Problem Solving
Posted: January 19th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 311 Comments »The Eagles must fix the secondary.
The problem is obvious, but the solution isn’t easy. In theory we’d like to replace both CBs and Nate Allen. There are a couple of problems with that. First, you would have a secondary with 3 new starters, which is far from ideal. After the OL, the secondary is the unit that needs stability the most. All 4 starters would be getting used to each other and 3 of them would be learning the system. The goal is to quit having confused DBs and blown coverages.
Nate Allen has to go. Bradley Fletcher needs to go. That leaves Cary Williams as the player to consider keeping. He has a high cap figure this year (about $8.1M) and there is no way the Eagles will pay that. Would you keep him if he took a pay cut?
I’m far from Williams biggest fan, but there is something to be said for keeping him, signing a top free agent and then drafting a CB early. The goal is to build a secondary that has some talent and some depth. Nolan Carroll and Jaylen Watkins could challenge for starting roles in 2015, but you sure can’t count on that.
Fletcher is a free agent. Is there any way he comes back? The coaches like him, but even they know his limitations. The only way I can logically see his return is if the Eagles make adding a top Safety a priority. They would need someone with instincts and range. That would make a difference. For instance. the new Safety would know to cheat to Fletcher’s side when he’s singled up against Dez Bryant. Allen only figured that out after a couple of big plays hurt the team in each game.
At this point, I think Fletcher needs a change of scenery to see if he can save his career. Maybe playing in a different system can help him to play better.
If Williams won’t take a pay cut, the Eagles have to release him and will be looking at 3 new starters. The other hard part of that equation is finding 3 good players in one offseason. The Eagles tried that in 2013 when they signed Williams, Fletcher and Patrick Chung. Williams has been so-so, the other two not so much.
The Eagles need to be creative and aggressive in fixing the secondary. I mentioned this the other day when writing about CFL corner Delvin Breaux. Use a variety of resources. Don’t add one star player and assume the situation is fixed. The Jets spent 1st round picks on CBs Kyle Wilson and Dee Milliner. Both have struggled in the NFL and their secondary remains a problem. Dallas spent big money on FA Bradon Carr, who has struggled. They added Sterling Moore from the scrap heap and he did some good things for them.
Think back to August.
CB: Cary Williams, Roc Carmichael, Curtis Marsh
CB: Bradley Fletcher, Nolan Carroll, Jaylen Watkins
Watkins was a rookie. Marsh had never started a game and had broken up 2 passes in his career. Carmichael had 2 career starts and had broken up 5 career passes. That’s not ideal competition.
Carroll is the kind of guy you want for competition. He played well in the summer. It is a huge shame that he got hurt and couldn’t really challenge Fletcher for his job.
Some of you may point to the 2013 moves as a sign the Eagles don’t know how to fix a secondary. That’s a fair point, but I don’t think it is entirely accurate. They didn’t invest big money in either Fletcher or Williams. You can argue that the Eagles should have gone after Brent Grimes or Steve Smith. Grimes was coming off a major injury. I don’t know why they passed on Smith.
You also have to remember that the Eagles had just cut DRC and Nnamdi Asomugha, a pair of pricey outsiders. The team may have felt going after big time corners in free agency wasn’t the way to go.
This time around Chip Kelly and Bill Davis should have a better idea of what they are looking for. They have 2 years of tape to study. They know what worked and what didn’t. And the good news is that they will have options. There are some free agents of interest. The draft has several big CBs who can cover. The Eagles can pursue Breaux, if they’re comfortable with the results of his physical (serious neck injury in the past). The Eagles have the cap space to go get free agents. They have all their early picks and an extra 4th rounder.
The key to all of this is for the Eagles to make the right decisions. Using resources on a problem doesn’t guarantee a solution. Fixing the secondary is crucial to the future and will be a huge test for Kelly and the front office.
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One thing to keep in mind is that the Eagles aren’t going to find Richard Sherman on the market. They will have to overpay for a free agent who isn’t going to be a shutdown corner. That’s what happens when you’re desperate and there aren’t great players available.
Keep your expectations realistic. The goal is to find a starter, possibly two. Expecting star corners is a bit much. There are no Troy Vincents to be had in this free agent class.
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Sean Smith not Steve Smith, although both did play college ball at Utah.
I would love if they picked up Kareem Jackson.
Especially if other teams over focus and drive the price up on Maxwell.
I’m more worried about Maxwell just being a product of his environment.
Why cant we be like the Patriots? Chung is a bum here in Philly, goes back to NE plays solid and gets a contract extension. Blount is a bum at Pittsburgh, gets cut and now he is starting in the Super Bowl. Why cant we take others teams’ trash and make them into something like the Patriots?
You mean like Connor Barwin, Malcom Jenkins, Darren Sproles, Evan Mathis or Jason Peters?
Outside of Evan Mathis, none of those guys were bums. Jason Peters cost us a first round pick. Connor Barwin has been better here, but he had solid seasons with the Texans including an 11.5 sack season. Jenkins was a solid safety for the Saints and has been basically exactly that for the Eagles. Darren Sproles has surprised some of us (I gladly ate crow for being wrong about him) with how great of a season he had, but any of the questions about him were related to his age, not his history/ability. So while all those players were solid signings, other than Mathis, none of them are examples of bums who turned into something.
Ehhhh, Saints fans were basically laughing at us saying we signed their shit safety and they fleeced a 5th round pick for an over the hill RB. Barwin was so highly viewed around the league that we picked him up for only $8 million guaranteed.
I would say Barbre and Bair would be fair additions to that list.
and Chung is still bum, just a bum who is protected and Blount has a good game once every blue moon.
Chung sucks. He has a top 2 CB, + quality CB, and a + quality S playing with him. He also plays behind a front 7 that schemes pressure very well. Chung sucks.
If you ever want to see how much Chung sucks as a safety, just look at the highlights of Chung blowing his assignment in the Super Bowl choke loss vs. the Giants on a slow diagnose and an every slower recovery coupled with a poor route to the ball on the BS lucky rainbow pass Eli completed to Manningham.
yea playing next to Revis, McCourty and Browner means Chung has it soo much easier than he had in Philly
He has such a limited set of duties that it’s a joke. I still really never know why we didn’t sign Glover Quin. That contract was soooooooo affordable, but yet we went after Chung.
I would say thats about as opposite s situation as I’ve ever seen lol
To be fair, he doesn’t suck, just wasn’t a good scheme fit.
There are options other than just improving the player personnel. Improve the coaching. It won’t magically make bad players great but it will help disguise their limitations. I’d give Davis one more year because he’s done good things with the pass rush but get new secondary coaches.
Yes, the good old Billy D. I also give him one more year, after that no more excuses though.
you know in points per game good Billy D was better than your boy Rex Ryan despite the Eagles offense leading the NFL in turnovers?
To me Billy D is the Sanchize amongst DCs:
You want to believe he’s good, but in reality he’s just ….average.
I never said he was good, just that Rex Ryan who many consider the best DC in the NFL coached a worse scoring defense that Billy D
And as I said I am giving Billy one more year.
Lol what a joke…. Chip is very happy with the steps Billy’s defense has taken this year. Not only is is job not in jeopardy, it’s not even in question, guarantee not a single thought crept into chips head about replacing billy….and I’m a die hard fan of defense….,when we gave Billy Davis players, he molded them into a top front 7, youngestDL in the league… You pay for a stop gap secondary, like everything in life, you gets hat you pay for… You can fire billy all you want, but Fangio doesn’t have some magic wand and fairy dust to sprinkle on our DBs,…
And that’s the problem, Geagle. Chip’s happy with Billy, despite his very questionable use of personnel, schemes that exposed his undertalented CB’s repeatedly, and unwillingness to try other players despite clear struggles by starters. You note that when we gave Davis players, he molded them into a top front 7, but despite that, he took the same players he had the previous season in the secondary and got a markedly worse performance from them. You can’t praise him for the positive and ignore the negative and expect to have any credibility.
I wlll admit to being on the fire Davis train, and this was after heaping praise on him midway through the season. For those who want to blame Nate Allen for not helping out on Bryant, there was a cutup done that pointed out that Billy’s scheme, which you love so much, regularly forces both safeties and linebackers to single up on receivers. Given the choice of who to help if you’re the high safety, do you help your LB against a WR or your CB?
Chip may love Billy, but he needs to do some serious self scouting and the one thing we haven’t seen so far. He needs to realize that a person can be a nice guy, hard worker, and still completely unable to do the job. That goes for both Fletcher and Davis.
Agree with most of that, but man is Davis thick when it comes to assessing 1:1 matchups in the secondary… Even a blunt instrument to the head is not enough to clear the fog. If he can’t get over the challenge of in-game adjustments, he’ll never make it as a coordinator.
But who knows what Davis coached Allen? Lets say Davis had already in his game plan told the safeties that they should role coverage to Dez if he was matched alone on Fletcher, but Allen just failed to do it?
As far as assignments that may be from Davis. Technique? That’s probably coming from the secondary coach. Regardless if you look at Davis’s background it’s as a LBs coach and briefly as a DBs coach. One would expect those positions would be a strength under him. He needs to be paired up with a quality secondary coach.
The ‘bad game’ we had under Castillo was more of a flaw in the system, similar to what we have under Davis. If you insist on singling your CB’s repeatedly, you will get beat deep occasionally. DRC is a much better cover corner than either Fletcher or Sconces, but even Richard Sherman would give up the occasional big play forced to play in Castillo’s scheme.
Big thumbs up from me for the notes about having a quality secondary coach. I was both shocked and angry when I watched the Eagles that year completely fall apart in the secondary.
Didn’t Nnamdi regress horribly under Bowles?
The S whether in one or two deep has to make a choice and it appears that Nate doesn’t make the right one enough… 🙂
The thing is, should anyone really have to tell Allen, to do that?
I know it’s probably far from ideal to be replacing three starters in only one off season, but you also have to ask you this:
What are the chances that the new trio will do worse than Fletcher, Williams and Allen?!
It’s not like the Eagles are looking to replace an ageing Troy, Bobby T and Dawk at once. …
I’d upvote this 100x if I could. As far as the Eagles’ secondary goes, continuity means continue to be horrilble.
You had to go and tempt fate with a comment like this, didn’t you?
I couldn’t resist. Mea culpa.
Whats the deal with Wolff? He was suppose to have beaten out Allen. Is he a porcelain doll who can’t play through pain? I guess we can’t count on him again.
The medical staff failed to find a lession in his knee, so he went on IR.
Correct. Shame nobody was scalped over that because they were putting out all kinds of derogatory comments about Wolff’s dedication / desire prior to finding that missed injury.
and a lession in the knee is one of the most painful things you can have because you have constant knee pain
How does that get missed when the guy keeps saying that he’s playing tentative because he knee still hurts?
Lessions are super tough to see on even MRI, so the coaches just thought he had a hard to battle trough the pain and that is why Kelly seemed to get annoyed with him.
But if you read Wolff’s comment after he went on IR, it seems Kelly softened once he learned about the lession.
Except the injury was there and Coach Kelly isn’t Doctor Kelly. Who the F are they paying to be their medical staff down there? F ups of this type really aren’t acceptable.
And the media and fans shitted on hm all year… Ripped that kid for two years about how he was a pussy who wouldn’t play thru pain…SMH jackasses… This was a kid who had never missed time with an injury, played a year with a jacked up shoûlder without missing games, and the donkeys right away question his heart and brand him a pussy….smh only in philly
He got ripped by the media and fans because the staff leaked that info to the media and fans. The complaints about Wolff playing tentative football were generated in house and passed along to reporters.
Got to knock the coaching staff for this one as well. Yes, it’s also on the doctors for missing the lesion, but considering this is the first I’ve heard about it, clearly admitting this error wasn’t prioritized. Yet, everyone heard coach Kelly and co. complain about Wolff needing to play through pain. If you want to criticize the fanbase for questioning his toughness, please explain how you don’t question the coaches?
I don’t think he has very good instincts either.
Surprised you don’t mention Maxwell or Browner. They seem like logical targets.
I think, if you can’t get a true shutdown CB, you’re better off investing in good safeties than overpaying for 2d tier CBs. The S can make up for a CB’s mistakes but not vice versa.
Somebody (D3 I think) pointed out that Maxwell is most likely to get more money than he should due to playing with Seattle and folks driving up the price on him without truly knowing how well he can play without that safety support.
I have my concerns over Maxwell because he plays with 3 all-pros.
Right now I rather want Chris Culliver or Kareem Jackson as they will be much cheaper and might actually be better
No thanks on Culliver. He’s one bad decision away from being suspended for a very long time.
He has an out of control mouth and a bad run in with the law on the brass knuckles incident.
I’d dig Jackson.
Didnt knew that.
That leaves Jackson as the only good CB outside of Maxwell and Jackson is sadly only 5’10
There are other solid options besides those 2 but not much
We won’t even consider Culliver or Cox.
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Maxwell and Kareem’s price tag will be absurd
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Revis we won’t consider but I expect Bellicek to have fallen in love with hm by now
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Relly no one to sign that would be a real upgrade to what we have
“Revis we won’t consider”
Why? If he tests FA, why wouldn’t we consider him? With improved secondary play (and boy Revis would help with that), this D is pretty good. If Chip gets his offense rolling again, we could be a contender.
Revis should have 2 more good years in him. We can debate if he hits the market, but if he does, I’d be really pissed if we’re not considering him. He’s the kind of corner that is worth 12-14m per year. That’s very rare, but he’s that kind of CB.
With Revis and a good new Safety, Carroll or Williams (way reduced salary of course) starting at the other corner spot would be ok. It would be much less pressure on them with the Safety help Revis is creating by shutting his man down.
Don’t forget: we have a scheme that puts a lot of pressure on the CBs. That’s the thing I don’t get about Billy D. He improved the front seven a lot, but why send scrubs like Fletcher and Allen on an island? You can play that way, but only if you have the talent for it. We don’t. We play like we have at least one CB with Revis/Sherman/Haden talent. If you can actually grab one of them, go get him.
Certainly the SB teams support your view. They have the best shutdown Cbs in the league.
Understood. Note your observation supports my point that you are better off investing in Safeties than in 2d tier CBs.
“You can argue that the Eagles should have gone after Brent Grimes or Steve Smith. Grimes was coming off a major injury. I don’t know why they passed on Smith.”
No we were arguing that the Eagles should have done better at safety in 2013 than Chung by signing Quin.
I’ll fully admit I liked adding Williams and Fletcher at the time.
The essential problem with the safety position in the NFL is that most guys suck at it. I see it as, by far, the worst position in the NFL. We have mediocre and athletically limited guys with Sehorn Syndrome like Eric Weddle making All-Pro teams over Cam Chancellor (a joke on multiple levels), a ton of teams with a least one poor starter at safety, and even some other teams with zero good starters at safety.
Almost every game I watched this year, I saw safeties taking bad angles, fail to wrap up, and blow assignments. On the rare occasions where those same safeties made good plays, the refs often punished them with flags for hits on ‘defenseless’ receivers (how they are defenseless when they had the opportunity to curl up into a ball, I’ll never understand). One of the joys of watching this past weekends games was actually seeing some really good safety play. It is very much the exception, not the rule.
Kareem Jackson and Maxwell won’t be Eagles… Take that to the bank.
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We arent a healthy cap every year because we overpay to fix problems. No shot in hell that you can get Kareem or Byron on a fair contract, so the eagkes wont be interested…
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Hopefully the Patriots lose and chose to keep Revis and Browner so they have to let McCourty go… He will cost a pretty penny, but he is the most PERFECT DB fit for everything the EAGLES value and are looking for. If you take all the safeties and CBS available, McCourty is easily threat fit, and his character, leadship and work ethic fit….. He will cost a pretty penny, but feel like he will be the guy that best gives us our money worth, and if we could add 1 DB, he would prob make a bigger impact at safety than the corners…
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Maxwell and Kareem are 35-42million dollar players who will end up getting like 50mil in a bidding War…. Eagles arent going to outbid some of the dumber owners who throw money around……. I doubt ToddBolwes signs with the Jets unless they are prepared to get hm a CB…every team in our division needs CB, and we will be competing with some really stupid owners
Safety is significantly more difficult to acquire than CB, so I’m with going more aggressively after a safety via free agency and plugging in Trae Waynes via the draft.
You need to forgets all about addressing your needs in the draft, it won’t work that way here.. As this roster gets stronger and stronger it will be come more rare to see Eagles playing rookies. Doubt we ever see more than 1 or 2 rookies per year starting. Anything we get from a rookie is just a bonus.
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You look towards free agency to build next years team, you look to the draft to build your future.
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I have no doubts we will,draft a corner, I just have serious doubts about that corner being ready to outplay Cary and Nolan in September. Which is why it’s best to get our corners some quality safety help in place behind them.
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I know that the Eagles will undoubtably make 2-3 upgrades at DB, I just worry that only 1 of those upgrades will be paying dividends in September.
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If the Eagles have to spend good money on a free agent, like they did with Barwin and Jenkins, he has to be the perfect fit in every way……. That’s McCourty. You can’t find a more perfect safety to mirror Jenkins…
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Hopefully He doesn’t go into free agency as a Superbowk winning safety…. Łet Maxwell get that title and Jack up his price more. We are talkng about a starting corner for the friggin Legion of Boom, dude will get 10mil MORE than he is worth!
I’d argue Waynes isn’t reaching for a need, he’s a best player available type guy at 20.
I never said he was a reach. I could easily see us pick a corner as high as 20, I just don’t believe the corner drafted will be able to take the starting spot from Cary and Nolan in September, and I assume Eagles will prefer Jalen Collins to the name brand Wayans.
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Wayans stylistically is similar to last years Fuller who everyone heard the Eagles were high on, I personally heard that was bullshit and we were really high on Roby who is stylistically similar to Collins, not Fuller….. That’s one of the reasons I assume we rate Collins over Wayans
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Again, I think 2-3 DB upgrades are coming this offseason, I just warn not to be surprised if only one of those upgrades is providing instant gratification in September.
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As our rosters gets stronger, it will become harder and harder to see rookies playing for the Eagles. Doubt more than a rookie or two per year will be getting playing time for us….
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Good news, the upgrades are coming, two or three of them
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bad News: our secondary could look similar to last years in September. My guess is we sigń a safety, start cary and Nolan outside, while corners we,drafted are being groomed on the bench.. Hopefully Midseason Cary gets knocked out of a game, the rookie comes in, does well and never gives Cary his job back…
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But I’ll be SHOCKED if Nolan and Cary or Brad arent our starting CB in September.
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Hopefully I’m wrong and thy can pull off some fantasy football pipe dream of getting 3 new DBs who can all start in September
About the Roby thing I’m not sure how high we could’ve been on him if we passed him up twice
Was told we were really high on him as a corner, character not so much….for what it’s worth, adam Caplan told me he heard the same exact thing…
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Also, don’t be surprised if chip is one of those,guys that will address the trenches on the first round every year, either OL or Front 7… So far, THATS exactly what heme has done, so far he is spending 1st rounders on the 3 most valued positions: LT,merge rusher, QBs……. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see chip go OL, ILB, or DE(if we trade Curry for Dion like I think we will)… And address corners in round 2 or 3
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Very curious to see if chip will ever spend a 1st on corners, WR, RBs, players that don’t effect the trenches?
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And if we don’t trade back last year, we wouldn’t have the extra pick to trade up for Jordan Mathews
Well oh draft day when I saw who was left I was definitely hoping for a trade down, glad we did. Only 2 drafts so I’m not sure where he will go this year… Combine hasn’t happened yet so a lot of guy’s stock will fluctuate
Looking at what positions will be available in the 20’s… Looks like the possibilities are:
ILB
CB
OL
WR
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Those are the positions that we should see on the board in the 20s…
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If we want to trade back and get an extra pick, I think an ILB will be the best talent available
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Very curious to see what we prioritize in the draft this year. The part that sucks is, Chip is going to have full control, but after we see this draft, we have no way of knowing the difference between chips influence in this draft, and his influence in the previous two drafts….did he have so much power in all 3 drafts that we can bunch them all together and start looking for patterns….or with Howie out of the way will this draft’s data be seperate from the other two?
who are you referencing when you say ” i was told “… you said your just a regular dude but you always reference theses people who are “in the know” on Eagles news…
just curious…
😉 just a concerned citizen
you guys seem like old friends.. ha!
Just my bitch with an inferiority conex…crazed stalker fan. Typically I minimize his comments as soon as I see the name, pretty worthless, atleast he consistent
The Equalizer!
He reads twitter. That’s it. Absolutely zero inside knowledge.
Have no idea why I’m the only one calls him out on this BS, but he does it all the time.
Hahahahah groupie .. My bitch!!
And then he responds like this.
I’m pretty much tired of doing it. This is Igglesblitz not philly.com, be respectful and the bigger man/woman even if you disagree with people.
Shouldn’t that go both ways? So we put up with the drunk, vulgar guest at the party, but then chastise the one guy who has the stones to tell him to behave himself? If you think his gimmick isn’t wearing on folks, just look at all the quality commentators who’ve left.
He’s actually Brandon Graham and Nick Folezzzzz in one person having sconces every day.
Professional courtesy
He “personally heard”……..
and McCourty isnt a 50+ million safety in FA?
Also every team in the NFL except 1 team needs at least 1 safety, so McCourty will get serioly paid.
My bet is McCourty signs for more than Kareem Jackson
I’d be more ok with overpaying safety than CB via free agency and attacking CB more in the draft.
45m, and worth every penny…… Out of all the DBs on the market, Eagles will view him as the most perfect fit. Take it how you want it, but you were arguing all offseason when I said we would be signing malcolm Jenkins, so I’m not exactly surprised…
Im disagreeing that McCourty is a better fit than Jackson as Jackson is only 5’10.
McCourty is the guy I want more than anything else (no way Justin Houston hits the market)
Dude, you are only permitted to come on here and say “I told you so” as long as you come on here and willingly eat crow. You make so many proclamations, guarantees and “take it to the bank” statements that are completely wrong. Then, like a lunar eclipse, you are actually right and come on here and openly congratulate yourself. It has to work both ways. You can’t keep trotting out ridiculous statements like “Cary Williams is a big game shutdown corner” and then looking the other way when he commits self immolation week after week. You are the first person to come on the board and pat yourself on the back and throw it in people’s face.
CBs generally get much better contracts than safetys, though…
Because there are more good cbs than there are safeties
A low supply of good S would normally translate to bigger salaries. It is IMO that CB is seen as a more valued position than S and thus worthy of more investment in salary. S has been a under-valued position for years, they do not get the limelight nor the compensation but are actually critical for a good defense
There are maybe 5 great safeties n the league and another 7 or so good ones, then you see a huge drop off. There are quite a few good corners most teams have at least 1 good corner
Kareem is going to get stupid money thrown at him for his inflated INT total. Won’t be surprised if he gets as much as Maxwell
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Stupid owners are going to throw so much money at the thought of filling a drastic need a corner with a young member f the Legion of Boom….Jackson/Maxwell get stupid money thrown at them…if we have to pay BIG stupid money, I prefer it on a safety who can make life much easier on the corners..
I don’t think Jackson will get the money Max and Devin get but who knows
Hopefully I’m reading this all wrong and the Eagles announce the signing of McCourty, Maxwell and Kareem so we never have to talk about the secondary again
As a Rutgers fan, I would love to have McCourty on our team. I still can’t believe that THREE RU defensive backs are significant contributors on the Pats secondary.
I hear Rutgers and I think LJ Smith. Thanks.
Kareem Jackson and Maxwell won’t be Eagles… Take that to the bank.
You mean like Murray was going to break, Romo to choke in December, and BG re-signing with the Eagles?l
I rather keep my hard-earned money under my pillow than taking it in your piggy bank. :-p
Funny you don’t mention the 3000 thins I calles correct lol. Amusing…
Fire everybody
Was the the headline in all of the Milwaukee papers?
who is this guy? always on the Negadelphia train…
I’m Brandon Bridge’s massage therapist.
you must have strong hands.. or feet… depending on your style of massage
SMH NFL is investigating if the Patrots deflated the balls before the AFC championship… Yhese dudes ever gonna stop cheating? WTF… I never heard of anyone being investigated for deflating balls before. Leave it up to he Patriots. Smh
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In other news, Colts working on a deal that makes Luck NFL highest paid player, 25mil a year, THATS Kobe Bryant money!!!
Was seconds away from posting it
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000460728/article/nfl-looking-into-pats-possible-use-of-deflated-balls
Only in New England…
Where’s the advantage if both teams have to use the same ball?
According to PFT.com, the theory behind deflating footballs is to allow the QB to get a better grip.
Only 1 team on that field yesterday needed to throw the ball to win.
And it wasn’t New England.
I’m just trying to see where the edge is.
???? Curious as to why the only time I ever heard anything like this in my life, just happens to be at a Patriots home game? With that said, I doubt air pressure in a ball was the difference in a 45-7 game…..
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Allegedly the advantage is grip, especially a wet day like yesterday…but that advantage should have also been enjoyed by Luck and his center….this is according to eagle center Jamal Jackson, claiming its a “grip” thing..
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Just amused that te first time ever hearing anything like this, comes from a Patriot home game…doubt air pressure was the reason Colts defense let a Left Tackle catch a 10 yard pass in the rain…luck is always an INT machine, especially in playoffs, how can we blame the air pressure?
Article I read didn’t blame the loss on the cheating. Colts got spanked, and the air pressure thing had nothing to do with it.
Problem for the NFL is that the Patriots have earned their reputation for being willing to push the rules. Every time they pull another stunt like this, it reminds us all that the NFL destroyed evidence rather than expose the Bellicheaters.
This. If it was any other team, doubt it would even have made the Indianapolis papers, but since that NE organization is a proven unrepentant cheater, there’s enough credibility that you have to at least read the article before coming to the conclusion that it’s not a real story.
LOL at Bruschi “getting tired” of cheating allegations. Hint – you don’t want everything you accomplish to be questioned, have the integrity to a) not cheat; or failing that b) own up to your cheating and work to re-establish your integrity.
Was wondering:
What in the hell is Paganos background in coaching ,womens lammazze? WORST coach in NFL
Everybody is crowing for massive upgrades to the secondary and I just don’t think they’ll make them.
Yeah they will likely have 2 new starters especially since Fletcher is a FA but the Eagles said they wanted to address & upgrade it last year. Instead they let all of the premier CBs/Ss go elsewhere and brought in Carroll & Jenkins.
Think it will be more of the same this offseason although they will address their secondary issues in FA. Desperately need someone in the backfield though who can actually make a play or two. Jenkins has stone hands and isn’t that guy. Neither are any of their CBs either except Boykin.
If they don’t spend money though on the secondary in FA, I would like to see them spend some money to upgrade the offense. This team is built to win NOW with an OL that is relatively older, a RB who is at his peak or already slightly past it, a QB in the last year of his rookie deal, and some older starters on defense especially if they bring back Cole & Ryans. Waste to roll over so much cap room & preserve it.
Sorry to digress, but….You know, reflecting on Clinton-Dix: his 2 picks off Wilson was great, but the one GB really needed from him was off the 2-pt conversion they did and he had a shot at the ball.
Yea,
that rookie sucks for not making every play yesterday. Im glad the eagles stayed away
they didn’t stay away…he got picked before the eagles could take him
😛
I know Im just at the point with Eagles to where I cannot believe they didn’t see this coming last year like the rest of us. Staying back and trading back should never be “plan A”
lol
You’re right of course, but so is Raul. Dix made some really good plays, but the failure to break up the lollipop in the endzone for 2pts could be considered the reason GB lost. (Of course that ignores everything else that happened that game, but why let little details like that get in the way of criticizing a player.)
I know lol just funny to see this misfortune on other teams .
Rookies do bone headed things like drop lollipop passes that really swing a game.
But, why not make the easiest play of your career, I’d still rather have him, but that play still has me shaking my head.
Rookies man just make some bone headed plays:
Huff almost every time he touched the ball did something amazing or amazingly bone headed or both.
When Djax dropped the ball before crossing GL against Dallas
CB: Cary Williams, Roc Carmichael, Curtis Marsh
CB: Bradley Fletcher, Nolan Carroll, Jaylen Watkins
Talk about the scrap heap. I normally wouldnt want to replace 3/4 starters in the back 4 but it needs to happen for us to get better. Why can’t Boykin play on outside again?
b/c he looks just as bad as the other guys.
Nobody looks as bad as Fletcher and Allen. I could overlook Sconces but he ALWAYS gets a penalty at the worst times.
Boykin had a down year at Slot CB. I was referring to why he can’t play on the outside, not sure he had 50 snaps at LCB or RCB
Like anon said, the coaches decided he was a better fit for the slot CB based on his size, skill set and the fact he struggled on the outside in practice etc. I think Carroll is the better option for the outside than Boykin, but if he starts they will need more CB depth and I’m not sure Carroll is capable of being that good.
It really shows what they think of him. Everybody else gets to prove if they can be versatile when the opportunity is there. Boykin needs a shot to play full time and shift to nickel or dime on 3rd down.
And you know this based on the copious evidence of having seen him play out there?
Not calling Boykin an all-pro, but assuming he’s awful is just silly.
He has looked pretty poor in pre-season. Perhaps it is just experience or maybe it is because on average he plays smaller players in the slot. It might be worthwhile to have him mix and match with Carroll when the matchup is more favorable.
Re: Devin McCourty and Other Patriot Ex-patriots
Thinking back over the past 20 years of NFL free agency . . .
What players have left the Belichick-coached Pats in free agency and done at least as well or better on their new team?
I think there’s only one in the past 15 years (Belichick era).
_______________
Here’s most of the FAs who’ve left New England since 2000. They’re slightly out of order, with the 2 Eagles signings at the top:
– CB Asante Samuel (All Pro with Pats / All Pro with Eagles)
– S Patrick Chung (plays strangely well for Pats / not Eagles)
– OL Damien Woody (1x PB as a Pat / none with Lions and Jets / solid player)
– S Lawyer Milloy (4x Pro Bowl, 1x All Pro as Pat / none with Buff, Atl, Sea)
– RB Antowain Smith (1000 yd season, 2x SB as Pat / 1 season with TN, 1 with N.O., out of football)
– CB Ty Law (4x Pro Bowl, 2x All Pro as Pat / 1x PB as Jet / 0 with KC, DEN)
– LB Roman Pfiffer (3x SB winner as Pat / 2 games with NYG, out of NFL)
– G Mike Compton (2x SB winner as Pat / 13 games with JAX, out of NFL)
– TE Christian Fauria (2x SB winner as Pat / starts 4 gms for WSH, CAR over 2 years, then out of the NFL)
– OLB Willie McGinnest (1x PB, 3x SB, avg 6.5 sacks as Pat / totals 8 sacks in three seasons for Browns, then out of football)
– WR David Patten (3x SB with Pats / 23 receptions in 2 years for WASH)
– WR David Givens (2x SB, avg 40 rec for Pats / 8 recs for TN, out of football)
– TE Daniel Graham (solid part-time starter for NE, Denver)
– C Dan Koppen (3x SB for Pats, starter 8 seasons / 12 starts in 2 years for DEN, out of NFL)
– DE Bobby Hamilton (solid rotational DE for Pats, Raiders, Jets)
– S Eugene Wilson (3-year starter for Pats / 3-yr part-time starter for HOU, out of NFL at age 30)
– DE Ty Warren (7-year starter for Pats / starts 1 game for DEN in 2 years)
– TE Ben Watson (solid part-time starter for Pats / pretty good full-timer for CLE, p/t for N.O.)
– S James Sanders (Avg 9 starts for 6 yrs as Pat / 6 starts in 2 years with ATL, out of football)
– WR Wes Welker (5x PB, 2x All Pro, 240 rec. last 2 years as Pat / 122 total receptions in 2 years for DEN)
– S Brandon Meriweather (2x PB as Pat / 4 starts for CHI after free-agent signing and cut / 24 starts in 3 seasons for WSH)
– ILB Brandon Spikes (serviceable player for Pats, Bills)
Cant you make mostly the same arguement for the Eagles during Reid era?
In general good teams like the Pats know when to let FAs leave.
Is Maclin a guy Billy B would pay?
I could see the patriots scooping him up if we let him go for sure. They aren’t a top-tier free agent chasing team (especially on offense). Maclin might be the edge of what they’re willing to pay so it’s a tough call, but he works hard, good locker room guy, versatile (runs all the routes well, including being moderate deep threat, blocks, etc). He actually seems like a patriot guy come to think of it.
Don’t think he can pay him
A:
That’s exactly what the evidence seems to show — which is why I put it up.
___________
Which leads to this question:
If Belichick is letting McCourty walk, what does that say?
They want to sign Dez Bryant?
that’d be awesome
McCourty is much younger than most of those mentioned.
Mate, how long did it take you to compose that list?! Awesome work!
I think the eagles took the first positive step by getting rid of secondary coaches that weren’t getting the job done. The next step is to realize that its not a one year fix. I like the idea of getting quinten rollins, josh shaw or Adrian Amos. Get some of the bigger cbs in the later rounds and convert them to safeties. Also give the secondary help with pass pressure. Its not simple but there are not many options to go with
“not a one year fix” we’ve been saying that and drafting late round corners for the last two years and we’re literally in the same position we were when Kelly was here. Corners getting roasted, us not in the playoffs.
Now another two years to fix the secondary through the draft?
Yup and if the Eagles solely address their secondary needs through the draft they won’t have much improvement. Asking too much for 2 rookie starters to come in and substantially improve the pass defense.
I get your point but Kelly only drafted dbs in this last draft; Watkins and Reynolds. The problem is rookie dbs are nortorius for having rough 1st seasons so expecting them to do much is not fair. The best thing is to acquire talent from anywhere that they can and let the cream rise to the top.
Wolff and Poyer don’t count?
I forgot about them. Wolff has become a disappointment
Agree, it’ll be interesting to see how he comes back after the summer, if he’s healthy and can give Jenkins some help, at least on a rotational basis i think that’d be great. I do think it’d be nice to see more rotation. Can’t have those guys playing 1200 snaps, especially not if we ever make it to the playoffs.
How is Wolff a disappointment? He got hurt at the end of his first year, was misdiagnosed, and it effectively ruined year 2 for him.
The only disappointing thing about Wolff is that whoever misdiagnosed that injury wasn’t b slapped for it.
I would like to see a new DB coach. As far as rookie CB’s, they may not be up to NFL speed but at least their athleticism could be better than Fletcher, Williams, and Allen. We have no explosive players in the secondary. No one is afraid of anybody back there. Perhaps with a rookie you would have a similar number of plays given up as Fletcher but you may also have more plays made (int’s PBU, etc).
If you upgrade from Nate with a FA that would cover a lot of the mistakes the CBs make. Nate is fine athletically, he just has below average instincts. I have mentioned this before but I think that Fletcher would make a good S, wouldn’t have to turn his head and his speed wouldn’t be an issue.
We fired one guy, right? And he was an assistant. I’m dubious we’ve made the changes that’ll turn things around.
Maybe but at least they’re self evaluating. Who knows pass defense could be for Kelly as run defense was for Reid.
Starts with the coaching technique of getting your head around to play the ball LOL
And that coaching assistant called ALL the shots when it came to this so he had to go and we are no way better
Where did you read this? Sounds like wishful thinking to me…
Rollins is going in the top 40. If he runs well in Indy he’s going higher than that.
I’m probably the one of the few people who wouldn’t mind if the Eagles take an OL with their first pick either especially if it is along the lines of taking ‘best player available.’
Defense got a lot of flak but the offense could use some tweaking too. I don’t think Foles is a Top 10 QB but he is darn close and certainly good enough to win with. Frankly more concerned about his ability to stay healthy.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-10-types-of-nfl-quarterbacks/
Just a question of how much it takes to resign Maclin though. I do think he is going to try to get Top 10 WR money & there is a decent chance the Eagles will end up franchise tagging him instead.
No I agree. The eagles should have a list of at least 15 players they would like at the 20th pick. If tj Cummings or ereck flowers is the guy I wouldn’t mind that. However there are certain olinemen like la’el Collins and Brandon schreff that I don’t think would fit in a zone blocking scheme.
I take Erwing, Clemmings (no Cummings), Flower and Scherff at 20 with no problem.
Clemmings and Flowers can play both guard and tackle, Scherff is potential the next great guard in the NFL and Erwing can play all 5 positions (start at RG and backup both Kelce and Johnson? yes sir for me)
If Ronnie Stanley is still there in the 2nd, I would pull the trigger on him. It probably wouldn’t happen though.
Stanley is staying in school
That’s a shame.
They would be great guards if they don’t work out at tackle.
If our OL choices are Cummings or Flowers I don’t see them as BPA at 20, but that’s just me.
I’m all good with a day one starting RG who can kick to tackle once Peters retires with the pick at 20.
There is a huge problem with tagging Maclin. If you tag him, you have to pay him $12+ mil for the year and you’re telling him he’s a $12 + mil / year player. Either he stays here for what he’s offered or he takes a deal elsewhere. Maclin had a great year, but he’s not a transcendent player that you sign long-term to the tag number.
and when he leaves we have exactly how many number 1 receivers?
O.O
As many as people said we had last year after Djax left ! 🙂
So you’re saying that Ruley Cooper will also put up career numbers if Maclin leaves??
Jeff Mail all pro~ skeptics say “its the chip kelly mirage” Tatoo “score some F’n points” on Ruley Kupas head
And when his knee blows out again and we’re on the ringer for $30 mil in guarantees? You can’t overpay to keep a guy who isn’t a game changing talent. You’re correct that it would erode the WR cops badly, but we’re supposed to be a running team and they’d have to work to replace him.
maclins our best reciever
Doesn’t mean he should be paid like one of the best. Look at Mike Wallace.
If you sign him you still don’t have a #1 receiver, he is a very good #2, but I think he falls short when you compare him to most of the #1 WR’s around the NFL. You get one with Plan B or C.
No but they don’t have an alternative and given the market Maclin has the leverage.
Just a question of whether Maclin really wants to come back or he wants Top 10 WR money. I think it is the later or he would have resigned last year.
I can’t blame Maclin either. This is his chance for a big payday and he should take it.
I think getting upgrades to the OL is just a big of a priority as getting QB right and getting secondary help
After this years travesty on the OL thanks to lack of depth, I doubt much of the board would complain if the Eagles took an OL in the first. Now, if they take an OL in the first, a WR in the 2nd, another OL in the 3rd and don’t address the secondary until the 5th round or later, then you’ll see some outrage.
Per ProFootballTalk, the Bucs denied the Eagles request to interview Jon Robinson, their Director of Player Personnel. As I mentioned before, they can deny the request because the Eagles’ job doesn’t come with final say over personnel.
Hopefully this guy wasn’t related to idiot Rams / USC John Robinson.
Yeah foreseeable issue.
Chip is grooming his assistant Demeco Ryans while he’s on the mend!
I just saw that the Eagles are allowed to talk to Fitterer of the Seahawks this next week, but they can deny permission.
i’d just deny. I also wouldn’t leave a perennial SB contender to come cross country and take the same job at a team w/ our issues. Eagles going to have to pay a lot of $$.
Fitterer will have the same job as his current boss, so its still a promotion and Schiender aint leaving Seattle in the next decade
So you can interview them during the Superbowl off week..
I realize McClane reported that, but I believe he’s wrong. I’m relying on someone else’s reporting on this(Jason Cole). I just know that McLane is frequently wrong on technicalities like that.
What we need is an Upgrayedd in the secondary
http://screenagekicks.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/framed188idiocracy2.jpg
before the last 5 minutes in seatlle I surely thought they were getting a package together of Wilson, lynch and draft picks to trade up for mariotta. how many interceptions did Wilson throw?
geez he was awful… until that OT drive to win.
I guess they can put that package back on the shelf.
good thing that defense / ST kept them in the game.
yeah that was a ream win at its best.
I really like Wilson, but hopefully this cools it on the talk of him being elite. Tommy did an article that all the teams have a QB. I said it last week I’ll say it again. Please, the Seahawks have a Defense and a running back, old school. Contributors and role players elsewhere. I’ve seen some guys with the tools to be special, but none of the young guys have stepped up yet and claimed the mantle in my eyes. Lucks seems like it’s inevitable, and he has a game here and there, but he still hasn’t made it yet.
it could escalate his status since they won with some nice throw at the very end
Imagine the Seahawks with a good WR or 2… yikes.. baldwin is their go to guy and he stinks.. i hope they dont get their hands near D Thomas or Dez.. for that matter Maclin…
Don’t worry they’ll only get worse, they are actually worse this year compared to last year
agreed… a healthy AR and that would have been just as ugly as the Pats/Colts game..
outcome might be the same though so are they worse?
Baldwin doesn’t look like he stinks
you want baldwin as the Eagles #1 WR? i think not.. therefore, he stinks in relation to other #1 WR.. he wouldnt even be on the field on some teams..
He isnt a number one but he is perfectly fine as a number two. With how much and how effective they run i dont think they need a true number one in that system. I would love to have him with Maclin over Cooper. Blocks good too. I thought Golden Tate sucked but he is doing really good with Detroit. It just shows that Seattles scheme isnt best for big WR numbers.
ooh man woulda loved Golden on the birds… guy is a nasty man… i guess baldwin is a poor mans tate? im just saying, and i really hope they dont upgrade, but imagine IF they had a true #1 WR like a DEZ or Thomas… would be scary.. and with your boy Baldwin as a #2.. it would benefit him too..
With no question it would be an improvment but say it were Dez, i dont think his numbers would be as good with Seattle as they are with Dallas due to scheme. Like wise i think Baldwins numbers may be better with another more traditional style passing team. I dont see Seattle as a team that is going to sign a big FA WR due to the fact they are perfectly fine without one. They would much rather invest their money on D and their young stars such as Wilson. Why change a plan that is working so good for them so far. Hell yeah i would love to have Tate as an Eagle, i would love to have Baldwin also.
he’d be on the field at the linc every down if we had him
He’s a little crazy.. (post game comments) prob not the Chippers ideal culture fit.. BUT he prob would be on the field at the linc very often.. last year..
Why would they put that together. Those players were a HUGE reason as to why they won a superbowl last year and a huge reason as to why they even got to the NFCCG. There waseven talk from them ths year about making Wilson the highest paid QB in league. Clearly they are happy with him. Its not like Mariotta is even a sure fire hit. You.dont.just trade away players that got you a QB, esspecially a young succesful QB.
uh I was joking wee2424. a joke because as soon as foles has a bad game we want to do the same thing…
lol sorry…spent to much time on EMB back in the day im used to people saying stuff like that and being serious sometimes.
Another thing to consider is, is it the DBs? We have a scheme that forces a lot of attention on stopping the run and getting to the QB — and we basically use all available guys to do it in base defense (DL, LBs, at least one DB, usually jenkins). That’s a lot of pressure to put on a secondary that you’re paying $15/yr total. Does that make any sense?
If they’re going to buy scrap heap DBs (and 3 of the 4 players are scrap heap DBs) then they need to protect them more (more DBs/ dropping LBs / better safety help) more rangy linebackers (only two of our guys can play in space, and they also happen to be our best pass rushers). So as much of it is on the coaches with the scheme as it is on the DBs. Who in their right mind leaves a $5CB on an island with an all-pro receiver.
For those of you mentioning overpaying players. Many of our guys are overpaid. MAC is about to get $10+ a year (more if we tag), most would agree he’s probably not worth that much. James Casey is getting $4m/yr., McCoy $10m+/yr, Cole $7-10m/yr, Cooper at $5m a year w/ no clutch gene (see doug baldwin). So to me it seems a little disingenuous to only go after “value” players when there’s fat all over the salary cap. Can buy something at the Gap outlet and expect it to look like you got it at Barneys.
There are plenty of ways to save tons of cap money if they wanted to.
Excellent points.
Quoting a Jeff McClane article from earlier this year:
‘”Usually you have to outnumber them in the box, but if you do, you’re a little bit lighter in the secondary,” Kelly said last month. “So if you have defensive linemen that can two-gap and make plays off of two-gapping, then I think you can play with one less guy in the box at times.”
Most defenses like to say their No. 1 job is to stop the run, but the Eagles take it to pathological levels, which may seem odd considering how the passing game has come to dominate the NFL.
But the Eagles often are more inclined to see the run on first and second down because opponents are trying to slow down the game against Kelly’s fastbreak offense. And they believe if they can make offenses one-dimensional, they’ll have greater success teeing off on quarterbacks.'”
The last paragraph is where I take issue. If Kelly’s offense is successful, then teams will be throwing the ball to keep up. If its not, then teams are going to run the ball the prevent turnovers and work the ToP. Seems counter-intuitive to me, considering Chip’s offense is predicated getting out in front early. The problem is, our defense isn’t making offenses one-dimensional. With the personnel we have, Billy Davis’ D is thing that is one-dimensional.
Remember the thanksgiving game? That was a i think the perfect showing of a CK game. 2 quick TDs in the first quarter, so fast your head spun. Cowboys couldn’t run so they had to throw and we were just all over the QB. Game felt over by the second quarter.
Unfortunately we never saw them play that way again, but in that game i saw the vision of how the D and O are supposed to work together.
I disagree slightly with the last paragraph. We were able to make offenses one dimensional, it just didn’t matter. As one of my favorite poster’s handle points out, 3rd and long was 3rd and wrong for the Eagles this year. We just couldn’t stop teams from consistently converting, even when we managed to put them in 3rd and long.
I really do wonder if the Eagles press McCoy to renegotiate this offseason and take a firm line with him that if he doesn’t agree to it.
Wouldn’t surprise me either if the Eagles take a RB high in the draft this year too (2nd or 3rd round) and envision him as McCoy’s replacement in the near future.
I read somewhere that Shady is open to hearing the eagles pitch on restructuring. You can find quality RBs late in drafts and with our other glaring needs I really hope we do not take a RB in the 1st 3 rounds. We have to use those picks to focus on secondary, o-line, then ILB/OLB
Take a guy capable of running through tackles.
** SENIOR BOWL CHALLENGE SUCCESS! WE DID IT! **
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Thank you to all who donated or up-voted! It’s nice to see the greatest message board solidify its reputation. As a reminder, deshawnbentley foolishly offered to double his donation if we hit 50, so I’ll monitor this post with masochistic glee all day to add any last-minute sponsors.
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Thanks ’61 for your donation and kind words!
<– hasn't posted much lately but did take the time to donate today.
Ahoy, Mac! Thanks!
Awesome. Thanks for organizing that.
Now Tommy won’t have an excuse to not come home with 1 Mariota, 2 Megan Foxes, 3 Funyuns, and 38 PBRs….!
“Can Boykin, Carroll Challenge To Start In ’15?” — Philadelphia Eagles website
It’s a complete mystery why they didn’t in 14
Also scary bc are those the guys we want out there? if they dont bring in real people i’m still going to be on eagles messages boards all day and watching the games, but i’m not going to be happy about it.
anyone know how to find out the breakdowns of how many times we lined up in each offensive formations this year? Like how many times we lined up in 11personel, 12 personel, 22 personel, how many times we lined up in unbalanced lines? And compare it to how we were lining up in 2013? Curious to see how we schematically tries to overcome our OL disaster compared to the year before when we had a great OL??
….
Yes I know it’s much easier to just speculate on the marriotta pipe dream each day for the next 4 months, but I’m curious to see how different we operated from one extreme(elite OL in 2013) to another extreme (2014 OL disaster)……
….
Also curious to see how chip had us lining up under Foles at the beginning of the year compared to the second half under Sanchez. We know the difference in our deep ball attack from Foles to Sanchez…curious to see what other differences came, what other adjustments were made?
Good point with the formations.. But too be honest i think last year the OL dominated coz it was the first year for teams to face this new scheme.. This year they knew what was coming n took the middle away to force the run to the edges n werent afraid of the QB keepers like Lane Johnson said
Major major difference between the quality of our OL this year, and last year… Way more than just a case of now they saw our OL,.. We might have a different offense, but our OL doesnt do anything special that hasn’t been seen before, it’s a zone blocking scheme, and every team has seen Zone Reads by now, and there are much more dangerous zone reads to defend, then a zone read with slow Nick FOles…
…
Even a great player like Mathis, last year he was getting stronger and stronger each week, gaining experiemce in the Offense by week 12 he was playing at an elite level..this year, guys were injured, instead of getting stronger and stronger growing over the course of the season, guys had to have surgery, rehab injuries, and then try to get in eagke game shape in the middles of the season… mathis in week 13 of 2014 was very very different from Mathis in week 13 of the 2013 season….same thing with Kelce…
…
OL is everything, it’s the one thing you can’t overcome with great play at other positions, accept maybe by going all 3 step drops and your QB get the ball out immediately every time he throws the ball..
…
Hear so many people say chip regressed this year, but he didn’t have anything close to last years team…. It’s not rocket science, an offense is going to look much better when 5 starters play all 16 games and it will struggle if you play 11 different OL combinations in 16 weeks…. It’s amazing we even were able to win 10 games…. Last time we had this type of OL luck we went 4-12
…
Bruce Arrians and Chip were extremely impressive this year because of how much they managed to overcome
The eye test would say the regressed but the stats would think they did ok.. Remember during the year analyst were saying Rodgers line isnt too good but Rodgers covers up their weakness by being a good QB.. I do believe everything starts up front.. But im not naive to not think that the Eagles OL could be in a decline with age.. Heremans being the obvious
So Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman both got pretty hurt yesterday. Even if they play, one or both could be well below their norm. God is a Pats fan.
Also, imagine the commentary here if we were Packers fans and played cover zero on that last play.
Aaron Rodgers is SO SOFT, he should be ashamed of himself… After Sherm embarressed him in week 1, after he was too afraid to look to the right side for an entire game, after Sherm picked him off early yesterday, Sherm gets injured becomes a “one armed bandit” and Rodgers was too afraid to look at the right side the rest of the game?
NO HEART!!!! You can’t tell me Tom Brady wouldnt try to go after Sherman. You can’t tel me. Brady would concede the entire right side of the field to a healthy Sherman, let alone a 1 armed Sherm….
…
How dont you ATleast throw a friggin WR screen to that side and even see if he can tackle? How dont you try to go after him with a double move? You are supposed to be the baddest man in the game, you have 50million dollar Jordy Nelaon, Randall Colbb, you shouldn’t be scared to death of anyone…. It’s embarressing, would Micheal Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tom Brady ever concede so much to their opposition?
…
Coach was scared to death, McCarthy was so afraid, he let Seattle stay in the game, and in the last 5 minutes they slapped GB around and took the game right away from them
…
aaron Rodgers is the best QB in football, he will continue to break regular season records and put up all kinds of crazy Numbers, but I think he caught PEyton Manning syndrom. 1 and done in terms of Super Bowl rings.
..
The way McCarthy coached, and the gutless performance by the NFL’s top QB, don’t deserve to be in the SUPERBOWL. The better team won in the AFC, the Team with more Heart and Championship Charecter won in the NFC… Sucks as an Eagle fan, but ATleast we get to watch a deserving Super Bowl between two Titans…
I keep reading articles about McCarthy that start with “he’s a great coach but”…..but if you are a terrible in game manager, you aren’t a great coach. Is there no one else that can win games with Rodgers at QB?
Elway would have fired McCarthy on the spot after the game… I don’t believe McCarthy/Rodgers will ever win anotjet SUPERBOWL, they wIll be regular season world beaters, put up awesome numbers but always fall short of a second Super Bowl ring…. Now if they hire a new coach, maybe I will feel diffetent.
..
They need a coach like Mike Zimmer who would light a fire under Rodgets ass and fix the defense.. Zimmer with an OC aaron can work with, and maybe I would feel different
…
But I assume Rodgers is 1 and done for Super Bowl rings like Peyton. McCarthy reminds me so much of andy. Good but not great…
also McCarthy can call plays to that side. I’m really down on McCarthy today. Terrible, horrible no good coaching from that guy yesterday.
Another downer in regards to McCarthy is the way he handled the Bostic on-sides kick situation – he berated him on the sidelines, and then essentially pinned the game on him in post-game interview.
He who lives in glass houses does not throw stones.
I feel for Bostic, if the kick is coming right to you, you can be damned either way. If it hits you in the head and you don’t put your hands up that’s even worse.
To me, he’s never been anything special. To much who is given much is expected.
Rodgers is not getting much heat today for not throwing at Sherman… In fact, you’re the only one that I’ve seen mention it – everyone else has tagged McCarthy. What makes you so sure that Rodgers wasn’t just following orders?
This is on Rodgers too. He has read progressions, can look towards Sherman’s side, can audible, etc.
Following orders? I’m sure there were WR’s lined up on the right side every single play…. You are friggin Aaron Rodgers, you can do whatever you want at the line of scrimage and no one will utter a word about it… Heck, throw a friggin screen at Sherman, see if he can even tackle someone… You see a dude holding his arm for half a game and you don’t even try to go after him.
…
Would TOM Brady try and go after him? You KNOW IT!!!
…
I have heard some national talking heads ripping him for it, and McCartny coaching scared didn’t help eithet.
,,
Heck the entire team played scared, and then they played not to lose and they thought they had the game wrapped up…Clay Mathews wasn’t even playing, he was on the sideline joking and celebrating… The Packer gets the INT with 5 minutes left, he could have easily ran for ATleast 20 yards on the return before someone tackled him. Yet veteran Peppers waives him to lay down and he went into the fetal position at his own 42yard line, when if he had balls he could have ran it back into FG range…
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Seattle played like Champions, GB played like Chumps. The right team won
I don’t disagree that GB blew it – way too conservative. But the blame starts with the coaching… They chose to run the ball instead of throw, and every passing play has a primary receiver. If you want to blame Rodgers for not questioning the strategy, I’m all for it. But at least put things in the right order.
Absolutely…McCarthy lost that game when he kicked a FG on the 6inch line on the first drive… You can’t play conservative on the road like that. Every time he kicked a FG he was keeping seattle in the game… McCarthy absolutely is at the top of the blame list….and it was disgusting to see his behavior toward istill during and after the game.,..he definitely is feeling the heat to classless ly throw Bosick under the bus after the game…. Reminded me of when Andy had enough and blamed Akers, which we had never seen him not take the wrap for a player up until that point..
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Coaches start to feel hot around the collar lol
Sherman, even with his arm not functional, still tackled Jordy Nelson short of a first down on a critical 3rd down on Green Bay’s final drive. Thomas, even with a less than full functional shoulder due to pain, will be drugged up enough to make a go of things for the Super Bowl.
I wouldn’t count on Seattle’s secondary as diminished by any stretch. They’re more than capable of covering New England’s non-Gronk “skill” players with ease.
Billy Davis is so stupid for playing cover 1 on occasion!
Dom Capers just got caught in a bad play call, it happens, it’s unfortunate, but he’s totally still like a defensive genius guys.
and onwards the mouth breathing masses march.
I know it’s not a sexy move, but fans are going to be pleasantly surprised by Nolans play on the outside, and then they will be furious that they watched Bradley screw up all year when we had such a capable outside CB on our bench lol
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Most fans I talk to seem to think Nolan was a solid depth/subpackage addituon, and most fans seemed pleased with his play as our Dime corner… As promising as you think Nolan looked playing inside corner, he is a much better outside corner. The Eagles signed him because of his play outside and on special team, this was the first year Nolan ever played inside, if you were happy with his play in a brand new role, you will probably be pleased when you see him play his best role, which is outside CB
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no doubt in my mind that Barring injury, Nolan will start on the outside in September. CB will be drafted, but I doubt we see them play as rookies, and I damn sure know that they won’t be ready to take Nolas and Cary’s spot in September…. Possibly a starter gets hurt in the second half of the season and the rookie corner comes in and proves he can handle it…I KNOW the Eagles will upgrade the CB position, I’m just not sure that the upgrades will pay immediate dividends next year…I assume Cbs will be drafted and groomed to start in September of the 2016 season.
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Nolan is a lock to start outside in September. The other CB spot is the one in question…
IF we upgrade Nate Allen and the Corners can count on COMPETANT safety help, we can get away with a year of Cary and Nolan on the outside….. What would be a disaster IMO, is the Eagles waving Cary, but re sigń Bradley, and start Bradley and Nolan in September. THAT I CAN NOT STOMACH! If we start Cary next year ATleast we know it’s his last year in Philly… We need to upgrade the DBs that aren’t good enough when their contracts EXPIRE…. Nate and Brads contract are up, upgrade those two spots, next year we upgrade Cary when his contract expires….the last thing I want is to see us give these DBs extensions…
then why didn’t he take playing time away from Fletcher towards the end of the season? I’m not saying you are wrong, but Fletcher was being beaten like a drum. If you had any sort of other option that you thought could be better, how does he not get more playing time.
Saying that we needed Nolan in the dime is not an answer. You never get to dime if they score on first down.
I think both Williams and Fletcher are gone. We sign one clear starter for one spot. We draft another CB in the 2nd round area and let the draft pick compete with Carroll and Watkins. Boykin stays in the slot. I’d give Boykin a shot on the outside, but I don’t think Kelly/Davis agree.
I pray you are right, and hope that Im wrong……
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The only way I see Cary and Bradley both being gone, is if we can’t get a safety upgrad, then they would move to the backüp plan of going after a corner, but I damn sure don’t expect the Eagles to sign a quality safety and a quality CB….love nothing more than to be wrong tho…
I was under the impression that by Far Nolan was the most impressive corner in camp, and that had he not gotten hurt in August he would have been starting instead of Bradley…. Keep in mind that ALL THE VIDEO the Eagles watched of Nolan that made us want to sign him was of him playing outside CB, not inside like we used him.
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Another complication with moving Nolan outside was once Meco got hurt, our Nickel went out the window and our Dime package became more important than ever, so second half of the year it was very important to have Nolan in that dime quasi Linebacker role… If Bradley could have easily moved into that role, we probably would have been more willing to move Nolan outside.. Fans/media think Meco sucks in coverage, but he is actually really crafty with knowing his “DEPTH” when he drops into coverage..he knows exactly how far to drop back to disrupt the offense, which is why we see him come up with those INTs when we play zone…..Casey and Acho can’t drop into coverage so we lost our Nickel package and Nolan playing Dime became very important…losing Meco in coverage is also why us playing cover 2 became so scarce..
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Also by the time Bradley started a few games, he was Billy’s guy, having started like 25 games. Many of his issues were legitimately confidemce issues, so you do want to give him a chance to fight his way out, but I assume if bradley could have played Nolans role as well as Nolan could move into Brads role, we probabky make the switch in December… But Nolan in Dime became too important, and it seems like they didn’t want to complicate things for this group by playing Nolan outside,and then moving him inside whenever they went to dime..
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Supporting this theory to some degree is the late in the season signing of Jerome Couplin who Kelly specifically said they viewed as a good fit for the dime role. Obviously it was too late in the season for him to come in and play. Next year is a different story.
Whatever happens, hopefully our DB group stays healthy thru camp and preseason this year so we can start our best options in the secondary, instead of having injuries dictate who we start…. As we stand, we don’t have many sure shot starting caliber DBs, but we do have a nice amount of young DBs that have some potential, and it should cause some competitive camp Battles for guys like Couplin,Reynolds, Wolff, Watkins, and shatever late round DBs we draft and UDFAs we add…should be some good camp Battles, hopefully injuries don’t ruin that….
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Just not sure how many new veteran starting caliber DBs we can expect to see on our roster next year. I’m sure we would all love to start Jenkins and 3 new quality veteran DBs, but that’s not very likely or easily attainable…not sure how many new veteran faces people can rationally expect to add this pffseason, but if we are fortunate enough to get a safety like Devin McCourty who will be #1 on the wish list due to being the best fit for us in every way possible… If we can pull off stealing him away from the Patriots, I personally don’t expect to see us pay for another high quality starting CB….. But I’m certainly rooting for 3 new DBs..I’d be lying if I said I expected it to happen…
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Hey, hopefully we get lucky and spend picks on the rare rookie CB, that can instantky beat out stop gap guys like Cary and Nolan…..can’t assume that tho, most rookie corners I want NOthing to do with.
The part that amuses me here is you are incredibly anti-rookie corner, yet do you really think they would have been worse than Fletcher this year? You need to rethink your bias.
Hate them!!!! Certainly rooting for the Eagles to draft the rare rookie corners that can instantly transition to the NFL… I just don’t assume that any CB we draft will be able to…actually I expect it to be rare that roolies start for the Eagles in years 3,4,5 unless injuries force our hands..
You think Williams stays? 8.1 cap hit is it?? Either he takes a cut or he goneski i reckon.. I like Carroll but i wouldnt say hes a lock
I assumed we would extend him/restructure to get his cap hit down, give him a new two year deal but never actually letting him see the second year of the new deal ..
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The only scenario im not mentally prepared to handle is thinking you can get away with another year of Bradley, and cutting Cary instead. We know what we are getting with Bradley by now. You get what you pay for…we should be upgrading the DBs who contract expires, not bringing them back…
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As long as the safety is upgraded, we can get away with Cary and Nolan til the rookie Corners are ready to take over on the outside…….
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Not a good year to need corner. So many teams are desperate for them, and most of the options don’t fit the eagles in one way or another. Revis won’t be an eagle. perish Cox and Culliver won’t be considered due to character. Cromartie going back to the Jets….Kareem’s INT total will make his price tag absurd, and everyone will throw money at a CB from the legion of Boom
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If you can sign some other corner, he won’t be so much better than what we have that makes it worth breaking up the continuity….nothing really to do realistically, but try to make sure our corners can count on quality help from our safeties, and draft our own corners and hope they Transition to the NFL game quickly
The thing is Chip is only signed for 5 years.. Its all on Chip this year n going forward.. I dont think he has the luxury of sitting back n taking a stop gap CB again as he did with Fletcher n possibly Williams.. He has to win big this coming season or it will be another failure.. This team lacks talent this time being his 3rd year it would be ignorant to repeat the year 1 formula of just getting guys to fill the holes to play the scheme.. I hope Chip looks into the character issue thing as well as there are so many talented players passed up coz of it only to show that their character issues were overblown n the team that picked them up end up with steals.. If Culiver, Jackson or Maxwell are available i think Chip wouldnt be doing his job not to look into them just coz we have Williams n Carroll on the roster
This is what i’m talking about — we’re halfway through his contract almost and we’re still talking about building 2 more years to get a secondary?
That’s 3 corners man, you know how many teams are just as desperate for corners as us? How many of those teans have jackass owners known for throwing STUPID money at free agents to get them to sign with their Incompetant franchise,
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The Eagles also dont have as much cap space as we think…no free agent is worth not being able to keep one of our promising young eagkes… A lot of young eagkes are going to continue to improve til they grow into quality veterans that won’t be cheap.. We have a QB on a cheap contract for next season and we still don’t have a ton of cap space, especially after we sign Maclin, possibly Casey Mathews..
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Also need to see who stays between BG and COle, and at what price,
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I’m a fan, Upgrade means Better than what we have, I’ll take an upgrade at any position and say Thank you… I just worry that the Eagles will look At everything, make exploratory calls to the agents of the CB who would be clear upgrades, I just be lying if I said I expected us to get new corners ESPECIALLY if we are lucky enough to be able to get a safety upgrade which won’t be cheap…
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Once the Eagles extend Maclin, and sigń a safety Like McCourty or praying, think you can kiss free agent CB dreams goodbye… Love to be wrong tho….I’m rooting for you!
“promising young eagles” who are we actually paying? Cox, Kendricks, Boykin maybe? Curry, maybe? Nick, maybe (wide range for him), Thorton gets a cheap deal.
plus you have an escalating cap.
This is the time to lock down players while you’re still anchored to a lower total cap number.
Cox,Kendricks,FOles,thornton,boykin,Curry
Yeàr later Lane, Logan, Ertz
Yeàr later what happens if pope Jordan turns into the elite WR you know you will work obsessively trying to achieve?
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You won’t get away with paying your starting QB 500k forever. Top NFL DTs like Cox ain’t cheap…you see Marcel Dareus contract? Logan won’t be that expensive, but elite young NT ain’t cheap eitjer, Kendricks?
Oh i didnt mean sign all 3 lol Just look into either 1 of them.. Think they all could be upgrades n fit this team why i mentioned those 3
Cole def gets a restructure, pay cut or just cut.. HIs cap high too.. Alot of players in the team same situation where we could save money,, James Casey, Heremans etc Chip cant be too loyal to players that are on the decline or to players that can be upgraded
Foles on a cheap contract his final year n i believe he will be a key piece into if Chip succeeds or not.. Does Chip roll with Foles n not pick up a QB in the draft or FA? If Foles has a good season then extend him if he doesnt then Chip is left with no QB back up plan n pretty much screwed next season
No, I know… I’m saying those are 3 corners, when there are ATleast 10 teams with major need at CB besides us… We also need a safety
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If we pay for a safety, doubt we also pay for a corner,,,, love to be wrong, I’m on your side, just call me “Yee of lil faith”
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Can’t lose both COle and BG. Need ATleast 1 for one last year to make the transition to younger OLBs like Macus and maybe Dion Jordan
Big difference between the no. 1 guy and the no 4 guy in terms of Wrs, especially with no good safety help. Funny Nolan played a dime linebacker position – you know who was great at that – deon buchanan.
You don’t draft subpackage players in round 1 dude… I like Deonne, but if our coaches believe in different type of safeties, what are we gonna do about it? Cry? Stomp my feet?
The repeated howling about the secondary needs some context methinks. In 2013, the defense’s first year in a 3-4 scheme, alarms sounded about the lack of a pass rush and the fact that too many of the opponents’ third downs were converted to first downs. The play of the secondary was rightly criticized – particularly the safeties, to the point where many folks were salivating at the possibility of getting Cinton-Dix, Calvin Pryor or Deonne Bucannon in the draft last year. I reference this because both corners, who were new last year, did not draw so much of the ire of the faithful as they have this year. What changed? Well we drafted an edge-rusher, but without his presence on the field the front four became a force, and are clearly the strongest part of the defense. We lost our MLB, and we had a new player in the secondary in MJ. The 3rd down stops were much improved, but the bombs over the top became a new crisis – new, because it wasn’t a pattern in 2013. Same corners, improved front four and an improved safety. The corners who in 2013 were meh now suck. If the finger of blame has to point somewhere, give me a blindfold and I will find other responsible parties to join the scorned corners. When Demeco went down, how exactly did that impact the defensive play calls? How much pressure did Ryans’ departure put on the new safety? How much pressure did it put on Casey Matthews? AND how did it affect Bill Davis’ in-game coaching from the booth? A case can be made that the pass defense of ILB and OLB was poor enough that the corners were given too much ground to cover. Malcolm Jenkins has said that the X plays were an alignment issue. You cannot defend against the deep throw effectively, if you cannot keep it in front of you, and too many times when the bombs flew the whole defense looked like it was played. I will be surprised if Kelly shares this conclusion that the corners have to go. They were never great but they are little more than the usual suspects.
****** ATTENTION **********
We have a new DBs coach!
Tom Helmer
@Tom_Helmer
49m49 minutes ago
Congrats to my old college teammate Cory Undlin on becoming the new defensive backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles
Jack Smith
@bronctastic
2h2 hours ago
“Broncos defensive backs coach Cory Undlin is expected to take the same position with the Philadelphia Eagles.” – @MikeKlis
(Didn’t tweet this, but apparently said it on radio or some other media)
My twitter account isn’t working. Could you guys retweet this to hopefully get the info out there. Thanks.
0 replies
1 retweet
2 favorites
Undlin has done a good job with Denver’s secondary. It was thought he’d follow Del Rio to Oakland. I guess the Eagles showed him the money.
I knew we fired the asst. Db coach but we fired the main guy too? I’m happy for the change
We must have. Undlin isn’t going to take an asst DBs job. Maybe Lovett becomes the assistant. More likely, he’s just out.
One took a job with vanderbilt
Lyght did, but he was asst DBs coach. John Lovett was the DBs coach. It seems like he’s gone. Either fired or retiring.
Oh ok…thanks
No idea who he is but if he was the DB coach for Denver he can’t be that bad right?
don’t use the colts game as your barometer….
My comment was to be taken literally I’m not using any game as a barometer
Thanks… I have to stay off Twitter, haven’t been on in over a month(sorry, work related)
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Hope this dude realizes the job he has on his hands lol…is this the replacement for the coach that left for Vanderbilt?
Worth noting that Broncos’ S Rahim Moore is an UFA this offseason.
Also worth noting; Joe Flacco doesn’t play in the NFC East.
Good call…sometimes those relationships help a safety break a tie between two suitors offering a similar situation for a player..
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Rahim isn’t the perfect mirrored pairing for Jenkins that McCourty is,but I assume if we can’t get McCourty, stylistically Rahim would fit enough to be considered the next best option…
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Anyone see another safety who could be ahead of Rahim on our wish list besides McCourty?
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I don’t LOVE that the most recent memory of Raham is him making a Nate Allen type bonehead play letting a WR get behind him Late in a playoff loses to the colts lol
Da’Noris Searcy hes a S i think is going under the radar that could fit
Yeah, I agree. Probably 3rd best FA safety.
I like him, but he worries me…I’m wary of safeties that only have one quality year as a proven starter….remind me of a fraud like Mike Mitchel last year who had a breakout year with Panthers,.. Searcy had a great year replacing BYRD, but he had some outstanding pieces around him…I was a big fan of the bills defense, been watching them the last 2-3 years…… I like what I see, but I don’t trust him to make a signifcant commitment, like I didn’t trust mItchell last year after playing behind dominant Panthers front 7…. I’d be more comfortable trusting investing in Rahim, but he may be the 3 best option on my list…
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McCourty is a perfect fit in every way possible, perfect fits is what it takes for the Eagles to break open the piggy bank, yhis is a chance to put an end to about a decade of safety hell….. Hopefully we can pull it off…. I’m hoping Bellicek would rather keep Browner and Revis than to pay a safety. Fingers crossed
Rahim is only 24 too another plus. Any one of McCourty, Moore, Searcy, Parker in that order is nice upgrade over Allen. For corner I think the only possibilities are Cromartie (short term like 2-3 years), Cox( knucklehead but not as bad as Culliver), Maxwell( product of the system?) And Jackson. Revis isn’t happening, Culliver is more of a knucklehead than Cox and Skrine and Flowers are great but they are so sorry we won’t even touch them
Culliver is one dumb move away from a long time sitting out.
Yeah, I mean Cox isn’t a saint but I’ll go for him before the thought of Culliver even crosses my mind
Such a shame Chris Harris Jr. re-signed with his old team.
Agreed. That was the guy I wanted.
Okay, the Eagles have announced the hire of Undlin.
Justin Peelle is also promoted to TEs coach.
Ted Williams and Lovett will work with the pro scouting staff. It sort of makes sense considering they’re older and might be better fits for part-time jobs. They’re not scouting college guys, they’re looking at vets that fit what Kelly is looking for.
Everybody
Gets
Paid
Seems like a win-win
Kelly trying to tighten his hold on scouting staff by inserting his coaches directly
If the TE coach can say LJ Smith sucks without hesitating, he’s a great scout.
If the DBs coach can say Nate Allen sucks without hesitating, he’s a great scout.
Easy job interview process right there.
LJ Smith didn’t outright suck. He was very inconsistent but he had 2nd round talent. Taking him instead of Jason Witten was incredibly stupid but there were 4 other TEs selected ahead of Witten. Smith might have been a mistake but he was way ahead of Teyo Johnson and Bennie Joppru.
Not an unfair point, but that many drops and fumbles = sucks.
Ted Williams is 71. It seems like he’s done a great job whether he’s coaching RBs or TEs. I’m surprised no one has ever given him a shot as an offensive coordinator. QB coaches tend to get that job, I guess.
Coaches being moved into scouting(or back and forth) is a very Belichickian thing. Kelly is learning from the master. The Patriots’ director of player personnel, Nick Caserio, was their WRs coach a few seasons ago.
It should be the most natural thing for former coaches to come by. If they cannot tell if someone’s got talent then who does (apart from our ‘cap guy’ Howie and J-Lo)?!
Coaches often have trouble judging which traits will translate from college to the pros. It’s especially noteable with offensive lineman where OL coaches often push for tough “lunchpail” types that excelled in college but don’t have enough athleticism for the pros.
isn’t that CK’s philosophy?
I say Howard Mudd and Juan Castillo could scout. Jason Kelce was scouted by Mudd.
Crazy thing is 2 of our starting DLs was scouted to be DTs in the wide nine by Washburn
I’m solving problems; the first pick way!
Round 1 Pick 20: Dante Fowler Jr., DE, Florida (A)
Round 2 Pick 20: Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, CB, Oregon (A)
Round 3 Pick 20: Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska (A)
Round 4 Pick 14: Jordan Richards, SS, Stanford (B)
Round 4 Pick 20: Ramik Wilson, ILB, Georgia (A)
Round 5 Pick 20: Phillip Dorsett, WR, Miami (Fla.) (A)
Round 6 Pick 20: A.J. Johnson, ILB, Tennessee (B)
Round 7 Pick 20: Sean Mannion, QB, Oregon State (A)
Consider yourself, countered:
Round 1 Pick 25 (CAR): Benardrick McKinney, ILB, Mississippi State (A)
Round 2 Pick 20: Sammie Coates, WR, Auburn (A)
Round 2 Pick 25 (CAR): Jalen Collins, CB, LSU (A)
Round 3 Pick 20: Hroniss Grasu, C, Oregon (A)
Round 4 Pick 14: Kurtis Drummond, FS, Michigan State (B+)
Round 4 Pick 20: Javorius Allen, RB, Southern California (A)
Round 5 Pick 20: Devin Smith, WR, Ohio State (B-)
Round 6 Pick 20: Josh Shaw, CB, Southern California (C)
Round 7 Pick 20: Derrick Malone Jr., OLB, Oregon (C+)
Damn this is dirty lol
They don’t call me the draft king for nothing…………. they don’t really call me that *hangs head and walks away*
Ifo is overrated.
Bill Musgrave will be the Raiders’ offensive coordinator.
Michael Silver
@MikeSilver
7m7 minutes ago
I am told Bill Musgrave will be the Raiders’ next offensive coordinator
So Foles will have his 4th QBs coach in 4 years. Don’t really know any likely possibilities except perhaps Scott Frost. I’d have to look what other QBs/QB coaches have Oregon connections. Most of the coaches that Shurmur has connection to are either with the Chiefs or retired. Mark Whipple has a connection to both Kelly and Shurmur, but he’s Massachusetts’ HC and doubt he’d leave for a QBs coach job.
If Chip is as involved as he is calling plays and structuring the O, there isn’t a reason that Shurmur can’t step in and take a more direct role with Foles.
True but if Williams isn’t involved in coaching anymore, with Musgrave is gone that’s losing a lot of coaching experience. With just Williams gone, I didn’t necessarily think they’d add an asst TE coach as most teams don’t have one. Since he was first hired, Tra Thomas has become a full-time offensive assistant. With both Musgrave and Williams gone, I’d think they’d hired another experienced offensive guy. I guess he doesn’t have to have a background as a QBs coach.
I guess we’ll have to see what they do.
I just promote Press Taylor.
I don’t think he’s experienced enough yet to be the QBs coach. Considering that Kelly’s past 2 QBs coaches have gotten offensive coordinator jobs the next season, one would think that we’d be able to attract a lot of quality candidates.
2 years as QB coach/GA at Tulsa
2 years as Offensive quality control in Philly
That’s pretty qualified. QB coaches come in two flavors, retread offensive coordinators who are licking their wounds, and young up and comers.
I’m problem solving the Bill Belichick way, “Hmm, how can I cheat and what do I think I can get away with?”
I just looked over the roster for the Senior Bowl. The North team is stacked on offense. It should be better than last year.
Dang you’re right Petty, Goodley, Smith, Ty, Crowder, Lippett, Langford and some good lineman
I want Goodley in an Eagles uniform. Dude is a monster. The South doesn’t really have a QB to compete against the North this year.
Well there is Grayson he’s good. Unfortunately the skill positions on the north side is better than the south by a lot
Too bad he’s not going to play enough to keep them in the game.
South has the better OL.
True but their QBs stink and I don’t think it would matter.
[…] Problem Solving – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles must fix the secondary. The problem is obvious, but the solution isn’t easy. In theory we’d like to replace both CBs and Nate Allen. There are a couple of problems with that. First, you would have a secondary with 3 new starters, which is far from ideal. After the OL, the secondary is the unit that needs stability the most. All 4 starters would be getting used to each other and 3 of them would be learning the system. The goal is to quit having confused DBs and blown coverages. […]