Assistants Are People Too!
Posted: June 5th, 2015 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 179 Comments »Abiding by the Geneva Convention and seeking shelter from Human Rights groups around the globe, the Eagles actually let their assistant coaches speak to the media this week. We didn’t get any great info this year, but there are always some comments of interest.
Les Bowen wrote about Ryan Day, the new QB coach. The past 2 years the Eagles had established NFL guys in Bill Lazor and Bill Musgrave. Day is a college coach, but he knows the offense very well.
“I’ve played for coach Kelly. I’ve played quarterback for coach Kelly, and I’ve played in this offense before,” said Day, a starter at QB for three seasons at New Hampshire when Kelly was the offensive coordinator there. “I’m able to share a little bit of some of my experiences with [Eagles QBs].”
You wonder if Day’s experience can give an extra bit of info to Sam Bradford and the QBs. As for Day’s take on Bradford and his comeback.
Day downplayed the difficulties Bradford might face, getting a late start in learning a new offense. Bradford did a little seven-on-seven throwing Tuesday, but doesn’t seem close to being able to take a full complement of practice reps. Day said Bradford positions himself behind the QBs and watches intently.
“He’s doing a lot of work in the building, watching film, he’s doing a great job in the meeting room,” Day said. “And he’s a guy who’s been in the fire before, so he’s got some experience to draw upon.”
That isn’t the same as taking actual practice reps, but it is the best Bradford can do right now and it will help him when he does get back on the field. While Bradford isn’t throwing the ball, those mental reps help him to read the defense and to find the open receiver. Bradford is an accurate passer with good mechanics so the mental side of things and finding the right receiver is the big issue for him.
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Jeff McLane wrote about Cory Undlin, the most interesting of the new coaches. Undlin had plenty to say.
“Obviously X plays – we do not want those,” Undlin said. “I use the term all the time: ‘We are out of the X-play business.’ We’re not doing that. I believe every X play that is given up . . . was a result of poor technique somewhere in the down. . . . My focus has been on, ‘Here’s how we’re not going to give these plays up.’ “
Those big pass plays killed the Eagles last year. Just take away a couple of those and the Eagles were a playoff team. Instead, the plays led to points and losses. There isn’t one player or position at fault. The CBs need to cover better. The Safeties need to be smarter. And all the DBs need to communicate better.
One of the issues with the CBs is that they didn’t always use the proper technique. There were times when they were supposed to get a good jam on a receiver, but didn’t and let the guy get a clean release. Undlin is not going to let that happen this year.
“We’re looking for non-impostors,” Undlin said. “The ball is snapped and then they open – I use the term ‘open the gate’ – and then they just let the guy run down the field. We don’t want that. So my job is to get them to believe in themselves and believe in the technique.”
Trust the technique. That is Coaching 101. Good coaches actually get their players to do it.
Undlin has brought change to the secondary.
Undlin has completely revamped how the defensive backs practice, according to Boykin and others, so that every detail isn’t missed. Cornerback Nolan Carroll said that many of the drills are mirroring-receiver drills, “because a lot of things they do we have to do, as far as dropping your hips and getting in and out of breaks, we have to match.”
The defensive backs are now responsible for knowing what every defensive player is doing on any given play, to keep everyone on the same page and avoid confusion. Undlin has also instituted a points system that offers rewards for hustle plays or interceptions and subtracts for loafing, for example.
“He’s intense. He’s always got you on your toes,” Carroll said. “He’s asking us questions in the meeting for us to be alert. He’s always demanding excellence.”
We don’t know if this will lead to better results, but Undlin has me as a believer. John Lovett was a veteran football coach, but he was new to the NFL and it doesn’t sound like he handled Chip Kelly’s style of practicing all that well. Undlin knows the NFL. Now he has to adjust to the Eagles tempo and style of doing things. Luckily for him, Undlin also has better players to work with.
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Zach Berman wrote about Pat Shurmur, who got lots of Sam Bradford questions. Remember that Shurmur was Bradford’s OC when Bradford was a rookie.
Shurmur was Bradford’s offensive coordinator in 2010, when Bradford was offensive rookie of the year and almost led the Rams to the playoffs. Then Shurmur accepted the head coaching job in Cleveland, and Bradford went through two more offensive coordinators while dealing with injuries in three of the next four seasons.
“Really what I did was talk about the experience I had with Sam, and . . . I was able to give some insight to him, how he prepared, how hard he worked, what he was like as a quarterback behind center, what he was like as a leader,” Shurmur said Wednesday in his first public comments since the trade for Bradford.
That relationship was not the reason the Eagles dealt Nick Foles and a second-round pick in a package for Bradford, a former No. 1 overall pick who missed most of the last two seasons with two tears of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. But Bradford had an advocate in Shurmur, who called plays when Bradford passed for 18 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and 3,512 yards while completing 60 percent of his passes in an offense that had only one Pro Bowler.
Shurmur remains a big fan of Bradford and his talent.
“I certainly have a very strong, good opinion of what he can accomplish,” Shurmur said. “Had he been able to stay healthy, he wouldn’t have been available for us. When the deal was getting made, I had my fingers crossed in the background that it was going to get done.”
Shurmur scouted Bradford coming out of Oklahoma, where Bradford excelled in a no-huddle system. Shurmur said the Rams “tried to incorporate some of those things” in 2010. Although this is Kelly’s offense in Philadelphia, Shurmur has said that his influence is incorporated. He said Wednesday that the Eagles offense has concepts similar to some Bradford has worked with before.
“He can function very well, he can get rid of the ball quickly, he’s very smart, he prepares and trains like all the great ones do, and we feel like he’s an outstanding thrower,” Shurmur said. “Not to mention he’s a terrific athlete. There’s kind of a three-prong challenge for him – get better physically, learn what we’re doing mentally, and get out here and do it on the field tactically – and in our minds he’s doing a good job.”
Are you buying in?
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PE.com has a wrap-up with 8 revelations from the assistants. This covers a lot of ground.
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June is the time for optimism. The coaches know their players. They see the upside in the young guys and are excited by what the new veterans bring to the table. Almost everybody looks good out there in a helmet and pair of shorts.
Things will change in August. Practice starts and you start to see who is getting the job done and who isn’t. For now, life is pretty good. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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we’re talking bout practice
True – this is the worst part of the sports year, only meaningful things that happen are injuries and arrests, everything else is meaningless at this point…. but we will over analyse every tiny bit of data we get like crack craved loons while we wait for august.
no News is great news this time of year
From a fan perspective sure, but practice is huge in the NFL. This isn’t basketball where stars dictate regardless
Hey, Fufina, you wanna buy these NFL2K games….
/crackhead
Madden (video game) has people that will create rookies and make every offseason move in the league and upload rosters online for free…. I already simmed through a full season with our new roster lol
and we won the SB?
Actually we are talkimg about TRAINING. Chip Kelly teams DONT “practice”
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I like the quote where Undlin talks about transitioning to the Eagles style of training “31 teams all do things a certain way, and Eqgles are the one team that do things a little different”
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Will this net us a SB? Who knows, but it’s exciting to be taking a different approach instead of just doing the same things every other team does..
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Chip kelly better make the Playoffs this year, because if he misses the playoffs, you can bet Goodell will force the Eaglea to do HardKnocks next year. If wee miss the playoffs, we meet the requirments of teams that can be forced into doing HardKnocks…so not only are we trying to make the playoffs, we have the added bonus of trying to make the playoffs to keep the cameras out of Novacare next year…
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I agree that the NFL would love us on Hard Knocks. One more reason we really need to make the playoffs.
Lol if they force us to do hard knocks, I’ll die laughing when chip changes his training regimen to make it look like what every other team does while the cameras are rolling
I don’t want us to be on Hard Knocks…but if we were, I’d eat that stuff up. I’d be looking forward to it every week like it’s Game of Thrones or some ish.
Of course, it would be the greatest thing ever for Eagle fans…
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They could put the eagkes episodes of,HardKnocks on pay per view each week and I would gladly pay for each episode
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But as a fan who wants the Eagles to succeed MORE then I want extra access, I much rather not see us on HardKnocks because I don’t think it helps us in our hunt for a Lombardi’s. The longer chip can keep his methods under wraps the better
agreed
I’m excited about our defense and curious about our offense.
LOL this new Desean story is great… Allegedly he keeps hosting these Pancreatic cancer research fundraisers, but after researching his philanthropy they found that Desean and his fundraising events avtually haven’t donated a single dollar to the charity they claim to represent…. LOL
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WOW, that’s just WOW… Now he is havng another charity event, it’s going to be great that this story came out now before his next event. Now he will have to answer all the questions about wherre the money he has raised has been going? Jaccpot records baby!!!!
That’s horrible. There’s no “LOL” at all there.
Jackson probably has nothing to do with any fraud and he’s being taken advantage of by people who thinks its all”LOL”.
TBF, we don’t know either way. I’ll wait for more details to come out before I pass judgment on DJax or someone else.
What do you mean? don’t know what? Wait for what? It’s 2015, there is a record of everything. This was researched and they found that even tho he has had multiple fundraiing event, no money was ever donated by DEsean and the charity.
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It’s not exactly some complicated research. The charity will have records of every donation, and if DEsean did turn over money, him and his money manager will have receipts for tax write offs… I don’t really know what else is there to investigate? You either have a Receipt or you don’t…
Waiting to see how much he pocketed or if he was duped. There’s cases of each happening where someone is a fraud and they use the charity for their own gain. On the other hand, there’s some people who think they can trust people to do the right thing and they look bad when the people they entrusted to do the right thing did otherwise.
In short, it’s entirely possible that he got snookered. It’s also entirely possible that he’s a louse and he’s behind the whole thing. My only point here is that I’ll wait to see who’s at fault. If it is DJax, trust me they’ll have a paper trail that leads to him.
My specialization in college besides sports business, was marketing for non profit organizations, so I hear you, I have heard some terrible stories…
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Crossing broad is where the story originated.. Bleedinggreen has a link to the story in the post about “Billy Davis says Boykin ISNT too small”
I would be shocked if DeSean ripped off the charity. Didn’t his dad die from pancreatic cancer? He clearly not the brightest guy and an easy target for grifters.
I agree. You would think he would be on top of that. Now they don’t have the filings from 2013 or 2014, so it could have started to deliver money to charities within the last couple of years.
The tax returns list relatively little income, and then also no donations, since expenses have for the most part exceeded the income. But these are sums of like $10,000 to $40,000 a year — that is chump change to Desean. So unless the actual charity gifts are hidden as “expenses”, he spends as much putting on the events as the money he raises, and they aren’t huge sums. Maybe the expenses are a little too high, and they do vary from year to year a lot. Or maybe it’s simply not a successful event so far.
I’d guess that’s not uncommon. In my (limited) experience with fundraisers they can cost as much to put as they bring in.
You talk to people who’ve had successful Kickstarters for 25-50k and they frequently say that the amount of time they but in running the campaign and then the pledge fulfillment they barely wind up ahead.
His Crip homies made him do it its the only way he’s allowed to keep representing the blue…
good point, Ive read in the past friends of stars who get the job of running some charity. A lot of times they are the ones that start funneling the money to themselves.
Where’d you see this story? I’ve Google’d but can’t seem to find any info.
Uhh hold on, I saw it on my Twitter feed, give me a minute
Thanks.
Oh nvmd, BleedingGreen has it up…..
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They have those posts where it links all the top eagle stories of the day, it’s one of the stories in that post towards the top of the page…
The story,comes from crossing broad, and BleedingGreen has a link in the post about a billy davis saying Boykin ISNT too small
http://www.crossingbroad.com/2015/06/desean-jaccson-is-holding-another-pancreatic-cancer-fundraiser-that-probably-wont-raise-any-funds-for-cancer-research.html
I don’t know if anyone else here caught this exchange on a recent Kempski chat, but I thought it was remarkably interesting in a morass of lame questions/articles from him of late. I heard nothing about secondary beef last year (until the off-season), so I kinda agree. Wish there was more news, but it seems like Kelly is on lockdown. I pine for the days of Eckel getting Tom Modrak scoops left adn right:
Question From The Donner
OK. This is a long one, so bear with me. It used to be that I (in particular) read sports writers to get the inside story. In theory they would develop contacts and reveal information that was way beyond me and my friends sharing opinions. Now a days it seems like all sports writing is just opinions, and (no offense) who cares what you think. CASE IN POINT: last year every week there were articles/tweets about Riley Cooper but NOTHING about the players dissatisfaction with Lovett or Lyght. Yet this off-season that dissatisfaction is discussed as if it were an open topic with reporters. Why didn’t anyone report it last year? Wouldn’t it have been more interesting than the fortieth report about Cooper’s underperforming, or Sanchez’s misfires?
via Computer
Jimmy Kempski
The Eagles have, by far, the largest media contingent in the NFL. Not the Giants. Not the Cowboys. Not the Bears, or any other teams from bigger cities. There’s only so much news to break. Eagles beats break news all the time, but I think it may feel like an overwhelming amount of analysis because there is an absurd saturation of content.
Eagles fans are lucky, frankly. On the whole, Eagles reporting/analysis is the best in the league, in my opinion.
I think our local reporting is terrible, TERRBLE.. If we get the best local coverage then I hate to see how dumb other teams beat reporters are.
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Problem is our local reporters think they are qualified to offer opinions, when in reality, “you know nothing John snow”.. I’d give anything for our media to go back to actually “REPORTING” info from players and coaches and leaving their personal opinions out of it.
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Kempski should use his access bring fans what the coaches and players said. I would appreciate him so much more, if he left his personal opinions out of it.
Somewhere along the Line local reporters started to confuse themselves with “analyst”.. We shouldn’t have to see what John smallwood thinks about the Eagles secondary, who gives a shit? Why would anyone pay him to offer his opinion on the secondary? They are paid to use the access they are given, to ask intelligent questions and report the answers to the fans…. But at some point, these reporters started thining they have a clue, and basically have now become “analysts”.. .Their OPINIONS ruin eagle coverage as far as I’m concerned. I would appreciate our media so much more if they just reported info from People who matter. These local reporters aren’t qualified to taint opinions of fans with their own opinions…. reporters lost their mind and now THNK they are qualified to be analysts, which really just ends up putting false opinions in passionate fans heads..
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A reporter is supposed to use his access and his connections to report info from people who matter, instead our reporters push their uneducated opinions into fans, as if they were ever hired for their personal football opinions or acumen..
The media in general is mostly opinion driven. Bill O’Reilly, Bill Mahr, Colin Cowherd – all opinion or moving the “facts’ (analytics?) in a direction that supports your opinion. All about the clicks and views = $. I look for headlines and then come here to see what we all have to say – don’t focus on the big sites. NFL.com is a joke. ESPN is good for stats.
No offense to any media members, but I rarely read ANYONES articles… I simply read the headline, then I skim they the article only stopping to read the direct quotes from players, coaches or front office execs.. All I care about are the quotes in the article that have nothing to do with the author of the article.
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I try to ONLY use the media as a tool to get answers from people I’m interested in hearing from ., I don’t care about the media’s opinion of the quotes they write in their articles, I feel like the less media members opinion I let into my head, the more accurate my viewpoint will be. Think reading a media members opinion will do much more harm then good and you are better off digesting the quotes and forming your own opinion
Yeah i stopped reading 24/7 when i realized all the info is in the interviews on PE.com and they hold quotes back for later stories.
Yeah, I despise that they hold quotes back… Typically I just stick to Sheils All 22…or articles like yesterday’s “Reconditioning sports science” article where they include quotes from doctors or professionals that I won’t see when I watch the interviews on PE..
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The articles that make me cringe are the ones where fans ask media members questions lol as if Tim McManus has been any more accurate then you, or any normal fan… I don’t get why someone would ask a question to our local media members? The most I EVER asked any of our media, is I have asked sheil to ask specific questions when I know he has access to a press conference in the near future..
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When it comes to the media, give me the quotes from people that matter and please leave your personal opinion out of my eagle news.. Thanks lol
ha, but it keeps me from having to actually go to PE.com so theres that
You are better off going to PE instead of 24/7.. 24/7 write articles off some of the quotes in the interviews in PE, but on PE, you get the entire interview with quotes that aren’t used in articles
You seem so well read. LOL. No offense. LOL.
Our local posters on blog comment threads, however, are OUTSTANDING!
Especially blog COmmenters on the MEDIA!
You always get those couple of pessimistic fans that no matter how good a player is or can be they base there opinions on espn stats instead of watching tape and considering circumstances
Sam Bradford is an accurate passer? http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_cmp_perc_career.htm
At 58.6%, his % is below league average–not below average for a “good QB”. This interesting chart shows you the % of many QBs. Compare Brees at an amazing 66.2%, Manning at 65.5%, Rodgers at 65.8%. Notice how most of the leaders are in recent years, as the league completion% has risen over time. So, even in a time when it has been easy to throw, his % is still below Eli Manning or DMac or Rich Gannon or Jeff Garcia.
Combine this with his low Y/Attempt of 6.3, that’s just not good quarterbacking. Understand he sits there with Billy Joe Tolliver, Kordell Stewart, Dave Brown, Dave Carr, Derek Anderson, etc. Compare Vick at 7.0, Eli at 7.1, Rodgers at (yikes) 8.2. In other words, he threw short and missed a lot.
Sorry to keep banging the drum, but if Bradford performs well for us, it will be, perhaps, an unprecedented transformation.
Yes, please stop banging that drum. Not sure what you are trying to accomplish. Obviously parallels between Billy Joe Tolliver and Bradford and silly and pointless.
I think the “easy to throw” part of the league is fairly recent. I think SB was right prior to it really exploding so I dont really buy those stats completely. Also, what everyone harps on is the quality of his Rams teams. Once you get into that whole argument, it can really go anywhere, pick a side.
peteike:
It’s since about 2007, so no. You will notice many players even from earlier eras are much better. I feel the excuse of his bad Rams teams is overplayed. Have you seen evidence for QBs vastly improving their stats according to their teams? A cursory look at Manning, Brady, Rodgers seems to show relatively stable performance (with blips here and there), despite widely disparate talent around them.
http://www.besttickets.com/blog/evolution-of-nfl-offense/
Ark87:
Maybe accuracy in terms of an isolated skill, but in the sense of actually getting the ball to his receivers–I think a record of the results of hundreds of throws captures that well.
bluto:
Thanks for your input. I don’t think it’s pointless to compare Bradford to a journeyman from a time it was harder to pass, but damning.
ya, youre right. I rethought that and was just looking at scoring stats and its been a while that its been high. Weird that I imagine in my head its only been the last handful of years, why is that? Maybe the elite teams are blowing out teams more often, strange. We’ve seen players change teams and do well in other systems or at least better. There is something to be said for CK scheme and scoring but you can still see QBs struggle. If they cant convert those 3rd downs there can be a lot of 3 n outs and low scoring games. That being said, they do see some success and numbers against weaker teams/defenses.
That’s the tricky part though, what’s his accuracy as an attribute? Everything else has changed, different targets, different system, different methodology. So really the only accuracy I’m interested in is what Chip Kelly values, does he have that “repetitive accuracy” we hear about so much (ironically). Only time will tell if he can find open WR’s in this offense though.
sanchez definitely improved his stats with his new team
Yep, Sanchez’ Comp% and Y/A ballooned in the 9 games he played last year. Which brought him to about league average.
http://www.nfl.com/player/marksanchez/79858/careerstats
If Bradford could make the same jump, we’d have something.
accuracy is better examined through tape study rather than statistics, looking for ball placement and how often he throws a bad throw etc. Just too many moving pieces go into completion %. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the caution on your part. Bradford has a lot to prove.
What does it say about how many drops his WR’s had? I believe that the last OC he had build the offense around dink and dunks fairly consistently.
I don’t have that information. ESP did write up an article that looked at some of that, but it was not particularly rigorous. It does appear that his receivers were butterfingered, but AFAIK a few reversed drops are not going to make his numbers look acceptable. I think you’ll agree that if you are dinking and dunking, you should have a very high completion%, so a below average one is concerning.
One interesting point I picked up on was a few commentators on Rams’ forums (yes, they exist!) were complaining that Bradford threw the balls too hard. Apparently he “DMacs” his receivers… well, at least that’s different from Foles and Sanchez.
http://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2015/03/was_talent_really_an_issue_for_eagles_qb_sam_bradf.html
Yes you should have a higher % but how far did it dip the seasons before the dunk and dunk offense and furthermore, perhaps the wrs are just that bad. I’m simply playing devil’s advocate.
off topic:
There’s a great article about new Flyers coach Dave Hakstol…
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/Dave_Hakstol.html
That was a great article! Thanks for sharing. I was one of those fans that said “Who is this guy?” when they hired him. Looks like we might have made a great choice!
He looks like he might be hockey’s version of the “Chipster”…
Malcolm Jenkins serves up the best Kool Aid:
Per B247 T Mac
Malcolm Jenkins considers Undlin “the most important pick up in that room,” greater even than the Byron Maxwell acquisition. On Tuesday, Jenkins added that Undlin is bringing things to the table from a coaching perspective that he hadn’t been exposed to previously during his six years in the league.
“I think our secondary, we’ve probably been at it for two months now, I think we’re better than last year already,”…”And that’s just cleaning up a lot of the technique aspect of our game, we’re a lot more efficient in and out of our breaks, we’re a lot better at press coverage already and that’s just one week of OTAs and mainly walkthroughs and individual periods.”
“We’ve seen the improvements, from myself being more efficient, from guys like Brandon Boykin who is a phenomenal athlete but now using his technique is really starting to dominate; Nolan Carroll has been one who I think really has taken the biggest jump from last year. He’s a very explosive player, instinctual, but now he has technique and every snap is now doing a great job of challenging routes. So it’s made our secondary better.”
“He’s a better teacher than anything. That’s something you don’t get in the NFL. Everybody knows how to coach, they know what’s right and what’s wrong, but they don’t know how to teach it. And I think that’s one thing that we’ve definitely gotten better at in that room.”
Even I drink that stuff up!
I don’t consider it kool aid for a guy like Nolan to be improving now that he has a year in this system and is comfortable with our scheme and practice methods. Don’t think it’s Kool aid that a young player like Boykin is improving during the offseason going into his 4th season. One of the biggest mistakes fans make is assuming players will be the same guys their eyes so last year..
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it’s not like Jenkins is saying “Undlin has Nolan looking like a probowl outside corner”..
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It’s awesome to see players be so impressed by a position coach, it should mean that they will respect him and really take his coaching to heart.. it’s not like we saw Jenkins give this type of praise to our previous coaches..
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it’s all relative to what you are used to. To the returning Eagles like Nolan, Boykin and Jenkins, they all seem to be raving at the addittion of Undlin and they have commented on not receiving this type of attention to detail last year from our previous DB coach.,. But I assume a guy like Maxeell looks at Undlin as a guy who knows what he is talking about, but considering to the type of secondary coaching he received in Seattle with a coach that’s a DB guru
“One of the biggest mistakes fans make is assuming players will be the same guys their eyes so last year”
Not really, most players don’t make huge strides in their play after four or five years in the league.
Sure, there’s the occasional James Harrison, but the marginal player in their third year generally remains a marginal player until retirement.
Is Undlin teaching our CB to turn around and play the ball? That lack of technique certainly hurt us last year, either the CB would get a penalty for not turning or would get beat by the receiver….
I’m not sure if that was because they didn’t have the speed to stay with receivers or that they just got bad coaching. Or it could be combination of both or neither. Maybe it was something else.
Now that I’ve thoroughly confused myself, maybe you’ll have better luck answering your own question. 🙂
Kelly and other coaches stated they had the CB play the receiver’s body and thus not turn to play the ball since they might lose position with the receiver etc. The problem, of course, with that is the NFL has the face guarding rule and so if the CB does NOT turn to play the ball they run the risk of being penalized which our CB were at times last year…the other problem is not turning to play the ball allows the receiver to play it themselves without any competition and makes it very difficult to intercept the ball for the CB…basically, I hope Undlin is teaching them to turn now since we want more INT and less penalties that extend drives….
I remember reading somewhere that the CBs were told not to turn around and look for ball because it would slow them down. You can’t as fast forward if you are looking behind you. They were taught to attack the receivers arms as they were making the catch. Hopefully Undlin gets the CBs to play ball instead so we don;t have as many penalties!
Thank you, yes that was part of the reasoning as well…like you I hope that is scrapped and the CB are instructed to play the ball which should lead to more INT and less penalties (depending on the quality of officiating of course which is low).
It’s funny because I believe when cb’s get beat the correct thing to do is to look for the ball at all, rather run as fast as you can to catch up with the receiver and then try to knock the ball loose IF you are able to catch up. Lovett must have just assumed our cbs were going to get beat every play and simply had them knock look for the ball at all and just stay on their man. It may just go to show how slow and uninstinctive our cbs were last year. For example, a cb usually watches the qb drop in the pocket and if its a 3 step drop, the cb attacks his man. However if its a 5 step the cb must turn his hips and run with his wr. If the qb fakes a 3 step, now the cb is in the position where the wr is running straight by him so the cb has to turn and run to catch up and NOT look at the ball, a la Lovett’s technique.
Drew Rosenhaus joined the Joe Rose Show on Friday to give an update on guard Evan Mathis, saying his client “is in limbo” right now but they’re still talking to the Eagles.
Rosenhaus expects some movement during the break before camps open in late July.
“I have a feeling during that time we’re going to find out a lot about Evan Mathis and his future with the Eagles,” Rosenhaus said, “but I did have conversations with them this week and I continue to work on it and see if we can get this situation resolved.
“I do feel like [the Eagles] want him back. I don’t think that’s the issue. I think the issue is that for the last two years Evan — in my opinion — has been the number one guard in the NFL and unfortunately he does not have a deal that compensates him that way.”
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Damn I F’ing hate Rosenscum.
He’s a mouthpiece for Mathis. They’ve decided together how to approach the player’s desire for a new contract.
If you hate Rosenhaus for doing his job, you should hate Mathis even more.
Don’t think hating is the point. Rosenhaus may have sold Mathis a whopper that he wants to believe, and he is culpable for buying, but I have a lot of respect for how Mathis has distinguished himself on the field. What I cannot easily grasp is how Mathis can make the argument that X, W and Z are getting more than me and I’m better than them. He isn’t better than Jahri Evans, Andy Levitre or Marshall Yanda, in my opinion, and they are all making more than him and are all younger than him. What may have Mathis frustrated is the fact that the best guards in the NFL, probably like most positions, don’t have the best contracts. Logan freakin’ Mankins is going to get 8.5M this year at the ripe old age of 33, and I think Mathis IS better than him. Arizona just gave Iupati 8M, and I prefer Mathis. Zane Beadles is getting 6M down in Jax, and he’s playing so under that that Jags spent a 3rd round pick on A.J. Cann. What ought to be clear to EM, is the Eagles are not going to get in a bidding war for a player they have under contract. If Mathis was paying me for advice, I’d tell him that possibly Kelly would
shop him if he had an attitude that Kelly appreciated. Everybody gasped when Belichick shopped Mankins, but the coach was taking care of his boy. Tampa’s paying him monopoly money. Trying to play hardball in his position is foolhardy, and if that is what Rosenhaus is selling, Mathis should fire his ass.
mathis spotted doing sit-ups in his driveway by Howard Eskin
I really hope eagles just say…he comes in or stays home, no cut crap.
Agreed…no one player is bigger or more important than the team and the goal they all share which is winning a SB…Mathis is getting paid very fairly and will not get more anywhere else. Either come to camp and be ready to roll with us or STFU. Take it or leave it. Be ready to get fined out the wazoo if you hold out and you’ll get nothing. Homie don’t play that. I like Mathis as a player, but like TO and all these other idiots who sign contracts of their own free will and then shortly thereafter want them to be changed, they want the cake and to eat it too…its just ridiculous and I hope the Eagles call his bluff. Hold out, have fun losing $$ and sitting on your ass…see how you like it
The dude missed 7 games last year, nobody is giving him a raise.
DEEZ
I would say just give him some incentives in his contract but of course that’s not going to be enough to solve this problem, since drew Rosenhause Won’t get his commission unless he gets a new deal..
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People want to throw out these dumb rumors like, the Dolphins will try again to get Mathis . Really? Show me!!! There is NOTHING to TRY AGAIN for the Dolphins. This isn’t complicated, you want Mathis he can be had in a trade, but you have to agree to give him a new contract paying more then the 5.5 he makes now, coming off an injury filled season, and approaching the age of 34…. Who the fuck is going to give him a new contract and give up a pick for a 34yr old? The league doesn’t value Mathis like we do. It’s been proven. Teams traded for the old OL from the saints, the Bucs traced for old OL from the Patriots last August, yet all this time everyone knows Mathis has been available and no one has traded for him…. OLD offensive lineman have been Traded, yet no one will give up anything for “the best Guard in the NFL”? Sounds like Rosenhause better start giving his client some better advice.
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If Evan Mathis is LUCKY the Eagles will put up with his shit and force Evan to play for us and the delusional Guard will get to collect $5.5… If the Eagles get tired and cut this idiot, he will have been screwed by Rosenhause because I guarantee he would end up having to sign with a team for less then what the Eagles where paying him… It’s completely been established that he has NO LEVERAGE and No NFL team will just give him more money out of the goodness of their heart.. if Mathis is lucky, the Eagles will
Force him to play for 5.5 this year, I’m telling you right now if the Eagles cut him he will end up signing to play for someone else for 3.5 maybe 4mil.. He is getting bad advice from an agent who is putting his desire for a commission check above the best realistic interest of his client
I disagree. If Mathis is cut and just waits, he’ll get 6.5M. There are a dozen guards making more than him and he’s better than most of them. He won’t get insane money, but he can get more than he’s getting now I think.
There are 9 guards in the NFL bringing in more “total cash” this year than Mathis.
Only two of them have higher base salaries.
From what I read, base salary is where Mathis is being slighted. Mathis contract was for 5.1M and he’s due 5.5 in 2015, but according to this list he’s 13th among base pay for guards. I misread that in my earlier comment, but the numbers I cited were for contracts, not 2015 monies.
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/average/guard/
Yeah, I don’t know what “average” means. Is it this year based on life of contract (5 year contract for $50m = $10 average)?
If you pulldown “base” on that same site it has him at third with Marshall Yanda. Mankins is first, but pretty much everyone finds his deal shocking.
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/base/guard/
No matter how you slice the numbers, it’s very difficult to argue that Mathis would fair significantly better (33 years old, limited success outside of zone-style blocking scheme, 7 games injured last season) than what the Eagles are paying him.
I don’t think no takers thus far is all about him. Does anybody know what Eagles FO is attaching to his contract for a trade? I agree about his lack of leverage, but last 3 years his ranking has been good – excellent, and I don’t really think he’s jockeying for more per year. He wants a new deal w/more years and he’s digging in now before he gets carted off the field again. I expect him to be all business from TC on, and he could have a career year, but his odds are steadily declining. I wish him well.
That does tend to happen with older contracts, as newer ones get signed with higher averages, since they are for years with higher salary caps overall. Also, “average” contracts can include huge non-guaranteed numbers at the end of contracts which the players may never see. It can be hard to compare contracts sometime. Granted, Mathis’ contract has no more guaranteed money, but it also seems likely he would actually see that money if he just keeps playing. He’s certainly being paid like a top-10 guard even if not #1. It seems as though he has taken the PFF numbers to heart (or Rosenhaus convinced him of that); not sure that every team would see him as the best guard. He has two years left at 5.5 million and 6.5 million; is he really going to get a better deal than that on the market, coming off a year where he was injured for 7 games? Maybe Rosenhaus has gotten behind-the-scenes indications of such (not sure why else he’d try these tactics unless Mathis is really forcing it), or maybe he doesn’t like Kelly’s working conditions and would like to find a way out, or something like that.
Yeah, the whole Rosenhaus factor is a mystery to me. I’d like to believe that he’s got something on the burner more substantial than smoke, but who really knows? I was under the mistaken impression that 2015 was the last year of EM’s contract, so your points make sense. I wonder if the current impasse is the result of Mathis (or Rosenhaus) having attempted to quietly approach Eagles seeking performance-based incentives to be worked into his current deal, and the door was slammed in his face. The edgy tenor of Mathis’s absence feels like it isn’t the first punch to be thrown in this exchange. If Eagles do trade him, I hope the team gets something worthwhile out of it. He’s one of the better guards in the league, and presumably, he’ll get what he’s looking for, but what will the Eagles get?
Doubt it… Not when every GM knows he has no leverage and has been available for two years… Mathis is also a small guard that while he looks like the best guard in our system, he isn’t big enough for a lot of OL’s.. for example the Ravens have contract problems with Kelechi Osmele and who weighs 330lbs.., if Mathis gets cut, I would expect him to make less then his current contract.. He has no leverage and everyone knows it
If he or his agent is expecting to get paid like that, they’re delusional. It doesn’t matter that he’s played like the #1 or #2 OG in football, he signed his contract and he has very little leverage. I’m all for the Eagles tossing him a bone in the form of a very slight raise, some incentives, a little more guaranteed money. He’s not going to get more than that.
We have to “Adrian Peterson” this situation, you are either with us or you are sitting at home unemployed.
I can’t blame Mathis for trying, but once he shows up (if he does), the complaining has to stop and it’s time to get to work. You either add positive energy to the culture you’re trying to build or you suck it away, and guys who suck it away aren’t kept around.
His base salary is 12.5 million over the next two years. Even if he is the best guard in the NFL as Rosenhaus claims (he’s not) how much does he expect to get paid?
It seems like a reasonable deal to me. Apparently Mathis thinks he’s Andrew Luck or something.
https://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/t-o.jpeg?w=700
Ken Whisenhunt, March 15: “I can’t pick Mariota. Pat Shurmur will have my job this time next year.”
KW, April 15: “%&!# I guess I gotta take Mariota.”
Was the first a real quote? That’s too funny.
shurmur, now after a few year with chip, probably would be the guy to get something out of marcus
I think Shurmur is a great coach, i just do not see him being a great leader. Think the NFL does not understand quite how much a different challenge being an Coordinator is to being a Head Coach. The skill sets are quite different and while you can have both (HC’s should have a firm understand of the X’s/O’s chess game) they are not always the same.
Think there will come a time when the career progression will change to be:
Coordinator-> College Head Coach -> NFL Head Coach.
Just because if i was a team owner i would want to see my potential HC have some track record and experience of running an organisation (and to have learnt from where things went right and wrong)
Right on. We all like to mock a guy like Tom Coughlin, but he’s a good head coach. Maybe not the best tactician, or innovative thinker, or playcaller, or talent evaluator… But somehow he’s kept the Giants together for a decade and taken advantage of all the lucky breaks that fell his way.
jake knott waived, more ilbs
He is injured. Out for several months
Does he deserve the “injury prone” tag?
I think he tweeted that it was surgery. So not sure if this is connected to previous injuries or not… So I am not sure.
49ers’ OT Anthony Davis retires. OFFSEASON FROM HELL! At this point, I think maybe Bowman, Willis, and Davis are just playing a practical joke on Tomsula.
must be a toxic situation in sf.
http://www.gucw.org/image1/Closing%20Window%20of%20Opportunity-2.jpg
I wonder how much of this had to do with Harbaugh being fired,
Actually, Davis didn’t say he was retiring. Just “stepping away from the game for a year or 2”. So, maybe until Tomsula’s ass is fired?
Wow!!! This is worse the only getting Shawn Andrews for 6 seasons after everyone said he didn’t love the game..
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Anthony Davis is a 2010 1st round pick..
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I don’t know that I ever seen an offseason like the one the niners are having
glowing reviews regarding nicky sixx in st luis.
I’d expect him, and most QBs, to look great in shorts. Foles has real great deep ball placement when he isn’t rattled and while he doesn’t have elite arm strength he can make all the throws. He struggles against pressure up the gut. The problem is the Rams are weak inside on the offensive line.
and their receivers aren’t going to do him any favors either.
Montana didn’t have elite arm strength either.
Ahh the old do you buy into Bradford bait! I’ll bite. I buy him in theory. Lots of things are good in theory though. In reality I think he is damaged goods. I think he will blow us away for 6 games, hurt something, get a long term deal, and ultimately ruin the Kelly era.
I’m not caught up on the knee either, it’s the hole package. Something is always broken on him.
he is going to resurrect himself in Philly.
no collar bone fracture like nick.
he won’t pull a hammy like mike.
no concussion like kolb.
no regurgitation like Donovan.
sb all the way to the sb.
Hope so man
me too
I tried to formulate a joke based off of “hole”, “package”, and “broken” but was unsuccessful.
Broken screen + fat fingers usually mean I don’t even try but I fixed that before Ya even posted!
But not before I tried to come up with the joke!
I’m on the same boat. Bradford does have the talent but it’s been so long that he’s actually been good. If he reaches his ceiling then great but I’m not very sure that he’ll reach it and sustain it.
That was before Sports Science, the magical healing that is only surpassed in effectiveness by Obamacare and Jesus.
He did turn water to wine. Chip Kelly turned Taco Bell into Smoothie King. It’s all there bro!
http://media.giphy.com/media/bkMTdL6YawuPe/giphy.gif
Mac was supposed to be done after his 2 ACLs, and he played a whole season. 2008 no one thought McNabb could stay healthy a whole season and they went to the NFC Championship game. Peters had 2 ACLs and he’s arguably our best OL.
But on the other hand, there’s examples of people not being able to stay healthy – so it’s a crap shoot. Some of the players they got might get hurt again, some of them won’t.
I think CK is a gambler, but he goes for low-risk high-reward. We knew what we had in Foles, and we weren’t moving the needle in the right direction. So he made a change. In the process the team around the QB is better, so if it is Sanchez – he can be just as effective as he was last year with a power running game. And Sanchez went to two AFC Championship games behind a power attack.
He may be damaged goods, but I trust CK enough that it won’t wreck his tenure here. I can’t see them giving Bradford a mega-deal 6 games in the season with his injury history. Either he makes a whole season and he gets rewarded (read:Maclin) or he gets injured and gets an okay contract somewhere else.
I hope the former, the latter means we have a whole leadup to the draft to hear how CK is trading the whole team for a shot at #1 or #2.
Devante Parker, Miami’s first-round pick had surgery to REPLACE a screw in his foot.
First round. straight out of university. Foot already held together with screws. A player with a couple of ACLs is nothing anymore.
Like I said it’s not the ACL… It’s the body of health. The guy has always been hurt since college.
Peter’s tore his achelies twice and the second one was ‘re reupturing the first one like 3 weeks after surgery. Point taken though. There are a ton of successes these days after multiple of the same injury. Our very own buckhalter, that lb for the panthers, list goes on. If only Bradford was a sterling example of health minus his knee, I would be so hyped to have him.
Of course there is Matt Stafford who had the name Mr. Glass for a while. Doing well now.
Interesting comparison with Stafford. I think a factor that stood out to me regarding Bradford was a note John Barchard made in his BGN piece: even after multiple injuries and bad OL play, Bradford hasn’t developed the kind of backpedaling/happy feet habits that we saw Foles relapse into after only a few games last year. In St. Louis, that probably hurt him by exposing him to more hits/worse sacks due to poor OL play, but I think it’s an overlooked aspect of why he could succeed in our system.
Here is to hoping that unit stays healthy.
Sanchez went to two AFC Championship games because they had two very good defense including one of the most underrated defenses (’09 Jets) of the past 10-15 years.
Fair point. Me personally, I think our secondary has been upgraded, also our defense should be better (at least on paper). Whether that translates to the field or
more wins, we shall see. But the setup is similar. Our defense has a chance to be top 10 this year, and that should be good enough for this offense.
I opened the comments section to wrte something very similar. The season starts in three months and Bradford isn’t anywhere near being ready for the season. The guy can’t even take any real amount of practice reps in shorts and t-shrts. Plan on Sanchez being the starting qb on opening day.
Thanks for the advice. I’m sticking to my more optimistic plan.
That’s why my advice is free, it’s worth the value.
I hope your plan is right.
I agree especially because when you hear Kelly etc. talk about reconditioning, they are saying that players rush back too fast.
Why does what Bradford did in ’10 or what he did in Oklahoma keep getting brought up or even relevant at this point?
Cowgirls syndrome.
unfortunately it’s all anyone has to go on, he’s barely played since then, haha. Not like talking about how good or bad he looked in the handful of preseason snaps he took last year would be anymore elucidating.
Because they were the last times he had a competent offensive unit within which to work, & in the case of the latter a style of offense that will be very similar to the one which he will now be running. Unfortunately those times were also the last where he had any semblance of good health, so we shall see which wins out.
Because as with every player its a valid data point.
Because it’s the offest part of the off-season and we need something to talk about.
Jags lose another player to injury… I guess it’s good to keep in perspective sometimes how much worse it can get.
Who’d they lose? I’m not seeing any info about it anywhere…
There’s a surprising number of really bad NFL franchises right now. Jaguars, Browns, Raiders, Bucs. Just poorly run franchises.
I wouldn’t say the jags are poorly run they are a team on the rise but there draft picks keep getting hurt every year which is out of there control
You’re right, not fair to put them in the same category as the others… their suckage comes more from bad luck and crappy coaching than organizational dysfunction, but they might be on the rise.
Niners… They fell off a cliff quickly.
John Sample, rookie safety. Not the biggest deal, but considering they already lost Fowler and Lee is still having issues….
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/05/jags-fourth-rounder-james-sample-has-surgery-for-fractured-arm/
Jesus, the Niners even traded their punter for a 7th rounder. Kind of a bargain for Cleveland, Andy Lee is a great punter.
The Niners might be having the single worst offseason that I can remember. I can’t remember back like ACViking can, but probably the worst I can think of of this millenium.
2017 7th and all.
Thing that makes no sense to me is why do the trade now? wait for camp to see if your 5th round pick is:
1) better
2) if there are injuries on a contending team then you could probably get more than a 2017 7th in that scenario.
It makes no sense really at all, unless there’s some behind the scenes reason they wanted to get rid of him. Maybe at this point they’re just going total scorched earth. Nuke and pave.
70 days until the first preseason game…
http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/cookie_monster_waiting.gif
OTAs barely tide me over.
Think i am going to go on hiatus for 8 week with my Eagles fandom, OTA’s tend to mislead more than they inform in my experience and unless injuries/trouble happens nothing really worth following until camp.
For now i can watch youtube clips of Euro’s for the NBA draft…. I am scared about what to do in July tho!
Might try to watch some Reading Fightin Phils, hopefully will hold my interest.
I am not sure I can do a full hiatus, definitely can’t do it cold turkey. I do have enough housework I keep neglecting though…
I blame the Phils for this. If they were even an average team, people would have something else to focus on this summer.
If the Phils were a scrappy young team with a small payroll who were building somewhere (sixers) i could watch them. But watching one of the worst managed teams in baseball (on and off the field) with a group of ageing vets who are not worth what they are paid, who play poor situational baseball is just the worst.
How Amaro still has his job is mindblowing, he has consistently messed up almost every move since he has been GM. He inherited the best roster in baseball, and made it worse pretty much every year. How do we still have one of the best closers in the league on this roster? he has nothing to close!
We are on the same page. I’m willing to sit through tough times if I know there’s a future (just like the Sixers), but in order for me to watch the Phils again – anyone Montgomery’s level and below need to go.
I stopped watching the Sixers when Stefanski hired Jordan (I live in DC, so I was never impressed with Jordan) and I knew this team wasn’t going to be any good.
I’m hoping if the Phils lose 100 games, there will be major changes.
Phillies aren’t too far out from being up and coming in a hurry.
The new head of scouting is doing a good job and is highly regarded.
Amaro will be gone after this season, if we can get one of the whiz kid GMs and not another “baseball guy” you could be looking at a team with legit playoff aspirations in two or three years.
Franco has looked like he should be at least an average, possibly above average starter (he took Chapman yard in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game last week, it was fuckin sweet)
JP Crawford is the 4th ranked prospect in all of baseball and should get a cup of coffee as soon as next year.
Nola should be a mid rotation cost controlled starter and will be up begining of next year.
Almost all of Reading is prospects (Quinn, Crawford and all the starting P’s).
Turn Cole into a couple of highly ranked young kids.
We’re apparently about to go HAM on international signings.
We draft high this year and next year.
Basically we’re in a position that by the start of 2017 we should have a top 10 farm system, the young guys should be starting to emerge from the farm, a couple smart mid level FAs, and maybe move a couple prospects for a bat or two and all of a sudden we’re cooking with gas in 18 months.
This is the worst part of the NFL year for me. Nothing to do but wait. We already know the draft picks, the FA’s (mostly)… All we can do in the meantime is go in circles about what might happen, but for the most part we know the score, we know what we expect is going to happen, what could go wrong…
And then inevitably the season rolls around and all the prognostication ends up being way off base because there’s just way too many variables to accurately predict how things will go.
I hate baseball too and once the NBA season is over I’m like… in a sports black hole for a while until the NFL starts up again.
I miss NFL Europe. It gave you something to watch in the offseason and you could pretend that the scrubs who make up the last 5 spots on your roster were eventual NFL superstars because they were excelling with the Amsterdam Admirals or the Rhein Fire.
Haha yeah… That used to be me every year, those bottom of the roster guys were gonna be breakout stars…
Adam Caplan saying he’s pessimistic about Mathis’ chances of being on the team in the fall…
http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/3216/evan-mathis
Here’s the thing about Chip Kelly coached teams – they just don’t lose that often to teams they’re supposed to beat. It does happen (Minn., Wash., etc.), but for the most part Kelly coached teams consistently beat lesser opponents.
This is one of the reasons I can’t buy into the “when Bradford goes down, the Eagles will collapse and finish 8-8 or worse” and that will “start the downfall of the Chip Kelly era”.
First, Mark Sanchez can win games – he can also lose games, but the bigger reason for Eagles losses in the Chip era has been the defense. Say what you will about the question marks on defense, but the talent and depth on this defense is the best it’s been for Chip. Even Kempski agrees with that assessment: http://www.phillyvoice.com/ranking-nfc-east-position-defense-edition/
If the Eagles can avoid key injuries this off-season and through training camp, I expect the Eagles to be a consensus favorite to win the NFC East.
Permit me to add one more if. If the Eagles again lead the league in turning the ball over, we can probably expect 10-6 again.
And if we don’t?
16-0 baby! http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/357/026/2ff.gif
19-0!
This was based on Him hearing Miami ” may take another run at him”..I Call Bullshit.its not like this is some complicated trade negotiation that Miami has to “try and make amother attempt”.. It’s pretty straight forward, the Eagles Know they would be lucky to even get a 6th round pick in return, so there isn’t some complicated grand negotiation to have over the compensation that will be paid to the Eagles, it’s an easy trade to complete… If you want Maths, you have to give him a new deal, paying him more then 11mil the next two years, with incentives in case he reaches the Probowl which is friggin Bullshit because he will win that popularity contenst on his name alone at this point, and you have to give the Eagles a 7th, maybe that could become a 6th conditional pick.,,. This isn’t some complicated trade where you have to pry Mathis away from the Eagles….
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Keep in mind that since everyone knows Mathis has been available, we saw teams trade for Two other Older Guards, Bucs traded for the Guard from the Patriots, and this offseason they traded for Grubbs from the Saints… So two teams traded for older guards while passing on allegedly “the best guard in the NFL”..The Dolphins had OL trouble last offseason, yet they didn’t trade for Mathis. Since then, he suffered a major injury and is now a year older going on 34 and NOW teams will value him enough to give him a new deal paying him more then 11 mil? I doubt that…
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And the predictipn that the Eagles would cut him makes even less sense. the Eagles have KNOWN this entire time that they would be lucky to get a 7th or 6th round pick for Mathis, they know he isn’t some valuable trade chip. if the Eagles were going to cut hm, we would have been cut him. it makes no sense to argue that we are fed up with him to where we will cut him, yet we held on to him til now and dealt with the headache all over a 7th rd pick that we would get in return? It’s not valuable enough trade chip to hold on to him this long if you are just going to end up cutting him if you can’t get a trade.
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if we cut him, it means we have been holding him just so we can try to get a petty 7th round pick, which is hardly worth the trouble when we could have just cut him with Herremans and be down with this headache…the fact that we held him all this time, I interpret as the Eagles know no one will pay him and trade for him, so in the end, he will be their starting Guard … Putting up with this headache is worth getting another year of Mahis talent, putting up with this probably ismt worth the potential 7th round pick we could get in return I don’t see us doing this long,dance with Mathis, so we can just cut him when we can’t get a petty 7th round pick.. I can’t possibly believe that. It’s easier for me to believe they are doing this to Smack him in the face with the reality THAT he has no other option so he can end up shutting up and playing next to Jason Peters again in September
Caplan also said on 97.3 that the Eagles never did have any serious discussions about Kendricks, it was that the Eagles fielded all calls but were not really interested in trading him. That’s good news, and maybe it is Kiko/Kendricks moving forward.
If so, that is a killer middle of the field.
Yes, this is what I have been saying…. My understanding is THE ONLY reason we ever considered trading young defenders was because we needed extra picka to be able to trade for Mariota… If you are talking about trading for a serious young talent, it’s going to cost you some quality young talent…. Once it became clear Mariota wasn’t going to be an eagle, I believe we are no longer interested in trading away our young players and I heard we turned down a 4th round pick for Kendricks once it became clear the Titans were keeping Mariota, Chip DOESNT draft kids assuming they can start at rookies, so jordan Hicks has nothing to do with this season. Meco, Mykal and Kiko are all coming off injuries, if we only had two of those ILBs because of the injuries the media would be talking about our lack of depth non stop, but now that we have much improved depth from last year, the media acts like its a problem and we have to trade someone Smh.
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I doubt chip kelly is sitting here assuming Demeco Ryan will be ready week 1 and be able to continue playing the most defensive snaps in the NFL, so I find it flat out STUPID tp he bitching about going into a season with Mykal, KIKO and Meco, and i think it’s absurd to think Kendricks won’t be starting or playing plenty of snaps for us when we open the season in Atlanta… But I do think Mykal has to stay healthy and play 16 games to have a chance at beinf back next year, since I did hear that Chip wanted Mykal to come back quicker fom his injury..
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We should be celebrating being so deep with Talent at LB, instead we bother Mykal about trades whenever the media is allowed access… Two years of Meco’s leadership, and spending a 3rd round pick on a LB shouldnt automatically mean we are losing a quality young player who chip has spoken extremely high on admitting we are a different defense with Mykal,. And if we do lose Mykal next year, so fuckin be it, that’s football, ridiculuos that we should be fixated,on it now instead of enjoying another year of his service
The defense got better with Kendricks. While Meco is a great/smart LB, we didn’t lose that much to Matthews in the run game and their coverage skills are roughly the same. On the other hand, when we lost Kendricks it severely limited what we could do in the passing game because of his speed and ability to blitz.
Kendricks is available at the right offer – a 2nd round pick or better. Because we should be gathering comp picks next year if we resign Bradford it makes no sense to trade Kenricks at anything below that because:
1)He is a cheap player who could easily contribute at a probowl level.
2)Recovering Injuries at ILB
3)Should be worth a 3/4th pick in 2017 if he walks in FA
4)Could still be retained long term depending on his performances
2nd round pick ISNT worth even one more year of Kendricks service when we are supposed to be contending and KIKO is coming off an ACL and MEco is coming off what may be the worst injury in sports while also fitting father time… We have a good roster that we can contend with, even if we lose Mykal after the year, having him this year is better then getting a draft pick for the future, unless we are just going to rebuild instead of contending. If we aren’t going to really try and contend, then I’d rather not rush Bradford back, let him sit til November so he can get 100% healthy, for the future, if we are going to Sacrafice NOW for future picks….. if Mykal stays healthy and plays16 games while improving as much as he did the previous two summers, his eagle future could be longer then we think….
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But even if this turns out to be Mykals last year in Philly, I would hate to see this franchise take away one of our best players for an extra 2nd round pick that we can hopefully spemd on a player that can help us two or three years from now… Our roster is good enough to where keeping him one more year is worth losing him for a comp pick if need be..
I think anyone with CK is available for the right price, but I like Kendricks speed there in the middle. I hope he stays. IMO it makes sense that Hicks is Meco’s replacement and you rotate 3 studs at the position. Hicks probably won’t be ready this year and may need next year too.
But that’s just what I like. CK may have different ideas.
Im confident that this will be the year we finally see a defense worthy of this city. this defense is ready to explode.. The way I look at it, once we have a defense that can live up to this cities history, Chip kelly will figure out how to put enough points on the board..
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Assuming we don’t have to endure a ridiculuos amount of injuries, i see,no reason why Sanchez shouldnt lead us to being a better team then the one he led to the AFC Championship, the Jets defense was better, but I expect a very good defense this year, and our offense should be much much better then the jets offense which should easily make up the difference between our defense,and that great jets defense
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I really believe we can contend and win a Division with the Sanchize playing 16 games and Im trying to go into this season expecting the Mark Sanchez Eagles. If the Sanchez Eagles can win a division, then if I end up seeing the Bradford Eagles, that would be a tremendous bonus.
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I really don’t worry about Sam’s play in this offense. I think the only thing that can stop SAM are the injuries. If we are fortunate enough to keep him on the field, he is going to light defenses up under chip
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I do feel blessed to be a fan of a team that has two QBs im comfortable going into a season with..Andy had good backüp QBs, but AJ Feeley and Garcia only gave me confidence being able to keep the ship above water short term. But Sanchez is a backup im actually comfortable going into the season with… Then again, I probably wouldn’t be comfortable going into the season with Sanchez with LAST YEARS defense… I do Think THIS years defense and special teams will prove to be good enough to win games with a run game and a game manager at QB….Fingers crossed
I don’t understand why people hate game manager QBs. If Sanchez cuts down on the turnovers, he’s solid there. Yeah he’s not Brady or Manning, but if he can move the chains that’s all CK needs.
I’d add that he’d need to regain some arm strength to that too. His inability to stretch the field vertically really hindered the offense last year.
Do you put any stock into his injury hampering him last season, and that he’ll have more zip this season?
I’m sure that was part of it. He’s even said that his arm was a “noodle arm” last year and that he feels much better this year. What I noticed with Sanchez lay year was his arm seemed to fatigue really quickly. When Foles got injured and he came in, he fired a couple passes over the middle that seemed to have a bunch more zip on them than anything we had seen from Foles over the past 2 years and I remember remarking to someone I was watching the game with, “wow that ball got there in a hurry…I guess that’s the difference between someone who’s got the physical traits to be a top 5 pick and someone that lasts till the 3rd round.” Over the next few games that zip disappeared fast and by the end of the year he looked like he was lobbing watermelons out there.
But, that bodes well for Sanchez. Muscle fatigue like that happens when you’re coming back from an injury and just sat out a year. By all accounts rehabs gone well, all your strength is back to normal and then after a few weeks it’s all gone, there’s just no endurance in the muscles anymore. But with a full off season of training that should come back. The most important thing coming back from his injury was seeing he still had arm strength and plenty of it on those first few throws, the fact the arm tired out so quickly is just from its lack of use and proper conditioning. I think he’ll be a lot better than people expect this year
Personally I expect Mykal to be here at least for this season. I don’t see enough being offered to make it worth losing Mykal righ before this season so I think the Mykal KEndricks trade talk is misplaced. i think. We SHOULD be trying to get some value for some of the talented young ILBs that aren’t going to make our roster.
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thinking that the drafting of Jordan Hicks and Mecos extension spells kendrick being traded is a mistake IMO… But what the drafting of Hicks does mean is that some young ILBs with promise aren’t going to be able to make our roster. Now, Emmanuel Acho and Najee Goode most likely ARENT good enough to bring us draft picks in return, but that doesnt mean we should just piss them away for nothing… I assume that as soon as we cut ACHO, andy Reid is going to try and pick him up. I’m sure someone would snatch up Naje Goode to, which means teams Do value them even if they don’t value enough to trade picks for them…
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but Hopefully Marynowitz learned a thing or two from Howie who popularized player for player trades in the NFL, Hopefully Marynowitz can find a team that has a real need for Linebackers while having a surplus of youmg talent at another position like Safety, Center. Guard…
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If we know that Acho and Najee have some value but basically have no chance of making our roster, we should be Looking for a player for player trade for a young talent who at least has a chance to make our roster at one of our less stacked positions…Odds are that we will end up cutting the player we get in the trade Anyway, but if you know for a fact you have a player who won’t make your roster this year, taking a close look at another player is worth the trade alone… After 4’or 5 of these type of LONGSHOT trades, sooner or later you will get lucky and,trade for a kid that ends up surprising ypu and makes your roster.
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FIgure: Jordan,KIKO,Mykal,MEco all make this roster. figure the new LB from the Packers Brad Jones will get squeezed into our roster, so guys who have been servicable for us like ACHO and Goode have no shot to make our roster, no reason to bring them back into camp,. Trade them for the right to take a camp look at two other players.
did we give brad jones guaranteed money? would much rather goode than jones.
What are chances Acho can stick at the OLB? He’s taking reps there in OTAs and that might be his only way on the team. After BG, Barwin, and MS2, we have no depth there.
Zero… ACHO can’t play OLB in a 3-4….
American Pharaoh won it!