Draft Wrap
Posted: May 3rd, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 524 Comments »I’ll be writing a lot more about the Eagles picks in the coming weeks. For now, let’s talk about some general points.
No QB
The Eagles didn’t land Marcus Mariota, but also passed on mid-round QBs. They didn’t even sign an undrafted QB. This is good news for Matt Barkley and Tim Tebow. They are battling for the #3 job. There is no QB of the future to push them out.
I really thought Kelly would want someone to develop behind Sam Bradford. It sure seems that Matt Barkley isn’t part of the long terms plans anymore.
Bradford is the present and future for now.
While that is a scary statement, this is a situation of Chip Kelly’s choosing. He is going to do everything in his power to make this work.
No Oregon Players
I did a few Eagles-only mock drafts and never had Chip taking an Oregon player. That always brought out the smart-ass comments. “Well we know this won’t happen. No Oregon players.”
Chip didn’t draft anyone from Oregon. He didn’t even sign any UDFAs from Oregon. Is this a sign of the apocalypse?
Listen, there is no denying that Chip has brought Oregon guys in here. But it isn’t as if he’s done it to a level that hurts the Eagles or is out of line. In his first 2 years, Kelly drafted 2 Oregon players. Both were highly rated Seniors. they were college stars and each was invited to the Senior Bowl (Hart missed due to injury).
Kelly has put guys at the bottom of the roster. I don’t like Will Murphy being on the practice squad, but let’s not act as if that is a huge deal. Back in 2010 Andy Reid had some guy named Jeremy Williams as a WR on the practice squad. I don’t remember him at all. There have been some bigger names (BJ Cunningham for instance), but even those guys rarely pan out.
Chip likes his Oregon guys because they played well for him and he knows them. But he showed this weekend that he’s not going to force the issue.
Draft Theme – Fix the Passing Game
The Eagles needed a WR to replace Jeremy Maclin. They took care of that right off the bat, drafting Nelson Agholor with pick 20. Agholor, like all rookies, is unproven, but he has the potential to be just as good as Maclin. They have similar sizes and skill sets. I think Maclin was the better route runner. I think Agholor has better RAC skills.
It used to be that rookie WRs needed time to fit into the NFL. Freddie Mitchell was a backup. Todd Pinkston caught 10 passes as a rookie. That has changed in recent years. DeSean Jackson had 10 passes thrown his way in his first ever NFL game. Maclin started as a rookie. Jordan Matthews was highly productive last year. There is every reason to believe that Agholor can contribute right away.
The secondary needed a ton of help. Someone asked me on Twitter why the Eagles didn’t just draft one CB and get it right, allowing them to focus on other spots after that. If only things were that easy.
The Eagles did what I call saturation drafting. You don’t fix the secondary with one CB. You load up on them. This way if Eric Rowe tears his ACL, struggles to adjust to the NFL or is abducted by aliens, you have other options. This is simple math. You have better odds is you use more resources to solve a problem.
This draft class was deep at CB, but light on Safeties. I don’t know if Kelly and Ed Marynowitz came up with this strategy or things just turned out this way, but they drafted CBs, giving them the freedom to move tweeners already on the roster over to S.
Who is more likely to help at S this year, Jaylen Watkins or Adrian Amos? Watkins has been in the NFL for a year and has some idea of what’s going on. Amos has more S experience, but would have to adjust to the NFL. EJ Biggers and Nolan Carroll could potentially move to S. I think it is more likely with Biggers. Carroll offers depth outside and in the slot, plus playing the role of Dime LB.
There is no question that the Eagles wanted a Safety. There just weren’t many choices who fit what the Eagles like and the right player wasn’t available at the right time.
I hoped the team would at least make a strong push for someone like Kurtis Drummond as a UDFA, but that either didn’t happen or the Eagles felt the players available late and in the UDFA market would not have been upgrades on guys like Jerome Couplin, Ed Reynolds and Chris Prosinski.
I don’t think anyone would dispute that the Eagles secondary is better. The team didn’t stop there. Jordan Hicks was drafted because the Eagles wanted a 3-down LB. Mychal Kendricks is a 3-down LB. DeMeco Ryans is smart enough to have his moments in coverage, but he’s not a guy you want on the field in the passing game on a regular basis.
Hicks has the athletic ability and cover skills to play on passing downs. The middle of the field has been a huge problem on pass defense the last 2 years. The Eagles now have Kendricks, Hicks and Kiko Alonso. That should help them to better control the middle of the field.
Lastly, Brian Mihalik can help. He is a more natural pass rusher than Cedric Thornton or Brandon Bair. He has great height and length, which can be useful for batting passes or at least getting into the passing lanes and forcing the QB to adjust. There are no guarantees Mihalik will make the 53-man roster, let alone be active on gamedays, but he has the potential to help with the pass rush, this year or in the future.
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I’ll post UDFA notes later tonight.
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Let me just say, THANK YOU, Tommy, for all you’ve done to make 2015 the best-informed, best-analyzed and (well, usually) the best commented-upon draft in my (gulp) 55 years of hoping THIS year they hit the grand slam.
Let me also thank you, Tommy, as someone who doesn’t have the time (or interest, quite frankly) in following the draft closely for cutting through all the BS and offering level-headed projections and analysis.
However, I must say, in terms of draft wrap-up, your bud Jimmy K. has you beat hands down with his use of smiley face draft grades and Christmas gift comparisons 🙂
I thought Jimmy’s article was mostly terrific!
The new iPhone should get Kempski a Pulitzer.
Here, Here…I will toast a PBR that !!!
Tommy can you hear me?
We need another post draft POD cast !!!!
**re-post from previous thread to further discussion**
2016 O-Line Free Agent Targets?
Since we’ll likely need to open up the purse to address the offensive line next year are there any guys from next year’s UFA list jump out to anyone as a fit?
Trent Williams
Marshal Yanda
Nate Solder
Anthony Castonzo
Russell Okung
Andre Smith
Matt Kalil
Andrew Whitworth
Donald Penn
Chris Chester
Joe Hawley
Alex Boone
Manuel Ramirez
Mackenzy Bernadeau
Stefen Wisniewski
Ryan Wendell
Ted Larsen
Ramon Foster
Todd Herremans
Brandon Brooks
Lamar Holmes
Ben Jones
Bobby Massie
Mitchell Schwartz
Chris Clark
Johnnie Troutman
Amini Silatolu
J.R. Sweezy
Kelvin Beachum
Cordy Glenn
Mike Harris
Gino Gradkowski
Don Barclay
Khalif Barnes
Jeff Allen
Tyson Clabo
Kevin Boothe
Peter Konz
Mike Adams
Richie Incognito
Kelechi Osemele
Will Yeatman
Jonathan Martin
J.D. Walton
Byron Bell
Lance Louis
Eric Winston
Josh LeRibeus
Donald Stephenson
Andrew Gardner
Sam Young
Tony Bergstrom
Joe Looney
Bradley Sowell
Benjamin Ijalana
Jamon Meredith
Nick McDonald
Troy Kropog
Brandon Mosley
Bryce Harris
Tim Barnes
Dennis Kelly
Dallas Reynolds
Chris Hairston
Chris Scott
Will Montgomery
Lemuel Jeanpierre
Corey Hilliard
Vladimir Ducasse
Willie Colon
James Brewer
Julian Vandervelde
Rishaw Johnson
Harland Gunn
David Arkin
Cody White
J’Marcus Webb
Derek Sherrod
Jah Reid
David Molk
Tyronne Green
Adam Gettis
C.J. Davis
Cameron Bradfield
Jacques McClendon
Speaking of 3 down LBs, I’m assuming that we move Kiko out to Barwin’s role and Barwin to Graham’s role when it’s 3rd down?
No because I’m expecting a lot of 3rd and longs. Were gonna need all our pass rushers out there.
All 3 of them???????
Curry, Fletch, Kendricks, Graham, MSII, Kiko and Hicks(cause he can rush the A). Get all the horses out there. Jailbreak baby!!!!!!
Maybe this year 3rd and long will go better than last year…
Oy Vey. Let’s hope so. The last 2 years I pretty much resigned myself to accepting teams converting 3rd & long as nearly automatic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. It felt like some sort of awful curse to me.
N_09:
I always wanted the Eagles go give up 6 yards on 1st down, hold ’em on 2nd — and create 3rd and short.
The defense was definitely better on 3rd and short.
It is SO true. It also made teaching my fiancée the nuances of defensive football infinitely more difficult. Understandably, she was highly confused by me being more confident when we were in 3rd & short than I was when it was 3rd & a mile.
No if and or maybe’s… it will be evident that we have a top 10 defense by the end of this year…Getting off the field on 3rd down will probably be the area this team will improve the most from last year….Not only will we be so much,better on 3rd down next year, but we should be much more DISCAPLINED as well, eliminating so many of the stupid 3rd down penalties that we gave away last year and kept us from getting off the field.. our secondary improvements alone should make us drastically improved on 3rd down, and it’s really going to be Improvd when you add Excellent coverage LB’s like KEndricks, Kiko, Hicks, BARWIN and even MS2 who can cover his ass off…
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Cox and Curry should be the best pass rushers then they have ever been, and we know BARWIN will bring it, Hopefully BG can blow up with more snaps and MS2’can contribute and our defense Would then be improved in every area
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So damn excited for the 2015 defense
You do realize that about half the time, BARWIN and Graham will line up as 4-3 DE’s on 3rd down? You really can see Kiko being a part time defensive end?
U were right they didn’t go for Ifo.
I thought they would love the combo of Oregon+Injury but that height factor must have been a deal breaker lol
Too tiny, plus allegedly his knee is a real mess
Buffalo Bills had the total right idea to trade up. If we had done so, we could have gotten Kyle Fuller, for example, never mind ODB.
That Bills trade was terrible.
And they paid no real price for it.
Remember, what the Bills would have gotten would have been very likely Cam Erving. Not a huge difference maker, but would have been a help…vs (had they been smart) ODB and Cam Erving.
Face it. We suck because our GM’ing totally went bonkers on the ’10 and ’11 superdrafts when talent was just raining from the sky. Had we did our draft right, we would have had totally SB capable teams in ’10 and ’11, and our down year in ’12 probably wouldn’t have been as catastrophic.
Lost 1st round pick is no price?
I gave up too much but the idea wasn’t wrong. Hate how people say they could’ve just got ODB at 9 when Watkins was considered a special prospect but giving up future firsts like that though…
The only way to execute the idea was to give up too much, which made the idea itself kinda sucky.
I think they could have moved JP for less I just don’t like people saying the idea was wrong because ODB would have been there at 9
ODB availability is a big part of why it was a bad idea. The last two draft classes have been overflowing with WR talent which made moving up to get a WR questionable at best. To give up another first in the process when they don’t even have a QB worth a damn was madness.
Yeah it was a bad trade because of what they gave up but the idea of going to get a Watkins caliber player is not bad
I think we’re going round in circles here, no?
To make the idea reality they had to give up a 1st. I mean if they could’ve moved up for a conditional 7th then sure, it’s a fine idea, but they couldn’t so it wasn’t.
And again, they moved up to get a guy at a position where that draft (and this one) was insanely deep. The gap between Watkins and ODB or Evans was never big enough to justify the move.
Sammy Watkins was a clear top tier prospect, if not Megatron et al, while ODB was a sort of subtly great prospect. They paid a high price for surety.
Megatron: 6’5″ 236 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.35 sec
Sammy Watkins: 6’1″ 205 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.43 sec
Nelson Agholar: 6’0″ 198 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.42 sec
One of these three is a true outlier that only comes around once in a generation. And, it ain’t Sammy Watkins. He’s nowhere near Megatrons level.
Right, it was a bad trade the second it was made, for a variety of reasons.
Price was absurd though I laughed hen I saw it
Watkins was considered a special prospect for sure. People were gushing about him. I watched a bunch of tape on him and while he was really good, I just never saw what all the massive fuss was about. I was much more impressed with ODB’s tape. By a mile.
Except the Bills could have stayed put and got ODB, then have a lot more picks. It’s usually hindsight where it makes sense — “3 picks before us, 3 guys we like, one of them has to fall” — and then it doesn’t. We should not have traded up this year for Agholor, probably needed to (and did) trade up for Rowe, and needed to trade up in the 4th to get one of those OLmen, but didn’t.
We didn’t trade up for Agholor. He was the #20 pick.
Correct… as it turned out he fell to us at 20, so trading up a couple spots to make sure we got him (like we did with Maclin a few years back) would have been a mistake, as it turned out. That is what I was trying to say. Given Gil Brandt’s call of the pick, I have no doubt he was a primary target. Trading up was necessary in rounds 2 and 4, one of which we also diagnosed, and one we did not (or couldn’t do anything about it). But these are things which only become clear in hindsight.
You can’t use hindsight to judge a decision though. The decision is either good or bad when its made and what happens after that doesn’t change that.
The Bills decision was bad when it was made and Sammy Watkins could be a HOF’er and that wouldn’t change that. As others have said giving up a first for him when there was so much other, comparable WR talent is crazy. It’s those moves that keep a team bad, like the Bills, for decades, like the Bills.
The Bills moved up from #8 to #2 and gave up a future 1st and 4th round pick.
No team traded into the 10 to 18 range and there was a clear decline after pick #18. You have no idea what teams were asking to move up in that range. NE who was picking #29 drafted a kid coming of an ACL tear.
Maybe they could have given up a 3rd to move up and take Cliton-Dix, but I think he’s a little overrated and maybe Chip didn’t like him as much. Maybe they should have stayed at #22 and taken Denard or Varrett, but each kid only had 17 and 19 tackles for the season.
Last year’s draft was a little weak.
Watkins was the 4th pick…
Our 4th rounder was used to trade up for Matthews. Watkins came from trading down in the third.
I wonder if all of NE is crying about ACL injuries like all of Philly is!
Kyle Fredrickson
@kylefredrickson
37m37 minutes ago
Source confirms that former #OKstate DT Ofa Hautau has been invited to Eagles mini camp this weekend for a tryout
I heard aliens had tried to abduct Nate Allen, but he wasn’t in the proper “space.”
What La’el Collins can earn as UDFA
http://overthecap.com/what-can-lael-collins-earn-as-an-undrafted-free-agent/
ICD:
best link-post of the draft.
what a great write-up.
For me this will easily be the most talented Eagle roster since Chip has been here. That will be pretty evident by how much competition there will be to make the team this summer. it’s NOT going to be easy to make this roster, and that’s a beautiful thing. Load up on talent and cause a competitive camp dogfight at each position amongst a bunch of hungry young players and let competition decide our 53 man roster, cream should rise to the top
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Chip talked about how we have 1 safety who has his starting spot on lock and that he looks forward to seeing who steps up and grabs that starting safety spot. It’s one thing to compete for a spot when the team already has two starters in place at your position, but guys like 3rd year Wolff, 2nd year Reynolds/watkins, Couplin, even Rowe.. These kids have a golden opportunity to win a starting safety spot on what should easily be a top defense by the second half of this season after everyone Gels a bit…
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Under Andy, depth was never our thing.. Most years we had a great idea who would make up the 53 man roster the day after the draft…. Chip seems to be going the Pete Carrol route, Load up on young players and let the competition sort it out…
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Really excited for this upcoming season, I have no doubts we are more talented then ever. Mariota is a high level prospect, but Chip kelly has literally NEVER worked with a more talented passer then SAM Bradford and that excites me.. A monster run game, physical, tempo wear down defenses. While Bradford steps into this QB friendly, 1 read offense, if he stays healthy, this kid has a chance to be surgical in chips offense, especially with the weapons we put around him.
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Chip will protect SAM with Run game and quick passes, Sam will get out there, look around and see his trusted Friend Demarco, and when he looks around at his weapons he will see 3 hungry, hard working young WRs in Huff, pope, Agholor, Zack Ertz, Sproles, and two big body vets in Austin and Coop along with old man Celek, and chip who will be scheming these weapons open for him, providing d fined reads that a sharp kid like SAM can really thrive with, it’s going to be night and day for the position SAM was in St. Louis.
Curious that you think it is the most talented. I actually think they have more depth at a couple of positions but that the upper end of the talent is a bit more limited especially on offense next year.
When I look at talented hard working young men, I do not expect them to be the same players I saw last year, especially kids like jordan and ERTZ that got so much game experience. Jordan works like a madman all offseason and trains with some of the top WR’s in the game. I expect to not even recognize Jordan this year, because he will show a drastic year two leap the way Alshon Jeffries did… I expect ERTZ to show more growth and be closer to becoming one of the best Recieving TE weapons in the NFL that he is destined to become… I’m sure Huff will be a better player, but I don’t have the same Huge year two leap expectations because he didn’t get the game experience Jordan got last year
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Also I think chips offenses these past two years were limited. Think about it:
Year 1, Desean was awesome, Coop had a big year, Avant sucked
year 2, Mac was awesome, Coop sucked, Jordan was solid
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Amazing our passing offense was as good as it was with how limited it was. I think this year our youngbucks might not be ready to have as big of a year as desean had, but I think we have so many more weapons that can contribute and we will be subbing weapons in and out, way more options to create and exploit mismatches… take Miles Austin, he is like a #5 WR to us, but in year 1 he would have been our #3 WR. ..
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Past offenses were so reliant on a shady and either DEsean or Maclin.. I think we are much better now that we have a plethora of effective weapons defenses have to get ready for Agholor, Jordan, Huff, Coop, Austin, ERTZ, Celek, Sproles, Demarco, Ryan….Chips EAGLES have NEVER been stacked with an arsenal of weapons like that…
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Shady is as good as it gets, I won’t say we got a better RB, but I don’t think there is any drop off and stylistically our run game should be a better fit then it has been in the past.
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We won’t b as much of a feast or famine quick strike offense that we were with Mac, Desean and Shady… I expect next years offense to be more methodical, physical downhill punishing run game that should keep the chains moving. The style Change of our run game should make a world of a difference because we will be better then ever in the time of possesion category which should have huge effects further wearing down defenses in the second half while, our defense should be fresher then it has been in the past when we either scored a TD in a minute or were punting in a minute..
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SAM Bradford is easily the most talented QB chip has ever had, at the very least in arm talent, I don’t know how thrilled I would be to have Bradford if we wre fans of any other team, but in chips uptemp, shotgun offense, I’m so damn jacked up to have Bradford and Demarco leading the way. Bradford doesn’t have the running element that Mariotahas in this offense, but he is a more talented passer and way more ready to throw against NFL defenses. I think Bradford can be the comeback player of the year in chips offense produced by a bruising run game and a coach who will scheme guys open and make playing QB much easier then any other NFL coach does. I really think Bradford can be GREAT with Chip. I was a MONSTER FOles fan, still am.. I will follow his career and root for the kid, and there weren’t many young QB’s at all that we could have realistically gotten our hands on that I would view as an upgrade from FOles, there is no doubt Bradford is a more talented QB…I see NO REASON why he can’t at least do what Nick did in this offense
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as for our OL, the recent play of Herremans and Barbres play IMO probably isn’t any different, but Lane Johnson I expect to be the consensus #1 RT in the NFL by the end of next season. If our OL stays healthy, I see no reason why it can’t perform at the 2013 level if Not better, and I saw this OL stay healthy for 16 games just two years ago… And if one or two of our OL get hurt, I do think we are equipped to handle it as long as our backups get to play and build continuity next to the same starter every week.
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I also don’t think we saw anything yet in terms of Sproles as a pass catching weapon…
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I agree about Johnson (although not being the best RT in NFL but being considered about the best 5 or 7 at the position) and have Huff being my biggest wildcard right now going into the season on offense.
Really needs something out of Huff this year because Cooper doesn’t gives them that much and Austin brings depth & some reliability without a lot more. Asking an awful lot for a first round WR to come in and be an impact player especially the first 5-6 weeks of the season.
I bought into the Ertz hype a bit last offseason and at this point think he is a bit oveerated even. Good player but seems to disappear at times and his blocking was still really shaky at times. See him more as a Top 10 TE potentially than an elite one.
I’m curious to see what Bradford can do too but I have a pretty strong feeling that Sanchez will be starting a bunch of games next year too unfortunately because I think what you saw out of Sanchez last year is about as good as it gets. Quality backup but a marginal starter at best.
He already graded out as one of the best RT in the league most of last year, by the end of next year he will be dominant and everyone will know it,,
Agree. To me Foles/Vick/McCoy/Jackson/Maclin >>>> Bradford/Sanchez/Murray/Matthews/Algholor, and it’s not even particularly close.
I would argue that Bradford from a talent standpoint is better than Vick or Foles forgetting his injury history, of course. Vick and Foles got injured a lot too. While McCoy is a fantastic back so is Murray. He was the rushing champ last year and behind Murray we have Matthews who is also talented. Matthews in his rookie year, playing slot, collected just as many yards and tds as Maclin did his first 3 season or extremely close to. While I can’t argue Jackson’s talent, Agholor will probably put up at least 800 yards this year and as a whole our WR Corp is the bests its been since I can remember. So while the argument can be made that the guys you list3d are more talented I don’t think the defecit is as great as you make it out to be.
Lol that’s not even close to the entire equation, lol
Okay. Add in that the 2015 O line is older and less-talented than the 2013 line was, and that Celek’s no longer the receiving threat he was (though admittedly Ertz is better now than he was as a rookie).
I really like what the Eagles did this off season. Added tons of talent to the defense, even to the dl with some freaks and I think the offense will be the best Eagles offense ever
Not to quibble, but the Eagles added tons of players.
“Tons of talent” would have been something like the Pats did last year with Revis and Browner.
Maxwell’s an improvement, we’d all like to believe at least. Beyond him, it’s lots of bodies.
I agree, we probably added more like 1,500 to 1,800 lbs of talent;)
That’s good. Less than a ton.
For me talent is potential. Take Sam Bradford, great talent but not a great player
yes, exactly
I would add that we have also brought in “students of the game”. We are talking guys who are “driven” to improve and “understand” the game. This player mindset is critical to greatness. This is Chip’s ultimate objective in his culture focus.
At some point talent has to translate to production, or else potential is meaningless. Sam Bradford’s been in the NFL for five years and has never been anything better than mediocre, I think it’s unlikely he’s going to turn into Tom Brady 2.0 now.
Bradford is definitely a talent upgrade over Foles. Whether he actually puts it together finally as well as stays healthy is a question, but he’s a #1 overall pick talent-wise. Murrary was the leading rusher last year and is certainly talented. Probably a lateral move with the depature of Shady, but talent nontheless.
Kiko is a major talent if he comes back from his ACL which isn’t nearly as questionable as it was a decade ago. Matthews is very talented. He’s just been injured a bunch. But he had high first round talent when he came out. They’ve added talent, no question. They haven’t added stars per se or a bunch of players that don’t have questions about them, but I think we’ve upgraded the overall talent of the team for sure.
Anders originally wrote:
“tons of talent to the defense . . . .”
I was addressing only the DEFENSE.
Specifically, the D-backfield.
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As for Bradford’s an upgrade . . . sure, based on his college scouting report before the 2010 draft.
At this point?
What evidence is there that Bradford’s an upgrade?
He’s missed 25 straight games.
And Kiko? If he plays like he did before his injury, is he really an upgrade over pre-injured DeMeco?
I don’t know if he is or not.
But if he plays like a guy coming off a knee injury, maybe he’s really not such an upgrade. Not right away. Next year, I sure hope so.
AC – If it’s any comfort, the D is going to play with swagger. A friend of mine, who is close to Azz, says the D coaches are super-charged. They are going to bring a MONSTER D to each game. Their main concern is penalties, as we will have serial killers at each position.
I want to believe they’ll be better against good QBs.
Almost by default, the CBs can hardly do worse.
But who’s the Monster? And where’s the swagger coming from?
Maxwell’s on an island here — though I’m pretty sure his bank account now makes him “Big Balls” Max.
The secondary coach, Udlin???, can’t wait to work his guys. Remember, Chip has drafted guys now who love to study the game and improve. (I edited my post to say “Monster D” because the comments from Azz suggest a different attitude by players other than his DL. He’s pumped that his guys will have like-minded players around them.)
I think Alonso is better in coverage than Ryans and MK, injury notwithstanding.
I don’t get the Kiko/DeMeco comment. It’s not like they both aren’t on the roster. How is the NOT an upgrade?
Thurmond may very well be the most underrated addition we have had. The kids problems are not on field issues, they are injuries. If he stays healthy the kid can really ball.
I like Rowe at S more then CB due to somewhat stiff hips and he actually has more experience at safety. He could be very good against bigger WRs but may struggle against players like Jackson and OBJ. If he is able to handle them at the line then it’s a different story. However I am extremely high on him and I think he could be a slight upgrade on Williams and a big upgrade on Fletcher. Maybe I’m too optimistic on him considering he hasn’t played a down yet, but I do hold him in that high of a regard.
Nickel CB is set with Boykin and in case of injury Thurmond.
Carroll is a VERY good depth.
http://www.phillyvoice.com/santa-clause-hit-snowballs-eagles-game-dies/ RIP Although it will live on to describe an Eagles’ fan forever. No one associates Dodgers’ fans with putting people in comas, or White Sox fans as scumbags who beat up old first base umpires, but we will live forever as snowball throwing scumbags.
Do you think the lack of a pass rush linebacker was situtational to their board or do the eagles not think so terrible of Marcus Smith?
Smith, with a full year + of real NFL training, going into the regular season should step up his contributions.
So the proponents of Bradford were that he never played behind a quality OL or had a lack of skill players.
Eagles certainly have better RBs and more talent at TE/WR (at least on paper) but this offense screams ‘red flags’ over the places including how bad this offense looked at times with a few injuries, how exposed the reserves got, and the likelihood that Peters/Mathis are poised to decline this year.
Still utterly baffled by what the Eagles are doing at ILB too.
Here is hoping that depth triumphs the quality concerns next year including at WR/RB/front 7 on defense.
I agree. People see names that they recognize as elite players, like Peters and Mathis and just assume we’re good to go. At 33 and 34, respectively, a decline should be expected. Mathis inparticular I’m worried about. He never looked like his old self last year, but I think most people just chalked it up to him coming back from his injury. With his age and his head potentially not being in the game this year with his contract issue I could definitely see him being an issue.
And, while we’ve heard the coaches express confidence in Barbre is there any evidence to support that he’ll suddenly be a starting quality RG after a decade of being nothing more than a backup journeyman. The biggest issue I see though, is that with our utter lack of quality depth, a single injury (something that’s not unusual especially considering the age of some of these guys), could make things get ugly real quick.
If Barbre isn’t good enough as a starter and Mathis gets injured or goes AWOL, you’re looking at some combo of Tobin, Barbre, Gardner as your two starting Gs. And, nothing kills an offense faster than pressure up the middle.
You are right to be concerned Jernst. My guess is Chip will get someone soon via trade.
The kid on the Cardinals . . .
OG J-Cooper?
Cap-prohibitive, perhaps?
Belichick loves this kid
That would be an excellent acknowledgement of a need to improve the play at that position.
For Kendricks or Curry perhaps?
Kendricks would cause less pain Mike.
To get something you have to give something. If I can get a step in and start level RG, I’m willing to let Curry walk. We “should” be able to replace the sacks we lost with Cole and Curry (if we deal him) with Graham playing full time and Smith II contributing.
Should
There has to be a team that could use Kendricks + Boykin in exchange for an extraneous OG.
Several UDFA’s could make a difference. Don’t forget, Chip was an O Line player himself. I doubt he’s forgotten.
I think you’re thinking of Andy. Chip was a QB.
You’re right. Somehow my brain morphed QB and DB and hockey player into the O Line! from Wiki:
“He played quarterback at Manchester Central and defensive back at the University of New Hampshire. Additionally, he played ice hockey and basketball during his high school years.”
You know, I was upset that the Eagles didn’t draft an OL player but they did bring in 4 UDFA OL and chances are that 1 can emerge as a player to keep.
I watched some film of Agholor on draft breakdown and I have to say, I really like the pick. Oh, and I think the USC QB is pretty good too.
I believe we have reached our USC QB quota.
http://media.giphy.com/media/j2PS9MGm85WkE/giphy.gif
Haha I wasn’t saying that because I think we should get him, I was just noting an observation I made.
His shoulder was a problem his first year. Sanchize also passed with a sore shoulder last year. They both should be better and so should “Timmy”.
Tim-the-Tim-man.
Timmy-Timbo.
The Tim-ster.
Tim-tim-tim-a-rama.
Pick one because we are going to need it. Chip loves Timmy’s potential.
As do a lot of coaches. He was light years away from reaching said potential in years past though (I’m guessing most backups and 3rd stringers were better, aside from the ends of games). Your post scares me because I want very little to do with Tebow. But definitely willing to see if he’s actually improved enough to be better than Barkley.
He’ll be better than Barkley now. Barkley suffers from doubt which is a killer for NFL QBs. Because of his shoulder problems in year one, he now doubts. I really fear for the guy, who is good but NEEDS the edge. Timmy will rule – WHY, because he is on a mission. Now, I am not evangelical, but he WILL be driven. Expect Timmy to stick….because he is much better.
OK thanks, that may explain why we saw little of Barkley last year. He may have regressed even though his shoulder was better. I have little doubt Tebow will be driven, but… I’ll need to see the ability before I believe it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcSlcNfThUA
Agholor is a very high quality football player. I still remain more enamored with Perriman, but I think we got a really good player at 20.
Absolutely. I know everyone was saying perriman has more potential but a lower floor
The best stuff I saw about Perriman’s “floor” was explained by the poor QB play he had to deal with in college.
In either case, it’ll be a fun statistical side by side for as long as both guys are in the league.
Me and you discussed Perriman, and I was more high on him then you were, however some of his issues had more to do then just poor QB play. Not a good route runner, and I wouldn’t say bad hands but very inconsistent hands. Partially to do with concentration issues which can be fixed, but also smaller hands which cannot be fixed.
That’s a good point I didn’t think about
Yeah, Perriman has a very high ceiling but he could also be a gamble. You can never say I guarantee he will pan out in the NFL, but you almost get that feeling with Agholor.
Agholor is also more ready to step in on day 1 which is important with no Maclin.
I’m with that. And I don’t hate Agholor at all.
Agholor doesn’t seem to feel like he’s entitled, either. A good many people who manage to get to North America from some African countries know how fortunate they are.
Very true.
I’m far from a tape-watching talent evaluator, but in the highlights on Perriman it seemed to me he was not at top speed when running routes and looking back for the ball — it was just once he had the ball and could run in a straight line that he could smoke by people. Also, he had some awful drops of passes that hit him in the hands when barely or not covered. I’m sure he’ll make some highlight catches, but he may also make some frustrating drops (which you won’t see unless you watch their games), and everything I read said he’s, um, “very raw” as a route runner. Gotten by on physical abilities so far. So if he can learn all the subtleties of being an NFL receiver he could be great, but it might be a lot to ask, especially if you want him to contribute year 1. I think I’d have gone with Agholor as well though it will be fun to follow.
Yeah, it isn’t like we passed on a guy I liked to take a stiff.
Agree. Don’t expect one of them to emerge this year, but it is realistic to expect one to emerge at some point maybe.
While I don’t agree with not drafting one, it’s possible Chip felt he could get better value for getting an UDFA. He probably also has a very high opinion of Stoutlands ability to coach a young raw OL.
Greg Hardy, Jerry Jones, together forever. http://www.phillyvoice.com/cowboys-hardy-jokes-blown-twin-towers-twitter/
“He’s obviously made a couple of decisions that you’d rather them make a better decision,”
Man, I wish I had the talent to play professional football. Could you imagine getting caught dragging your girlfriend around your apartment by her hair, throwing her in a tub, slamming a toilet seat down on her arm and then strangling her on a bed covered with assault weapons, threatening to kill her and your employer or really anyone referring to that as a decision that people would rather you make a better decision? And, then adding that they’re really excited to have you as part of their organization?
#blessed
#thegoodlife
#retributionwillbemine
Lol are you saying you would like to do these things without the consequences a normal person like us would experience?
I think Dr. J’s tongue is stuck in his cheek.
On a second read it would certainly appear to seem that way, haha…
I think I’ll make sure to close this window out before she gets home, uses the computer and gets the wrong idea…
Lol
Like Chip said, it was Roseman that kept bringing in all those Oregon guys.
I’m sure Chip supported it and sort of pointed him in that direction.
The Cowboys signed the guy in my avatar photo… That’s going to come back and haunt us
Yeah, Chris Gocong and Daniel Te’o Neshiem should have never been ripped when picked.
Though I think Banner was mostly a numbers guy, Gocong wasn’t always a bad player.
I can’t agree on Gocong. He was a hot pile of crap at SAM backer. He was a below average DE who they tried to convert. They never could figure out how the F to replace Carlos Emmonds at SAM and we were stuck spending 10 years watching TEs tear up our D.
Gocong’s a kid who’d have been better off in Pittsburgh
In Gocongs defense he was better suited for a 3-4 in the first place. He was actually a very solid player in CLE and at times showing some really nice flashes. I believe he ended up getting hurt and he went downhill from there on them.
Neshiem was a bad pick and a bad player. All’s he had was his “motor” that Reid used to love to talk about. Huge reach and should have been taken in 5th round at earliest.
yea man…I think Gocong get’s a bad rap. I thought he went from being miscast in a 4-3 to developing into a pretty good LB for us. He was excellent in 2008. He never got to display that pass rush ability he showed in college, but I loved the way he attacked FBs in the hole. He didn’t always get credit for the tackle but he was great at stopping FBs and pulling guards dead in their tracks.
I never watched any Cleveland games when he was there, or really ever, because it’s Cleveland so why. But, I heard he played pretty well there until he ruptured his achilles in the 2012 preseason.
Yeah. It really wasn’t his fault he wasn’t that good there. We picked him and put him in a defense that just didn’t fit him.
Considering the large number of first or second round picks who don’t succeed, and the substantial number of UDFA’s and Round 6 or 7 players who do, a person might decide that NOBODY knows what they are talking about! ;~)
I love this… I can’t stop laughing Everytime CSN puts someone like Gonzo on TV to give his grade on Chips draft LOL… How the hell can anyone remotely care to hear What Gonzo think of drafting Jacory Shepard in round 6? How many of the media members who give their grades and impact fan expectations and opinions can honestly say they knew ANYTHING about The 6’9 freak we drafted from Boston College? Lol since Saturday, I have already heard two meedia members incorrectly tell their fans that the 6’9 kid was drafted to be an outside Linebacker for us! Hahahaha how the hell can you have an influential media platform and tell fans that the Eagles drafted a 6’9 295lb player to play outside Linebacker?
..
How many media members have already called Jordan Hicks a reach, yet a day before the draft they couldnt have told you the first thing about hicks?
…
I can even understand when guys like Mosher, Kapadia, Didinger give their grades. they haven’t been very good at ever predicting any of the Eagles move but at least they follow the team and put in enough work to offer an opinion… But I can’t stop laughing everytime I see people like Gonzo, elliot Parks, Misanelli, Cataldi, Barkan, use their platforms to grade chip Kellys draft… It’s just crazy to me..
Dave Weinberg
@PressACWeinberg
1h1 hour ago
#Eagles are bringing Joe Sarnese in for a tryout during the upcoming rookie camp. He has not signed.
Sarnese is a SS from Villanova. I’ve seen him as having 40 time of 4.82 and of 4.53. Special teams guy. Most likely just a body to have enough available players for the rookie mini-camp.
Could be a favor for a local school, too. Get him a little exposure.
Nice! I just read this on Twitter as well. Seems like a subject for the next CBA to fix………………
or a reason to add a few rounds to the draft.
Players union constantly fights for fewer rounds in draft. Adding more rounds would get those players lowballed since only one team could sign them, where now they get a bit more free market action. They still aren’t being paid megabucks I don’t think — the salaries are the NFL minimum so they are slotted. So the limit for the guarantees will be the NFL minimum salary, not some megabucks deal.
I totally understand it from the players POV, but I think it would be better for the game if teams could draft a round or three more each year.
Possibly trade it off for 3 more spots on the roster, so 96 more NFLPA members would be employed each year.
The owners put roster spots on the table for an 18 game year and NFLPA told them to shove it. It’s the owners’ biggest bargaining chip.
That 18 game nonsense rightfully didn’t go anywhere. It would pile up injuries like you wouldn’t believe. I hope to never see it.
Yeah, I concur -as crazy as it sounds to NOT want more NFL football.
Teams have been doing that for a few years now.
When the NFL executives complain about these types of issues, it pisses me beyond belief. Yeah so the little guys get a little more walking around money. This is a rounding error in terms of their spending.
Paging OregonDucker . . .
What’s the post-draft chatter about Eagles’ veteran personnel?
Kendricks for OL if we are lucky. Hicks to learn Meco responsibilities. Chip not happy with Mathis. Offense will be awesome – if OL holds up.
I’d personally prefer Kendricks and Boykin be traded for picks next year than an OL. Not sure if that’s at all likely though.
Nah especially if it isn’t a 2nd round pick and given a team would only control Kendricks for a year it is hard to see a team giving up that much for him.
I mean, if I’m trading for Kendricks right now, it’s to plug in as a starter and immediately re-sign to some sort of long term deal. A 2016 2nd doesn’t seem like too much considering.
It would have to be conditional. Second if he resigns, third or fourth if he doesn’t.
I heard a conflicting report few hours ago
You can keep pretending like you have sources and I’m gonna keep calling you out on it.
I think Chip is going to have to learn how to deal with Rosenhaus. Seems like the kind of agent who pulls BS moves who can really get under Kelly’s skin. Roseman was probably better at that aspect of the GM job. We’ll see if Mathis holds out of required team activities.
I think the Mathis thing has more to do with Mathis being nuts than wanting money. I used to think he was funny to follow on twitter, now I think he might genuinely be an unlikable kinda person.
At this time of year, would the player really be in direct contact with the coach? Usually this is all agent stuff. Perhaps done with Mathis’ permission, but the trade stuff would be all Rosenhaus. We’ll see how things go at minicamp. But I think it would have been better to not vent the frustrations in public — agents do what they do, and can pull some dirty tricks, and a GM needs to be able to deal with that.
Maybe it is all Rosenhaus… or maybe Mathis just wants some time off, can’t fault a guy for that at his age.
Yeah, I have come to the same belated decision. There is a lot of Mathis rebel in me, yet I know the line. He does not.
Yeah my hunch is that Chip won’t ever come out against him, but is tired of Mathis actions/words with the team.
Oh and thanks for all that you contribute to this community. It’s great having you around these parts 🙂
Thanks Mac. I try to share some stuff but not cross the line of homerism. I worry about his stuff.
So glad they didn’t waste a pick on yet another “project” QB in the mid to late rounds! So many other areas of need
I’m happy too. We needed to fix the secondary. And with so-called “versatile” players, we can interchange S and CB needs.
Do people expect Kendricks and Boykin to stick around on the roster? Looking at the depth at both CB and ILB after the draft, they both feel like surplus. I’d expected them to be traded at the draft, but obviously we weren’t blown away. I’m still of the mindset that if neither one is in the long-term plans due to size limitations, etc. that it makes more sense to get something for them this offseason than to lose them for nothing more than possible comp picks.
Why would you dump 25-year-old Kendricks and not 31-year-old Ryans, who was injured and can’t play every down anymore?
I mean, this has been talked about ad nauseam, but in this instance I’m not me, I’m Chip. And Chip loves Meco, and doesn’t really feel the same way about Kendricks. If Kendricks is gone after this year as a FA, and Hicks is here to be groomed as Ryans’ replacement, I’d personally rather have a 2016 2nd or 3rd than lose him for nothing.
They are still good players, so the season you get out of them is still worth more than a paltry return (especially if you can get some comp picks for them). I’m guessing they were available if we got good return, and maybe there is a training camp trade if another team has a surplus of good players at a position of Eagles need, but at this point I’d rather keep them and go light on other positions.
For sure. I’m not saying trade them just to trade them. But looking at our depth at ILB and CB, neither of them are needed, and I have to think there are two teams out there who are unhappy at those positions, who these guys are better fits for, who might be willing to make something happen. I’m not sure if that happens before training camp though.
I don’t see why Kendricks would be unhappy — he was a full time starter, and might be this year as well if we have him and Alonso playing. If we plan to have Kendricks as a backup this year, that would change the thinking. But he’s still our best or second best ILB so I have trouble thinking that. We will have a drop down in talent on the field if we trade him, so we best get something good back. Similar with Boykin… he’s still our best slot corner, most likely. Getting value at this point seems highly unlikely unless another team has a rash of injures in training camp/preseason and gets desperate.
No one said anything about Kendricks’ happiness. I said, based on the paucity of ILB depth in the draft, there must be other teams who came out of this weekend unhappy about their depth there. Whether those teams are active in addressing those holes, or it takes until some sort of training camp injury occurs on such a team, I have to think someone ultimately meets are demands concerning both of them.
I agree to an extent. Really depends on what we’re getting back. If it’s a 5th round pick for Kendricks or something like a 6th round pick for Boykin, I’d rather just keep them and enjoy their production for one more year while we see how and if the new peices fit in our scheme.
Kendricks, in particular, I think stays. I think if we got the right deal for him (ie a 2nd this year), we would have taken it. But, since no one wanted to pay that price we weren’t going to just give him away. He’s too valuable to our defense when the other guys at ILB are Kiko who’s still in the process of rehabbing his ACL and might not even be a full go by training camp, Ryans who is going to be a 31 year old recovering from his second achilles tear and won’t even be a year removed from that injury until mid season and a rookie.
Kendricks is the only one on the roster that’s starter material and isn’t hurt. People that assume DeMeco is going to be counted on as the day 1 starter are nuts. Recovery from achilles rupture is brutal. No way you can count on him for anything right now. That’ll be a wait and see game.
Boykin I could definitely see being moved though. Just don’t know what other teams would value him as since they’ve never seen him play outside, he is only 5’9″ and he’s coming off a down year.
I think people who assume they know where Ryans is at with his rehab just based on the type of injury are just as nuts as those who assume he’ll be back starting. I think it makes more sense to listen to what the coaches are saying RE: his recovery than to just assume in either direction…
Gonna take a stab at the 53-man:
OFFENSE
QB: (1) Sam Bradford (2) Mark Sanchez (3) Tim Tebow
I don’t think Chip is thrilled with Matt Barkley, and believes he’ll get more intangible value from Tebow, as well as many some versatility in sub packages.
RB: (1) DeMarco Murray (2) Ryan Matthews (3) Darren Sproles
Think Chip would prefer a development TE or WR in place of Matthew Tucker, largely for Special Teams value.
TE: (1) Brent Celek (2) Zach Ertz (3) Trey Burton
WR: (1) Nelson Agholor (2) Jordan Matthews (3) Josh Huff (4) Riley Cooper (5) Miles Austin (6) Devante Davis
I think Devante Davis absolutely makes this team. 6’2″ 215 with RAC ability and strong ball skills that can make contested catches. Real raw route runner, but watching film on him, there is a lot to like. Could be a UDFA steal.
OL: (1) Jason Peters (2) Evan Mathis (3) Jason Kelce (4) Allen Barbre (5) Lane Johnson (6) Matt Tobin (7) David Molk (8) Kevin Graf (9) Cole Manhart
This is the tough one for me to predict, D3FB could probably do better. A lot depends on how the Evan Mathis situation plays out. I personally think he’s gone before training camp. Hoping Kevin Graf has put in enough work over the summer to make the team, if not could see UDFA Malcolm Bunche making the team in his place. Eagles were all over Cole Manhart during the pre-draft process, think he makes the team. Would like to trade Kendricks and/or Boykin for a young, viable, OG.
DEFENSE
DL: (1) Fletcher Cox (2) Bennie Logan (3) Cedric Thornton (4) Vinny Curry (5) Taylor Hart (6) Beau Allen (7) DJ McBryde
Love this positional group. I think DJ McBryde makes the team and Manahlik ends up on the practice squad. Love both though.
OLB: (1) Connor Barwin (2) Brandon Graham (3) Marcus Smith III (4) Bryan Braman
Went light on this group as I like the DL and ILB talent more, and think guys like Kiko and Brad Jones will be able to slide outside on 3rd downs if necessary. MS III should also be ready to contribute this year so he’s not a waste of a roster spot.
ILB: (1) Kiko Alonso (2) Mychal Kendricks (3) DeMeco Ryans (4) Jordan Hicks (5) Brad Jones
Obviously a lot here depends on what happens with Mychal.
CB: (1) Byron Maxwell (2) Eric Rowe (3) Brandon Boykin (4) Walter Thurmond (5) JaCorey Shepherd (6) Randall Evans
If Boykin is traded Nolan Carroll probably keeps his spot or they use it for Chris Maragos or another DL. Or maybe if Thurmond isn’t that good. I think if Carroll was a better player he would have made more noise last season amid Cary-Williams-and-Bradley-Fletcher-gate. I’m excited about Evans and Shepherd, and I think Chip wants them to be on the 53. I’m hoping Eric Rowe is your Week 1 starter opposite Byron Maxwell.
S: (1) Malcolm Jenkins (2) Earl Wolff (3) Jaylen Watkins (4) Jerome Couplin
Guys like Chris Maragos (and Seyi Ajirotutu at WR) will be used to push the younger guys during Training Camp, but ultimately Chip will go with the higher-ceiling, more talented players, even if they’re a bit more raw. Couplin will need to prove himself on STs to make the team, but I love his physical profile and measurables, really want to seen him make the team. I believe Earl Wolff will start opposite Jenkins.
+ 3 specialists.
This will change 100x between now and Week 1, but was a fun exercise. The camp battles in the secondary are going to be exciting. Hoping Wolff, Couplin, Watkins all step up along with the rookies.
Think this is close in terms of what we will end up with, think Maragos makes it over Couplin because of his special teams prowess, but seems very close. OL is very much up in the air will be a real battle at the bottom end of the roster.
Think Maragos is a lock to make this roster.. Braman and Gos are the ST captains, in what world are they getting cut?
Love this team, if Bradford is healthy I like it a lot
Me too. A healthy Bradford is the key. Could be a two Playoff year. SB next year. 🙂
Bradford is healthy. He is already running, and he will be on the field today, just need to put the finishing touches on his rehab before he is 100% cleared to return to full action… The question will be keeping him healthy, but especially in his first year I think the coaches will be conscious to coach games trying to best help protect Bradford.
..
As long as our OL is healthy, I assume we will run our offense with an emphasis on the run game protecting SAM the way the cowboys did last year that finally led them to some success… As long as the OL stays healthy, shouldn’t be hard for Demarco, Ryan and Sproles to grind out 3 yards at a time.. And when we need to throw, plenty of screens, quick hitters getting the ball out right away, defined reads chip provides scheming guys open..
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keep this kid on the field and I don’t think we could realistically hope for a more talented QB. Sharp Kid with all the arm talent we could ask for…
So you like this team less if Bradford is healthy?
Nice work. The only thing I might not agree with is, I think the coaches like what Nolan Carrol brings as a Dime LB and inside out guy rather than an outside CB and I think he makes the final roster. And, I don’t think Chip will ever take the higher ceiling, more talented player over someone that excells on special teams. When in doubt over the bottom of the roster I think Chip is always going to take the special teams stud and that’s why Maragos makes this team for sure.
I agree with your last point, I think in some respects this Depth Chart is a “best case” scenario, in that the younger, higher-ceiling guys prove they belong on the 53.
I could see it going the other way quite easily on the margins – Ajirotutu over Devante Davis, Maragos over Couplin, Carroll over Evans/Shepherd, etc.
I hated having to include Brad Jones BTW, just feel like he makes the team. But maybe one of those young secondary guys gets that spot.
Well there is still Goode and Acho, don’t be surprised if Austin doesn’t make the roster and Davis and Seyi do, I definitely think Maragos will make it and probably Carroll
Yeah, I think those are all bubble guys, we’ll see how camp battles and potential trades impact them.
You hope between Fipp’s coaching, the mentorship of the special teams vets, and the general cultural emphasis on special teams across the board, that some of the young guys with starter upside take to teams work and show enough there to beat out the vets or at least stick on the practice squad with future potential to take the jobs of a Maragos, Ajirotutu, etc.
Oh and I don’t think either Tebow or Barkley make this team as the third QB. I have a feeling we pick someone else up to try and develop at that spot. But, if I had to pick between the two, I think you’re right Tebow makes it if he’s learned how to throw a football at all. Which says all you need to know about what I think of Barkley.
Interesting list. When you say “Think Chip would prefer a development TE or WR in place of Matthews”, did you mean Tucker? If Kelly would really prefer a development WR, he wouldn’t have signed Matthews. I think we’re going to go with 4 RB myself, unless Burton is considered half a RB.
I think Cooper is cuttable this year if you find better WRs all the way down. There was no point early in the year, since it would have actually increased his cap hit and there was no guarantee we’d get someone better. But after June 1, it would actually be a slight cap savings, and if you have 5 or 6 guys you prefer then there’s no reason not to cut him. You’d have to have guys who can block as well though, and of course you want to see how Cooper rebounds from last year and fits in with Bradford.
I don’t think both Shepherd and Evans are both making the team in front of Carroll. I suspect he’s better than what we’ve seen. Maragos was here for STs and that may be a tough one not to keep, as well, which might also push the young CBs to the practice squad.
I think the 3rd QB is either Barkley or someone else we pick up, not Tebow, unless Tebow shows unprecedented improvement.
Yes, meant in place of Tucker, thanks, fixed.
Would love to see Coop gone, just have a hard time believing Chip will make it happen.
I think Chip is going to give “his guys” every opportunity to make the team, why I see Shepherd and Evans both on the 53, but you could be right re: both Maragos + Carroll.
Trading Boykin will also impact this a lot as well obviously.
I’m sorry I keep talking about Davis but I am just so happy he is in this team right now. Such a big physical talent! I love how Chip is remodeling the WR corps from a bunch of sub 6 foot guys to a legion of behemoths.
Yeah, I really hope he makes the team.
You can see why he wasn’t drafted – didn’t test well ( http://www.mockdraftable.com/player/4789/ ) and is a poor route runner, but I’m hoping his ball skills and size are enough for him to be a viable WR.
I believe he pulled his hamstring at the combine and while it doesn’t mean much, he did run the 40 in 4.45 at his pro day. I don’t care much about his 3 cone because he isn’t going to play the slot and his RAC revolves more around smashing through people instead of going around.
For those that haven’t watched his highlights yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWP-aE3tMl4
Notice how well he tracks and adjust to the ball while its in air, this is the quality that I think separates him from other “big + runs kind of fast” WRs.
He has good ball skills and is capable of making some really impressive catches (also reportedly had some “concentration drops” that I’m hoping he can clean up – his technique is fine).
Well done those would the same 9 on the OL I would have chosen as well.
Good first pass – really think that a healthy Vandervelde beats out Molk (too undersized), but maybe not.
Should be epic TC battles amongst DBs and LBs.
series of tweets from Brad King
Eagles as of now have tons of flexibility to be creative and multiple on defense. Billy Davis might be stubborn, but this scheme is great
Davis knows how to teach it and now the Eagles have lots of athletes at all three levels of the defense and DeMeco is still here leading it
The Eagles could stay in Base against 3WR this year. Go Nickel vs 4 wide because of Kiko and Hicks
They have DBs that could play the dime backer roll now if they want to play 6 defensive backs.
Davis does a great job of getting free rushers against QBs. He has lots of multiple skilled athletes at all levels that can finish if free
They still have Cox. It all starts with those guys up front dominating the line of scrimmage and they’re really good at it, special group
The team is better. We’ll see how far that gets them, but they’re moving towards great, that’s all we can ask for as fans
Its all on Sam, if he is healthy this team is definitely better than last year
Even if he goes down I can see us being fine. for starters I expect our defense to gel into a legit top defense after the first 4 games of the season. I’m not a Sanchez fan, but I don’t think it realistic to think he showed his best last year in his first year in a very different offense then anything he was used to. I wouldn’t want to go into a season with sanchez as the starter but I think he can be better then he was last year, and I have no doubts he can be a top backüp in this league… I don’t think sanchez is good enough to get it done behind a messy OL, but if our OL stays healthy for him along with the run game, I absoluteky think he can win games for us if need be, especially with our defensive improvements and elite Special teams unit
Someone was talking about the insane amount of talent in the 2010 draft and how much we completely missed in nearly every conceivable way that year. So I decided to look at the draft and holy cow did we got owned that year. There were so many quality players that year that you could have literally thrown a dart at the draft board and walked away with 2 all pros.
Here’s the list of players that were immediately available at our picks and who we took instead.
We originally had the 24th pick immediately available were: Dez Bryant, Devin McCourty, Jared Odrick, Jerry Hughes and Rodger Saffold.
We traded that and our second that year to move up to 13th overall. We took Brandon Graham. Available were: Earl Thomas, Jason Pierre-Paul, Derrick Morgan, Mike Iupati, Maurkice Pouncey, Sean Weatherspoon, Kareem Jackson, Jermaine Gresham, Demaryius Thomas, Bryan Bulaga (in fact that is everyone from pick 13-24 in order)
In the second we took Nate Allen. Available were: TJ Ward, Rob Gronkowski, Lamaar Houston, Zane Beadles, Linval Joseph, Daryl Washington, Jason Worilds, Sean Lee, Mike Neal, Terrence Cody, Ben Tate, Golden Tate, Brandon Spikes, Jared Valdeer, Donald Butler, Emmanuel Sanders
In the 3rd round we took Daniel Teo-Nesheim. Available were: Eric Decker, Andre Roberts, Navorro Bowman, Jimmy Graham, Everson Griffen, Alterrain Verner
In the 4th we first selected Trevard Lindley with the following players available: Jacoby Ford, Corey Wooton, Walter Thurmond, Dennis Pitta, Geno Atkins
We then had three 4th rounders in rapid succession later that round: We took Keenan Clayton, Mike Kafka and Clay Harbor. Available were O’brien Schofield, Kam Chancellor, Perrish Cox, Nolan Carroll,
In the 5th we took Riley Cooper and Ricky Sapp with Greg Hardy and Antonio Brown available.
My god that was depressing. Can we have a do over?
Can’t wait for this team to really take off. It’s really improved in some significant areas that should have a monster cumulative effect…
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As potent as our passing game has been, it was extremely limited depending on one or two weapons to carry the load each year. This year we have so many talented weapons that will be running on and off the field to throw at teams and a plethora of toys to try to find and expose,mismatches… As great as our offenses were, we were so dependent on a handful of players. Think about explosive year 1’offense. Desean was a monster and Coop had a big year but after that we had Nothing, AVANT was our #3’ahd he sucked the last year…
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We will be more methodical of an offense and less quick strike feast or famine. too often we either scored in a minute or were punting in a minute. we will still score and have Bug monster plays, but a more grinding, methodical, down hill run game should help improve our time of position which in turn keeps defenses on the field more then ever, wearing them down more then ever especially with our physical down hill RBs, while also keeping our Defense fresher then past years.
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As for the defense, we will see an offense that should help the defense stay fresh more then past years, but more importantly we should see a Defense that will help itself stay fresh more then ever by A) Getting off the field better then past years with improved coverage from EVERYONE from the ILBs to the OLBs BARWIN and Marcus is better in coverage then BG and COle were, along with significant improvements in the defensive backs..B) we should see more players being used on defense then in past years. Not only will our DL rotate but so will our ILBs and we should see us use more players then past years in different subpackages,,
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And one of the most under rated BIG TIME pieces of the puzzle is the coac Fipp is back with even MORE TALENT then what was maybe the best special teams I have ever seen last year… We might not have as many crazy big plays as last year, because that’s TOUGH TO BEAT. But we should be really sound, effective and stingy across the board…
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really pleased with the roster Chip put together his first year in charge at the NFL level, and This isn’t a stubborn man set in his ways, it’s a coach/GM that will always try to grow from experience and learn to do his jobs a little better then the year before..
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very excited for the Bradford era, kid is as talented as any QB I ever had the pleasure to root for, now it’s just up to our Trainers. OL and RBs to keep him up right and our coach to bring the talent out of him and bring out the QB this kid was supposed to become…
A quick passing game should help Bradford stay healthy too
Apropos of nothing, I just got back from my first Brazilian soccer match and it was nuts. It was a state championship game between Ceara and Fortaleza (who are rivals) and the atmosphere was more chaotic and frenzied than anything I’ve seen at an American Football game.
They also have us beat big-time in hooliganism. The post-match atmosphere felt genuinely unsafe with women and children running for safety and big groups of shirtless soccer bros rushing the field to fight with the opposing teams fans.
All in all a great time though, highly recommended if anyone is ever traveling to Brazil.
Yeah soccer games in Italy put us football fans to shame… Just the smoke bombs people set off in the stands oand on the field blowing smoke of the teams colors is madness.. Every team has its own anthem every fan stands up and sings before every game “Roma,Roma,Roma”, and when the home team wins the game, most teams have their own victory songs, and the players stay on the field while the entire crowd serenades them with the Thank you victory song “Grazie Roma”.. We are way behind them in terms of fun fans and game day atmosphere.. heck just the coffee with the shots of liquor inside would be awesome addition to my Linc eagle experience…. def suggest checking out a soccer game anytime traveling to Europe or South America,.. Awesome experience..
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I’ll never forget a few years ago catching a Champions League game in Rome, vs. Byern Munich.. rome was down 2-0 at half time, came back and won 3-2… Talk about insanity and Mayhem!!
The chants are insane. At the game I was just at, they had the fans for each team separated into their own half of the stadium, and one teams fans would do a chant, then the other teams fans would have a “response” chant, and it would go back and forth like that.
I was surprised how many flares/firecrackers/sparklers etc. they had. At one point when it seemed certain Fortaleza was going to win, like 25 hand held red flares went up on their side (I was sitting on the Ceara side) of the stadium and soon the whole field was covered in smoke, lit up by a red glow from the flares.
It was crazy too to see people literally kneeling and praying, rosary in hand, in the aisles and in their seats. Just an insane amount of devotion to their teams victory.
Yeah it’s definitely a wild and fun atmosphere… Did they have the sections in the stadium seperated by like a high wall of plexi glass to seperate opposing fans from killing each other? I also get a kick out of how in Italy, the teams save a small section for the opposing team fans, so they all sit in one section with tons of security around them and they don’t let that section leave the stadium Til an hour after the game ends to avoid them getting killed outside from the home fans…
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The flares and smoke. Bombs are awesome. We would never be allowed to act the way they act in soccer stadiums..its like night and day compared to here
Haha the way they did it here is they left like 2 entire sections on each side of the stadium empty, and there was a wall of 12-15 cops lining the walkways inbetween, so there would be fan section A, wall of cops, 2 empty sections, wall of cops, fan section B and then repeat on the other side.
I found a video of some of the mayhem that went on after the game. It’s missing some good stuff (10 Fortaleza fans beating the crap out of 1 Ceara fan was on a live video feed we were watching when we got to the car) but it gives a general idea of the insanity.
http://globoesporte.globo.com/ce/futebol/campeonato-cearense/jogo/03-05-2015/ceara-fortaleza/
The big video right in the middle is when the fans from the teams were rushing the field to fight. The initial rush is from the Fortaleza fans, and then the surge back is when the Ceara fans started jumping the walls.
Edit: I should add the explosions near the end with the smoke aren’t the fans, that’s the riot police moving in trying to disperse the crowd.
Pure unadulterated madness. Lol Love it… American football fans have a long way to go before we can reach soccer fan status..,, then again, soccer fans don’t sit in 4 hour blizzards to watch the game so we have that going for us,,,
What is the general consensus on whether you’d rather have — 3rd round pick next year or Mark Glowinski this year?
easily the third
Its funny how we get nothing for Desean but a third round pick for Bryce Brown…
trade 3rd next yr for ’17 2nd. trade ’17 for ’18 1st. hope it ends up being top 5 pick.
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kelly went to hinkie school, with miami pick. if in bottom 10 next season, unprotected in ’17. turn Thad Young into top 3 pick would be trade steal of century.
That’s exactly what I was thinking lol I would definitely take a first in 2018
Easily the 3rd!! It’s bad enough we lost our 2nd rounder which has been our MONEY round the past 4 years netting us Mykal, Vinny, Ertz, Jordan and now Rowe…..at least two’ 3rds would give us ammo to trade into round 2 if we want…of course we can also try to trade back from our 1st pick, but I’m happy that as a GM Chip is looking past this year. coach Chip is always focused on the winning NOW, but GM Chip has to keep an eye on the future as well…
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Really like how chip operated in his 1st year as GM…
An extra 3rd is nice since we don’t have a 2nd next year.
Wasn’t impressed with the Giants draft… Flowers is Meh, and let’s see how much they like Landon Collins when ERTZ is Flaying him alive like “Ramsey Bolton”..
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Cowboys meh… I like Byron Jones a lot, but how do you add Gregory on a team with Hardy, Lawrence, Dez and Rolondo McClain? Lol… Can’t wait to watch the Darren McFadden/John Randle led Cowboys lol..
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Skins got better, got some nice playersl but they seemed foolish to me for leaving the players they left on the board to take their players…Sherf is a nice player, but he isnt a better Guard Prospect then Chance Warmack. crazy to pass on leonard williams because you are happy with Old Hatcher and over rated Ricky Jean Francois..Prentice pick is solid, but I thiught there were much better options.
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WTF are the Saints doing? Drew Bree’s should be furious. They took away Jimmy Graham and Stills, and they didn’t draft Brees any weapons? Instead they chose to spend a 3rd on his fiture replacement? I’d be furious if I was Brees..
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Praise Bellichek all you want. But he took a straight bum in round 2… I’d rather have Ed reynolds then the stanford safety they drafted,,, horrendous pick!! Even if he becomes tThe greatest safety of all time, No ONE would have touched him Til at least round 5…
Giants getting way too much love I love their 3rd round pick but the rest of their stay was men. Skins really shouldn’t have passed Williams but besides that they did well. Cowboys did OK, but not drafting a running back is weird.
That OT they took was panic move. And Wash should have grabbed Williams over a OG, no matter how good is might be.
I don’t THNK the skins did bad, I just think their draft was way over rated because they were picking high enough in each round to have a much better Haul then they got… They got solid players, I just think they dafted for Need and you can tell by the fact they passed on better talent..
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No way they should have Taken a a guard when Leonard and Fowler were the best two players in the drafts me they had a shot at one and passed on him for a Guard in the top 5… And they passed on better players to replace Orakpo in round 2…you can just see how much short term need factored into each draft choice…
Washington got themselves a really good RT that should solidify that position for the next 10 years. Too bad they passed up on a potential all-pro DT to do so.
The Dallas picks worries me. Byron Jones is an athletic freak and a very intelligent guy. In a few years he can be a really good player. Randy Gregory is a top 5 talent. He’ll either be the next Josh Gordon or the next Daryl Washington.
I like Sherf much much better at Guard
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Randy Gregory let MELVIN Gordon rush for 400 yards in less the 3 1/2 quarters,. Mental midget who needs a baby sitter worse then Dez? Wanted NI parts of Gregory… Byron Jones however can be grow into a HECKUVA corner
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The finally figured out that they need a run game so they can keep Romo on a pitch count and minimize his risk of further injury and boneheaded mostakes, and a year later they go into the season with McFaddn and John Randle? That has to be the worst 1-2 RB duo in the NFL, and with our DL, we don’t need to fear any OL’s…..
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Giants draft DOESNT scare me at all. I would probably rank their drafts
#1) Skins… Got good talent, but because of NEED a feel they missed out on better players..
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#2) Cowboys,, Byron Jones is the only draft pick I would love to have from them
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3) Giants underwhelmed especially for picking top 10
https://twitter.com/PHLEaglesNation/status/578270245607108608
Clever on so many levels
When are the first cuts? Need to start the countdown Til we can forget the TEBOW era…. Damn you Gj Kinney. if you would stay at Qb we may not have to suffer this embarressment of having this nincompoop in an Eagles jersey…NFLnetwork,just showed the clip,where he is warming up, throwing while singing on the football field “My God, is an awesome God…” Knowing he was Mic’ed Up for the game.. He makes my skin crawl, I can’t stand him, especially since he wastes his talemt refusing to do anything to help a team win,mfor example play Special teams..
To follow up on OregonDucker’s information that the Eagles may try to move Kendricks for an OL, I suggest this as a possibility:
Kendricks to Arizona for G/C Jonathan Cooper
Cooper was the #7 overall pick the year we drafted Lane Johnson. There were reports that we liked him but not at #4. Very athletic lineman. He was hurt his rookie season. He wasn’t at full strength last offseason and Ted Larsen beat him out for the starting job. Per Arians he was starting to play well and then had other minor injuries(toe, wrist). The Cardinals drafted OT D.J. Humphries in Rd 1 and while he could be viewed as a replacement next year for RT Bobby Massie who will be an UFA he could also be inserted immediately at RG(where Cooper plays).
At ILB, the Cardinals signed LB Sean Weatherspoon and he will fill one spot. The current starter opposite him is Kevin Minter but he hasn’t done anything of note the past 2 years that would warrant him being a starter. Daryl Washington is coming off of multiple suspensions and hasn’t been re-instated yet. Even if he was re-instated, the Cardinals can’t count on him.
I’m sure some would object to trading Kendricks for a “bust” but I think trading a guy that is in the last year of his deal who you’re obviously not going to re-sign for a highly drafted prospect that still has a lot of upside and has 2 years plus a potential 5th year option pickup on his contract would be a good move.
Object to trading Kendrick for anyone, and I actually had Coop as our #3 Target that year behind Dion and Lane,,So I don’t at all view Jonathon as a bust, but no reason to trade Mykal now
Not sure we can exercise the 5th year option, but I’d still make the trade. Would be a no-brainer really, considering we’re gonna lose Kendricks in FA after this year, and considering Cooper is a talented scheme fit with some upside.
http://www.csnphilly.com/football-philadelphia-eagles/chip-kellys-1st-nfl-draft-total-control-smooth-operation
“I think we spent a lot of time in the last whatever couple of months so that, really, we’re not making decisions when you get to the draft, the decisions have been made before.” — Strategy – it’s not a 1 week process….
Apparently Chip hates Matt Barkley so much he wants to ruin his career by sticking him with the “got beat out by Tebow” label.
Obviously you can’t truly judge a draft until a couple years down the line, but I liked every pick this year except for Hicks. With Kendricks, Ryan, and Alonso already on the roster, plus backups who have shown the ability to be competent if pressed into duty like Goode, ILB did not strike me as a huge need, and I think they passed up some very talented OL prospects with that pick. Would’ve much rather had T.J. Clemmings.
I didn’t care for Hicks either but like any other pick he could pan out. It really doesn’t make too much sense to me unless they’re moving one of the ILB’s, I’m not sure where we’re going to put them all, but injuries happen and all that.
Last year I really wasn’t thrilled with the MSII pick and he didn’t do anything to change my mind about him, but this year both Rowe and Agholor I really like, so even if just those 2 pan out that could be a big boost as both positions are critical for us. Bonus points if any of the other guys can play.
Imagine getting a starter, a good player, and a great player out of your top three picks in a draft, and then one or even two depth players. Not saying it’s going to happen, but I think the odds aren’t insignificant. In hindsight we’d consider that a great draft.
I think chip did as great job balancing between short term needs, long term needs and value. He was ice cold even when mariota didn’t work out. I’m very encouraged by his first run as gm.
Andy Reid accomplished that feat just twice in his 13 drafts with the Eagles when we got Lito, Sheldon, Lewis and Westbrook in 2002 and Patterson, Herremans and Cole in 2005. In 11 other tries he came away with 2 quality starts from one draft only once: Maclin and McCoy in 2009. 4 times he came away with no consistent quality starters from an entire draft. Just goes to show you how few draft picks really work out.
The Hicks pick makes sense in the fact that he really is a good player, and Kendricks will more then likely be gone next season allowing a year to groom him. Where there more pressing needs this year? Yes.
Will a starting caliber ILB be a need next year when Ryan’s is a year older and Kendricks is gone? Yes.
It was a move for the future. We have two 3rd round picks next year and no 2nd. It’s easier to find guards with those picks then a starting ILB.
Do I 100% agree with it? I guess that depends on how Hicks pans out, OL holds up this year, and if we get talented OL next year. However I do think Hicks is a good player and I understand the reasoning.
Just like the trade for a 3rd next year, Hicks is a move that is frustrating to fans but probably good for the overall team in terms of the future.
Yup. Now if the OL falls apart this season or is not reasonably addressed next season then fans will be flipping, and honestly they have the right to.
It’s really just a gamble. If the OL stays healthy, it’s addressed next year, and Hicks pans out then it was a great move.
Can really go either way.
Chances are that the OL will not fall apart like last year. However I do not like Barbre at G and more then likely another player may get injured due to age. Just not all of them like last year.
It does worry me though that going into next year’s draft we may need to pick less BPA and more need do to the age of the line. This is without a 2nd round pick. I really hope Barbre plays great because that may buy us another two years at the RG position, but I doubt it. I also hope Tobin steps up his game. I think he may to a small extent but not what is required.
For sure and Chip has to have some type of contingency plan. Especially considering all the OL we wanted being taken last year. I’m waiting for the Kendricks for Cooper trade honestly.
Yeah, I can’t help but think Chip has something up his sleeve as well.
I’m really hoping Collins gets exonerated and Chip goes after him. He gets to choose the team but Philly almost sounds like a perfect place for him all things considering.
Like you said I’m also waiting to hear a trade involving Kendricks or Boykin.
I’ll be perfectly fine with trading Boykin as long as Thurmond manages to stay healthy.
I really didn’t want to see Kendricks go before the Hicks pick but I’m high on Hicks. The 2 gap helps minimize his biggest weakness which is shedding blockers. If Kendricks gets traded for a good starting OL then I think I would be happy about it.
The good news is, Hicks can blitz the A gap pretty effectively so even if he does get stuck on blocks from time to time, at least he can blitz. While he may have a hard time getting off blocks in his first year, I think a year of strength and technique will do him worlds of good.
Agree completely. He may not have Kendricks explosion through the line but I believe he could be effective as Alonso at blitzing which is still good.
No trade…
Why do people say Chip has a back up plan? CK doesn’t run this team ‘with back up plans’ nor do we want somebody running a team ‘with back up plans’. CK is a ‘make a decision and move forward’…
Maybe some of the plans we see are back up plans because the original didn’t work out. Humans in general always have thoughts on what they will do if “A” doesn’t happen. I’m not sure why people would think he is a reckless monster.
I agree. He’s not a reckless monster either. He’s too ‘specific’ to be reckless. I don’t think he even goes to the bathroom unless it’s a well planned, defined process.
Let’s not forget that the ILB corps fell apart this past season, too. Hopefully one or two UDFA O linemen will work out. They are all younger than even the current backups.
About as sound of reasoning as I have seen regarding this pick. Still would have seen the OL this year.
Yeah it’s a gamble really. If OL holds up this year then it may pan out.
I know “rumors” say CK not ‘ok’ with Kendricks. I wonder if Chip isn’t happy with the depth. Maybe ‘Goode’ hasn’t been good enough? Having Ryans here confuses me more than this pick. Ryans is not a long term, nor a mid-long term solution.
CB Philosophy: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
But you can ALWAYS overpay in free agency.
Visual…
With all this talk about grading drafts and what we think of everything from this past weekend, I decided to look back at the Drafts from the Andy Reid era. Looking over Andy Reid’s drafts during his Eagles career it’s astounding how many times we drafted someone and an all pro or much better player, often at the same position as the guy we drafted, was taken either immediately after our pick or within a few picks. I always defended his drafting, but besides a couple knockout drafts like 2002 and 2009 it was really a comedy of errors with a couple late round miracles that saved the day.
1999:
– 2nd round: We take Barry Gardner, the next pick is LB Mike Peterson (who was followed by Jon Jansen and Mike Rucker)
– 7th round: We take Jed Weaver 3 picks ahead of Donald Driver
– Other picks were McNabb, Doug Brezinski, Jon Welbourn, Na Brown, Cecil Martin, Troy Smith
2001
– 1st round: We take Freddie Mitchell a few picks in front of Reggie Wayne and about 10 picks in front of Chad Johnson (Chris Chambers, Quincy Morgan and Steve Smith were the next three receivers drafted that year)
– We traded our 3rd to Miami and they took Morlon Greenwood
– Other picks were Quintin Caver, Derrick Burgess, Buckhalter, Tony Stewart, AJ Feely
2003
– Traded out of pick 30, Nnamdi Asomough was taken at 31, traded up to 15 to take Jerome McDougal, Troy Polomalu was taken at 16 and Calvin Pace 2 picks later.
– 2nd round, we took LJ Smith a few picks before Jason Witten
– 4th round, we took Jamaal Green a few picks ahead of Robert Mathis
– Traded our 5th to GB and they took Hunter Hillenmeyer
– Other picks: Billy McMullen, Jeremy Bridges, Norman Lejeune
2004
– Traded up in first round for Shawn Andrews, Vernon Carey was taken 2 picks later and Chris Snee was taken a few picks after our initial pick that we traded
– Our 2nd round pick was traded and used on Shawntae Spencer who started at CB for 8 seasons in San Fran
– Our 3rd pick was Matt Ware, the next two CBs off the board were Will Poole and Nathan Vasher, followed by Will Allen
– In the 4th round, Jared Allen was taken a pick after ours
– In the 5th we took JR Reed, Gibril Wilson was taken a few picks later
– We next took Trey Derilek and a few picks later the next guard taken was Jacob Bell who won all rookie honors
– Other Picks: Andy Hall, Adrian Clarke, Bruce Perry, Dominic Furio
2005
– 1st round we took Mike Patterson one spot ahead of Logan Mankins
– 2nd round we took Reggie Brown ahead of Vincent Jackson and immediately before Barrett Rudd and then LB Matt McCoy later in the round with Frank Gore and OJ Otogwe being the next two picks
– 3rd round: Ryan Moats directly in front of Kirk Morrison (the next two RBs off the board were Marion Barber and Darren Sproles)
– In the 4th we took Sean Considine prior to Kerry Rhodes being selected by the Jets
– Others: Trent Cole, Scott Young, Calvin Armstrong
2006
– 2nd round we traded up for Winston Justice, a few picks ahead of Marcus McNeill and Andrew Whitworth
– 4th round we traded up from pick 108 to pick 100 with New Orleans, for Max Jean-Gilles, Jahri Evans was then taken with our original pick 108, then we traded up again, this time with Green Bay for Jason Avant, they used our pick on Will Blackmon and two picks later Brandon Marshall was selected, we traded away another 4th that became Stephen Tulloch and yet another 4th that became Ray Edwards
– 6th round we traded our pick to Green Bay who took Johnny Jolly and then later in the 6th we took DT Lujuan Ramsey 2 picks ahead of Antoine Bethea
– Others: Bunkley, Gocong, Jeremy Bloom, Omar Gaither
2007
– Traded out of the first, 7 of the next 9 picks that followed were Anthony Spencer, Robert Meachem, Joe Staley, Ben Grubbs, Greg Olsen, Paul Posluszny. We then took Kolb who was immediately followed by Eric Weddle, Zach Miller, Justin Blalock, Tony Ugoh, Chris Houston, Sydney Rice, Lamar Woodley, David Harris and Justin Durant as 9 of the next 12 picks.
– 4th round we traded out again and Jermon Bushrod and Dashon Goldson were drafted at our pick and the one immediately following
– 5th we drafted CJ Gaddis a few picks ahead of Corey Graham and William Gay
– 7th round we took Nate Illoa a few picks ahead of Ahmed Bradshaw
– Others: Victor Abiamiri, Stewart Bradley, Tony Hunt, Brent Celek, Rashad Barksdale
2008
– Traded out of first again. Left Aqib Talib, Sam Baker, Felix Jones, Rashard Mendenhall, Chris Johnson, Mike Jenkins, Duane Brown, Antoine Cason, Kenny Phillips, Donnie Avery, Brandon Flowers, Jordy Nelson, Curtis Lofton, Tracy Porter, Eddie Royal, Matt Forte and Ray Rice on the board.
– In the 2nd round we traded down again and drafted Trevor Laws 2 picks ahead of Calais Campbell, and one pick ahead of Fred Davis. Our original pick was 1 pick ahead of Matt Forte before we traded down.
– In the 3rd we took Bryan Smith the next DE Cliff Avril came off the board a few picks later
– In the 4th we took Jack Ikwegwuonu a few picks before Brandon Carr who was followed by Orlando Scandrick
– We traded our 5th rounder which was 1 pick in front of Kory Bierman
– We traded our 7th round pick to the Bills and they drafted Stevie Johnson
– Other picks: DeSean Jackson, Mike Mcglynn, Quinten Demps, Mike Gibson, Joe Mays, Andy Studebaker, King Dunlap
2010 – detailed below
2011
– Besides the obvious misses in rounds 1 and 2 we took Curtis Marsh 2 picks ahead of Chris Conti in the 3rd
– We traded our 4th to Washington and they drafted Roy Helu
– Other picks: Danny Watkins, Jaiquawn Jarrett, Casey Matthews, Alex Henery, Julian Vandervelde, Jason Kelce, Brian Rolle, Greg Lloyd Jr, Stanley Havili
Ewwwwwwwww. No wonder this team fell apart after his initial few years of success.
First what you also see there is players that turned out to be real good to great picked in late rounds even though we passed them so did others the draft and players playing to or above or below their projection is really a crap shoot sometimes it’s attitude . Sometimes it’s injuries often it’s scheme fit you just never know. Captain hindsight became a super hero cause of this
Yes. Also this from Wiki:
” After playing college football for Alcorn State University, Driver was picked by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL Draft.”
This kind of looks like a whole bunch of people overlooked him.
It’s probably true of most of the others too.
Well yea, I completely understand that I’m looking at this with perfect hindsight, I’m only looking at the Eagles and not seeing if the trend is typical of all teams, and it’s obvious that no one, including the other teams and even the best teams in the league realized how good some of these players would become. As Chip has said many times, the Patriots werent geniuses for drafting Tom Brady, because if they really knew he was going to be that good they wouldn’t have waited till the 6th round to take him. Like most draft picks it was a crap shoot and they got lucky.
That being said, I did look at over 10 years of drafts through every pick and I can tell you that the high percentage of missed picks that you see with the Eagles drafts in these years that also have multiple top players often at the same position that we had drafted being picked immediately or closely after do not seem to happen with nearly the frequency that I found with the Eagles. I wasn’t going into it looking for or expecting this but it stood out. The high percentage of trade ups and trade downs that in hindsight turned out against our favor was something I can assure you I didn’t find with other teams.
Maybe it’s all coincidence, but again and again we’d trade down 10 spots and take a LB or a WR after the trade down and sure enough 1 or 2 stud LBers or WRs would be taken in those 10 picks and we’d draft the one bust at that position in the entire round. Almost every time we traded up we moved into a part of the draft that was loaded with future pro bowlers and end up with the only bust within a 10 pick radius. We’d trade down because there was nobody we liked in a round and 6-7 pro bowl or close to it players would rapidly come of the board and we’d end up taking a bust. A high percentage of our picks had a vastly superior player at the same position drafted within a few picks of ours. It just seems way to consistent to have been a coincidence.
As far as the low round guys that turned out to be great, in the 13 drafts from Reid’s era you can point to Trent Cole, Brent Celek and Jason Kelce as the only real hits after the 3rd round. That seems more like random luck than any skill on our part given the vast majority that offered nothing whatsoever.
In all I think it’s obvious that the Andy Reid teams benefitted 1) from some excellent left over talent from the Ray Rhoads era: Dawkins, Trotter, Vincent, Taylor, Tra Thomas, Hugh Douglas, Duce Staley, a couple very significant hits at the top of the draft (which were unfortunately few and far between): McNabb and Jackson, and ultimately only 2 absolutely knock out drafts through 13 years that skew their drafting average immensely: Lito, Sheldon, Michael Lewis, Westbrook in 2002 and Maclin, McCoy in 2009. Besides those two drafts there is not another draft in 13 years that supplied us with more than one legitimate star player or key contributors.
1999: McNabb and then nothing else from that class, 2000: Corey Simon and then no one, 2001: nobody 2003: nobody 2004: Shawn Andrews (for 2 yrs) and then no one else, 2005:Patterson and Cole, 2006: nobody, 2007: Celek, 2008: DeSean 2010: nobody, 2011: Kelce. 4 out of 13 drafts provided no quality long term starters, 6 of 13 gave us only 1, only 3 drafts in 13 years were we able to come away with 2 or more long term quality starters. That’s pretty atrocious even given the crapshoot nature of the draft.
I can’t ever recall 4 years in a row of this level of drafting that we have had since 2012…. Drafting good one year, and sucking the next year gets you no where,..lm order to have a shot at building a Super Bowl team you need to put together 4-5 quality drafts in a row, and for the first times since the 90s we are finally accomplishing that….1 more,quality draft and we should have a solid young foundation in place..
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Crazy to see how bad Andy was drafting DBs early: Nate in round 2, Jaquan Jarrett round 2, Curtis Marsh in round 3… Rowe has a chance to be better then all 3 of those DBs combined, and Shepard is as good of a talent as I can ever hope for in round 6
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Between the ILBs and DBs, we should build a defense these next two years that is stronger in coverage then anything we have seen in coverage since sheldon and Dawk were flying around our Defense…. And BARWIN and MS2 have as much ability in coverage as any OLB tandem
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Really excited about this offseason, and I would assume that next offseason we will be quiet in free agency and prioritize extending our own young talent
My man, that’s a lot of work to create a straw man. 30 other teams missed on those other picks, too. If you look at other teams’ rosters, you will see in most cases, they aren’t stacked. The ones that are tend to steamroll people. Of course, we were steamrolling people for a nice stretch of time there in the early 00s’, weren’t we?
Ok, watched Shepherd’s 3 tapes and you can color me impressed: From a size standpoint Shepherd measures in at 5’11” and 199 lbs with 30.5″ arms and 8.5 ” hands. At the combine Shepherd benched 14 reps and ran in the 4.6’s at his proday. First thing you’ll say is, “woah, he is way to slow.” Rest assured, Shepherd suffered a hamstring injury just days before. Shepherd does a great job sticking with receivers off the line. His foot quickness is incredible and it looks like his feet are always moving making it easy for him to flip his hips and adjust to fakes the receivers throw at him. Kansas seems to play a lot of press man and Shep does a good job of sticking in the WR hip on the way down the field. In the games I watched he only allowed 1td and its wasn’t a deep ball. He opened his hips up too soon on the receiver and the guy cut back to the inside. This left the WR a free lane to the endzone as Shep was facing to the sideline and not in a position to make a play on the ball. Another trait that stands out is Shep’s instincts. I was watching him and thought, “wow, this guy actually turns his head to make a play on the ball.” I had forgotten what that had looked like! His ball skills are also evident, notching 14 PBU’s and 3 int’s in 2014. Now, you find yourself asking,”Mitchell, why didn’t this guy go in the first round?” Well, his tackling may be worse than mile marker 23 and 24. It is truly turdible. The ways he fails in tackling include, getting pushed out of the way by WR’s, not wrapping up, getting turned around and taking terrible angles. Thank the stars that the Eagles have a track record for developing tackling skills. Another flaw I see is that if he does play off man, he gives up A LOT of cushion and I feel he could be susceptible to underneath throws in the NFL. His 40 time comes into question but I would love to see what he could run when fully healthy and his 3-cone time would be equally interesting. Overall I’m actually surprised he made it to the 6th round. Shep has above average to great foot quickness and excellent instincts and ball skills. His tackling is seriously terrible and his 40 time is a concern but he was reported to run in the 4.4’s before his injury. Ultimately this guy made numerous plays when the ball was PASSED his way and completely shut down Jamison Crowder of Duke. FANTASTIC value.
He apparently made a few mistakes and was beaten. Suggestion to some folks. Next time there is a highlight reel of some WRs making spectacular catches, notice that many are made with a corner completely wrapped around the guy. The very best corners, and safeties, do get beaten. Just not as often as the second tier DBs. Hopefully Shepherd develops into a first tier. It also seems to be a commonly-held belief that rookie corners need some time.
Haha I had the exact same thoughts when I watched him a little bit. He is quite possibly the worst tackler I have ever seen. He looks great in coverage but if I was an opposing play caller I would run it to his side every time. Dude probably couldn’t tackle my five year old nephew.
Not a good tackler, but I see a willing tackler, a kid that doesn’t mind playing with some physicality… Kid was a WR not long ago, hasn’t been a defender too long, and tackling is something our coaches proved to know how to fix… As long as you are a physical, willing tackler, Billy Davis can fix that.
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Rowe had some tackling issues at safety, but I’d expect our coaches to quickly clean,that Up..
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Not familiar with Randall…..but I love him in the 6th more then Damarious Randall in the 1st #Nightmareavoided
Yeah the biggest thing with his tackling is terrible angles and an inability to shed blocks. When he does get a chance he will hit you but there was one play where he literally ran down the field trying to mirror the runningback before he realized he was ten yards to the left and tried to cut back to the middle.
The entire Kansas defense were pretty bad tacklers.
I appreciate Chip embracing our heritage with his tri-corner draft. I fully expect it to revolutionize our secondary.
[…] Draft Wrap – Tommy Lawlor of IgglesBlitz.com […]
Lol how would we feel today if we spent our #20th pick on Hundley like some wackos suggested? Yikes…very thankful for an intelligent draft that improved us today while also keeping an eye on our future,
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Calling it right now, Agholor finishes top 2 in rookie catches and have a bigger numbers then the Popes rookie year … While the Pope shows a monster Alshon Jeffries type of year 2 improvement… huff will improve and contribute, I’m just not sure how much since he didn’t get the game experience Pope got last year
I think bringing in Tebow told us he’s not targeting a QB at 20.
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I’m ok with the draft. I’m not gaga over our 1st pick(but not many players there to be gaga over anyway). Ok, I’m more than ok, I think I’m excited with this class. I’m excited about where this offense will be in a year of two when Huff/Aggie are 100% comfortable.
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I’m glad Cox n Kendricks are still here. Hoping Kendricks stays…
My understanding is good chance of KEndricks staying,. My understanding is ALL the TRADE TALKS were simply a case of trying to acquire assets to:
1) get the Ammunition to trade for Mariota
2) Have some extra picks in case we traded most of ours away for Mariota.
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it was ALL just about trying to get Mariota, and that now that it’s over, we shouldn’t expect much activity..Full Disclosure, we allegedly had talked trade with Kendrcks for a OLB(No it wasn’t Dion) on an expiring contract but that talk has broken down since the team we were doing business with drafted a ILB…
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I’m expecting to go into the season with Kendricks starting for us.. Interesting that chip specifically said he is excited to get KEndricks in here today, and that Kiko and Hicks would be learning Behind Meco and Mykal.
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Just because I expect him to be on the team, I don’t know that it’s a lock that he gets extended, but I would bet that Chip DOESNT know that either RIGHT NOW.
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My understanding is its 100% FALSE that chip DOESNT like Mykal and it was all just a case of having to try and give up Talemt to get Talent (Mariota) .. And that narrative fits with a lot of things chip has said on numerous occasions for example:
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1) When he talked about how great Mykal is at Blitzing and in coverage to where you wish you didn’t have to chose one or the other but he can only,do one thing at a time. Chip called it a catch 22, having to take your best coverage linebacker out of coverage to blitz and vice versa
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2) a Month ago he talked about how we are a “completely DIFFERENT Defense when Mykal is on the field”, but there was a big drop off when he misses time to injury…. This isn’t someone chip DOESNT like at all IMO, and chip told the truth that we wanted to build depth.
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Today, I don’t think chip knows if Mykal will be here past this year or not, but chip will enjoy the depth this season, and make a decision after the year. It’s going to come down to Price tag, Mykal NEEDS to play 16 games, and the health of the other ILB…. Mykal missed time the last two years, Meco is 31 coming off Achilles, Kiko coming off 2nd ACL tear, Hicks injuries are what hurt his stock… You have 4 ILBs with injury questions, is it THAT HARD to believe we want all 4 of them THIS YEAR? I don’t at all believe the a narrative that Mykals a eagke future has all been decided. I think he will be an important part of this years team, and that a bunch of things will factor into if he is here after next season..
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Think fans and media are serious mistaken about what chip thinks of Mykal, and I don’t expect him to be traded, ESPECIALLY because we probably won’t be able to get equal value now that the draft is over..
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If someone loses starting ILBs in camp and makes a desperate offer we can’t refuse,mI absolutely believe KEndricks could be traded, but only for the RIGHT PRICE which is higher then people think now that the Mariota dream is dead…. And I do believe chip when he says he will listen to trades for anyone on this roster…
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Boykin, is the young player most at risk, but with Mariota dream being over, I think there are better odds that he is an eagle this season because I don’t expect to get an offer THATS worth not having him on the field
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But we’ll see… I do expect Mykal to start in September and that a lot of factors will play into him being an eagle past this season, health being most important
the ONLY Trades I expect to see the rest of the summer are because we have so much depth, that when it becomes clear that a player with some value league wide, isn’t going to make our roster, we could trade them to another team for a player that they are about to get cut…. Player for Player, fringe roster spot trades are all I really expect the rest of the way unless contenders have some bad injury luck at camp and are desperate to overpay for one of our exposabke talent…
I wouldn’t have complained if we spent two of the first four picks on the OL, but I also didn’t think its a horribly big deal if we wait Til next year to draft OL.
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many of us assumed that we wanted to draft someone to start at RG, we knew chip likes BARBRE but I guess we didnt think chip really wanted to start him, but now I’m startng to think that even if we spend a 2nd round pick on an OL like Jake Fisher or whoever, BARBRE may have ended up starting anyway..
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if You have your starting OL in place, you REALLY DONT NEED to draft an OL high. One of the perks of drafting OL high in the draft is its one of the positions that give you the best chances of getting a plug and play rookie that can start from day one,,,, an OL drafted in the top 5 really doesn’t usually NEED to sit the bench for a year, so if we always were planning on starting BARBRE this year, I don’t think its a big deal at all if we wait to draft an OL early next year and pencil him in to start right away…
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I don’t know if any of our backups will grow into starting caliber OL, but I do KNOW they would have played better last year if they came into the starting lineup and got to line up next to the same two lineman every single game, so not only do I think we didn’t see our backups best LAST year, but I would expect them to all grow and improve significantly this year having gotten such valuable game experience, I have NO PROBLEM starting BARBRE, and NO problem bring Tobin or Garner off the bench, IF they get to lineup next to the same guys every week and builds ime continuity with the man next to them,.
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my ONLY Major IMEDIATE CONCERN us Julian Vandervelde ERASING Molk from our locker room completely. I can not under any circumstance see MOLK play for us this year, and Kelce has been hurt what 2 of the past 3 years? I NEED Vandervelde to stay healthy and outclass Molk in camp..
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Any of our UDFA’s have center potential to help erase MOLK from our Roster?
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as long as we get a better backüp Center then MOLK, I’m fine with waiting a year to add OL high in the draft… And I’m comfortable if two of our starters get hurt……. If we lose any more then 2 starting OL it just becomes a mess that most teams aren’t equipped to handle,,
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Just give me a better backüp Center then last year and I’m happy,,,
Pretty sure Bunche, Manhart, Coccia, and Boyko have all been said to find a place at the C position. Manhart I believe has the most potential at Guard.
Thank you…as long as MOLK ismt the backüp Center and we don’t lose more then 2 OFfensive lineman to injury I think we should be fine for the year…obviously next year it will be addressed
“The Philadelphia Inquirer does not expect Evan Mathis to be traded or released now. with the draft behind us Mathis window for a trade is closed”-Roto
Dunno why he mentions Amos at Safety, Eagles didn’t draft him
Yea kind of random. I think because there was strong interest, and could be had in the 4th.
It’s a comparison and albeit a hypothetical. Tommy is just saying that Watkins has a season to absorb the playbook and has better understanding of what he’s asked to do.
Take away rumors about trying to get Mariota which could ONLY be done by trading away Talent, there is NOTHING chip has EVER said that gives ANYONE any ability to say the Chip DOESNT like KEndricks, yet we have about 3 years worth of some extremely high praise that chip hasn’t thrown around frivolously to all our players, yet people continue this fabricated”chip DOESNT like KEndricks”… I find that to be ridiculuos.
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You can’t even consider trading up from 20 to 2 without having to lose some very valuable players… You are high if you think we could EVER Pull off that trade just trading away players we don’t LOVE… You gonna have to give away players you do NOT want to LOSE to even have a shot at getting that done,… But that’s a long way from “chip just doesn’t like Kedricks”
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With Mariota out of the picture, I don’t see anyone offering anything enticing enough to get Chip to part with one of his best Linebackers… I think it speaks more to chip not LOVING Casey, ACHO and Najee Goode then Chip devaluing Mykal,..
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I think Mykals future is far from decided, A lot will factor into whether he is here past this year, but this is NOT a player chip DOESNT like who he will just dump for whatever the best offer he can find is…
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then again, most of the people who talk about Chip not liking KEndricks have literally said this is Meco’s last year here evert single year since they saw him play his first preseason game as an eagle lol..
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I do BELIEVE that EVERYONE has a price, but I don’t think guys like Curry, Boykin, KEndricks decisions have been made past this year. I think Chip values having as many really good players as possible and he would prefer to keep them all as long as we possibly can… But some decisions will have to be made after this season, but that should come down to how much more improvement they show this year? Can they stay on the field this year or miss more time to injury? Can they beat out talented competitors? Will those talented competitors stay healthy? What will the price tag look like and is it affordable for where we are as a franchise from a cap stand point?
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Chip isn’t just a COACH! He is a GM. It would be irresponsible of him to not constantly be listening and talkimg trades about every player…
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Too many assumptions have been made about 1 rumor which was based on having to give away good players to get great players in return.. it’s laughable to think Chip ever expected to get Mariota trading away a bunch of players he didn’t value past this year,, get real.l we were going to have to trade a bunch of players we LOVED to have any chance of getting the QB…. That QB is out of the picture now, a and I doubt anyone will offers NYTHING more valuable then starting Mykal at ILB this year… If chip didn’t like Mykal,and his future was already decided it’s laughable to think we couldn’t have just dumped him for a 4th or 5th round picks..
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Crazy how an assumption almost becomes fact in this city….
We know that Kelly prefers certain measurables in an ILB that Kendricks doesn’t have.
We know that Kelly has not signed Kendricks to a second contract.
It’s reasonable to look at those two facts and conclude that Kelly thinks he can improve the position.
We may not agree with moving Kendricks (he’s produced at a high level despite not hitting height/length benchmarks) but it’s clearly a possibility.
He let go 3 of our most productive players. Kendricks isn’t safe at all.
That too.
Swoop isn’t even safe.
Best cartoon ever…
http://media.philly.com/images/Swoop-trade-1024.jpg
Push-up contest lol
WE WILL NEVER BE DUCKS!!!!!
Confucius Say: “All Ducks are Birds, but not all Birds are Ducks.”
He also traded one of his best players for an ILB and drafted Hicks. And spent an inordinate amount of time checking out high-round ILB prospects before the draft.
Plenty of reasons to think Kendricks will be gone soon.
Also this.
And extended Ryans -who’s on the wrong side of 30 and coming off the second season ending injury of his career.
BC:
You keep listing facts from which you draw inferences.
What about what your gut tells you — the “truthiness” factor?
I think Kelly would have no regrets if he could unload him.
Absolutely agree.
Kelly’s clear as a bell about how important his HWS numbers are for each position. He wants his team with players meeting his requirements.
Generally, I take nothing that Kelly says seriously — EXCEPT his HWS requirements. He’s not BS-ing us when he talks about that.
Gosh, after 10 straight posts with schizoid capitalization, misused ellipses, and false conclusions, it’s really comforting to read thoughts from a bunch of folks who can actually infer logically.
For somebody that loves Kendricks so much, I hope that you can learn to spell his first name before he’s off the team.
Didn’t happen with FOles… 🙁
I want to cry at the thought of what could have been of my beloved Eagles defense if Devin McCourty didn’t turn us down to remain a Patriot, and dion wasn’t an idiot who got himself suspended for a year…
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Imagine a starting secondary of:
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Byron Maxwell, Devin McCourty, Malcolm Jenkins, Rowe
With DBs to come in on subpackages like:
Boykin, Walter Thurmond, Jaylen Watkins, Wolff, Nolan Carrol
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We already have some impressive LBs in coverage, and we could have added a 6’6 long, athletic Freak in coverage in Dion who would have been a awesome #4 OLB for us…
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Our LBs could have been:
BARWIN, Kiko, Kendricks, Brandon Graham
with subpackage weapons and quality backups like Dion, MS2(both quality coverage options), Hicks who can cover, and the wise crafty Mufasa…
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And there is nothing that needs to be said about the DL other then it’s growing into one of the best young defensive fronts in the NFL..
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next Offseason, we need to add another DB on Rowe’s level to play Safety, and get our 4th OLB to add Some more pass rush,,,invest in a few young Offensive Lineman and we are set…
Way early random prediction: We will have a top-3 LB unit in terms of coverage….. if not #1.
Oh absolutely.. Not many teams have OLBs that did what BARWIN did to Jimmy Graham, completely erasing him from a game… Kiko, KEndricks, Hicks, Marcus Smith, these boys can run… MS2 was on the bench because we needed him to get strong enough to play the run, and add a few pass rush moves and Counters, but the kid can already cover…. MS2 will be better in coverage this year then we had with Trent Cole and BG opposite of Barwin,
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I’ll say teams have LBs that can cover on our level, I wouldn’t say anyone has LBs who can cover on a higher level then us… We should be really strong in the center of the field.
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jason Witten did NOTHING against us last year, and this year I expect him to be invisible against our LBs…he will never be a factor again against the Eagles, stick a fork in Witten when it’s time to play the Birds. Might as well put Gavin Escobar on the field…
obviously this begs the question if that is the case then wouldn’t opposing teams just go over the top to beat us? the answer is F*ck YES they would and did last year all year…. which is why having a highly functioning secondary vs. a new Dawk is much more reasonable now because in a 3-4 the LB’s are the playmakers and the secondary just needs to function as a unit to pick off the scraps…. IMO we got 2/3 of our defense looking good with an upside question mark now in the secondary with MANY OPTIONS/COMBOS personnel wise in the secondary…… “Secondary-by-committee” approach?
obviously this begs the question if that is the case then wouldn’t opposing teams just go over the top to beat us? the answer is F*ck YES they would and did last year all year…. which is why having a highly functioning secondary vs. a new Dawk is much more reasonable now because in a 3-4 the LB’s are the playmakers and the secondary just needs to function as a unit to pick off the scraps…. IMO we got 2/3 of our defense looking good with an upside question mark now in the secondary with MANY OPTIONS/COMBOS personnel wise in the secondary…… “Secondary-by-committee” approach?
We have so many young DBs who haven’t even reached their peak yet, that there is absolutely a chance that an intense competition between hungry young players could elevate one of these kids games into quality starter status… Or we could get to next offseason and decide that our secondary is one more “Rowe type talent” away from having our secondary of the future in place…
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But for this year, even if we are surprised by the level of play we get from whoever wins that starting Safety and CB spot, I think we have to much ability to just leave it on the bench and Only play 5 or 6 DBs and 4 LBs in games… I could see us using a bunch of different DBs and LBs in different subpackage roles, and even for the LBs like BARWIN and Kiko who can ALWAS stay on the field, I do expect their backups to rote in more then past years,.. BARWIN used to play 98% of the snaps at a high level, maybe this year we keep him fresh and tone it down to 80% this year..
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These past few years, we weren’t playing enough defenders in games, because we lacked Talemt… It was like the andy Reid era where our
Notion of a backup player was just someone that you hope DOESNT have to play who is only around in case of emergency and to play Special teams…. Now I expect to rotate defenders at more positions then ever, and use different bench players in subpackages… Gone are the days of Backupsjust being there in case of an emergency and to play ST. These backups will be hungry young talents trying to get on the field…
I agree on the depth…… Plus being a tweener in the secondary is much more manageable than a tweener up front.
Witten went 7 rec for 69 yards in Game 2.
My recollection is he was a 1st-down machine that day, certainly early in the game.
After the TG day debacle, Garrett mentioned that Witten had been open much of the game but Romo just didn’t get him the ball.
Anyway, that’s how I remember Game 2.
Did anyone else hear the suggestion of trading Kendricks for Alex Boone?
Boone isn’t enough. Too old and also wants new contract. Where’d you hear this though?
Well, he only turned 28 TODAY, so ‘too old’ doesn’t really apply to an OG. Just ask Evan Mathis.
Maybe MattE has connected the dots:
Boone has no plans to show up for any voluntary workouts in hopes of a new contract, as he’s currently scheduled to earn $3.4 million in the final year of his deal. He’d welcome a trade in the event he gets a long-term contract. If the 49ers don’t trade Boone, he reportedly plans to attend training camp. Apr 30 – 11:24 AM
per Roto..
Boone is a bit of a loose cannon. And wants to get PAID.
sounds like another guard I know…..maybe not loose cannon status but sure does like instagram.
Define. Loose. Cannon. Thanks.
-DUI as college freshman.
-Pretty ridiculous case of public intoxication in Feb 2009 2 months before he was in draft that included stomping on car hoods and trying to yank out a tow truck cable.
-UDFA because teams thought he had a serious alcohol problem
-Has said that he hoped that Goodell wouldn’t fine Clay Matthews for a late hit on Kaep, but that he wanted Goodell to let him punch CM in the mouth
-Was publicly supportive of Harbaugh all last season and the second Harbaugh left talked mad shit
So basically he’s a four year younger Mathis (in terms of them kind of being sneaky dicks), whose a bit heavier and not the same athlete, and also has some baggage.
I’m not saying it won’t happen, but you’re going to have to give up assets and probably make him a top 3-5 paid guard.
heard it on 97.5 yesterday when i was leaving the city….someone called in saying they heard rumblings (or extrapolating) of it…. I don’t recall any details because I was severely hungover.
Here is an article exploring the possibility:
https://pauloccamacho.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/the-49ers-trade-boone-for-lb-help-an-msr-what-if/
Suppose this was inevitable post draft after the FO shakeup:
Les Bowen @LesBowen 4m4 minutes ago
#Eagles axe director of college scouting Anthony Patch, pro personnel director Rick Mueller, SW area scout Brad Obee, Daily News has learned
Hey GEAGLE, do you still have you sources now?
New director of college scouting: Chip Kelly
New pro personnel director: Chip Kelly
New SW Area Scout: Chip Kelly
2015 Starting SS: Chip Kelly
2015 Starting QB: Chip Kelly
…per my sources.
Odd timing
Actually typical timing for scouts / personnel. Always happens right after draft. Can’t really fire guys during scouting / draft season.
They probably didn’t scout the Oregon guys that Chip isn’t familiar with.
Roseman loyalists . . . meet the Jacobins.
Chip sits atop Le Montagne.
Bummer. I went to HS with Obee
Your HS wasn’t the school of Star Wars, was it?!
In addition to comparing this draft to previous ones as the first of the Chip/Marynowitz tenure, going forward it’ll be interesting comparing it to next year’s, when Marynowitz has the ability to fully put into place his own ideas and personnel throughout the scouting department.
Eagles made a bunch of changes in the Personel department
yes and no… see below haha.
Interesting that according to SPARQ rankings, our 7th round pick Mihalik ranks number 1 on the DL, and our UDFA McBryde is 3rd.
http://3sigmaathlete.com/rankings/dl/
Leonard Williams was way over-drafted. He’s #39 (or something like that)
FWIW the Defensive Line rankings seem to be full of undrafted players at the top, but interesting none the less..
I’d looked at the list the other day.
As someone commented, the SPARQ rankings are a good tool once you’re into the later rounds — at least that’s the theory.
Correct. Theory is that at a minimum these guys are NFL athletes, and maybe you can coach everything else up.
This is how you avoid drafting Casey Matthews.
is there a worse spider chart than his? for any position?
I forget who…but someone from this class was atrocious. Not quite CM bad, but it was ugly
a WR perhaps?
http://www.mockdraftable.com/player/4908/
this guy?
Wow, that’s really bad.
Dawson, yea that might have been it. Tested so poorly given how much of a “freak” he was thought to be. Looks so fast on TV.
He’s my hero. If he can make it in the NFL, we all have hope.
I think these reports go to show how crappy this guys character was. I remember reading a report about how the team was supposed to show u to a meeting wearing black shirts and he showed up in white. He was also notorious for not studying film and being an overall douche. His combine numbers show a clear and utter disregard for any type of preparation. I mean, a 28″ vertical? Come on, that’s lineman height.
I think the film report was debunked. Don’t make THAT many plays without being prepared.
Maybe mine. Maybe.
That’s what the Seahawks have been doing since Carroll showed up and it’s worked pretty well for their overall roster strength.
Agholor is #66 in the WR rankings lol
Yea that was interesting to see, I’m guessing that is more because the WR position is filled with athletic freaks. His height and weight docks him a ton.
I take that back, apparently the 4th ranked WR is a 5 foot 8 185 pounder, lol.
I find it justified. Agholor is a good athlete but he’s not a freak athlete. What puts other WRs over him is vertical, 3 cone, and etc.
Agree Insomniac. But its tough to measure heart and football IQ. When I see Agholor tape, I see these traits in abundance. A Chip pick through and through.
The UDFA on the OL are similar is SPARQ ratings: Manhart: 51, Bunche: 53, and Coccia 59. Those 3 have a chance to make the team based on athleticism. I dont see Boyko making the team, ranked 137 among OL.
http://3sigmaathlete.com/rankings/ol/
Ereck Flowers Ranked number 73 on the OL SPARQ list. Seems like a big gamble for the 9th overall pick. He cant fall back on his athleticism as much when he gets beat in the NFL.
The purge in the NYJ’s personnel dept’s twice as bloody as the one at NovaCare.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/04/jets-part-ways-with-director-of-pro-personnel-five-scouts/
Not sure if this has been posted or not. Phil Savage posted a page from Baltimore’s 2001 draft plan, which included their top 25 players, and (picking at 31) what they would trade up for, and when they would trade back. They ended getting their targeted TE (Todd Heap) at the #31 pick… but interesting to note they had Freddie Mitchell as their #20 overall talent that year.
https://twitter.com/SeniorBowlPhil/status/593852546868846593
But OMG Eagles took Mitchell and then Wayne went later and OMG so stupid everybody totally knew that gawdddd
Ozzie & Co. had UMich WR David Terrell ranked as their 2nd-best prospect.
UGA DT Richard Seymour #8.
And S Adam Archuleta from ASU #19.
And they still have jobs.
But Savage doesn’t… 🙂
Savage is the one who (at least will receieve credit) “discovered” Marpet, and he runs the senior bowl, which I have to imagine is probably a pretty sweet gig and lacks the BS of front office politics.
The Marpet story is kind of crazy. Probably moved his draft stock by 4-5 rounds.
All these “SPARQ guys” Seattle & Eagles took late and signed as UDFAs are pretty similar Ali Marpets that didn’t go to Senior Bowl.
Difference being that obviously Savage saw something in Marpet that he invited him, and not some of these other guys.
I maintain that while Marpet is a good story I think he’s an NFL swing interior lineman. The film really wasn’t that impressive, I’ll take Manhart as a UDFA anyday.
You think Eagles try to convert any of these DL guys to OL? Travis Raciiti was worked out by OL coach but it doesn’t feel like he has the frame. Nobody has mentioned it regarding DJ McBryde, but his measurables / SPARQ are pretty interesting.
(16) UDFA’s…..anythings possible haha.
Yeah, I’ve been wondering that concerning the trio of Mihalik, McBryde and Raciti. They all show athletic traits that might transfer interestingly, though I obviously can’t speak to the skill set.
Seattle drafted highest-rated SPARQ DL Sokoli from Buffalo to convert to an OC.
I think Raciti gets the Joe Kruger treatment. McByrde may be a PS and develop guy. Boyko reminds me of Graf a bit, I really like Manhart, and I think Coccia at least takes Josh Andrews job, and possibly pushes Molk.
Marpet is a cool name (mahna-mahna), but, yeah “Manhart”.
Good piece by the great Matt Waldman on Devante Davis from the middle of the 2014 season:
http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2014/10/22/boiler-room-unlv-wr-devante-davis/
http://bit.ly/1FKXPq7
Assuming that Ajirotutu is locked into WR6 as special teams ace, I really hope that Davis is not prevented from landing a roster spot because of Racist Cooper’s cap hit or because Miles Austin was signed as an insurance policy. It is against those two Davis will be competing for a place on the team.
They can keep 7. We kept 4 TE last year. Unless one of the UDFA’s really takes the job I don’t know that we will this year. It’s not just Austin/Cooper he’s competing against he’s just as much competing against RB4/TE4/OLB5/CB6 etc.
anyone know about this Texas WR, looked like decent numbers. Hes also competing against the rest of the udfa’s of course and Im assuming theres a reason he wasnt drafted right.
He’s not particularly remarkable at any one thing. Also he really only played as a senior, and Texas hasn’t exactly been a WR factory.
5th year breakout season – that isn’t necessarily a positive. Harris basically admitted he gained weight and got out of shape before. Interesting he chose to come here though in light of that.
I’d be shocked if he doesn’t make the team.
D3FB: We had talked about range in safeties a while back. Could you take a look at this clip? It looks to me like Watkins has good range.
http://www.draftbreakdown.com/gif-embed/?clip=251674&gif=ColossalGrizzledCygnet
Hard to tell. I mean we know he has timed good speed but because of the nature of that clip, we don’t get a feel for how he was weaving during his pedal, when he broke (because the QB stared that shit down), and while I would like to see him take a bit more of a flat angle, because we don’t have the full idea of where he was when he broke especially in relation to the WR/CB, it’s hard to say anything decisive about that.
That’s the hard part about not having all22. For most positions it’s not a big deal, it makes life a little harder with CBs, but S’s are freaking impossible to get a read on, because they pop in and out of frame.
Good points. I did notice the qb either look at his first read or try to freeze Watkins for a split second right at the beginning of the play. Basically for me, I saw him run from the far hashes to the sideline and got into a good position over the ball in case the WR made a crazy catch and somehow beat the corner.
Howie Gone, is removing the last Andy Reid homegrown type… we NEVER had depth under Andy. backups were strictly ST guys who we hoped we never had to play on offense and defense… it’s almost even like when we hit on a young player in the draft, we didn’t even want to find a young player that might threaten his spot.. It’s almost like we just wanted the guy whoever chose to succeed to look good on that persons resume, where as Chip DOESNT care. I thinks Chip will keep drafting players who he plans on threatening other young players that he drafted who he loves roster spot… Chip isn’t at all concerned with his first round pick panning out. He might love Jordan and Agholor, but next year spend another second round pick on a WR he hopes tries to take their spot… And this chip GM Philosophy fits perfectly with his Championship practice coaching style… past Regimes ONLY get the starters ready and backups get scraps.. Here every player gets as many reps as we possibly can. guys are getting reps to improve, but to also compete and try and take guys spot and move up the depth chart, and chip loves it that way. He idoesn’t care about looking good with one specific draft pick, he is trying to gather as much talent and depth as possible, and let competition push the cream to the top and dictate the roster,..
..
Gone are all the ambitious front office guys who are trying to win a championship but also care about their personal decision panning out for their own ambitions. Chip has united this organization to where It’s his show, we aren’t going to put personal ambitions into this equation, we are all on the same page trying to constantly improve and do better. Instead of caring about the guy we drafts panning out so we can climb the career ladder, we will actively look to find better then that player because that’s whats best for building a champion… No more agendas, it’s chips show, get on Board and once they succeed everyone will look good and naturally advance their careers…without having these ambitious sneaky Grimey execs who are half worried about improving the team and half worried about how they will pull off the next power play…. PhillyMag wrote an article about how our personel and coaching departments are now United, No more personel vs, Coaching….
..
Just the fact that we had to make that CHANGE probably shows that we didn’t have the championship ingredients in place. It’s the ultimate team game and it doesn’t work if Howie, andy and Banner are always worried about individually looking good so they can make power plays…
…
thank you Jeffry Lurie, and I feel like we have Howie to thank for all of this…. If Howie had never flipped out at chip calling him “Cap boy” publically and fired TOM Gamble impulsively, Chip would have probably never took it to the “It’s either him or me level” putting Lurie in a horrible position. When everyone calmed down, I’m sure even Howie knew he finally overplayed his hand and made the wrong chess move because even Howie probably knew at that point that there was NO WAY he could ask LURIE to side with him if Chip was threatening to leave,,, After all the changes LURIE let chip make to the organization he would have looked like a fool if chip left after two years because of Howie Roseman….lol.. So howie gets paid to be stripped of all his power lol and shut up, notice no one can get him to’comment and he is around, he was even the war room
…
I feel like it finally took this “college coach” to cone in and show us how a United franchise should operate…
Even by your standards this is some tinfoil hat nonsense.
geagle’s bit of analysis here i found actually to be pretty insightful. haven’t read the idea about how use of back ups under Reid might be different than Chips use. Might be wrong, but interesting. Think it fits with Chips constant talk of competition at positions, not sure i remember Reid give competition the same emphasis – and that could go with Reid being a “veteran players” coach
how wild was it that the “other qb’s” got taken so late compared with how people were guessing they would rocket up?
yeah it’s interesting that everyone thought they were trash, i think it’s probably better for the QBs in the long run, might go back to the mantra where QBs are sat for a year or two.
Guess it’s good we picked up Sammy B.
Sammy b number 1 pick!
ACV: Comments from Collins’ lawyer — strong enough? Doesn’t sound that strong.
“It went fine; we answered all their questions,” attorney Jim Boren told the Times-Picayune. “La’el is not going to make any comments. I’m not going to have any comments. The investigation is going to continue. La’el is now going to start making an effort to start getting his football career back on
track.”
Asked if he thinks Collins will be cleared, Boren replied, “Only the police can answer that question. In my mind he’s been cleared from the very beginning. I think he’s not a suspect. He answered all the questions they had. Every question, we didn’t claim the fifth. We answered every single question. We gave them all the information they asked for. He’s ready to get his life back.”
BRING HIM IN CHIP
I don’t see the “i” word — “innocent” — in that statement.
That’s unfortunate for Collins, because without that word (and the cop’s endorsement), he’s not getting a contract.
But maybe it’s the product of circumstance.
Two theories.
________________
On the one hand . . .
The attorney, it seems, does not want to antagonize the cops — who, even if Collins is “innocent” and the cops think it’s the case, they could just stay mum for the next few months until finally “clearing” him. That would screw up Collins’s professional aspirations.
Regardless, the lawyer’s goal — from his understated language — is to give the cops as much comfort as possible that a decision clearing Collins is one that won’t bite the cops later.
So I assume he’s asking them, “How can we help? My client will answer whatever you want to know and give you access to his cell phone, computer, and blood on request.”
Biggest nightmare scenario for the Cops and Collins:
* If/when the killer is found (assuming it’s someone other than Collins), the killer may implicate Collins. That would be a very big black-eye for the cops if they clear Collins prematurely.*
In theory, Collins may be waiting a very long time to get cleared — because at this point, he could be the shooter (sounds less likely with lawyer’s alibi claim) — or involved in a murder for hire.
That’s one of the reasons I suggested Collins’s attorney would have, by now, already gone over Collins’s cell-phone/email/electronic communications call-by-call with Collins to account for every one them.
And also, Collins’s whereabouts — and proximity to a phone or computer other than his own — is key. Because the attorney needs to be sure that any communications received wherever the alibi puts him can be accounted for.
Given the profile of the case, the cops are gonna go more than the extra mile to get this right.
So circling back to the absence of the “i” word, it seems very likely the cops are playing this very close to the vest. Collins remains under suspicion.
______________
On the other hand . . .
Collins is accommodating the cop’s request to not assert his “innocence” in the hope that the actual killer — unconnected to Collins — will make a mistake.
Pretty big sacrifice if true. But what’s the alternative? Tell the cops to take a hike? That story would leak at some point. If Collins helps, he’s a HERO. If not, he’s a [fill in the blank] athlete.
ASIDE: WE DON’T KNOW WHAT THE EVIDENCE OF MOTIVE IS HERE.
I didn’t see any reports of a robbery. Or signs of forced entry. And the victim lived modestly.
So an emotional issue may have reason for the killing.
The question is who had the motive.
________________
I’m sure others have different theories. These are mine off the top of my head.
statement released by BRPD
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEL3QTWUsAEvguQ.png
“Still not considered a suspect . . . ”
UNTIL HE IS.
indeed
If I’m Collins’s attorney, I’m not encouraged.
first thing I want to know is if he is the father
Interesting that his attorney didn’t mention that a blood test is actually being done and results expected in the next several days.
Even if he isn’t the father, though, the question is did Collins know he wasn’t.
The Mills family knows what the victim thought — and so do the cops.
Need to hear the “i” word.
might be waiting a long time for that
my longer post said exactly that.
Collins ought to prepare to be out of football for the next year — at least.
Don’t you have to be accused of something to be innocent of it?
P.R. reasons for me, at least.
If the kid wants to wait, sure, he can keep offering tepid statements through his lawyer.
Also, you don’t have to be accused to be innocent.
Did you commit the murder? No? Then you’re innocent — and no one called you a “not a suspect” either.
This is what I think. No need to “protest too much” when you haven’t been accused.
What the D.A. thinks is far more important than what the media thinks. If he’s officially cleared, whether he said the word “innocent” or not back in May won’t matter at all to NFL front offices.
There’s so much we don’t know.
Did the victim let the killer in?
Or were there signs of forced entry?
Signs of a struggle?
Anything removed?
How did the victim appear? (position, clothing)
The cops have combed her place for possible DNA evidence belonging to someone who shouldn’t have been there.
[Don’t know how long she lived in this apt, and whether Collins ever visited.]
Phone calls. Txts. Emails.
The list goes on.
Welcome to Dallas!
Why isn’t suicide ruled as a possibility?
Seriously?
Do you have all of the info besides vague articles? Please share if so.
Well she was shot multiple times, so there’s that.
Lets wait until everything is nice and clear before jumping to conclusions.
She was shot multiple times in the upper body. It wasn’t suicide. That isn’t jumping to conclusions.
This is really silly and given the horrific nature of the crime, an appalling choice of subject for dumb internet debate.
Let’s move on.
Uhh assisted suicide is a thing..
It’s hard to believe at this stage you’re not either trolling or being willfully stupid.
Either way, not interested in helping you out.
The only one stupid is you who doesn’t know shit either but ignorance is bliss.
I doubt it’s suicide but I don’t think he’s being stupid in fairness none of us know sh**
Was the weapon found at the scene?
(Won’t get into the wounds)
“the one thing I can promise is that we’re
not going to just sit there and hopefully in a couple of years we’re
going to build this thing. We’re not waiting for the draft of 2017 to
turn this thing around.” — CK
Think this puts him at odds with HR and some of the other build through the draft types.
There is a famous quote that goes something like:
“JUST WIN BABY”
I haven’t seen that pc or wherever that quote is from, but my impression is Kelly believes strongly in building through the draft. He has displayed unrivaled interest and first-hand familiarization with players coming into the draft, and he stated during free agency, that he viewed that as a way to plug gaps, but not the way to build a team. For one thing, the economics don’t work. Was that comment in the context of explaining all of his many moves to this point?
quotes are on birds 24/7 think from today or yesterday. In Kelly’s first year running things he was very aggressive at getting starters in FA — much different than under HR, aside from MM we weren’t constantly trying to acquire picks or picking really raw guys, we got guys who had production and could hit the field running.
I think part of the reason we got starters in FA is because we lost a bunch of starters to FA, trades, and cuts. I think this offseason will prove to be somewhat of an anomaly concerning the number of players we jettisoned.
How do people feel about still unsigned J. Gresham. He was bradfords Te in college, good at blocking never put up numbers. I understand there could be a log jam there.
That said he’s been sniffed by teams but not a lot of takers.
He had herniated disk surgery recently. No idea what his timetable is.
meh…. rather have Celek.
We are very crowded at the TE position. If we weren’t so crowded I would say yes, but he would either be taking Burton or Celeks spot and he isn’t worth that. Celek is a better blocker and leader on the team and Burton is a a great special teams player that is young and cheap.
We are now limited with cap space so it needs to be spent wisely.
Notice anything interesting about this pic?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CEL5ib4UIAMFcs6.jpg
the page is already gone from NFL.com
LA Rams
and also Anaheim Stadium
http://www.nfl.com/teams/profile?team=RAI
They must not have noticed there is also an LA Raiders page
wow
Still there for me. Also says “Los Angeles Raiders” on their page too. Maybe just a nostalgic web editor.
Well… the “Los Angeles Raiders” link ( http://www.nfl.com/teams/profile?team=RAI ) no longer works, though http://www.nfl.com/teams/profile?team=RAM still shows “Los Angeles Rams”. Looks like their system has some old aliases for the team pages which still reference the old Los Angeles names. Using STL instead of RAM gets the real page.
Is there an LA Chargers page yet?
That IT guy got fired….. actually he got fired then hacked in and did this lol.
Tommy
I need to warn you that you are currently being ripped on a German football boad for saying that
“While Agholor did play in a pro style attack, he isn’t a great route runner”.
While I have excused you by blaming this on too many PBRs and Funyuns, I just wanted to check with you if that’s really your honest opinion of Nelson.
Isn’t German football different from American football?
Perhaps that’s the reason.
They are the champs though….
Yeah baby!
Their internet is also completely different.
That’s a Bingo.
You mean in terms of porn?
Hey, this is a family site!
Ha!
No it’s an American Football forum. If I was Tommy I’d take the criticism as a positive: he’s even known in Europe. 🙂
I general, Ive heard everywhere that Nelson is a great route runner and that’s one of his best skills.
I think Tommy was talking about something he saw on tape. I dunno what to make of it.
Yeah, surprised me when Tommy said that. By most accounts he was the best route runner coming out of college.
I guess sometimes it comes to personal view.
A personal guess would be that Tommy qualified Amari Cooper as a great route runner, which would exclude him from calling Agholor a great route runner, since Agholor isn’t as good as a route runner as Cooper.
Also makes sense to be a little carefull in that sense. Cooper and Agholor has similar-ish size(Cooper little taller, Agholor longer arms), measurable(slight edge to Cooper) and stats.
Obviously, Agholor wasn’t near the prospect Cooper was, hence the carefull approach calling Agholor great at something if one of the 2 top WR in the draft did that specific thing better.
Similarly, you cannot say DeVante Parker has great speed, since you wouldnt be able to properly describe the speed of Philip Dorsett and Breshad Perriman.
Or Tommy fucked up, what do I know.
Thinking Agholor and Amari will compete for top rookie WR.. Wouldn’t be surprised if Agholor leads all rookies In catches and finishes with a 900-1050 yard rookie season in this offense. Thinking he has a bigger year then jordan had last year all around.
..
What number did huff wear last year that he changed his number to #13? agholor is wearing #17… We need Jordan to ditch 81 and pick a number in the teens…
..
I wonder if charecter would have caused chip to draft agholor over Kevin white and parker. I wonder if Amari was the only WR chip would have taken over Agholor?… White Isnt a bad kid, but he isn’t a jordan Mathews, Agholor, amari Cooper type football character … Curious to know if we had Kevin white on our draft board
Latest from Spuds, the Eagles’ version of the Iraqi Information Minister
“A name to consider along the offensive line is Matt Tobin, who figures to be an important piece this season. Tobin had a terrific preseason in 2014 and then suffered a high ankle sprain in the finale against the Jets and was inactive for the opening three games of the regular season. Tobin ended up playing 13 games with seven starts, five at left guard and two at right guard. He was never the same as before the ankle injury. I’m telling you, Tobin a someone the coaches are way, way high on. Does he blossom in Year 3?”
go get ’em Matty T~!
http://www.gamble-online-live-casinos.com/a649j78/Joker-3.jpg
Demands a photoshop thread!
http://www.theunticket.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/dave.jpg
That works 🙂
May the best bin win: Tobin vs Recycle Bin… GO!
This is exactly what I think of Tobin.
While this is nothing new since Tobins promise has been known along with the fact that the coaches were really high on him, I’m curious as to why wouuld Spadaro chose to hammer this point home today?
..
1) is it a response to fans badgering him about us not drafting an OL?
..
2) Or is this the calm before the waiving Evan Mathis storm? Starting the propaganda that we have quality young talent already in place to replace him?
What I don’t get is what cutting Mathis would accomplish? Our OL would take a step back and is Mathis really going to find someone to give him $6mil plus per year at his age coming of a year where he was injured for half the season?
I don’t see how ultimately waiving Mathis would help us or Mathis, so I’d like to think this will be over soon and Evan will be starting,,,
,,,
I would feel infinitely better about not drafting OL this year if we have Barbre and Tobin competing and pushing each other for that 1 Guard spot… I would so much rather pencil in the winner of that battle to start in September rather then having to pencil in both Tobin and BARBRE as our starting Guards replacing both Herremans and Mathis with inexperienced players..
Because Tobins tape is good.
I mean granted it is from the organizational mouthpiece, but that being said, I think Kempski and others who’ve been chicken-littling the failure to draft an o-lineman are both discounting Tobin, and the potential that we might see something truly valuable in any of the UDFAs.
D3FB, I’d love it if you could at some point do a piece on all of the UDFA linemen as well as whether there’s any chance we might view any of the athletic d-linemen (Mihalik, Raciti, McBryde) as conversion projects.
If not hampered by his injuries, Matt Tobin would have had all of the DE lineman trembling last year while driving them back from the line of scrimmage. Tobin will block all defensive infidels from NFC East opponents and no one will dare to touch the QB Bradford this year while Tobin is vigilant!
Cops again are claiming that COLLINS isnt a suspect, but there is no innocent talk, and COLLINS is sure being protected by his lawyer a lot.. I don’t know if I would have the Discapline to be kept THIS quiet by my layer if I didn’t do anything wrong, while I watch everything I worked for go down the toilet in a week.. By now I’d be getting pretty itchy to have myself be heard…
…
No one is saying he is innocent, he just isn’t a suspect, and that can change at any minute….. If this kid really has 100% nothing to do with this I feel bad, but he just needs to sit tight and wait for the Police to find a real suspect and make an arrest.. It does epically suck if he is innocent, but be needs to understand the damage has been done, the draft is over. At this point, as long as he doesn’t get arrested nothing worse can happen to him, and he can take solace in that he is an elite Talent, not some Fringe 6th round pick. If he is innocent, the moment he is cleared he will have offers to get his career back on track and there is plenty of time for Police to find a suspect and get COLLINS signed by a team… He Probabky has no shot to start for anyone in September, but if he is innocent he should be on someone’s roster by opening day..
..
if this kid isn’t innocent, he has to be an epic moron, and disgusting vile human being… But I want to give him the benefit of the doubt until I have reason not to
Mike Garafolo
@MikeGarafolo
34s35 seconds ago
Raiders are releasing OL Kevin Boothe. Nine-year veteran appeared in nine games for the team last year. Could get a look elsewhere.
More of a fit for a man-scheme, doubt Eagles will have interest.
I guess Tommy is treating us like Chip treats the media as he said he would have the UDFA write up two days ago.
I joke, I kid you.
I’m sorry for giving you the business but you did say you were going to do it.
Anyway, I will keep checking back(like always), in anticipation of what you think think that Chips thinking and if we acquired some awesome UDFA players.
In a related story… Megan Fox has also been missing for 48 hours. Last seen at a 7-11 buying 7 bags of funions…
in her number 7 sam Bradford jersey and 7 PBR tall boys?
Maybe he got sidetracked and he’s writing a “We could still get Mariotazzzz and Urlacherzzzz” story.
I always thought Mathis was supposed to be a cool great guy, but now it seems like he is a royal pain in the ass a really immature too.
yes? no?
Well apparently he has done funny stuff on social media but idk about other than that.
chip must think he’s a dumbass
Wonder what his teammates think of him. You always see him in pictures talking to and joking with teammates, but if his real personality is showing maybe his teammates don’t hold him in real high regard.
We are also judging a man’s personality based off of some tweets, so maybe we are wrong and he is a great guy.
Gotta separate people and $.
I just don’t understand what he is trying to accomplish? What are his realistic expectations? Really confusing. What I do know that if he keeps this up for much longer, we can bet he won’t be an eagle this year. Chip isn’t the most Bullshit tolerant coach and he won’t ever put one player above the Team.. Right now we are in voluntary Stages so I don’t think we Are at that point yet, but chip is not the type that will tolerate him holding out of the mandatory camps.. Keep this up much longer and chip will either cut him without blinking and move forward or now that he is a GM, who knows maybe he just lets Mathis throw his tempertantrum and decides to screw Mathis hold his rights til the last minute hoping a team loses a starting guard and gives up some value in August like Pats got for Logan Mankins next year.
..
Not sure what Mathis will do, but I think it’s now clear that this isn’t a game of chicken chip is going to lose and I’m really confused as to what Mathis wants to accomplish at this point? If he wants to get cut, then he is on the Right track and he just needs to keep it up..if he is just playing hardball and doesn’t want to leave the Eagles, he is going to Have to accept the loss and join the team soon, or he will be looking for a new team whether we get value in return or not… And if the fact that we didn’t draft anyone has Mathis feeling Brave, he needs to rethink this becausr I don’t think chip fears cutting him at all!!
Could be wrong, but I think he is trying to make up money for the years he wasn’t considered good and wasn’t getting paid like a good player. He is a VERY late bloomer.
Yes but if we are paying him 5mil this year what the hell is he expecting await him if he hits the open market as 33yr old guard? And if the Eagles did give his agent permission to find a deal and a trade why hasn’t he found one yet?…. I’m just curious to know what this mans expectations are? How my more does he think he can make by getting himself cut?
Your absolutely right. I don’t think he is dumb and I know Rosenhouse is unfortunately not dumb.
I think it’s very possible that he may not even fully expect anything knew, but is just trying this as a last ditch effort towards the end of his career to try and hope to get more money, knowing that his efforts may be futile.
He knows he may be able to pull this stunt because the Birds do really need him.
Maybe..I can’t rule anything out because I don’t see him ending up as a winner in this situation so Have no Idea what his expectations are, I just hope he understands that he will get cut with the quickness from this coach. If that’s an acceptable outcome then keep it up lol
Thats one thing, but another thing and an issue where im maybe a little hard on the players:
He signed a 5 year contract heading into the 2012 season. Since he signed, he obviously felt that contract paid him his worth.
How long was it before he wanted a new one, 2 years? It literally hadn’t reached the halfway point of the original contract. If you feel underpaid, then why did you sign the contract if the first place? If you wanted to renegotiate a contract after 2 years, you should have signed a 2 year deal. You can’t protect yourself longterm by signing a contract longer than you might play to your current level, while at the same time want to renegotiate prior to the contract expiration because you think you’re worth more.
Lets say Mathis’ level of play dropped, still good, but not all-pro. He has 2 years left at 5 mil a year. Would he accept a renegotiation that paid him 2 mil a year for those same 2 years? Because thats what he is expecting the Eagles to do.
I understand that he might feel a little underpaid right now, but that the price he took for signing his long term contract that paid him great OG money after 1 season as a starter at 30 years old.
The Eagles have a OG who’ll turn 34 during the season signed for the next 2 seasons. Call me negative, but I can see why they are not in a hurry to extend him for that 2017 NFL season.
Listen, I understand that if you signed 4 year contract as a depth player and all of the sudden broke out as a premier player at your position, you feeling underpaid, but Mathis signed a contract that was pretty great for a guard at the time. The fact that he is now bitching about it is his own damn fault. He could have done what Maclin did this year or what Revis had perfected throughout his career, but he didn’t want to bet on himself and signed long term for the security and bigger signing bonus/guaranteed money. Stop bitching, you’re getting exactly what you signed on for.
I’m not for or against the guy.,. Whether this is smart or not is dictated by what he can get on the open market. If he has teams that his agent thinks would sing him to more then 5mil per year, then this is smart idea on his part if he only cares about making as much as possible these last few years… But when we have his agent permission to negotiate with other teams over a year ago and he is still here, it looks like he is overeatinating his market.. Your value is whatever you can negotiate, I have no idea what teams are willing to pay him, but the fact that he is still here when his agent had permission to find a better deal for a year
Now makes it hard to see what his realistic expectations are… I wouldn’t be mad if he got more money from us, he just seems not to have much leverage, especially with a coach who won’t put anyone above the team
CK can’t just give in to contract non-sense what really gets me is that Evan was trying to play like he was sad when there were rumors about him getting traded when in reality he’s the on that asked to be put on the block.
When it comes to “giving in to contract stuff”… For me it comes down to “you are worth what you can negotiate”… Evan was allowed to text the market, if he found someone that I wanted him enough to pay him $7 mil I stead of $5mil then chip should give Evan a bonus or trade him to the team willing to pay Evan… But it’s been known for over a year that Evans agent has permission to negotiate with other teams yet according to chip not one team has made an offer. If THAT is true and not one offer came in for Mathis then chip shouldn’t give him anything extra. If No ONE else is willing to pay him more then we are and no one has made an offer, why should chip give him anything extra.. Chip claims no offer has been made, unless people jave been making all types of offers for Mathis and chip was actually turning tj down, then I’m not sure why Mathis would think he has any leverage to stand a chance at getting more then 5mil he is signed for
Everything you say is right. It’s an unwise gamble on his part. The only other thing I can say is that maybe he just wants off the team. Maybe he doesn’t get along with people. Most importantly Stoutland and Chip.
I agree. Thought he was a really cool guy untill recently.
Mathis strikes me as the kind of person who would go full 100% troll mode just because it would get a rise out of people. I’ve always found him amusing. No idea what his grievances are now but I’m not gonna start disliking the guy just because he’s on Chip Kelly’s bad side all of a sudden.
Baldinger destroyed chip and the Eagles. Ripped them pretty hard saying Marcus smith is a bust, he will always be a bust and that chip needed to cut him and draft his replacement in the first two rounds…lol Moron.. He basically said no QB can translate to OLB basing a lot of his argument on it being dumb to draft a QB turned OLB … Stop it baldi..
GEAGLE lols at Baldinger… lol
From every thing I’ve seen, Baldinger has no clue what he’s talking about at any position outside of offensive line.
Yeah, he’s pretty clueless. I was just mocking how GEAGLE insists on constantly dragging in the stupid yammerings of numerous clueless reporters to berate them for their cluelessness, and stupidly yammer on about it. To which I’m now adding a third level of complaining about his cluelessness, rather than having an actually constructive intelligent conversation. I’m ouroborosing!
He can’t even do that right anymore… No idea what happened to that dude.. Classic concussion issues I guess
Plop his ass in front of a telestrator and have him break down plays.
Other wise tell him to shut up.
I heard that this morning. The whole conversation was about how they didn’t draft OLB because they didn’t want to admit that Marcus was a bust. It was ridiculous. There was no concept of them not wanting to draft OLB because they thought Marcus could improve; that wasn’t even remotely in the realm of possibility. The truth (to them) was simply that Marcus was and always will be a bust, and Chip, the guy who has shown he has a plan for everything and that he doesn’t give two shits about what anyone thinks of him, simply avoided a position because of something he didn’t want to admit.
Oh, and Baldy says that OLB was our biggest position of need. #1 position. Sorry, that’s just ludicrous.
Then, after Baldy, the hosts were complaining that Marcus was never going to see any playing time. Which makes no sense if you paid even a little bit of attention last year, when the #3 got so much playing time that we signed him again. And which makes even less sense when you try to use it as an argument against chip for not drafting ANOTHER OLB.
Let’s just say I remember why I stopped listening to sports radio.
Glad someone say how insane that was yesterday… I couldn’t believe how crazy it was even by philly standards
Erik Flowers is choosing to represent himself… I cringe whenever I see players Do this especially a rookie coming into the NFL. Learn the league, mature a bit and if you then want to negotiate your next contract good luck. Did this kid do all the predraft stuff alone? Wonder if the Giants view this as a good favorable decision or a nusance?
Rookie contracts are boilerplate. He’s saving a big chunk of cash keeping an agent out.
A player can’t really negotiate that much on a rookie deal.
Yep, might as well not give your agent 10% of your first contract when there won’t be much negotiating anyway
Dude there is so much crap to do predraft that its well worth paying your agent
Exactly hire a good contracts attorney for 2 days, pay the 5K out of your signing bonus and keep 10% of your paycheck.
I may be mistaken but I thought it was 2% for sports agents. 10% is for entertainment.
You’re right NFL is 3%. Still makes more sense to just hire the attorney for a couple days.
if only T.O. represented himself back in the day.
now that would have been classic
It’s becoming more common since there isn’t much you can negotiate, other than offset language (which is still something). Now 2-3 years from now…. different story.
Dude just coordinating all tbe predraft visits and dog n pony show is a pain in the ass
Right, but all that is over. And, if Flowers was unrepresented during that time frame, he negotiated it all well enough to get drafted in the top 10.
If you spent HALF the time reading about the NFL as you spend writing nonsensical spam that nobody reads on this board, you’d know the answer to this.
Rumor La’el Collins meeting with NFL coach tonight
http://www.wjbo.com/articles/local-news-119442/lael-collins-to-meet-with-an-13560885/
roto reported fins were all over him
Fins are just the kind of classy organisation that would jump on him early in the process before it has played out.
No way he is an Eagle – he will want to go to a team that can offer him a starting Tackle position and will be willing to guarantee 3 years worth of contract – which i cannot see the Eagles doing.
can you get that as a UDFA? If he’s cleared i don’t see why CK wouldn’t take him, and i’m sure he could compete with barbe to start no problemo
Yes it’s hardly a big deal though if he’s cleared. Obviously he’s got to figure out the best place for him.
For Collins that presents an opportunity to attempt to receive a three year guarantee of $1,575,000. That guarantee would be equivalent to a late 2nd rounders guarantee through his signing bonus and salary guarantee.
I doubt a team would be willing to make that investment now, but if Collins waits until the summer to sign they might if his name is cleared. In theory that could also give him time to see how teams depth charts are beginning to shape up and where he will get the most opportunity to play. This is also important because if e starts he would likely be a leader in Performance Based Pay which is based on playing time relative to your cap charge. Last year the league leader received nearly $375,000 in PBP. He would certainly earn more than highly drafted players further shrinking the gap.
http://overthecap.com/what-can-lael-collins-earn-as-an-undrafted-free-agent/
Chip very well could want him at his terms (don’t mean financial that isn’t an issue for most teams if cleared) but it doesn’t mean Collins picks Eagles.
Few people said he will be fully cleared by Thursday
Rex Ryan of the Bills is meeting with him
what does unsanctioned mean or is he just being weird?!
@AdamSchefter
Bills HC Rex Ryan passed through Baton Rouge, La., tonight and had an unsanctioned meeting with LSU OL La’el Collins, per @mikerodak and me.
Mike Rodak @mikerodak 2m2 minutes ago
Rex Ryan was in the Baton Rouge area, called and asked if he could meet La’el Collins. Did not clear it through his agents.
just happened to be passing through Baton Rouge, i like it. Should have wasted a 7th on him, if i’m La’el it’s an auction for my services at this point. We aren’t getting him.
It’s not really about money much if at all, it’s probably more about best situation and/or where he wants to go.
Not through agent
Also reports he meets w/ Fins in next day.
Here’s someone who loves the Agholor pick
http://overthecap.com/caponomics-in-the-2015-nfl-drafts-first-round/
Good read.
Great quote:
“Man, the Eagles have become an absolute joy to analyze this offseason, Chip Kelly has really influenced my Caponomics education and given me example after example of strategies for team building. He’s another guy who surprises me with the manner at how fired up I get when looking at the way he does business because he does some things that are that kind of simplistic brilliance with which Belichick operates. When you really analyze the roster and understand how he’s trying to build his team, everything he does seems to make sense.”
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CENWma4WgAAh_EH.jpg
My favorite is Doug White: “I’m done.”
Doug White today: Hell yea man, this is the year, my boy JJ gonna have like 50 sacks, and take us to the playoffs by himself, always knew he was gonna be great, all the idiot fans wanted us to take (insert player who in hindsight sucks) but I knew JJ was gonna be awesome!
That looks STRIKINGLY familiar…
Lol too great.
Basically, after a draft selection there are 4 camps. Casual fans who know nothing about prospects who read Mel Kipers rankings and think it’s a bad pick. Casual fans who know nothing about prospects and love the pick because their team cannot do wrong/ they’re oblivious. Fans who are familiar with prospects and truly don’t believe the pick was good or don’t have all the info/tape watching, a la Hicks at first glance. Finally fans who are familiar with the draft, have done the backround and truly like the pick. Most of these people are of the first variety.
Kiper had him ranked #15.
Hicks?
Watt.
Oh, lol.
Don’t take it so literal. I’m just using Kiper as a catchall. Obviously he’s not a complete bafoon. Perhaps I should have used ESP.
There’s also a 5th class. People that just generally hate on every pick because they just like to hate and be highly pessimistic about everything. There are those people. Not any on this MB, but I can think of 2 on Birds24/7.
It’s usually fueled by a hate for Chip because they didn’t agree with the Shady/Foles moves. Or a blinded hate for Lurie. Or the we never won a SB thing, so everything we do is garbage.
Only 2?
Off the top of my head. I’m not including my grandfather. He lives pessimistic.
What about fans who are familiar with the draft, have done the background and truly don’t like the pick? I mean, are we to pretend there’s never been a pick ever that people who are studious about the draft have not liked?
That was my 3rd option.
If Nelson Agholor is that similar to Jeremy Maclin, should his new nickname be “Self-Tackolor Nelson Agholor”?
Fallin to the floor Nelson Agholor
I believe that because he didn’t get to draft MM, that he didn’t want to draft any other duck after that out of depression.
Other than that, we did okay this year.
Another note on Hicks: The Bengals were about to snatch him up at #84 if the Eagles didn’t take him http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2015/5/1/8533615/2015-nfl-draft-react-eagles-jordan-hicks-linebacker-84-85-texas-bengals
Another note on Hicks: The Bengals were about to snatch him up if the Eagles didn’t take him at #84 http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2015/5/1/8533615/2015-nfl-draft-react-eagles-jordan-hicks-linebacker-84-85-texas-bengals