RBs ‘r Us
Posted: March 12th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 565 Comments »The Eagles signed DeMarco Murray today. And Ryan Mathews.
I think I predicted that a few weeks back. Or maybe not. Okay, no man or machine in the known universe had any idea this was coming.
Chip Kelly continues to surprise us. He now has Sam Bradford handing the ball to a 2-headed monster of Murray and Mathews, while throwing to Darren Sproles on 3rd down.
Crazy.
I have mixed feelings on Murray. Love the player, unsure about the deal. I am excited because he is the most physical runner in Philly in a long time. You’d have to go back to Ricky Watters of 1995 or maybe even Heath Sherman of 1992. Those were punishing runners. Tackling them was no fun.
A lot of people are trying to use numbers to compare Shady McCoy and Murray. That is missing the point in a huge way. I love Shady to death. You can still make a strong argument that he’s the #2 RB in the NFL (to Adrian Peterson). But there is value in having a N-S runner who gets behind his pads and attacks up the field.
Shady was a bit like a baseball player that heavily mixed strikeouts and home runs. Murray is the guy who rarely strikes out and is a doubles machine. You lose the spectacular, but gain consistency. I think there is real value in that at the RB position.
It is a lot easier for coaches and QBs to deal with 2nd/7 than 2nd/10. Those 3 yards don’t sound like much, but they add up. They keep the chains moving in the right direction.
Shady made great strides in the last 3 years and cut down on moving laterally in the backfield. He used to almost do it by default. He became more judicious about it, but still did it more than Chip Kelly liked. Murray is going to hit the hole or make one cut and attack an opening. He understands the value in going forward. You can’t always look for space. Sometimes you just have to go where the play is designed.
I’m as curious as everyone else on how Kelly is going to get maximum production from M&M. Both guys have had some injuries, but both have also been workhorse backs. The Saints used to do a great job at maximizing the talents of various RBs. It can be done very effectively. You need a creative coach. You need an offense committed to running the ball. That sounds like Chip.
I need to look into the deal before really talking about value and how this does or doesn’t make sense. For now, I’m enjoying the thought of having a physical runner in this offense. I think Murray is a great fit and can be a big help to the offense becoming more consistent.
* * * * *
One development I’m not so keen on is this.
The #Eagles are working to trade G Evan Mathis, source said. More craziness.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 12, 2015
Source close to situation confirms that @EvanMathis69 trade is indeed close.
— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) March 12, 2015
Barf.
Evan is a terrific player, but also a player you love to have on your team. He isn’t cheap and he’s a bit older, but I’m not real keen on this move. The Eagles aren’t going to get great return because of his age and price.
There was a report that the Patriots might be interested.
What do you do at LG? Matt Tobin showed real promise there in the summer of 2013 and parts of last year. He played RG during the season, but is much more natural on the left side. Tobin is young and cheap so there is some logic to giving him a shot at that job.
The Eagles need to get OL help in the draft. Initially that was thought to be for depth, but now could be for a starter as well. There is a hole at RG and very possibly at LG as well.
I would love for Evan to stick around, but unfortunately it doesn’t sound like that will be happening.
Just get him out of the NFC East so I can cheer for him.
_
pc at 7:30 – signing deal now per espn report
Perfect, Flyers / Blues is at 8.
What are we going to do with all these RBs, anyway?
You’re going to jinx things Tommy. I don’t think he’s signed the deal officially.
think they are about to have a presser. and he is signing now.
Haven’t seen that in the twitterverse.
Official Eagles Twitter feed just tweeted it out
Repost from dying thread:
I have a thought about the eagles Guard situation. People have been saying that it has been a cap/age issue with toddfather and Mathis, but i am wondering if it is a change in direction on type of player.
Todd and Mathis were inherited by Chip, and both had contract situations that made them tough to cut/trade and performances were good enough to keep them about. Now that their deadmoney is running down we can move on more safely.
We have been assuming we needed hyper athletic guards since that is what we had before from when we brought in Howard Mudd, but maybe chip wants a slightly different body type/style now he has control.
As long that the body style isn’t “turtled” or “turnstiled” like was far too often the case last year with the guys we have slated to start; I’m up for what ever body type you’d suggest.
LOL
Barbre, Graf, Tobin, Gardener
Aaron Wilson
@RavensInsider
8s8 seconds ago
Redskins are closing in on a deal with Terrance “Pot Roast” Knighton, according to a league source
Imagine that fat slug trying to keep up with Kelly’s no-huddle
Imagine the female reproductive organs we have slated to start at guard trying to block him.
He’s an outstanding nose tackle, actually.
Yeah, I know. But if he’s a Redskin by default he sucks.
Agreed. Boneyard of careers…….unless you’re trying to cover the new WR with Nate Allen as safety help.
It’s official.
Philadelphia Eagles
@Eagles
29s30 seconds ago
#WaitingForDeMarco is over.
#Eagles agree to terms on a five-year deal with the reigning @nfl rushing leader.
DeMarco Murray
Nice.
Tommy, how would you feel about Stefan Wisniewski as the starting Guard in place of Mathis? I’m inclined to think it would be a solid move. Wisniewski becomes the primary backup at Center, as well as the starting Guard. He has started for the Raiders at both Guard (initially) and Center (most recently).
Rumored to be the new Seattle center nowt that they traded Unger.
Time to derail that rumor.
kelly on now!
Just came to say this.
“I was told there would be no math.” -Chip Kelly
Aaron Wilson
@RavensInsider
3m3 minutes ago
Terrance Knighton is signing a one-year, $4 million contract with the Washington Redskins, according to a league source
That’s good value. Apparently the guy showed up out of shape on his visits and made teams leery of signing him.
Hate to say it but that’s an awesome move by the Skins who have been real quiet
they finally have a GM who knows what he’s doing
Did he cut RG3 yet? That would be the ultimate litmus test.
You mean like… Haynesworth?
Haynesworth jokes aside, the year the Skins were in a 4-3 with him there they allowed a league low 2.4 yards per rush with him on the field.
He was a very good player but they tried to use him in the wrong role
Brandon Lee Gowton
@BrandonGowton
36s37 seconds ago
Chip said he thought DeMarco would be out of Eagles price range at beginning of free agency.
Eagles Insider
@EaglesInsider
45s46 seconds ago
Kelly: We thought the three best guys in FA were Gore, Murray and Mathews and we wanted to get two in order to replace LeSean
Shots fired at CJ Spiller lol
They missed. He was already laying down with an injury.
CJ Spiller ruined my fantasy team two years ago, so I would have been pissed
More like a cannon. This might trigger him to go to the Cowgirls now.
Chip says they’re keeping Polk. Never know what will happen with injuries.
I’m sure Polk will sustain one.
No Evan Mathis questions!?
What if Chip answered it with “next question?”
Chip Kelly is really going all out with the movie references in this press conference.
If Demarco and Sam say healthy and that is a HUGE if I think they will both excel in this O
Get me some guard help, please!
I will go sacrifice a goat to the football injury god. Brb.
With respect to Mathis, said they’ve had discussions about everyone on team and how they would replace them if they moved him, no untouchables, if they’d trade McCoy/Foles they’d trade anyone
Yeah I heard him. Thanks for all updates.
Geoff Mosher
@GeoffMosherCSN
1m1 minute ago
Chip repeats he is “philosophically opposed” to moving up in the draft, wants more picks, not fewer. #NoMariota
0 replies
12 retweets
5 favorites
He also said that foles would be the QB for the next 1000 years
yeah i wouldn’t take anything he has to say about that stuff as gospel, but what else is he going ot say really?
“I need to do a better job”
*Chip trades up for Mariota*
Reporter: I thought you said you were opposed to trading up?
Chip: That was the plan. I just didn’t execute.
a new circumstance presented itself.
“eat me Howard”?
Fun to keep talking about that, but he said that jokingly to piss off some reporters.
Okay, enough slacking Eagles
No rest for you, go get us a WR and S damnit.
and a couple of guards
There aren’t any good ones left.
can’t really be sure of that.
http://walterfootball.com/freeagents2015G.php
What names do you like on here?
Ehh only one I would really consider is maybe Gabe Carimi. I wouldn’t mind taking a flyer on him to play guard. Apparently played better for TB last season.
Yeah, that’s why I’m a little bummed.
Damn, Iupati is getting 8M/yr from Arizona. That should be enough to pay 2 starting guards.
I didn’t say I knew who they are. There are always O-linemen who come out of seemingly nowhere and turn out to be good. To me, most of them are just names. And I would look at available tackles; sometimes a bad tackle can be a decent guard if it’s a matter of footwork.
I hear what you’re saying, I’m just bummed we didn’t get a good replacement for Herremans. Having to get two new starters at guard is demoralizing.
This is true but OLs have to be able to move well in a zone blocking scheme.
Yes… and they have to be on the lookout for guys who might fit well in this scheme but not as well in the scheme they’re already in, etc.
Anyone know much about Joseph Barksdale? He was a 2nd round pick that busted with Oakland and from what I’ve read has played pretty well at RT with Saint Louis. Does STL run a man or zone scheme? Maybe a little heavy for what we want.
I’d also like them to consider Mike Pollak. Older but has played well.
If he’s related to Avon Barkesdale of Baltimore, I know he’s one tough dude.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/84/ed/b1/84edb15547ea94d8d2384070c25cc5b6.jpg
“Where’s (Al) Wallace at?”
Any “Wire” reference gets an automatic like from me.
I heard a pretty good one just got put on the trading block. Went to the pro bowl the last two years, and was all-pro in 2013. A little old, but I bet the Eagles could get him for practically nothing.
Chip says he doesn’t want Demarco with over 300 carries which is awesome
All of this trade activity is going to ruin my GPA. I thought it would be a safe bet to go back to school in the offseason.
Please, try being a high school senior, already accepted to college, who doesn’t care anymore and is keeping up with this offseason lol
Enjoy, young Eagles brother. Some day you’ll be telling your son about the day the Eagles stole the Cowboys O MVP.
Haha that’s one of the reasons I’m happy we got Murray. The only thing that sucks about being my age is that I didn’t really get to see Dawkins and Westbrook and mcnabb play all that much.
They were great, but we had lots of heartbreak with all those losses in the Conference Championships. Let’s wash those near-misses away with a Super Bowl championship under Chip.
Also, congratulations on being accepted to college!
Preach. That’s seems real disappointing. And thanks!
Hey, do you mind if I ask what was your first Eagles game? I’m sitting here with my 12 year-old son, his first game was the 44-6 killing of the Cowboys in 2008.
My earlies memory was seeing mcnabb throw a bomb to T.O. For a touchdown and I was like “yeah, I like this team” full game idk
We thought Donovan to T.O. would lead to multiple Lombardi trophies. Alas, not to be.
That seems to be the narrative, same with what mcnabb could have done with decent receivers.
Don never complained publicly, which I always thought was evidence of his being a class act.
Did andy Reid or the gm or anyone ever explain why nothing was ever invested into the WR position? I know they drafted some guys but they sucked
Seemed like Reid was convinced he oculd plug anyone into his scheme and it would work. They did use a #1 pick on Freddie Mitchell, who turned out to be a complete bust. He did, though, make one of the greatest catches in Eagles history. If you’re not familiar, Google “4th and 26.” The next great wr adventure was T.O. So much promise…
college is a waste of money.
I think it depends. You need it to do certain things like engineering, accounting, medicine etc but it’s definately overpriced.
Enjoy it! It goes fast.
I can imagine, high school seems to have gone by so fast but it seems like the last time I played football (late November) was forever ago and it seems even longer ago I was a freshman
Murray thanked Howie!
He’s gone. Murray, Bradford, and the #20 to the Jets for #6.
Usually the free agent signing bonuses make it impossible to trade new signees right away — the entire cap hit gets accelerated immediately without ever playing for you. Bradford doesn’t have that issue though.
In what context?
It was just thanking Chip, Lurie, Howie etc. for the chance
Demarco having PC now on the mothership
So Demarco said he had a couple of better offers
Rivalry discount.
Not the Raiders discount
Man, they’re really having trouble spending that money. Maybe they’ll just give bonuses to everyone this year.
People going to the Jags over them
FL v CA state tax laws. If I’m going to sacrifice dignity for money, I’m making sure I take home as much of it as I can.
He must have really wanted to stick it to the Cowboys
“Chip Kelly bought some eggs, a few apples, some blueberries, vanilla, traded for some flour, cut the brown sugar, released the baking soda, acquired three tons of butter and drafted a lemon.”
Let’s just enjoy this offseason and taste the damn pie before we say it sucks.
too many different fruits in that pie
Too many fruits/too many RBs. Chip is unconventional!! Steak on thanksgiving!!
Yea, it’s looking like a tart at this point.
there we go again, why’s it gotta be cut the BROWN sugar?
come on man…
Wait a second, Chip went from dynamic offense to 3 yards and a cloud of dust? That’s 80s football baby!
He’s smart, has watched what successful teams do.
Tape other teams at practice?
deflating balls
Take PEDs?
When you practice “sports science”, those are called “smoothies”
Chip takes PED’s and beats players.
I mean it though if were gealthy , despite all the losses we are better than last year
Demarco said he came to philly because he wanted to be on a team that could win a superbowl. Received whistles and applause from all the media
Those were Eagles staffers in the back of the room. Also loud applause when he finished.
Meanwhile, we’re still in doom and gloom mode because of Bradford trade
I like Bradford just fine. I would have liked moving from 20 to 10 and getting a conditional 2016 pick even more though.
forgot to add trade after bradford.
Browns re-signed TE Jordan Cameron to a two-year, $15 million contract.
Free agent Cecil Shorts is drawing interest from the Jets.
Not so fast. Reports are he let Miami jump in and he’s signing with them.
apparently not done yet Miami is back in on him.
This plan is power running no franchise qb needed? Along with getting some pretty good defensive players and the draft still to come.
Sam is our franchise QB
Even teams with Peyton, Brady, etc. have power running games. That’s partially why Fred Jackson still has a job.
We need some OL, make it happen Chip!
In the event that Mathis gets traded what Guards you want to sign because I don’t want draft 2 there is Collins and Mr.Long Name
Damn we gonna need 2 OGs. Somebody call Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg.
We will be throwing up those Ws in no time.
Not that it matters since SB is our franchise, but now we have conflicting reports on MM.
i posted some video below, it was whatever.
I wonder what jason peters is thinking…. and you know after chip said anyone can be traded they gonna get some calls for peters now.
Didn’t chip extend Jason last year? He is a chip guy.
Hope he doesnt feel some sort of way watcing everybody get traded tho..
Which position do you guys rate as our biggest need?
QB
We have Chip’s ideal QB though.
Guard, WR, S probably in that order
OG, S, WR
That would be the correct order IMO.
CB, S, G, WR.
There’s still no one that you can feel good about as the 2nd CB.
Lots of guys out there trying i’d give them all a chance, even though we don’t have a “name”.
There’s literally no insurance if Maxwell is just a system CB. Ughh I don’t even want to think about it right now.
At 22million guaranteed over the next 2 years there is nothing you could do to ensure that.
Maybe backup plan is a better choice of words.
what corner isn’t a system corner? Who thrives without good safety play or in spite of bad safety play that we could get?
We’ve gone the “mid level route”.
The ones that sit there on an island.
Maxwell’s contract isn’t mid-level at all. That’s a low end #1 CB contract. I doubt we’ve gone “mid level” after having awful secondaries for two years. Chip can’t be that ignorant to not notice that the Superbowl teams have stud secondaries. As for safeties, we’ll probably draft one or they have high faith that one of our DBs can play opposite of Jenkins.
I think it’s a lot better than last year. Boykin and Thurmond get a shot at the outside, at least they have speed. I think G is way more important in terms of need rather than S.
I think Chip might go oline heavy this draft.
Two very good OL Ducks available.
Not sure if this is sarcasm, but I did read Fisher(? spelling) looked good today.
He’s right Grassu and Fisher are both to 60 picks
people said he had the best pro day out of any duck
I agree oreofestar. Need a fast WR to spread the secondary. This opens passing and running lanes.
Phillip Dorsett maybe? Would be a nice addition.
Like a DeSean Jackson type of guy?
G or S
1) Safety
2) Guard
3) WR
Safety is the biggest issue – need someone in FA because you are screwed if you go into this draft Needing a Safety to start week 1.
Guard depends on their internal valuation of Babre and Tolbin – they are high on them but i imagine we have to get at least 1 more starter via draft or FA.
WR will be drafted.
That’s just media brainwashing. Our backup OL is at best just backups.
I think Tolbin has upside, he got moved around and had a high ankle strain – i think it is hard to project based on a hodgepodge line where there is no continuity.
Babre was injured from the start and has played well before so the team could be banking on him.
There’s no continuity on this team. You’re too brainwashed man.
plenty of continuity. haven’t won a playoff game since 2008.
safety drought since Dawkins left!!
S. How do we get this defense to work otherwise?
OG is also critical but not as hard to fill.
Not sure why Mathis is considered tradable.
Age+salary don’t want to just throw him away though need some kind of good offer but u doubt we’ll get one, could end up being an Eagle anyway
I can always hope that the talk of trading Mathis is just a rumor that he himself created to take over twitter
he was trolling all of us?
just a thought I just came up with. Would be the ultimate practical joke for him
He (and his agent) were given permission to seek a trade last off-season; if I remember correctly, Eagles were asking for a 3rd in return. There were no takers. Mathis wanted more $$ (guaranteed, I think?) than the Birds were willing to pay. So, back to the drawing board this off-season.
Wow. Like 40 replies under your question and not one person said GM. Is Chip regaining a little trust?
hope Saints are having fire sale. Would love Cooks.
and Byrd.
Don’t get me started lol
Apparently him and Brees are only ones not available
Byrd’s contract is untradeable for the Saints – so much dead money to eat.
He’snot getting traded. Most of them aren’t but I guess he isn’t viewed as untouchable
$15mil dead money hit if he is traded cannot be traded this year.
Byrd’s cap hit in dead money would be $16M.
I will say this. All these moves CK is making, helps me not to be mad at the Flyers or Phillies. There will be plenty of time this summer to be mad at the Phillies, but for now, I am all focused on what the Eagles are doing.
I gave up on the Flyers a couple of years ago. Think they are moving in the right direction but i probably wont care much for 1-2 years. Phillies suck and how Ruben still has a job beggars belief. Would rather watch Ironpigs.
Phillies will suck for many years to come. If Hextall could move just two more bad contracts this offseason, I’d be happy.
I think the Sixers are fine as long as Embiid is healthy. Noel has improved dramatically and they are just missing a guard.
Well i think they miss a 1,2 and a 3 who are able to play. But i think this is an interesting draft, Russel @ 3or4 and Mario @ 6 would solve a Lot of problems. Grow a year and see if there is a big FA in 2016 who wants to come play the 3.
I’m really high on Saric and think he’s going to be a solid 3 for us. But, he won’t be here next year so that doesn’t help.
Think Saric can be the rotation 4 with Noel. when the other team rotates put him in for better offence when you don’t need Noel’s dominant defensive powers.
I like the way you think. I will never argue about too much talent in the frontcourt. Saric is fast enough to play the 3, but if they get one in the draft – he could easily play both positions.
Now we just need to work on our backcourt.
I thought Saric was a three. From what little video I’ve seen he’s an NBA wingman who can shoot and drive to the basket.
I think Saric can play either 3 or stretch 4. You can move Noel to C when Embiid is out of the game and play Dario at 4, or play him at 4 with Embiid, or go big with all 3 on the court, and get everyone plenty of burn. You can never have too many good frontcourt players.
Need to get guards now. Russell/Mudiay + Hezonja is my dream draft right now (though if they’re picking one or two they’d have to at least consider Okafor or Towns and figure out the glut-of-big-guys problem later).
What’s wrong with Covington at the 3/stretch 4 role….he can actually shoot the 3 unlike anyone on the team…heck what about Canaan at the 1….him and ish smith have different skill sets but are worth look through next year as we aren’t getting a better 1 in this years draft as I don’t think mudiay is in play for us…
TBH I dont have the package so I’ve seen few games. I’m going off news/highlights. I like them but I know hinkie wants a stellar 1, IMO that’s partially why MCW was traded. When all is said and done I see Covington as a 6th man in a perfect world. I love how these kids are improving and with basically 2 lottery picks to add to the mix.
I don’t think we are getting 6 this year and I’d draft Towns over anyone including Russe and I don’t car e if he’s a big
Yeah but i am assuming Okafor/Towns goes 1/2. and i think we are not a ‘lucky’ enough franchise to be rewarded with with the first pick.
Right now it’s all Eagles for me, but I enjoy the Sixers’ rebuild as well.
Yes, the one thing that has kept me from jumping off a bridge. They have hope.
What the hell? I make a simple request to hold off for two hours while I was away. Instead, I find 140 new comment. I expected this, bunch of hooligan commenters and all of that. But a whole new thread? Et tu, Tommy?
not to mention a Chip press conference
Isn’t that dyslexia?
I want to hear from DEUCE!!! get him behind the mic…
Whether or not you were a fan of Joe Banner the executive, he is gold on Twitter
Got to love a guy that just doesn’t give a fricking flip anymore, pretty clear he’s not worrying about trying to get another job in the league
He actually has another job. He works for the Falcons.
I love how chip was saying they LOST McCoy…
nah he tossed mccoy
Apparently Cordarelle Paterson is on the trading block, anybody think we should be interested?
ME!
and chip
That was my thinking. From what I read the kid is as dumb as a doorknob but I think he can thrive running basic routes in this offense.
i’d take a doorknob with his speed..
we need speed ever since we LOST our speedy guy
Agreed!.. He also has the big x-factor we are missing, DREADS!!!
He screwed up my fantasy team, so I say NO.
mathis for cordarelle
Get it done!!
Using Kelly’s litmus test . . .
Only if trading for him will bring the Eagles more draft picks — the way Bradford did.
Did I miss a re-clarification of the Bradford deal? Yesterday we were losing picks…
I think ACV was joking.
Well, we are (potentially) getting a conditional pick back for Sammy B. depending on how everything works out in the future…..
Not for a high pick. He’s a knucklehead, not sure if he’s smart enough for Chip’s offense.
I bet Kelly threw out Andy Reid’s old desk and bookshelves too.
Gotta thank Lesean for talking Gore out of it lol
I am still waiting for news about Mathis trade. Has there been ay new information?
Tavon, Patterson and Stills are all supposedly available, should we think about any of them?
Cooks
I wish
Patterson right?
No Patterson cannot play WR. Nor has Austin demonstrated he can in the NFL. The only answer is Stills.
The Murray signing gives me a lot more confidence in the Eagles, but it doesn’t necessarily give me more confidence in Chip Kelly as a GM. It feels to me like Murray kind of just fell into their laps. Signing Murray wasn’t part of the plan. I think Kelly just got lucky.
That is not a fair argument because you can make the same statement about every player that hits free agency for whatever reason.
including his plan As that he lost out on.
Exactly, like Maclin fell in Reid’s lap, etc.
Can you name the big time wide outs outs the Hawks and Pats?
graham and gronk
Graham? Gronk? Are they not TE’s?
both of those guys are mainly receivers.
I love playing games . How long has Graham been on the hawks as a wide out? You really come up small here. Why would you troll with nothing to say?
are you saying that Bradford = Brady?
Pretty much
Where did I bring up a QB?
reference to pedestrian WRs on Pats.
That team’s all about Brady.
No harm meant.
None taken
And there is no Brady tree to pick from. Wilbert Montgomery was picked in the sane round as Tom Brady. We can only hope for the best as fans. And i have been that for a very long time.
That isn’t the argument I am making. My argument was about the statement “DeMarco fell into Chip’s Lap”. And how you can say that about every FA, Mac was the example.
Ok .Is there something wrong with us getting lucky?
Not at all. The Murray signing turns what was a mess into a positive. I’m saying getting lucky doesn’t make Kelly a good GM. It makes him lucky. This time.
Who’s a good GM in football?
Rowie Hoseman.
You don’t give yourself enough credit.
He’ll no, I would argue we are owed some good luck
Edit: that should be hell…
Now the glass is half full.
An unfamiliar feeling for Eagles fans.
It’s not a good example. Maclin is an example of going out there and getting the guy you want even if he costs you more than he is worth. He didn’t fall into Reid’s lap. Reid overpayed for him.
You can say the same thing about DeMarco. That’s my point, your argument isn’t sound because it’s based on how you feel not objectivity.
No you can’t say the same thing about Murray. Murray called the Eagles. He wasn’t an Eagles target until he started waving his hands in the air saying “over here! pick me”
Chip, DeMarco and DeMarco’s dad all said Chip made the call
Thank you
Again, read the dallas papers; Murray called Chip BACK, not first
Shady didn’t go to free agency. He was traded.
Your statement did not say anything about shady, just that Murray fell in his lap. Regardless, clearly there were several plans for RB without shady. Furthermore, without knowing their draft plans with a deep RB class who is to say what their full plan with contingencies was
So did Bradford. I think Kelly has ADHD..
I think he looks at positions and not players… and to an extent playing moneyball by equating stats that win games to money.
Yesterday when the Eagles were sitting with Sproles and Polk as their top 2 RBS the argument was that having a top RB wasn’t important Kelly’s system. Now that they’ve signed Murray and Matthews I guess it is pretty important?
If he looks at position and not players he’s done a 180 at the RB position in 24 hours.
had to replace 1,400 yd (avg./yr….ish) production.
The argument…from fans trying to figure out what was going on. Just as likely, Kelly was thinking he could pick up a good RB easier than a good ILB.
100%. They didn’t like what they saw at the combine.
You should listen to Chip’s presser to help sort information:
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/videos/videos/Press-Conference-Chip-Kelly/7f38fc69-f505-4979-a3a4-d9ebc0a550dd
That kind of sounds like rationalizing a negative perspective. One could just as easily commend his flexibility in adjusting his plans when opportunity presents itself. In the end, though, he got quality results.
I disagree. The swing from a negative to a positive opinion of this free agency period for most Eagles fans hinges on one player: DeMarco Murray. If they hadn’t signed Murray most fans would still be outraged by what has gone on.
“But they did sign Murray!” one might say. Yeah, after Murray called them and asked to join to the team. I don’t there’s a lot of future in counting on Dallas to piss off its players with lowball offers in order for Chip Kelly to succeed as a GM.
There’s still the draft, and if Chip Kelly does well there it will go a long way to changing my opinion of his ability to manage player personnel. But if we go through a draft where most of the picks are head scratchers, players that everyone else has projected to go two rounds later, then it’s going to be hard to make a reasonable argument that Kelly has the skill to do the GM job.
Wrong, Murray called Chip back, according to Murray`s father; he did not initiate the dialogue.( Read it in the Dallas newspaper)
chip said the same.
In the press conference, Kelly said Murray calling him was untrue, he called Murray. The Eagles had three guys targeted, with hopes of getting two of them. They went after Gore, but lost him and ended up with the other two.
The problem I had with your line of reasoning is that you seem to be working from the media interpretation being fact and when things turn out better, it was luck. Perhaps assuming that Kelly’s description of events is closer to the truth swings too far towards naïve, but I find it hard to believe he would reach this position if he were as blind to his shortcomings as you seem to think.
So what is the next stage of Chips master off season plan? my guess is #MoreTrades.
My wild fantasy is something like Mathis/Boykin/5th round pick for Keenan Lewis.
I hope we are trying to find a Safety although where in this league with like 15 competent safeties i have no idea.
i’m sure boykin has been shopped, but unclear if they’d get anything decent back. all of this should have happened in year one, but it had to happen at some time, needed to get younger and get scheme fits.
we have the top 2 backs running from shotgun last year. that’s crazy
I thought Chip said Boykin will compete for an outside corner spot.
Bank on it! Lol
In NO.
Beat writer Rick Stroud is skeptical the Bucs would execute a trade for
Peterson, but does concede Tampa Bay “isn’t thrilled with its running
back position.”
We’ve got a QB and an extra back
Bradford “sign and trade.” Sadly, I don’t think Chip is interested.
Would cost cap we don’t have now.
Good point; not doable in NFL
It’s better than burning books, which they can’t do because they don’t know how to read.
One of the Eagles’ LBs coaches attended Michigan’s pro day. Jake Ryan is the only guy of note there I believe.
What about Funchess
At LB.
Gotcha
Looking at the dollars, it seems the issue wasn’t the salary, it was the player. Chip thinks Murray is worth the big bucks, not Shady.
DM bucks were not as big as Shady’s big bucks. Chip doesn’t like Big Bucks, he cannot lie…
Why move Mathis? I get it, he is 34 and expensive, but he is also a PB level OG and one of the good components of a stable OL….Chip says he values the OL, right? Well, now we need 2 OG and have disrupted the continuity and stability of the OL…no way Tobin or Barbere steps in and does anything close to Mathis. We saw last year when those guys came in, the OL performance went south quickly….
I’m good with Murray & Matthews even though it is a truckload of cap space to have in RB when the NFL is becoming more & more a passing league…teams that lead with the run game usually do not win unless they have an elite QB, OL or Defense….we have none of those things.
Plus I thought Chip did not care about TOP or sustaining long drives? Maybe he has learned some lessons the last two years and adjusted…our defense saw the highest number of snaps against over the last two years and some of it derives from Chip’s offense being unable to sustain drives or going 3 and out. Maybe now we can sustain better and help out the defense.
hasn’t moved him yet – he said it though “you have to give something to get something” trick is to get better than give (or at least even). So, before I am down on the move like to see what the return is.
Depends what you get back… cutting him makes 0 sense but if someone wants to offer you something useful then maybe you take value this year.
We have a LOT of money invested in our OL and getting cheaper and younger is a need.
“Maybe he has learned some lessons the last two years and adjusted’ undoubtedly.
I don’t think it’s TOP, but sustaining long drives. How many drives were cut short because we couldn’t get short yardage? Having a power running game will help in areas we were weak last year.
I loved Shady, but he had more 0/negative yard runs than any other RB over the last 2 years.
Mathis? I think CK wants to get younger. You’ll like the draft this year because you’re going to see at least two OL picked this year.
Chip has said he doesn’t care about TOP, but he has never said he doesn’t care about sustaining long drives.
So, TOP and sustaining drives do not have anything in common? Stop…please…if you keep the ball for long periods of time on offense, guess what? You have a high TOP! Chip has said before it is about making plays and executing to score points rather than sustaining drives/holding onto the ball…well his offense struggled big time last year against good defenses because they could do none of those things consistently….so hopefully these are indicators he has realized his error, adjusted and now understands sustaining drives/TOP is important.
I view sustaining long drives as long drives in terms of yardage and getting first downs. Obviously there is a connection between sustain long drives and TOP, but I think the emphasis is on yardage and converting third downs, not holding the ball as long as possible.
I agree with you that it seems like Chip was not happy with all the three and outs last year and wants to sustain drives more this year, but I still don’t think he cares about time of possession. If TOP is higher as a by product of converting third downs and staying on the field, that’s great, but I still think Chip will try to move down the field as fast as possible and not care about the amount of time the offense is on the field.
Thanks for the explanation…I understand, but one is related to the other and the connection cannot be broken regardless of what Chip wants…if he sustains drives by getting more first downs and yards more consistently, the TOP for the offense will go up. So, he can say he does not care about TOP, but it is a natural result of his approach if his true goal is to sustain drives more consistently….
However, I agree that he was not happy about last year’s offense and hopefully has adapted his approach…we just need less 3 and outs and less turnovers so the defense does not get exposed and exhausted game after game by Chip’s own super speed tempo….and I hope if that does happen again, that he will adapt and slow it down until the offense proves it can execute good enough to justify it.
Not necessarily. Chip does not mind the 3 and ins (i.e. quick touchdowns). He’s more after running more plays and scoring more points rather than TOP itself. 3-and-outs are disasters for either approach, as is a defense that can’t get off the field or can’t generate turnovers. Poor red zone performance hurts badly too. It could be that with RBs like these (as opposed to the more boom-or-bust McCoy) we will end more more consistent and using more TOP, but probably not. Kelly’s not going to slow down on offense — he wants scores, preferably fast. If he scores quickly (and in general the Eagles have the last two years, especially in 2013), then that is where the connection does get broken.
don’t think chip cares about TOP he cares about points.
Over-simplified IMO….if Chip’s offense continues to rack up the 3 and outs and massive numbers of turnovers and continues to exhaust his own defense relentlessly, believe me TOP will have the last laugh just like it did last season….
If Chip’s offense executes much better and sustains drives much more consistently, then yes I agree we should not have to worry about TOP since we’ll likely be scoring a good amount of points and thus winning games….
Its when Chip’s offense struggles especially against good defenses that TOP comes into play and Chip needs to adapt his approach in those situations in order to maximize his chances of winning the game….
To continue running super speed tempo when your offense cannot pull it off and your defense has been exposed is idiocy of the highest order….Chip did this too much last season – he needs to adapt, slow it down in those situations and give both his offense and defense a break…
agree, but look at the changes that he’s made this year. Bradford has one of the lowest pick rates in the NFL, Murray and Mathews are drive sustaining power backs instead of shady who is probably better in a WCO. just need to work on the line.
Lol……?
Re: 2.5-Headed Monster?
The Eagles’ RBs have run the ball about 400 times the past two years.
That’s plenty of carries for both Mathews and Murray to share.
Less noted may be that Murray not only is good in pass-pro, but he seems to a pretty good receiver, too — with 53 and 57 receptions the past two years (though for a pedestrian 7.0 ypr appx).
Murray’s versatility may give Kelly more options on 3rd and 2-3 to go.
Instead of inserting Sproles, leave in Murray who can run the ball, catch the ball, or deliver pass-pro.
Better still, put Sproles and Murray in there together.
Or how ’bout Mathews and Murray — with Murray being the receiving threat.
Whatever the combination, Sproles may see less time because he doesn’t need to be out there.
That’ll keep him more healthy for STs. While not diminishing the versatility on offense that Kelly values.
And just saying — if the Eagles had a QB who posed a Wilsonian rushing threat, just think about what Kelly could do on 3rd and 2-3 with some combo of Murray-Mathews-Sproles in the backfield . . . Huff going in jet motion. And Ertz in the slot, with Matthews out wide.
Even without the running threat at QB.
Options. Options. Options.
Fantastic
Need. Brad. Happy
2.5, well done.
Chip loves options AC.
The ACV knarr has a motor . . . just in case.
….Barner to be cut, 1 less Oregon player…. how could Chip do this.
ruthless this week
Where’d you see this?
reading the future like Chip The Oracle.
Bradford kinda looks like Keanu Reeves
Especially under water with an All American trophy to throw
no you are thinking of Shane Falco.
Indeed
….you know the QB of the Washington Sentinels?
Shane Falco? Footsteps Falco from Ohio State? He hasn’t played in years. He should be well rested then. Yes, I know of him.
He had a terrible bowl game though.
What a bloody shambles. I could smell the stink all the way in Whales…
Olay, Olay, Olay, Olay…
“Point Break” . . .
Bradford IS Keanu Reeves
….on 2nd look his face is to round. Believe me i am a Keanu guy.
No doubt Mccoy can run all over a team like the Titans, the Cowboys, or the giants for 120+ yards with dominating OL play. But, he shrunk against the Seahawks this year for 17 for 50 yards @ 2.9 ypc, no catches. Murray carried the Cowboys on his back against the Seahawks for 28 for 118 yards 1 TD and 6 catches for 31. That’s the physical style of play you need to beat the top defenses in the league, and I think Chip had to make that change in RB to get us over the hump to add a few W’s this year..
100%
That and fewer picks
There was only one rb I would have chosen over Shady, and he’s now an Eagle.
Yes.
Murray will be even better in 2016.
He’ll need a good O line.
Ugh. Not clear what’s happening there.
Bet Bradford’s excitement level’s dropped a notch or 2 after hearing about Mathis on the move.
Polk?
Barner
OL is probably the single most important thing to chip. It even effects the ability to give our defense a rest because the Offense is sustaining drives… OL is too important to chip for me to worry about losing Mathis or Herremans, im sure chip has a plan for it even if it has yet to be revealed. I could see chip skimping the WR position and using Ertz and Sproles in more WR type roles./… but chip wont skimp on the OL… while it doesnt seem so at the moment chip is upgrading the OL, not getting rid of good players just for the sake of it…. just give the man time to reveal the other part of this plan…
…
I HAVE NO CONCERN ABOUT OL. more interested in what he will do at safety and WR
I was thinking the same thing about Ertz and Sproles. I’ll admit, I’m not yet as confident about the O line .
You shouldn’t be confident yet, we lost two guards and didn’t add anyone yet. I don’t expect you to be confident…I just know how important it is to every coach especially one with a crippled QB who wants to run the ball more then anyone…if bet by June we are happy with the added size, youth and athleticism we add at guard . Needed to get younger. Old men were starting to rack up injuries playing at our tempo
J-A-K-E F-I-S-H-E-R
I have real concerns about Safety. There are is no one who is better than Nate Allen available in FA now. And who would trade a decent safety in this league? I mean safety play is an epidemic of craptastic play, across the NFL and in college.
The Saints day hello
Isn’t Searcy available?
Do you think Matthews will be a slot receiver or used more as a wide-out?
Depends on who we get, if we start Strong, Smith, DGB or trade for Stills or something you can probably leave him inside but at the moment you’d have no choice but to put him out
thats a great question and your guess is as good as mine… I would say that yes we will see him outside at times, but he wont ever truley abandon the slot. Think he is perfect in the Colston role…the thing is I like Huff in the slot too, so him and Mathews can both flip flop inside outside… I assume now that they arent rookies any more we will be more willing to move them around where as last year we just wanted them to get a role down…
..
WR will be drafted… maybe late in free agency we can get a veteran #3 or #4 type for cheap..
I don’t know if Matthews has the speed to be a strong outside receiver. It’s probably better to keep him in the slot where he can excel rather than move him outside where he would probably be pretty average.
Not speed so much as one of Mayock’s favorite phrases: “quick twitch” ability.
_____
Not sure if that’s one word.
I think quick twitch is actually more important in the slot. Matthews has long speed, which is actually more suited for the outside. At present, he’s a mismatch in the slot, which helps his effectiveness. His size and speed pretty much scream “outside receiver”, though. Whether he can blossom into that role remains to be seen, but his measurables don’t by default make him “average” by any means.
Matthews lined up outside at Vanderbilt (where he was the only weapon on that offense). I wouldn’t mind seeing him there…
mjor weakness of ours is we werent tough enough… i love shady, but i cant think of a back like him that has done anything in the playoffs..eJamaal Charles, even dating back to Barry sanders..
…
come the playoffs, the toughest teams win, Frank Gore, Beastmode, Lagarret blount…. the finess backs only really work deep into the plays offs as Recievers, westbrook, Shane Vereen, Reggie Bush, Sproles.. most of the finesse backs that have success in the playoffs do it as WR’s.. everyone in a while someone special like Ladanian Thomilson or Marshall Faulk have playoff succes but catching the ball was a giant part of their game…
….
playoffs are about toughness.. need a back who can move the chains, and punch it inb when we get in side the 20…. I love shady, always will…. but we are more equipped for playoff football then we ever were with shady….
…
and if demarco does what every other offensive player that chip had does…aka have his biggest career year ever in this offense, the league is in trouble..
…
Murray is a physical grinder, put him behind our tempo attack and we should be able to wear downb defenses more then Shady was able to. im not a ryan Mathews fan, but i like him alot more as a #2 then a #1…sproles has 3rd down and ST on lock…
Damien Square’s still flying through the air.
That’s the moment I thought, hmm, Murray would look awfully good in this offense.
lol Oh Geez, i forgot all about him blowing up our “Nose Tackle”
..
Square might not be a real NT, but the kid is still like 295lbs and what Murray did to him, i dont think ill ever forget….. Square was an eagle for 1 short year…but 20 years from now Ill remember what Demarco did to him lol…
He illegally speared Square with his helmet! I know he’s an Eagle now and I forgive him, but that was a dirty play.
Probably a penalty if he does it as an Eagle…
yeah it was def. a leading with the head thing, which is sort of crazy how much pressure you gotta put on your neck to truck a 250Lb dude w/ your head
recent pussy-fication of the game……well worth the penalty to see Fat Jonathon Hankins from the Giants go flying. skins just signed potroast, Ill chip in and help pay the fine to see him truck potroast
yup
I agree with this. Relying too much on finesse was an issue under Andy, and I thought it could be a concern under Chip as well (notwithstanding his big guys beat up little guys mantra).
It also applies to the other side of the ball as well. The officiating allowed more physical play as the season went on – esp on the west coast, lol – and playoff football always takes it to another level. I hope Chip was paying attention this past Jan / Feb (it seems like he was).
100% And i thought CK would just roll w/ that “finesse” type of thing b/c i feel like oregon suffers from the same issues, but looks like he might be doing something different.
The following post really hits the nail on the head.
[quote name=”purplefiggy” post=”19219620″ timestamp=”1426209411″]
so, stepping away and trying to make sense of everything so far, I think I have come to a few conclusions that explain a lot.
I think when Chip looked at his team from last year, he saw holes all over the place, some of which we considered strengths.
QB, RB, OL, ILB, OLB, S, CB…pretty much right down the line I think Chip basically saw a “good team” but one that wasn’t good enough.
Probably talking to Lurie, he told him as much and that he wanted to blow most of it up, and that he knew exactly what he was going to be looking for. He was best qualified to build it and a group approach wouldn’t be additive.
Lurie, being the smart owner that he’s been so far realized why he hired Chip and stepped back to let him do what he was brought here to do, in the way he wanted to do it.
Chip clearly doesn’t think like anyone else. And he’s now absolutely building the team he really wants. Everything should surprise us because I think only Chip knows what he actually wants.
Suddenly I’m ok that none of it makes sense because clearly I can’t imagine what Chip is trying to build. It may completely go up in flames, but at this point, I think I’m ok with giving up “good” to take a shot at “great.”
We’ll know boom or bust very quickly. But I’m ok now going along for the ride.
[/quote]
For the sake of arguement, I’ll be the bummer. The main part of Chip’s plan is that Sam Bradford is going to pan out That’s still a huge gamble. If Jerry Jones doesn’t get a case of the cheapskates, I know I’m not breaking out the best champagne and celebrating Bradford and Matthews.
I return now to celebrating because we stole the heart out of the Cowboys!
espn viking reporter says Cordarrell may be able to be had in a trade…
Put him in jet motion with Murray and Mathews/Sproles in the backfield . . .
Forget about it.
Patterson and sproles as our Kick returners… pick your poison, gotta kick it to one of them
return game would be on smash.
Has any team in recent memory trotted out two elite return men? If so, anyone recall if it had a marked effect?
How much do you pay?
Kelly says “more picks” — not less.
Mathis a 5th and a 4th next year….. zimmer is a defensive coach, he doesnt know what to do with him. he has no patience to teach him how to run Routes… might as well give him to an offensive coach who knows what to do with him….
..
no idea what his realistic value/price tag is…. they paid a late #1st, but havent developed him at all in two years… so instead of gaining value he lost some value… just not sure how much…
..
really have no clue what it would take to get him
…
keep in mind we cant get too crazy with trades because we are already short a 2nd rounder next year
Are you not concerned that he is just too stupid or lazy to ever be effective? I mean, the Vikes certainly betted the farm on him, giving him every opportunity to be the guy in that offense. And he just disappeared in spite of obvious athletic supremacy. That says something. When a wr with his athletic ability is completely inable to execute plays in an offense that is trying to feature him for several years, that should be cause for concern IMO. I think you fall in love with the spider graph. Not sure I would open up a huge hole at G AND the chance to fill it with a mid round pick for a guy like that.
Dude relax. The wheels didn’t fall off.
Not sure what the fuck you are talking about. Are u on drugs?
I can see why you are so loved on here. Pretty small minded remark.
It’s crazy how one move can change perspective . DM and KA for Shady, I think is a he’ll of a deal. Shady had been more healthy than both Ryan and DeMarc but I really never saw the same sort of lateral mobility out of him last year. There were glimpses but it wasn’t consistent. Was he hurting or declining? That was a major worry of mine. So I guess that is gone.
I’m even starting to accept the Bradford trade…..I guess
Has anyone thanked Frank Gore or the Colts for what has happened yet?! Chip needs to thank Grigson immediately
In all the excitement I had forgotten about ol’ Frank. Wow. We got lucky.
I did already
Good point. Everyone tweet a thank you to Frank Gore.
A couple of things. Adrian Peterson was the best RB three years ago.
Mathis looked around for a trade last year, remember?
Didn’t Cordarelle Patterson just get to the Vikings, like, 10 minutes ago it seems like? What is wrong with him?
Has a Randy Moss-like commitment to football and being the best he can be, maybe.
Sorry to sound, like, a teenager who can’t speak, like, English.;~) Just couldn’t remember immediately if he was drafted last year or in 2013. Randy Moss hmm. Wasn’t he something along the lines of an early Dez? Caught the ball but couldn’t keep quiet? That does seem to be a trait somewhat common in wide receivers. ;~) again. But here’s a bit about poor Cordarelle. He would seem to have no chance whatsoever in Chip’s offense, where he would be expected to learn about every position.
http://www.dailynorseman.com/2015/3/12/8205235/report-minnesota-vikings-attempting-to-move-cordarrelle-patterson
I wonder if Vinny is on the chop block too. I wonder if we can get something for him before he leaves next year.
Butt hurt Cowpoke fan?
Who? Me?
I doubt he fetches much in return. Probably better to keep him.
This time last year, I think we all assumed Graham would be gone and now he’s a starter.
That’s true but Curry did fetch or almost fetch double digit sacks this year with limited playing time. I would love to see him back as pass rush from the tackle position though.
Hope the guy extends I love him and he loves it here, guys like that you want to bring back
Be interesting to see what happens, since it hasn’t happen you gotta assume there’s not a good market just yet, could change after the draft.
Not unless we want to draft an interior pass rusher this year. We would have to spend a pick on arik armstead or Omigawbe from UCLA. We have no one but Vinny that can line up next to cox on 3rd down
As expected, Dwayne Bowe was released. Any interest if he’s cheap?
I do not expect Chip to have any interest.
Honestly no, we have limited cap space until Mathis gets/if he is traded, Demeco and Brad restructure and its another good wr class soso I’d just just draft a dude high
I’d rather take a cheap flyer on younger guys. The Falcons signed Leonard Hankerson to a 1-year, $1M deal. I’d have loved that. Of course, Atlanta is closer to Miami where he went to college and ATL’s OC Kyle Shanahan was his OC with the Redskins. But I’d go after a guy like Denarius Moore.
sure you can have a ton of terrible players, think you’ve seen that approach here and it’s met w limited success.
If there was a vet out there that I don’t think would be a waste of money, I’d go for them. I’d have been fine with an Andre Johnson. Most of the vets though I think you have just as good a chance of getting production from a younger, unproven guy and you can do it cheaper. One option that is sort of a mix of the 2 might be Hakeem Nicks. He had been in a major decline but he came on at the end of last year.
agree. Clear Reggie Wayne isn’t getting calls but Dre is HOF level and cheaper than you could otherwise get that production.
Agree that skill positions coming cheap now a days rookies very productive.
I wonder if the Hankerson signing makes former Oregon Duck Drew Davis available…
he replaced harry douglass
FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.
Why Leonard?
WHY?!
I think his hands are all fucked up. He is a wide receiver. Not good.
Cowboys fans are angry that Murray is a “trader.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/03/12/demarco-murray-has-angered-cowboys-fans-by-being-a-trader/
But they still have King of the Hill reruns. They should be happy
My favorite part was the comment after the article pointing out that Cowboy fans don’t know how to spell traitor. It was something I could picture Homer Simpson saying.
Life imitating art, Texas style.
Will this endless bashing of merchants never cease?!!
Happens whenever the peasants don’t have enough bread.
Curious to see if B dot Grizzle can get double digit sacks now that he is finally our starting edge rusher…… thinking Barwin and BG will have a big year with Kiko/Kendricks inside
….
I think he can. He’s a good pass rusher and the secondary is even better
will help that people are actually covered — give him the extra half second needed to force fumbles.
That said he’s not as good as t. cole at 45yrs old so who knows.
Developed a real knack for forcing fumbles, not just off strip sacks, he punched it out of a few RBs grasp last year
I’d say it’s definitely possible, but the real question is how often he will be burnt in coverage.
Well if kiko can come back at 85% of who he was 2 years ago then I wouldn’t worry too much about BG in coverage because kiko covers so much ground as the free mlb in this system that BG has to be just slightly average to succeed, with kendricks being the primary coverage and blitzing lb, all while playing behind an absolute monster d-line, this group should no doubt exceed the sack numbers and hurries from a year ago….but again this all depends on how kiko returns.
This coverage thing is a little overblown. You people realize he won’t ever be asked to really cover a WR or RB one on one right? He will rarely drop in a small zone.
https://twitter.com/CParkey36/status/576171861433823232
They should have invented a special teams rookie of the year award to just give it to Parkey last year. Rookie record for points.
Meco and Celek are mainly here to help this major transition bringing in all these new guys to the locker room… doubt we see Meco play much next year, other then the obligatory two games Kendricks misses due to injury…
..
think Chip Loves Meo and isnt going to throw him on the open market with his valu ein the toilet and no one offering him a starting Job… League saw how bad he looked in his first year back from the injury… I assume we will pay Meco if we can, but if we need money to make moves he knows he will have to restructure…. Im sure he appreciates Chip not waiving him with a jacked up Achilles… Its not like Meco got hirt in the summer… his injury is only a few months old, he would get major lowball if anyone would even sign him if we waive him now. Chip respects him too much and knows how important he is now more then ever since our locker room is starting over from scratch
kelly seemed a little surprised in the PC.
Im REALLY nervous about our OL if Mathis gets traded.
Relax
To summarize the last 10 days:
Losses:
LeSean McCoy
Jeremy Maclin
Todd Herremans
Nick Foles
2015 4th rounder
2016 2nd rounder
Nate Allen
Trent Cole
Cary Williams
James Casey
Acquisitions:
Brad Jones
Kiko Alonso
Byron Maxwell
Walter Thurmond
Sam Bradford
DeMarco Murray
Ryan Mathews
2015 4th rounder
2016 conditional pick
Ryan Mathews?
And Frank Gore should go on both lists.
What are you talking about?
🙂
Was that off the top of your head? It is better than I could have done.
Most rockin’ period of time since the first seven days in Genesis.
Thanks! Not too terrible IMO. Several of the losses were either too expensive for their production or just scheme mid fits. In Chip we trust.
no love for the DBs that aren’t coming back?
the level of trolling is amazing
https://www.facebook.com/AdamSchefter/posts/922206084498700
I wish we would have signed Erik Decker last year. 5 years $36.25 million is not a bad contract.
Too bad we had to sign Riley Cooper to a 5 year deal worth $22.5 million
Listing to Murray’s presser, I have to give him credit. The press was trying to bait him into saying something. Ragtime about the Cowboys. Fans would have loved it, but he made the smart, classy move and renaming do professional and positive.
Boo! He should have said that Jerry shouldn’t have disrespected him, screw their fans, and he’s going to tear Jerry, Dallas, Dez, and even their cheerleaders a new one next year.
Ahhh the visual I have of tearing their cheerleaders a new one….
he could have said, “The Cowboys appreciated me for what i did in college and drafted me. The Eagles appreciated me for what i did in the NFL. That is why i am an Eagle.”
Strange to think that if Murray has the type of Eagle career we all hope for in the next three or four years, he will forever be remembered as an Eagle.
I admired him as a Cowboy, had to respect his running style, and never said or acted in a way that was Cowboyish, from what i can remember. But still will take a few games to get used to seeing him in an Eagles uniform. Hopefully one day people will talk about his HOF career and talk mostly of his Superbowl winning Eagles years, and any mention of him ever being a Cowboy will be an afterthought.
Will we remember shady as a bill or an eagle? djax?
Shady maybe if the Bills can become relevant soon and he stays awesome not Jax though I don’t think he will be in WAS long
ouch, that hurts. Djax i dont care that much. But Shady, i wish him well as a Bill, but hopefully he is remembered as an Eagle.
agree for both of them, it’s really weird since they were in their primes and at the top of their crafts.
While terrified of the workload accumulated by Murray last year, I am and hope that Chip uses both our new RB’s relatively equally. As others have said, it will be amazing if both of them eclipse 1000 yards! Who were the last to do this? The Panthers backs?
Wasnt it the Giants in 2008?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_8bcs_WAAAWjRS.jpg
Why the hell are the Jets giving big money to Revis. Cro and Skrine?
Good question. Not like they’re competing for a SB.
Jet fans have to be scratching their heads. Then again, I used to feel sorry for the fans whose teams’ made questionable moves… now I know how they feel :/
Skrine making over 6 M to be the third cb
what else do they need really aside from a QB?
Not sure… You really think they improved that much in FA?
secondary has been a huge issue for years. They have a ton of $$. They got B. Marsh. Now just need a real QB. They have good running backs great DL / Linebackers. Tough division though.
Added a good guard in Carpenter.
Few of my friends are Jets fans. They improved along Oline, WR, and obviously in the secondary. Look at the two teams in the SB. Notice the secondaries? Having a great secondary makes a hell of a difference. They know they don’t have elite QB so they are building everything else up and they have the money to do so. I don’t see why this doesn’t make sense. My friends that are Jets fans are actually very happy.
Well 3 cheers for the Jets then… I guess I didn’t fully appreciate all of their upgrades. That said, I’ll put their over/under at 8 or 9 wins for next year… And I still say that by the time they are competitive in the post-season, Revis’ best days will be behind him and the contract he signed will be viewed as an albatross. One man’s opinion, just sayin’.
Now if i want to defend Eagle’s RB Murray to anyone, and want to talk about what he has so far accomplished, i have to talk about what a Cowboy did, like “he is great, did you see the Seahawk game where he had …. yards, or when he played the Eagles and ran over Square..” This feels too weird to picture a Cowboy in my mind and have praise coming out of my mouth
.
I think i will keep to descriptions of his running style… runs hard, north-south, hits the hole, … while picturing an Eagle running over two defenders, after making one cut.
For years, defenders have looked across the line of scrimmage at the Eagles and feared Cunningham for his speed and elusiveness, feared Vick for his speed, feared McCoy for his elusiveness.
Now defenders will look across the line of scrimmage at Murray and just have fear.
Jets about to sign Gilchrist.
They’re spending so much on dbs
They watched our defense play and were like..lol they suck! can’t have that here.
Cap Discussion:
I decided to work out where we are at with Cap currently. After visits to OTC and guess work on how they will structure Murray/Mathews i am currently putting the eagles with ~$5m in cap space after saving some for new draft picks.
But more importantly decided to look at 2016 Cap to see how we are doing moving into next year.
Now this is more of a projection – we only have 42 players signed so i stocked us up to 51 with draft picks and us picking up Cox’s option But we will currently have about $20 mil to spend (before roll over)in 2016. Sounds good right? Well we have a fair bit of business to do, the Key players without 2016 contracts:
Sam Bradford
Vinny Curry
Brandon Boykin
Cedric Thornton
Mychal Kendrics
Walter Thurmond
Nolan Carol
Now we may not retain all of these – but will need to keep some and replace their roles. We have some cuts we can do of course (looks at Cooper) but we need to free up some more salary this year – and next if we want to retain our young core talent and replace their roles via FA
I would imagine this is the driving reason why we want to trade Mathis, as it would clear nearly $11mil (rollover this year + next) for 2016 which would help the situation hugely.
yeah undoubtedly, the howie contract isn’t made to keep players. last years balloon, we always assume they’ll take a pay cut but players don’t see it that so they end up getting cut / traded. Lots of these deals were signed in 2011 / 2012 so this is the time to get rid of them.
Problem is we don’t have a huge amount of contracts we would be interested in cutting/trading.
Mathis, Celek, DeMeco are the only realistic trades/cuts this year and really can only add Cooper to that list in 2016.
Going to have to make some hard choices this or next year.
Kendricks is probably the only one getting a new deal of any size, cox will get the 5th year option tacked on. Either thurmon, carrol or boykin will be gone (probably one stays), Mathis will be gone. Demarco is cuttable, salary is only injury guaranteed not guaranteed against cap from what i understand.
As much as I like DeMeco, he almost seems like a necessary cut at this point. Ig just seems we have only limited cap space and we are spending a lot on a guy who is maybe going to be a part of a rotation, but clearly with Kendrick and Alonso, not a every down player, and likely not a starter.
Thing is, we can cut Demeco the last day of August and his salary clears off. So we get the added benefit of having him in camp for “leadership” and as insurance, but if things don’t work out we can let him go at that point.
That’s absolutely true. My comment is based on Chip claiming Ryans is going to stay. Chip could certainly change his mind, or just be saying that until he actually plans to cut him, but at the end if the offseason, it just seems to be a move you have to make from a financial standpoint.
I’d have to guess Celek and his $5 million cap figure would be one place to find more space in 2016.
Chip Kelly’s personal assistant, Ruprecht, gave him the idea to start signing former Sooners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGUNrHWZaVs
As impressed as I was with Murray’s interview, I was equally unimpressed with Mathews. A bunch of tired cliches that didn’t quite fit but he seemed afraid to go off script at all.
To be fair to him, he’s in a tough situation. Maybe his thoughts actualy went something like, “Well, I got the money I wanted and I get to play in Chip’s offense, but I thought they brought me here to be The Man. Now it’s all about DeMarco. Guess I should be grateful, they could have pulled a Frank Gore on me and I’d be out of work.”
He is a more talented offensive nate Allen… Soft. Rather see polk.. I do like the depth. Run all day and not care about injuries at RB
They both stayed remarkably on script. I was very impressed with Murray’s speaking ability in the way that I would be with a politician, but that’s only because he didn’t say a damn thing of note. If all of them could clean up the “um”s and “you knows”, they’d be pretty set for any kind of roll for public speaking. Except Maxwell. Ouch. Bradford fell back on “you know” a lot considering how comfortable he is in front of the camera.
I watched demarco interview and literally caught myself giggling the entire time
Un-freaking believable. One second I’m thinking to myself, oh man looks like we are rebuilding, and then a day later I want to rip my hair out. The following day, I am jumping up and down cheering how we are all in this season. This has by far, been the craziest free agency I have ever seen, from any team on any level, ever. If anything it’s exciting.
To me, it is crystal clear that Chip sees Bradford as the ultimate uptempo spread offense decision maker. Notice in Chips presser how he talks about Sam being “wired right”. I think Chip feels Sam not only has a rocket arm, but that he has many of Chips favorite qualities, one being repetitive accuracy.
When you watch Bradford’s College tape at Oklahoma, you see a QB who thrived in a high tempo spread offense so now I at least understand the move.
Getting Murray not only makes the Eagles running attack, possibly stellar, but it also weakens a strong division rival in a big way.
That’s what you call a double whammy signing.
Go Eagles !!!!
Bradford will be gone if Mariota drops to a reasonable spot, looking at #6
You think if he gets to 6 Chip goes after him? I don’t think he lasts till then (teams are notoriously irrational when it comes to QBs), but I hope you’re right – not sold on Bradford AT ALL.
Gotta watch the videos on bradford, throws really pretty balls pretty accurate, just his OL and his WRs in STL were terrible.
That said, the way CK talks about MM…
The thing to consider is how weak the market for Nick Foles was (give the price we had to give for SB). And that was a guy that’s 14-4 w/ a 27-2 season. IF people apply that same discount to MM then he could fall. Soooo many spread QBs have been failures and he’s got 0 experience in a pro-style system, huddling, calling plays, clock management, setting protections, audibling, etc.
So just curious, who would you prefer, SB or MM?
Purely QB? SB has 2 ACLs and has been sort of ugly in the pro game, going off of the way Chip talks about MM, the speed, the fact that there’s an offense that he’s learned for 4 years that’s going to be pretty close to what he ran at oregon, i feel like he’s more locked and loaded.
Factoring in everything else (draft picks) makes it harder, if SB stays healthy he could be good, really low pick rate, great NFL arm (wonder if that’s something that could hurt MM in the pros). To go all the way to no. 1 or 2, id take bradford, but if we’re talking about 10 i’d probably MM, but it’s tough once you watch SB throw the ball.
Too many holes. Chip can’t trade for him even if he wanted. He would have to like fall to 14. People are high, we already traded next years 2nd and we have 5 holes to fill. Chip ain’t trading for MM
Just face it, Chip fooled the shit out of yall, well actually the media did…just like everyone thought Marone wanted Nassib, drafted EJ instead
hahaha
You too.
Yesterday i wud have been glad. Not so sure now. I like SB i think lots of positives.
Noooo. I’d be so pissed!!… No chance. Welcome to “the summer of Sam”
So both Bradford and Mariotta thrived in spreadish, hurry up “college” offenses. Bradford seems better suited for an Oregon/Oklahoma type of offense than a “NFL” passing offense. So for me it is not even a toss up. I trust Bradfords arm more than Mariotta. He seems that he just has more of an elite arm, golden arm, with point guard, hurry up wired brain. And Mariotta has a pretty good arm with great speed for QB, making zone reads very hard to defend.
6 and one half. That 4.5 speed to the sideline is deadly, plus no injury history. SB does have a pretty good arm, i’m excited to watch him throw.
Not happening. Jets are under a new regime. Geno sucks. It makes no sense for Jets to pass on MM. They just had a very good FA filling alot of holes with very good players. He goes to Jets and they would be stupid to not jump on it. That’s if he falls to 6.
I’m all Oklahoma’ed up… Ready to spend 1st round pick on OU Jordan Phillips.. 330lb NT…. Saw a mock with him at 20 and it just clicked. Big sexy
Your thoughts on Bradford vs. Steve Young who had 2 bad years in TB before Walsh helped him turn into a HOF QB. Both QBs were talented and disappointed with bad supporting cast. Both have offensive wizards and brilliant football minds.
that’s obviously what they are hoping for.
So am I. Rooting for him. Kelly is balls to the walls and banking his NFL career on this one move.
we’ve been in QB carousel for a long time, be nice to get off.
We should trade for Kenny stills
how about a buzzkill for everyone?
From…. “Chemical Burn” via
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/extra-points/2015/2015-free-agency-wednesday-update
[WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR EAGLES FANS AND IT ONLY GETS WORSE IF YOU READ THE THREAD]:
Is the implication they had to give up McCoy to get enough cap space for Matthews? They had more than enough to bring him in, they’re still way under the cap. You can’t just lump in any mildly good player they bring in as being a result of that trade. You might as well have said Brandon Graham or Walter Thurmond or something, but all would equally arbitrary and disingenuous.
Right now, the Eagles are worse off at these positions than at the beginning of the off-season:
QB
RB
WR
O-line
S (which is almost inconceivable)
They are exactly the same at:
D-line
TE
They might be better at these position but because of injury and unproven players with thin resumes, the jury is still out:
CB
LB
They have also given up a 2nd round pick to achieve this state.
And you can’t cry “but cap space!” because they’re well under the cap even now. They should’ve kept McCoy if this was all they were going to have to show for free agency. This is a disaster – this was not a great team to begin with. They lacked depth at every position but RB, QB and D-line. They sorta, maybe improved LB depth and got thinner everywhere else (if you consider adding injury-prone players to be something that should be take as a factor in terms of depth.)
Don’t try to find some angle where anything Kelly did looks good. Nothing he did looks good. It looks very, very bad.
Now, if everyone stays healthy and players like up to the wildest ideas of their potential (Maxwell is a true #1CB, either Matthews becomes a Pro Bowler, Ertz improves, Thurmond looks how he did on the Seahawks, Bradford earns his spot as the #1 overall pick, Alonso is DPOY) then it could work out. But it’s a Giant pile of “if’s” and almost all came at well above-market rates.
Oh and…
by chemical burn :: Thu, 03/12/2015 – 9:36pm
But I don’t think it’s even going to be that interesting: if everyone stays healthy, they’re going to have a decent running game and a mediocre passing game. The defense will be more or less what it was last year: an excellent front 7 doing its best to cover for a bad secondary.
The bad scenarios are so ugly and require so little to go wrong, it won’t be fun either:
For example, Mathis gets traded, Jason Peters gets injured and an already mediocre o-line entirely collapses.
Or Jordan Matthews fails to develop in a #1WR and they have the worst wr corps in the league by a wide margin.
Or Byron Maxwell is a product of Seattle’s excellence and not a real starting caliber CB while Thurmond struggles with injury and S to be named later isn’t an improvement on Nate Allen/Patrick Chung.
Or Kiko Alonso and DeMeco Ryans both continue to struggle with their knee injuries and Brandon Graham is not capable of being a starting OLB.
Or Murray and Mathews both get injured, leaving Sproles as their starting back, who can’t handle the heavy workload.
Or Murray is mainly the product of the Cowboys’ line/surrounding talent and struggles against the stacked box that the weak wr corps is utterly unable to exploit.
Or Sam Bradford plays at the usual Sam Bradford level.
Or Sam Bradford gets injured and Mark Sanchez starts 10 games.
These are all scenarios that by themselves would take the team out of serious playoff contention. They could ALL happen without much craziness. That’s a 2-14 (or worse) team you’re looking at.
—kills self—
Or Tom Brady gets hurt and the Pats fold. Or Aaron Rodgers goes down and the pack sink. Blah blah. Appliy to any team.
Sound reasoning. I’m waiting for the draft to really determine anything though.
I remember reading some of Chemical Burn’s posts last year… I remember them because I thought they were flat out wrong.
Chemical burn brings it, I wish he would post here as a good antidote to the homerism (understandable–we are fans after all). He looks at things differently, but what he says is always defensible.
I tend to think this team could possibly get back to 10 games if Chip is right that Sam Bradford is better than Foles. I know of no stats, even advanced ones that attempt to correct for context, that suggest that he is. I think Murray is better than McCoy.
There are some glaring holes, but most teams have those. We have a lot of players who have been injured in the past, but that doesn’t mean they are going to get injured again. There is a lack of depth that could cause big-time problems if we have bad luck.
As things stand right now, I think we’re about a 8-11 win team.
I’m 98% confident of CHEMICAL BURN’S identity — dude is a genius. Unlike Kelly, he *does* have the track record to back it up.
(Assuming I’m correct about his blogger identity; in 1/100 parallel universes CHEMICAL BURN is actually Joe Banner, 1/100 Chip Kelly.)
It appears to me, a member of the IQ-under-130-club-but-probably-over-100 club, CHEMICAL BURN’S thesis is minimizing risk in a sport with CRREAM (complete randomness rules everything around me).
As a result of said randomness/bad luck/Pats cheating/Donnie’s ACL, we have 0 Super Bowls.
This is why I like Chip’s most-likely-insane gamble on Bradford. Because there is a chance the flush-straight hits and we win the super bowl THIS YEAR.
Also, does anyone know of some sort of NET-NANNY type browser add-on that will block me from compulsively navigating to this darkest (albeit rational) corner of the web: Football Outsiders?
I am not citing any stats, but there is no way that Sam takes sacks or throws picks with Nick’s frequency. I know that Nick had a very good season where he only threw 2 picks, but a lot of drives stalled with him eating the ball. Then he cut down on taking sacks by throwing more risky passes. I fully expect the turnover problem to be over as long as Sam is starting. I think we’ll be favored to win the division.
You can write a worst case scenario on any team and come up with the same outcome.
Chip has been over personnel for what 6 weeks? Already being painted as in over his head and a mad scientist by negadelphians and media know-it-alls.
Agreed — and not to overly state the obvious — but we gotta nail the draft.
bs
Did ‘Chemical Burn’ blow up his meth lab? Breathe in too much of the fumes?
http://www.baitcar.com/oncoming_most_chilling_bait_car_video_yet
This is schewed. You could just as easily argue, that they have gotten better at QB, RB, CB, LB and that they are exactly the same at S and O-line (because Herremans was average at best. If you downgrade the position because of an average player leaving you are projecting that his slot will be filled by a below average player which seems unlikely although not improbable. The guess here has to be, that they released him in order to improve the play at that position.) The only position we have gotten worse at is WR. I think we are all looking at WR or OL in two of the first three rounds of the draft now.
Agreed. And the biggest issue I have is… are we REALLY that much worse at WR? Am I still drunk over Huff’s catch-and-run against the Cowboys?
I am high on Huff. I think we saw flashes of real ability last year. And I think his mistakes can be cleaned up with a little more familiarity. He seemed just a tad overwhelmed by being in the pros and made some mental rookie fuckups, but the raw skills are there. He reminds me of an young Anquan Boldin. HOWEVER, we need another dude in there. Someone who can win with either speed or size on the outside. Remember Chip likes to force the defense to defend the entire field. I dont think Huff and Matthews are enough to do that. (And Cooper obviously is no help at all.) what we really need is Dorial Green-Beckham with a personality transplant. Until a few days ago I was convinced there was no way Chip would consider DGB, but now I am not so sure. All this talk about how players would never be available in a trade if there wasn’t some issue with them really reveals that Chip might be willing to compromise on his preferentials as long as the upside is great. These moves in FA tells us he is willing to take risks if they come with reward. If this applies to the character concerns as well, we might have to begin talking about DGB again at #20…
So DGB is really a pain in the ass? Haven’t paid much attention to the mock drafts (yet). The Chip Kelly Experience is so entertaining. Aside from DGB, who do you think we target?
Who knows!? I mean, I am not a film-breakdown guy, I just pick up information from a lot of sources, and none of those seem to know what Chip is thinking these days. But what we do know is that they are determined to get younger at OL and that Chip values OL above everything except QB. Which makes sense if you want to be a run-first zone read team, right? They also admitted last year that they were sorry to lose out on OL-prospects they had on the board. Their plan was to draft new OL-men back then and they missed out. They didn’t manage to land anyone in FA the last two years and now they released Herremans and they are possibly trading Mathis, creating obvious holes. Putting all this together with the fact that this is presumably a great draft in the first two or three rounds for OL and I think you have to expect at least one and possibly two of the first three picks going tackle or guard. It could easily be Fisher @#20 because culture, measurables and DUCKS. Maybe the will try to get Coates in the 2nd then. Would make sense to me.
DGB is a troubled young man with very elite athleticism. If he wasn’t messed up in the head, I dont think there would be any chance he could be there at 20. I dont think Chip will have interest. He need total buy-in team-first guys who will trust the system and not their raw talent to make plays. Doesnt seem like a fit.
Cut the mariota shit by now. Enough is enough. Now people are starting to sound like MM crackheads. Get over it already. We already traded away next years 2nd and we have Major Major Major holes to fill in the draft… There are obviously too many holes to fill to trade for him, and anyone that wanted Bradford would have made a better offer and already have him as their Qb… Join a MM support group or something, jut cut the crap. Spent enough time talking about a fairytale
..
Yeah, unfortunately I think you’re right. Can’t say I’m really an expert on what Chip needs to run “his” offense, but I do know that I’m not thrilled about having Sam Bradford as our QB.
two days ago he thought foles would be here next year so it’s hard for me to really take him seriously anymore bc he has as much clue as any of us
“The Summer of Sam!!!!”… 5-1 odds it will be a daily news headline. Predictabile pricks
Haters gonna hate
I’ve thought about it & I really think Tashaun Gipson would be worth that 2nd round pick.
Easily worth a 2nd… He is a top safety that fits us perfectly. Give up a 2nd and the extra 5th of that’s what it took…Bengals George Iloka as our fall back safety via trade
but we’ve gotta give the pick and pay right?
not into trading any more high picks. we need some youth…21-22 year olds. Gipson will be 25.
Jerry jones thinks he ate some smart cookies and is betting on Murray wearing down after they ran him into the ground. I want to see Murray play 3 years at a high level just to make jerry look stupid, even tho he thinks he turned the corner and is starting to make smart decisions.. Have to make jerry regret this. I hate Mathews, but in short spurts and as insurance, I like him much more… Would hate to see him as our #1 RB, tho Chip made it sound like the plan was to always replace shady with two backs, and that he made it seem the plan was gore and Mathews, because we didn’t think Marci would be in our price range. Like Mathews much more as a backup to Murray instead of as a compliment to Frank Whore.
yeah i think if they both have like 200 carries should be good, have someone that’s fresh at the end of the season as well.
If the the contract is structured so that the Eagles can get out after two or three years without wrecking the cap, I like this move. Murray is a great fit for the offense and signing him severely weakens the Cowboys. While the heavy workload he endured last season is a concern, he still has relatively few career carries and may be able to bounce back better than most 370+ guys as a result. And having Mathews (who I hate as a starter but think is an excellent backup) and Polk to take 10 carries or so a game, and Sproles to do the 3rd down back duty, will help keep him fresh. If Kelly wants to play ground and pound he has the personnel for it.
Not so happy about trading Evan Mathis. Matt Tobin has shown me nothing to make me believe he’s a starting-caliber NFL guard and we already have to fill the RG spot. Two new starters is one offseason is a taller order.
Mathis trade is just a rumor.
No Mathis trade has been verified by some very qualified reporters. It’s not a rumor and I’m not sure as to why you think it is.
Mathis was allowed to “test the waters” last year, so why not now?
older and more expensive
It’s just some people seem surprised to hear that Mathis might be traded, but it’s not a new concept.
yup, but he’s one of the guys that’s really loved on the team.
The longest-tenured and arguably most-respected Eagles, Herremens and Cole, were given their walking papers and a pat on the back. I don’t even want to mention Dawk. Sentimentality is out the window when money is involved.
I applaud Kelly’s unsentimental approach to team-building, and I wouldn’t tar him with that asinine Banner botch up with Dawk. Kelly may have traded Dawk, but I don’t believe he would have weakened the team by letting him just walk with no viable replacement.
One thing I think we can expect to see from the Joneses, a RB in round 1 or 2. They probably won’t get a Murray clone, but they can land a feature back. Romo may be throwing more, which may result in faster scoring or more punting, which means the D with no Bruce Carter and no Henry Melton will be on the field more. But Linehan is going to still play the possession game, I think, and it is going to be a bigger challenge w/out Murray, but I would not agree that Dallas is “severely” weakened. They lost the most expendable part of that juggernaut, but they’ve maintained the OL.
Murray is one of the best RBs in the league, so whoever they draft to replace him in all likelihood isn’t going to be as good as he is. And using a 1st or 2nd round pick to (at best) tread water at RB means they can’t use it to strengthen themselves in other ways, by for example plugging holes on their crappy defense (which has gotten even crappier as a result of losing Melton and Carter). Whether this counts as “severely” weakening them I suppose is a subjective question but there’s no doubt it significantly does.
http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2015/3/12/8199907/2015-nfl-draft-brett-hundley-eagles-ucla-private-workout-film-session
I didn’t see this until now. Hundley not being written off or is this just another smokescreen?
CK bascially said they’re meeting w/ every QB.
I doubt it’s every QB. It’s Chip we’re talking about here.
Well he said the 7 in the draft, so they are probably meeting with the 7 qbs they have draftable grades on.
He meant the 7 in the draft:
http://i.imgur.com/TLR4CaQ.jpg
I’d be real carefull about writing off a guy like Hundley who physically has the tools to become a really great player for Chips views on QB, not just in terms of running, but mobility in the pocket, arm strengt etc. Handles weaknesses are pretty much all stuff you can teach him, and the question is whether you believe he can be taught to make discussions at a level Chip requires, become a more accurate passer and combine physical talent with technique and the mental side of being a QB.
Whether we’re interested in selecting him as high as other teams is probably more the question. Hundley is not like the usual QB prospect I like, far from it actually, but even I find myself intrigued by something about him. If the rumors are correct and Hundley is dropping on boards and Bryce Petty is rising like a champ, its not even close in my mind.
But Chip has basically said that we’re meeting with, interested in and scouting all the QBs in the draft. He definitely hasn’t given Sam Bradford or Mark Sanchez the keys to our franchise yet. I do think he’d be perfectly fine going into the year with those 2, but it looks to me that he is still searching for his QB.
Assuming the reports of extending Bradford is true then I don’t see us taking a QB high just for the sake of a QB competition between Bradford/Hundley/Mariota/whoever.
I want no parts of this dude under center here.
Luckily, we work almost exclusively from the shotgun.
Especially his hands, right?
Hundley is not an option this year. But Kelly knows there are no guarantees. and he may have to acquire a QB next FA or two years from now. Hundley’s market value will probably be closer to earth after some franchise puts him on the field before he’s ready. In any case, I don’t expect Hundley ever to be QB for Kelly.
I would take him in the 2nd round just to see Media Mike’s head explode.
people still think they know what they expect/don’t expect CK to do? Amazing…..
https://twitter.com/Brian_Solomon/status/576246621433937920
ACV mentioned that $18m of his guarantess were only for injury, that he could be cap cut and lose all that guaranteed money.
there was a discussion between Sam Lynch and Joe Banner on Twitter about that. Sounds like the 18 mil will be paid no matter what, but may not go against the cap. Of course I wasn’t sure if I was reading their tweets correctly, really needed to be discussed in more than 140 characters.
He thinks Murray only got a $4m signing bonus?
I looks pretty good to me from a team standpoint. Paying Murray a decent amount up front makes sense. There is literally no point in cutting him in 2015, and he would have to be incredibly bad to make us cut him in 2016, so giving him a big guarantee and lots of dead money in those years.
2017 is bit of a question mark, you’re paying him a lot, and while it wouldnt be detrimental to cut him, you’re not gaining a lot by doing id. I do however think its reasonable to expect 3 years out of Murray, even if things doesn’t go perfect.
In 2018 and 2019, you reach a point where Murray turns 30 and you can literally cut him without much penalty on the cap. You can keep him if he is still worth it, and remember that 9 mil is still 3 millions less than McCoys 2015(his big cap year) cap number. You’re also in a good position to renegotiate an extension deal with a lower cap number, but more guaranteed.
Obviously 8+ mill is a lot for a RB, but with the cap increasing it might not be as bad when we reach 2017 or 2018. If this turns out to be somewhat accurate, I think we did very well.
Roster move hangover? Slow morning in here.
Hopefully this Mathis stuff dies a quick death and I can move on to complaining about safety and RG only.
I think Mathis is a goner unless they extend Bradford to create cap space. with only $4-5m left we need some wiggle room for extensions and adding a safety.
Think RG is Babre/Tolbin or a draft pick at this stage.
We currently have around 9 mill in cap space and last year the 20th team in the NFL used 1.5 in cap for rookies (remember a rookie 1st round pick just replaces a bottom of the roster contract).
http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/philadelphia-eagles
Still don’t have Murray’s or Mathews contract on there and it is @$14m left at the moment. $2mil for rookies (remember signing bonus’s become dead money when people dont make the team). and Murray/Mathews will bring you all the way down to $5mil.
and all rookies are cut after June 1st, so they count against 2016, not 2015 cap, but 5 mill is way more than enough wiggle room during the season and consider Bradford is getting extended and Ryans most likely will have his deal cut down, I do not see any way we need to trade Mathis.
Yup. I totally don’t get why Mathis has to be traded. Unless we’re getting a top 100 pick and some talent with it then he’s more valuable to us.
Problem is not this year – it is next year. If we are planning on Bradford being our long term QB we are going to be paying some serious $$, which will make the 2016 cap space remaining get eaten up very quickly, and we have the 2012 draft class to retain or replace.
Right now we have 46 mill in cap space next with zero cap roll over, so we have plenty money for Kendricks, Bradford and Curry (Cox will get 5th year option)
Cox will be $7mil, and there are only 42 people signed. so lets say we spend another $7mil to fill out roster to 51. That takes us down to $32mil which will not go very far if we are wanting to retain or replace most of:
Sam Bradford
Vinny Curry
Brandon Boykin
Cedric Thornton
Mychal Kendrics
Walter Thurmond
Nolan Carol
Now the Cap is a movable feast – can be very creative and do anything in the short term, but that has not been the Eagles MO.
Add in we need to find help still this FA, we are not in ‘Cap hell’ but getting a little more flexibility would be a positive.
Let Bradford, Carol, and Thurmond prove that they should be resigned first. So far, none of those guys are irreplaceable.
I don’t disagree but they will need to be replaced – and you have to plan for Bradford’s success at this time.
I think Boykin/Thurmond/Carol all walk in FA – but we need a CB2 and slot for 2016. If we draft one this year that still means we need some kind of signing there.
I would like to extend Curry and Kendricks this year, and Cox next year so those are not small moves.
Bradford will have a deal done soon, do not expect anything else, but he wont be anymore expensive next year than Foles potential would.
Curry, if he stays will get a nice deal, but nothing crazy.
Boykin wont stay unless he wins the starting job outside and if he does, one of Thurmond and Carroll aint staying.
Thornton will most likely get a 3-4 mill per year deal max.
Kendricks will get a new deal, but I doubt 2016 will be a big cap hit.
Can cut Celek and Cooper next year
Then you start cutting the underperformers not the ones that actually perform.
Except if they improve tremendously, I don’t like the look of this potential line. Hope I’m wrong though
Orakpo to the titans, done deal. Good loss for the skins.
I’m kind of impressed they landed Knighton for 4M for 1 year. He’s a difference maker in the run game, which is kind of a problem for us. I’m worried that they are getting competent in the front office all of a sudden.
Heard they hesitated cause he nearly failed the phsysical, was out of shape, would be great if he pulls an haynesworth
oh man, that would be awesome
[…] talked about the desire to add physical, downhill runners. That is something I wrote about yesterday. Chip knows that running like that will take its toll so that’s why he wanted a pair of […]
Wait what?!? No moves since I went to sleep last night? CK must be resting on the 7th day.
Bradford $800,000,00000000 contract coming!
Spread out over a 1000 years, that’s $80000000000 a year.
footballoutsiders/barnwell/tanier LOVE THE VALUE!
new thread is up