Bodies Needed
Posted: August 30th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 144 Comments »The Eagles have made some moves in recent days.
#Eagles make it official and sign DE Jake Metz, formerly of the Philadelphia Soul.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) August 30, 2016
Roster Move: #Eagles sign RB Cedric O'Neal, who had previously been released by the team on August 21.
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) August 29, 2016
Eagles claim DT Bruce Gaston off waivers from the Chargers. Purdue product is 6-2, 310 pounds. Undrafted in '14, been with 7 franchises.
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) August 30, 2016
What’s going on?
The Eagles needed bodies for the preseason finale. Starters will sit.. Some key backups. With Wendell Smallwood out, the Eagles needed a RB. O’Neal fills that role. With DE Alex McCalister out, the Eagles needed a DE. Metz gets his shot. With Taylor Hart out, the Eagles needed a DT. Gaston gets another chance with another team.
These players know they are being used. But they want the chance to put some game tape out there. You never know when a player is going to catch someone’s eyes. I can see where D-linemen really want to play in this scheme. Just about everyone has looked good this summer. This is a huge chance for Getz. Gaston has been around the block, but maybe this will be a good fit for him.
It will be interesting to see if any of the three play well.
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BREAKING: Vikings say QB Teddy Bridgewater has dislocated knee, torn ACL. @apkrawczynski https://t.co/uOMVLd6bO3
— AP NFL (@AP_NFL) August 31, 2016
The Vikings were a playoff team last year and they had high hopes for this year. They’re saying backup Shaun Hill will take over, but there has been some speculation about them making a trade. Would they look at Sam Bradford?
Maybe.
Would the Eagles listen to an offer? I think they would…if the price was right. I’m just not sure the Vikings would go hard after anyone. They aren’t a team that feels desperate. I think they would love to make a deal for the right player at the right price, but giving away a high pick to take on a big salary doesn’t feel like a move the Vikings would make.
For now…
Free agent QB Brad Sorensen, recently waives by the #Vikings, is flying back in tomorrow to re-sign, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 31, 2016
*****
I don't think you'd have to blow the #Eagles away with an offer for Mychal Kendricks right now. Strange saga.
— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) August 30, 2016
$6.4mm cap hit if the Eagles trade Mychal Kendricks. Not happening.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) August 31, 2016
The Eagles are thin at OLB right now. I don’t see this happening. It does feel like Kendricks is frustrated with the Eagles and that they are frustrated with him. We’ll see what happens in the regular season. Maybe that gets him going. Or maybe we find out things just aren’t working, for whatever reason. Kendrick was good in 2014. He wasn’t last year. He needs to bounce back this season.
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A reader had a question about the phrase “pad level”, as in “he plays with good pad level”. What does that mean exactly?
You don’t want a player to stand up. That makes him too high and gives him a weak base. An OL or DL needs to bend his knees. That brings his upper body down (and his shoulder pads), giving him good pad level.
A RB might play with good pad level. That means he is staying low when he’s got the ball and not being too upright.
The old saying in football is “low man wins”. You want to get your pads under the pads of the man you are blocking, tackling, or trying to fight off. The player with better pad level is going to win many of those battles. Stay low.
Poe 2 gapping from a 0 tech vs Zone. W/very good pad level & good UOH is able to have vision in the backfield & shed pic.twitter.com/mXeNFjb0mE
— Brandon Thorn (@VeteranScout) December 5, 2015
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[…] Tommy Lawlor The Eagles have made some moves in recent days. #Eagles make it official and sign DE Jake Metz, […]
Should it be taking this long to have an update on Lane’s situation?
Yeah. Nobody is in a hurry. No reason to. Team, player, union, agent, have no power to speed things up.
The owners are so cheap they probably use a discount lab with a huge backlog.
This did make me laugh for several reasons mainly because it is probably true.
They won’t use Quest or Labcorp but some guy who does the testing in his homemade mobile van setup.
Sounds like the guys used by the FBI.
There is zero reasons why we are almost in September and the test was taken in April and we have zero answers yet
You are mistaken buddy
someone said in a recent thread that on Aug 13, Lane said he expects to hear back in 2-3 weeks. that would go up until this saturday.
i think this wait is absolutely ridiculous. its been a LONG time since the first report.
Yes! This is pretty standard
Looking at the Vikings roster, the only names that could possibly interest me are
Xavier Rhodes – CB
Mackensie Alexander – CB
Danielle Hunter – DE
Andre Smith – RT
Emmanual Lamur – depth OLB
No Stefon Diggs?
I don’t think they trade him at all.
Would love him though!!
Much rather have TJ Clemmings than Andre Smith.
I don’t think they would give him up though?
Why would they give up Alexander or Hunter?
and why would you want a DE?
Just ‘dumb’.. Lol
Get your emotions in check little lady.
All good. No hard feelings.
Same sorry for coming off as an ass.
Apologies accepted. Now let’s focus on kicking some Browns ass! Go birds! 🙂
Why wouldn’t I want a promising young DE? Because Alexander is buried on the depth chart and his stock is at the highest right now?
Albeit the players listed above ‘interest you’ doesn’t automatically mean the Vikings are interested in parting ways with them.
Why are you still so salty?
I’m not mate.
I mean Smith is the starting RT as of today and Clemmings is the swing tackle.
Their OL depth is just as bad as ours though? I can’t imagine that they would want to trade him away for a one year rental.
But the stress fractures in his foot! Its not long before it falls off!
After watching chase daniel can’t imagine a scenario in which i’d want to trade Sammy Dollaz
Daniel is horrid. With Bradford, at least you can entertain some hope they might play competitive football especially early on.
With Daniel, this strikes me as a 3 or 4 win team even if Wentz starts 6 or 7 games.
Yeah trading Bradford is giving up on the playoffs this year and sends a bad message. but it’s a very interesting thought
Hypothetical question for Eagles fans in this forum: If a desperate Vikings team were to offer us a 2nd round pick in 2017 right now for Sam Bradford should the Eagles accept that offer? Chase Daniel Would Start the season and the Carson Wentz era would likely start by mid season if not sooner.
My opinion would be no. Reason is that the team is prepared to play this season with Bradford as our leader and has made moves to win now. Even though everyone knows that Wentz is our future I believe our coaches and staff have the players believing they can compete to win the division this year and once you are in the playoffs anything can happen.
I think we should stay the course and hope that SB leads us to a division title, plays above average, stays healthy and that ultimately we can still get that 2nd round pick form another team while not sacrificing this season. Just my opinion. What are your thoughts?
Agree. Especially since i’m a Sammy Dollaz stan. Wentz seems injury prone.
A 2nd round no but say a 3rd & 6th rounder next year with a conditional pick in 2018 (say anywhere from a 2nd to 4th) then it becomes more intriguing.
I’d say no as well because I think Wentz needs more work, and trying to get that done on the field this year could impede him in the long-term, IMHO
Maybe Wentz might be ready if he had been slated to be the starter throughout training camp and preseason and didn’t get injured, but that’s not what happened.
Think the whole point was never to start wentz, especially considering he wasn’t an FBS qb. I think Went realized that when some dudes that aren’t going to make the roster broke his ribs.
no not enough. It’s a blow to the guys on the team to trade away the starter and say ok we will just rebuild this year. So I need to be more impressed than a 2nd rounder that is likely to be bottom half.
Pretty sure the Eagles were offered a #2 for Bradford before (maybe during?) the draft and they said, “thanks, but no thanks”. So I see no way it happens. Now, two 2’s? That’s a hell yes! A 2 and a 3? Quite possibly. A 2 and another player? Also possibly.
But just a #2? Nah, never happen.
Also we don’t have our first round pick next year, so we are less likely to just give up on our season by trading QB1.
yeah might as well make that pick as low as possible.
So unrealistic
When is the NFL actually going to publicly confirm and announce Johnson’s 10-game suspension?
Total sum of people on earth who know? Zero
If it’s taking this long, maybe they lost sample B.
It’s not taking “This long”… It’s pretty standard process/Timeline…
..
This is a process that was never going to be resolved overnight. Lane hasny even been suspended yet, and once he appeals the suspension it will be weeks before the NFL rules on his appeal
..
I don’t know why anyone thought this was going to neatly work out in time to suspend him for week 1
Like I said, it’s very likely that Lane will be starting week one, because the slow wheels of NFL Justice were always very unlikely to reach a conclusion on this in time to suspend him for week 1… And if Lane appeals it, his suspension probably won’t start Til closer to October
The Mrs is constantly monitoring and gets many compliments on her pad level…
The Eagles play the Vikings this year. Tough break for Bridgewater but why would the Eagles consider trading their starting QB when their playoff prospects just got brighter.
Now maybe if they want to talk about a deal for Chase Daniel…
(I realize that nobody wants Chase Daniel)
^ for the Daniel thing
Also why would the Vikings trade for a super expensive placeholder? If anything they should trade for a guy like Daniel or trade for Bryce Petty and just show improvement on the OL and defense.
In regards to pad level in staying low, that’s also a principal instilled in us in martial arts training (dragon style Kung fu to be exact). By keeping our knees bent and staying a bit lower, we keep a sturdier base. A stronger base allows for more powerful strikes and provides better balance.
question for the fantasy players: I have early pick and I’m going wr,wr(no RB is blowing me away)…3rd round — who would you value more: Ingram, Reed(TE – Gronk will be gone), Keenan. I’m thinking Reed. Here’s why — and I know, huge gamble. I can grab Eagles rb(and/or McCoy/CJ Anderson/D.Murray) later. This is a PPR league. (knowing the people in the draft, Reed won’t make it back, neither will Panthers TE)…thoughts?
Take Reed.
sounds like we(including Buge Halls) agree….thanks guys…
I just did pretty much the same thing in my PPR league, but took a QB in the 3rd, then a TE in the 4th (went homer and took Ertz). I actually followed that pick up with Antonio Gates (in case Ertz still fails to produce). Then I looked at RBs and the rest. The way I look at it is there are very few “elite” QBs too, without one, you’re in bad shape.
Who are you’re elite QB’s?
Luck, Brees, Cam. In that order.
But were there any good RBs left at that point? I’m in half-point ppr and went WR, RB, WR, WR, TE, QB and i think i took Qb a couple rounds too early.
Who is the QB?
With the way RBs are utilized in the NFL now, there are a very few “premium” backs (AP, Charles, etc.). Most teams use two or even three backs so it’s usually pretty easy to pick up a couple guys later that will still get yards and TDs.
That is certainly a unique strategy.
Time will tell if it was “unique”, “stupid”, or “great”…
As long as you are able to build a good core roster in the draft you are fine. Championships are won on waiver every year. Draft is over hyped.
Reed is a beast…. However, that kid is like another concussion or two away from possibly having some serious problems. His concussion history is so scary that as a great weapon from our hated rivals, I don’t want to see that kid take any more head shots.. I think the accumulative effect of his concussions will mean that soon, he won’t be sitting out one or two weeks with a concussion, but it could become more like 5 or 6 weeks out with a concussion so be careful…
Agreed. He played more than I expected last season. I stayed away from him then. LOL. I want him this year.
I will say this: I wouldn’t go into the draft with a hard and fastened plan. Let the board come to you. Tier the players how you value them. Draft by the value/tier of individuals not by team need.
IE. Don’t draft a tier 3 RB because you went WR WR, if a Tier 1 WR is still there.
Most people value Keenan in the 2nd tier of WR, where an equivilent tier of RB wouldn’t even exist, then Ingram falls into tier 2-3 of RBs depending on the individual. Personally I think he is top tier 2. Many think Allen is at the top of that 2nd tier, but considering the 2nd tier of RB drops in value significantly he holds more value. Injury concerns are a wash.
That being said in my experience Reed has been going early 3rd in PPR format drafts I have been in. Should he not get hurt I think that is his value. I just expect him to be hurt early and often. I am staying away. However, if he swung back to the 4th… I am on that.
I really don’t think Keenan lasts through the 2nd though.
Sound advice. Besides late round rb’s. There’s another WR I want to target: Moncrief. I’m ok skipping a WR and going TE. So two questions: You think Moncrief primed for upper tier wr 2 numbers? And, if by a miracle Reed(and Gronk) are gone, any other TE worth taking in round 3? Olsen?
I am personally not a huge Moncrief guy. Like I said before I haven’t done a ton of studying this year. I bought in to the T.Y hype last year, and ended up with Moncrief as a “handcuff”. While he did have some solid games, he tended to get nicked up a bunch, and was better with Hassleback than Luck. You could not play him when T.Y was healthy. Sure they have made plans for him to be involved with T.Y, but if he was that good they would of done more with him last year.
I concede that in my high-stakes league (that I share with a couple guys), I have him… wasn’t happy about it though.
I think his upside is solid number 2 numbers though. I just wouldn’t get crazy and pay too much for him. Most people smarter than I am seem to love him this year.
On Olsen:
No Gronk is tier 1, Reed is the next tier, and Olsen is the 3rd. Not that close either. If you were in an FFCC league with 1.5pts per TE reception MAYBE.
I’m in the same boat. I loved getting TY last year and get screwed. Thanks for your input.
“After speaking with seven anonymous NFL front office members, Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman came away with the opinion that teams “truly, truly hate” Colin Kaepernick, and he may never play another down in the league.
“I don’t want him anywhere near my team,” one front office executive said. “He’s a traitor.” Another team executive said, “He has no respect for our country. [Expletive] that guy.” And according to one GM, “In my career, I have never seen a guy so hated by front office guys as Kaepernick.” One executive said he’d rather resign than sign Kap. Freeman believes ’90-95 percent’ of teams feel this way, and he thinks it’s possible Kap will be blackballed once/if he’s cut by the 49ers.”
Kap is making Johnny Football look good by comparison
um, what?
Really?
He is a qb. He will be signed. Also this is the gms who happily sign the worst scum on the planet but a guy who won’t stabs for flag is a deal breaker?
seriously, but you gotta wonder what the demographic of nfl coaches is and what’s more offensive to them
Kap’s skills have eroded but his paycheck hasn’t. He needed off season surgeries and is not in shape to start. Add in the recent baggage and you have a guy that needs to take a bit of a break.
But being vegan has nothing to do with it, ok?
I think the Kaepernick hate DIDNT just originate from this flag incident. He has a long history of not living up to the leadership role that comes with playing QB, for example sleeping with Aldon Smiths ex girlfriend, needing to shut down practice because Aldon wanted to murder him lol….. I think Kaep was already not popular amongst NFL front offices, but this flag incident just compounded their hate for Kaep.
..
It’s not like we are talking about a great QB who has really developed beautifully playing from the pocket getting black Balled…. When you suck on the field, your leash ISNT as long, and people ARENT as tolerate of your crap
..
Even if this flag thing never happened, does any eagle fan really want Kaep as their QB?
Yeah. Maybe even somewhere like Minnesota, desperation may rule the day.
As Joe Banner pointed out, calling someone a traitor from behind a veil of anonymity is pretty poor.
do GMs and personnel guys ever reveal much “on the record”?
Are they even allowed to talk about another teams player?
A few coaches have.
Regardless of your stance on his protest, this has gotten beyond ridiculous. There are players in the league that have committed major felonies, some of which these same front offices have helped to clean up.
yeah, give me a fing break here.This sounds like something Fox News would come up with.
How many exciting football games will be on TV this week?
Meh. I would think Fox and the other big boys would actually have the inverted opinion, but that is just me.
I think everyone can agree Kaep is a moron.
What tends to happen in these situations is teams will cover up murder for a good player, but latch on to any excuse to unload someone who’s no longer productive.
All because he exercised his basic right as an American. Not because he isn’t an NFL-caliber QB anymore.
It’s ridiculous that people treat exercising your right as an American as un-American. There’s a logical leap there that I’ve never been able to get. It’s been like this ever since the second Gulf war.
I also fail to see how the national anthem is about “the troops” now. You don’t sing it, you don’t support troops! That’s crazy, because it’s about the COUNTRY, not the troops. It’s the national anthem, not the anthem of the armed forces. They don’t play the various national anthems of countries from around the world at the Olympics to honor military forces everywhere; it’s about the countries.
If you feel there’s something wrong in this country, you should have a right to express that. Especially if you feel that doing so will make the country better. I just don’t get why it’s a problem for Kaepernick to express that but other people, like, say, some right wing politicians whose names I won’t invoke here, who have long and detailed lists of everything they think is wrong with the country, that only they can fix.
Thank you!
White America: BLM your protests are to loud and violent you’re not accomplishing anything!
*Kaepernick silently and peacefully sits during National Anthem in protest*
White America: Well now wait just a minute!
You, ah…nailed it.
“Hey guys, I want to protest. What’s the accepted way to do that, that won’t ruffle any feathers? Maybe I should just do everything that same and just _say_ it’s a protest?”
Removing because I basically repeated Cho.
I think we should trade Michael Kendricks for Teddy Bridgewater, straight up. Boom, problems solve.
Yuck.
https://twitter.com/injuryexpert/status/770987044243922944
Nasty injury… Like Paul George type nasty
.
Completely turn ACL, dislocated knee and other structural damage, from a non contact injury that happened the week before the season starts.. Doesn’t get much worse than that.. I feel bad for AP, wasting what was one of the most promising seasons in recent VIKING history
Maybe Teddy was juking a little too much in pre-season.
He did make that defender look silly, juked him out of his jock strap
Some reports said that quick-acting paramedics saved him from losing the leg. That is just baffling.
what?! I don’t get how people’s legs just fall off. (wondering how often i should go skiing this season)
You plant and try to change direction and your muscles are too strong for your body. The forces involved in the NFL are extreme…
Yeah that’s probably not an issue for me.
well, if your body’s really weak…
Isn’t that kinda what happened to Bo Jackson’s hip?
I think so.
Wow…….
When you dislocate the knee posteiorly you run the risk of severing the popliteal artery which is the main blood supply to the leg. Not to mention the nerve which can lead from completely paralyzed leg to drop foot like Jaylon Smith.
Hey AC Viking is back. Hope all is good AC, we missed ya!
Is this something Teddy can recover from? If so, what might be the timeframe?
I have no idea the true severity of what happened. You can technically almost recover from anything. However there are varying degrees of injury and without details, I don’t even have an educated guess and I am too lazy to look!
Thanks.
The Vikings trainer who was there is apparently a recognized expert on leg injuries. He said Teddy could need up to 4 surgeries. That seems like he could be out for 2 years or maybe never play again.
so crazy
Shocking…
Kharma is a bitch for that creep AP.
Don’t know why Kharma has to take it out on Teddy.
In a normal year KEndricks playing in a 4th PS game may be a telling sign, but I don’t see what the fuss is about, I don’t see how it’s disrespectful that a new coaching staff that is implementing a new scheme, wants to actually see it’s starting LB play a bit this summer…. Had kEndricks played the first two games, does anyone actually think he would still be playing this week? If Schwartz can put Tulloch in the 4th quarter or a PS game, I don’t see the big deal in wanting to see Kemdricks run around a bit, I doubt kEndricks will play even close to the entire game and he ISNT the only high draft pick playing
..
I love the philly media. Poor simple minded bastards, last week we needed to sigÅ„ Tulloch because our Depth was a concern, a week later they wonder if KEndricks might be traded? If they haven’t noticed, you don’t improve your depth by adding a capable player while subtracting a LB with ability and experience. Even worse when they throw around this type of speculation While ignoring the Cap hit that comes with it…
…
personally, kendricks frustrated the heck out of me last year, but im very much interested in seeing what he looks like now that he has some capable LB’s on the bench behind him breathing down his neck. Not sure why anyone WOULDNT be interested in seeing how he responds before considering getting rid of him… He is a very talented player who for the first time in his NFL career gets to play under a really respected veteran defensive coordinator… Trading kendricks Now, is NOT going to make us a better team, so WTF are we even talking about?
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Talking about injuries, Pederson said that Taylor Hart would be ready for week 1… I guess that means he made the roster? Beau certainly isn’t getting cut…. Thinking the Eagles will put both Vaeao and Shittu on the practice squad and hope that at least one of the DTs DONT get poached.
..
Normally I’d assume that we keep 5DTs, but I think MS2 and Means are more ready than the young DT’s, so I think we go with 5 DE’s, 4 DT’s and if a Defensive tackle gets hurt, hopefully we will have either Vaeao or Shittu on the Practice squad that we can sigÅ„ to the 53 man roster when needed.
..
Im sure there will be plenty of pass rushing situations where Schwartz has 3 of our DEs on the field with Cox, so I don’t think it will be a problem if we only keep 4 DTs
Don’t forget the versatility of our DEs. BG, and VC could both easily move to starting DT should that be required of them.
I don”t know if they’re keeping players just because they have more experience. It’s hard to say. You also have STs factor. Do they keep both Pantale and Braman? Every year we hope we can stash a guy or two and they get taken. Gordon and Vaeao are my guys I’m most worried about.
You think Braman is getting cut then?
Hell take the 6th lb spot
He’s at DE now.
Yeah but there not gonna cut him for a scrub 6th lb. The 6th lb wouldn’t play anyways
We’ll see. Many of us think they’ll be looking to add a LB especially with Kendricks being a mess. Braman can play DE if needed in emergency.
Apparently (at least according to Mike and Merrill) Mychal Kendricks threw his football helmet towards the feet of our LB coach last Saturday..
Fake Les Bowen tweeted that 4 days ago lol.
https://twitter.com/Iesbowen/status/769732126581415937
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/771055439752466432
I think we should organize an event where we all meet, attend together, and boo whomever the Browns take with our pick.
they’re going to need a QB
but what if they take the RB over a QB?
5 stars
Yes please.
Hosting the draft in the year we won’t have a 1st round pick is kind of a shame. Bad timing.
And I’m pretty sure we won’t have a 1st rounder. I think we’ll get a 2nd for Sam if we’re lucky and 2 2nds is nice to have, if it pans out this way, but I can’t imagine Sam playing as good that a bidding war will begin. And without at least 2 teams, there won’t even be a 2nd round pick, since we have to trade him for cap reasons and everyone knows that.
But if Howie is good at one thing, it’s trading. So maybe there’s hope. 😉
Maybe, just maybe a package like
Sammy Sleeves, Mychal Kendricks and a 4th round pick will net us a 1st rounder in 2017.
Big If though that both players will stay healthy and deliver on the field as well…
Throw in Ago
Thinking more about this, not having a first round pick is probably why the NFL chose Philadelphia. That shoulderpad wearing goon won’t be ruining the draft for everyone.
“That shoulderpad wearing goon…” You’ve heard of ghosts of Christmas past. That guy can be known as
Goon of Draftday past.
With facepaint … but any reporter who uses that example and any of the other lame clichés really is a lame cliché themself
My apologies for keeping posting this, but is there nobody at the Linc on 9/11? Or at least at the Xfinity sports complex?
I will be going to the game on my own while my wife and kids will go shopping.
Official prediction for the season: 9-7 division winners.
Caveat: if Ryan Matthews is healthy during the right games it could bump to 10. If he is unhealthy for a prolonged period and Barner is as bad as Mike thinks we could drop to 8…or even 7.
Shocker… defense carries.