Let’s Talk Sammy
Posted: March 15th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 711 Comments »Let’s talk about Sam Bradford.
In my PE.com column, I focused on Bradford’s intelligence. I think that is the number one thing Chip Kelly wants in a QB…brains. For the up-tempo offense to be at its best, you need a good decision-maker and someone that thinks very quickly. The sooner the ball gets out, the better. Hurry, hurry, hurry.
Read the piece and you’ll see that Bradford is one smart dude. Beyond natural intelligence, he’s driven and hard working. Here is something written from his rookie year.
From the beginning, Bradford was an eager student.
“He wants to learn, so he’s very willing to listen,” Curl said. “This is important to Sam; he’s a proud individual. And because of that he spends the time and does what’s necessary in order to, down the road, become the player that he wants to be.”
Curl started at the bottom, literally. Because Bradford played mostly in the shotgun formation at OU, his footwork needed to be refined so that he could take snaps from under center, drop back smoothly and deliver passes using the proper technique.
“You start from his feet and work up,” Curl said. “It was all about getting the feet in the proper position, the idea of shuffling forward — is it two shuffles, is it one shuffle, or do you slide sideways? And then through your hips all the way up.”
Curl continually preaches fundamentals.
“I know he gets tired of me saying it all the time, some of the stuff,” Curl said. “But I just constantly talk to him about his balance, get your feet in position, where’s your toe, where’s your knee, where’s your belly button going, is your back hip coming through?
“It’s just all those little things. And he’s pretty good. … The kid is just a worker.”
That’s the easy part, Curl stressed.
“The mental part in the NFL for a young quarterback is the toughest thing, because there are so many things being thrown at you,” he said. “Every week it’s something different: a different blitz, a different look, all of sudden they want to do this, they want to do that.”
Curl and Bradford spend hours at Rams Park dissecting film together. During games, they huddle between possessions, reviewing the previous series and preparing for the next.
“He gets it; he understands what has to be done to get to where he wants to get to,” said Curl, adding that Bradford’s comprehension is aided by a healthy skepticism.
“I call it ‘the Bradford look,'” Curl said. “Every once in a while I’ll say something and he’ll give me that look. I’ll say, ‘Sam, no, no, no. Don’t give me that look.’ He’s going to test you a little bit, in a good way, to make sure it makes sense. He’s very smart that way.”
Doesn’t that sound just like someone Chip Kelly would love?
The December morning after Sam Bradford returned to campus from New York, a Heisman Trophy in tow, he stopped by to chat with associate athletic director Gerald Gurney, who runs OU’s student life center and academic services.
Bradford’s first question was how his offensive line did academically. Did Bradford need to talk to anyone?
A picture of leadership. Yes, a quarterback is expected to command the huddle and walk tall in the locker room and keep his nose clean. But a quarterback who plays truant officer and academic monitor is working overtime.
“He’ll go and drag ’em in here,” Gurney said. “His teammates, if they’re not doing something correctly, he’ll personally make sure they’re handling their responsibilities.”
Teams that self-police are priceless to their coaches. More than 30 years after the Selmons’ era at OU, stories of their leadership still ring around the program. Lucious standing up on a rowdy bus and ordering his teammates to put on their game faces. Lee Roy and Dewey quietly taking a malcontent to the bus station, letting him know his services no longer were needed.
Bradford has taken on such a role, a guy who not only takes care of his own business but looks out for his teammates.
“I just kind of try to lead by example,” Bradford said, downplaying his actions. “I value my education. When guys see that, they may take their schoolwork more seriously.”
Bradford values his education all right. He’s scheduled to graduate in 3 1/2 years with a finance degree; he’s made one grade less than an A, a B in Calculus II.
That is the kind of leadership any coach would love, but it fits in perfectly with Kelly and his desire to establish the right culture. Not only does Bradford do the right thing, he wants to make sure everyone else does the right thing.
Sam was a great player at Oklahoma. He won the Heisman Trophy. He led them to the national title game. He helped them set an NCAA record by scoring 60 or more points in 4 straight games. That is one of the greatest offenses that I’ve ever seen in college.
Watch these OU highlights and you can see what a good fit Bradford is for Kelly’s offense.
He is at home playing from the shotgun. Bradford can make quick throws. He is very good at getting the ball out to receivers close to the line of scrimmage. Those quick routes can require unique footwork and arm angles. Bradford can throw from a variety of platforms.
Onto the NFL.
Here is an interesting video of Bradford wired for a game.
He comes off to me as a natural leader. I think that is hugely important for a QB.
And now a video a few of you have already likely seen. Some Rams fan put together all of Bradford’s throws over 15 yards from a certain period.
The number one thing that jumps out at me is pocket presence. Bradford stays locked in on his receivers, even when rushers get near him. One of Nick Foles issues was dealing with pressure. He would do that well at times, but other times drifted backward, which led to problems. Bradford’s instinct is to move up in the pocket. You can tell he’s been well-coached and he listened.
The other thing that stood out to me…Chip Kelly must be one phenomenal play-caller. We’re used to seeing Eagles players wide open at least a few times a game. Guys are covered for this entire video. Even play-action passes aren’t freeing anyone up.
And Bradford’s skill players were very unimpressive. A couple of WRs made circus catches, but there were also drops and guys falling down while running routes. You don’t see anything special.
Bradford does make some bad throws, but I think you can see his talent. He has a good arm. He can make some really impressive throws.
If you don’t want to watch that whole video, check out this one highlight from it.
I'm watching some Sam Bradford today, and came across a gorgeous throw and catch over Cary Williams: https://t.co/gGsYBOwx27
— Patrick Wall (@ByPatrickWall) March 14, 2015
That is one impressive throw. Did you happen to notice the CB who was beat?
I don’t know if Kelly’s great gamble will pay off, but am excited to see how Bradford plays in this offense and with some weapons. If he fails here, that’s all on him.
_
So, what you’re saying is that Sam will without a doubt lead us to 10 Super Bowl wins in a row.
You have my word on it.
Maybe that’s hyperbole but at least 8 for sure
Yes, but will he be the QB for the next 1000 years?
If Bradford brings one Lombardi trophy to Philly, he can be our QB for the next million years.
After all, his initials are “SB”.
I’m shocked to see that Sconces didn’t turn his head on that play.
I love the Bradford info, but Greg Cosell said on Ross Tucker’s show on Thursday morning that Bradford developed some skittish traits in the pocket over the past few seasons. I’m hoping we have our blocking squared up well enough to cure him of that habit.
I think it’s been said that once a QB loses the edge on their confidence in the pocket, it never really returns.
That is the $64,000 question with Bradford for me.
i seen the greatest QBs geting skittish and start seeing ghost pass rushers all the time… there are times Peyton and Brady catch such a beating that they get happy feet and start hearing footstes… its typically what happens when a DL dominates the OL, no matter who the QB is…… we can rip bradford but if we are keeping it real, my boy Foles went thru the same problem last year… Typically its a by product of taking some really hard hits to the point you no longer trust your OL, all types of tecnical defficiencies creep in when the OL is getting its ass kicked, for example all the throws backpeddling Foles threw this year
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look at Romo, he was as skittish as it got against us on Thanksgiving. He started diving down on the ground a second before any of our ass rushers ever became a threat…
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assume chip will ease him into the offense, lots of short passes, get the ball out quick early to rebuild his confidence in the pocket and learn to trust that Jason Peters wont let top pass rushers Tee Off on him all game…. not to mention with our Powerful stable of RB’s, wewill pound it so much that half the time Bradford will be throwing out of playaction which should relieve pressure….
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nothing some success cant solve, gotta build his confidence back up…. if he stays healthy, I think we could end up liking this kid… if he cant stay on the field, this will be a bad trade… im sure it will be a problem at initially, but once he takes a hit or two and realizes he is still in one piece, he should be able to shake the rust and doubts off…. hopefully he gets some good work in the preseason. He hasnt played in a while, hope he sees more preseason minutes then what QBs traditionally get… need to get him comfortable, trusting in his knee and our OL before the season starts… that cant happen without letting some live bullets fly at him in the preseason
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You said “ass rushers.” Lol.
Also, you’re basicslly laying out why I think OG and OL depth are the greatest needs for this team. Above WR and S, and it’s not even close for me.
im sure chip kelly agrees with you…..OL is everything to Chip. there is NO EXPLOSIVE offense without the OL
Well, O-Line is extremely important, but don’t underestimate our Safety situation. It’s really, really awful.
WR is a big need, but I agree with you, compared to O-Line and Safety, we’re fine there.
i can see Chip going into an NFL season with a hole at Safety… I could see Chip feeling like he is fine going into a year with Coop,Huff,Jordan,Ertz,Sproles, Murray and Mathews…
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but what i cant see AT ALL, is chip kelly ever going into a season with some rinky dinky OL…. if Chip has a poor OL at ANY POINT as an Eagle coach, I will assume it means his OL is decimated by injuries… OL is too important to every football coach in the country, you can bet its important to a coach obsessed with Offense to the point that when his offense sputters it even has a bad effect on our defense….. No way we ever go into a season with a weak starting OL… if we see a poor OL, I assume it means our OL has been trashed by injuries
I’ll never forget Jim Everett of the Rams vs SF…he ducked out more than I did in High School (and that was a substantial amount…)
Maybe a change of scenery will help.
Good point AC. Steve Young seemed to get better once he was at SF with a great coach and team.
Steve young is a great analogy. He got killed in Tampa, and was a HOFer in SF. Big difference is the injuries, and not sitting behind joe montana for 4 years.
The beautiful thing about humans is that some of them have the ability to hit the reset button when it comes to a change of scenery. I refuse to believe that a QB could not once again regain confidence in his Oline. I agree some can’t, but some can. Let’s see if Bradford is one of them. Too add I think that report from Cowell is overblown. Watching him from years previous you don’t see a real skittish QB.
If you believe this, then trading Nick Foles was the right move.
I’m hoping we draft an O-lineman in the first. Receiver in the second.
Multiple OL. I think Huff, JM, Ertz, and Sproles can make up for Mac’s loss with a better OL easier than the current guys can fix the OL. I’d also prioritze S over WR in terms of team needs.
In short: 2 OL starters >>>> OL depth > S > WR
Just my opinion, but I think Greg Cosell is really overrated as a talent evaluator or any kind of analyst for that matter.
Yeah, playing on a Rams team that had problems protecting Sam is what made him skittish.
Coming to the Eagles was probably the best thing that could have happened to Sam and the Eagles as well.
If we can protect him better than the Rams, which should be the case, it’s easy to see how his confidence could quickly be restored.
We can all thank Andy and Howie for putting together great lines over the years on both sides of the ball.
I think that if Lane Johnson plays well this season, our O line could be special.
Good stuff, I did watch that video of the throws over 15yds previously and I saw the talent and I tried to put in our Chip Kelly’s system but I think it will change with Bradford. I think it will look more like what Urben Meyer did with Ohio St and the big fella at the end with power runs and throws minus the runs he did. It’s gonna be an interesting marriage that everyone is going to be looking at from Day 1.
The sad part is that while we all know Sam didn’t have much at the WR position, I am not so sure the situation is much different here. Matthews is a good slot WR, but lacks the separation to play outside. Pooper is lucky to even be in the league, forget his ridiculous paycheck. Our TEs are good, but very rarely is a tight end the kind of player that scares a defense. A good tight end is akin to a good slot WR. They still need a good presence on the outside to open things up. We have nothing that could be considered a legit threat on the outside.
They’ll address WR in FA and/or the draft.
Agree. However, one of the major issues that we lack is speed. None of our WR have shown anything that would suggest they can beat man to man coverage deep, let alone command safety help. Folks who tout Huff are incredibly optimistic with out any evidence to back up that optimism. Huff showed me a nice screen and RAC game. His hands were suspect and his ball handling and decision making leave alot to be desired. He is still very much a project as he was at the start of last year. As for free agency, there is nary a player loose on the street that could give us what we need. The draft is supposedly stocked with talent at WR and that is where my hopes lie. I happen to hope for Sammie Coates in the 2nd. Big strong and fast. Not the most polished WR, but his size/character/measurables are excellent
Denarius Moore. Has both good deep speed and run after the catch ability. Not sure why he fell off in Oakland.
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https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=Denarius+Moore+highlights+youtube&vid=995a85dcb2edbc0aab1a2dd951ec2a58&l=2%3A21&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.607994630329011606%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFvsQ44ftSyo&tit=Denarius+Moore+Ultimate+Highlights&c=2&sigr=11bbifidg&sigt=11235mvoh&sigi=11rngf0m7&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3DDenarius%2BMoore%2Bhighlights%2Byoutube%26ei%3DUTF-8%26hsimp%3Dyhs-001%26hspart%3Dmozilla&sigb=13d6qodo6&ct=p&age=1403884800&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&tt=b
i liked him when carson palmer was there, but if he’s still a ufa with the raiders paying nate allen $80m it’s not a good sign.
New coaches want new players.
I would prefer the Draft. This year’s WR class is talented and deep. Devin Smith in the 2nd Round, Chris Conley in Day 3, Stefon Diggs in Day 3 would all be solid additions to the Eagles’ WR corps.
I don’t really get what Devin Smith brings to the table. I want a physical standout WR.
Maclin was worth the extra money. Plus, I’d rather overpay him than Mathews or Sanchez. That’s my biggest complaint of the offseason. Replacing Maclin won’t be a easy as people think. Receivers aren’t plug and play in Chip’s system. If they were, Riley Cooper would be going to the Hall of Fame.
I want us to draft Nelson Agholor to replace Maclin, his measurables are exactly the same as Maclin only he’s a tiny bit faster. I think with the right talent evaluation he can replace almost anyone. I want Phillip Dorsett though too, we need elite speed.
I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine and he said: you know that’s the most important thing in the passing game? Dominate the middle of the field.
Patriots have no elite outside threat, but they have Gronk. The Seahawks just traded for Graham, hoping he’ll be the one dominating the middle for them. Now, I’m not saying you don’t need outside receivers, but two of the smartest teams in the league now have (a) no elite outside receivers and (b) one hell of a receiving TE.
I’m not saying Ertz is Gronk, and he probably is no Graham either. But he can be a really good weapon. His production wasn’t great, but he wasn’t on the field that often, because of his blocking. If he improves his blocking, while Kelly tweaks the scheme a little bit to help him, and Ertz plays 85 percent of the snaps, I think it will help our offense.
And if the Pope stays inside, we have a nice middle of the field combo.
Now, we need to add at least two WR (for depth alone). One of those receivers should bring some skills to the table. But giving Ertz (and the Pope) a bigger role can help to replace Maclin. Huff can’t do it alone. And a rookie can’t do it alone, either.
You could argue that Jordan Matthews in the slot is effective at attacking the middle of the field as well.
Oh, I completely agree. I think Jordan Matthews is very good in the center of the field. It’s outside the numbers that I am concerned about.
He played outside in college and did just fine.
Majority of WRs play outside in college, which does not mean they can play outside against NFL CBs
Sorry, initially missed the pope reference haha.
dont forget sproles… since we are going young at WR via the draft, I expect both Sproles and Ertz to much more involved as recievers then they were last year
Yes, Kelly called him his swiss army knife at the presser. Compared to last year, where he said: Sproles is a running back for us.
good point…. also recently spoke on Ertz “versatility”..expecting to see him split out wide, and line up all over the place this year
His production for the percentage of the time he was on the field was actually pretty Damn good. The kid had a very quite over 700 yard season. I think he could very well be a thousand or over thousand yard TE for us.
I’m not saying he didn’t play well. But he wasn’t on the field enough. Which is part on him, part on Kelly/scheme, part on OL problems.
Ertz needing to play more snaps was one of the two most justified criticism of Chips coaching last year, imho. The other was Fletcher over Carroll (and Boykin).
Yeah I agree, if you win the middle of the field it kills defenses. We have seen it happen to us plenty of times in the past years. That was JJs weakness. You can really counteract the blitz that way. However it would be nice to have a good outside deep presence to force the safeties to play back. Seattle has a very athletic defense and with Kam in the middle that is one of the few defenses that you may have trouble attacking the middle.
Well, if you have Brady, Gronk and Edelman, you can hurt the Seahawks over the middle, too. But, let’s not kid ourselves, very few teams have such a QB – TE – Slot WR combination.
Sam, Ertz, Huff/Matthews… We’ll see
Yep, we have some weapons.
I didn’t want to go that route. Bradford grows on me, but looooooong way to go before we can even compare him to Brady.
Gronk is the best there is at this position.
Edelman is (generally) underrated, but I can see the Pope being as effective as he is.
But, I also see potential on our roster, like I stated above.
What’s the number one maxim about helping a young QB in the passing game?
Get him a good TE to be a safety blanket.
He seems definitely more mobile than Foles or Sanchez. Not sure if he still would be after the knee injuries.
Dear Sam, Please don’t let your weak, fragile and brittle knees ruin this next season for me. your friend, Mitchell
Not for nothing, but I can’t help but point out the scoreboard on that last clip. That pass looked pretty, but it’s hard to be impressed when its up against a prevent defense in a game that’s been long decided.
Shouldnt it be more impressive to complete that pass against prevent pass
Shouldnt it be more impressive to complete that pass against prevent pass
Not with that score, no.
If its prevent defense, you are implying they are doing everything they can to avoid getting beat
The pass was pretty regardless. What does the score have to do with it. That throw on the scramble was a dead-on seed.
I agree. In prevent defense you’ll usually have 2 safeties high to keep the plays in front of them and not give up the deep pass.
Good point. Prevent is designed to prevent exactly that outcome. Corners are 9 yards deep at the snap, safeties aren’t even in the picture, and no one even flinches at the play action.
Tommy, thanks for the sober thoughts on Bradford. I’m in the camp that is cautiously optimistic about what he can do in Chips offense with Chip/Shurmur coaching him.
On a somewhat related noted, I’m becoming more concerned about the long term integrity of the team. Someone talk me down from the ledge!
I’m a lifelong Eagles fan who has largely been on the “trust in Chip” side of the current divide. My assumption has been that he knows how to build a team that can sustain success. Getting at least 10 wins his first two years seems to support this assumption.
However, as has well been noted, coaching and managing an NFL team are two different skill sets.
Looking back from day one, it could be argued that the Eagles under Chip’s leadership have been poor—arguably awful—at managing resources, both money and talent.
For example, signing James Casey to a large contract in FA only to draft Zach Ertz in the draft.
The large Riley Cooper contract and relatively poor performance the following year.
Cutting DeSean Jackson without getting anything—zero—in return.
And it can be argued that in almost every move this offseason we either overpaid or didn’t get as much as we could have for McCoy and Foles.
Does Kelly simply overlook this facet of running an NFL team? If so, how can that be? It seems ludicrous.
Or is Kelly just really, really poor at managing talent and money resources? Because the moves (cutting DeSean w/ zero return) have been SO audacious, I’m inclined to go with the former.
Kelly has said: I’m not concerned with who we don’t have, but who we do have.
That sounds great, but at what point does this all come crashing down on him and the Eagles? Is there a way for this cutting and trading to go on indefinitely, or is it inevitable that overspending and not getting the most out of trades, etc will leave the Eagles crippled?
The defensive line seems to be in the best shape as far as talent, age, and money invested. Is that by design or pure luck? Is Chip going to do the same with the O line? If those two units stay young and managed appropriately money-wise will the team ultimately be okay?
The jury is out on that I think… though it’s definitely possible. There are mitigating circumstances for most of your examples.
When it comes to Casey, you’d have to be able to tell with a crystal ball that Ertz was going to be available with the 2nd round pick, which is impossible. You can’t criticize that very much. Sounds like Kelly picked BPA and dealt with a logjam later, which is what you usually prefer out of the draft.
Cooper’s contract was a bit high, but it wasn’t a long-term investment, and not huge money in the grand scheme of things (just huge money for him). If we were going with Foles, he seemed like a good secondary target. I don’t think anyone expected the degree he regressed this year, and I think it’s unlikely he is here next year. Granted… if they had a crystal ball to know Maclin was going to recover as well as he did, they would have been better served to give Maclin his (at the time) extremely high asked-for long-term contract, and we’d still have him at what seems today like a reasonable rate. But you can’t judge the moves in hindsight.
Jackson was the most irritating. The timing of that move was more the issue… I’m not sure the Eagles could release him before they got Cooper and Maclin signed, as both of them were free agents and losing Jackson too would mean we would be completely bereft of wide receivers. Trading him before that might have meant Cooper’s and Maclin’s agents could have leveraged themselves into even more money. Unfortunately that is the period where teams have cap space available and are making their plans. By trying to trade him after that period, not many teams had the cap space and I guess none were willing. It was a hard contract to trade, since it was also known that Jackson wanted a new one. This year we traded McCoy (similar situation) earlier and got a good return. I kinda doubt we would have just released McCoy though… he was one avenue towards rebalancing the budget more towards defense, and the opportunity presented itself.
Overpaying in free agency is basically what you have to do, at least for the desired free agents at the outset. Often what seems to be really high contracts really aren’t, as they will be priced relative to future caps going up, not what we have been used to. Maclin’s contract seems outrageously high, but by the end of his contract it will probably be well down the list. You can go bargain-basement FA hunting after the first wave is over and the remaining players have fewer suitors, but that doesn’t always lead to the best fits. I’m sure we’ll do some of that this year though. We *have* used a lot more of the cap than we have in the past, and that could come back to bite us. We are using some of the rollover cap space from last year to go over the normal league cap; that will not necessarily be there next year.
Foles seemed like an overpay, but we may have been completely misvaluing Foles vs Bradford in the league’s eyes, and in the end those are the only opinions that matter since that is the only competition. Obviously Kelly wanted Bradford more than Foles, which I’m not sure all of us did. If a team offered a low first-round pick for Bradford, that is probably more than what Foles would have gotten.
The stories of not understanding value in the draft will be interesting to watch this year. Does he overdraft a bunch of guys? If they turn out to perform then we won’t care, but if they bust, it will be a thorn.
So… I guess it’s possible, but I’m not sure we’ve seen definitive proof that things are being mis-managed, other than the stories about overdrafting. And maybe Roseman will still be there too give his advice on those matters.
Great points (in response to very legitimate concerns.) I get the impression (going back to the stories last year about the rounds Chip wanted Huff and Hart in) that Chip is so confident in his evaluation of fit that he simply doesn’t assign the same value as the value chart/rest of NFL do. If you “know” a player will perform great in your system, do you worry about a chance to select someone you don’t know? When the hit rate may be as high as 40-something % in round one and scaling down from there? OD calls him big balls Chip, that would be consistent. Maybe this will be more clear when he no longer ‘knows’ college players from his own time; but I’m wondering if maybe he’ll still have similar convictions about kids. Here’s the come-back, though: if he’d be satisfied giving up potential choices by pulling the trigger ‘prematurely’, why does he say he values more draft choices over selling out for one player?
The talent is there, he just needs to stay healthy. I’m not concerned about offensive weapons, Chip has proven he can get guys open
yeah i dont get the weapon or OL concerns… sure we dont see the finished product right now, but this is a coach obssessed with scoring points. I dont ever expect to see him improve our defense at the expense of the offense… just think we are getting younger on Offense… Its true he schemes guys open and just about every player has had his career years in this offense……. its not that scheming any old player open makes me not worried about the weapons, its that I cant even imagine chip go into a season without a top projected starting OL, and WRs/RBs and TEs that he can use to hang 30 points on the scoreboard
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also, I expect some young Talents to have breakout years:
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1) Last year was supposed to be the breakout year for Ertz but the OL in shambles ruined that.. Our passing game struggled, and our OL couldnt successfuly run block so we had to use Celeks blocking so much last year…. once we retool this OL via the Duck Olinemen in the draft I expect to be able to run the ball without always having Celek blocking on the Line of scrimage which will provide more opportunities for Ertz,… wouldnt be surprised if he is used alot as a WR this year
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2) i could see a big breakout year for The Pope… doubt too many young WRs will outwork that kid this summer.
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3) game was moving too fast for Huff last year, he would catch the ball and try to do too much…. once it slows down for him, i really expect to put his explosive athleticism and physicality to use as a run after the catch weapon
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im sure a few weapons will be added in the draft
I agree with everything you just said. I think people keep on forgetting that rookies from last year can/will step up. All we really need on offense is 2 guards and a WR. I think it would make sense for chip to draft fisher in round 1 to start at RG and Grasu in the 2nd to provide depth and or start at LG if Mathis is traded. Personally I want Devon smith from Ohio state, he’s a big time deep threat
I can see Chip drafting an OL in round 1 and maybe 2 to protect his new franchise qb.
I think huff will step up big time. I think Cooper might thrive with Bradford as well. Coops did great when Foles was making more accurate throws in ’13. When he was antsy in the pocket and throwing off his back foot, we didn’t see much success at all with Cooper. Also the drops didn’t help :/
Huff has the talent he just wasn’t there mentally. Cooper got on my nerves last year with all the freaking drops. Could’ve been 11-5 or 12-4 had he not dropped so many.
JMatt’s 2nd half of the season production would have netted over 1200 yards and 10 TDs on a whole season
just like JMac. Tbis baseline oerformance for #1 WR in this offense
Is it bad that he gets injured in the first couple minutes of his highlight reel
Looks like similar injury that took Nick out vs Texans.
Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
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Former Bengals DE Michael Johnson is returning to Cincinnati, having reached agreement with team, per source.
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This got my dick so hard right now
TMI.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
B in Calc II and we are supposed to believe that he can be a franchise QB?
Really. Mext thing we’ll hear is he didn’t do well on linear algebra. Distressing.
I will say that the videos are impressive. Good velocity, good accuracy, moves around well. Excited to see the kid play.
Just proves my niavete — went from HATING this trade to loving it especially that it frees up our draft picks for… you know… drafting players.
Until Chip does something crazy and package them all to move up and draft Beasley.
We saw a lot of catches over Cary Williams.
Makes sense. Rams have scrub receivers. Cary does well against good receivers and gets burned by scrubs.
Especially jacksonville scrubs…
thats exactly his problem, gets up for the biggest challenges and plays down to the level of competition of WRs he doesnt respect or fear… along with the stupid 3rd down penalties for crap after the wihstle..
funny how everyone rips him, yet the great secondary Guru Pete Carrol snatched him up pretty quickly… wouldnt be surprised if he has a nice year now that he will actually be given quality safety help
His issues went way beyond lack of safety help. If he played down to down and game to game with consistent effort and also develops a better attitude off-the-field, then he has the pure talent to succeed. I wouldn’t count on that happening.
Cary Williams is the epitome of a bad attitude player, and a poor leader.
It will be interesting to see how he plays in Seattle. He had good games for the Eagles, and then many games were he didn’t show up at all.
His role there will also change dramatically. For us, he was like Sherman, because everyone was throwing the ball on Fletchers side, because – why not? It’s easy. QBs prefer easy.
In Seattle, he will get Maxwells role, getting targeted all the time. He has the best Safety duo in the NFL behind him, which will help. But will it be enough?
walter thurmond, Byron Maxwell, Brandon Browner….. think Pete Carrol knows when he sees a CB that can get the job done for him.. I wouldnt be surprised to see seattle as a top 3 passing defense again, even with Cary instead of Maxwell. i liked Cary, i wanted us to sign him 3 years ago, but he cant be your best Defensive back, thats just asking for trouble in the back end
Which has nothing to do with Cary Williams,
I bet that Williams is among both the leaders in penalties call among DBs next top (Top 5) and plays given up longer than 20+ yards again (Top 5) even playing in that Seattle defense.
He’s a marginal CB who gets beat at least once a game on a big play. He is also one of the softest players I have seen play for the Eagles’ too. Talks an awful lot for being a guy who shies away from contact.
How many SB rings does Chung have now? Nothing surprises me anymore with these moves.
no clue what that means, or what point you are trying to make, but whatevr
I was not a fan of the Bradford trade. I’ve always felt he underachieved. But I’ve been reading a lot about him and see a lot of potential. So why do I have this feeling that as soon as I’m all-in on Bradford, Kelly will trade him?
I’m looking forward to getting through the draft so the roster churn can slow down a bit.
cuz the brain dead, simple minded media that is too lazy and dumb to do anything other then try and connect the obvious dots, brain washed you….. they say the same thing over and over and over, and every time they say it more fans start to parrot it over and over and over… til eventually we are all brainwashed into actually thinking that chip would use Bradford to trick Demarco into signing with us, only to piss his QB away a month later….they say it over and over and over til we start to accept it as reality, but then when we really see what happenes, and it doesnt match the expectations brainwashed in our minds, we go crazy
Chip will only trade Bradford if the deal offered is too good to pass up.
Chip can be a really tough mofo when it comes to personnel decisions; e.g. like Jackson.
But we need to keep an open mind during the draft. He’s going to surprise us.
I’ll take pleasantly surprised.
I pray you are right. With Jimi Hendrix at the guitar, you don’t know what you will see and hear.
But in the end, Jimi was touted (rightfully so) as transcendent and revered years after his death as the best. #CHIP
I think you’re quite correct. The significantly value Kelly places on Bradford is made quite obvious by how much was given up to obtain him. Chip wouldn’t turn around and clear that out for cheap in the space of 2 months.
Chip will only trade Bradford if the deal offered is too good to pass up.
You know that from all the trades he made at Oregon?
Given the last week i’d find it hard to think anyone is sacred on the roster, especially a guy that hasn’t played football in almost 2 years.
I think you’re right, but you’re also the guy who kept insisting/hinting that you had inside info that Chip was trading up for Mariota. While this could have been all true and the outcome we are seeing is just plan B from the plan A you had heard and the cost to move up for MM was just too much, count me as skeptical every time you play nostrodomus and try to predict Chips moves.
Well I hope your wrong
And to make us all feel even better ,they are going to start showing videos of all of Foles crappy passes only.
Coming out of college, Heisman in hand, Sam was as sure a thing as a thing can be sure. Same as MM is now. Every athlete is always a knee injury away from being a bust.
Now, here’s to second chances.
Getting excited for the draft. Pencil in Jake Fisher as 1st round pick. Athletic G/T combo and from Oregon. Wonder if he will still be there if we trade down like last year to like 25 – 28 range. 20 may a little too high for him.
That would be my play if we did not have a good talent fall to us at 20.
what could we get with a trade down like that? Extra third or fourth?
we got a 3rd moving 22-26 last year, but we robbed the browns. I would expect a late 3rd rounder to move down to 26-28 range.
Yeah, that was with Roseman making the calls. This year we’d probably give up a 3rd to move down 4 slots.
I would honestly be tempted to try and trade down twice, and then trade back into the 2nd round with those picks.
The 2nd ‘tier’ of players is really deep this draft, and i think the ability to take 3 of them could really transform our roster.
A duck at a position that’s now high need. I don’t imagine a trade down by chipper.
If you like him, take him at 20, no need to bet on him failing unless there is still a lot of the high ranked OTs are still on board
I believe Chip thinks this way from what has transpired thus far
and I honestly see no reason why not. Seahawks and Pats operate that way
Well, the Seahawks and Pats like to trade back…
I’m confused. do people take this “he’s from Oregon” thing seriously now, or is it still a joke?
List of 2016 UFA Safeties currently.
Nate Ebner
Isa Abdul Quddus
Tavon Wilson
Kenny Phillips
Husain Abdullah
Rashad Johnson
Charles Godfrey
David Bruton
Tommie Campbell
MD Jennings
Craig Dahl
Shiloh Keo
James Ihedigbo
Josh Bush
Rafael Bush
Chris Clemons
Eric Weddle
Andrew Sendejo
Reggie Nelson
Ryan Mundy
Eric Berry
Charles Woodson
Antonio Allen
Chris Prosinski
Anthony Walters
George Iloka
Jamarca Sanford
Tyvon Branch
Colt Anderson
Since i doubt we are going to find our long term answer at the second safety position this off season because the FA crop left is stop gaps and the Draft is meh, i was thinking what does the 2016 safety free agent group look like.
Who do people like on this list other than Eric Berry?
Eric Weddle
Is overrated.
But better than Allen. (?)
Significantly! I just don’t care for the flagrant level to which Weddle is overrated in the same manner Sehorn was.
He can over rated for days but if he plays better than Nate on the cheap(er) side, also some green on him.
Iloka
my guy..one of the best safeties no one ever talks about..still holding out hope we trade for him or Tashuan Gipson
How old is Gipson anyway
24
Dashon Goldson?
Woodson on a 1yr deal? What’s his salary?
Less than his age, I hope.
Thanks for the post Tommy. I still don’t feel great about the trade value, but at the same time I have seen us get too cute more than a few times and lose out on a guy. If he really thinks Sam is going to be the guy, I am ok with it.
I think a run first offense with our three headed monster backfield, hopefully a younger upgraded line, a quick decision maker at QB with accuracy should spell a much more efficient offense that I can totally get behind. I feel good about the addition of Maxwell even though we paid a king’s ransom, good about the addition of Kiko, meh about Graham (like the kid, but does not have the versatility we want at the position), disappointed in our Safety situation. I still wonder if we could have pried McC loose from NE with more money. Seeing the stupid numbers other guys got at S this off season would have taken the sting out of overpaying, and I would have felt a lot better about our D with Jenkins, McC, Maxwell, and best option on roster at other CB.
If Bradford is our guy, I hope to hear about a new contract soon that is reasonable and frees up money to resign Cox now. I think seeing us lock up one of our key folks will assuage some of the negative spin that everyone is replaceable and could be a trade chip. I hear that all of the time at work, and know it is ultimately true. At the end of the day, we take pride in our work and want to feel valued. Cox deserves it.
So, if there is no new contract what does that say? 1 and done? Trade? Need a year to evaluate? I don’t know – that’s half the fun and exactly what Chip wants.
Thanks for the posts, Tommy. I used to be a productive human being now I spend entirely too much time on this site. Honestly, great site, excellent information and great interaction from the fan base – Fly Eagles Fly.
That is one impressive throw. Did you happen to notice the CB who was beat?
Did you happen to notice the score? That was not impressive. 😉
By the way are we going to use Sammy or Sammie?! I prefer the latter cause the first reminds me of our babysitter.
A lot of attention being placed on Bradford and rightfully so. Still think he is nothing more than 1-year stop-gap measure by Kelly. I also see Kelly having a big surprise in the draft including drafting a QB in the 1st round or moving up in the 2nd round to do so.
Hopefully for him and the Eagles, Bradford stays healthy and has a really good year. I just don’t see it. Bradford strikes me as a guy (health issues aside) who is at best a marginal upgrade over what they got out of Sanchez last year. If Kelly really is able to elevate Bradford’s performance similiar to what they got out of Sanchez last year, then I’ll be wrong and pleasantly surprised. It will mean the difference between a 10 or 11-win team that wins the East and a team that is likely home again in Jan.
I agree and hope you’re right. If Bradford puts up insane numbers, continues with his low interception rate and the offense takes a leap forward nothing else Chip has done will matter much good or bad. The off season was a success! But barring something truly extraordinary I find it hard to believe that Chip would give up the picks he did and all the cap space for Bradford if he’s just a 1 year stop gap. Count me as skeptical that Foles and a second doesn’t get us as high as Bradford alone. Anyway you cut it this is an extremely risky trade for a guy who hasn’t played football in a year and a half. Can’t wait to see it play out though!
How about adding this talent to the team?
Round 1 Pick 24 (ARI): T.J. Clemmings, OT, Pittsburgh (A)
Round 2 Pick 20: Jalen Collins, CB, LSU (A-)
Round 2 Pick 23 (ARI): Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State (A)
Round 3 Pick 20: Jesse James, TE, Penn State (A)
Round 4 Pick 14: Bryce Petty, QB, Baylor (B+)
Round 5 Pick 9: Clayton Geathers, SS, UCF (A)
Round 5 Pick 20: Shaquille Mason, OG/C, Georgia Tech (B)
Round 6 Pick 20: Taiwan Jones, ILB, Michigan State (B+)
Round 7 Pick 20: Alani Fua, OLB, Brigham Young (B+)
I don’t care what happens this year at all with all of the new pieces. But I want to see us in the NFC championship game next year.
This kind of summarizes how I feel about this offseason so far and what the Eagles will do again next year based upon it so far (8 to 10 win season; I thought 9-7 last year and win the East due to tiebreaker)
http://media.giphy.com/media/4Dy1Btpt0qUZa/giphy.gif
What abou that play-action, hã?
Here is a question – what are the expectations for Kelly and what will be viewed as a disappointment (not among dopey contingent that views anything less than a SB victory a profound disappointment?)
– Basically the same criteria that Kelly pronounced last offseason to view ’14 as a success (basically winning at least 10 games and at least one playoff game)?
– Simply making the playoffs again and let the results take them where they may?
– Winning the NFC East, clinching at least one home field game, and winning at least two playoff games. Basically either getting to the NFC Championship game or even the SB with anything less a bust?
I would say realistically if the Eagles can win 10+ games and win at least one playoff game next year I would view it as a success. Curious to see what others think including Tommy.
I would like to see more consistency on offense and defense and an improved turnover ratio. Better redzone efficiency as well (on both sides of the ball). I’m really not as concerned with win-loss this year as I am with quality of play. Obviously if they improve then the wins will come anyway.
exactly. I expect fewer TOs from the QB position, better red zone and short yardage efficiency.
Much improved linebacker play ad secondary.
“I’m really not as concerned with win-loss this year as I am with quality of play.”
Agree with this. Don’t think the Eagles were as good as their record last year. Showed in their play. D/ST TDs were unsustainable, offense was clearly a problem.
2014 was a lost year.
We realized Nick Foles wasn’t the answer, and the injuries on the offensive line made it tough to get a running game going.
Defense was *almost* good enough, but poor CB play canceled out all the good the front 7 did.
Fortunately for us, Chip is a smart, aggressive coach who realized all these facts, and addressed these problems.
I’m gonna keep saying this, because I’m not convinced everyone realizes it: This team is absolutely, positively, better than it was one month ago. No question. Key positions have been upgraded and the offensive line is going to get significantly younger via the draft.
The future is bright guys. I would be disappointed with anything less than a championship caliber team.
In many ways, Nick Foles bad play was better than him just been good enough.
True. We missed an opportunity to draft Teddy Bridgewater because of Nick’s 2013 false-positive.
Chip still would have passed (and missed) on Bridgewater because of his rigidity on hand size, no?
Kelly never said he only wants big hands, he just prefers it. Marcus Mariota has under 10 inch hands as well
I don’t think that’s accurate. First off Bridgewater has 9 1/4 hands (almost 9) and Mariota has 9 7/8, almost 10. Hand size was not just an issue for Kelly, but for a number of GMs who speculated that Bridgewater would have a hard time holding onto ball in cold weather. Thus the pressure for Bridgewater to throw without a glove on his poor Pro Day. (not that I agree with all of this — I think Teddy will be a great pro).
Secondly, the legion of articles Tommy and others posted two years ago about Kelly weren’t gentle “guidelines,” they were hard and fast thresholds. He didn’t want players who did not meet them.
Sam Bradford has 9 ½ inch hands, so it seems 9 1/4 might not be too small
True. Just looked up Bradford. His are 9 1/2. That might be the breakpoint. Or another indicator that Bradford will be eventually packaged to get 9 7/8 Mariota.
Chip doesn’t have rigidity, he has preferences. I’ve heard him explain it to the media in PCs.
that was my fear about keeping him this year.
There’s been some improvements for sure but also some subtractions. QB could be better, worse or more Sanchez at a significantly higher cap burden. The Oline has a major hole at RG and the plan at LG is still up in the air. Peters is a year older and Kelce has missed a good portion of games in 2 years so far in his young career. WR is clearly worse. Safety is, with the loss of Nate and no additions worse. OLB is about the same. RB is probably better if we stay healthy and Murray avoids the dreaded drop in production following 500 touches last year. And, CB is better but still not a real strength. Plus there’s a lot of new faces that need to learn new schemes, stay hungry and play well in a system that we haven’t seen them play in. There’s just a lot of projection involved in the potential upgrades and some clear cut reasons to believe we’ve downgraded at other spots. Plus we only have $7mil left in cap space and no deals worked out long term for Cox and Kendricks. I don’t know if the long term outlook is as rosy and clearly improved as some people think.
Gotta see a much better run game against tough defenses to keep your QB from facing 3rd and long consistently. Bradford will likely remind many of Foles if the backs don’t hit the *&(^ hole consistently. Luckily, it looks like Kelly recognized this better than the “All 22 experts” did.
I’d say winning the division or making the playoffs without a huge step back offensively would be a roaring success this year, and, ultimately, the real outcome I’m looking for is a significant step forward in 2016, because, in all honesty I’m expecting at least a small step back this year. If this team is significantly better than a 10-6 team that’s fighting for a playoff spot in 2016 and actually looks like a promising competitor that could challenge the best teams in the league by mid 2016 then this was a great success and the rebuild was completely necessary. If by mid 2016 were hovering around .500, looking inconsistent and still have unfilled holes that will keep us from truly being elite, I say all this turmoil and upheaval was unnecessary, caused us to regress and didn’t set us up to take the step forward we needed and it would have just been better to stick with Jackson, Maclin and McCoy and try to fix the few areas on defense and oline depth that were holding us back.
For just next year alone…I won’t be looking at the record or outcome at all. If we’re 8-8 and we win our last 4 games and Bradford looks like a star QB in this system and the team seems like it’s heading in the right direction, I’d say it was a success and the drop off was to be expected and the rebuild process clearly couldn’t fill all the holes in one year but 2016 will be looking up and the team is headed in the right direction. If the team flounders on offense, Bradford looks like Foles did for most of 2014 and we struggle to have any consistency on offense and will be going into 2016 with a bunch of holes and no real answer at QB then it doesn’t matter if we make the playoffs or not, the moves just would be a failure and would seem unnecessary. The 2013 team looked like s real contender, the 2014 team looked dangerous at times despite lots of injuries to the oline, so this much upheaval only makes sense if it leads to a significant uptick in our future expectations and answers more questions than it opens.
I find it pretty impossible to hold expectations at this stage of the off-season. We’re stronger at QB, but weaker at WR. Will our OL be at least as good as it was 2 years ago? Will it stay healthy? Will Maxwell be able to cope with a less dynamic secondary, and will he adjust to more defensive snaps? Will we start the season with 2 pro-bowl running backs, or will one of them be traded? Will Bradford dress for every game? I don’t have a guess.
Wait, what weapons is he throwing to? We have Zach Ertz as our most talented receiver right now and he only sees the field on 50% of the snaps.
Maybe Jordan Mathews makes a big year 2 jump but as of right now we aren’t anymore loaded than the Rams were. Riley Cooper, Jordan Mathews and Josh Huff is your 3 wides right now.
Huff showed a lot of flashes, and is a prime candidate for a big second year leap.
He also showed a lot of inconsistencies. The way people talk about Huff, it seems like it is almost assumed that his “big second year leap” is guaranteed to occur and to limit his mistakes. Right now though, he is slotted to be a top 2 WR on the team. While his positive flashes are intriguing, there is no way I am comfortable assuming he is going to make a big enough leap that he becomes a reliable player. He just was involved in way to many turnovers and bad plays last year for me to just trust he improves enough.
I can see that side of the argument, and I don’t necessarily disagree. I am hopeful though, because it seemed as if he was pressing a lot last year. Almost like someone constantly trying to impress the older players and show what he could do – which leads to lack of concentration and unnecessary risks. I expect a lot of that mentality to be gone with the maturity the a year brings and the time to reflect an offseason allows.
Obviously nothing is guaranteed, but that is true of Vets with “proven” track records as well. Consistency from year to year for any player is not a sure thing.
I’m certainly not arguing that he CAN’T make the leap. I agree with a lot of people that he showed flashes. My argument is that those seeing the flashes are quick to say that a polished version of Huff will look like a more consistent form of the flashes we saw last year. I just think it is important to recognize the flaws and not assume they will disappear just because of the year 1 to 2 leap, particularly because they were more than just a minor flaw.
Fair enough. And I understood what you were saying, I am just trying to argue for more optimism. For now, all we can do is hope and count down the days till minicamp (and the draft).
Or they are so down on Huff after some rookie mistakes that they have already written him off.
I think Huff will improve. I’d be more than satisfied with 500-600 yards and 4-6 TDs, which I think is reasonable
I assume our system will be bettet than the Rams was. If not this is all moot.
do you actually think chip kelly is going to field some horrible offense thats shooting Blanks? IMO only way a chip offense will ever be poor is with significant OL injuries and an Injury to the QB…. if our QB and OL stays healthy I assume we will see a potent offense
Jordan Matthews was as productive in the second half of the season as JMac. If he makes any jump then he will be more productive than Maclin was.
Not necessarily. There’s a big difference working out of the slot and getting wide open on long crossing routes against zone coverage from the other teams 3rd CB, safeties and LBs and producing on the outside against the other teams number 1 CB. I love JMatt but he hasn’t shown us that he can beat press man or make contested catches against tight coverages. He’ll also be the top priority for the defense, won’t have Maclin taking that heat or stretching the field and we’ll still have to replicate his success from the slot AND Maclins success outside just to break even.
Don’t forget that we have a gaping hole at RG, are potentially looking to trade our LG, have a 34 year old LT and an oft injured center with little depth behind any of those guys. A gunshy QB due to two blown out ACLs in consecutive years facing pressure up the middle with no real threats in the passing game does not seem like a winning formula. Let’s hope we see a more winning plan take shape before week one because I’m a lot more concerned with how things stand now than most people on these boards.
Right but if we are counting the whole at LG shouldn’t we count the asset received in return? Do you really think it will be so low as to just be a lottery ticket (e.g., 5th round pick). I would hope he only gets moved to fill another hole (safety etc.) or for a pick that is more certain to fill a hole.
Of course I’d hope so, but realistically I don’t think we’re getting much for a 34 year old guard that’s coming off an injury plagued year that has a $5mil per year salary. Mathis only has 1-2 years left. I think he’s already the oldest starting guard in the league. Even despite his low mileage Father Time catches up with everyone. And, teams rarely give up anything substantial for a 34 y/o player at the end of his career, even if he isn’t coming off an injury plagued season. You’re not gonna get a young up and coming stud and you’re not gonna get anything more than probably a 5th round pick for him.
well then I don’t understand trading him.
Neither does anyone else really. But hey, Chips a genius right? So there must be some logic to the move.
Only way I see a MM trade happening at this point would be a three-way trade with Jets and Browns. We get #6, Jets get #19 and #20, Browns get Bradford. All jives on “the chart.” Browns get another QB who needs rehab, Jets get more picks to rebuild the dumpster fire on offense, Chip gets MM for a 1st, 2016 2nd, and a one round drop in 2015.
Damn it. Just when I was convinced that all the trade possibilities left required a tinfoil hat to even consider them, you go a present one that isn’t at all ridiculous.
I’ve never understood the Browns talk, which amazes me they offered a first for Bradford. You already have McCown and Johnny Football….I get neither are spectacular, but you just spent some picks/cash in Manziel, gotta see what he has.
They must have really soured on Snorty McCokeson after trading up in the first to land him. That must be devastating for a front office to invest that kind of money and resources and watch the guy you just tied your franchises hopes to spend all his free time blowing lines with Justin Beiber floating around like an alcoholic pirate on a blow up doll in a pool and sucking at his job so bad that you’d be ready to cut your losses after one year.
I doubt MM will happen, but the rebuild of the offense, the significant holes on both sides of the ball and the lack of current cap flexibility with only $7mil in space left over and s lot less than $17mil to roll forward would all make a lot more long term sense with a rookie contract at QB for the next 5 years.
It’ll be real interesting to see what the market price ends up being for signing Bradford long term prior to this year if that’s the route they decide to go. Does he still command $15-17mil per year based solely on pedigree? Would he rework for $10mil per year? Or, would he take a Msclin type approach and refuse to sign long term at a discount, bet on himself, hope to put up absurd numbers in Chips system next year and cash in? Should be real interesting.
We’ll see how Bradford does…one would think with all those superlative attributes and skills that he would have produced better in the NFL and helped his teammates be better, but his numbers and the Rams performance are both pretty unremarkable…great college player, but has not shown to be a great NFL player…I understand football is a total team game and that he did not have great resources in STL, but coming off two ACL tears to the same knee within a short time frame is very risky and he is pretty expensive…they’ve got to get his contract re-structured, have a backup plan better than Sanchez and protect themselves cap-wise if Bradford does not pan out….Sanchez proved he is NOT good enough to run this offense consistently especially against good defenses. If we are starting Sanchez again this season due to injury, we are back to square 1.
What’s less than square 1. I’m comfortable if Sanchez needs to play a week or two mid season, but I feel like the season is completely lost if Bradford goes down for the season. I’d really like to see us utilize the increased reps our back ups get and have a #3 developmental QB on the roster with more exciting potential than Matt Barkley.
I don’t know… I’d feel better if he could have worked a little harder and gotten that A in Calculus II.
i assume there is going to be a chance to add Cordarrel Patterson. How could there not be? they just traded for Mike Wallace, and they will have the chance to either pair Bridgewater with his high school WR, or pair Teddy with his college WR Devante Parker…. can the vikings really pass on a Mike Wallace and Parker or Amari) WR tandem?……… if they draft one of those two WRs, I have to believe Cordarrell, will be traded. The part that worries me is if he isnt smart enough and doesnt run good routes (allegedly)….if he isnt smart enough for defensive guru turned Head coach in Mike Zimmer, does he even have the football IQ o make chip take a flier on his talent in our offense?
I don’t know if Chip will be interested unfortunately
I doubt it. They already invested the signing bonus in him, his base salaries are cheap. Even if he’s not a regular part of offense, he’s worth keeping for him just for his return ability. They cut Greg Jennings already.
They definitely won’t cut him but it may not take much to trade for him
a 7th? that almost seems like too much for a guy that can excel in a norv turn offense (Norv is def one of the best qb coaches in the game).
Patterson is a complete dope. Zimmer exposing that for us all is a blessing to keep anybody else for wasting time on the guy.
I haven’t watched any Viking games besides when we play them and it’s always hard to judge WR when the entire offense is a dumpster fire, but what’s the deal with Patterson. Has he shown any flashes of the top WR ppl thought he was when he came out. At the very least he could provide much needed fashion extravagance, after seeing that futuristic 1950s band member suit he wore to the draft.
Corderelle Patterson’s draft negatives remains. He’s an unreliable route runner with a questionable attention span and intelligence.
I don’t doubt his QB ability, I doubt his ability to stay healthy throughout the rest of his career. Last year when he tore his ACL most people assumed that his career was done and that St. Louis would cut him this summer to avoid paying him that ungauranteed $14 million. We trade Foles, a 4th, and a 2nd round pick for this guy.
Jordan Schultz
@Schultz_Report
37m37 minutes ago
Hearing chatter that Cardinals and Vikings are talking Adrian Peterson deal.
Peterson/7th for a 2nd. AZ is Peterson’s top choice.
This is the Huffington Post’s sports reporter. I would doubt his credibility but the 7th round pick being included is oddly specific.
wow i guess they have to eat all that cap, but only a second round pick? Kiko alonso move doesn’t look so bad.
2nd round pick for a malcontent 30 year old back a year removed from football making 15M
consensus best in the league
No. Shady told us all going into last year he was better than Peterson.
Yeah but he’s not worth a first, he hasn’t done anything in 2 years
you’re probably one of those people that wrote him off after the ACL. First is a little high but i bet he’ll be as productive as jimmy g (though jimmy is a little cheaper).
Im not saying that I just think with being the highest paid back its hard to fathom giving up a first, I think 2nd/7th swap is about fair value considering that
Also I think the Saints got a fine deal.for Jimmy
prob. right. Trades are great moves if you are picking late.
A 2nd rounder would be great for the Vikings, imho (if they have to let him go, keeping him is their best case). I thought more of a 4th and 5th or something like that. Even AP, we’re talking RB, huge cap hit, 30 years old.
Keep him out of Dallas! Great.
http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/129/577/How+About+No.jpg
I mean of course, I prefer it over Dallas – doesn’t give them anything longterm and they need that 2nd rounder for their D, but as long as Romo is there, AP + this Line could be deadly, despite their bad D.
But with AP, I prefer the Vikings or a AFC Team. Just because. He’s old, but still a special talent.
Great read Tommy.
If Chip was willing to trade Foles to get Bradford, he must feel pretty confident that Sam can execute Chips offense at a very high level.
What really sold me on Sam, was how fast he got the ball out of his hands.
I can’t recall him holding the ball too long, He’s willing to take what the defense gives him and can quickly locate the open receiver.
Not only can he make those quick decisions you eluded to, but he does it with little effort and he appears to have good pocket presence as well.
I think we still have several overlooked receiver options already on our team.
We got Zack Ertz, who is huge at 6’5 and can run like a WR.
I think he will be huge for us this season.
Then you have Huff who could make that 2nd year jump that many WR’s take in their second year.
Matthews could make that 2nd year leap too, but we might regret not getting a proven #1, if he can’t handle that role.
Murray and Sproles are also great catching out of the backfield, so we still have several potentially lethal weapons, already in place.
Huff and Matthews are hopes, not locks so getting a premier #1 WR should be a priority in the draft, as I just don’t see anyone worth going after on the waiver wire.
Someone’s definitely falling in love here…hopefully he will make you (and us as well) whole in the end. We’re counting on you, Sam-Sam!
I hope anybody who has been praying for Chip to chase MM read that account about Brad’s painstaking, tedious pocket training regimen. Like MM, Brad was a Heisman winner, and like him, as well, he played for a national championship. What we do not yet know about MM is how he’ll take to the rigors of leaning and executing fundamental pocket skills and habits. There is also a question about his ability to consistently make anticipation throws, and throws into tight windows. We all know Chip holds MM in high regard. Does anybody think he’s dumb enough to go after him? I don’t discount the possibility that MM could drop unexpectedly, and perhaps Kelly would move up a place or three to take a shot. But there is no way I can even imagine that Kelly would dish Bradford when there are no questions about his readiness to step in and perform.
I think there are lots of factors and Chip will evaluate and weigh them as he sees fits.
Odds that MM gets better in those areas (Chip I’m sure has an opinion). Plus just how valuable is a fleet of foot QB. Of course he does not HAVE to have a speedy QB, but no one was respecting Foles. We’ve seen Wilson just crush us and break our spirit with his running. What is that worth? I don’t know. Obviously if MM is inaccurate then Bradford is better. But you are talking degrees here. Is MM plus his speed, projecting him down the road a little, more valuable in Chip’s mind than Bradford with his further down the line NFL pedigree but less mobility plus injury history? Who knows how Chip weighs all this.
Whatever Chip thinks, I will support. I just don’t see how any of us can think they know what Chip will do. I still think the Jets at 6 is a very interesting spot.
Yes based on what chip has said. Chip basically said that mm is the best player he’s ever coached mind like manning. Wouldn’t you go get that guy?
Wonder why Kelly — based on Shurmur intel — didn’t tell us how Bradford stacked up a sharp-minded decision-maker on the football field?
All in all, Kelly’s been very circumspect about Bradford.
Another insight to Bradford’s intelligence:
http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bradford-eagles-rams-contract-nfl-draft-2015-3
Ryan Fitzpatrick’s a Harvard grad.
Brian Dowling QBd Yale to 3 straight undefeated seasons.
Dan Marino? Allegedly scored a 16 on his Wonderlic.
I’ll take the QB with the uncluttered mind.
Well Sam is clearly not thinking too much about integrals.
Not since Calvin Hill in 1965 has a blue-chip (now called 5-star) high school player gone to an Ivy League school instead of a big-time football factory.
Worked out fine for Hill.
Would love to see that happen again — with the Penn Quakers grid squad the beneficiaries.
Why not? NFL scouts will find you wherever you are, right?
No no no no no, and NO on top flight talent going to Penn if that talent is anywhere in the NE. Those should be Penn State kids. I’ll root for Penn in all sports, but we don’t need them taking recruits off of the Nittany Lions.
How about some 5 star recruits from Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, etc. all go to Penn?
My loyalties remain to “Dear Old Penn.”
Don’t care where the recruits from.
Just want a 5-star kid to buck the system, get a great education, avoid the ridiculous fish-bowl of places like FSU . . . and still get to the NFL.
Just prove it can be done. Maybe more — and there’s only a handful — will follow.
Then Penn will once again be the best team in the country (as when Concrete Charlie Bednarik and coach Reds Bagnell were there in the late ’40s)
Lambert Trophy belongs in Weightman Hall
Are you a penn grad? Undergraduate or law school?
Undergrad
There was an interesting article on Harvard’s national recruiting earlier this year in the New York Times. The Ivies sit on mountains of money (their endowments) which many (Penn included) leverage to provide for “need-blind” admission. These are scholarships by another name, and as long as a football player qualifies academically, he could easily choose Penn or Harvard over Michigan or Duke.
When it comes time for the draft, morons would hold it against the player and question whether he was “truly committed to football.”
You’re right.
Probably explains why Hill — who was a 6’4″ 225 lb HB in 1969 — slipped all the way to pick No. 24 in the ’68 draft.
The Cowboys, outside the box back in those days on draft day, chose Hill. And he won ROY.
The Eagles? They selected 3rd overall and chose Purdue HB/DB Leroy Keyes. Gone in 3 years.
from lancasteronline.com: “Noll stressed proper priorities — faith, family and football. In that order. He believed tha***t pro football was a stepping stone to one’s life’s work.*** His life included so much more than football. He was well versed on a multitude of subjects, and if he weren’t, he’d read several books on the subject and become so. He was a wine connoissseur, gourmet cook, licensed pilot (Rocky Bleier said, “Chuck’s so confident, he bought a plane before he took a flying lesson.”), scuba diver and lover of classical music (he once conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra).”
Obviously Noll was no moron. Maybe more football folks should take note.
Who called noll a moron?
I’d call him a cheater (ran Roids central) WAY before I’d call him a moron.
Steeler (or any Pittsburgh fan for that matter) fans being morons is a given.
Great stuff!
Not Penn, but Westbrook went to Villanova, got a good education, was drafted by the Eagles, had a fantastic career here and now is doing local sports media…smart guy
Is anyone aware of an analysis that looks at wonderlic scores in relation to QB play, or at least an aspect of it? I’m wondering what “construct” it’s actually supposed to assess. What exactly is it supposed to measure?
Dan get ball Dan throw ball?
Not related, but:
The NCAA can do commit suicide. Hopefully multiple members of the selection committee decided to end their lives. How or earth is Temple not in this tournament?
Also, Doug Gotlieb can kill himself. He just stated that Arizona should be a #1 seed over Nova. That is laughable.
Death to all who oppose / troll Philly.
Any cap gurus out there have any insight into what bradfords contract ramifications would have on us. Last year we rolled, I think, $17mil forward into this year. As it stands now I believe we only have about $7mil left. A lot of that spending is locked up in guaranteed FA contracts for the foreseeable future. We still have holes at Safety, CB, Oline and WR. And, we have young studs like Cox and Kendricks and other players like Thornton that are due extensions, as well as players like Ertz, Lane Johnson and Benny Logan that will come due the following year. With less money to roll forward, a bunch of guaranteed money locked up from our FA spending spree and the potential to be spending 10-15 times as much on the QB position are we going to be putting ourselves in a situation where Bradford keeps us from adequately filling these other holes or locking up our homegrown talent?
What’s a reasonable extension look like for Bradford if we sign him prior to the start of this year? Does he take a discount at $10mil per due to injury history and uncertainty? Or do we still have to pay him in the $15-17mil range because of his pedigree? Would Bradford even sign a discounted extension, since he apparently already turned down the Rams request for a restructure/pay cut earlier this offseason? Does anyone think he might use his leverage and insist on playing out his current deal, much like Maclin, betting on himself to put up insane numbers in Chips system and cashing in next off season? If so what’s the cap ramifications of having a $17mil cap hit at the QB position for the foreseeable future and little to no roll forward money this year to bolster our cap space next year?
I keep thinking that from a cap perspective the only way this team can handle these current contracts, fill the remaining holes, replace older players and lock up our young studs is with a rookie level contract at QB. I’m not sure if Chip even thinks like that since he’s all about the now and winning the day and really not sure if it’s even sonething he should think about? Just wondering what others thoughts are. All the talk about whether we’ll be good next year or even better will get played out in real time this year. But the offseason is a good time to discuss long term vision and the financial implications as they pertain to our ability to remain competitive into the future. Interested to see what more knowledgeable fans think about our current cap structure.
If mm drops Sammie is gone, if not I’m sure he’ll get renegotiated
This is my thought too, ultimately. Bradford is Chips plan B that he’d truly in fact be stoked about having if he can’t get a reasonable deal for Mariota, but a plan B nonetheless. If MM is sitting at 6 and Bradford and a third or fourth gets us to swap 1st rounders I think Chip pulls the trigger. We’d get a third back next year so essentially we just gave up Foles and a second (plus a 4th for a 5th this year) for Chips ideal QB. Essentially the same thing he gave up for Bradford in last weeks trade. Except now we get an even more ideal QB, more time to rebuild around him and most importantly a ton of extra cap space moving forward with a rookie contract at QB for the next 5 years.
What would you do if you were Bradford? Or the Eagles?
SB: Take a well-below market deal?
PE: Pay market rate for a guy with 4 weeks of football in the past 75?
SB: Play out your contract and hope to go uninjured through next January?
PE: Let SB play, make him your QB, watch him light it up?
Or . . . both sides agree:
(i) Tear up his current 1-yr contract for $13M salary in 2015;
(ii) Do a 2-year deal that pays him:
– $6.5 guaranteed salary for 2015;
– a $6.5M signing bonus;
– $15M salary that becomes guaranteed for injury and skill on the 3rd day of the league year in 2016 if Bradford’s on the roster . . . i.e., funny money.
Why would Bradford sign a deal for anything less than as much as he can get, based on his view that he’ll be healthy and great in 2015?
’cause he’s a loyal soldier and — unlike NFL owners, most of whom became billionaires by being ruthless — has no problem leaving money on the table because, you know, he looks like a greedy guy to fans?
Why would the Eagles commit more than the $13M they’re on the hook for now to a guy who’s injury record since college is catastrophic?
In order to get any savings on Bradford, the “convert to bonus” and add years trick has to be employed.
What is a fair value and/or number of years in the future for Bradford at this point to be worth it to both parties?
Give him $12 mil of his $13 this year as a bonus and add two years with a $10 mil base? $12 mil base?
I can’t see what works for both parties.
I’d really just keep Bradford as-is, tag him after the year if I need to, and cut Meco now to get that money back.
If cap becomes a problem this year, and Bradford’s staying, do the “funny money/signing bonus” restructuring trick — with big money salaries in future years — in a deal that lets the Eagles out before the 2016 season hits the FA window and also gives Bradford his $13M for 2015.
Otherwise, play Pat Gillick.
This Pat Gillick?
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/05/1e/6d/051e6d3038f618ddc02bc013a77f600e.jpg
Agreed, Bradford would be dumb to take less this year than the $13mil were already contractually obligated to pay him, unless the overall guarantees extend further into the contract and would keep us from cutting him next year. With all the uncertainty we’d have about him, committing to a deal we couldn’t get out of next year would be foolish.
So we’re left with either a one year rental at $13mil limiting our cap flexibility next year by giving us little or no money to roll forward where the only plausible outcomes are either he lights it up and we have to pay him an exorbitant salary and might not have enough cap left over to fill holes and resign players or he isn’t good enough for us to want to sign and we just traded away picks, a promising and cheap young QB and cap flexibility when we might need it most. Or, we rework his deal now he still gets his $13mil this year but half or so is signing bonus so we can spread the cap hit out. That would give us an extra $6mil this year to either resign our young studs (albeit not a significant amount of cash) or $6mil extra to roll forward next year. Either he’s great and we have a great QB at a lower end of significant cap hit for the next 2-3 years or he’s not and we still need to address QB next year and cutting him will accelerate that cap hit and leave us with a few million in dead money next year, with an already tighter cap situation than we’d probably want given our needs and desire to reup our young talent.
The move to Bradford is risky alone. But, I have enough faith that when compared to Foles in a vacuum we upgraded the position. Financially, though, any of the above situations is pretty risky in its own right. Regardless of what happens it’ll be interested to see how Howie and the FO works that side of the risk mitigation. My question still stands, because I honestly don’t know, how much of a financial/cap risk is actually involved even with the seemingly reasonable, “funny money”, extension you laid out? How tight does our cap look moving forward with the new deals and The increased cap space we will undoubtedly be putting into the QB position going with Bradford over Foles? Will this effect are ability to fill holes in FA? Will it effect our ability to resign Cox/Kendricks? Is this something you think Chip will or should take into account if MM is sitting there at pick 6 and the Jets are willing to trade? Are the cap ramifications real enough that that might shift the cost benefit analysis in trading up? Is there a way to structure a deal that makes these ramifications arbitrary and won’t hinder our ability to resign Cox/Kendricks?
I think those are all interesting questions. Or maybe their not, I’m just a total nerd that’s overthinking something that truly doesn’t matter…who knows
J:
You’re question, though, puts in stark perspective what it’s like for team that have a great QB with a yearly 8-figure cap number.
We’re not used to that at all.
Agreed! What a great problem to have. If you’ve got Tom Brady or Aaron Rogers or Drew Brees the the cap hit is largely irrelevant you’ll never want to give up the advantage a top QB has and as NE regularly shows us a Tom Brady is worth every penny as he allows you to skimp all over the offensive side of the ball and still remain a top team.
With Bradford on a one year deal at $13mil and is not seeing him play for us or really at all in the NFL for the better part of the last 2 seasons, locking up money in him is risky because there’s so much projection to his actual worth. If he’s great it’s all gravy, paying him top dollar is worth it and we’ll be a perennial contender. If he’s good enough to stay the starting QB but never becomes elite the cap constraints of a deal similar to the yearly salary he’s already getting is a huge albatross for a team with a decent amount of holes and young players due pay raises. If he’s terrible the one year cap hit, if left as is, hamstrings our ability to roll money fwd for Cox/Kendricks ect or if it’s restructured leaves us with dead money in 2016 from the accelerated hit from his signing bonus if and when he’s cut.
Don’t see anything happening until after the draft just in case Mariota goes on some Bridgewater type slide. I’d imagine the Eagles will try and low ball the shit outta him like they did Maclin and sign a very team friendly deal with no much guaranteed $.
Only difference is that Bradford will 100% get franchised if he plays well.
QB tag is only $18.5 this year; cheap.
And the Eagles “only” have $115 mil on the books for next year with a cap that will jump to $153 or $155.
Yeah you let good not great wrs walk for more you never let a franchise QB walk
Plus the franchise tag number of $18.5 is way less than the numbers the best guys get. $13 mil for a WR is comical. Maclin’s $11 from KC is a joke.
The tag totally screws QBs, but you absolutely can’t lose your guy.
And Bradford might turn out to be as good a Jay Culter was when he signed his deal at $18 mil / year.
At what point in his career was Cutler worth $18 million !?!?
http://overthecap.com/player/jay-cutler/130/
Sadly, that is the market.
Guys that suck like Kaepernick and who are also in bad positions like Dalton who also lacked leverage because they wanted to get off of their garbage 2nd round draft pick salaries had to take less than that.
Bradford is sitting in a much better spot.
Well Kap and Dalton both only had 1 more year with no 5th year option like Cam got and maybe I’m just an idiot but I feel like Brad will be nice to us
Brad could totally be nice to us, but getting him into a deal below $18 mil / year if plays well is going to be a challenge.
He’d be totally free otherwise, able to be franchised at a markup from this year’s $18.5, and only a concern to extend if he plays well.
I think you have to get him on the Cutler level deal if he plays well and you want him long term.
I want him long term honestly I just have done weird feeling that he’s going to be real good boy in negotiations
Maybe if he signs now and lets you add a few years at $10 to $13 mil.
But why would he do that?
Not a few years I just think adding one more year helps in having a little more time and less pressure to get an extension done next year I don’t think he’s going to sign a 5 year 45M extension or something
Yea unfortunately that is the market. But it does highlight the problem with paying top market price to a middle of the road QB. The Bears can’t win with Cutler, they can’t stock their team like the Seahawks around a cheap QB and they can’t get rid of him because the cap hit is too cumbersome and no team will trade for him to be stuck in QB purgatory like the Bears. So they just continue to hum along unable to win in or even make the playoffs until Cutlers deal runs out. I’d say that’s an even worse position to be in than having no clear cut QB at all. At least when you’re still looking for your guy you have options and the chance at finding success, when you’re stuck with a Cutler you’re just trapped at 8-8 to 10-6 with no way out.
Yep if they had no QB at 7 you can try and move up as bit and get your guy, can’t do that with a bum taking up 18 M
To be honest with you, that contract structure is what makes it suck. The $10 mil worth of roster bonus money that has to travel with him for the next 4 years rather than stay with the Bears is a bit of a deal killer.
The overall value of it could have been in a structure to make him easier to trade rather than cut without costing Cutler a dime.
If he becomes let’s say Stafford level then you easily tag him
Ok…see that’s awesome info that I didn’t know. I did not realize that we only had $115mil tied up next year. If we have another $40mil next year to rework Cox/Kendricks, fill some holes on the oline, CB, safety and WR (also assuming some of those holes are filled via draft picks). Then the situation is much less dire and risky and committing even top 5 money to Bradford is not really prohibited. I’d have to see who our pending FA are next year, but as long as there aren’t anticipated huge losses, plus DeMeco’s pending restructure and the small chance that Mathis’ $5mil cap hit is still on the books in 2016, then the situation looks pretty good.
Add in the low likelihood of Riley being on the roster for $5.3mil, Mathis counting $7mil and Celek counting $5mil and were actually in pretty good shape. Even if Bradford takes up half our space next year with a franchise tag, we could conceivably still have well over $20mil in space next year for signings and new deals plus we’d have a QB that’s apparently worth franchise tagging. That’s a lot better than I thought. So thank you, I feel much better now.
yeah, they got a ton of money dumped into this year. As long as neither Maxwell nor Murray busts; they’re in great shape.
All true! Thanks for the excellent reply and doing that research for me.
Any time. The Over the Cap website is a lot of fun.
Brees has a $25M cap hit this year? holy smokes.
I’d pay that in a second for him to be honest.
Is he not usually honest?
Ah, but would you pay a second?
Don’t worry. Romo’s is bigger, I believe.
Yes it is. 27.7.
http://overthecap.com/player/tony-romo/145/
Just a beauty. Funny thing is, Romo isn’t seeing 27.7m on his bank account, but since they restructured about 90 times, he counts with 27.7 against the cap.
Next year will be a “good” year at 17.6, after that 21.5, 22, 20.5. Have to love it, even though this year is the only true wow year, since Romo is a very good QB.
That all accelarates if he retires, right?
I sure hope so.
So we should retire him!
I would like to know that myself. I really do. But I have no idea, to be honest with you. Romo will have no salary when he retires, obviously, but the dead money should be there.
Would love to hear what happens to the cap when a player under contract retires.
I vaguely recall something when Deion Sanders retired from the Redskins but can’t find anything google-wise.
Here is what happened to the contract of Willis.
http://overthecap.com/player/patrick-willis/84/
Dead money for “cut” equals what it shows for dead money on their cap now that he retired.
Romos dead money cap hits over the next few years are comical. $44.9mil this year, $19.1mil next year, $10mil in 2017 and $2.5mil in 2018. So they would be royally screwed if anything other than him playing at a high level for the next 3 years happens because they can’t really move on from him until 2018.
My understanding is that if a player retires his base salary portion of the cap hit is wiped off the books, but the prorated portion of signing bonuses, ect still remains because that money has already been paid and needs to be accounted for. The prorated salary cap hits for signing bonuses that would be accelerated into that years cap if a player is cut or traded is essentially that signing bonus money that’s already been paid and that the team was planning on divvying up in cap hits over the length of the deal. So basically if Romo slips in the tub tomorrow while applying mascara, throws out his back and is forced to retire, he’d count just shy of $45mil against the cap this year.
Great info, mate. Thanks!
When figuring out the actual cap ramifications as it pertains to the teams overall cap space, though, you have to look at the dead money hit minus the players projected cap hit if he wasn’t traded or released. If Romo was released this year, he’s dead money hit is $17mil more than his current cap hit and that accelerated hit of $44.9mil would eat up only an additional $17mil in cap space. If he’s released next year the net cap hit is only $1.5mil more than they were already planning on for him and the year after that would actually see their cap space increase despot having $10mil in dead money going to Romo. So the overall cap charges aren’t as bad as you might think, but you’re still using either $44.9mil, $19.1mil or $10mil of cap space (depending on the year of his release) on a player that’s sitting at home doing nothing for your team out on the field.
So when Smith II ends all of the “draft bust” talk by crushing Romo into retirement on huge blindside strip sack right on the star in Dallas, Romo’s dead body will cost Dallas a $19 mil cap hit in 2016.
That’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever said…
poetic even…
They better hope Romos geriatric twice surgically repaired back holds up until he’s 38 years old because they can’t even think about cutting him for another 3 years with all the dead money they’d have to eat. Talk about rolling the dice and strapping your franchise to one player. They’re literally one awkward hit away from being a complete unmitigated dumpster fire for years if Romo gets injured or even worse has to retire.
Thanks for clarifying! I cant help but smile at these figures, they really are crazy when you think about it. Didn’t Manning take a paycut this year from 20 to 16 million? I mean.. Romo is a nice QB and all, but he is a serious injury waiting to happen and a QB whose defining asset is the ability to extend plays with his legs. I never wish any player anything but good health, but if his body breaks down or his play falls off, this contract is going to cripple that franchise all the way through 2019. And that I do wish for.
The first thing that jumped out when I saw Bradford throw is his quick throwing motion. As much as I like Foles’ grit and mental toughness, I wasn’t never quite sold on him being a franchise QB due to his slow throwing motion. If Bradford can come back and be healthy, I have no doubt that he can be a franchise QB.
Quick and decisive throws have two purposes; they help move the team more quickly and they reduce the number of legal hits a QB can take.
Sports science, cheese steaks, and offensive weapons (even the ones not yet on the team) will help him. Plus – the last time i visited Philly I met this girl…oh never mind…
Philly’s roast pork sandwiches > cheesesteaks.
Well I personally disagree but to each their own
You monster!!!
I have regular dreams (sometimes bordering on a sexual nature) about Jon’s Roast Pork on 3rd and Snyder. Best roast pork in the entire city and some damn good cheesesteaks as well.
John’s is my go to place. They’re open to 7 now which is frigging great.
You see now I feel like if I say I like it too I’ll be told to go in a corner with my cheese steaks
ahhh Jons is the shiznit… wish they were open longer..
,..
Nicks roast beef dont mess around either
..
i used to love the charcoal pit but they change owners a million times and its been downgraded
Also, the ball really explodes out of his hand especially on those quick fades down the sideline and pop passes up the seam. He shows really great placement, always up high above the coverage and to the outside so tall WRs can go get the ball in stride and in bounds without the ball being in play for an INT. Not a lot of floating the ball with high arcs that you saw a lot of the times from Foles which gave the CB a chance to turn back to the ball and make a play. Worked great when the WR had a step and the placement was right in the bread basket but didn’t work so well when the WR was covered or his throw wasn’t perfect. Bradford wastes no time, he seems to recognize immediately when his target has established position on the coverage and fires the ball quickly with great accuracy, no wasted motion and without the long, hanging in the air for an eternity floating arc that gives CB a chance to turn around and safeties the chance to cover some ground in support. I think the back shoulder fade that neither Sanchez or Foles was able to master last year despite us practicing it all offseason will definitely be in play this year.
Foles is my dude….. but if i have to objectively look at some aspects of his game that chip wants upgraded:
..
1) seam throw… not one of Nicks best throws, Bradford should be much better at hitting Ertz down the seam..
..
2) those indecisive moments when instead of letting it rip, foles would pump fake, and usually that resulted in bad throws under pressure when he didnt trust what he was seeing and pump faked instead of letting it rip…too often Nick wouldnt trust what he was seeing and held onto the ball, where as I assume chip wants a more decisive, see it, trust it, and let it rip QB… f we dont protect Bradford, he will get just as skittish as we saw in Nick last year when he was catching a beating.. so hopefully they put the line in place, and it stays healthy to give Bradford a chance to suceed
..
the backpeddling, the breakdown in footwork is no big deal IMO. I know Foles knows better, but mechanics go out the window when you are taking a beating and you no longer trust your line..
Since losing Bruce Carter and Justin Durrant the agent for Andrew Gachkar tweeted Sunday that the former Chargers linebacker has joined forces with the ‘Boys. NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Gachkar received a two-year deal worth up to $5.5 million, per a source.
Sounds like a great guy to jeer when he’s missing tackles on Murray and not covering Ertz.
Sean Lee should have plenty of time on the sidelines to help mentor.
Thoughts on these guys?
Round 1 Pick 20: DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville (A)
Round 2 Pick 20: Ty Sambrailo, OT, Colorado State (B+)
Round 3 Pick 20: Alex Carter, CB, Stanford (A)
Round 4 Pick 14: Bryce Petty, QB, Baylor (B+)
Round 5 Pick 9: Clayton Geathers, SS, UCF (A)
Round 5 Pick 20: Leterrius Walton, DT, Central Michigan (A)
Round 6 Pick 20: Zach Wagenmann, DE, Montana (B-)
Round 7 Pick 20: Ladarius Gunter, CB, Miami (Fla.) (A)
First 3 picks are sooo nice
Thank you.
I can give you this one as well
Round 1 Pick 23 (DET): T.J. Clemmings, OT, Pittsburgh (A)
Round 2 Pick 20: Breshad Perriman, WR, UCF (A)
Round 2 Pick 22 (DET): Jalen Collins, CB, LSU (A)
Round 3 Pick 20: D.J. Humphries, OT, Florida (C-)
Round 4 Pick 14: David Cobb, RB, Minnesota (A)
Round 5 Pick 9: Bryce Petty, QB, Baylor (A)
Round 5 Pick 20: Clayton Geathers, SS, UCF (A)
Round 6 Pick 20: Zach Wagenmann, DE, Montana (B-)
Round 7 Pick 20: Derrick Lott, DT, Chattanooga (A)
First 4 picks are sooooo nice, you hit me with Humphries
No Derron Smith, Strong or Mauldin = FAILURE!
Round 1 Pick 20: Andrus Peat, OT, Stanford (A)
Round 2 Pick 20: Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State (A)
Round 3 Pick 20: Garrett Grayson, QB, Colorado State (B)
Round 4 Pick 14: Durrell Eskridge, FS/SS, Syracuse (B+)
Round 5 Pick 9: Sean Hickey, OT, Syracuse (D-)
Round 5 Pick 20: Zach Wagenmann, DE, Montana (C-)
Round 6 Pick 20: Austin Hill, WR, Arizona (D)
Round 7 Pick 20: Erick Dargan, SS, Oregon (B+)
If Bradford leads the Eagles to a Super Bowl win, he should get this put in somewhere by the stadium; go to google maps and search this address:
Putnam City North High School (his HS alma mater)
11800 N Rockwell Ave
Oklahoma City, OK 73162
(zoom in to the traffic light)
Nice!
I’m obsessed
20: R1P20
DE ALVIN DUPREE
KENTUCKY
52: R2P20
QB BRETT HUNDLEY
UCLA
84: R3P20
G ALI MARPET
HOBART
110: R4P14
OT CEDRIC OGBUEHI
TEXAS A&M
137: R5P9
CB LADARIUS GUNTER
MIAMI
148: R5P20
WR CHRIS CONLEY
GEORGIA
180: R6P20
S DAMARIOUS RANDALL
ARIZONA STATE
212: R7P20
WR KENNY BELL
NEBRASKA
instead of filling significant holes that have a huge effect on next season, you want to spend a top pick on a QB? think you forfitted that right when we decided to go into a draft with major starting holes to fill…. drafting a QB in the top 3 rounds would most likely mean going into next year with some big holes that werent adequately addressed, for what, a QB who needs atleast 2 years to develop;???…. still cant get over the fact that chip doesnt really give a shit about a QB who can run fast? without his 40 time, i highly doubt any of you would give a crap about hundley
How can you write an article on Bradford without discussing the injuries dating back to college? The guy is as fragile as it gets, and that’s the biggest problem.
we’re all very aware of that. This is about understanding why Chip would want this guy, about what he could become.
Of course. But the positives are all known as well. It’s why he was the number one overall pick.
I don’t think most Eagles fans had spent much time thinking about Sam Bradford until he was traded to the Eagles. He was never a realistic option for us in the past.
Wait, what? Sam Bradford is injury prone? No one has mentioned this at all in any discussions surrounding the trade. Good job raising awareness about this. And shame on Chip for hiding this sort of information from us.
Don’t care how many times it has been mentioned. Writing an analysis about Sam without mentioning injuries is like writing an analysis of ketchup without mentioning tomatoes.
Crap! I just read where Murray and Mathews have injury concerns also.
I’m not sure why you need to read again the information you clearly already know?
I would love a draft like this
20: R1P20
DE ALVIN DUPREE
KENTUCKY
52: R2P20
DE ARIK ARMSTEAD
OREGON
84: R3P20
G ALI MARPET
HOBART
110: R4P14
CB QUENTIN ROLLINS
MIAMI (OH)
137: R5P9
WR TRE MCBRIDE
WILLIAM & MARY
148: R5P20
TE JESS JAMES
PENN STATE
180: R6P20
OT SEAN HICKEY
SYRACUSE
212: R7P20
CB SENQUEZ GOLSON
OLE MISS
McBride lasting to the 5th would be a steal. I would love him in midnight green. More people need to get on the McBride train, he’s going to be good.
He is a guy I have zero clue how high he might go. He isnt an overwhelming physical WR, so he might be overlooked.
3rd-4th rounder. He’s not Anquan Boldin but he’s definitely not self-tackling Maclin either.
I am normally not one to rant about draft position…but I can guarantee Senquez Golson will not be around in the 7th round!!!
There is also zero chance Dupree lasts to 20 but depending on what big board you use, running only one simulation can give very funky results and in one universe the above mock draft is plausible
that depends on how many edge rushers go ahead of him…. personally i dont give a damn about Gregory, Beasly, Ray… If it were up to me, the only edge rusher Id take ahead of Dupree in this draft is the Kid from Florida, like the violence he plays with, instead of just being all about speed rush
They had on the Colts/Eagles game yesterday on the nfl network. Fun to watch. Weird watching that game and telling my son — great run on 3-15 — but hes’ not on the team. Nice throw, but he’s not on the team. Nice catch, but he’s not on the team…lol.
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/03/16/sam-bradford-chip-kelly-jimmy-johnson-eagles-nfl/
I know Eagles fans love hating Jimmy Johnson, but Im happy Kelly is talking to him
wow an interesting tidbit from Mr. King. Chip seems willing to take advice from anyone, which is great.
This article points out (allegedly) that the Cowboys went to $6M per year on DeMarco and we went to $8.5, I assume to beat or get in the vicinity of the Raiders. Interesting b/c RB is not a value anymore. I wonder if Chip thinks that is normally the case but DeMarco is a special talent, and he wants his Lynch. I think Chip may really share the RB workload next year to rest DeMarco, then cut Matthews.
surprised they’d put so much $$ into rbs and not have a very calculated response for OL
Rob, have you noticed that everyone thinks RBs are fungible now? When things get to that point where average sports fans believe it, it may mean that the concept has turned and that value now lies in going against the grain.
I hope so.
I think a similar effect may be happening with respect to passing and rushing in the NFL. For years now, we have been told that “the NFL is a passing league” and teams have been adjusting their defenses to combat the crazy passing offenses that have been successful.
This means that defenses may be getting worse against the run, and teams like seattle and us that focus more and more on running the ball may be increasingly successful.
Some interesting parallels. First thing Jimmy did was get rid of his top RB, QB, and WR.
I posted this above, maybe I should read comments before posting. I’ll delete it but the article on phillymag talked a bit about the other people he’s talking to.
This one is about the coaches CK has consulted with in the league.
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/03/16/kelly-using-jimmy-johnson-as-a-sounding-board/
For the 2016 season, Suh will count 28M against the Dolphins cap. What’s the point of signing the guy if that’s what you have to do.
Seems like their roster could be the one to be raided next year after that move. Let’s hope they are mildly successful so they keep buying expensive vets and wreck that cap further.
I think Mike Wallace was $17mill last year… yuck.
I’ve seen analysis that shows he still has surplus value, even at his enormous price. It’s worth it to pay superstars.
The natural outgrowth of this domestic violence policy that ruins careers: Free agent DE Ray McDonald is suing the woman who accused him of sexual assault in December. McDonald was never charged in the incident, but it cost him his 49ers roster spot. Going on 31, McDonald hasn’t generated an iota
of interest in free agency.
I think this is the problem with organizational policies that deal with legal issues. Without real due process, the verdicts are often questionable.
same with Hardy, I read he has no offers in part because teams think he will be suspended for the first 6 games or so. Setting aside what he did or didn’t do, where is the due process? This has been out there forever. How can the league not decide by now?
This is ultimately the real issue. The NFL set a bad precedent in mandating that off the field issues be punished on the field, and now they’re going to have to punish everything forever. This is a battle the league can’t win.
Based on what I’ve read, Ray McDonald is clearly an asshole, though, and deserves all the bad things that happen to him.
gotta give credit when its due… good for Johnny Jackass. I thought his rehab was a silly publicity stunt but to my knowledge he is still in rehab 7 weeks later, and if thats true, I applaud the young man. Good for him… if he keeps it up, ill have to upgrade the JOhnny Jackass back up to Johnny “clipboard”…. i dont ever expect him to be much more then a tebow side show, but good for him for getting his ish together
I’ll drink to that, just not with JM.
If fans want to know if Bradford will be our QB or be traded at the draft, its not complicated…..when in doubt, Follow the money….. If we hand Bradford an extension with in the next couple weeks you can count on him being our QB…. if the extension doesnt come til really close to the draft, assume that means they are working out an extension that suits the team we have a deal on the table to trade him too….. they wont sign him to an extension that suits us now, and then look to trade him hoping the extension suits the team you want to trade him too
finally some cogent though on the QB situation.
you have no idea. If they do an extension now and can basically trade cap relief by taking on more (i.e., absorbing the whole bonus), then yes it does make sense to do an extension now.
they are smart enough to make his extension attractive to any potential trading partners.
lol
well that’s a debate club, drop the mike response right there.
which is why an extension won’t happen until after the draft.
you are assuming Chip doesnt absolutely LOVE Sam…and im not ready to go there, not with his shotgun spread background and after we used him to recruit demarco………. but im over it… just build a top starting OL and i dont really care what they do with offense, Im pleased with the upgrades made on my beloved defense
yeah no issue here. Bradford is just Plan-B.
what have we learned this offseason that can help us next year when trying to figure out whats going to happen in free agency? what has changed?
..
1) interesting that the eagles tipped their hand, put all foles autographed jerseys and stuff on sale the week before he was traded… now we have precedent for the team store typing their hand…
..
2) 2014 we moved under a cloak of secrecy, no leaks…. interesting that this year supposedly teams gave the agents permission to leak offers during the negotiation period, word is they were even allowed to leak exaggerated figures..
..
3) we have a history of doing some good business with the Bills…wonder if that will change after how unprofessional they acted leaking the shady trade before he ever gave chip a chance to call Lesean and let him hear it from him?.. Chip mentioned they told Bills they werent happy with that, and a few days later you saw the eagles and Fisher do business the correct way, letting the players know they were traded before leaking it to the media…
..
any other changes in the way we operate that we can use to help us next year when we are all going crazy trying to figure out what will happen?
I think the eagles did not leak a lot, our beat reporters had no idea what we were doing this off season, trade of McCoy, wanting and picking up Bradford ect.
Problem was that all the FA deals started to get leaked early by players/agents, and once this happened every national reporter is hammering these agents to get updates – and since they have a you scratch my back i will scratch yours relationship they handed over all the info.
Interesting none of the big Trades had a whisper about them before they went down (agents don’t need to be involved.)
Maclin deal was transparent, we knew we were hot after Franklin and Mccourty,,, years before, i dont think we would hear about the guys we aggressively trying to sign that we vcouldnt get under contract… you knew alot of what the eagles were doing before free agency started…last year the only thing you heard before the m,arket opened was interest in Mike Mitchell… atleast thats how i remember it…. i used to know who to rule out by who was being connected to the eagles, yet this year we found out who was really being connectd to us..
…
and why would you ever expect to hear of a trade before it happens? im talking free agency, you cant leak potental trades, if they dont get done then you get stuck with a guy who knows you tried to trade him,… i dont expect to hear a peep about trades before hand. bad business. just the fact they let the team store tip their hand was dumb….
Jimmy’s mock:
Round 1 – Jake Fisher, OG/OT, Oregon (6’6, 306)
Round 2 – Danielle Hunter, OLB, LSU (6’5, 252)
Round 3 – Phillip Dorsett, WR, Miami (5’10, 185)
Round 4 – Damarious Randall, S, Arizona State (5’11, 196)
Round 5 – Nick Boyle, TE, Delaware (6’4, 268)
Round 5 – Kurtis Drummond, S, Michigan State (6’1, 208)
Round 6 – DeAndre Smelter, WR, Georgia Tech (6’2, 226)
Round 7 – Obum Gwachum, OLB, Oregon State (6’5, 246)
http://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-only-mock-draft-version-30-post-free-agency/
Like Fisher, Hunter, Randall, Boyle, Smelter. Dislike Drummond and Dorsett and don’t know Gwachum
Why don’t you like Drummond especially in the fifth?
Have a hard time seeing Chip not at least drafting one of the projects in this draft to hedge his bet on Bradford. MM is a distant possibility, but I won’t be surprised to see Hundley or Petty taken early.
imagine if he just went WR, WR than all O line. Get some studs outside to add into mix and then depth on line. Youd leave holes but every team has holes, just maximize those 2 positions ha.
With Hunter I’m concerned about the complete lack of pass rushing production.
I’ll admit — safety bugs me. Rookie safety? No thank you. Safety already on the team? Didn’t they try this last year expecting a young safety to step up? WR and OG — ok, a rookie can do “something”. I guess I expected a better plan than “let’s address positions a, b, c and not worry about e and f”.
….
Is Mathis sitting somewhere thinking “well, this is awkward”?
probably not… same situation as last year.. a year ago today Mathis agent was out there looking for trade partners… this probably isnt much different for him
… then again last year we thought we had no pass rush and Connor comes out of no where with the season he had. With the Maxwell/Thurmond signing i think schematically we changed so who knows… maybe we do have an answer now at the other safety spot. But it is still a legit concern, but Kiko manning more of the middle of the field in coverage will also help our safety search.
i’m still interested in Jaylen Watkins/Nolan Carroll as DB options in general.
I absolutely love our corners…
true — hoping the defense can do even more with Kiko in the fold…
I get your point, but at the same time you can’t expect to build an entire team from Free Agency. That would be a bigger mistake.
A veteran safety and draft one, I’m ok with that…but — where’s the veteran safety?
Right now the roster has Ed Reynolds (not expecting much), Wolff (maybe the injury last year is what held him back, and he can rebound), and Jerome Couplin (mystery). I guess it’s possible that they could try one of the corners at safety. Maybe we could go bargain-hunting in free agency. We don’t have much cap space left though, and the draft is supposedly pretty weak.
I agree with you. I’m most worried about OG. Age and a hole on either side, with no one really exciting behind them at either. If we’re going to be serious about Bradford becoming the man here, we really need to invest early in something on the OL. Going to be a really interesting group to watch in camp this summer, to see how the line shakes out. I’d expect either Tobin or Kelly to step up in one spot, and a 1st or 2nd round rookie in the other.
As for safety, I think they tried to go after McCourty, and with the money the had allocated for that, they switched to Murray. In the meantime, I’d have to assume they hope the the addition of Maxwell, an upgraded front-7, and a competitive battle for CB2 will be able to cover up whichever Wolf/Reynolds/5th round pick/cheap FA platoons there throughout the year.
This transformation is far from complete, and it certainly won’t be done in 2015, but its certainly exciting to see where its going to go.
Did anyone see the quote from Marques Colston about saying part of the Saint’s issues last year was not having Sproles?
Hmm…. I really think Sproles role next year is going to be expanded while interchanging him with Huff to spell him. Murray/Mathews running the ball is fine by me with Sproles coming in motion from out wide, yada yada yada. Offense is gonna look different to a degree… that whole TAZR position has not been fully utilized in our offense… plus i read a great article (I think Grantland) about how guys like Sproles are ALWAYS undervalued in the league and can be had cheap in terms of production/$ amounts (Danny Woodhead, Vereen). I think our answer to offensive weapons are already in house.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/darren-sproles-philadelphia-eagles-value/
decent blurb from when we first got Sproles.
I dont think Sproles is a great receiver. Good on screens but not so much elsewhere. You get any kind of defender near him and he seems to have a lot of drops. Maybe Im just remembering it that way
I rewatched the Panthers game over the weekend and Sproles dropped 2 in the hands with a LB on his a$$. Assuming he is “wide” open he is very effective. And just because he dropped those 2 doesn’t make him ineffective – Chip will get him open I also assume.
76% catch rate over career. Was gettin around 70-80 catches in NO on 90-100 targets…. In philly 40/60 range, so assuming a 70% success rate would help….. in comparison Shane Vereen (who i feel is the top receiving RB has only a 67% career catch rate.), RB/WR catch rates are apples and oranges.
it is odd though because Sproles had career high rushing TD’s with us last year (6), i think Chip was forcing the matter with a (2) RB system, and would rather Sproles be in the TAZR position with Huff, thus lending itself to the Mathews/Murray signing theory, IMO.
Something else CK said last year is that every time Sproles is on the field it takes a commitment from the D to put a man on him (shadow him) – not all players merit that – so effective throwing to him or not.
which is the same effect you get with a true#1 on the outside… whos to say you can’t cause the same stress with someone like say…. Sproles?
people are getting caught up in the traditional postional names… thats a big mistake with Chip
Agree. sure I’d like to see speed burner on the outside but IMO not 100% necessary. If CK is the mastermind we think he is he will smoke/mirror/confuse the D and still be massively effective. O line, Safety, WR in that order IMO.
i think he does value size on the outside for blocking purposes, i can see JMatt going outside if he can ever figure out he is 6’3″ lol.
He said they doubled him every time which is why production fell off.
I think Chip is going for schematic mismatches not talent mismatches…. i.e. Megatron is a mismatch even when he is on the bench lol, whereas putting Sproles on a LB is due to schematics and situation.
I think he lead the team in rushing tds.
thanks, this is what I was wondering.
Don’t think there are many FA safety options out there anymore. Think we are going to need to hope someone steps up or we convert a safety (my preference)
RE: CK has smartest guy in the room syndrome.
This article says otherwise IMO. I still have a lot of faith in CK. It’s only page one where Peter King talks about Kelly.
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/03/16/sam-bradford-chip-kelly-jimmy-johnson-eagles-nfl/6/
I took the pic this morning because I live close to his old HS for those who didn’t see it…Would like to see this in Philly if he wins us a Super Bowl.
I hope Sam Bradford Drive is longer than ten yards…
It is. Goes all the way to the back of the stadium lololol
Bruce Arians on Chip Kelly: http://www.975thefanatic.com/teams/eagles/2015/03/13/cardinals-head-coach-bruce-arians-joins-mike-missanelli-at-the-maxwell-awards
Don’t know if someone has posted this, but per Tony Pauline the Eagles are having Mississippi State OLB/ILB Benardrick McKinney in for a pre-draft visit.
any one of those linebackers from MSU would be nice.
I think McKinney is more of a 4-3 SAM than a 3-4 LB
The kid’s the perfect match for Philadelphia . . .
But for still uncorrected spelling error by his mother, he’d be Bednarrik McKinney.
Get that man.
S Jeron Johnson to Redskins 2 years, $4M.
He doesn’t say it directly but from his twitter account, it sounds like Dashon Goldson has been replaced. I don’t really see it as a fit, but one wonders what they’re plans are at the position.
watching the replay yesterday of the eagles colts game, Sproles looked really good and was the reason we won that game. Nick played well, didn’t make any outstanding throws at all, ertz had some great catches but foles looked good.
what happened with sproles, it was as if we never saw those great screens again? he was killing them.
Kelly said that they were doubling him every time he was saving our offense the first half of the season.
you cant double team a screen pass though
It is anecdotal, but I seem to remember a lot of DTs and DEs peeling off of their pass rush and running right to Sproles whenever he went out for a screen in the second half of the season.
ahh I see., well he was amazing in the colts game.
true. I also wonder if our offense needs to do a better job a disguising screens. Reid’s offense was great at that.
…that was just a weird game… then again i was saying that a lot last year.
On my way to Johns Roast pork.. U bastards gave me a craving worse than a pregnant chick. The sharp provalone is calling me!!!
Wonder how different this roster would look had we been able to sign Maclin, Franklin and McCourty… Probably no demarco, NO BG, maybe no Thurmond
Yeah wonder if we would have gotten franklin if we knew we weren’t going to get McCourty.
Happy we didn’t get Franklin…want to get younger at OL and rather pay a couple guards on cheap rookie contracts
No McCourty still stings. Imagine what our secondary with him and Maxwell would now look like…!
We talking about 3/4th of an elite secondary right there, and 5yr break from having to worry about safeties. Which would be invaluable to maintaining what’s left of my sanity
probably a lot easier to cultivate DBs when you have some good ones on the team that can coach them up.
Saw this today on BGN…OMG this was too funny I had to share it..
http://giant.gfycat.com/DazzlingAltruisticGoral.gif
This is pure GOLD!!. I wish I can give you 1000 thumbs up on this, just hilarious.
Like you even need to hit Romo in the back…
Shit, at least Bradford has been working out.
So whom would you guys pick if anyone of the following is available at #20:
1. Jaelen Strong
2. DGB
3. TJ Clemmings
4. Jake Fisher
5. Marcus Peters
6. Dupree
Would be pretty close between Fisher, Clemmings, and Dupree. Me personally I would go with Fisher (nothing to do with the Oregon connection) only because although he is listed as an OT from his physique and the way he moves he seems more natural as a guard and could possibly be a plus and play immediately at guard.
…
Passing on Bud Dupree at that spot is really hard to do but resigning BG eases that a bit.
Fisher/dupree
Or NT Jordan Phillips inspired by the greedy Jeff fisher stacking his DL… Phillips, Dupree or possibly arik are the only defenders I want at 20…. Assume Fisher is the pick tho..
But we can pass on DE’s because I’ll tAke any bet that the Eagles get Deforrest Buckner in next years draft. Arik has more upside, Buckner is the productive overachiever
Drop back…because there were 6 targeted last year and all went before we picked — so I’m predicted history repeats itself…
I am all up for a downtrade again!
Don’t know if chip would risk losing an oregon guy like Fisher who would be perfect compliment to Lane on the right side by trading back, considering he isn’t afraid to reach to secure the duck he covets. I assume he will be in “Gordon Bombay mode” early in the draft to solidly his OL with the talented Ducks
You could have stopped at “Don’t know if Chip would risk losing an Oregon player”….lmao…
Fisher. OL need is huge. Can’t cover up holes at guard.
Dupree is a no brainer here. BPA.
1. Dupree
2. Clemmings
3. Fisher
4. Trade back
Fisher
Dupree
DGB
Anyone have any insight into DGB? You hear the character concerns, but there are character concerns and there are character concerns. Sometimes you can deal with them. Anyone have any thoughts? Because I love the talent.
There are some marijuana possessions (which I guess would make him a possession receiver? THAT’S NOT BAD!) but also some undisclosed and/or dismissed charges and allegations like pushing a woman down the stairs. I obviously don’t know anything more than what I can glean from a 30 second Google but you do wonder what it takes to really get booted from a major program when you have major talent. Like, is it safe to assume he had more than three strikes?
He was the number one recruit in the nation. He went to Mizzou. Mizzou won the SEC East with him. Mizzou then kicked him off the team. I think it says alot that Mizzou, not Bama or Florida or UT Austin, decided that his shit wan’t worth the talent.
Dupree
Clemmings
Fisher (oh I can hear the DUCK BIAS jokes now)
Strong
Peters
DGB
HA! Cowboys are negotiating with Greg Hardy, with him and Dez it will be a who’s who of domestic violence!
But Hardy is an elite D-End so that does suck
Damn. Might be domestic violence on Sam Bradford.
ha, they can go shopping for guns at wal mart together
https://twitter.com/fishsports/status/577528185811693569?s=09
That would suck
Hopefully they get to RGIII first.
Shorts to the texans
damn — guess we’re done in FA. Basically everyone is gone.
True, so many signing in less than a week. All the fun is over, what are we going to do now? boring days ahead.
Never give shorts to a Texan…
I can never unsee this now B.
Jerk.
How long did you have to wait to unveil that?
Rolando Mc Clain is still a FA? It’s weird that he’s getting no interest by other teams, he played at a high level last season for the boys.
the girls you mean
I will never beat a girl 😉
He’s facing a suspension for PEDs
Thanks didn’t know that
https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/577534837273268224?lang=en
so you’re telling me there is a chance?
HAHAHA Chip is working out Tebow per Adam Schefter! What!>
I hate him and this only makes me laugh!
Ladies and gents, our new Dual Force sent by God: WR and S!
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/577538785237463040
I really hope we don’t trade Bradford for mariota, but is it better to have a rookie with no injury history? but no NFL experience either?
Bradford has the arm and he’s apparently smart too, I think he looks good for this offense
I am 100% on board with bradfrod being on our roster, but if mariota falls, we better draft him.
Pets heads are falling offfff
Les Bowen retweeted
Brian Solomon @Brian_Solomon 4m4 minutes ago
GO HOME CHIP, YOU’RE DRUNK (on power) RT @AdamSchefter Tim Tebow is working out today for the Philadelphia Eagles, a source confirmed.
Nah, it’s fine, you can never have too many running backs, or tight ends, or wide receivers or maybe back-up interior linemen
NFL twitter is fantastic right now.
why?
Tebowmania
Tebow is trying out for the Eags
oh. maybe he’s better than Barkley…
yeah what has matt barkely gotta be thinking right now. Surprised he hasn’t asked for a trade. [EDIT] Clear no one around the league is interested in a trade.
Tebow better than Bradford? I’ll hang up and listen.
crazy that the Browns signed Tramon Williams, shows how little they think of Justin Gilbert.. Tramon Wlliams, Joe Haden, Hitner,… that secondary costs money. Gilberts top 10 pick salary….. still holding out hope that we trade for Tashuan Gipson.. why not? safety is like the one position the browns know how to draft…
Yes, seems like the Bears made the better choice with Fuller. He had some problems at the end of the year, but damn, the Bears were a mess and that’s even tougher for a Rookie. But at the beginning of the year, he looked really good for a rookie CB.
im 100% against playing rookie corners.. its just one of those positions i prefer a kid to sit and learn for a year….so the fact that Gilbert didnt play isnt the alarming part… the alarming part is they are down on his character, practice habbits, intelligence, and thats a bad sign for a top 12 pick….. its bad enough they got more out of jordan Poyer then Gilbert but for both their first round picks, Gilbert and Manziel having their character, and work ethic questioned is really poor drafting…. I will NEVER rip a team for drafting a player that didnt get playing time as a rookie… but if a rookie top pick isnt getting playing time it should drive him to work harder…
I don’t get Tebowmania. I mean, he won’t be a starting QB here, that’s for sure. I don’t think he’ll even be a #3, because, well, he can’t throw and he’s not a good decision maker. Best case for Tebow would be to light it up in TC and get one or two red zone/goal line read option packages. Nothing more.
Another thing could be TE/FB position change. Tebow was always against a position change, maybe he changed his mind. He is a very good athlete.
And he is as high character as it gets. If Belichick tells Chip he was a great teammate during the Pats TC (and I assume it was, Belichick told it to the public this way, at least, and Brady too), why not? I really don’t see the problem, to be honest. We are definitely not talking starting or back-up QB here and as long as that’s not the case, I’m fine.
Is he that deluded that he still thinks he can play QB?
hes been working on his throwing motion for a while now. Was hoping to get invited to that senior draft combine thing but they denied him ha. I cant stand the guy but I kind of agree with Dominik
Maybe he is. Nobody from the outside knows, really. Maybe it’s just a way to sell jerseys after the team gave up Shady and Maclin. The thing is, why is everybody kind of freaking out? It’s not like we’re talking about adding a scum like Hardy.
I’m an Atheist and I don’t like the over-the-top Christian stuff Tebow is doing in public (I don’t care what he privatly does), but even I can’t say he’s not very high character. And he’s an athlete. If the workout wasn’t good – don’t sign him. But I see no point in freaking out about a roster bubble player, and Tebow will be nothing more than that.
I feel the same way. TBH, CK might think he’s a better 3rd option than Barkley.
Yep, could be.
I feel exactly the same way. Hes actually pretty good as a college analyst from the little Ive watched. Surprised hes not into keeping that gig up. Probably just loves the game so much. People get so worked up about him and the proselytizing. I couldnt stand it either but whatever, as I got older I cared much less about all that.
Don’t mind the person, don’t respect the player, and don’t have one clue about his “fans”.
Tebow been working with Brady’s personal QB guru – supposedly had gotten better…
wait what the fock is everyone talking about? tell me we didnt sign Tebow please? im starting to get worried
Had a work out with us. Calm down. 😉
OMG…. OMG….OMG…. please dont turn this years training camp into a circus
No worries, mate. Belichick tried it and it wasn’t a circus. You can bet Chip won’t let that happen, either.
there is NO REASON why Tim Tebow should have a roster spot…. if you cant find 53 more talented players then Tim Tebow, we have PROBLEMS
Well, if Tebow has to start because Bradford and Sanchez are injured, we’re screwed. But if Chip thinks Tebow is better than Barkley, then we’re screwed with Barkley too, so no difference.
Tebow could deliver one or two Power Run QB read option plays in the red zone/goal line. Chip won’t let Bradford do those (and rightfully so!), but if he wants to have those tools in the toolbox, why not?
he did win a playoff game with the broncos….
And he would be reunited with Sanchez. I think of all people, Sanchez would be the happiest.
demaryious Thomas won a playoff game as far as im concerned lol.. Tebow threw a simple slant…Thats my story and im sticking to it…no credit for skip bayless boy
https://twitter.com/JimmyKempski/status/577548068435939329
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/577538785237463040
Time to pray GEagle.
burton is better then tebow
Urban Meyer wouldn’t approve this message. 😉
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/577546510981697537
Still no biggie imho. Just tells me Chip isn’t that high on Barkley. But when he said in his presser “Bradford and Sanchez are my QBs”, I kind of assumed that already.
Those rumors about Petty might be true, maybe they are targeting him in 2 or 3.
Well, if they sign Tebow they won’t. 😉
LOL. I stopped trying to figure this out and just enjoying the ride.
I think that’s a good idea to begin with. 😉
noo way prefer Hundley.
Cowboys considering Greg Hardy…
I think he’s going there, Jerrah doesn’t care about off-field issues or anything like that.
That would really suck. I can’t detest them anymore, but he would help this D tremendously. He’s a scum, but he can really rush the passer. And while he might miss the first 6 games, he would come (pretty) cheap. Wouldn’t like that signing at all.
On the other hand, the source reporting it isn’t especially credible. Have to wait and see.
I love that line, its so football: “he’s scum, but he really can rush the passer”
bam!
Well, I’m not saying I want the Eagles to sign him. But this guy can play football, I don’t think that’s debatable.
The Panthers really had a nasty D-Line two years ago.
at least better get some bad PR out of a move like that.
Unless the NFL gives us some big matchup with a top AFC team to start the season, in my gut I cant shake the Feeling that Eagles @ Dallas week 1 of the season….
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id be jealous… love the Kraken on the field… off the field, no comment….
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and he will be cheap and motivated this year, I wouldnt want us to have to block him twice a year…
We will have the Pats in the opening game. The only options are us or the Steelers and frankly we are far more interesting story for the league opening.
The Jets just got a lot more interesting after the Revis signing. I think that will be the opener.
Don’t mind it if we play them, though. Extra rest and I get to watch my Eagles play meaningful football a little bit sooner.
Jets still suck. They are an aborted fetus of an offence. Does not matter how stupidly expensive (and old) their secondary is.
Todd Bowles will field a quality defense this year..
Still need to upgrade at QB. Imho, and I’m not saying the Eagles will or should, but if the Jets aren’t sold on Mariota, I think it would be a good idea for THEM to try to trade with us, if MM is still there at 6. They can take Hundley at 20 or trade back from 20 again and take Petty.
You can win some games with Fitzpatrick, but he sucks, I would prefer Sanchez over him. If I’m Bowles, I do everything I can to get a QB.
Chip is 8 steps ahead of you — Jets / Titans both need QBs (obviously)
or they can take Bradford as part of the deal. This is more likely than us giving up even more picks.
well yeah, geno smith certainly isnt the answer, and Hundley wont make it to round 2 even tho he should so I dont disagree…. very curious to see what the Jets do…but they also have the option to spend the 6th pick on a stud at another position of need, they could use an edge rusher. I would NOT pass up drafting Fowler if I had the chance, especially when if they like Hundley they still also could go the route of trading up from their pick at the beginning of round 2, jump the teams picking 1-5 and get back into the end of round 2, where all the best teams pick so past the bengals there probably isnt anyone who will draft Hundley… if Hundley makes it past like 24,25, you can bet your bank account that one of the teams who wants him picking in the first 12 picks of round 2, will trade up back into round 1 and reach for him, and they figure it balances out because you get the 5th yr option on the QB if you get him at the end of round 1, instead of round 2………so If Im the Jets, and im not sold on MM, or if i think there isnt much difference between how much i like MM and Hundley, I would certainly be trying to either snatch up a stud like Fowler at #6 and then tradeup for Hundley from round 2…or even trade back from 6, but only a few spots so you pick up an extra pick and still get a top 12 talent, and then you take that extra compensation you get from trading back, and you use that pick to trade up from round 2 to get Hundley…
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but who knows what the jets will do…maybe they Love MM. Maybe the skins steal MM…maybe the Jets Target Hundley or Petty…Maybe some crazy news comes out about winston and the Bucs have to take MM. Maybe they think Bradford is talented enough, are comfortable with what the doctors are saying and they would prefer Bradford to try and win right away instead of having to deal with a young QB like MM or Hundley and have to scratch your pro style offense to install something he can play in as a rookie… maybe the Jets love Glennon, big kid, big arm, cheaper to trade for…
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I assume Foles takes Fisher out of the QB running and allows him to spend that 10th pick on significant talent upgrades at positions of desperation like WR, or stick Sherf next to Greg Robinson… heck they may love Shaq as a 4-3 LB….
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what happens if we get to the Bears and they see Mariota still on the board? LOL.. wtf do they do? lol 100mil cutler, AND you draft a QB with a top pick? lol
curious to see the skins, Jets, Bills?, Browns..a
not following your rational for what leads you to that conclusion, but i can def see them going that route of course……i could also see the NFL start the season with Shady vs. Demarco Murray…
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do we know yet which of the AFC teams we face at home, and which we face on the road? rather not play @Buffalo in december with playoffs on the line…
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so many interesting story lines for us this year, and some pretty significant tests..
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1) Bellichek vs, Chip
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2) Shady and their top defense vs. Demarco and our top defense(atleast front 7)
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3) Maxwell/Thurmond vs. Desean, Dez and ODB
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4) the two most improved defenses in coverage so far this offseason, Eagles vs. Jets.
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going to be a fun, but tough year filled with some real challenges that will give us a good idea of where our team is at
tebow can block
The no.1 thing i look for in my QB.
“measurables”
Kelly looking high and low for a QB, i wouldn’t be surprised if we run through a lot of them.
I would infinitely prefer Terrel Pryor to a TE who insist on being a QB
Not that I disagree on Tebow, but one could label Terrel Pryor as the other TE who insists on being a QB.
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Re: Kelly – QB Savant?
Just did some quick calculations.
If the Birds sign Tebow, they’ll have two QBs who’ve gone a combined *190 weeks* — or 3.66 years — without throwing a regular-season pass.
http://jto.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/p18-hoffman-depression-a-20140413.jpg
i know people view it as a negative… but personally Im happy with the fact that week 1, 22 months will have passed since Bradford got hurt….just like I adore that Kiko got hurt early…. where as I hate that Meco got hurt in November, especially since we saw how long it took him to get over the same exact injury back when he was 26yrs old…
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Think the fact that Maclin got hurt in the summer was Big for his comeback.
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Loved that the sixers are extra prudent with their top draft picks, redshirting them an entire season. They are getting more time then any other players to get over those injuries, strengthen those body parts and give themk every chance to get over the injury and go on to have a healthy career…people complained and ripped the sixers for sitting Nerlens out an entire year when he could have been ready to go after the all star break, but now we are seeing the kid get over his injury, get his elite freak athleticism back and the season is almost over and he only missed 4 games, which is way way better then i ever expected.
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if we have to count on guys coming back from injuries, Id so much rather overdue it and give them more time then they need, rather then rush them back to meet certain deadlines like RG3
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if Bradford was going to miss a bunch of games and be out of action for over a year…might as well go overboard with caution and give him and us the best chance possible to stay healthy
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lol im sure our players know that they will be waived on the spot if they touch bradford in any way at camp this year
How long has it been since barkley’s last pass 9that mattered…)
at least he has been practicing as a QB…. Bradford today is allegedly meeting with the Eagles to get a rehab plan in place… Is Bradford even going to be ready to throw at our first minicamp?
It’s unclear if he’s ready by TC, said he hadn’t started working out.
AC – Could be Obi-Wan Knobe?
So Texans have Vince Wilfork, JJ Watt and Clowney in their 34.
Andrew Luck does not approve this message.
Wilforf next to JJ is a nice inside pair! Wilfork might get single blocked for the first time in his career.
Do the Texans still run that 34 1 gap system? Because a player like Wilfork helps you a lot with that, taking on the double teams (I think he will still draw them) that free up Clowney and Watt, at least to some extend.
Well, on the other hand, a player like Wilfork always helps you.
Don’t forget Louis Nix!
Nix is a pure nose, isn’t he? He will only back-up Wilfork, then. But since Wilfork is old and pretty fat, it doesn’t hurt to have a back-up for him.
did he even get over the injury and play last year? Hope that kid doesnt turn out to be like Jesse Williams were his knee will keep him from having any type of Career…seahawks kept him for trwo years, and cut him now…..thats probably not a good sign. I feel for the kid.. i never trusted Nix, not as a player, and not his health..
sounds good… 3rd down, Wilfork wont help.
Is Clowney ever going to be Clowney again? how much will this injury rob him of? BG eventually came back and worked his way into a nice player but I assume it still took some athleticism away from him.. the question is how much. I really would take it slow with that kid if i was the Texans. He probably wont be the guy we are used to seeing this year and will need some time to really get over this,…Hopefully he can eventually come back from this and be close to the talent he was. It would be every NFL fans loss to not see what that kid could have become.. lol of course its easier for me to say knowing he isnt in our division…….
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whats up with Louis Nix? Did he play at all last year?
Roto said he hit IR in september
Out of shape. There was a reason he dropped from a late 1st/early 2nd draft pick to the late 3rd round.
I really don’t believe he’ll be the starting quarterback this year.
how rusty will bradford be?
and is he ready to practice right now?
or still on the mend?
they are meeting today to iron out a rehab plan… he isnt ready to go yet
that sucks
Word is ready for TC, not ready for everything at the OTAs.
So Tom House claims to have fixed Tebow’s throwing motion. Perhaps he sent tape to the Eagles and they said fine, let’s bring him in and see in person. However it went down, not a big deal (unless his motion really is fixed, then it’s really intriguing). Changing your throwing motion at this stage is pretty unbelievable – it’s one thing to demonstrate in shorts, completely different under NFL game pressure – likely much ado about nothing…
That said, this is the season for Matt Barkley to show meaningful progress – would love to see him supplant Sanchez…
I wonder if Tebow will be on the Julian Edelman track: come in as a back up QB and slowly add duties in order to get on the field until you are no longer listed as a QB. Actually, come to think of it, Joe Webb followed the same course.
Did I hear the name Joe Webb?
Tebow is a brat. Kid probably could have had a decent career filling some type of role at a high level. Good athlete, smart player, hard worker..yet he was a brat who would rather not play in the NFL rather then play some other role…so much for the ultimate team player..
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shefty said he has come, and gone already with no deal…. works for me.
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I MUCH MUCH rather have Terrell who if Im not mistaken said he is willing to play any role to help a team.. we spent two years checking out Momah, Im hoping we check out what Bicknell can do with Terrell Pryor as a WR,,, cheap, low risk, very high reward
They checked Pryor out last year, didn’t they? If so, there probably is a reason why we didn’t sign him already.
this past year I think….i assume we checked him out at QB and that if we were going to sign him we would have already so you are probably right…..I just wish I knew if he had already said he would switch positions before he worked out with us… basically what Im saying is that if we are passing on him, im fine with it..im just hoping we are passing on seeing if we can turn him into a WR, instead of just passing on him as a QB… hopefully the WR option was on the table when we passed on signing him, Im fine with that, i have no desire to see him play QB for the Eagles… but, Brad Smith gave us a former QB, who could be our emergency QB so that we only had to dress 2 QBs, tough special teams player, and gave us some occasional WR snaps, while also having that trick play element as a wild cat QB in our arsenal..I dont think he can instantly be a better WR then Brad Smith was for us last year….but if we think he can be developed into that type of player for us in two years, he has the size, speed, athleticism talent that I would love to see us take shots on… the low risk, high reward types
..,.
1) Need to replace our starting #1 outside WR..
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2) we need to Replace Brad Smith:
a) #4 WR
B) Emergency QB, Keep in mind James Casey is gone who was our other emergency QB. someone will have to fill this “non sexy role” that the media wont ever even mention
C) Wildcat QB trickster just to have in the arsenal
D) Key ST contributer, we also lost James Casey, Casey Mathews, we have some ST shoes that need filling.,…..
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anyone see any WRs in rounds 4-6 that would be a good fit to be able to fill Brad Smiths versatile role?
I assume we will prioritize getting an outside WR in the top 100….so Brads replacement would have to come in rounds 5-7
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If we had to play a game tomorrow, who would be our emergency QB that allows us to not waste a gamday roster spot dressing Barkley or some other #3 QB?
If you say that name out loud 3 times somebody you don’t want around pops up and won’t go away.
So that’s how we are going to fix the hole at safety.
You think Barkley has trade value? I mean, he was a very good college QB for 3 years.
On the other hand, well, if Chip says Tebow is better, you have to think twice as another team.
Maybe a 7th or a conditional pick.
Probably something like Bark and 7th for a 6 th he has like no value
So despite cheap rookie contract for 2 more years and working with a QB guru for 2 years and having a great college career, not even a 6th in your opinion?
Not saying you’re wrong, just asking.
He’s attempted 49 NFL passes. There just isn’t much for teams to go off of. I think he gets picked up if we waive him, but I don’t think the line will be long enough to justify giving up a pick.
id rather trade him for a player who had potential but didnt pan out for some crappy franchise like the Browns, or Jets……. i dont think you can ever get more then a 6th. you would have to really try and inflate his value make it a point to make him look really good in the preseason to even have a shot at getting more then a 6th.. heck i think the 6h alone would be conditional… more likely you get a 7th for him…. which is why i would rather trade him for some other teams bust and see if the great chip kelly can recycle some inferior coach like Jay Grudens trash..
last year we had last years (the year befores) leading rusher and this year we have last years leading rusher
I love how decisive Chip is. We had a guy rush for 3,900 yards in two years and Chip thinks he isn’t a good system fit. Well god help the other teams if we have a good system fit.
Not yards, TDs. Chip doesn’t care about yards, no one does really, only important stat is points Tds vs field goals, 3rd down percentage, yards over replacement (which for shady were bad since he was getting replaced by polk/sproles).
im really really excited about our running game.. I think Shady and Westbrook will be more special to me when I look back on Eagles backs, but im really excited about, this style of RB in our Offense. Polk was the only tough back we had last year, now we can throw big, physical down hill backs at defenses and really wear them down.
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i have one of those mental blocks against Ryan Mathews that just makes it hard for me to like him for whatever foolish reason. But I have to admit that I like being able to Ram Demarco at defenses knowing if he has to miss the next two games, Ryan and Polk can fill in short term and still run the same style..
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wearing down defenses is supposed to be one of the big components of why we are built on TEMPO..but Tempo is a double edged sword. If it works and we are able to move the chains and pick up 1st downs, we will WEAR YOU DOWN. But if we stall, get negative yards, go 3 and out, we WEAR OURSELVES DOWN…… so if we are going to put THAT much importance on the offenses ability to move the ball, OL and DOWN HILL runner becomes so important. Penalties or negative running plays are very costly with our style of play.
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when our OL was healthy, we generally did a great job of wearing defenses down and pouncing on them in the 2nd half with shady… but shady aint the type to break tackles and punish defenses..so adding that element to our running game, using our tempo in the first half while also consistently throwing punishing RBs at defenses should wear down defenses more then we have ever seen so far under chip. shady is a feast or famine back, Murray wont lose yards. We need him and Ryan to pick up 3 yards per carry and fall forward 1/3rd of a yard and we keep the chains moving… come the second half, we should wear defenses down more then we have ever seen and at that point it will be fun to let straight line explosive speed of Darren Sproles come in and put the burners on against a defense that has been pounded on all game by our tempo, OL, and physical contact seeking RBs…
yeah it should be pretty awesome. that’s why we have to keep the nfl quarterback and not go with a rookie!
i expect to see Sproles used much more as a WR then we did last year… Personally, we have so many RB’s that I wouldnt even let him carry the ball in the first half… spend the entire first half using our contact seeking down Hill RBs, and ONLY throw to sproles in the first half…. that way we kind of lull the defensive lineman and LB’s into getting used to a certain running style when we hand the ball off and come the second half when they are tired, they wont have gotten a chance to adjust to sproles speed when he comes in as a change of pace runner… when we throw to sproles the DL really arent seeing his speed…. and Id like to keep it that way until the second half.. throw to sproles as much as we want in the first half, but dont give him any Carries until the second half…once defensive lines start to wear down and get used to a certain speed and style Running game, you unleash tiny sproles and his explosive straight line speed on a tired defense that hasnt gotten a chance to adjust to his running speed during the first half
we are going to work some defenses with these guys
yes sir…. this might sound crazy, but i look forward to less FEAST or FAMINE, Home run style weapons like Desean and shady. Its important to have that homerun ability, but too many 50 second TD drives can be a problem… i look forward to seeing an offense that can really churn out 1st downs and still be effective if that homerun isnt there….because of our tempo if we are going to score a TD, I would much rather pick up 3 first downs first then to score on our 3rd play….
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and the homerun hitters probably arent as important because as long as we get talented guys this offense, this tempo should create plenty of big plays for guys like Demarco who arent known as homerun hitters. Demarco is more of a grinder, which is a good thing because you know chip will provide opportunities where once he breaks a tackle he will be off to the races…the big plays are going to come regardless with chip
If Tebow signs with the Eagles, will Skip Bayless die instantly? Will SaS put on a white hood and dance a jig?
So many important questions…
if tebow signs with the eagles there are bigger problems
Sorry, but I fail to see how it’s a big deal. 90 man roster… let him toss some balls in camp. Chip needs a lot of arms to run his practices.
Schefter reports we’re not signing Tebow at this time. Personally I think this is just doing Bradford’s agent Tom Condon a favor to get on his good side while we’re trying to extend Bradford. Condon is Tebow’s agent also. I will say though that the Eagles use Kinne all over the PS at other positiions and on STs and they may want the same type player as #3 QB. Kinne is the greatest of all time but I’d take Tebow over Barkley at this point.
wait, maybe Tebow is a better backup for MM???
Tebow? Really? I don’t want that trash on this roster. He can’t play QB, has just about the most annoying fans alive, and is a known associate of a hate group; Focus on the Family.
Brutal.
Dude……..Not going to bother
focus on the family, forgot about that, ugh
@McClain_on_NFL: Cecil Shorts III two-year, $6 million deal includes $2.5 guaranteed.
That’s a good price for Shorts. We should have made a move at that cost.
agree, wonder why not.
fits our fragile requirements. i would have liked to see him in our offense, but i dont think he is physical enough to play outside for Chip, and we are pretty stacked in terms of slot weapons that attack the center of the defense.. when you think Maclin, he has some size but you dont think of him as physical, but he really turned the toughness and physicality up a notch last year and it worked for chip…….
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just look at the significant investments that chip has made at the WR position:
1) Paid Cooper, let Desean and Maclin walk.. Size and physicality is the ONLY thing Coop has ahead of those two..
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2) 2nd round pick on the Pope, not necessarily a “burner” but a nice combo of size, athleticism, Physicality/Toughness
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3) spent 3rd round pick on Josh Huff, tough, Physical is one of his best attributes…..
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those are the only 3 WRs chip has made any real investment in, and physicality and toughness is the common denometer.. I could see chip use a guy like Cecil in the slot… but i have no evidence to suggest he would work for chip outside, and alot of teams view Cecil as a slot.. the jets certainly werent going to play him outside instead of Decker or Marshall and they had interest
Then based on that profile then Dwayne Bowe, Stevie Johnson, and Michael Crabtree might be of interest. Doubt we can get the first 2. Think Crabtree might be a fit on 1-year deal. Depends on his attitude and if he’d fit into the culture. Don’t really know much about him personally.
while i would view Bowe and Crabtree as an upgrade from riley Cooper..I dont know that they can play outside across from Coop… thats a lack of speed on the outside, two outside WRs who struggle to get seperation and have to win via size is something a struggle seeing chip be ok with…. The Thing is, most of us want and assume Coop to be cut next year when its no longer cheaper to keep him then to cut him, so there could be an argument for one of those big boys now that their value is prob at an all time low, and have them be Coops Big Body replacement next year..But if we do that, I dont think it would save us from having to spend a pick on the WR position…still have to draft some type of outside WR who will bring the speed….but if they want to draft their speed and jump on a guy like Crabtree if his price tag is low enough to justify the value signing and have him be Coops replacement next year, Id view that as an upgrade to Coop. Bowe may be a little too old to sign for two seasons from now, but Crab is still young enough that if he is cheap enough, why not, especially since people forget Maclin isnt the only WR we need to replace, we also lost Brad Smith and I doubt anyone would hate chip if he upgraded Jeff Maehl.
The FA that I’d like them to sign is Denarius Moore but I don’t know that he fits what they like in a WR. Any FA I sign at this point doesn’t have much of an impact at all on drafting a WR. Just looking for general depth/competition.
yeah i wouldnt mind seeing us add him either… faster then the guys we are talking about, still young…has spent his career in offensive hell worse then playing for Rex Ryan… there are alot of WRs and QBs who havent panned out, that I would be interested to see what they can do in our offense if the price is right,… which is why I would rather try to trade Barkley for a player instead of a draft pick, since we would probably have to inflate his value with a good 3rd preseason just to get a 6th round pick for him…..
The Dolphins could use another QB even if they re-sign Matt Moore. I wonder if Lazor likes Barkley. Rishard Matthews and Matt Hazel would interest me.
Be interesting to see what this vet combine looks like.
Chris Mortensen
@mortreport
20s21 seconds ago
Eagles working out QBs – such as Tebow – should never be connected to Bradford rumors. Matt Barkley can be had for late draft pick, though.
Matt Barkley can be had for late draft pick, though
Late draft pick as in 10th round?!
Lowest 7th round pick that can be traded and a bag of Funyuns.
Speaking of Mr. Irrelevant..
if chip no longer wants to work with Barkley at all, dump him for the best we can get….. but i think we are going into a draft with way too many needs to be worried about spending draft picks in the first 5 rounds on our 3rd QB…so unless there is some 6th, 7th or UDFA QB that chip really wants to work with, I would much much rather shore up the many immediate holes that we have:
– WR
– two Offensive lineman
– Safety
-4th OLB
– young outside CB to start grooming on the bench
– interior pass rusher in case we lose Curry next year
– TE like Jesse James since Celeks body cant possibly hold up playing this bruising style practically playing a an extra offensive lineman)…
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Too many important needs that we HAVE to address for next year, to be spending picks on a 3rd QB….
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the ONLY way i can be ok with spending a pick on a QB is if MM falls to #20, which would really hurt next years teams but I understand not passing up on that. Short of MM falling to 20, the only way I can be ok with replacing Barkley is if there is a 6th, 7th or undrafted QB chip doesnt mind replacing him with. hopefully you hit on these draft picks, shore up the team so we are in a position where we can invest draft picks in a young QB next year,,, you cant go into a draft with the issues we have and upgrade Barkley with a top 100 pick… Id hold Barkley now that we are seeing more and more willing trade partners, and try to swap Barkley with another young QB who stunk it up for his current team,,, figure chips offense is going to be more QB friendly then most, and some times a change of scenery or a different system can make a big difference…
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rather then take some worthless late pick for Barkley, try to flip him for another teams “Matt Barkley” for example Kurt Cousins, just to get an up close look at some other young QBs… if Chip is a offensive guru, and his system is QB friendly, hopefully he can take a QB from the browns, Raiders, Jets, Skins or some crap franchise and get significantly more out of him then his past team did…..
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i think its crazy to go into a draft with the needs we have and draft a QB… but hey, if there is some 6th, 7th rd or UDFA QB that chip would rather work with, he can flat out cut Barkley for all I care
At his press conference, Kelly said that Bradford and Sanchez were his QBs. Noticeably didn’t mention Barkley.
yeah remember thinking that too. he must be baaad.
I think Barkley can be had for a used camouflage cap.
Matt Miller
@nfldraftscout
32m
32 minutes ago
Wait…the Eagles worked out Tim Tebow on March 16 (3/16)? Chip Kelly is the ultimate troll.
I’m sort of glad we gave Tebow an interview, reading about his work with the QB coach here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2393964-tom-bradys-passing-guru-puts-some-spin-on-tim-tebows-comeback-attempt?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cnn-sports-bin
Dude is out of the league, w/ ESPN but he’s still with the QB coach probably 6-8 hrs a week (plus his own personal training) trying to get back into the league b/c he wants it that much. Now he may just suck but i think it’s that mentality that Kelly wants to encourage with his players.
id respect him much more if he would be willing to play any position to make it in the NFL….
He would be a great h-back
Instead he’s just a plain old h-ack.
He’s the classic example of a guy coaches should have switched to another position years ago.
He might have accomplished something of note had he been moved out from under center a decade ago.
like a heisman and 2 national champs?
None of that accomplished for any team I like…………..and a total dead end skill set wise. Gimmick nonsense that I don’t care to see on any level of football.
basically….
a division win and a playoff win?
eh. I’ve seen playoff games won by all sorts of garbage QBs.
And an 8-8 division win.
im positive that kid could be great in some type of role.. whether its ST, certainly H-back potential, friggin LB, something… the guy is a good athlete, smart football player who is going to put in the work and take to coaches… maybe he will only have a small role, but im sure he can be great at it if he stops being a QB brat, and commits himself to the new role… which really makes it ridiculous for this guy to be working in media at this age instead of playing the game he loves for a living, and he has no one to blame but himself… sure his fans are really annoying, but you can get over that. i think its crazy that he is pissing away a football career… its not like #3 QBs get to play ST…all these years he could have been contributing in some way, but he wasted away on a qb pipe dream. I understand not giving up and chasing your dream, but at some point you become delusional and you waste what little time you have to play the Game…
…
i never liked offense. since I was a kid, I always loved defense, heck I love defense in basketball and hockey too.. yet since 7th grade every coach i ever had was intent on playing me at LT.. I was a brat about it at first and made deals that i would play LT as long as I was still getting some DL snaps and you can get away with that in 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, but at some point you have to accept your abilities, your strengths, your limitation and decide how much do you love playing the game? do you only love it if you can play a certain position? or do you love it enough to be jon dorenbos if you need to in order to get to throw the pads on… some of the really exception athletes, the dominant SEC blue chippers can play both ways all thru high school…but if you want to keep playing the game, there will come a point at some level where you will no longer be good enough to play whatever position you enjoy, and in order to continue to play the game you have to settle on the position your size and talent are best suited for….. i cant respect a kid who could be playing football today but wont because of a position.. when 90% of football players that make it to the NFL have had to switch positions like 5 times before they reached the NFL, and the majority of the time its not the players choice… I cant wrap my head around a kid with such a good character who is wasting so much of his career because he refuses to play other positions.. Its crazy to me…especially since i have no doubt that you can be great at something… just not QB..deal with it, or enjoy being a 25yr old media member..
the fact that this kid is even still taking workouts as a QB is infuriating to me… like what is wrong with you? you should run the friggin combine on film, send it to every team, and say I am 6’5, I weigh blah blah blah, and I will run thru walls for you and play any position you let me just please give me a chance.;… yet this dude is still working out as a QB is insanity to me..when smug, mormon, self proclaimed, im smarter then you QB guru andy Reid has no interest in working with you, its time to switch positions bud
Nobody will take this guy — his name carries too much weight – him just getting talked to breaks the Internets
lol… I have heard the story 37 times on ESPN in the past 3 hours and he already left without a deal smh
From Tony Pauline:
Linebacker Junior Sylvestre, who will be in a camp this summer,
completed 26 reps on the bench and ran the forty in a time around 4.5
flat, with some stopwatches reading under 4.50. Sylvestre met with the
Philadelphia Eagles, who sent their linebacker coach to the workout, and
also had sit-downs with the Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, San
Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers.
Me: Sylvestre is 6-0 222. Could be ILB or SS. Most likely fit is as a STs player.
Junior who?
http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_small/12/126778/1853489-sop1cd7med2.jpg
Tim Tebow, things are getting really bizarre if they hadn’t been already.
You know it’s because we’re in end times. Watch the Eagles go 18-0, be leading the Steelers 84-0 in the Super Bowl with 3 minutes left…………..and the world ends.
Nothing you said sounded wrong to me. Just to add, when end times come, Tim Tebow will be taken away while all us Eagles fans burn in eternity.
To be fair to the people who upvoted, I added the burning in hell afterwards, feel free to take away the thumbs up if you disagree.
As long I could pound on Steeler and Giant fans in the afterlife…………
I have a horrible feeling Kendricks won’t be on the team next year
I texted my friends the following today:
“Holy %$*$#*#:
Kendricks and Mathis to the Niners for a 2nd and 3rd this year and a 2nd next year. I guess I know why they didn’t cut DeMeco yet.”
And all 5 other guys on the thread immediately assumed it was correct and started looking for the trade on any web page they could find.
I think a lot of us agree that Kendricks could be gone.
boooooooooooo
It was mean. I was told to commit suicide. I found it funny however.
That stuff pisses me off
The bigger take away here is that Media Mike has friends.
Well played Mac.
😉 glad there are still people around here with a sense of humor
The banter is always a good time.
Any idea if some of his friends are running QBs on High School or College level?
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Only pocket passers in my crew.
Dude… Meco tore his achilles in NOVEMBER! There wont be a coach in the NFL thats thinking they can possibly go into this season with Demeco Ryan at a starting LB spot. It cant be possible. GMs and Coaches already have seen how long it took him to get over this same exact injury, and it didnt happen overnight when he was 26 years old… he ruptured his achilles in November and he will be 31 before next season starts, NO ONE, NO ONE, NO ONE in their right mind would go into next season with Meco penciled in as the starter… not when you have evidence that shows you he needed two years to get over this injury back when he was in his prime at the age of 26..and you wont find A BIGGER fan of Meco then me….
…
I will be FURIOUS if we break up the tandem of Kendricks and Kiko, FURIOUS… I dont see why the hell we would do such a horrible thing… but im not going to say there is NO CHANCE chip trades Mykal because Chip didnt draft him…..
..
but what I will say is that if Mykal is traded, NO CHANCE IN HELL that CHIP thinks Demeco will be our starting ILB next year. Trade Mykal kendricks, then I guess you are lucky you brought in guys like Benardrick MCKinney in for a visit…if we trade Kendricks they will be forced to draft a ILB in the first 4 rounds, so you better be talking about an offer we cant refuse.,.. how many more holes do we want to create?
Meco should retire, take a position with the Eagles as an ILB coach (meanwhile continue his rehab) and then change his mind and un-retire next year…
why would he do that unless he is forced to?… come november and December, if he can be ready to play small subpackage role, maybe come in on goal line, show teams that he is coming along it will help him continue his career the next year after he has shown the ability to overcome this injury, even tho it took two years instead of 1….. guy like Maclin was so much younger and he got hurt in what July?..those 4 extra months can make a big deal… its also a possibility that this injury will be the end of his career and when he is healthy, old age will have kicked in already naturally robbing him of a step, which i hope wont be the case,. Im such a big fan of the player and Man, i hope he gets to end his career being part of a playoff win or two
The problem is what to do with his $6.9M cap charge – love everything he brings to the locker room / field, but as you’ve pointed out, his likely ability to produce on the field this year is a stretch (no pun intended).
While my retirement to coach (keeping rehab in-house) scenario was mostly facetious (though I think he would make a heck of a coach), what to do about the cap charge? This is where Chip the coach and Chip the GM face a real dilemma. Hopefully, there’s a middle ground and Meco has a speedier than expected recovery.
Honestly keeping Neck bringing in Kiki and still looking at top ILB prospects is weed if you already have your 2 future ILBs in place
I think if they can move him on draft day to get Stephone Anthony. They will.
I don’t agree with this. But I think it’s going to happen.
Some shoe has to drop. Why else would you keep Meco here for almost $7 mil of waste?
BELICHICK:
______________
For the past, 8-9 years or so (since Bruschi retired), the Patriots seem always seem to have big inside LBs.
A carryover from your time with the G-men, maybe (Harry Carson, Gary Reasons, Pepper Johnson)?
What about Bednarrick “Concrete” McKinney on the inside?
. . . FOR THE EAGLES.
I think you’ve said a bit about Concrete Mc.
Also, is he a legit option on the outside?
The Eagles like athletes
vs.
Big guys beat little guys
Is interesting when looking at Concrete McKinney.
McKinney isn’t my personal cup of tea, but he’s a much better athlete than he’s given credit for. He’s good in the box against the run. Additionally his length is going to make it much harder to throw over him in zone. He would be a bigger longer younger Demeco as far as how we would deploy him.
I personally prefer two sideline to sideline guys, Eagles must disagree. Of the two I would prefer Anthony as he’s a superior athlete.
I don’t get the whole “play him outside” thing. If it’s two years from now he still doesn’t get it mentally and you say screw it from a size profile let’s try him at OLB or DE, I get that, but not yet.
Top shelf.
The Eagles have survived the losses of:
– Sonny Jurgensen
– Leroy Caffey
– Randy Beisler
– Irv Cross
– Bob Brown
– Izzy Lang
– Jim Nettles
– Maxie Baughn
– Timmy Brown
– Alvin Haymond
– Mike Ditka
– Mark Mosely
– Tim Rossovich
– Dan Yochum
– Harold Jackson
– Steve Preece
– Billy Walik
– Po James
– Joe Bird Lavender
– Mike Hogan
– Blenda Gay
– Herb Lusk
– John Walton
– Woody Peoples
– Charlie Johnson
– Al Chesley
– Jerry Robinson
– Tony Franklin
– Max Runager . . . and that’s just though the early ’80s
In a manner that hasn’t yielded a title since 1960.
No one player has ever been bigger than this franchise.
Maybe true……… if you’re excluding Ditka.
Nice play!
I till think we were one TO bum ankle away from beating the pats…
Or our D-line not getting any pressure. LBs not being smart enough to get out and cover swing passes to the RBs. Poor blitz pickup by the o-line. Mistakes by McNabb.
Big list there.
But a non-injured TO would have been a big help.
Roy Williams can burn in hell.
if Kendricks is gone, they will have to draft a ILB in the first 5 rounds.. Id bet ANYTHING that Chip wont go into next season counting on Meco to start after tearing his achilles in november 4 month ago. I dont think there is a coach or GM in the NFL that would go into the 2015 season counting on Demeco to start,,..thats why i think he is still an eagle. i think chip has to much respect for him at his age to throw him out on his ass 4 months after surgery, not even halfway thru the rehab… think people are viewing Mecos role for next year all wrong.,..think we are counting on him much more in the locker room then we will count on him on the field… alot of locker room change, friends lost, new personalities are joining, Meco, Celeks leadership become more important then ever…only other oldhead we really have is Jason Peters, if Mathis is getting cut…
…
i see no way they think he can start in september, and i think its more likely that they hope if Mykal or Kiko have to miss a game or two in November, that he can either fill in, or help out the young LB get ready that week to fill a starters shoes
In other news, Chip Kelly just called me and asked if I’d like to come in for a QB workout.
And you threw the ball with more timing, accuracy, and “zip” than Tebow.
Physically he looks strong, when he throws the ball you’re right, my timing, accuracy and zip is better, and I only throw a little better than my grandmother.
Kelly’s made no secret that he likes players who bring flexibility to the team’s decision-making process.
So . . . Kelly should bring in Belichick.
He’s young. He can play the inside OL positions.
And best of all, he can do pro-personnel scouting based on direct, hand-to-hand experience with opposing D-linemen.
How many scouts can say that?
Tebow as a faith healer makes some possible sense. As the 3rd QB, not so much.
If I am Barkley, I am strongly reevaluating other career options.
I think a Cherokee Medicine Man is working in a more legitimate state of mind.
Make sure to note the score of the game on that TD pass over C. Williams.
That makes the throw itself less impressive?
It does actually. When you’re down 30-0, high risk throws are table stakes. He never would attempt that throw in a close game.
That would be like picking out the interceptions from a QB whose team is about to lose the game and needs some last minute points. You can’t fault him for a pick, and the pick doesn’t make it a bad throw.
We had the same issues with our prevent defenses.
Exactly.
Bull. Every INT of that type proves Eli Manning sucks. Learn football, will ya!
I’m just saying the throw itself was good regardless of the situation
I just think that a high risk throw in garbage time isn’t a good way to look at him is all.
You’re getting awfully close to being a Romo apologist.
I think Kendricks is slightly overrated in that a lot of people think he’s a future all-pro when in reality he’s just an above-average LB. The problem comes next year when he’s up for a contract extension and he’s looking to get paid in the $9 million range where Timmons, Mayo, and Bowman are. It’s going to be hard to afford that along with Murray’s high cap number, and extensions that need to be given out to Cox and Bradford. It’s not necessarily a scheme decision from the Eagles standpoint to trade him.
I obviously wouldn’t like trading him since it leaves us with Ryans (coming off a torn achilles) and Kiko (coming off a torn ACL). But it would help matters if they are able to get good value for him and then draft a better replacement like McKinney or Anthony.
H-E-R-E-S-Y
Kendricks grew on me (but not height wise, so another reason why Chip might not want him long term) this year because I was another full year away from his attempts to cover a half crippled Antonio Gates in 2013.
Great memories of that game. Note Kendricks in the beret at the :40 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwgT6QJHB0M
I disagree, Kendricks has pro bowl tools. Before he got hurt last year he was playing at a pro bowl level. I think he’ll be there again this year too.
Don’t think Ryans will be ready to start the season.
For me, it depends on the return. Unless someone is offering something completely crazy, I wouldn’t trade Cox. I would love to keep Kendricks, but if there is a great offer for him, I can life with it.
I just wouldn’t like a 2nd rounder or something like that. We invested a 2nd rounder and it paid of. Yes, it’s contract time after the season, but still. A 1st or two 2nds, then we’re talking. A good player (Safety, f.e.) + a 3rd or a 4th (if the player is good), and we’re talking.
I hope that if Chip is selling, he isn’t selling low.
That is why I think it’s going to be a draft night deal. It’s going to be moving Kendricks for a second, and then taking Anthony with that pick. Chip will view it as trading MK95 for a younger, bigger player, with 3 additional cost controlled years.
That would be bananas though, because there’s no guarantee the new guy can even play in the league, much less be as good as MK.
Of course, Chip appears to have gone bananas so I guess this could happen.
I’m not saying I personally agree with it, but Chip loves measurable, they are pretty actively looking at ILB’s considering they currently have 6 who all have top 53 talent, and now we’re hearing reports that the team may not be as in love with him as the fans are, on top of Demeco staying.
I’m just connecting dots.
It’s their job to look at these players regardless of whether or not we’re going to draft them or not. I wouldn’t put that much stock in pre-draft visits.
But on the other hand, I read today that the only guy we drafted last year who didn’t have a visit was Huff, who obviously didn’t need a visit.
And visits are limited. So I guess, it could play a role. Especially if we can rule out a smokescreen. Why should we pretend to be interested in ILB when we aren’t?
“and now we’re hearing reports that the team may not be as in love with him as the fans are”
Where do we hear that?
Another question: what do you think it would take for Chip to trade Cox? He was really raving about him last year, calling him defensive MVP and being disruptive on every down etc.
I think from all the guys being here pre Chip, he may have the safest roster spot. And I agree with that, we just saw with Suh how valuable inside pressure can be on the open market. Cox doesn’t put up huge numbers, which is a good thing for our salary cap, but he’s a great player and still young enough to improve.
Apparently Ray Diddy said it on WIP the other night.
I agree that Cox is least likely to be moved but if the price was right, I think Chip would at least consider it.
Agree, gotta do what’s best for the team. If billy b can send wilfork to tx can’t be afraid to move on from guys
Seriously? Wilfork is at the end of his career. kendricks hasnt reached his prime yet. there is no comparison in these situations
Wouldn’t like it, to be honest. Anthony could be a bust (I don’t know him, not saying he’s a bad player, but there is risk involved, with every prospect), we know Kendricks can play.
I get cost control, but I want more than a 2nd. Now, Kendricks for a 2nd (Anthony) and a 3rd or a 2016 2nd, f.e., if you really like Anthony, fine. But I wouldn’t like this one on one deal, even with a new contract for Kendricks around the corner.
I don’t like it either, but I’m pretty sure the team is trying to pull it off.
MK95 for Gipson straight up?
If by better you mean bigger sure. But Anthony and McKinney are not better football players than MK95.
McKinney is the same player as Demeco. He’s just big and is a huge downgrade from Kendricks.
Just to make you kindly aware that C/G Wisniewski still has not signed with a team…
Seattle. Not yet, but it’ll happen.
No reason for the delay if he really wanted to go to Seattle. They don’t have to open up cap room. Probably searching for a better financial offer.
I mean he does have familiarity that just paid Nate Allen like a top 5 safety.
Why aren’t the Raiders interested? Do you know that?
They signed Rodney Hudson to play C. They could have interest in him to play guard.
I’ve read some of their fans in comment sections say that he’s average and that they should upgrade their roster and not retain average talent, because that’s not what the Raiders of the hey day did.
In other words he’s decent but Raiders fans don’t understand roster construction considering how far they have to go.
I mean, did they watch tape of Nate Allen? Rather invest good money for avarage (at worst) than bad.
Nate is still probably an average S in this league as much as everyone wants to give him shit. Granted the Raiders massively overpaid, but it’s the Raiders, they have to.
I would love it if we signed Tebow. It would fit perfectly into this offseason.
Embrace the insanity.
So, we’re probably going to dump Kendricks for a second rounder in order to draft………Kendricks! Keep up the madness Chip! These moves don’t even bother me anymore.
D3FB: Can you talk a bit about the advantages and disadvantages between a two handed technique when blocking as compared to a one handed? I ask this because I was watching Scherrf and noticed a lot of single hand.
Who the hell is blocking with one hand?
Scherrf and he does it often.
Oh on zone schemes?
I dnt know that much but it is often when he is riding a guy to the outside.
It’s so that he keeps his hips from turning back towards the play. He wants to get the defender to run with him to create space for the running back to cut up the field. It’s also common for the player who is working up to the second level to just punch with his backside hand and keep the DL from backdooring him while the other man works to overtake.
Ok, because if he turns his hips to square up to the defender, the defender can use a rush move on him more easily. His inside hand extends so the rusher can’t use the spin for example to the inside and if the defender tries to do a rip or something, he varies himself right into the tackle! The next question becomes, how do you beat that technique? Quickness & good rushing technique so you can beat the OT to the outside?
The job of the OT on stretch plays or outside zone plays is to over take the DE to allow the running back the outside running lane. If you can’t overtake him at least force him to continue to run to the sidelines and widen the play.
For the defense the DE wants to set the edge, keep outside leverage on the OT and not allow him to hook you. If he does force you to continue to widen, then it is up to the linebackers to fill the widening cut back run lanes.
Where are you guys getting these Kendricks rumors from?
I haven’t seen anything from the usual channels.
I will be pissed if they move Kendricks. Him and Cox are the two guys I view as untouchable. I view Kiko as a downgrade espevially coming off the injury. Kendricks has rare sped at the position. Him and Kiko would be an elite duo in the middle of our D.
However keeping Ryans at his salary plus the interest we are showing in rookie ILBs makes tradung Kendricks a real possibility.
Maybe they just want to fill the void of Casey Matthews?
And Lane too
Seems to me that people are taking the details and seeing patterns where they’d could potentially fit. After the Desean saga last year and all the trades this year, it all certainly seems possible.
Ok more draft talk. Which guys do you want to avoid at pick 20?
Landon Collins
Oh right I forgot about that guy. I wrote him off as a draft target unless he was there at round 3.
So many damn mocks have us picking him.
Jalen Collins.
With all of the Collins hate..what about La’el Collins?
He’s the man
He’s ok. A bit too much of a waist bender for me personally.