagles organization. Even if he didn’t plan this out he still.has that Intel because Chung came back, and I’m sure he remembers a lot.
Belicheat with 5 SB rings and 2 other SB appearances sends spy to monitor first year coach. If so, he is really thorough.
Its genius. And if its true then chip is a sucker. I wonder if belicheat has done this in the past to other teams
No, he just sucks. His blind / stupid / slow rear end handed a Super Bowl to Eli on a ball that was in the air for 25 seconds.
We should have just signed Glover Quin like many of us were screaming.
If true, then Belichick isn’t playing chess.
No, he’s way past that.
He’s moved into 8 dimensional mathematical theory.
Belichik and Kelly talk all the time, or did. I would speculate that it’s more that Kelly picked Belichik’s brain years ago.
Chung would have access to things bill never would
When Kelly hired Davis two years ago, he mentioned that there was a coach in the Super Bowl that the Eagles were interested in but his team denied the Eagles permission from interviewing him. He said it wasn’t Ed Donatell. Now we were rumored to be interested in Ted Monachino so maybe he was the guy but I always wondered if it was Jim Leavitt, the 49ers LBs coach. Kelly played South Florida when Leavitt was the head coach and although he eventually adjusted, Leavitt’s scheme gave Oregon trouble. The 49ers LBs are consistently excellent and most likely reason he hasn’t been hired as a team’s defensive coordinator is that the 49ers were refusing to grant permission for him to interview. I know he got fired at South Florida because he got physical with a player so perhaps that is the reason. The NFL is a bottom line business though and as well as the 49ers linebackers have played, I don’t think that now 5 years old incident would prevent him from being hired. Now the 49ers assistants are still under contract and they won’t release them until the new HC comes in(assuming that his contract isn’t expiring), but if he does come free I’d love the Eagles to hire him to replace Minter. Give him a senior defensive assistant title and whathever cash is required.
I assume the new HC will be some type of guy with a QB rep so the Niners can attempt to squeeze some type of “value” out of Kaepernitwit. That new HC would be smart to keep the whole D staff in place and get every guy there a 25% raise.
Drifting into draft talk . . .
QUESTION about the best ILBs on the board (?).
____________
From Among Bednarik (McK), Kendricks, and Shaq Thompson:
1. Who’s the best going side line-to-side line?
[among NFL MLBs of the past 10 years, who’s the best comparison?]
2. Who’s the best at taking on blocks and controlling the Tackle box?
[comparison?]
3. Who’s the best in coverage, both man and zone?
[comparison?]
4. Who’s the best blitzer?
5. Who’s the best at pass-rushing — by which I mean, could any of them line up with a hand on the ground and provide an added dimension to the skill set?
6. Best instincts?
7. Who’s the best athlete, straight up?
Seven questions. A thousand opinions. ;~)
The old saying is: “Opinions are like assholes – everybody’s got one.” But spend a few minutes on this site and you’d swear everyone here has at least two assholes.
Which begs the bigger, evolutionary question: “Why do we only have one gastrointestinal tract?” Much like Chip Kelly’s offense, wouldn’t it be better to have multiple outlets? More efficiency? I’ll take my answer off-the-air.
If you ever have the chance read “Instant Replay” by Jerry Kramer. One of the best books written about being on a football team. He talks in the book about the time he did have a second azzhole, a colostomy bag. ;~D.
Couldn’t resist.
I’ll add it to my colostomy bag reading list!
Who the best….is incorrect, who the best blank is DOESNT matter.
..
Who can our coaches feel confidemt Growing into the Best LB for our scheme over the next few years is the question…..
“Who can our coaches feel confidemt Growing into the Best LB for our scheme over the next few years is the question”
___________
Yes. That’s the right question.
Better frame.
Very good draft to need an ilb, Dawson could definitely go first round and I think 1-2 of Mck, Shaq, Ken will be available but if they like Dawson maybe you can trade down a couple spots and pick him if they straight up fall in love with one the 3 trade up to secure who you want, honestly I hope they add a corner or 2 in few agency cuz I put to spend the first pick on ILB
1: Shaq, like Zach Thomas coming out,
2: Mckinney when he wants to, sorta like trotter when he had knees
3: Kendricks, sorta like Sean Lee when healthy (Kendricks for me is a more durable but slightly smaller Lee)
4 and 5 Mckinney, has size and ability to play 3-4 olb in some looks
6: Kendricks, his over all awareness is the best, but also needed because he is the worst athlete of the three
7: Shaq by far, Mckinney is a great athlete for his size and Kendricks isn’t far behind but he isn’t his brother (Erik has better instincts and coverage skills, mychal is the crazy athlete who had to be tamed and molded)
My guess is:
Instincts and football iq
Tackling
Coverage abilty
Anders . . .
That’s fantastic stuff.
‘specially what you think Kelly’s looking for.
_____________
Now we just need the ICE MAN to cometh.
D3FB, where are you?
(Baloophi . . . down, boy!)
D3FB provided a nice write-up early on Paul Dawson – ILB, TCU, 6’2, 230lbs. I’ll repeat it here without his permission. Hopefully D3FB doesn’t take offense and track me down since he actually played football and all…
******* (Patented ACViking subject divider)
OVERVIEW: You don’t play linebacker at a top Big 12
school if you can’t play sideline to sideline. Paul Dawson, a wide receiver coming out of high school, certainly fits that profile. He was a two year starter for the Horned Frogs and was the team’s leading tackler both years. The senior from Dallas has 128 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 interceptions, and one touchdown on the season. That’s an impressive stat line. Gary Patterson has done an excellent job at molding a great athlete, into a very good football player.
Athleticism is the first attribute that jumps out when studying Dawson. He has great range. Some linebackers are tackle to tackle players, others hash mark to hash mark, even fewer are sideline to sideline. Dawson falls into the latter however his range is borderline Gatorade cooler to Gatorade cooler. He should run a high 4.5 based on tape. He has the ability to stick with running backs and tight ends in coverage, and due to his speed, the zone he occupies is pretty large. He does a good job reading the QB’s eyes when in coverage and it lets him jump routes effectively.
His instincts are decent. He’s by no means is going to be mistaken for Luke Keuchly, but they are pretty solid nonetheless. It’s an area you can see is still improving. In the short term his burst once he makes his read compensates for any hesitation in what he sees. He takes bad angles from time to time, but that feels more like a player who hasn’t completely normalized to the position more than anything else. He’s
most comfortable playing inside-out, and when allowed to play in this manner is much more instinctive and takes better angles.
His best asset against the run is that explosive burst. He diagnoses the play and in an instant is in the hole to meet the ball carrier. He needs work at taking on blocks, but this looks more like a matter of functional strength, as opposed to willingness. His best game against the run was actually against Minnesota, who plays smash mouth offense. He’s got no problem sticking his nose in there and mixing it up, he just needs to continue to fill out his frame.
FIT WITH THE EAGLES:
The Eagles aren’t looking for another Demeco Ryans. In the modern NFL you need two ILB’s who can be playmakers and roam sideline to sideline. Both should be able to come up and stuff a fullback on one play, and then tackle the running back in the flat on the next. Bowman and Willis, KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner. Dawson would be an excellent fit for the Eagles 34. He would provide the perfect complement to Kendricks. Dawson would be able to immediately start in the nickel (TCU runs 4-2-5 base). As he fills out his frame (he should be able to get to 245 easily) he becomes a playmaking ILB who possesses strength, speed, and instincts.
Grade: Top 75
If you only watch one game: Minnesota (2014)
Thanks for the repost
Searching for old posts saves everyone else time while simultaneously keeping me from working on what I should be working on. Win Win.
Is D3FB really Bill Belichick?
Wow.
No but I do like hoodies.
You’re good
http://img.pandawhale.com/82671-Ill-allow-it-Senor-Chang-commu-fErc.gif
It would not suprise me to pass on all of those guys. There are a bunch of options in FA:
extend/restructure Meco
Bruce Carter
Mason Foster
David Harris
There are more guys that could be serviceable stop gaps
I think we could fill the position and draft somebody in the mid rounds to groom for a year. We cant have high picks at every position and ILb next to Kendricks seem like it requires us spend too many resources on it. Guys to consider:
Stephone Anthony – Clemson ( great size, good athlete)
Damien Wilsn – Minnesota (my fav – reminds me of KJ Wright)
Ben Heeny – Kansas (Very instintive – better/ more physical casey matthews)
Jeff Luc – Cincinnati (another fav, just big, physica, nasty).
All of these guys are 4th round or later. i like heeney the least because he has the lowest ceiling. I think we have biggest problems than ILB. We did fine with Casey in there. im sure we’d like an upgrade, but I doubt we spend an early pick to do it.
Also the coaching staff is high on nadje Goode
Can’t forget the Goode guy.
Could provide big flexibility on draft day if he gets healthy.
My worry is that the backups can’t play in space which is why we are constantly doubling.
Doubling who?
TEs
Other than Witten who did we double on a regular basis? Plus Witten is a HoF TE for a reason. He knows how to get open.
That said I agree with you. DeMeco wasnt a space player either. Its part of the reason I’d like to go in another direction.
My preference would be to sign Bruce Carter. He’s a lot cheaper than Meco and woukd give us the most athletic ILB duo in the league. I would draft Damien Wilson in the 5th/6th round and develope him. Wilson is big and physical, but he is also a better athlete than any of iur current back ups.
This would leave us with more cap space than keeping Meco without spending a premium pick on an ILB
Interesting point about relative Resource Use.
We’ll find out in April.
But I wonder about that very question.
“It’s not like the old days, when you do whatever you wanted” . . . .
The difference between Bednardik, Kendriks, and Thompson, and Dawson:
1. Thompson is a SS. I can’t find the tweet right now but a scout measured him in at under 6’01” and like 218 last spring. If you want a comp, think Ryan Shazier, he put on a bunch of fake weight for the offseason, but here we are after 1 season and Pittsburgh is moving him back to safety. He could also be a dope WILL in a 43 scheme.
2. McKinney is the best in the box. He’s the strongest and has the longest arms, which helps him stack and shed OL. Haven’t really seen him do much of man coverage, don’t think that would be a strong suit. Much better dropping in pass pro. His sheer size makes up for some athletic defeciencies in this regard. His height and wingspan make throwing it over or around him much more challenging. He’s essentially a 22 year old, bigger Demeco Ryans in terms of what he brings to the table.
3. Kendricks is the most instinctive. He’s going to be in on the most tackles. He’s going to be steady Eddie for you for a decade. He’s got good range, ok size, and ok physicality. The comp I think I like best for him is Lauranitis. Maybe he makes a Pro Bowl or two, but generally is just going to be a solid player in your system for a decade.
4. Dawson has the highest upside of the bunch. He’s got better athleticism that Kendricks or Mckinney. Measurements are going to be key for him. He’s listed 6’2 and 230lbs, you hope he comes in at that height and maybe a few lbs higher. He’s the best playmaker of the bunch. He occasionally dives too much at ballcarriers or takes a weird angle, but if you hit on him, he going to be a top 3 ILB in football.
Do you guys think I reached too much in the first round here?
Round 1 Pick 20: Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon (A)
Round 2 Pick 25 (CAR): Maxx Williams, TE, Minnesota (A-)
Round 3 Pick 20: Laken Tomlinson, OG, Duke (B)
Round 3 Pick 25 (CAR): Ladarius Gunter, CB, Miami (Fla.) (B+)
Round 4 Pick 14: Jordan Richards, SS, Stanford (B)
Round 4 Pick 20: Kwon Alexander, OLB, LSU (B+)
Round 5 Pick 20: Devin Smith, WR, Ohio State (A)
Round 6 Pick 20: Tyrus Thompson, OT, Oklahoma (C+)
Round 7 Pick 20: Bryce Hager, ILB, Baylor (C+)
Devin smith in the 5th?
..
Wow. That game needs some serious updates before it’s ready to be played
Hater
GE:
hoping you’ll weigh on the ILB questions I asked.
This is unfair lol
No doubt. Pure LSD trip.
1st and 5th pick is theft
Complete. But I feel good about my efforts!
As a fellow, degenerate first-picker I’m going to set the over/under for “refresh page clicks” to accommodate the Mariota drop at 31…? Is that roughly accurate? No shame in admitting it, my friend…
Shockingly enough, none needed. I was actually scrolling through looking for guys and realized Mariota popped up. Total luck.
Very nice. I really enjoy the draft simulators despite their obvious limitations. For example – at least with today’s understanding before pre-draft workouts, interviews, free-agent signings, etc. – there’s no way Mariota would slip to #20 without someone trading up for him… including the Eagles.
No doubt. But it was fun for a day!
Just get ready for our cranky colleagues to throw a wet blanket on the fun…
If I was claiming this to be the draft against which I’m going to judge the Eagles, I’d expect it. This was straight up nonsense, but fun.
Oh for sure! But unless everyone has turned on their Internet browser’s “nuance” function you know someone’s gonna come knives out.
Huge fan Maxx Williams, great blocking te who can make crazy catches reminds me of heath miller pre injury or Travis kelce
I figured a TE is going to be needed sooner or later due to that HUGE 32 catch season from Celek and his $4.8 million salary.
Yea that is why I’m not against it, need a blocking te
They updated the value of the different prospects, like, today. Waynes used to be (A) if he was picked at 20, now and (A-). Also Quentin Rollins is actually available as a choice. I really think there are A LOT of good players this year. I feel better about trading down or up this year. We have the 4th round pick for ammo and if we trade down a bit we get more quality players.
I suggest you guys read this article about Roseman. To me, it seems like the fairest account of his strengths and weaknesses.
http://mobile.philly.com/sports/eagles/?wss=/philly/sports/eagles&id=287959731
Note that the Bucs just hired Dirk Koetter as their offensive coordinator., a guy who has strong ties to Oregon’s current HC Mark Helfrich. Sorry guys, but Mariota is going #1 overall and not to us in a trade up.
That means nothing. Winston is going #1, he’s the better pro prospect.
Presuming Tampa’s owners are ok with taking a felon #1 overall and risking flushing their entire investment in the guy down the toilet.
My admittedly loose understanding of the Florida legal system and law enforcement is that as long as Winston remains a relevant quarterback he’ll never be convicted of anything…
While he’s at FSU at least. The NY Times article on the non-justice system down there was appalling.
Well there you go right there! That’s just the liberal media trying to use facts and evidence to further their anti-corruption agenda.
Never let evidence get in the way of a good story.
Let’s face it, just because there’s a difference between “courtroom truth” and “THE truth” doesn’t mean Americans shouldn’t be free to treat “THE truth” as equivalent to “courtroom truth.”
But what if the truth never gets to the courtroom because the police “investigating” the situation are also paid employees of the football boosters? Winston = rapist.
And Roethlisberger, and Kobe, et al. It never makes a difference.
The difference is if you’re producing for your team. Kobe and Big Ben were/are cash cows for their teams. As is Winston. But if you’re an older running back starting to slide–best watch your step.
Unless that older running back is O.J. Simpson.
Different leagues at that time. We just witnessed Goodell give Peterson a defacto suspension for a year over a parenting method.
The truth about Kobe. You mean that the “victim” lied throughout the process and purposely changed shifts and told friends she wanted to sleep with Kobe?
he’s staying in FL right?
Justice nothing more than whose ox is being gored and where are you standing when it happens.
Speaking of which, I watched the CNN special “Dinosaur 13” about the discovery of a complete T-Rex skeleton (named “Sue”) and the legal nightmare that followed. Medium recommend for fellow science nerds, by the way.
Spoiler Alerts Coming:
The team that found the dinosaur purchased the skeleton from the landowner for $5,000 and planned to put it on display in their small museum. Later, the landowner realized how much the skeleton would be worth on the market and disputed selling it to the scientific team. They never wrote out a contract, just took a check from him. Though they did have video of the guy saying things like “you’ll take good care of her” and other comments where it’s obvious he thought he had sold it to them, the courts ruled in his favor: no written contract, no proof (other than the check and the video).
THEN, the Sioux tribe makes a claim on the dinosaur since the landowner is part Sioux and his land is on their reservation. THEN, the Federal Government claims ownership since the reservation is technically “held in trust” by the Dept. of the Interior and therefore the dinosaur should belong to Uncle Sam. THEN, none of the territorial maps were accurate, meaning there was no way to know (at the time) whose land you were digging on. What a mess! One person in the documentary actually says “you couldn’t have picked a worse place to discover a dinosaur.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl0yqt_uHRQ
Except Winston “gored” a person in their genitals in an manner that was not voluntary.
Baloophi . . .
You’re en fuego. Red fuego.
Winston might yell “F her in her Fuego!”
I’m sure he’s received a few F’s in his day…
We simply don’t possess the points needed to get from 20 to 1 even if Tampa was looking to deal.
Truth.
Why not? It would take around 3 1sts, 2 2nds and Nick Foles (discard the Redskins trade as they major overpaid if you compare with any other draft trade in history or what any value chart says).
The value chart is gospel…….. unless you’re Washington and go over the value of picks. Also, how many “points” are you assigning Foles?
Foles is the cherry here, the 3 1st and 2 2nds should in theory be enough from 20 to 1.
Far from a lock, not saying he will be an Eagle (he won’t) but that doesn’t make him a lock for 1st
sounds like the closest thing you get to a lock at this time of year
The draft is in like 4 months nothing is a lock he has another game, combine, pro days, interviews, and 4 months for people to do whatever if I had to guess I’d day he is going in the top 5,potentially first but I sure as hell.won’t call anyone a lock on January 8th
Most people on twitter (not Eagles fans or writers) ate saying the opposite. Remember helfrich ran a more pro style offense before oregon
He’s run a few systems, apparently. With Atlanta he had a system he called “four verticals”, designed to attack the free safety and make sure he’s always wrong.
You mean the same system Peyton Manning have used for almost 2 decades?
I saw you on libertyballers never knew you commented there
Yep
ouch 🙁
Mariota has incredibly high character (hard worker, Boy Scout, makes a great souffle).
Not sure Helfrich say anything to anyone that will increase that perception?
But Helfrich’s entire coaching career’s been spent in college. So does he have a good enough feel for the pro game to speak on it?
Wouldn’t that seem to put the Bucs in the same position as everyone else — that is, relying on the scouts?
I read it as they were going to try to incorporate some what oregon does in TB (I was really surprised that they said no the ex.Bears coach given what he did for McCown last year, but that’d be a weird situation with Lovie).
But your view is way more optimistic.
Hm. A great souffle is filled with a lot of hot air. Kind of like some folks here. ;~)
at least we got that outta the way
The more I watch of Shaq Thompson, the more I like. versatility to play several spots on defense. Plays well on ST. Strong burst, good instincts. Top rated safety coming out of high school. From the Pac-10. Good in space. Misses some tackles but I think that attribute is one of the more easily taught ones. Could possibly play safety? PLUS the versatility that he play RB for a while. He’s got speed AND moves. If he gets the int, he’s gonna return it a long way. Would I take this guy at 20? I’d take a long hard look, especially considering we need more dynamic linebacker play.
I would love Shaq at 20 to be our version of Adrian Wilson (or Kam Chancellor). While Kelly and Davis have said they want mirror safeties, I think there is real value in a guy like Shaq who can be sort of a pseudo LB in our cover 3 scheme.
It’s interesting because with his db mentalilty, I feel like ILB in a 3-4 works perfect. Hes able to be clean and just hit. I think he will be good at that. Will he be a super physical enforcer? Idk but I bet he can get a ton of TFL.
Will be very interesting to see how much he weights. If he is under 230, he is a SS for sure (I also heard that the Steelers are looking to move Shazier to SS)
Well he can gain weight but I agree. I’d take him anywhere in the back half.
I just saw the HoF finalists list and had this idea..maybe Foles should go learn from Kurt Warner this offseason.
Kurt Warner, although an interesting story, has putrid career stats for a guy under consideration for the HOF. Warner, with 67 career wins, has the same number of career wins as Jim McMahon. That ties him for 55th all time, hardly HOF.
Stats mean everything right? We all know that Brett Farve isn’t even one of in the top 5 QBs to ever live.
That is a great article, so thank you for posting it. I completely disagree with the author’s use of the minimal number of good years played by Warner to overcome the paucity of career excellence. He’s the QB version of Terrell Davis, a player who was undoubtedly at the top of his position for a few years, but was unable to maintain that over a longer productive career. I expect a HOF player to be great in both departments. I wouldn’t vote Bettis in for the reverse reason of Warner; Bettis simply never was that great of a player and only amassed good career numbers by playing for a long time.
A QB with only 4 pro bowls cannot get a HOF vote from me.
He came into an era that would host some of the best QBs ever to play the game. Manning, Brady, Favre and Rodgers. So he didn’t have the numbers to get more Pro Bowls consistently. You watch him play at his peak and you would see a passing machine that was basically in his 30s where most players regress.
He turned around basement dwelling franchises in his short time with them. He took 2 out of 3 teams to the Superbowl and was pretty much a few plays from winning both of them. Not to mention that those teams were probably better overall than his team. You give Warner the defense the Cardinals/Rams have today and he would have another ring and SB MVP. He was either jekyl or hyde in his career but there’s no denying that he was great when it mattered a.k.a the postseason.
Sure he was great in some postseasons, just not enough of them to earn my vote. I’m not saying the guy wasn’t good, just not great enough for my HOF vote. We’ll see what the voting room says as January 31st approaches.
Someone a while back posted a theory that Chung was a spy purposely planted by Bellichick. Seems to out there for me, but I’m starting to buy in. Prepare to spit up whateve you’re drinking this morning:
Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
3m3 minutes ago
Patriots have signed safety Patrick Chung to a 3-year extension through 2017 worth up to $8.2M, with $3.4M guaranteed, per @FieldYates.
[…] Coaches Update – Iggles BlitzTom Coughlin fired DC Perry Fewell. This is bad news for the Eagles, but good for the Giants. Fewell has a Super Bowl ring, but didn’t do a good job with their defense. They were 7th, 27th, 31st, 8th and 29th in yards allowed during his time. Only one group got inside the Top 17 for scoring defense – 12th in 2012. I hope they don’t bring back Steve Spagnuolo. He’s an assistant with the Ravens and I don’t want him coming back to the NFC East. […]
[…] Coaches Update – Iggles BlitzTom Coughlin fired DC Perry Fewell. This is bad news for the Eagles, but good for the Giants. Fewell has a Super Bowl ring, but didn’t do a good job with their defense. They were 7th, 27th, 31st, 8th and 29th in yards allowed during his time. Only one group got inside the Top 17 for scoring defense – 12th in 2012. I hope they don’t bring back Steve Spagnuolo. He’s an assistant with the Ravens and I don’t want him coming back to the NFC East. […]
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