Musical Chairs – QB Edition
Posted: February 19th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 223 Comments »While down in Mobile, Jimmy Bama and I had several discussions/arguments on Sam Bradford and his future. Jimmy felt strongly that the smart move would be to use the franchise tag on him and then trade him away to a team that wants him. While logical in theory, I didn’t agree with that. As I kept going over teams around the league, I just couldn’t think of enough suitors that there would be a demand for Bradford.
Tim McManus put up an excellent piece on Bradford and potential suitors. Amazingly, it is possible that there might not be anyone outside the Eagles who really wants Bradford. The fact that is even possible is pretty crazy.
As Jimmy and I discussed Bradford, the team that made the most sense was the Houston Texans. They have a playoff team, but no QB. Signing him makes a ton of sense. Bill O’Brien is a QB guru and I’m sure Bradford would love to play for him. Bradford is from Oklahoma. I’m sure he would love to move down to Texas and be closer to home. I don’t think the addition of Bradford would suddenly turn Houston into a Super Bowl team, but it would make them better.
But…
McManus spoke with John McClain, a great football writer who covers the Texans.
McClain, though, doesn’t see the Texans going down that road.
“They want to draft [a quarterback] in the first round. They’re tired of using retreads. They played five this year, started four. Last year they played four and started three. So they need a quarterback, and they want one that they can develop,” he said.
“Nobody is saying anything publicly except [owner] Bob McNair. Three times he’s talked about, ‘We need a quarterback. We need to draft a quarterback.’…They have not ruled out anybody but I don’t think they’re going to be signing or trading for a veteran unless they determine the quarterbacks that they would have a shot at [in the draft] are going to be too pricey to get.”
“I think Christian Hackenberg is going to end up being reunited with [former Penn State coach] Bill O’Brien. I think that’s going to be their quarterback,” said McClain. “I think O’Brien loves the guy. I don’t know that, but I just think he does based on what I’ve heard.
“People that think Bradford is coming here, chances are they’re going to be mistaken.”
Wow. Adding a rookie makes a lot of sense for them. They do need a long term answer at QB. They could sign Bradford and still draft a rookie, but obviously that would be going after Bradford on a one-year deal. I doubt he would sign that to play for a new team.
The best move for Bradford might be to sign a one-year deal with the Eagles. There will be a new staff and new offense, but he knows his teammates and the organization. Chances are he could adjust to the changes here better than adjusting to a completely new situation.
Cleveland could be a team to watch. Hue Jackson comes across as a coach who wants to win now. I think he would prefer a veteran QB. I’ve heard he has his eyes on one, but not Bradford. We’ll have to watch and see how that situation plays out.
The Niners are a team that could go after Bradford. I’m just not sure he’ll be interested, unless they offer him a huge deal. That offensive roster is…offensive. And is that a place where Bradford would stay healthy? Niners QBs threw 526 passes and were sacked 53 times. Eagles QBs threw 623 passes and were sacked 37 times. SF feels like it could be a really bad team again this year. We’ll see if free agency and the draft significantly change things.
The Eagles just might be able to get Bradford at a reasonable rate. The only way they are paying big bucks is if there is competition for him. Right now, it is hard to find a whole lot of teams that are likely to be wanting his services. All it takes is one aggressive suitor to drive up the price, but Bradford’s agent could be having a much quieter March than anyone would have guessed.
And how about this for a possibility…Bradford does re-sign with the Eagles. Houston falls in love with one of the big 3 QBs. They trade from pick 22 up to pick 13 to go get their guy, giving the Eagles a 2nd rounder to move up. The Eagles would then have their QB and slew of draft picks to restock the O-line and add depth in other spots, hopefully including a young QB to develop.
Not likely, but fun to think about.
*****
The Eagles did add some players on Thursday. Among them was QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson. The former UCLA recruit spent most of his college career at Sacramento State and has been around the NFL since 2011. At best, he could vie for the #3 QB job. At worst, he’s a camp body.
New Eagles QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson is the grandson of 1948 Olympic shot put champion and Olympic record holder [56-2] Wilbur Thompson.
— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) February 18, 2016
Never hurts to have good bloodlines.
The Eagles also added:
CB Aaron Grymes
WR Seantavius Jones
WR Xavier Rush
PE.com has the bios on these guys. Most of the guys on the street right now aren’t very good players, but every now and then you’ll find a role player. Grymes comes from the CFL so he’s got plenty of experience.
_
[…] Tommy Lawlor While down in Mobile, Jimmy Bama and I had several discussions/arguments on Sam Bradford and his […]
Gee, you mean that the 29 y/o, injury riddled QB who so many opine is in the bottom third of starters in the league isn’t going to be getting $25M offers from multiple teams? Who woulda thunk it?
He’s 28 not 29, the opinions of him being in the bottom third of the league have been by bloggers and beat writers with a long history of negative opinions about almost all aspects of the Eagles organization/players that like to spew out stats without context, nobody with credibility has opined he will be getting $25M offers from multiple teams.
Price and injury history are the reasons he has not been resigned and will be the overriding factor in whether teams are interested or not.
QBs I would immediately rather have over Bradford (not even looking at contracts) in no particular order:
Rodgers
Luck
Brady
Wilson
Cam
Brees
Dalton
Carr
Palmer
Ben
Rivers
Flacco
Ryans
Bortles
Mariota
That’s 15.
I would probably also prefer but not stone cold certainly take any of the following over Sam:
Stafford
Eli
Romo
Teddy
Jameis
And I could make an argument for about 3 or 4 more guys.
He’s alot closer to bottom 3rd than “build a top 5 D and running game and we’re serious contenders”
Dalton in the first group? I think he’s somewhat similar to Sam, overall. More mobile, but Sam has the better arm. He had his great season last year with WAAAAAAAY more talent on his side of the ball and with a very good and creative play caller.
Have to say, though, I don’t want to be contradictory to your general thesis. I’d put Winston and Romo in the first group, f.e. (altough Romos injury history scares me, he’s a top 10 QB if healthy, though, at least imo). But Dalton, for me, is at best in the second group. You can argue to take him instead of Sam, but to me, it’s no home run.
I have Romo and Winston in group 2 due to back and off-field issues respectively. Like I said I’d take those guys, but it would at least require momentary pause.
I have Andy tier 1 because I believe the progress he made last year wasn’t momentary or fleeting. I don’t think he’s a tippy top QB but I’d sure as shit rather have him over Sam.
Coach –
FWIW . . .
Dalton’s missed only 3 games out of a possible 80.
Bradford’s missed 36 of 96.
Durability counts for something.
it does, just not for playoff wins I guess
Better to have played and lost than never to have played at all.
No?
QB is a mind-position, not an arm position. It doesn’t matter how strong Sam’s arm; he still can’t throw deep. I’m not saying he’s dumb, just can’t process information/weigh risk/read D to the required level to be a good QB.
Out of curiosity, when would you give up on Luck?
I would start my answer with: definitely not after having one down year in which he seemed to be never fully healthy.
Luck has literally every trait you wish your Franchise QB to have. And just 13 months ago, he put his team on his back and made it to the AFC CCG. Yeah, they got destroyed, but it’s not Lucks fault that the Front Seven can’t stop New England from running it down their throat whenever they want. If you ask the question: who were the 10 most talented players on the field in this AFC CCG? Luck and Davis were probably the only two players who’d made the cut. Can’t win that way, not against Brady and Belichick.
If a QB has all the traits AND carried his team to success already in the NFL (not: having success, Peyton has the most success you can have and he sucked this year, Kaepernick had a lot of success due to great coaching and a great Defense), I would always give him a loooong leash. Chances are, you need to improve your roster and your coaching, not your QB, if you don’t have the wins.
Luck carried his team on his back? Are you sure? Do you think maybe these guys helped in 2014?
T.Y. Hilton (2X Pro Bowl Receiver)
Reggie Wayne(6X Pro Bowl Receiver)
Dwayne Allen
Coby Fleener
Yes, Luck carried the Colts on his back last year. The Colts had no running game and they avg. over 28 ppg in 2014. Teams knew they had to throw the ball and he still burned teams. Plus it’s not like the Colts had some great defense last year either.
It’s convenient to ignore the Pro Bowl receivers he was throwing to.
Its convenient that you leave out how they got the ball. Were those Pro Bowl receivers throwing the ball to themselves? No. If the QB throws an uncatchable ball, doesn’t matter how good the receivers are. Plus like I said, teams knew he was going to throw the ball and still couldn’t stop him.
So you’re saying if he was throwing to Riley Cooper and Miles Austin, he would have had the same success? Maybe it has something to do with the ability to get open, something Hilton and Wayne excelled at.
Reggie Wayne had less than 800 yards receiving and 2 TDs that year.
OH YEAAAAAA.
THATS A PRO BOWL WR!
GREAT METRIC!
SO GOOD THAT 7 months later he was unemployed.
Fleener and Allen are nice players, nothing more.
Every QB in the history of the NFL needed talent around them to be successful. Montana had Jerry Rice and probably the greatest HC of all time. Brady has Gronk and maybe the second best coach of all time. And those are probably the 2 best QBs ever to play the game.
The question is: HOW MUCH talent do you need around you to have success? Peyton needed A LOT of talent around him this year to be able to win. Some QBs need much less. I would put Luck in the “much less” category.
He had more talent around him than Bradford this year and his team went 1-5 with him in the lineup. I would say he needs his fair share of talent around him to be successful.
Again, I’m not saying he is a bad QB. He has the skill skill set to be great. I just dont get it that when the Colts win, it’s because Luck, when they lose, it’s because he has no talent around him…kind of the opposite of what it said about Bradford.
I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t think that Luck cannot continue to play at the level he played in 2015 and still be considered elite – including Andrew Luck.
But down years happen, especially since Luck is still a pretty young QB. And he wasn’t really healthy, you have to account for that, too.
He showed in ’13 and ’14 that he’s the real deal, that’s why so many people are sure he will bounce back. But 2015 wasn’t good, it wasn’t even good enough, no doubt.
You’re out on Luck?
https://media4.giphy.com/media/L4TYWQn8rALRu/200_s.gif
He has a career 58.1 completion percentage throwing to 2 Pro Bowl receivers, yet people treat him as the 2nd coming of Christ.
Hasn’t ever had a 1,000 yd rusher. No Ol, which explains why colts and through all their available QBs this year.
There are quite a few Andrew Luck apologists on the site.
I’m an everyone apologist.
With TY Hilton, and a decent overall WR corp, no run game, no OL, and absolutely nothing on D he’s made 3 playoff appearances in 4 years, is 3-3 in the playoffs, and has an AFC title game appearance.
But yea, he’s bad.
I never said he was bad! I question whether he is overrated.
He made the playoffs because his division sucks. The Matt Schaub/Case Keenum/TJ Yates-led Texans were their only competition for his first 3 years in the league until the Brian Hoyer/Ryan Mallet/BJ Daniels-led Texans won the division this year. Going 11-5 won the division twice, and got them in the playoffs a third time. The 3rd and 4th place finisher in the AFC South have averaged 3.5 wins per season for the past four years.
He had more talent on offense last year than Bradford had any of his 6 years in the league.
He must be in one of the more competitive divisions…
I could certainly quibble over some of the distribution between the two groups, but I think I agree that I’d want any of the above over Sam (with the possible exceptions of Romo, not because of his ability when healthy, but because of the high likelihood that he will never play more than 8 games/season again, and Palmer, who I think is probably pretty equal to Sam going forward). Which is why I always found it funny that people think Sam’s in line to get a big payday with serious suitors. I just don’t see the market. His best comp is Fitzpatrick, IMO, with a high end limit comp being Alex Smith. And even a Smith-level contract isn’t going to kill this team.
i don’t see your point. you any of those guys FAs?
I believe his point is that if there is 20 guys he would rather have, then he considers Sam in the bottom third.
Honestly, it is the most convincing argument I think I have seen. The stats argument can go either way, but it is hard for me to argue with enough of those names to believe Sam is in the top half (although I would definitely replace DeMeco Ryans with Matt Ryan).
I guess that you are getting at the debate of whether or not we still want him. I don’t think Tyler argument necessarily addresses the concern of if not Sam, then who? That question still has me concerned.
I’ll take QB Hell over QB Purgatory any day of the week.
Probably b/c you haven’t experience QB hell. Given what we saw from fans this year and ownership’s response i don’t think we’ll see a tanked team.
You’re especially not extending all these dudes if you plan on not being competitive for 2+ years.
I don’t disagree that being bad might be the way to get a QB, it’s taken some teams longer than others, i just don’t think Lurie has that appetite.
Everyone loves to laugh at the teams that took QBs in 2011. But all three now have QBs.
Our 7 seasons of QB purgatory have netted us a massive 0 playoff wins and only 3 trips in that span.
Also all the guys we’ve extended are younger than 28. They’ll still be around. And in the meantime you still have to pay people. It’s not baseball where you just cut your payroll and wait to get good again.
If they were signing 30 year olds to big deals I think that would be more concerning.
Nate Allen compares more favorably to his peers. He plays a less important position. Yet fans hated him because he wasn’t good enough.
At least if his name was Ryan Fitzpatrick people wouldn’t be fooling themselves into thinking QB isn’t the only need that matters. That building a historically great defense is likely while paying a below average QB good money.
He’s not good. He’ll be 29 this year. He’s never been good. He’s talented. And hey give him a couple years and maybe by the time he’s 34 the QB gurus can make him a stud. Assuming he doesn’t break. Or just get benched.
HORAY FOR MEDIOCRITY AS THE BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME BEING SUDDENLY ACCEPTABLE!
“That building a historically great defense is likely while paying a below average QB good money.” – not the type of owner we have.
My thoughts on Sammy B would be different if the play calling wasnt terrible, the OL didn’t suck, the TBs didn’t consistently have negative plays and the WRs could run routes / catch.
The blog doesn’t need another opus on sam bradford, so we can agree to disagree.
IM FIREEDDD!!! as the TROLLS, TROLL… I encourage everyone to do what they think is best. I do know one thing.. its not easy being a troll.. takes dedication, time, and it doesnt feel good.. SO TROLL keep TROLLING!! if your this good at it.. it must be helping you in ways none of us realize. TO THE TROLL!! hope your life takes a nice upturn at some point soon so you can stop these shenanigans and let IGGLESBLITZ be GREAT AGAIN!!
As for me.. Ill go back to posting here and there, per usual. SORRY I COULDNT DO WHAT I SET OUT TO DO… .
-“the DONALD the TROLL”.. OUT!!!!!!
you tried, and that counts for something.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, as Jesus said. Or someone…
On the other hand, three lefts do a right make.
Fortunately, we only have to wait 2 1/2 weeks to find out Sam’s future.
Can’t believe the combine is only 4 days away
All we need now is a snow storm so I have an excuse to watch all of it.
I just posted about the potential trade down opportunity with the Texans Yesterday…
..
Sign Sam, let the Texans trade up to our spot to leapfrog QB needy Rams team….
..
Hopefully the Eagles can get a 4th round pick from the Texans, while also swapping one of our 3rd round picks for the Texans 2nd round pick, decent compensation for moving down almost ten spots while allowing the texans to leapfrog the Rams to get their QBl.
..
Be great to add a 4th rounder and turn one of our 3rds into a 2nd,,
..
You may be able to squeeze some extra value out of a team when you know they are trying to move up for a QB, especially if they need to leap frog a team like the Rams to fill their crucial QB need.
Omg you are a visionary and genius.
http://bills.buffalonews.com/2016/02/13/bills-pairing-of-rex-ryan-jim-schwartz-never-stood-a-chance/
Great read. The decline for the Bills D really speaks positive about Schwartz, imo. Rex Ryan is a terrible HC (imo), but he knows a lot about Defense. Still…
And it looks like we’ll have some Chip Kelly stuff in 2016 – only on Defense, this time.
I can only recommend to read the whole article. Especially if you want to feel good about our DC. 😉
Excellent well written article. Thanks for posting it!
Everyone loves Bradford… no one loves Bradford.
not true
…yet completely true?
I am fascinated by the sways in fashion in the opinions over Bradford. It seemed like at the end of the season, a substantial majority of people were enchanted by his amazing league average 2nd half of the season and thought he was therefore a franchise QB. But that opinion seems to have steadily deteriorated so that the drop him contingent is now ascendant.
Cleveland is a thought… their salary cap situation is similar to ours though. They do have some good veterans they could release to get lots of room, but not sure they want to. Dwayne Bowe would get them a little, but lots of dead money. Manziel will actually cost them cap dollars if he is released.
Long-term contracts can always be structured though to make the current-year hit very low (most money can be in a pro-rated signing bonus, etc.)
The Redskins could try to play Bradford against Collins if both of them make free agency.
“The Eagles would then have their QB and slew of draft picks to restock
the O-line and add depth in other spots, hopefully including a young QB
to develop.”
I love that you spin this as the “yay, this is great” scenario, whereas to me, this would suck. First off, we WOULDN’T have our QB because clearly the logic of signing Bradford to a short term, cheap deal is that he is simply a spot holder until we actually do find our guy. Secondly, while I fully agree that they shouldn’t draft a QB who they don’t like, I would much rather the scenario where a QB they love does get to 13 than be left without an option at 13 and being forced to trade back. Third, we all want a 2nd round pick. That’s understood. But in this scenario you describe, we are trading back solely for the purpose of getting extra picks. Give me a top end talent at 13, QB or otherwise, first before just simply trading to add picks. Again, if no one is there you value that high, that’s fine. But I hate trade back scenarios being purposed purely as an exercise to add picks. The point of the draft is to add talent, not add draft picks. Focus on who is available, AND THEN make a decision on whether to trade.
Speaking to Dave Spadaro on the team site’s podcast, Roseman was asked for his thoughts on where things stand with the free-agent to be.
“We’ve all been clear that we like Sam, and we’d like to have him back. It goes then between all of us and whether we can figure something out that makes sense on both sides,” said Roseman. “Sometimes we get into a situation where we sit here and it will make sense from the team’s perspective but when you’re talking about a negotiation, it’s also got to work for the other side and the player, and we understand that. But hopefully this will all work out and we’ll look at that depth chart when we line up here in July and be really excited about the position.”
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2016/02/19/roseman-on-bradford-wed-like-to-have-him-back/#y7GIb8uVIOOoPTPR.99
Sam Bradford :
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yVKXQO5KBoI/maxresdefault.jpg
Take it away!
The Atretochoana eiselti, AKA penis snake.
http://dailynewsdig.com/21-more-weird-animals-you-never-knew-existed/
well you’ve ruined the board again well done.
pictures of yourself will no longer be tolerated.
Troll’s posting pics from his fap stash now.
Not cool for those of us on a work computer
Two threads ago, I managed to get my thoughts in just as Tommy was posting the new thread. Since it was about LBs, and I was happy to talk about something else for a while, I left it there. Since we are now back to Bradford, here it is:
I honestly do not have a strong opinion on what to do with Bradford. I am very glad we gave Kelly his chance to get his QB and show what he could do. There are no what-ifs now. I want Pederson to have his choice of QBs, Sam or otherwise.
The thing that surprises me in the conversation, though, is the lack of interest in a succession plan. When Mathis and Jackson were let go, the more reasoned responses still wished there had been a replacement in hand before discarding the guys that didn’t fit.
Now, I see a lot of proponents for buying a band aid while grooming someone from the draft. Anyone. Go find a guy. What happens when we have our Russel Wilson lined up in the third and Seattle sweeps in and steals him? What happens when we are satisfied with any of the top three (which means we are wowed by none) and two are gone in the first 5 picks? What happens when we get our Peyton Manning but he turns out to be Ryan Leaf?
And maybe the answer is we suck for a year and try again with better ammo. It just seems like a lot of faith is being put in Howie and the draft by a crowd that typically has very little.
Hmm.
Pro Bowls:
Evan Mathis – 2
DeSean Jackson – 3
Sam Bradford – father was an offensive lineman for the Sooners; is 1/16th Cherokee, is a born-again Christian; loves ice hockey; has January 13th named after him (“Sam Bradford Day”)
Agree. I think you have to get the guy with the most talent. I also think every Coach should have a chance to draft a guy he thinks is his guy. Talent-wise sam is better than any guy you’ll get in the street or in the draft. Couple of problems (a) sam might not be a “playmaker” and (b) sam might want to get paid like a playmaker.
Personally, i think Sam won’t have much of a market, I think the team has a limit, they won’t tag him b/c the market wont’ be there. Sam will hit FA and come back to the eagles. Anon certified.
Think sam’s stats were killed by Chip’s terrible play calling. Run left, Run right and we’re throwing short on 3rd and 8 or sam’s getting sacked.
i might be in the minority but i think we are also counting our defensive chickens before they hatch. we have some talent and schwartz is great but to just assume we’re going to have a dominant defense and therefore are in win-now mode seems . . . optimistic based how badly they were dominated at times. yeah yeah, billy davis sucks and fletcher cox rules. i just think we’re doing the typical eagle fan thing and assuming it’s all gonna go perfect and setting ourselves up for a let down when a not-great unit fails to dominate the year after being not great.
I don’t think you’re in the minority. I think the offense is a couple of drafts away, as is the defense.
as always, i’m hoping to be proven super duper wrong. i see a promising but flawed defense this year, unless some really good additions are made to the secondary and depth across the board.
Dominant? Not even close. Top 10? Not inconceivable. In any case, the offense is in sorry shape.
not inconceivable at all. but not in the bag, either. we could perform anywhere from very good to mediocre and i won’t be surprised. but we seem to be in agreement that we aren’t in the same boat as the teams that road a stellar defense to a playoff run, and unfortunately there are philly writers beating that drum – “fletcher plus schwartz plus a game managing qb = success for philly in 2016”
Right. But it’s a good starting point, a very good defense could be assembled without completely ripping things apart. The offense, on the other hand, seems a shambles.
Some think you just keeping drafting a QB until hit on the right one. Let’s hope the Eagles aren’t thinking “ok, we HAVE to take a QB. We really don’t like any but we HAVE to take one so draft player X.”
….
Let’s hope, IF they really like a QB, they get him. Or if the don’t like any, they don’t draft “because”.
….
HR is on the hook 100% this year — let’s hope he doesn’t screw the pooch…
Really nothing worse than going into the draft having to take a position. Except for going into the draft having to take a QB.
Exactly, the ugly reality is and has always been that there is NO viable alternative to Bradford if the Eagles want a chance to win anything of note next season. We know Eagles fans and media would go nuts if the Eagles did not have a viable QB (and no, Sanchez ain’t it) and admit to having to “suck” for a while until they find one.
So, we can name all the QB we’d rather have than Bradford and denigrate his skills and all the rest, but none of those other QB are available to the Eagles and there is no one in the draft or on the FA market that is going to be better than Bradford this season.
That is what Roseman & Co. are facing: they have NO choice but sign or tag Bradford. Otherwise, the firing of Chip, all the coaching changes they made, all the hoopla about Ertz, Celek and Curry re-signing etc. has led nowhere but a blind alley. That is the reality.
Shouldnt we be following Houstons same logic and drafting our own guy to develop as well? Why go out and get 3 qb gurus to not get a new young QB? That doesn’t make sense.
Because Bradford had the best 7-game stretch of his 6-year career in an offense the Eagles won’t be using next year.
What doesn’t make sense?
To add on to that 7 game stretch, if you put Bradford’s “magical 7 game stretch” into context it was essentially the same as what Weeden did for the Cowboys this past year and he was cut mid year. Bradford’s ceiling is average.
TD!
apples meet oranges.
I want SAM, and I don’t even include his positve stats in my decision.. I don’t really care about his last 7 games… What I care about is that when I eliminate the other 10 players from the equation and only judge SAM, I saw a lot to like and started to see a level of QB play I would feel fortunate to have these next 3 years while we identify and groom a young QB of the future.. I don’t even care to use his positive stats in my argument because they really don’t matter to me. The result of the play DOESNT matter, the team results don’t matter, when Pederson and the Eagles evaluate Bradford they will look at How he played the position Independant of the other 10 players on the field..
..
They will look at things like:
.
1) Can he remain poised in the pocket under pressure after having taken some big hits, and keep his eyes down field, not flinch and be willing to take a hit to buy his WR an extra second before throwing him open while taking a Big Hit?…. In this area, what I saw from SAM was way more toughness in the pocket than I knew he had in him, especially after injuries have robbed him of his pro career… The kid didmt flinch, he stood tall in the pocket, eyes down field, his mechanics DIDNT break down and he delivered some big passes even tho he knew he was about to take a big hit…. He showed me way more than I expected in this area, and there was a lot to like..
..
2) even better than a willingness to take a hit to complete a pass, was his command for the Pocket. I had no idea he was so strong in the pocket. When you look at the second half of the seasons it looked like he has that mental clock and ability to “Feel the pass rush”, so often side stepping a pass rusher, stepping up in the pocket to buy time, yet he showed a Gnack to Often hold the ball as long as he could, and still get rid of it before a blindside pass rusher could get to him.. I bet he frustrated some defendwrs with how well he was able to feel pressure that maybe he didn’t see because he kept his eyes down field. His command of the pocket, and how he Manuevers the pocket is so important for a QB that isn’t capable of taking off and running anytime he doesn’t feel comfortable… Again, another IMPORTANT area that he significantly outperformed my expectation of him
..
3) I don’t know what the Final numbers were, but if you told me going into the season, that halfway thru the season, SAM would be the most accurate QB rolling out and throwing on the run, I would have laughed at you. NEVER did I expect him to be so sharp throwing on the run
..
4) Think we,took his accuracy for granted a bit, it’s been a while since a saw a QB who not only was so accurate with his intermediate throws, but managed that type of accuracy while actually throwing WRs open. The best Eagle QB I ever was,able to root for, McNabb RARELY threw WRs open, and almost never showed the level of accuracy we saw from SAM, playing on a new team, after spending the past two years rehabbing his body more than working on his QB craft… And to show this accuracy and ability to throw guys open when you barely had time to build any chemistry with your Weaons simce you literally only practiced for one month as QB of the eagles before playing a regular season game is more impressive than given credit for… Wonder how much more accurate he could be if his weapons cut down on half the drops
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5) Most Important, is the fact that he naturally grew into the leader of the Eagles and earned the respect of veterans like Kelce, Sproles, Jason Peters, and even the defensive Capitans.
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The best part about what SAM showed is that whetner you believe in him or not, no one can say that he wasn’t still clearly improving when the season ended. And if he was still improving, than one can’t claim that they saw his ceilimg..
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It’s laughable that people act like they have seen this kids ceilimg when he spent his entire career with a dumpster fire franchise, never had weapons worth a damn. And what’s really crazy is we barely ever seen the kid in the same offense with the same coaches for two years in a Row, along with the lack of Continuity he got from all the injuries.. Yet people claim to have seen his ceiling? Fuck outta here
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I can’t help to laugh when people list kids like Bortkes or Dalton as better QBs than SAM… Those QBs would be DOG SHIT had they been placed in Sam’s shoes… Give Dalton Sams weapons on the Rams, and a new offense every year and he would be dog shit lol… BOrtles WOULDNT even have a career if placed in the mess Bradford was sorrounded with.. Environment matters so so much for a QB…
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If someone wants to tells me that they don’t trust him to stay healthy to ever reach his ceilimg, I can buy that… That’s a fair concern… But when people claim to have seen the kids ceiling, I can’t help to laugh at the absurdity of that statement.
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You don’t get to see a QBs ceiling without placing him in a healthy environment, and allow him to build Some CONTINUTY in that healthy environment… And a healthy environment constitutes quality coaching, solid protection from the OL, a decent run game to play behind, and at least an average group of NFL weapons, and so Far, SAM has been afford very little of any of this… And half the QBs people claim to be better, would be absolutely worthless had we been judging them in the same situation SAM has been placed in.
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I can see plenty of pro Bradford arguments without even caring to know what his stats were the second half of the season, and our talent evaluators wjll care More about the areas I listed than they care what his stats were good or bad,.. His stats won’t be how he is evaluated so they are worthless to discussion good or bad… How he played the position Independant of his ten teammates on the field is how he will be judged, and there was a lot more to like than the Anti SAM fans realize, or just don’t care to acknowledge
Yeah, not sure where the revisionist history came from saying Bradford didn’t look like a franchise qb by the end of last season.
I wholeheartedly agree. At the end of the season many fans thought that Sam was playing better than anyone else on offense. Okay, the bar was not high. Still, he was doing everything you expect a very good QB to do. The fans who think he is bad, average at best, or has reached his ceiling, didn’t want him here in the first place. The ones who think he has reached his ceiling, probably reached theirs when they were 10 years old. I know it’s an idea most fans would think is ridiculous, because the Eagles have several
holes to fill, but I think the Eagles should sign Sam and still go after one of the top 3 QBs in the draft with their first pick. That would give the birds the best chance to have a top tier quarterback! For the foreseeable future.
We can draft a midround developmental guy! Houston did it with Tom Savage! Hidden QB gem of that draft! Midround QBs aren’t a total waste of friggin resources! It’s worked out wonderfully for them!
why is Houston looking to draft a QB if Savage is so good?
sarcasm
This comment is savage.
This is one of my all time favorite comments.
Checkmate Bradford lovers.
Anybody thinks that Sammy can be had for anything than 16m/year is disillusioned.
i don’t think that would be a terrible price. i wouldn’t mind keeping him but it has to a be a team friendly deal. 16 ain’t bad
That’s probably where eagles are $$ wise. Which is why we haven’t seen any movement. It’d be helpful if another QB does a deal to set the market but no one seems to be in a hurry.
This word. Disillusioned. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
His Engrish is a lot better than my German.
Hard to tell the difference in spelling from delusional though.
Inconceivable
Do you happen to have 6 fingers on your right hand?? :~)
Don’t you? I do.
If Hue Jackson decides AJ McCarron is better for him, and Dallas is more optimistic than most about Romo, some of these QBs just might make it 13. Take one. Or if you can get a bounty to move back a few spots, do it.
Dallas is stuck w/ romo.
Right. and I hope that means they don’t draft a QB at 4 overall come April.
They are, but they could still take a QB early.
Jerruh is likely to roll the dice on Manziel or a later round guy though.
Even though they’re saddled with Romo’s cap hit, they still need somebody to throw picks when he inevitably goes down for a few games.
Personally, I think a QB early (if they actually like one that much) is the right pick for them. They’re pretty much set on O (other than RB, which can be found later in the draft), and while they need some talent on D, the reason that they stank this year is because Romo (predictably) got seriously injured, and the low $$$ backups (necessitated by their cap situation) at QB stunk. So if you’re looking to get a halfway decent backup QB at low $$$, what are your possible solutions? Plus, a smart franchise would recognize (ala GB with Favre) that father time has his hand on Tony’s shoulder as we speak. Whether Dallas is a smart franchise is obviously debateable, but their last few drafts make me think Jerry isn’t in the driver’s seat anymore.
I agree.
“hey’re pretty much set on O (other than RB” We need a whole new offensive line.
And a receiver who can catch more than the occasional pass
Jerry keeps this one ready on his ipod at all times and plays it when Romo enters the room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1SFWU5tXAE
I think they have to be INSANE to not draft a QB, but you certainly can’t rule out insanity or stupidity when it comes to the Cowboys..
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For a team that thnks they are ready to contend for a SB, they have to be Crazy to pass on a QB prospect They view as a Franchise QB, after they just watched their team fail miserably in every way possible to overcome an injury to their franchise QB who is only getting Older, and who’s body has a ton of wear and tear on it from the Back problems to collarbones.. They have to be crazy to think Romo will ever play 16 games again, but even if he does, and he gives them another 3 great seasons, they would be passing on a chance at drafting a potential franchise QB, and putting him in a healthy position of getting to sit on the bench and learn for a few years which is Ideal when dealing with a young QB… Of course there is a real possibility that Dallas DOESNT view these kids as franchise QB potemtial, in which case I could Never blame a team for passing on a QB they don’t absolutely Love..
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when I look at the QBs on the free agent market, I don’t see someone that the Cowboys can sign to be their #2 QB, who could save that teams season if Romo gets hurt and misses signifcant time next season… People like to throw out the Rg3 and Manziel nonsense, but sigńing them is no more than a Flier, and after watching a team that they believe to be playoff caliber, not be able to win two games without Romo, IMO they have to be crazy to think they can just take a flier on a guy like RG3 and just assume he can keep them from last years fate if Romo gets hurt..
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I want the,Eagles to sign 28yr old SAM Bradford, yet I still would see value in also drafting a QB high… Romo is much closer to the end of his career than Bradford is, so I hope they are crazy enough to be so short sited as to pass on a chance to draft a franchise QB who they can put in a healthy situation, sitting and learning for years, while eventually replacing Romo… Im not sure the Cowboys will have franchise grades on these QBs, but if they do view a QB prospect to be franchise Caliber, hopefully they are dumb enough to pass on him
How about if Haslem decides that RG3 is better for Hue?
Way too many IF’s to gamble your Immediate QB plans especially when some of your IFs are’a little far fetched. Hue deciding that he wants to bet his second chance at a career as an NFL HC because he Likes AJ a QB who isn’t even on the Bengals more than his pick of QB from this,draft class? More likely that he would still draft a QB even if he acquires a guy like AJ, just like signing Chase Daniels wouldn’t keep the Eagles from also drafting a QB..
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There are also team ahead of us that could want to draft a QB even tho the media doesn’t expect them to for example the Bears..
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You also left out a big problem with assuming we can get a franchise QB we love at #13, the possibility that a team behind us trades ahead of us to steal a QB who looks like he is falling to #13, and if the Eagles don’t bring back SAM, EVERYONE will assume that we will take a QB at 13 and our competitors will be looking to trade ahead of us… Where as, if we are lucky enough to be able to retain SAM, and a QB Pederson LOVES looks like he is starting to fall To us, it increases our Chances of a team NOT feeling as Tho they have to trade ahead of us for a QB
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And im not even sure these are good enough Qbs prospects to gamble our future on…
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Trading down appeals To me, but even if we sign SAM, if you see a kid you view as a legit Franchise QB availabke when we Pick, I believe you NEVER pass on a QB like that even if you have a starter and a backüp QB that you believe in. I don’t believe you should EVER pass on a QB you think can be special, and Id feel that way Even if Tom Brady is our QB
Rams just cut Long, Cook and Laurinitis (sp?) that is allot of money and contracts off their books, and finally a move the Rams make that I think is smart for them. Now if they could lose Fisher you might have a franchise that could be something.
And boy that extra 2nd they have could really come in handy in the first round if one of those QB thingys fall outside the top 10.
Na they are clearing cap for the best free agent QB on the market…. Sam Badford.
What a coup that would be for the Rams.
Loan out Bradford for 1 year in exchange for a relatively high 2nd-round pick.
Then offer him a ridiculously above-market contract and the bright lights of Los Angeles to come back.
And use the Eagles’ 2nd Rd pick to move up in Rd 1 to guarantee the franchise acquires the best WR in the draft.
I get that players are mercenary. Have to be.
But if Bradford re-signed with the Rams in this situation — a team that dumped him just 12 months earlier — I’d have to say:
(1) Bradford’s about the most mercenary football player of the free-agent era . . . at least since Reggie White.
(2) Tom Condon’s cemented his reputation as better than Steve Boros.
(3) Les Snead, Rams GM, owns Chip Kelly and his entire family.
And it all would be happening right down the PCH from San Francisco.
Puts the Eagle’s fleecing of Miami on the AJ Feeley trade to shame. And… Feeley actually started a few games for Bradford.
It would be a coup, but I don’t see why this would reflect badly on Bradford’s character. That franchise drafted him and then paid more money than probably all the posters together on this site will ever earn to mostly work out in the trainer’s room. They then traded him for what appeared to be excellent compensation (pro-bowl QB and 2nd round pick). If they now want him back to actually play QB this time, and he went, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
ChoT:
You’re right.
I intended no slight by using the word “mercenary.” Players have to be (as I wrote).
My mistake was hastily writing the word “dumped.”
A better word would have been — as you selected — “traded.”
That said, a remarriage based on money — from the outside looking in — could be challenging.
On the other hand . . . I’ve always wondered on what terms Bradford parted ways with the Rams and Fisher — given that, because of cap issues, the team wanted him to restructure but he wouldn’t.
Anyway, great comment by you. Less than precise work by me.
Gotcha–usually sports fans use “mercenary” pejoratively, of course!
we deserve it for trading the 2nd for a one year contract
More like right down the 101 or the 5. The PCH isn’t a continuous road between LA and SF; it merges with parts of the 101, for example. Plus it takes 10 hours to travel because it’s so damn slow.
Thx, LAE.
This would make me eternally sad if this played out. And worse, that Foles would end up back here and we’d still have no QB.
Would be even funnier if they’re doing it to make a move on Cousins.
Laurinaitis
son of Road Warrior Animal
Randy Gregory suspended first 4 games next year! God damn figure your shit out professional athletes! I mean I get smoking weed is not a big deal out in everyday world but come on! You know it is against the rules just don’t do it until you retire and then you can pack your entire house with it!
P.S. Definitely not sad that he is a Cowboy.
And people want us to draft Spence………………………….
Gregory tested positive for marijuana at the Combine, putting him one positive test away from trouble.
Spence’s problem was ecstasy. Not a problem since, apparently.
But if he — Spence — gives a clean sample at the Combine, then he’s in the same situation as most NFL players.
The question is, will Spence give a clean sample at the Combine.
If he does, he’s home free on the dope front — with 1 test per year and knowing the test date in advance.
He fail a minimum of 3 tests while at OSU. I don’t trust him.
Not just Ecstacy… I would call putting a synthetic drug in your body, which No one really knows what they are getting when they buy these new synthetic drugs, and falling out of the window is a bigger problem for me, than a kid deciding to pop Ecstacy at a party..
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It’s bad for these kids to gamble their future by taking normal drugs, but these new synthetic drugs are friggin scary, because the chemical formula keeps changing to stay ahead of governments banning the most recent chemical compound, so companies keep changing the chemical formula of these designer drugs, and they aremt being adequately tested for humans before being sold, which means these athletes don’t even know what they are putting in their body…at least when a kid smokes regular pot, he is doing somethng that he knows a human body has proven to be able to handle countless times… Yet when you ingest these synthetic drugs, like synthetic marijuana, you could end up taking a chemical formula THATS completely different than the synthetic marijuana you took two weeks ago and had a good experience with… These new designer drugs are friggin scary.
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You can basically go to a chemical lab in China, hand them chemical ingredantsk that they will mix up for you, and the scientist DONT even care what they are making, and in some cases they don’t even know. Sort Of like following your Specifc recipe To bake the exact cake you want, without really knowing what the final product is going to be. And it’s even scarier when these new formulas are getting to our kids without extensive trails proving to be safe for Humans.. A kid can do synthetic marijuana a month ago, have a great safe experiemce, go back a month later and decide to do synthetic marijuana again and emd up taking something that’s very different than what they took last time..
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its scary to the poïnt that the government may have to start legalizing some normal drugs to keep kids from taking these unregulated chemical synthetic drugs that are always changing as governments ban each formula, exactly like steroids. Governments bans a formula for a specific steroid, so chemists try to stay ahead Of the law to tweak the Ingrediants and make a new steroid formula that the government HASNT banned yet..
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This new frontier of synthetic drugs is very scary…
Ecstacy also gets out of your system faster than Weed does… Gotta be a total moron to fail a test when you know the date ahead of time
i knew sailors who would do coke and ecstasy because it was out of your system so fast but wouldn’t touch the reefer because it stays so long
Talented kid… Id probably feel more comfortable gambling on top injured Talemt like myles Jack or Jaylen Smith, than behavior questions like Noah..
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Think there is a good chance that the Giants desperate defense takes a flier on Noah to replace their high caliber DE who blew his hand off.. If Spence can stay out of trouble and keep his mind right, the Giants could end up with a Stud DE… But there is also a chance that we will be laughing at spence getting suspended like we are laughing at Gregory today..
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Not every prospect with issues will continue their boneheaded behavior. Some kids have made mistakes and went on to mature and not repeat their boneheaded behavior, so we can’t just rule out every kid who has made some boneheaded mistakes, but if you are going to invest high picks on Knuckleheads you better really do your homework. Get to know the kid, and also make,sure you have a plan in place for helping the kid grow up, mature and stay out of trouble, which the Cowboys have been able to do with Dez for the most part, yet failed miserably with other knuckleheads like Hardy
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For Noah’s sake, I hope the kid learned his lesson, putting synthetic drugs in his body which really no one really knows WHAT they are putting in their bodies when it comes to these new synthetic drugs.. If falling out of a friggin window didn’t teach him his lesson. I doubt anyghing will… Not sure what more has to happen for him to learn his lesson
Noah Spence wasn’t the “window” guy.
That was Ole Miss’s DT Robert Nkemdiche — at the Atlanta Hilton a couple months ago.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/12/15/report-synthetic-marijuana-led-to-robert-nkemdiches-fall-from-window/
Your caveat still applies, though.
Correct. Another bad risk. Spence is the ecstasy addict.
Not knowing anything else about these kids, Id rather take a chance on a kid who pops Ecstacy when he parties, than an athlete who is dumb enough to put synthetic drugs, having NO IDEA what they are really putting in their bodies… I have been reading up on this new synthetic drug crap, and it’s a scary new problem, especially for kids, and when it comes to our athletes, I would rather them risk getting suspended for smoking Pot, then for our athletes to try and circumvent the drug tests by putting this new unregulated synthetic shit in their bodies… Putting chemicals in your body that havent been properly tested for human use is friggin scary, and takes a special level of immaturity that I would be afraid to Gamble on..
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Ideally we can stay away from these Charechter concerns as much as possible and still get quality talent out of the draft..
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What happened to Shane Ray? Haven’t heard anything about him in a while. Did he get any playing time for Dever this?
That type of behavior is concerning for sure.
Hopefully we can get quality talent without having to take a chance on boneheads…which is why I really appreciate Fletcher Cox so much.. Not only is he,a game changer, but he is a quality young man, and a great teammate,… Young DTs like him rarely change teams.. It should be a pleasure to hand 50mil in Guaremtees to a kid like Cox, where as ELITE DTs with Charechter concerns like Suh and Albert Haynsworth have been allowed to change teams…
Id rather take a chance on a kid who pops Ecstacy . . . than an athlete who is dumb enough to put synthetic drugs . . . in their bodies.
___________________
Ecstasy is very much a synthetic drug — similar in effect to the hallucinogen mescaline.
http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/mdma-ecstasymolly
XTC is also now categorized as a “date-rape” drug.
The drug of choice for the nasty, stupid little boys in the following:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-gang-rape-victim-issues-statement-1.1013181
Wow… What a donkey that kid is… His Immaturity already cost him so much in the draft, how can he be so stupid to get into more trouble so soon?
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But hey, Gregory being Gregory is exactly why he wasn’t a 1st round pick, Cowboys are getting exactly what they paid for.
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Lol to make matters worse, their other youmg DE DEmarcus Lawrence is also a knucklehead, and the genius Cowboys thought it was a good idea to bring Hardy into a DE room with two yoûng knucklheads… Somehow I don’t Imagone that Greg Hardy set the best example for their two young DE problem child’s, but that’s the Cowboys for you…
maybe this is a new tradition where the cowboys don’t have a pass rush until october every year
it’s stupid to get busted and all but it’s insane that it’s banned. it’s legal in two franchise’s states, and tons of ex players have been open about a majority of players doing it to manage pain and avoid more harmful things. i don’t know, it really bothers me in these days of opioid abuse that something reasonably safe for adults is banned. i mean the NFL doesn’t have to endorse smoking but they can back off a little. sorry to rant and it doesn’t excuse gregory’s stupidity, but it’s tough to see this stance from a league that makes crazy money off of beer ads and sales and has a history of painkiller addictions in current and ex players.
1 – I tend to agree with you from a legalization standpoint for our nation.
2 – Please stop the stupid excuse making for thugs on the 31 teams that aren’t the Eagles and don’t play on any of my fantasy teams. Any player not providing me benefit is a piece of garbage and should be suspended frequently.
If the Cowboys really don’t want to spend a top pick on a QB, with the lack of QB talent in free agency, any chance we can trade Sanchez to the Cowboys for their 3rd best cheerleader? Wishful thinking huh? I don’t even want any compensation in return, I just want Sanchez to be what the Cowboys cling their hopes to when Romos back or collarbone inevitably give out..
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Maybe we can do like an NBA trade, and give the cowboys a 6th round pick to make Sanchez Romo’s backüp?
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Would dumbass Jeff Fisher bite on Sanchez? I feel like his strategy is to keep changing QBs so he can keep asking owners to pay him for one more year without having to be a decent head coach
We actually save an extra 1M if we were able to trade Sanchez. This would be a dream scenario. Probably as much of a fantasy as trading Murray though 🙁
True that….I wonder if Chip would want to trade for him? A QB he can get for cheap who already knows his offense to compete with Gabbert and a QB that they draft? If people assume that Pederson would want to bring 31yr old, 5’6 midget Chase Daniels to Philly, Chip wanting to bring Sanchez to San Fran ISNT very different… They don’t have to give us ANYTHNG to make the trade worthwhile to us, just clearing his contract off our books would be a win for us.. If im not mistaken he is like one of our top 10 highest paid playërs, which is crazy talk…
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I just want to see the Cowboys go into the season without a backüp QB much better than what Weeden gave them… With the way Sanchez coughs the ball up, our defense could have a lot of fun going up against the,Sanchez led Cowboys..
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unfortunately, Sanchez is the only QB we have under contract.. Needing to already add a starting QB, a #3 QB and a training camp arm, it’s probably not likely that we also look to replace Sanchez this offseason… hopefully they don’t bring him back after next yeàr when is contract expires..
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Any chance we can not sign a starting Safety in Free Agency and count on Schwatzy identifying a Quality safety for Roseman to draft, since we know drafting and Evaluating Defensive backs has been one of Rosemans biggest weaknesses?
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Sure be great to not have to pay a Safety and pluck a day one starter out of round 3, but that’s a risky game to play when your fallback plan is Couplin or Reynolds
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Then again, if you NEED a starting Safety this is about as good of free agent safety class as we could expect.. It has some young talent coming off rookie contracts like Gipson or Illoka, and it also has some stop gap veteran Band aids available depending which route you wanna go
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roseman doesn’t have a good history of evaluating DB talent.. For all his Flaws, Chip kelly certainly left us with more DB talent than we had when he got here in 2013… It be awesome if Schwartz can take the secondary to the next level, bring in the missing pieces needed to build a secondary worthy of the Eagles rich DB history..
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i think we at least have Half of a top notch secondary in place, hopefully Schwartz and Undlin can help Rosemam put the finishing touches on the secondary.. it’s Just been far too long since we had quality secondary in place.. Im confident Schwartz will get our sack numbers where we,need them to be, the secondary will determine just how good the 2016 Eagles defense can be.
agree
What kind of a safety does Schwarz prefer? Is he a traditional FS/SS guy?
So I’ve heard
The new coach under undlin, said they want matching safeties, but tackling will be more crucial than what a thurmond type safety provides
That’s a good way to put it..
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Basically the ideal safety we are looking for is another Malcolm Jenkins type. A guy with Legit Safety size and strength that can perform traditional safety duties in the Box, but also bring coverage ability…
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We want another Malcolm Jenkins clone ideally… If you see Jenkins and Thurmond standing Next to each other without their pads on, one CLEARLY looks lke a Safety, and the other looks like a corner, and that probably won’t work under schwartz… We will want a player with Legit Safety size and tackling, who isn’t a liability in coverage, which isn’t an Easy player to find.
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Which is why I’m starting to think it may actually be wiser for us to pay for a top notch Safety in Free Agency, instead of paying for a top Guard…id like our chances to find a starting Guard in the draft way more than us being able to find a starting Safety in the draft..
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tobin has to go, but with Andrew Gardner and Barbre, maybe we can get away with Drafting a Guard in Round 3 and round 5 instead of paying for a top shelf Guard in Free agency… gardner/Barbre and two rookies may be enough to get us thru next season, until we can free up more money cutting expensive contracts like Demarco, Maxwell, possibly Peters and Barwin, to spend on a Free Agent Guard.. Although drafting two OL this year, and or two next year could solve our OL issues without even paying for OL in Free agency
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Im starting to think George Illoka should be the #1 free agent Taget of the Eagles this year
See George Illoka… Our dream safety, big kid who can lay the wood in the Box, but also play centerfield with his previous cornerback experience. But he won’t be cheap
Tried to delete comment. nasty Disqus.
Aaron Grymes. He’s got Hair! He knows what it takes to win a championship!
2015: 43 tackles, 4 INTs, 1 sack. His CFL stats don’t show passes defensed.
Earl Grey like the tea?!
What do we know about OG Brandon Book? I saw him as a free agent recommended to us on one of the lists the people who don’t know the teams put together.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2012/profiles/brandon-brooks?id=2534434
Sounds like an upgrade?
A top FA OG….He’s probably going to get paid more than the Eagles will be willing to spend..
Wait, his name isn’t even Books? That was some lazy national writing I found.
Nope, it was BGN. They were quoting PFF, but BGN had the typo.
I think you meant “What’s the book on Book?”
I was going to say “would Books be a good fit between our bookends?” but I was afraid commenters would assume I was just setting myself up for a lame joke and not really interested about the guy.
I am glad you didn’t just let the hanging curveball float by, though.
Beware Bookman
http://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma8vn3TeP51qz9m0ho1_1280.jpg
I want to just say that IMO Philly has been really sad the last couple of years. Not down in the dumps sad, but we don’t have playoff teams sad.
That is all. I generally like every non-troll on this board, and I just want to say that I hope it gets better. Just one team making the playoffs would make all the difference in the world.
That said, I want my Eagles to be good, but they are making it hard for me to feel confident that we will have stability coming soon.
Few things to be happy about in Philly:
– Gostisbehere
– Okafor
– No RAJ or Sandberg
– The Goldbergs
I think that covers it.
Goldbergs >>>>>>>>>>>>> everything else
Not sure about Okafor.
I love his offensive game, and I think with time and coaching, he could be a franchise center.
He is already showing some decent Growth in his defense since the beginning of the season… That kid ISNT even close to how good he can become,. Because he is so polished, people THINK he has reached most Of his ceiling, but he has a lot of room to grow these few years..
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Later on in the Prime Of his career, when you get to a 7 game playoff series and the game tightens up, his ability To score in a half court set will be extremely valuable
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but Noel is the most important Non Embiid player the Sixers have
It sucks when our teams suck; but that allows me freer run in solving their problems as armchair GM.
If the Phillies would have listened to me at the end of 2012 when we could smell the rot coming off of the team; this rebuild would be closer to complete.
We’re Philly sports fans, such is our plight.
NERLENS Noel is probably even more Important than Big Jah…
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I think Fletcher Cox has just scratched the surface of his dominance. Fair to be down on the Eagles, but seeing the monster Cox grows into these next few years under Schwartzy is something we should definitely be excited about
Yeah, I want a build with younger players growing through the system. I think Hexy is going to get us a few Stanley Cups when it’s all said and done. Same with the Sixers if they can find their PG.
Next years draft is a fantastic PG draft, hopefully we won’t get the Lakers pick til next year
Actually RAJ is a character on the next Goldberg’s episode.
He went to Penn Charter with Adam and I but was older.
I def will catch it this week then.
So this was my 2nd run though. The first one featured both Tunsil and Stanley available at 13, so I deemed it too nonsensical and restarted.
Your score is: 7584 (GRADE: A)
Round 1 Pick 13: Carson Wentz, QB, North Dakota State (A+)
Round 3 Pick 14: Landon Turner, OG, North Carolina (A+)
Round 3 Pick 16: Adolphus Washington, DT/DE, Ohio State (A+)
Round 4 Pick 15: Joe Haeg, OT, North Dakota State (B)
Round 5 Pick 14: Jihad Ward, DE, Illinois (A+)
Round 5 Pick 23: Jerell Adams, TE, South Carolina (A-)
Round 6 Pick 13: Clayton Fejedelem, FS, Illinois (B-)
Round 7 Pick 12: De’Vondre Campbell, OLB, Minnesota (A-)
Round 7 Pick 30: Travis Feeney, OLB, Washington (C+)
Combine is soon. Two things I take away from the combine.
1) Never ever move a guy up due to a big combine. See the Mike Mamula debacle of 1995.
2) If a guy has a really bad combine; triple check what scouts said about his game play. My favorite thing to do is to red flag linemen with poor weightlifting numbers. The NFL is a man’s game, little boys who can’t rep 225lb at least 20+ times aren’t going to last long playing line in the NFL.
I might be off here, not having played foorball (was always training for hockey/lacrosse season) but I was always someone with questionable(at best) upper body strength, but someone who could squat and deadlife almostr double my body weight. I always found that most of my power came from my lower body, and that that sort of leverege would translate to football(especially in the trenches) while upper body strength is nice, i always thought that great leverege and lower body strength was more important. Maybe D3FB can weigh in?
Those other numbers are quite important as well. Especially when generating power through one’s legs and core. I just have two caveats.
1 – If somebody is using the “long arms” excuse for poor bench numbers; they’re a tall pussy. Pardon my french, but that’s a lame excuse. If that is a reason you’re not maxing out a 500lbs plus and can’t do 40+ reps at 225; that’s cool. If you’re only doing mid to upper teens as a lineman; you’re not strong enough.
2 – That 225 reps number is vital for showing me a guy is dedicated enough to putting in his work in the weight room. If a guy (Mike Adams!!!!) won’t put his time in working out, he won’t put his time in training like an adult in the NFL.
That’s fair, but I just feel like people put too much stock into thew bench test, and how many reps a guy can do.I just think that there are excercises with weights, (squats and cleans in praticular) that can show dedication AS WELL as show propper explosion and strength that translates more directly to the field.
Totally agree.
As someone who played in high school and college – lower body strength is MORE important.
The bench press is important too as certain positions do require upper body strength in order to effectively block with power. It’s also a test of endurance.
Personally, I used to hate benching bc everyone made such a huge deal about it. I have extremely long arms which led to rotator cuff issues and never liked to bench more than 225.
“The bench press is important too as certain positions do require upper body strength in order to effectively block with power. It’s also a test of endurance.”
Great context. Thank you.
Makes me think of the crucial play in the Patriots vs Seahawks Super Bowl where LB Hightower essential bench pressed LT Russel Okung back into his teams backfield. That was a huge play that helped the Pats win that Super Bowl
I’ve always wanted them to swap it out to 3 rep power cleans.
That would be fun to see.
That or squat. Everybody wants to know, “HOW MUCH CAN YOU BENCH BRO?” Squat, Power Clean, Deadlift are a better indicator of functional strength IMO. Until the NFL turns into men with their backs against the wall pushing each other, bench press is super over rated. Bench press is about being powerful in the X plane but football is played primarily in the Y and Z plane. But Im singing to the choir.
You don’t think the power clean is too skill dependent? I know every college player does it, but some S&C coaches prioritize it a lot more than others. Maybe deadlift for a more accurate representation of functional strength?
If DI football players dont know you to power clean properly at that level, its their own fault in the first place. Cleans are like a quintessential football move and Im sure DI schools have the best strength coaches so if they cant perform it, its becuase they didn’t put enough effort in it.
Knowing how to do it and having it regularly programed for them is different. And with such a technique driven movement, it would certainly give a distinct advantage to an athlete who utilized the movement perhaps hundreds of more times in their regular routine than another.
Exactly my point.
Not really. Look at it this way. Every athlete knows how to run. That’s not the same as being trained to peak in the 40 yard dash. I’m sure every D1 athlete knows how to power clean, but he would be at a distinct advantage if his coach preferred to utilize that as a staple of his programming. Three months of training after your last year is not enough to make up for several years of weekly drilling
Thays what they are probably doing. As I said, power cleans are a staple of football strength conditioning. The players were probably taught to do it throughout highschool and college. They probably have had several oppurtinities to learn the technique and on top of thay have been doing multiple sets per week. I would bet most programs do just as much if not more power cleaning than bench pressing.
I don’t think I’m gonna change your mind, but I think your overstating much exposure these kids get to power cleans. A fair amount l never do it once in high school. And the ones who do probably get taught dubious technique. I bet the amount of kids who never power clean versus the amount who never bench before high school is lower by a factor of 10, so that comparison doesn’t hold water with me. Also, I have read where some S&C coaches are not fans of power cleans, particularly in season. The amount of injuries these guys are working through don’t make it a well tolerated exercise. I agree with your basic premise that bench is not an ideal test of a overall strength, I think we just disagree about other options
Nah. If it was snatches or full clean and jerks I could see that but every college in the country does some variation of a clean at least once a week (deadlifts are often used more as a supplemental rather than a core lift by alot of programs). After 3-5 years of college plus most of these guys have done it throughout high school their all technically pretty proficient. Add in 6 weeks of combine prep to refine any hitches and it really isn’t a very large ask from a technical standpoint. Deadlifts would actually be more about testing raw power instead of explosive power and cleans are more full body than deadlifts as well.
For some reason I have always hated bench pressing..
Unless a guy straight up does terribly I put no stock in the BP.
Guys with their arms wide as hell doing 40 reps just doesn’t do anything for me (nor is it an accurate representation of anything done on the football field).
Overall the combine is about guys hitting baseline measurements both in stature and athleticism. If a guy crushes it, you need to go back to the tape. Additionally movement drills do more for me than most of the timed testing.
Byron Jones wasn’t drafted as high as he was because of he can jump a zillion feet, but because he had really good tape. Terron Armstead isn’t a really good LT because he runs a 4.70 but because he’s got typewriter feet, and great power (his tape was the closest I’ve ever seen a prospect to Peters profile)
“Typewriter feet,” Reminds me of Staley.
I dunno man, strength is one of the easiest things a player can improve on, especially when they should naturally gain strength as these kids bodies mature especially with NFL strength and conditioning programs..
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There are many important attributes that are much harder to improve on than a kids strength
I’d take Dontari Poe though..
you win some, you lose some. we usually loose
Yea but you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. I do think we could get some rehab time from the wrong shots that Chip has made though.
I don’t think that you don’t take shots, you just take a smarter shot. I agree that we we could use some time to recover from chip butchering the roster. at least he kept cox
I hate to stick up for chip right now, but in fairness to him he didn’t completly butcher our roster… In some areas he left us a much better roster than he Inherrited..
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1) For starters, our depth is significantly better than the 2013 team Chip inherited. It’s much tougher to make Our roster today than it was in 2013 when we had to fill the back end of the roster with Trash like Roc Carmicheal
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2) Chip left our ST in a much better position than what he Inherrited back when Colt Anderson was our premier ST ACE… Braman and Maragos are much better. chip got us Donnie Jones, Cody Parkey, and a kicker in Sturgis we can probably flip for some type of value.. Burton is also a badass on Special Teams,,
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3) Our Secondary ISNT where we need it to be yet, but Chip built a much better secondary than anything Roseman or Reid built post Brian Dawkins.. We are extremely fortunate to have Malcolm Jenkins going forward, and ROWE is the best CB we drafted aince sheldon and Lito.. Nolan is a nice piece, hopefully we can retain him. The ONLY DB worth a damn that Roseman drafted without Chip was Boykin…nate didmt pan out as a second round safety, DRC was a mess for us, NNamdi was a TRAINWRECK, Kurt Coleman became a good safety in the second part of his career post Eagles…. Byron Maxwell won’t be worth his contract, but I THNK his best as an eagle is still ahead of him…JaCorey may be able to play… chip at least left us with Half of a top Notch secondary in place, hopefully Schwartzy and Undlin can take it to new heights
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4)’Inheriited Celek, added Ertz and Burton, so clearly chip left our TE posituon in better shape than he found it
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5) Chip probably left our LB in better shape than he Inheritted, especially if Kiko bounces back now that he will be two years removed from his surgery.Najee Goode is a solid backup. Hicks is one of our most exciting young players
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6) Chip was given Curry and BG, but he managed to devalue Curry with his scheme demands, but he also left us with Barwin who is being ridiculuosly under rated now that we changed DE, and if MS2 finally is ready to produce, our DE position can be set thanks to chip
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Got us a quality LT of the future in Lane
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The perfect run stuffing sidekick for Cox in Bennie Logan. I expect the tandem of Cox and Logan to be TOp Shelf ELITE under Schwartzy in our new 4-3
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But clearly, chip also screwed up a lot:
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1) I think Jordan and AGHOLAR can go on to be a fantastic eagle WR tandem, but it’s tough to praise chip for this when this cost us Desean and Maclin.
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2) 2013 Chip had an ELITE OL that was the main component for our 2013 success,and the ONLY piece chip didn’t inherit was Lane who is a great addition… Im sure , Ryan Mathews, sproles, Murray, and Bradford would probably looked a heckuva lot better if they had the 2013 OL. Playërs got older, and chips failure to add to the OL after drafting Lane in 2013 was really negligent of Chip,and it’s probably the Biggest reason why it all blew up in his face this year and is now coaching the Niners, a franchise worse off than us. Getting rid of Herremans was the right move, I won’t crucify him for getting rid of Mathis, but he damn sure should be crucified for how he neglected to adequately invest in an OL that was clearly getting up there in age
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3) cant say that he upgraded our RB, we got rid of one Of the best franchise RBs we ever had while still in his prime and replaced him by spending more money on RBs than any team in the NFL. For everything we are paying our RBs, it’s criminal that we aren’t set at the RB position, even if we get a good year out of them next season, CLEARLY our group of Rbs will look very different two years from now, which is pretty crazy. To lose Shady, replace him by investing more than anyone in RBs yet still NEED to make plenty of Changes to our RB the next few years is PATHETIC FAILURE on chips part.
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To spend 3 years playimg Musical chairs with Qbs is so Cleveland Brownish, but this problem predates the arrival of chip
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So clearly chip DIDNT completely butcher the roster. In some important areas I think he left us in a good position. Actually there are probably a few positions where Schwartz and Pederson will end up using Chips playërs better than Chip ever did, similar to how Andys playërs like Shady, Maclin and Desean had career years under chip… But the Chip era was Clearly a failure…he left us Better in a few important areas, but Clearly NOT WELL ENOUGH when gven 3 years to build the team up, and there were some really massive AMATUER mistakes on his part
I’d also take Jason Pierre Paul, Dwight Freeney, and Chris Johnson. Mike Mamula wasn’t a bad player, he would have been good value in the 2nd round
Ziggy Ansah
Combine provides us some much needed action to keep us occupied until the start of free agency..
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Not just the underwear Olympics but the combine is when Agents and teams do a lot of talking so we should get some juicy rumors next week. unfortunately, the majority of what will be leaked next week is just posturing, strategically leaked info designed to give an agent or a GM every bit of extra leverage that they can possibly create, so while it’s nice to hear some info next week, it’s more of a Tabloid sort of guilty pleasure, more than actually getting some accurate into.
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Most of what the media will report this week needs to be taken with a grain of salt, since most of what will leak is what an agent or GM wants us to hear, agenda based leaks.. But I appreciate some rumors to keep our attention for a week and give us some new tidbits to discuss,.. By the time the combine week is over, free agency will be right around the corner
[…] Musical Chairs – QB Edition – Iggles BlitzThe Eagles just might be able to get Bradford at a reasonable rate. The only way they are paying big bucks is if there is competition for him. Right now, it is hard to find a whole lot of teams that are likely to be wanting his services. All it takes is one aggressive suitor to drive up the price, but Bradford’s agent could be having a much quieter March than anyone would have guessed. And how about this for a possibility…Bradford does re-sign with the Eagles. Houston falls in love with one of the big 3 QBs. They trade from pick 22 up to pick 13 to go get their guy, giving the Eagles a 2nd rounder to move up. The Eagles would then have their QB and slew of draft picks to restock the O-line and add depth in other spots, hopefully including a young QB to develop. […]
Reading between the lines, the general feeling I get is that Sam Bradford’s value is being driven down to where it really should be. The bottom line is, when discussing his value his biggest selling point is still his potential. At some point, you are what you are. 6 years into his career he hasn’t given anyone a reason to believe he’s anything more than an average QB by today’s standards. His W-L record stands at 25-37-1. His comp% is at 60 for his career.
With that said, I do think it’s possible he could have a bright future in the NFL. Thing is, he needs a lot of things to break in his favor. He needs more consistency in terms of coaching and scheme. He needs better weapons around him – our OL was abysmal this past year, our running game was predictable and ineffective, and our WRs were subpar at best. Sam also needs to stay healthy. *IF* these things break Sam’s way, it’s possible we could see a mid/later career surge like Rich Gannon or Steve Young had late into their careers.
History tell us that there is a strong likelihood that Sam won’t develop into anything better than what he already is. Very few great QBs in the history of the NFL had 6 avg seasons to start their career then go on to be a much better QB. We don’t need Sam to be Tom Brady, but if we’re contemplating paying the guy top 10 $, I think it would be wise to tread lightly.
Personally, I’d like to keep Bradford for 2-3 more years and develop a young QB for the future. If Sam wants anything north of $18 mill per year and a ton of guaranteed $, then I won’t feel bad if he leaves.
Alex Smith deal or no-go.
I don’t think you can look at a deal that was signed years ago as a bench mark for TODAYS QB negotiations..
Here’s a true saying: “An item is worth whatever another person is willing to pay for it.”
True… You are worth what you can negotiate
Exactly. In Philly, Jeff Lurie is that person.
Structure and overall status vs. the cap. The AAV has to rise based on what the cap has gone up since it was signed, but the structure has to be the same. 4 year deal, able to be ended after 2.
It would be great if the skins can reach an extension with Cousins or Denver can get the Osweiler extension done before free agency.. To go along with the Fitzpatrik/Jets deal that I expect to get done.before the start of free agency.. But im not sure how realistic it is to expect Denver or the skins to come to terms with their QBs before free agency opens
I have no idea what Mayock is thinking bunching in Connar Cook with the top QB prospects Wentz. Goeff and Paxton..
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Id rather draft Hogan Late in the draft than an early pick on Cook..
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Wentz raw potential is interesting but being a Pro QB in Our Crazy city is a very long ways away from Noth Dakota… If we do want to draft Wents, it CAN NOT be a case of signing Chase Daniels to start for a half a season and then turn the team over to Wentz the second half of the season. Wentz ONLY Intruigs me if he can sit on the bench and learn for 2-3 years before having to take over as our Starting QB,,, and you have to be out of your damn mind to be ok watching Chase Daniels, or Mark Sanchez type of QB start for us for MULTIPLE seasons..
Anyone have any idea how The Chip hiring is being recieved in San Fran? I can’t find anything about the chip Hiring which is pretty damn weird. Chip kelly became the Face of Big Market Philadelphia team. He couldn’t fart as coach of the Eagles without it being a big story, yet he gets hired by San Fran and I havent a peep about it since his introductory press Confrence,,, are Niners fans excited about the signing? Down on the signing? that franchise has all types of other issues besides the coach. That team has less talent than us.
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For Niners fans, it’s gotta be interesting that Chip is like the opposite of Tomasula, this big, sloppy, bumbling Idiot who couldn’t even string together a sentence in front of the media has been replaced with this little, fast talking, self proclaimed “smartest guy in the room” who treated his introductory press Confrence as some lame wannabe stand up comedy routine.
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Im sure at first, a zone read offense that could possibly save Kapernick had appeal to fans, yet they are already,finding out that chip most likely wont even have the Patience to bother trying to coexist with Kapernick and try to save that investment the Niners made in what was supposed to be their franchise QB.
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What’s really going to be interesting is how Chips desire to have a team of 53 choir boys all fall in line is going to mesh with a Front Office that has a history of taking on plenty of guys with CHarechter concerns. How will Chip deal with coaching a team having to deal with like 3 playërs getting arrested every spring/summer?
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Im amazed at what a non story chip to the Niners has been
LOL @Cowboys. Randy Gregory suspended 4 games for substance abuse.
Its actually worse under new drug program than it was before the changes, Gregory has failed at least 4 tests since February last year, and is now in the 2nd tier of the testing program lasts for 2 years and is far more intense in its testing and its participation requirements.
Generally to get to this point you need to be a full scale addict, since there has been extensive support, and the league tries to make it as easy as possible to be able to ‘beat’ the system with extensive warnings before testing and clear schedules.
I think there is something to doing research on a player and making sure that they will not be a headache when they get to the league. A 2nd rounder is a high pick to be losing for 4 games from something that was entirely preventable.
Well he was a late 2nd, and from a risk/reward side i can understand the pick. Everyone new he had issues, everyone knew he would fail tests initially, the question was can he overcome it. Not looking positive at the moment, could be banned for the year if he fails more tests in the next few months and then it is a long way to rock bottom when you have a nice big signing bonus to blow your way through.
A 2nd rounder is a high pick to be losing for 4 games from something that was entirely preventable.
Like acquiring Sam Bradford? Hiyo!
[…] When I wrote the post about limited options for Sam Bradford recently, some people took that the wrong way. “Well, if a bunch of teams don’t want him, why should the Eagles?” […]