Q & A

Posted: February 15th, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 97 Comments »

I’ve gotten quite a few questions in recent days and haven’t had a chance to answer them. So let’s do that here.

* Someone in the Safety post asked my thoughts on the play on Malcolm Jenkins. They thought ripped on Jenkins in a recent podcast. So what are my true thoughts on him?

I don’t recall my exact words in the podcast, but I think I was trying to point out that Jenkins had not been a Pro Bowl player in 2014. Early in the year Jimmy Bama had listed him as a possible Pro Bowler. Jenkins had several INTs at that point and was playing very well. He did have a good year for the Eagles, but did not play at a Pro Bowl level. There were too many dropped INTs that came in crucial moments. Jenkins hit and tackled well all year. He struggled in man coverage against WRs, as most Safeties do. I thought he was up and down as a centerfielder, although he didn’t do that a lot.

Jenkins gave the Eagles their first legitimately good Safety play in a while. I never expected him to come in and be Dawk Jr. Jenkins is a good player, but there is nothing special about him. I’m very happy with him and hope he’s here for the next few years.

* Did your post on the Safeties mean that the Eagles need a great player to go with Jenkins?

No. Great Safeties are hard to find. The Eagles need a good starter to pair with Jenkins, who is also a good starter. I’d love for the Eagles to find a great S, but that’s a heck of a lot easier said than done.

* In my post on Brett Hundley I talked about how he hadn’t done anything special in college (big wins, key comebacks, Jan 1 bowls, etc). Someone pointed out Mariota was similar to Hundley in this regard.

I strongly disagree. Mariota led Oregon to the Fiesta Bowl as a Redshirt Freshman and they beat #12 Kansas State 35-17. The Ducks finished the year #2 overall. This year Mariota got Oregon to the national title game. He won the Heisman Trophy. This year Oregon hosted #7 Michigan State. The Spartans got out to a 27-18 lead in the 3rd Qtr. The Ducks scored 28 straight points and won 46-27. MSU finished the season as the #8 defense in the nation.

Mariota had better coaching and better talent around him. That has to be factored into the accomplishments. But that also affects the kind of player someone becomes. Peyton Manning and Jay Cutler were talented SEC QBs. Manning was surrounded by NFL talent while Cutler carried Vandy on his back. Cutler took a beating as he played behind a mediocre OL. You can see pocket awareness issues to this day. Manning had a great OL. He learned to be comfortable in the pocket. You still see that to this day.

Mariota was placed in a favorable situation and delivered great results. Oregon did amazing things on offense. They won big games in the conference, out of conference and went 3-0 in bowls. At his best, Mariota was a dominant player.

There are still questions about how Mariota will translate to the NFL. No one will dispute there are concerns with that, and that some of those concerns are similar to the ones with Hundley. I do think Mariota was a better college player and is more likely to pan out in the NFL.

* Several of you asked about Safety Ron Parker as a potential free agent target.

I have not studied Parker’s tape. He will turn 28 this year and is coming off a breakout season. Guys like that do make me nervous. Here is a KC article pointing out his strengths and flaws.

If the Eagles go FA, Rahim Moore from Denver would make a lot of sense. He is a natural FS. He also played for Cory Undlin last year, who is now the Eagles DB coach.

_


97 Comments on “Q & A”

  1. 1 Matt Hoover said at 3:46 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Isn’t drafting a ‘project’ like Hundley at pick 20 basically admitting were in rebuild mode? Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Kelly was full speed ahead to the Super bowl? I don’t see him wanting to ‘wait’ for Hundley to fully develop which could take 1-3 seasons, we have several key players who will be either retired or playing elsewhere by then.

    Mariota is a different animal since he could come in here right away and start. He is more the ‘last piece needed’ then anything else.

    I do agree Jenkins is good enough as our best S, having 2 safetys that are good enough would solve the issues at S.

    Parker and Moore make more sense then Mccourty in terms of money and length of contract.

  2. 2 Anders said at 3:53 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    We are in rebuilding mode until we have the right roster and there is a great chance the QB needed to win the SB isnt on the roster yet.

  3. 3 Greg Richards said at 4:22 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    If BAL can with Joe Flacco and the NYG can win 2 with Eli Manning, then the Eagles can certainly win a SB with Foles.

  4. 4 GermanEagle said at 5:16 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    And the Eagles can’t certainly win a SB with Hundley.

  5. 5 GEAGLE said at 1:34 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Come on, enough with that Bum… We gave that hack QB enough unwarranted limelight these past few days. Let’s get back to talking about kids that have an actual shot at becoming eagles..

  6. 6 anon said at 1:40 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    I think it’d be possible in the second, i dont know if chip would do it in the first. Apparently he was recruited to Oregon ahead of MM. But Tommy’s article about development is spot on.

  7. 7 GEAGLE said at 1:42 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    He won’t last to us in round 2, so fortunately I don’t have you worry about this crap, and I doubt we would spend multiple picks and piss away our second trading up for a project… Same idiots who want Hundley are the same morons who won’t have the patience to give him the 4-5 years to develop anyway.., I’d draft him if he fell to the 4th round… I wouldn’t even want to spend a 3rd on him…4th is fair

  8. 8 anon said at 2:35 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Agree leashes are short in the NFL. Hopefully Foles puts this all to rest with 2013 level play this year.

  9. 9 mksp said at 9:57 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Good lord, GEAGLE is stalking eagles scouts. I guess twitter stalking beat writers and athletes was getting old.

    It must be difficult to consider yourself a knowledgeable “insider” when your only outlet is the once proud, now garbage-strewn, comments section of a blog.

    YOU SHOULD START YOUR OWN WEBSITE. ALL YOUR FANS WILL FOLLOW YOU!

  10. 10 GEAGLE said at 5:30 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Shhhhh they are too dense. U won’t get thru. ESPN highlights brainwashed and fried their brains. We now judge QBs in philly off of BCS style points. Nicks wins aren’t pretty enough

  11. 11 mksp said at 6:24 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Yes, only you, who has enough time in his life to write 25,000 words of drivel under each new post, knows the truth about Nick Foles. Surely you are worthy of our trust.

    Cheers, and onward.

  12. 12 D3FB said at 11:28 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Be nice to Geagle, apparently I plagarize all my scouting from him:

    “run along kid. settle your bitch ass down… as if you havent piggy
    backed off half my draft targets thru the years LOL. usually a month or
    two too late pal”

    I guess in the future I should just talk about every single prospect during the season ad naseum and then I “discovered” them. And when I realize the player isn’t any good, just stop talking about them and talk about the next guy 400 times.

    Clearly I’ve been wasting my time with watching tape and writing reports.

  13. 13 Insomniac said at 11:29 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    (insert typical GEAGLE insult here)

  14. 14 GEAGLE said at 1:31 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    There he is.. Your scouting work? LOL ok kid… Sorry, I would have to read more than a sentence of what you write and respect you to be able to quote you… Unfortunately I stopped paying attention a while ago when you went the Blowhard route .. But keep flattering me, why use TODAYS quotes? I’m sure you can quote my opinions from two years ago lol of course for some silly reason you think that’s an insult LOL…. When you make a living off of sports, than you can run your mouth to me… Until then, let me know if you want an intern job kid LOL… His “scouting” LOL you scout from a dorm or mommas basement, let me know when you spend your life in train stations and airports, then we can chat

  15. 15 BlindChow said at 4:22 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    This site is literally all he has.

    It must be crushing for him to see the Master bestowing another commenter with the hallowed “guest-writer” status while he is relegated to the comment section like a common schlub.

  16. 16 mksp said at 9:51 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    That quote is *figuratively* unbelievable.

    Your scouting reports are one of the few remaining reasons to wade into the comments section here now that GEAGLE is essentially allowed to spam it to hell.

    And yeah, I’ve noticed that only GEAGLE is allowed to like prospects. If he liked someone first, then you’re not allowed to like said prospect, at least without paying your respects to GEAGLE first.

    I better get a jump on 2016, since 2015 is already a lost cause.

  17. 17 anon said at 7:35 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Yeah i’m amazed given that the Ravens had such little talent on defense.

  18. 18 OldDocMcDuckle said at 7:51 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    An elite QB sure does help though, and both those guys are better than Foles.

  19. 19 Anders said at 3:16 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    That implies Foles is at least as good as those two (and believe I think Eli Manning is bad)

  20. 20 EAGLES said at 6:14 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I have a bad feeling Parker could be our version of the steelers Mike Mitchell.

  21. 21 Matt Hoover said at 9:39 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    loved mitchell in FA last year too lol

  22. 22 GEAGLE said at 1:29 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Important to stay away from one hit wonders, who’s big contract year DOESNT match the rest of his career…. It gets tricky with kids who only got playing time the most recent year, but then You have to go back and chart their growth, see how much they improved from one year to the next, take a look at a player in Subpackage Roles during their earlier years… For example. I am High on Searcy and expect the Eagles to like him as well, I hate that he only has 1 full season starting, but ATleast you can go back and check him out the second half of 2013 when he took over because of injuries, and prior to that you can see him in that S/LB Dime role… So you have 3-4 years of defensive video on him in different roles, you can see how he continuosly improved over the years,… And when you check out his total body of work, it’s not a surprise to see him have such a good year… If Not Searcy, than Rahim…… But man I adore Searcy and think he would be such a good addition to our secondary. Really well rounded player who played both Free and Strong, so he can play in our scheme where we ask our safeties to be free safeties and strong safeties rolled into 1
    ..
    I want him next to Jenkins! With House and Nolan on the outside TIL the DBs we draft are groomed into probowlers lol

  23. 23 GEAGLE said at 1:22 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Yes Ron PARKER ISNT who we are looking for. Don’t worry, Eagles won’t sign him…
    ,,,

  24. 24 mksp said at 6:23 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    How exactly will the Eagles be “full speed ahead to the Super Bowl” with Nick Foles at QB?

    Unless you think 2014 was an outlier, and not a regression to his mean…

  25. 25 NinjaP said at 7:00 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I think 2014 was an over correction of luck. I am hoping he is somewhere in between the two extremes. Which would be a rather good starting qb.

  26. 26 Anders said at 3:17 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    What luck? Not like he had a ton of dropped interceptions in 2013

  27. 27 NinjaP said at 12:49 PM on February 16th, 2015:

    Cosmic luck, universe balancing itself out type situation.

  28. 28 Matt Hoover said at 9:40 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I believe the bad oline play(for whatever many reasons) and injuries hurt Foles the most in 2014. In 2015 we should see a better Foles imo

  29. 29 Anders said at 3:17 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    So Foles is only good if he has an elite OL and run game?

  30. 30 anon said at 3:19 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    to be fair even manning and brady rely on their run games during the season. No one at this point is winning throwing as much as we did. Fixing the run game is almost more important than fixing the QB though they are related.

  31. 31 Anders said at 7:30 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Brady just won a SB with only 1 great target in Gronk, a patch work OL (Brady would think the Eagles OL 2014 was great) and a run game that was really inconsistent.

  32. 32 shah8 said at 6:55 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I wanna swing for the fences. Marcus Peters…

  33. 33 teltschikfakeout88 said at 7:41 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Wait….what…..would of thought you would want to trade for Joe Webb……LOL

  34. 34 shah8 said at 10:59 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Webb is a free agent. Judging from his twitter (of course I follow his twitter!), it sounds like there is a good chance he stays on in Carolina, management willing.

    What may very well be an interesting trade is if Carolina trades Derek Anderson, who has one more year, to a team that needs a spot start capable backup.

  35. 35 Matt Hoover said at 9:41 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    In r2 I am all for this, he is too big of a question mark off the field for r1 for me.

  36. 36 Insomniac said at 8:17 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Why are you worried about cap space?

  37. 37 Matt Hoover said at 9:41 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    because we have quite a few key players who will need a new contract soon.

  38. 38 Insomniac said at 10:14 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    If they were so deserving of it then they will be renewed this year.

  39. 39 wee2424 said at 10:47 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    So Cox and Kendricks arent deserving of new contracts, and because Maclin hasnt received his contract yet he isnt deserving? That comment makes no sense. If you dont worry about the cap then you end up in Cap hell, which can ruin a team for years.

  40. 40 Insomniac said at 11:17 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I’m not going to resign players that just flash to a big deal. You want the money and love? Go perform at that level for more than one year.

  41. 41 wee2424 said at 8:19 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Dude, im not saying you go and sign everyone before they hit FA. Obviously not Foles. Its called using common sense with the strategy. I never even said Foles, you just threw him in there to try and taint what i said to your advantage. So your absolutly fine with Cox and Kendricks hitting FA before we try to extend them? lol, how is signing them to more team friendly deals a year before they hit FA gettig you into cap hell? By all accounts anyone with common sense from Tommy, to Jimmy Kempski have said that these are deals that would be nice to get done. You are lost on this subject man.

  42. 42 Insomniac said at 8:29 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Lol? You obviously don’t understand the point of letting players earn their contract. Use your head. One good year doesn’t mean they should get a new contract.

  43. 43 wee2424 said at 8:35 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Cox and Kendricks are young players on the upswing. They are by far outperforming their rookie contracts as they should. Kelce, Celek, Cole and others were extended to long term deals before they hit FA and it helped us lock them up for long term for cheaper. Good move by FO. If Cox and Kendricks hit FA, after a good year this past year, and more then likely a good year next year the price for them sky rockets. BTW, you would be paying Cox 3-4 DE money, not DT money like you hinted on with McCoy, a bit different.

  44. 44 Insomniac said at 9:18 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    You’re obviously not getting the point here so I’m not going to waste anymore time. Progression/regression are never linear. You don’t bet on one good year and hope that they will replicate those results. Yea sure you can try to lowball the guy and hope that they will take the hometown discount. This is how you end up with Maclin’s situation. How many people are talking about cutting players that don’t deserve their contracts anymore (Williams, Cole, Cooper, etc).

    If you think stud DL has a huge disparity in contracts then you’re dead wrong.

  45. 45 wee2424 said at 5:00 PM on February 16th, 2015:

    No your not getting it. Go read some articles, get some views of people that are more educated about it then us. Bro, the sites you are commenting on have even stated how extending Cox and Kendricks before they hit FA is ideal. Do some homework. Your right i dont get what you are saying because i try not to agree with wrong. Lets wait till Kendricks and Cox hit FA and then try to sign them, instead of getting them to cheaper contracts durring maybe this offseason. That makes no sense.

  46. 46 Cafone said at 4:16 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    One more question: Are you waiting for Brandon Bridge to blow everyone away at the combine before you do a piece on him?

  47. 47 TommyLawlor said at 4:59 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I’ve watched some tape of him and I’m just not as in love with the guy as many fans seem to be.

  48. 48 Jarock said at 5:59 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Pretty sure that’s only Cafone 😀

  49. 49 Matt Hoover said at 9:42 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Yeah he comes with a HUGE question mark anywhere before r4.

  50. 50 A_T_G said at 10:27 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    You mean, kind of a cross that Bridge when we come to it strategy?

  51. 51 Greg Richards said at 4:16 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Chase Daniel, KC’s backup, is due $4.8M this year. They’re tight against the cap so it’s possible they cut him. They drafted AJ Murray last year and signed Terrell Pryor. If cut, he’d be a good fit IMO. Not as strong or as tall as you’d like, but not terribly deficient in either category.

  52. 52 TommyLawlor said at 5:00 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    He would be interesting.

  53. 53 shah8 said at 6:54 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Free agency is so bad, I’m beginning to think that there will be serious interest in Tyrod Taylor as a backup.

    Chase Daniel is very expensive for the talents he possesses. He’s undersized and understrengthed as you mentioned. Frankly, I’d rather hope that Barkley becomes more useful as a passer than pick up Daniel.

  54. 54 Matt Hoover said at 9:42 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Barkley I still think will prove to be a good NFL backup.

  55. 55 wee2424 said at 11:01 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Why do you think that? Im not asking you in a way to dicredit you or argue with you. Im asking because since he is a third string QB we really dont see him or read about him much to provide us with any info on him.

  56. 56 Matt Hoover said at 11:08 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    If you look past his ints(I know hard to do) he moved the offense at a fast pace when he played as a rookie briefly. He showed that again in the preseason. And to not bore you with his history since you already know it he has the work ethic and pedigree id bet on. I loved the pick and still do. Just because he didn’t play over Foles and Sanchez this year doesn’t discourage me.

  57. 57 wee2424 said at 8:26 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    I liked the pick too. I thought 4th round was great. In no way do i doubt the kids work ethic. Im just not sure if he is NFL caliber. When i think of him, i think of when he went in, in a blowout win, or maybe it was preseason. WR was running a crossing route, CB was beat and slightly behind, and Barkley threw the ball hitting the trailing CB square in the helmet. The CB was so beat that if he werent busy chasing the WR it would have been an easy pick. It was comical.

  58. 58 GEAGLE said at 1:20 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    I never been a Barkley fan, but I wouldnt rule him out yet like our media does. personally I don’t expect QBs to prove they belong in their first two years. personally I don’t even want to judge QBs TIL there 4th-5th year with 40 plus games under their belt….. Just because we aren’t sold on a QB in his second year, it really doesn’t mean anything… QBs require pâtience. More patiemce than Fans and media realize. But heck,fans don’t even have the patience to see what Nick can grow into and he provided tons of instant gratification, so these dopes def won’t have the patience to give barkley time to develop..

    Everyone goes window shopping for QBs this time of year, but I expect FOles, Sanchez and Barkley all back for another year, and we shouldn’t read anything into Barkley not playing much yet…..

  59. 59 ColtSafety said at 4:47 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Also on the Safety side – I read an interesting article on Shaq Thompson on MMQB (http://mmqb.si.com/2015/02/11/nfl-draft-shaq-thompson-red-sox/)
    Is he someone that you think the Eagles would be interested in, and if so would it be as a large safety or as a LB? Still hoping for a BDawk 2.0.
    Cheers.

  60. 60 Bleedgreen said at 5:10 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I see Shaq Thompson as someone similar to Thomas Davis who I would love to have on the Eagles.

  61. 61 Bert's Bells said at 4:55 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I don’t follow college ball, but I’m pretty sure that Mariota has at least one loss in bowl games.

  62. 62 TommyLawlor said at 5:01 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    He lost the national title game this year.

    2012 – won the Fiesta Bowl
    2013 – won the Alamo Bowl
    2014 – won the Rose Bowl , which then put him in the title game

  63. 63 Bert's Bells said at 5:55 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Gotcha. Like I said, I don’t follow college so the BCS makes no sense to me. I thought that was a bowl game.

  64. 64 GEAGLE said at 5:25 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Can’t believe I never heard the story about how Washburn got fired on the plane ride back from Dallas. Was this common knowledge? Supposedly after the loss on the plane ride home he started botching about Babin and Andy flipped out “are you really going to bring that up now?”, flipped out and fired him on the plane LOL,.. Hate how we don’t find out the real stories til years later

  65. 65 gherbox said at 6:17 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Where did you hear this?

  66. 66 GEAGLE said at 1:11 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Hollis/Tank

  67. 67 FairOaks said at 9:16 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Some reports at the time… https://www.facebook.com/975thefanatic/posts/451299061594616 says he was fired right in Dallas and http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2012/12/03/andy-reid-nick-foles-not-michael-vick-will-start-the-rest-of-the-season/ says Cuerden reported it happened at the parking lot when the plane landed in Philly. I don’t really remember those reports, but it seems there were some tidbits out there.

  68. 68 GEAGLE said at 1:10 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Allegedly it was on the plane and they had security waiting when the plane arrived lol

  69. 69 Jarock said at 6:35 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    I didn’t get around to posting on the Hundley articles. D3FB, I did take the time to watch some of his tape, and I’m still not nearly as impressed with him as you are. He has no pocket sense whatsoever and while he’s a good athlete, he’s not a great one. His passing is a bit more advanced than I originally thought, but is still at least a season from being NFL caliber with no guarantees that he ever achieves that potential. I would not mind taking him in the 2nd or later, but I would not use a first round pick on him. As others have noted, unless you are committing to rebuilding, taking Hundley with a first really doesn’t make much sense. Kelly refused to play backups in a completely meaningless game, so I just can’t see the value in taking someone who is clearly a project, and one that is a very large gamble in the first round.

  70. 70 D3FB said at 10:56 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Fair enough, If you’ve put the tape work in I have no problem with other people coming to a different conclusion than my own. I don’t feel threatened or feel the need to call people names because they disagree.

    For me the player you draft at 20 isn’t going to be a franchise changing player (not a great class up top). You’re looking at a ceiling of above average starter, and even the safest picks can bust.

    With Hundley you have a guy who has every tool you can want, has produced at a high level, you’re drafting him into a situation where he has a season to sit and learn, and the fact that Hundley >>> any backup QB we could get. If Foles gets hurt Hundley gives us the best chance to win games.

    On the other hand if Foles continues to play closer to his floor the team still probably wins 6,7,8 games, so now you have an underwhelming QB out of contract. If you don’t draft Hundley you aren’t in a real position to go get a QB, people can sit here 12 months before the fact and claim next years class will be better, but they have no way to know that. In this scenario, Kelly very well could decide to take his ball and go home.

    Now you’re talking about changing schemes and personnel with a new coaching staff, which is probably a couple more years of roster turnover before you get things settled again and you’re still looking for a QB.

  71. 71 Mitchell said at 11:53 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    It’s like I always say, “There’s no shame in taking your balls and going home.”

  72. 72 Greg Richards said at 7:12 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Maybe this would be a good separate post by Tommy(or me if I had the motivation to start my own blog), but I wanted to mention some guys that I think would be interesting trade targets. Lower cost guys salary wise that wouldn’t necessarily be the answer at their respective positions but would inspire more confidence in helping a position than a random 4th or 5th round draft pick.

    Arthur Brown, ILB, Ravens – Entering his 3rd year. Eagles showed interest in him pre-draft. He didn’t get a ton of playing time his rookie year but did flash. This year, C.J. Mosley was the clear starter and Brown wasn’t active very often because he wasn’t as good as STs player as others on the roster. That could potentially be a reason why the Eagles wouldn’t have interest considering Kelly’s emphasis on STs, but he could be a bargain pickup based on his ability to be a starter. If they keep Ryans, they probably wouldn’t have interest but if they move on from DeMeco and his huge $6.9M salary, Brown might be of interest.

    Alfonzo Dennard, CB, New England – I read today the Patriots may let him go. He’s in the last year of his contract with a scheduled salary of $1.539M. He was a 7th round pick in 2012 but his talent level was much higher than that. He dropped because of an incident where he punched a cop. I’m not that familiar with the details of that but I’m pretty sure the legal process has already played out and he served any suspension he would get. He started several games for the Patriots(7 in 2013 including 2 picks against the Colts in the playoffs). They obviously upgraded at CB with Revis and Browner this offseason. He’s an outside corner, good in press coverage. It seems he didn’t play as much this season as his skill set wasn’t that of a nickel/dime inside corner. If you can get him cheap, you can bring him in and let him compete with Carroll to start outside this season and prove himself worthy or not of a contract extension while you develop a 1st or 2nd round rookie at the position.

    Zach Brown, ILB, Tennessee – His rep coming out of colllege was that he wasn’t physical but that hasn’t proven to be true in the pros. He played really well in 2013 as a 4-3 OLB and he was thought to be a good fit inside in the 3-4 but he got hurt in TC and was on IR for the season. They signed Wesley Woodyard last offseason. They drafted Avery Williamson in the 5th round last year(a guy that was in many of my mocks going to PHI) and he played pretty well last year when injuries forced him into the lineup. If they stick with Woodyard and Williamson as starters, they may look to get a return on investment for Brown before he enters FA next year.

    Sylvester Williams, DT, Denver – I mention him because DEN hired Wade Phillips as DC and he has traditionally ran a one-gap 3-4 which requires a more mobile, typically lighter-weight NT. Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson seem like good fits as DEs in that system, but I don’t know how Williams fits. I don’t know that the Eagles would want to pay the price to get Williams but I wouldn’t be surpised if Denver makes him available.

    Rafael Bush, S, New Orleans – Played very well as part of NO’s 3 safety packages in 2013. I mentioned him several times as a potential target for a RFA offer sheet last season. Atlanta did eventually sign him to a 2-year offer sheet and NO matched. Bush ended up starting 7 games this year before getting hurt himself. He’s a better run-defender than coverage safety. I wouldn’t necessarily lock him in as a starter but he’d be a good option to compete while developing a rookie. If not a starter, he’s a good STs player. Scheduled to make $1.95M this year. While that isn’t a lot, NO is in very rough cap shape and can use all the room they can get.

    Ahmad Brooks, OLB, SF 49ers – There’s a chance Brooks is a cap casualty so we wouldn’t have to trade for him. Sending a 7th rounder or doing a pick swap might be advantageous for us. He has 3 years left on his deal at $6.0M in 2015, $6.5M in 2016, and $6.95M in 2017. He’s 30 years old and typically I’d say you shouldn’t target a player likely to decline but we wouldn’t be tied to his future salaries and could cut him without any salary cap consequences in the future. He’s been very steady production wise with a sack total usually in the range between 6 and 9 each year. Getting Brooks at the salaries he’s already on the books for might be a better bet than investing heavily in an unproven guy like Pernell McPhee or a lesser player like Brooks Reed. If Brooks was cut, I think he might be able to find a better deal on the open market or at least a deal with more guaranteed money.

  73. 73 wee2424 said at 11:06 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    Good post, and thank you for the intriguing info on lesser known FA. Sometimes you sign one of these guys and they end up being a gem. The CB that isnt much on the radar that i am interested in is House. Good size and speed, can play physical. Strictly plays on the outside. The issue with him i hear is that his ball skills are lacking, which sounds a little familiar.

  74. 74 GEAGLE said at 1:08 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    I actually think Davon House is going to be an Eagle. he is tired of Packers bench, and they have 16 free agents and a assume they prioritize keeping Tramon Williams, allowing House to reach the open Market where the Eagles will view him as this years Nolan Carroll and try to sign him right up..
    ..
    Davon House as our Corner, Da’Norris Searcy as our safety

  75. 75 Anders said at 5:14 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    I 100% wouldnt mind Searcy and House. Not big names, but they fit the Carroll, Barwin and Jenkins mold of signings

  76. 76 GEAGLE said at 1:06 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Ahmad Brooks and Alfonso Dennard will both be cut…no reason to trade for them and give them a new deal, when we can just sigń them to a new deal..
    ,.,
    You could probably include Dion Jordan, and Cordarrel Patterson to that List…
    ,,
    Good stuff, glad you did it, I have wanted us to start a possible trade target list for a few days now, we should keep it up, and as posters come up with good names, you can edit them onto the list.

    We should also start doing a list of potential free agents that will for sure reach the open market. Since the frustrating part of this year is free agents you are drooling over signing with their current teams and never reaching the Market.
    ..
    for Example, Da’Norris Searcy already told the bills he won’t sign an extension and he plans on testing the open market, and from the Bills point of view they already have his replacement in house that they like, so the bills won’t Franchise him. Thus we can count on him actually reaching the open Market

    Cameron Jordon won’t remain a brown, they won’t Tag him due to the concussions so he is safe to assume will hit the market.
    ,.
    Steelers GM Colbert today sounded like Worilds would not get tagged, thus we can count on him Reaching open market
    ..
    Sheard not signing with Browns, will reach open market
    ..
    McPhee, Ozzie Newsome is supposedly fine with letting him walk, and Ozzie continues to Horde compensatory picks..

    More and more info about the free agents will start to come out these next two weeks…. With guys we love like McCourty and Justin Houston who will never reach the open market, probably a good idea to keep track of the ones we can count on reaching the market…

  77. 77 anon said at 1:10 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Searcy might get paid lots of teams need safeties. I wonder if the eagles will just pony up and pay someone this year and stop dicking around at the position.

    Also wonder if Howie being out of the mix we see fewer of the late round pick swaps and player swaps that we’ve seen in the past.

  78. 78 GEAGLE said at 2:00 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    He won’t make more than Jenkins,,, Be somewhere between the jenkins deal and the mIke mItchell deal.. What were we paying Nate? Wasmt it like 2 mil a year? Add another 3.5mil to the 2 we don’t have to pay Allen and you get Searcy,,,l

    If Searcy is too expensive for us, then we suck. Because I doubt his price tag is going to be any different from Rahims…. Maybe they get like 6mil a year, but Ron Paker is high if he thinks he is getting 6mil, he is a better Safety than he is a corner, but his tackling is crappy…. Searcy is solid in every area, and he keeps getting better and better…. not a flashy safety, but extremely dependable. We can count on him to not let anyone behind him. The corners can count on him being where he is supposed to be when he has to give our corners over the top help. Gave up 1 pass every 42 snaps…. Was involved in tons of plays in coverage and didn’t get flagged for a single penalty….
    ..,
    If you sign him and he eliminates the tons of X plays Nate gives up, and he eliminates all the flags on 3rd down our DBs were called for, that alone would be a big boost to last years defense… Just upgrading that 1 position would have Mae such a huge difference from this years defense.

  79. 79 anon said at 2:34 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    “The corners can count on him being where he is supposed to be when he has to give our corners over the top help.”— i’m sold.

    Would love to see Wolff do something as well — hopefully he’s doing all the right things in the offseason. I wonder if he’s part of the reason we decided not to pay another safety good money last year.

  80. 80 Greg Richards said at 6:36 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    He had microfracture surgery. I think he’s done.

  81. 81 Mitchell said at 11:48 PM on February 15th, 2015:

    D3FB: We had a conversation about Shaq Thompson a few weeks ago and I believe you said his main problem was he was a bit on the small side and would have trouble getting off blocks at the next level. When watching the TCU/Oklahoma game I saw Dawson (who is of similar size) struggle to get off/run around blocks. I was wondering if you saw the same thing and why you like Dawson more than Thompson?

  82. 82 D3FB said at 12:14 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Shaq is likely going to come in sub 6’1. He played last year a 218-220lbs.

    Dawson looks his listed 6’2 230lbs.

    It’s easier to comfortably say Dawson can get up to 240-245lbs.

    I also saw flashes against Minnesota of Dawson being more willing to take on blockers.

    It’s just the projecting players part of scouting, it’s not an exact science, more gut instinct.

  83. 83 GEAGLE said at 12:56 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    We often associate familiarity between coach and player being a good thing, when that automatically ISNT the case,
    ,,,
    We can easily play Connect the dots and say Rahim Moore will be our target since we have his DB coach, and Kareem Jackson will be our corner since he was at Bama with Marynowitz, but there is always a chance that the inside info our coaches know about a prospect is negative and the inside INFO makes us want to stay away from that prospect. for all we know our DB coach might have inside info abot Rahims limitatiòns that turn us off…

    If it was all about Familiarity we would be watching BYRD and Ward form a nasty safety tandem. But clearly the inside info Chip had on the Oregon boys led Chip to believe that Jenkins was a better safety for us then the higher rated Oregon safeties… It’s possible we like Rahim now and his DB coach has negative info that will turn us off…. Inside info isn’t always positive info.. Anyway, Id rather have Searcy, but Rahim is an acceptable alternative, I want nothing to do with Ron PARKER tho…

  84. 84 anon said at 1:07 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    It’ll be interesting to see who is available. I do know that Texans’ DBs were consistently getting beat deep (especially by speed receivers) this year. TY Hilton put up 200+scores. Mac abused them a couple times and he’s not even “fast”. I don’t know if it was the scheme or the DBs there but i want no parts of a djax attack.

  85. 85 GEAGLE said at 1:16 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Just sigń searcy and house and call it a day,…

  86. 86 MagatBrackendale said at 1:52 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    TL, please refresh our memory about who D3FB really is? Thanks.

  87. 87 D3FB said at 1:58 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Particularly what? I’m Tyler Aston, I contribute for Scouts Notebook.

  88. 88 Insomniac said at 6:18 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Nice try Bill Belichick.

  89. 89 MagatBrackendale said at 6:35 PM on February 16th, 2015:

    I was trying to refute some very negative comments made about you, on Sunday. See below.

  90. 90 D3FB said at 10:24 PM on February 16th, 2015:

    Haha gotcha.

    I was like ummm I’m 23, a Tarus, drive a ford escort, and don’t particularly like pina colodas or getting caught in the rain.

  91. 91 GEAGLE said at 2:18 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    Amazing that our offense was no where as good as 2013 yet we beat the franchise point record we set in 2013, and we did it with the offense scoring 8 less TDs.. Have to think Those 8 TDs would have easily put us in the playoffs… For us to score more with 8 less TDs, is a testament to the job our ST and rookie Kicker did this year.

    Since Chip has arrived we have gotten great offensive play, good spurts of defense And top ranked ST play, the problem is we haven’t put it all together yet…

    I don’t know if our defense will score all those TDs again next year, but im pretty sure we will still boast one of the top ST units in the league..hopefully this is the year we finally get all 3 phases firing on all cylinders at the same time..when That happens, we will be a contender..
    ..
    Fix our OL issues and I have little doubts that Nick and our Offense will look more like 2013 and less like 2014… Get our 2013 offense back, combined with our new rookie Kicker and top ST unit…. While also improving the defense. heck we don’t even need star DBs.. We just need Discaplined Defensive backs like Searcy who will be where we need them to be, provide proper support to our corners, while having the Discapline to eliminate all those 3rd down Flags,,.. If we can put that all together and have it all contributing at the same time, we will be able to compete with anyone,,. Hopefully this is the year……

    And if we aren’t contenders, hopefully we didnt deserve it. I can’t stand another year of absurd injury hell. if we are going to lose next year, let’s lose with our guys, not a patchwork OL

  92. 92 Anders said at 5:41 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    My way to offensive focused draft, but if we go with Foles forward, I would love to give him this kind of help:

    Your Picks:
    Round 1 Pick 25 (CAR): Kevin White, WR, West Virginia (A)
    Round 2 Pick 20: Maxx Williams, TE, Minnesota (A-)
    Round 2 Pick 25 (CAR): Duke Johnson, RB, Miami (Fla.) (B-)
    Round 2 Pick 26 (BALT): Jake Fisher, OT, Oregon (B)
    Round 3 Pick 20: Tre’ Jackson, OG, Florida State (A)
    Round 3 Pick 26 (BALT): Derron Smith, FS, Fresno State (A)
    Round 4 Pick 14: Ronald Darby, CB, Florida State (B+)
    Round 4 Pick 20: Zach Hodges, OLB, Harvard (B-)
    Round 5 Pick 20: Ladarius Gunter, CB, Miami (Fla.) (B)
    Round 6 Pick 20: Hayes Pullard, ILB, Southern California (B)
    Round 7 Pick 20: Shaquille Riddick, DE/OLB, West Virginia (C+)

    White to replace Cooper on the outside right away, Williams replaces Celek in 2016 and I just love watching Duke, he really reminds me of Brian Westbrook as a runner and pass catcher. Fisher+Jackson along with Kelce and Johnson should solve the OL for years too come

  93. 93 Insomniac said at 6:17 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    I like Tevin Coleman a bit more than Duke for this team. Coleman has the downhill running with speed/power that would compliment Shady a lot better.

  94. 94 Anders said at 6:43 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    My top 5 for RBs is:

    Gurley
    Ajayi
    Gordon
    Johnson
    Coleman

    But I wouldnt mind Coleman or Cobb over Johnson in any way

  95. 95 Mitchell said at 8:44 AM on February 16th, 2015:

    I’d let that draft eat crackers in my bed. I actually really really like Derron Smith. If he could add 10 lbs he would be a fierce little bugger.

  96. 96 eagleyankfan said at 1:47 PM on February 16th, 2015:

    Great article. Some fans only seem to remember the first few games where Jenkins was outstanding. Down the stretch he was “ok” at best. His performance during that stretch could have been for any number of reasons. Upgrading his partner in crime that is “ok” too will do wonders for this team. Hopefully an update happens.

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