Rookie Talk
Posted: May 14th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 135 Comments »I hope everyone is excited for Eagles rookie minicamp. This is arguably the most important weekend of the year. Of course, that assumes the year starts on May 10th and ends on the 20th.
Nothing big is going on. The rookies, select veterans and some tryout players are getting their feet wet. The most exciting thing so far is that we got to hear from Carson Wentz. Here is his first PC as an Eagle. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to find out he said all the right things. We don’t know if Wentz is going to be the player the Eagles want, but we can already tell he’s not Johnny Manziel.
The biggest takeaway for me is that Wentz wants to be on the field, but is also willing to be patient. His time at NDSU served him well. Wentz redshirted a year and then sat on the bench for 2 seasons before he became the starter. He understands that sometimes you have to wait for your opportunity. He’s going to do everything he can to convince the coaches he’s ready sooner rather than later, but he seems to get the big picture.
There is a fine line between being patient and complacent.
You need players who are willing to sit, but who don’t want to sit.
*****
Jalen Mills is going to play CB this weekend. I’m not sure if he’ll stay there or move to S when the full team starts practicing together. Mills talks about wanting to play CB. The team’s roster lists him at S.
Nothing is set in stone at this time of the year. At this time last year we thought Walter Thurmond was a CB. The team shuffled some pieces around and boom…he became the starting FS.
The Eagles have a pair of good starting Safeties. They need depth. If Blake Countess looks like he can be a quality backup, then having Mills play CB would make a lot of sense. CB is one spot where the Eagles have bodies, but no standouts. Mills might just be a body as well, but you never know until you give the player a chance.
*****
Halapoulivaati Vaitai is working at RT for now. I think he has LT potential, but the Eagles are starting him at the less challenging spot. RT certainly isn’t easy, but LT remains the harder spot because you tend to face the best pass rushers and you have little help on that side.
*****
The Eagles brought in former Notre Dame and Florida State QB Everett Golson for a tryout. He is a big name because of where he played, but beating out McLeod Bethel-Thompson won’t be easy. MBT has been in and around the league a few years. He understands the speed of the NFL. Golson might be more naturally gifted, but the NFL is completely new to him.
I think sometimes we forget that players we list as scrubs or camp bodies are still very talented, very accomplished players. If Golson wants the #4 QB spot, he has to earn it.
Jimmy Bama did like what he saw of Golson’s arm.
*****
I think I’m going to end up liking Isaac Seumalo quite a bit. He was interviewed at his locker on Friday. Seumalo came across like a typical O-linemen. He was humble and didn’t have much to say, but did show off a good sense of humor. He joked about Carson Wentz, who he trained with before the Combine. Sounds like those two are already friendly.
*****
I know it’s only the rookie minicamp, but based on everything I’ve seen and heard, I can say without hyperbole that…
The Eagles will win the Super Bowl.
Carson Wentz is going to the Hall of Fame.
_
Of course Mills wants to start out at CB. Top CBs make a lot more than top Ss.
But on the Eagles, non-top safeties make more than non-top cornerbacks.
Yeah not a lot of job security at CB on the eagles. Probably churned through 10 in the last 3 years?
If you can play Safety and corner, and you see McLeod, one of the highest paid FA safeties this year, and elite Safety in Malcolm jenkins in front of you, and then you see 2nd year Rowe, McKelvin signed some modest short term deal, and Nolan who signed a 1 yr deal for less than a mil, clearly he has any easier path to making the team and playing at CB instead of safety….lol Id want to play corner too if my competitipn was Nolan, Rowe and leodis compared to ROCKIN Rod and Jenkins
..
Don’t think Countess can play outside corner in the NFL. He will have to be a safety, so it be great if Mills can become a capable CB for us
Considering he isn’t going to be paid for at the very least 3 years. Doubt it’s That deep regarding where he wants to “start out”(which implies, subject to change)
..
Safeties aren’t exactly making chump change, Mills may want to worry about making the roster, before he starts worrying about becoming a starter, and an elite player at his position who can cash a 60mil check instead of only a 45mil safety check.
..
Can’t he just like playing corner more?
..
If he has a brain, pretty obvious it’s an easier path to starting at CB on this team, since he won’t be starting over McLeoud and jenkins
..
Kid is making a couple hundred grand right now, probably wouldn’t scoff at starting safety money
[…] Tommy Lawlor I hope everyone is excited for Eagles rookie minicamp. This is arguably the most important weekend […]
Nice article, Tommy. Can’t wait till the pads go on, and preseason games begin to see what we have. Till then, I trust you to keep us fans informed.
I was going to say something similar. The preseason games are really where guys are going to be able to be judged. I just hope this coaching staff has a better understanding of game tape and math when making roster decisions.
I know what we’ll have. In preseason we’ll have a championship calibur team – we’ll smash quality playoff opponents in the preseaon, we’ll win the pre-season superbowl. Smallwood will go for 500yds in 3 games – and we’ll never see him again. And then the regular season will happen and we’ll go back to being mediocre.
Ugh that is some grim schit. .evrn if true. .too grim to acknowledge
Tommy- keep it coming. You are the man.
4th
Wentz seems goofy. I hope he’s not McNabb level goofy.
I’d settle for McNabb level goofy if assured of McNabb level talent.
For the same intellect and TD:INT ratio for sure!
Vaitai at RT makes a lot of sense.
When Johnson moves to LT, I hope Vaitai will be ready to assume RT.
And with the actual Peter’s health state, I think Vaitai will get some chances this year.
Don’t think we want Vaitai playing as a rookie,
There’s no other to he gets NFL experience without playing in a real NFL game.
He can play, specially in run plays.
Yeah that’s just not true, he can improve plenty without playing as a rook. Kid isnt the most polished prospect. I’d love to see him beat out Dennis Kelly as a rookie, but no need to get carried away with expectations
Sprint sucks SUCKS S U C K S for changing all the fonts on this worthless alleged upgrade.. i f in HATE sprint and samsung fuckkkkkers
Technology blows.. can u imagine 300 billion people like the no choice techmoloy that gets shoved down their throats!!
You know some french company wants to buy cablevision for billions ..nits because they rip us off and its legitimized
Go eagles
Always have hated Sprint. Samsung is nice though. Really like their TVs. Just bought at 65″ curved SUHD 4K TV. I truly love it. May be developing feelings for it. Cant wait for football season on this thing. Basketball is beautiful on it.
little jealous of the 4K, does the curve really make a difference?
The curve is pretty much a marketing gimmick. No real benefit, at least according to the audio/videophile opinions I’ve heard.
See my reply to Rambler regarding the benefit and negatives of a curve. It really depends on size and the room you put it in. If you have the right setting and size then it is really nice.
4k is nice for now. There simply isnt alot that truly supports 4k yet. Netflix and Hulu are starting to incorporate some things. There isnt a cable/dish/game system company that supports it by any means yet.
Although it is not supported by really anything yet it will still noticeably enhance your picture. The true benefits of 4K wil not be appreciated for around another year or so when all companies start to support it.
I got the regular version of that TV, refused to pay extra for the curve. Pretty happy with mine, and was thinking the same… cannot wait for football to start.
I’m thinking phone ..
Hate hate hate the fiooookin digital keypad. Every text ks a fight. Its autocorrecf blows.
And Sprint , just did an alleged upgrade … not to me. The icons are bigger and differnt. I dont want my phone fo look like fhis.but ive got no choice.
And its fukkkkkken slow as schit.
My fingers are too big for these Ridiculuos touch screens… It’s impossible to type on the phone, thats why I just leave the spelling mistakes and keep posting
Your posts are huge..and i hVe nevdr ntoiced a ton of errors if any at all.. you type fine
Just keep posting yo.
There really isn’t that much of a point of a curved TV in a living room in my opinion unless it is a massive one. If you are sitting towards the side it isn’t a preferable view by any means. Plus, the reason for the curve is to provide added depth perception to the picture. If you are in a larger living room unless it once again is a massive TV, the distance you are from the TV messes up that depth perception with the curve.
I put mine in my bedroom because you aren’t going to be sitting to the side of it and it allows you to be close enough that the curve really does the trick of the added depth.
Or maybe I just put it in the bedroom because I am simply being greedy :).
Microsoft operating system..they also too big to care
Don’t forget the more modest predictions: Sam Bradford wins the NFL MVP race and then is traded to SF for three first round picks, Smallwood runs for 1500 yards and 20 TDs, and Jeffry Lure gives his fortune to you as a wedding present when you and Meagan Fox walk down the aisle.
The battle between McLeod Bethel-Thompson and Everett Golson is easy to predict. 3 last names beats out 2 last names every time.
Its only hyperbole if you claim the Eagles will win 15 Superbowls in a row. Everything else is expected at this point.
Fine, let’s be conservative. 14 Super Bowls in a row.
I really only need 3 in a row, 5 in 6 years, and ultimately 7 total.
Then Pittsburgh fans can STFU and kill themselves.
One more than Dallas works for me and Steeper fans can go hang themselves with their f**kin towels.
One more than the cowgirls works for me and the Steelers being moved to China, where we actually buy our steel. Then the Pittsburgh fans, the most obnoxious one on the planet, moving to Beijing or hanging themselves with their pathetic towels.
I can see the headline already: Balding Eagles Now With More Rings Than Fingers
BTW- its time to update the practice squad tab at the top of the page.
Is it really? There are currently zero players on any practice squad rosters in the universe. Granted it’s old stuff, but that’s not what this site is about. It’s really just reading Tommy’s incredible posts, and comments below. It would be like going to a renowned restaurant famous for mastering a specific type of cuisine and complaining about pure ice-cube quality – in the winter.
Regarding Mills.
Correct me if I am wrong but before the draft I never really heard
his name in all the pre-draft coverage. Is he really 2nd/3rd round
worthy talent wise,or is this a large overstatement?
I know he is talented, I know he is a steal in the 7th, but I just think if he is
that talented then another team would have taken a flyer on him before
the 7th round. Especially a player at such a premier position.
Like I said I never heard much about him, so I therefore do not know much about him.
Can anyone drop some real knowledge about him on me?
He was definitely discussed as a middle round safety guy in many draft publications. I didn’t see him in many 2nd/3rd scenarios, but he was certainly in the 4th/5th round mix.
Being a multiple year starter on LSU’s D will get you discussed by a lot of people, I just don’t think he was a name frequently connected to the Eagles.
I also think the assault on the girl and his 40 time pushed him down boards.
Really more of a 4th/5th round type. The 2nd/3rd round stuff was more that he was pegged as a potential first round guy a couple years ago. Has been up and down since then. He’s versatile, but I don’t really know what to do with him. He’s not a great tackler. He’s got good short to intermediate coverage skills but his long speed is questionable (and he ran a 4.61 which also didn’t help his draft status). Guys like that from big DB programs tend to go in the 4th-5th round area (think Jaylen Watkins).
The biggest problem is I really don’t know where you play him. As an outside CB you’re going to be worried about people going vertical on him. As a nickel or S you’re going to be worried about his tackling. Tommy has mentioned he does kind of remind you of Walter Thurmond a bit. I can see that. I think if he’s going to see playing time this year it will be as a nickel back or S in pass only downs.
Ok, thank you. That is a more honest assessment then what the media and some football people are giving. I get that people want to praise a steal (which he is), but sometimes it goes to far and losses accurate reporting.
Philliera.
研究研究，学习学习。
Here is a somewhat updated (May 9th) version of the team’s depth chart.
http://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/PHI
Obviously the ordination of the guys won’t really be known until we see them take the real field in a pre-season game, but it is nice to see everybody laid out by position.
You know. As much as I like everyone on the line, I feel like Vinny should probably start. I feel like there will be ton of movement around the line so where and for who is anyone’s guess. Just think he should be in there.
Thinking Vinny, Graham and Barwin will player similar snap counts… Don’t think starting is that big of a deal at a position that rotates as much as DE, especially under schwartz who will have them exploding up field every play. Sure VINNY will be thrilled with the increase in snaps even if he doesn’t technically start, he should be a big part of our defense this year instead of just playing 1/3 of the snaps the past 3 years(lol still managed more sacks than all dallas DEs combined lol)
Agree. And you’ll (I think) see a lot of Barwin-Curry-Cox-Graham on obvious passing downs.
I think you’ll see a really even snap % between Graham, Barwin, and Curry by the time the year is over. “Starting” might not really be a solid distinction.
Does Barwin get moved to DT at all? BG and VC can do very well there.
I don’t believe so. Barwin is really an outside guy only. Curry has some talent as an interior rusher.
I thought the Wentz PC was good, but if I was nitpicking (and that’s all anyone can do really with this rookie minicamp) I would have almost rather him sound a bit more focused on being the starter. He said mostly the right things, and understandably, the situation isn’t great since Bradford seems not to handle pressure well, but to me, Wentz was slightly on the passive side of wanting to steal the starting job. I wanted some line that stated he wasn’t just just planning on sitting back and learning, but was going to do what he could to earn the starting job right away. It was implied in the PC, but a stronger direct statement would have been nice. Again, that is being very nitpicky, but I would have preferred him pushing that line of being patient and competing a bit further.
For all we know, the Eagles brass instructed him not to do that. This Wentz-Bradford thing has been getting daily coverage by ESPN, NFLN. If Wentz makes a fiery claim that he’s going to seize the starting job from Bradford, the coverage becomes wall-to-wall and doesn’t stop until Week 1 at the earliest. It wouldn’t exactly help the team mend fences with Bradford either. I just think it would have done far more harm than good, especially because those words wouldn’t actually make him play better this summer, or change the essence of who we drafted.
I agree, and if the coaches didn’t give him instructions, then it was quite savvy of him to be diplomatic in his responses to the media bating.
It was his first day as an Eagle (I think?); I don’t need a rookie showboating to make me feel better about him.
The brass told him to tone down because they didn’t want a brash statement to cause Bradford to wet his pants in front of the other players.
I think if you’ve paid attention to Wentz overall answering questions and speaking to the media since drafted, his overall message speaks exactly to the opposite of the vibe you got from this particular press conference. And like others have mentioned, it seems as though he was advised, or at least he’s wise enough to know what he “should” be saying PR-wise at this point. There is zero gain for “focusing on being the starter” when he speaks now. It would be a dumb move. And I think that zero % of people who know Carson or have evaluated him closely would think that “passive” describes him at any point, in any way.
Didn’t Matt Barkley come in with a strong statement about how he wanted to push to be the starter? Yeah, that made a huge difference, didn’t it?
Lol. Just to be clear, I’m asking for a subtle difference in what he said, and yes, this is VERY nitpicky. Still, Matt Barkley having a competitive streak isn’t what lost him a job with the Eagles. Being a bad QB is. You WANT your franchise QB to be competitive in nature. Obviously, I’m not saying Wentz isn’t competitive by any means, but if we are picking apart his PC, I personally found that one thing missing. It certainly could have been the FO trying to make sure things go smoothly with Bradford, or even Wentz recognizing that situation and trying to stay as far away as possible from making any headlines. I fully understand that. But you can say you want to compete without slighting Bradford, without defying the coaches, but simply stating you, like every player in the NFL, want to start and will do what you can to earn that, whether that is this year or next.
Don’t hate it. We said a lot of “know your place” around here the last few weeks. I think this falls right in line with that. There is a vet here that has already been proclaimed the starter. Coming in and declaring your bid to start is sort of defying the coaching staff.
Last year Winston had a guy in front of him with the coach’s blessing. He came into camp and said he wasn’t good enough to start yet. Didn’t stop him from taking it eventually.
I’m definitely not asking him to say, “I will be the starter. Period” I’m not asking him to make headlines. That obviously would not have gone over well. What I wanted to hear though is something a little more in line with, “I want to do everything I can to earn a starting role on the team. Outside of that, I will prepare myself and help the team any way I can.” In saying something along those lines, the statement shows that he isn’t just resigned to taking 2nd string or 3rd string role this season, but understands that “his place” is ultimately to be the starter, whether he earns that title this year or next. Again, this is very much nitpicking and I don’t doubt that Wentz does in fact want to be the starter. I also can easily see the Eagles FO trying to make sure the message is toned down. But either way, there is a middle ground between, “I’m going to steal Bradford’s job” and “I’m ok being the backup” and I wanted him to push it a little further away from “I’m ok being the backup” than he did in that PC.
Great idea, give the media more ammo they can use to fabricate their QB battle and continue to talk about nothing other than make believe QB drama. Same media that tried to create drama out of Wentz saying that he watches QBs lke Brady/Manning but not Bradford
There’s a difference between media drama and in-team drama. I don’t give a crap if someone like ESP writes a click bait story about Wentz saying he doesn’t study Bradford’s tape. And frankly, if Bradford cares, especially if he cares to a point that it hurts his play, he is an idiot. The reality is though, that type of story isn’t going to effect the team.a story where Carson Wentz stating he wants to earn a starting role isn’t a drama filled story within a locker room. Of course he does.
As for fabricating a QB battle. Can someone explain to me why having our 2nd overall pick battling and competing with a QB who doesn’t have a meaningful accomplishment associated with his name since his rookie season is a bad thing? I understand the storyline of having Wentz learn the offense and not be forced into action right away before he is ready. Bradford and Daniel both provide a lot of help in that storyline in not rushing Wentz in. But IF Wentz shows that he can compete and possible outperform Bradford in TC and the preseason, what possible logic is there for not letting Wentz compete and earn the starting job. I have zero problems with letting Wentz sit all year. But sitting for the sake of sitting is pointless. You sit him only because Bradford is the better option for now and Wentz still needs to develop before becoming the starter, but you only find that out if there is competition.
All drama that can easily be avoided is stupid and uneccessary. I very much appreciated how he handled that press Confrence in front of a group of media members that were trying to bait him the entire time. I don’t need him to bang his chest during his first practice. Don’t need him to talk about what he will do. Shut up and work…appreciate that he seems to take that approach. Walk the walk, fuck talking
Knowing very little about their football skills, I am really hoping Myke Tavarres can beat the odds.
Mills? Meh.
The link…
http://completephillycoverage.com/eagles/getting-to-know-myke-tavarres.html
He looks and sounds like he could be a hammer on ST.
Heaven must be missing an angel.
Think Tavarres is making at worst the practice squad with the guaranteed $$ that we gave him. Think he is a really interesting project as he has the physical tools to be a starting LB and definitely has the agressiveness/madness to be a special teams stand out. Big transition for him and will be interesting to see how he plays when he is not physically dominant compared to his competition like he was at college.
Is definitely a guy to be watching all offseason as we have not much at the 6th LB position and he could grab that role with good teams play.
We don’t have much at the 5th LB position, let alone the 6th. Right now if we were going to keep 6 LBs, the 5th and 6th would likely be Walker(7th round pick) and Tavarres(UDFA). Really need to get veteran competition signed. If the young guys beat out the vets in camp, great, but right now they’d be handed the spots for lack of anyone else to play the position.
I checked the list of veteran FA LB still available, slim pickins… I’d Like them to add a vet, but not sure there is one worth adding. Maybe someone gets cut in June.. Justin Durrant is probably the best (not very good), but we have no use for him since we have plenty of LB that can play WIL already
Yes, the FA pickings are slim. There’s one guy I keyed in on as a possibility. He can play MLB or OLB in a 4-3 and is a quality ST player. Has experience in a Wide 9 system. Only 27 years old and has 16 career starts. He is coming off an injury though.
Anyone want to guess?
has to be Casey Matthews (?)
It can’t be Casey Matthews because you’d have to assume that Matthews would have killed himself out of shame years ago.
Is there a non-star player you don’t hate?
Sure. I actually like most guys we’ve had over the years. Just not gross incompetent players like Matthews.
Do you believe any player can ever improve over the course of a career? And have you followed Casey since he left Philly?
If they’ve failed here; no. They’re dead to me at that point. Unless they’re a guy we unloaded that we shouldn’t have.
Ok. Once again, you’re just not a fan of true logic and intelligent thought. Quentin Demps, Derrick Burgess, even Jaquan Jarrett, Kurt Coleman, and this is just scratching the surface, of players who had better careers/improved after leaving Eagles.
If you want to be childish and cling to your beliefs in a half-humerus/half-macho way, go for it. But don’t tell me that true unbaised logic doesn’t override your stance in intelligent conversations about objective value for our favorite football team.
Demps and Burgess were find here, they were more salary losses than guys ridden out of town on a rail.
Jarrett and Coleman suck.
But you said that “If they’ve failed here; no. They’re dead to me at that point.” That’s pure stupidity.
If somebody hides the true putrid lack of talent with Coleman and Jarrett, good for them. Those guys can’t play. Neither one is bringing the Jets or Pathers front 7 to our team to mask their lack of ability.
And again, Demps and Burgess were fine here, we just lost them due to salary considerations. They weren’t dead to me at all.
But I’m talking about the concept. You are arguing that if a player left the Eagles after playing poorly – a truly justified lack of retaining the player by the team, and then they went on to play for another team, develop and improve, that we should not consider resigning the player even if we are weak at depth at his position.
Ok, taking that abstract concept into the specific; what guy was who was out of town for poor play would now be an upgrade for this roster given what it would cost to sign him as a free agent?
If the concept is that dumb, what player disproves it?
You completely avoided my point like a politician. Weak.
I’m saying that it is possible that Casey disproves it. If he is better than our depth, especially behind Schwartz’s/our DL front 4, and could improve the team, they should consider him.
But he’s not. He flat out sucks as a football player. What guy has flat out sucked here, then been good for another team after he was run out of town?
I’m not saying that I have an example. But you are saying that if there were one, you’d reject the guy. Am I wrong about your point?
I’m saying there isn’t any risk involved in my view that the guy is dead to me because he was made that way due to a permanent and unchangeable poor level of talent. Casey Matthews was exposed as a turd, there is no level of alchemy that exists that can transmute him into precious metal.
True or false:
You, “Media Mike” believe that it is absolutely impossible for a player to improve from poor to mediocre in the NFL.
True or false #2:
You, “Media Mike” believes that if we can upgrade poor depth with mediocre depth, the Eagles should not do so.
1 – True after 4 full years of play and being exposed as a worthless player. I don’t know what guy has been horrible for 4 full years and then turned into a mediocre player.
2 – Sure, upgrade with mediocre depth over poor depth, but guys we’ve seen as poor players aren’t turning into mediocre ones; they’ll still suck.
You sir would make an atrocious GM. You’re rigid in thought, stubborn (I’m aware of the near redundancy), and struggle with non-concrete thought patterns.
I think I’d be fine as a GM if I avoided placing the likes of Casey Matthews, or any other perpetually terrible football player, on my roster.
Casey in point.
Point taken, but he’s better suited to be Casey in CFL.
“Ok. Once again, you’re just not a fan of true logic and intelligent thought.” This really made me laugh, but don’t talk about my buddy Mike like that! Him smart!!!
The footnotes to your argument go something like this:
“I’m against improving my favorite football team if it means giving up how I felt years ago based off of outdated data.”
And in intellectual fairness to your question, I just looked up what he did after leaving here.
He spent last year laying down on the job. So he just added unreliable to go with untalented.
“intellectual fairness” in the same post as “I looked at what he did last year” and ignored what he did the other years since leaving here….yadayadayada…only negatives….
That’s rich.
Are you that dumb or are you that lazy?
Matthews played here from 2011-14 and then sat out 2015.
THERE ARE NO OTHER YEARS SINCE LEAVING HERE.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/14181/casey-matthews
Sometimes both. But usually just lazy. Haha.
He did have a strong preseason! (joking) But I was certain I remembered him making one pretty good play in a non-birds jersey.
That’ll happen. It may have been some Oregon tape you saw in that case. He didn’t even make it to a pre-season game for the Vikings.
I think we are talking to Casey.
Didn’t he just tear an ACL or something last year after he signed with Vikings?
I don’t know. I’m only saying that if he a) is healthy enough or will be during this season, and b) improved over his time since he left here to the extent that he’s objectively better than the depth we have at LB, then we should sign him.
Any player not named Casey Matthews? Maybe!!
Haha, funniest thing said in the history of mankind. But if we can get past the joking around, and he could be a significant and legit upgrade to our LB depth, I’d be all for it and disappointed in fans not being with me on that for immature/lazy “everything is as it was years ago”, “adolescent level humor is barely distinguishable from serious adult conversation”, and group think reasons…
He can understand the defense but has in my eye isn’t athletic enough to play in the league.
…………
Clap, clap, clap. Question of the century.
Tuesday is going to be the first practice with Wentz and Bradford.. You know the media is sharpening their knives,. ESPN is going to make sure they send media to Novacare that day. Can’t wait to hear the intelligent question Eskin asks on Tuesday
Bradford dug this ditch for himself. It’s up to him to climb out. All Wentz has to do is be reasonable and he’ll come out looking like a pro.
What are the odds Sam Bradford has a complete meltdown?
I think I’d take that bet.
0%
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/05/10/nfl-team-needs-draft-free-agency
The sheer stupidity of this was amazing. Here is the offending paragraph
“8. Eagles at Wide Receiver
Since the dismissals of DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, the Eagles have become collectively slow at wide receiver. Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor are both methodical movers who must rely on body positioning. A lack of speed and quickness is not a crippling handicap in new head coach Doug Pederson’s West Coast style scheme, which relies more on shrewd route combinations and play design. But even in that system, the X-iso receiver (the receiver aligned alone on the weak side) often has the “man-beater” route, making him the primary read if the QB gets to the line of scrimmage and identifies man coverage. The less dynamic a runner you are, the harder it is to beat man coverage. Plus, the less likely you are to draw a safety over the top, which makes life harder for receivers on the other side.”
Did Benoit miss the fact that:
a) you don’t need as good WRs in the NFL to get open due to the fact that everything the DBs do is illegal?
b) Reid’s system won 11 games with Torrance Small/Charles Johnson and 11-12-12 games with Stinkston/Trash………..in a league where you needed better WRs to get open in the early 2000s?
c) you really don’t know what you have in Agholor yet?
I think our WR core is a concern as long as we have Bradford. He is a conservative QB and only likes to throws when people are open, which is a problem because Matthews (and to an extent Agholor) are players who will not naturally stay open against man coverage – they will get open for a window that needs to be anticipated with timing and you need to have some courage that the WR will run the right route at the right time – but i think both guys will be give you that.
Do agree that we really have limited knowledge about Agholor at this point, and if he can start to show some genuine no.1 WR type flashes in year 2 the whole unit looks so much better as a whole since Matthews will be a damn fine no.2 WR.
“I think our WR core is a concern as long as we have Bradford.”
Minimal issue b/c we’re talking about this year with Bradford.
Unless a reciever is running a pattern towards the end zone with the defense unable to catch up to them, how does a receiver “stay open”?
Mathews (and Ertz) are at their best when the QB throws a contested ball. Their concentration seems to be lacking on wide open throws.
It’s the popular argument to make. We have no speed at the position. The popular argument before was that Maclin wasn’t a number 1 WR.
There is nothing wrong with the speed of our WRs. We have 3 guys flirting with 4.4 flat, another mid 4.4 guy in Matthews and a few 4.5 guys in Randle and the UDFAs. There problem was catching the ball last year, not running in a straight line.
The needing an elite WR argument is silly. There are maybe 7 of them in the whole league.
Each of our NFCE opponents has a big play receiver, and we really don’t have one.
But two of those teams finished below us in the standings last year due to fundamental flaws in their rosters.
That’s more of a concern for our secondary, not our WRs
Andy Benoit is as knowledgeable about individual NFL teams as his boss, Peter King. They both tend to have poor research skills.
Seems like a reasonable opinion to me. Our wide receivers aren’t that great. I thought we all agreed on that.
They indeed aren’t that great, but upgrading them isn’t even remotely a “need” given the NFL of 2016.
I think the Eagles think differently since they’ve made numerous free agent signings in an attempt to upgrade it.
And if you’re like me and don’t think their free agent signings at WR are going to amount to anything, then it’s a position of need.
Those were bargain basement signings to round out the group. I don’t think you need “names” at WR to be productive in the passing game.
C’mon man. Our top two receivers are a slot receiver who maybe can play outside but he’s probably not fast enough, and a 2nd year guy coming off of a less than impressive 283 yard rookie campaign.
I have hope too, but you can’t expect national writers to take an Eagles homer view of the situation.
Nobody is asking him to take a homer view of the situation.
Good enough for what we’re doing vs. good are too different things.
It is easier for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to produce at WR in today’s NFL.
Even if we’re going with your appraisal of Matthews and Agholor as 100% accurate; they’re still better than Torrance Small / Charles Johnson from the 2000 team that went 11-5. They’re still better than Todd Pinkston / James Thrash from 2001-03 who played on teams that went 11-5, 12-4, and 12-4.
My point is that not having premium WRs isn’t really a problem.
Jordan Matthews isn’t fast enough? His 40 time was .01 seconds slower than Maclin’s. Maclin did just fine outside.
It is not a reasonable opinion, because his reasons for his opinions are horribly wrong. Mathews is not a burner but did run a 4.4. Agholor has very good acceleration and initial explosion, Huff also has a very good burst and acceleration.
Since when is Agholar a methodical mover? The one thing that clearly jumps out of the screen at you is how damn quick he is.
Excellent question.
I’ll just leave this here…
https://twitter.com/Jay_Tw1st/status/732004913966944256