DJax to the Rescue?
Posted: December 27th, 2016 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 429 Comments »There has been a lot of talk recently about the return of DeSean Jackson to the Eagles in 2017. Brandon Lee Gowton has an update.
According to NFL Network host Dan Hellie, LeSean McCoy recently said in an Instagram Live video that Jackson told him he was going back to Philly. Current Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham then had an interesting response to McCoy’s comments during a Tuesday morning appearance on The Comcast Network’s Breakfast on Broad.
“I’m excited,” Graham said. “He never should have left. Everybody knows that, DeSean, yes, things was happening while he was here, but he’s a good guy. I used to be with him all the time. I know his family very well. I’m just happy because I kind of knew already.”
“I talked to him when Doug [Pederson] got hired,” Graham continued. “He was like ‘Tell coach [to] come get me.’ That type of stuff. We had fun during the season. He was like ‘BG, I’ll be back.’ Just a little fun. But now that it’s official, as far as the season about to be over, I think you’ll be hearing a lot of noise about it […] It’s an exciting feeling to get an Eagle back.”
Earlier this season, Jackson did not rule out a return to Philadelphia. He also praised Eagles head coach Doug Pederson along with rookie quarterback Carson Wentz.
““I’m happy to see Doug there, man,” said Jackson. “I respect him when he was there with Coach [Andy] Reid. I congratulate him on getting the job I think he deserves. He’s done some good things when he left and went to Kansas City, and now he’s back in Philadelphia. So I definitely have a respect for Doug. A good relationship with him as well, too.”
The Eagles are slightly less than awesome at WR (sorry for using such a complex scouting phrase). DJax would offer speed and big play ability that has been lacking the last couple of years. To most people this is a slam dunk move. Bring back the guy who never should have been let go.
There is a great moment in Jurrasic Park when Dr. Malcolm points out that the scientists were so busy focusing on if they could bring back dinosaurs that they failed to ask if they should bring back dinosaurs.
The Eagles could bring DJax back. Should they?
Jackson just turned 30. Speedy players don’t always age well. He missed 6 games last year, but only one this season. He has been slowed at times by nagging injuries. In the last 3 seasons, Jackson has 14 TD catches, hardly a compelling total. He did average 19 yards per catch, which is outstanding. It is also hard to quantify the impact he has on defenses just by his presence on the field. You have to play DBs way back against him and you are taking chances if you single cover him. He is one of the most dangerous home run threats in the game.
There is an argument to be made for both sides. One of the keys to this even being a possibility is price. Jackson is making $6.75M this season. That’s a very reasonable price for his production. In the previous few years he was up over $10M. I don’t think he’s worth that kind of money anymore. Jackson had some financial issues in the past. Is he better now? Will he be looking for mega-bucks? The Eagles won’t have a ton of cap space. They have to be smart shoppers. Other teams will have plenty of room. If Jackson wants every last cent, it won’t be coming from the Eagles.
On a personal level, I have mixed feelings. The Eagles absolutely need WR help. Jackson remains explosive and it would be fun to watch Carson Wentz throwing deep balls to him. It would also be nice for the team to add someone who could play with Wentz for several years. Is Jackson going to be a key receiver for the Eagles 3 years down the road? Maybe. He is a freak. You never know when he’ll hit the wall. The goal as I see it is to build a team that can compete for the Super Bowl. Jackson makes you immediately better, but does he get you closer to being a title team over the next few years?
We know Doug Pederson likes big WRs, but he knows that he needs playmakers for this offense. It will be interesting to see if the Eagles go after DJax, and if they do, how hard they pursue him.
_
IDC who it is, just as long as they can catch a football. woof!
Howie will give him a high AAV and guarantee, while keeping his cap hit low and making him completely cuttable the instant he hits the wall.
Gimme.
Additionally, the sooner we start actually winning, the sooner we’ll be able to *match* other teams’ prices on FAs, rather than having to outbid them.
Bad teams get used as leverage in FA, unless they blow away the rest of the market.
When has anyone been heavily “rumored” ( a free agent still under contract to another team) to come to the eagles during the season and then it actually happened in the offseason? The Eagles are always in stealth mode. You rarely get leaks of what the Eagles are going to do. Most of the moves they make are complete surprises when they actually happen. So I take all of these rumors as Bullshit at this point. It’s easy to connect the dots with the team lacking at WR and fairly desperate for help. D-Jack’s camp could easily be using the Eagles as leverage to get the highest payday he can get on the open market with another team as well. Is it reasonable to expect that the front office will try hard to upgrade WR via FA, draft and trade scenarios? Absolutely. It is fun to think about a D-Jack reunion and debate whether it is the right move, but more likely the Eagles will make a move to upgrade the WR position that we never knew was coming.
“When has anyone been heavily “rumored” ( a free agent still under
contract to another team) to come to the eagles during the season and
then it actually happened in the offseason?”
Terrell Owens
Byron Maxwell
You had an ill-advised breakup with someone you had chemistry with. You have had relationships with several, younger people since then but each one just hasn’t clicked. The most dramatic ending was the one that ended due an arrest for marijuana and a gun possession charge. You had to end that one real quick.
Your recent lamentations are now making you fondly remembering some of those moments in which you had great times with your former flame. You also have heard that they are going to be available again and also been pining for a possible reunion in the not-to-distant future.
This has gotten you really thinking about what this means including the good times you might have again and even more if you got back together. While this has real appeal, it is also probably a mistake.
Maybe you shouldn’t have broken up in the first place but trying to rekindle the past is almost always a mistake – especially with someone who was higher maintenance with bouts of drama & physical fragility. Doesn’t mean you can’t possibly remain acquaintances but getting back together again just has too many possible downsides. Best to remember what you did have and keep moving ahead forward.
Can’t let this one go without a reply, Bob. Great metaphor and true. Well, well done, bro.
How many early facebook users checked out ex girlfriends ..
Autobiographical?
Nope and never dated anyone again after that relationship had ended.
I know a small handful of people that worked for but generally they are the outliers.
Except this is football, not dating and he plays at a position and has a skill set we desperately need.
Rank CB as a higher need given this defensive scheme they play.
I don’t see Jackson giving them a ‘hometown discount’ either. He is going to want to be paid and I can’t see Roseman giving him that type of deal.
Eagles already aren’t in the greatest cap shape because of Kelly’s actions (mainly carry over) and Roseman’s signing binge last offseason.
He isn’t going to come cheap, he’ll come at market value. What does needing CB change about also needing a WR. We can still bring someone in. Also, we have a handful of cuttable contracts. The situation is not ideal but it’s far from dire. We are going to ruin Wentz if we don’t give him competent weapons. That should be priority number one regardless of whether it’s the team’s true biggest nerd or not.
Your crazy Napoleon-like boss made you break up with your girlfriend. Yeah, she was high maintenance, but _damn!_ She had no shortage of suitors, of course, and landed in a situation that never made her regret leaving. You, on the other hand, have had some bad times since then. Your boss got fired, then you got a new idiot boss who yells “oooh raa raa” and talks about “team-building” all the time. You’ve suffered through a string of appearance-challenged chicks and losers of various sorts.
Now your ex is back on the market. A few more miles on her, but she’s still a lot better than what you got. She’s still not marriage material, but let’s be honest.
Neither are you.
“Neither are you.”
In this context, great line.
DJax as no.2 WR draft WR Davis or Williams in the 1st be sweet trio with Matthews in the slot. Signing DJax as a no.1 WR would be foolish.
Here you go
Round 1 Pick 21 (G.B.): Mike Williams, WR, Clemson (A+)
Round 2 Pick 12 (BUF): Taco Charlton, DE, Michigan (A-)
Round 2 Pick 18 (T.B.): Tre’Davious White, CB, LSU (B+)
Round 3 Pick 10: Quenton Nelson, OG, Notre Dame (B+)
Round 3 Pick 20 (WASH): Samaje Perine, RB, Oklahoma (A)
Round 3 Pick 21 (G.B.): Steven Taylor, OLB, Houston (A)
Round 4 Pick 10: Jarron Jones, DT, Notre Dame (A+)
Round 4 Pick 21 (G.B.): Eddie Jackson, SS, Alabama (A+)
Round 5 Pick 1: Dan Skipper, OT, Arkansas (A)
Round 5 Pick 10: Keionta Davis, DE, Chattanooga (B)
Round 6 Pick 10: Donnel Pumphrey, RB, San Diego State (A+)
Round 7 Pick 10: Jeremy Cutrer, CB, Middle Tennessee (B-)
How did we end up with picks from Buffalo and Tampa Bay?
Trade downs
I figured that with GB, but wasn’t 100% sure with the other teams. Makes sense to move back though. Too many needs and too few draft picks.
Yeah, always better to get a few more picks.
There is no way we will be able to trade down to get Williams. If Williams is there you don’t pick up the phone to listen to other teams you have someone run the pick up in a sprint.
Is pumphrey really a round 6 back?
You want him in the 7th or UDFA? I’m always in favor of paying less!
Exactly what I was thinking, Williams, Jackson, and Matthews in the slot. Yes please. This would make the weakest unit on the team the strongest in one year, and could be one of the top WR units in the league.
Problem is that rookie WR’s often aren’t ready or capable of being a number 1 receiver- it takes time to adjust to the game. We would be looking at having a draft pick as a number 1 the following year, not his rookie season.
I think I am behind bringing back DJax just because of the limited quality veteran WR options available in free agency this year. The 2014 WR draft class excluded it is very rare to get quality production out of rookie WR’s, even high picks, and this draft class is not being projected as being a special WR draft.
So we need a vet WR to give Wentz some stability in his development, and specifically someone who can play outside and get downfield in a consistent enough since we have a couple of bigger body underneath guys in Matthews/Ertz who are decent options for that kind of role.
Then look at the list of the upper tier free agent WR’s (from Jimmy K’s list http://www.phillyvoice.com/way-too-early-look-2017-free-agent-wide-receivers/)
Alshon Jeffery – good WR who is going to get PAID, has injury and suspension risks as well.
Torrey Smith – has been poor with 49ers averaging just 36 yards a game, but he was productive Ravens.
Terrelle Pryor – had a breakout year, but there are some weird character concerns being aired by players around him and Browns have endless cap to keep him if they want (and if they don’t that is hardly a ringing endorsement of those issues)
Marquise Goodwin – 4.27 speed but only 655 yards in 4 years…
Cordarrelle Patterson – Huff clone if with more production, not an outside WR solution.
Michael Floyd – talented but has got worse every year and seems to battling alcohol issues
DeSean Jackson – 30 and decending but still a big play maker and runs some of the best deep routes in NFL history and has developed reliable hands.
Out of this list only Jeffery and maybe Pryor have DJax’s kind of production, but he is going to be significantly cheaper than either of those options (both of which have concerns hanging around them) I think you can sign him for 3 year $24mil deal with the ability to get out after 1 year if he suddenly looses a step and becomes ineffective.
Deal structure might look like – $6mil signing, $5mil 2017 fully guaranteed, $7mil 2018 (injury or guaranteed after some date), $6mil in 2019. This kind of deal would give DeSean good Y1 money flow, and some confidence if he plays well he will see out the deal but give Eagles ability to move on either after 1 or 2 years if he decends.
$11 million guaranteed for one year for a 1,000 yard receiver with 4 TDs? Come on? Would you pay that for Matthews? He’s got pretty much the same yards with one less TD. Unrealistic for his production the last three years. Maybe $4 – $6 mil on a show-me contract.
That’s not how football works. All production is not made the same. Desean stretches the field and opens things up for other receivers. Beyond that, Jordan is our only NFL caliber WR. We need to bring in another in free agency. Jefferey and Pryor will cost a fortune, Floyd is falling apart on and off the field, Stills is a poverty version of Desean, and, well, Desean is the best deep threat of all-time and wants to come back.
Also, frontloading a contract for Desean is smart. Really confusing that you would prefer to owe him more in his 33 year old season than to pay him early and be able to move on easily later. He’s not going to sign a one year deal. That’s a clueless comment.
We should bring in Desean and draft a rookie high.
Especially when DeSean’s competing with Garçon and Reed for touches, as opposed to Agholor and Ertz.
Kenny Stills has been mentioned as a younger, less expensive version of DJax.
I’m one of the biggest DeSean fans out there, but I can’t go more than two years and $12 ish million total. He never matched his 2013 production here in any of his 3 years in Washington, so I can’t give him more money in this contract than he got in his prior one with Washington.
I’m 100% in on DeSean………….if the price is right.
This is where I’m at. Jackson’s skill set is what we need, but Jackson himself is a band-aid type player. You can’t sign him for big money.
I can see the contract being essentially that but backloaded to look like 4 years 30 million.
Both Foles and Vick have better deep balls than Cousins, and that’s where DeSean makes his money.
I concur. Huge Jackson fan, but the price has to be reasonable. But I think it will be.
I’m torn on bringing back JaccPot. I know we need help at WR. As long as he isn’t the only piece we add, I think I’d be fine with it. I’d also like to see him mentor Treggs and show him how to use that speed effectively.
If Bryce Treggs, a guy who couldn’t make SF’s roster this year, is on the team next year, the Eagles haven’t “fixed” their problems at WR.
He’s practice squad eligible at the very least. Nobody implied he’d be starting. DEPTH
Ha! He aint gonna mentor no one & dont think Treggs is worth mentoring anyway
It was just a thought. I love how some of you fans speak in such definitive terms as if you know so much more. Maybe Treggs isn’t worth it, I didn’t see much of him this season but he’s a UDFA for a reason. Maybe he needs time. All players don’t reach full potential in year one. Geez
You don’t spend 7m annually to mentor a UDFA who has shown hardly anything at all. Just a strange thought process to be hesitant on Desean but to be able to come to terms with it since he could mentor a JAG.
Show me where I said that would be the sole purpose of signing Desean. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
My hesistance on signing Desean has to do with him declining and not being that great of a Red Zone threat. If you need any further clarification on my thoughts, pleased let me know and I’ll get ya straight.
Show me where I said you said that would be the sole purpose, dingus. You proffered it as a significant enough point to mention while also talking about how on the fence you are. As of that is something significant to consider about the signing.
“Declining”
Based on what? That he was hurt last year? You have fear of him declining, he is not actively declining. These are different things.
He’s not a redzone threat? lol! He wouldn’t be brought in to be a redzone threat. We already have big body WR’s, we have zero legitimate deep threats.
How many red zone td’s has he posted? Even his best year here? He’s a deep threat for damn sure and can take it to the house on any given play. When I say Red-Zone, i mean from the 20 yard line in. Where his speed effectiveness is obviously diminished. I’m well aware we have zero deep threat at the moment. Arguing against me for the sake of proving a point is stupid. I want the same damn thing as you! You’re just too damn focused on one statement that wasn’t the main idea of what I was even saying. Good day!
Why tf are you rambling about the redzone?
Your points are terrible and you should feel terrible. Desean isn’t Julio Jones? He isn’t a top notch redzone threat along with being an elite deep threat (what we need)? What a bum!
You’re a fucking dumbass. Move the fuck on. Are you 12? Bwaahaaahaaa!!
Good job. You couldn’t, ya damn mouth-breathing moron. Go play with your ant farm.
DeSean is a natural. Mentoring for him would be like: ‘play better dude’
“Come back for the ball, dipshit.”
The idea of dJax & treggs speeding 30yds down field every play creating all this open space certainly is nice
Treggs is JAG. Will never be more.
Treggs is awful, and won’t be on the roster next season if we add anyone who can serve as a deep threat.
I just don’t get it – Jackson has very similar numbers to Matthews. Both are approaching 1,000 yards (Jackson has 80-100 more) with D-Jac with 4 TDs and J-Mat with 3 TDs.
For the right price, maybe. But Jackson is going to want a payday and he’s just not worth it.
How do you know what he’s going to sign for until you see a final deal with somebody?
Adam Shefter is saying in 7-8 mill range
I was thinking 8 mil a year, which would be perfectly reasonable for both sides.
Gee, I don’t know – every WR signing in the past.
Why are you frequently so elevated?
Washington has a lot of weapons to spread the ball around. I’m not saying I’m 100 percent on board with him coming back(depending on price), but Carson needs help. Matthews and Agholor cant simply be relied on.
Djax is a far superior option than both of them.
Jackson is averaging 18 yards per catch. Matthews is averaging 11 yards per catch. That’s a huge difference and speaks to Jackson’s big play ability.
Sure – “big play ability” and 4 TDs – yeah, let’s give him $20 million!
I’m not saying give him $20M. Like you said, the price has to be right. And he absolutely has big play ability. It doesn’t always have to go for a TD. If he’s getting 20-30 yard catches, it still forces the defense to respect the deep ball.
To put it a different way, Jackson has 100 more yards on 20 fewer receptions that Matthews.
it’s not the touchdowns it’s that he can get a struggling offense to the redzone. he’s getting 1100 yds w/ someone w/ no arm basically.
Yup. Cousins has one of the worst deep balls in the NFL, and has missed DeSean for points several times over the past few years.
If you can’t see the difference between Jackson and Matthews then you don’t watch football. Jackson can get separation, Matthews can not. Jackson has much better body control, especially on the side lines, where Matthews doesn’t know what a toe tap is and feels he needs to jump with kicking his feet on every reception. These two receivers are night and day, and yes if Matthews was on the market he probably is getting $7 million +.
So where is the big separation in productivity? So big deal, he runs fast – where are all the yards and TDs. If you can’t understand that, you might want to stick with soccer – they run fast and don’t do much of anything
Washington has lots of weapons, so naturally DJax isn’t going to get a lot of targets. He never has been that kind of player, anyway. What he can do is make the defense change the kind of coverages in order to account for his speed, plus make the occasional huge play. This means bigger holes for the RBs and bigger windows for the QB.
Another thing he won’t do is drop a lot of passes that hit him in the hands.
…how often do you think Matthews would be getting looks if he was playing next to Reed and Garcon?
Hell, now that Matthews’ snaps aren’t getting inflated by Kelly’s system, DeSean has 170 more yards on 20 fewer targets.
Watching Matthews high step into the sidelines on boundary catches is one of the most infuriating things about being an Eagles fan over the past few seasons. I’ve seen high school players execute a toe drag better.
The price will be key. Like Tommy said, you can’t measure the effect on the slot guys. Having safety deep to his side will create opportunities for Ertz and JMatt.
If he wants the big dollars, he’ll end up in CLE or LA. If he’s chasing a ring, he might choose less money and come here or perhaps KC or AZ.
I like Djax as a player but Id be ok with going another direction such as Kenny Stills.
Kenny Stills would be better long term. Stretch the field ability in a much younger player but I’m guessing he’s out of our price range.
We still dont know what either is going command yet but I’m ok with spend a 1M or 2M for a player about 6 years younger.
Wide receivers are expensive and will likely be more so with the rising cap number, but it’s hard to predict until Jeffery signs (I’m assuming he’s the top wr in the free agent class this year).
True. Market still has to be set. Alshon and then Pryor have to sign.
I think/hope Stills never being 1K yard WR drives his price down some. Dajx is about 30 yards away from 1k. If he has a big game he might hit 1100 yards this season.
Edit: Also have to account for guys like ODB getting new contracts.
Actually Pryor will probably set the market simply because I don’t think he’s ever hitting free agency. Whatever he gets, I assume Jeffery gets more. Though the 4 game suspension could hurt his contract. I’m also not sure how good the draft is in terms of top tier talent and depth at WR.
I just want Corey Davis
He does have a great, but misspelled, name.
How will the Giants be able to pay ODB?
The Giants have $27M in cap space.
Thanks. Just wanted to know because of the defensive signings this past offseason.
Stills may be younger, but he’s also much worse at football.
He’s never had a season as good as DeSean’s 2016. Why should we expect that to change going forward?
I would argue his 2nd year is as good as desean’s 2016, but to answer your question, I’m basing it off the fact that he’s a younger player who looked like he was on the way to being a very good player while in New Orleans. He took a step back after the trade to Miami. He has improved this year in comparison to his first year in there.
That is a red flag though. Why was New Orleans willing to part with him so early in his career?
DeSean still has a game left to play, and he already has more yards and TDs…with Kirk Cousins throwing him the football.
And yeah, someone who drops off that much when going from a first ballot, inner circle HoF QB in Brees to a pretty good QB like Tannehill is always a red flag. DeSean’s put up 1000 yard seasons with McNabb, Vick, Foles, (probably) Cousins and Colt McCoy.
I guess my question with Jackson is how much tread does he have left on the tire? Speed guys tend to drop off REALLY fast and Jackson is on the wrong side of 30.
Steve Smith averaged over 1000 yards a year from 30-33, and that includes the season where Jimmy Clausen started 10 games, haha (he was on a 1100 yard pace in Matt Moore’s 4 games as the primary QB).
There’s a difference between speed guys, and guys with special speed, IMO.
Because Sproles and Jenkins…
Smith and Jackson would cost the same, granted Smith without the guaranteed money at this point. But Smith isn’t remotely on the level of DeSean. Plus we would have to trade something, though that could just be Treggs.
Not sure any of our WR’s are worth trading; but you are correct- Smith isn’t close to Jackson in any category other than speed.
ew to all those options
Picking DJax would help the Eagles focus on other needs in the draft.
Damn it PPK! We dont draft for needs, we draft BPA!!!
We have to come away with WR for Wentz at some point this draft
Definitely!!
So can we draft the BPA @ WR!!??
so everyone in the nfc east could make the playoffs except us….these really are the end times
Hm. Hate to point out, all those other franchises also have Super–okay, I won’t point it out.
Jerry Jones strikes me as the aging gobber who just struck the lottery this year. With Synder finally taking more of a back seat though, I like the front office more in Washington and even though the Giants have been very up/down under Reese I’d take him over Roseman too. His hits have been bigger than his misses especially given their picks later in the draft round.
Roseman got us Carson Wentz.
I know your a big Roseman fan. I’m not and didn’t want him back here as the GM.
Lurie made his bet though and has to see how it plays out over the next 3-4 years (including this one).
Sub .500 season didn’t disappointment this year because I had low expectations (6-10) going into the year. I thought it was a clear rebuilding year with a rookie head coach and QB.
Roseman’s offseason last year has turned out to be very mixed again. He can’t afford that this offseason & has to have a killer draft with immediate impact out of their 1st round pick.
This isn’t necessarily a young team on defense and if they want to replicate what they did under the early days of Reid they need a few upgrades defensively including 2 new CBs.
The guy that I really have not been impressed by this year is Schwartz. Yeah their defense has been improved moving to a 4-3 & bringing in a few new starters. Schwartz is a clear upgrade over Davis too but that is more of a backhanded compliment.
Schwartz though hasn’t impressed me with this ability to adjust in-game or as the season has progressed. Maybe it is the injuries and overall talent at CB. Have to wait and see but I like Fipp the best out of their overall coaching staff right now (Pederson, Reich, Schwartz).
How quickly we forget the billy davis years and the juan castillo years – schwartz isn’t a guy that came to a team that perennially had a good defense and just kept the train rolling.
Did the defense get beat sometimes, yes. Was it frustrating, of course. But we’ve had an above average defense this year. Would be interested to see improvements next year.
He needs to mix it up more. I like the core idea of his system, but it’s too vanilla. Mixing more blitzes in would make his core scheme more effective in my opinion.
Castillo is a fine OL coach but that entire process in which he was named the DC was ridiculous. Castillo wasn’t put in a position to succeed and didn’t. It was one of the things that the Reid critics really harped on & justifiably so until his firing.
Davis was also really bad too and hasn’t had a single good defense in the NFL. If he ever gets a coordinator level position in the NFL, I’ll be stunned.
Saying Schwartz is an improvement over those 2 to me doesn’t mean much. Like you said we’ll see this year. This defense has had their moments but as the season has dragged on they have gotten exposed a bit.
Roseman got us Carson Wentz.
It’s funny you make those two arguments in the same post. When most people say they don’t like Roseman it’s because he’s not “a football guy”
Yet, Jim Schwartz is practically the definition of what most people would call “a football guy” He’s the footballiest football guy that ever footballed a guy.
Paraphrasing Jim Schwartz on what he looks for in a cornerback: “Speed and the ability to stick with a receiver man-to-man are not important. I’m looking for a guy that’s a competitor”
Yeah, I think I’d rather have personnel decisions made by an accountant acting upon the evaluations of a strong scouting department than a “football guy”
My knock on Roseman wasn’t because he ‘wasn’t a football guy’ but was based on his previous results as the GM including some high profile busts in the draft & mixed track record in FA.
He also strikes me as a guy who is a corporate backstabber/schemer who doesn’t inspire much good will or camaraderie with his coworkers and subordinates.
If the Eagles were going to start over last offseason, I wanted a new perspective from outside the organization including at GM. Not because ‘new is always better’ but because of Roseman’s previous role here and the last of success they have had now since ’08.
As for Schwartz, I have never been a fan of ‘rah-rah’ talk tough coaches. Talk is cheap. Aggressive sensationalism even more so.
I wasn’t a fan of Buddy Ryan’s style here and thought Rhodes was out of his depth as a head coach. Just isn’t a schtick that has a long shelf-life in any one place especially if that team doesn’t experience success.
He’s up and down, he’s not he worst. The question is is there someone else available?
I don’t feel like Roseman was ever really given a chance to be top dog until this past offseason. He might have been GM, but his moves in the draft and FA were heavily influenced by coaches who had a lot of power. Does anybody really think that Roseman suddenly fell in love with Oregon and PAC players when Chip Kelly was coach? I am going to judge him from the day Chip Kelly left and so far he’s doing pretty damn well. In my opinion he deserves three years.
I’m not convinced by Pederson either. I could easily envision a scenario in which Roseman holds up his end, but the Eagles decide to go in a different coaching direction after 2017 or 2018. But I think he’s a decent caretaker now for the rebuild. He’s QB oriented and doesn’t have the power to mess with what Howie is trying to build.
Agreed Roseman deserves at least 3 years especially after making the Wentz move. I’d be willing to give him 4 too if this team makes the playoffs the 3rd year too.
Snyder went out and got SEA’s old GM out of AA. Jerry Jones made one fix, take OL 1st every year (and this is the second year out of the last 3 that they’ve been a top 5 team in the league), as for the giants when you suck you get good players, they finally got one that can carry the team.
Reese has 2 rings now and this Giants’ team strikes me as one capable of making another deep season playoff run even if their offense is highly flawed. NFC is wide open this year.
If the question is about bringing back dinosaurs, the answer is yes. Dinosaurs!
Even stegosaurus? I feel like stegosaurus is a dick.
Wouldn’t that be Dickosaurus?
what about megasorass?
Either way, I’m glad that they are extinct!
Stegosaurus is the Dallas Cowboys of the Late Jurassic.
This really is a money thing. Jackson could be offended by how little HR might want to offer him. And is this really DP’s decision? Jeff Lurie likes to have good relationships with his players, and he was not happy about the perception that the franchise was being turned on its head. So if Jackson is signed, I think t could happen with the HC abstaining. If DP is decidedly opposed, I think it doesn’t happen.
So the official story is that Rex Ryan was fired over a dispute about who should be Buffalo’s starting QB. I am no fan of RR, but that is a pathetic reflection of Buffalo’s FO/owner. Making Taylor his #1 not only made sense, it is absolutely his decision to make. He’s better off gone. Buffalo has dropped way down in stature. Cleveland-east.
Bufallo didn’t want to play Taylor because the remainder of his contract would be non-guaranteed. Pretty sleezy imo
They should have never done the contract in the first place, but Rex wanted him– at least they were smart and made it possible for the team to get out from under it. Benching him is the right move for the front office and team
Agree completely. Well structured deal for a guy who is, at best, a bottom third of the league stopgap player at QB.
Can’t discuss players without a contract number. Jackson will want more than he is worth, which is true of almost any decent name that hits FA. I’d rather get 2-3 middle of the road receivers, guys who are available after the first round of signings. Same for a back and an oline. Then go bpa, focusing on offense and cb. No big name FA signings this year, cap isn’t in that great of a shape, and it’s not how you build around a second year qb.
Bring back jaqq. Bring back jaqq.
We will have to see what the market bears, but bringing Jackson back bodes well for both sides. I could see it being a 4 year deal in the $30 million range, but only $10 being guaranteed in the first 2 years.
A few points–
1. Jackson left here unceremoniously; a man with his pride and ego may want to end it on his terms, unlike his first departure. Coming back to Philly gives him an opportunity to “right the ship” and get another chance at this thing.
2. We have a need, and so does he. Jackson will need a new place to play football; we just happen to need a veteran WR who can stretch the field, catch the ball, and add some swagger to a WR corpse that is lacking just that….. it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.
3. Much like when Trotter returned to Philly from Washington and was effective for a few years- we can expect the same from Jackson. Typically we don’t sign 30 year old WR’s, but we do make exceptions for the rare case. This is a rare case, worthy of an exemption.
4. Howie loves Jackson. He signed him to an extension, was part of the team that helped draft him in the 2nd round, and was “encouraged” to let him go by head coach Chippah. A return would be redemption for both parties.
5. WE NEED WR HELP!! Imagine relieving the pressure on Nelson to be a #1 receiver; DGB would have a mentor and someone that could push him (and relate to him on a personal level); Matthews would have someone to open up passing lanes so that he can work from the slot.
Sounds like I am in the very silent minority about wanting to invest resources else where. Usually if I don’t want something this bad, it is bound to happen. I’ll just shaddup and let you guys enjoy it when he signs.
Go Orioles!
You’re not alone.
Would I rather have Alshon Jeffery for a few million more? Of course. If that happens I will have no problem with not bringing Jackson back. But I’m not counting on it.
And I admit that’s an extreme case. But if the choice is our current receivers vs. our current receivers plus Jackson, that’s a no brainer.
If that is my only option I would take it. I think we can set the bar higher though.
Maybe. There doesn’t seem to be many other WRs available.
6. Jackson would relish the chance to be the #1 receiver again after playing #2 to Garcon for 3 years. He would be super motivated.
7. We specifically need a deep threat to learn more about Carson Wentz. Is he a deep ball guy that will flourish with a serious deep threat? Maybe… We really don’t know yet. A few years of Jackson could inform future moves to create the best possible situation for Wentz.
Getting rid of DeSean Jackson was a horrible mistake. DeSean is an Eagle. It is time to bring him back and correct that mistake. I want to see him retire an Eagle just like Brent Celek.
I respect your right to love whomever, but that is the definition of hyperbole. From Concrete Charlie to Jerome Brown, from Reggie White to Keith Jackson, the one quality that runs deep through HOF Eagles is toughness, with grace and love of team close 2nd and third. If you can honestly see those qualities in Jackson, I want what your drinking.
And I look around the NFC east and see the most noticeable quality of the best receivers is that they are headcases. Jackson may not be a Dez Bryant or a Beckham Jr, but I’d say his headcase to talent ratio is probably lower than those guys.
Where can I find head case to talent stats? Just wondering. I’m not a Jackson hater, and I know he is a favorite player of some Eagles fans, so good luck.
I am just eyeing up the head case to talent thing. Do you disagree with my appraisal? In hindsight, Jackson certainly looks like a much milder headache than Beckham and Bryant are now.
I don’t disagree. My indifference to Jackson is not at all based on his personality. Bryant and Beckham (up to now) are definitely top-tier WR’s – Bryant is other-worldly, and their heads are a consideration. Jackson was never in their league, and he’s not the potential distraction that they are. if Alshon Jeffery is available and we can afford him, there is no excuse for targeting Jackson in my opinion.
Agreed, but pinning our hopes on getting the most sought after FA wide receiver when we are still recovering from Chip Kelly’s mismanagement and our available cap space is only around middle of the pack seems like a recipe for disappointment.
Hopefully we draft a WR this year and he works out. But you can never count on that and Jackson would be an excellent bridge to the future even if he won’t be around for most of Wentz’s career.
Again with hyperbole. If we’re not talking specifically about running speed, nothing about Jackson is “excellent” in my opinion. He can provide ancillary benefits like keeping a DB deep on running plays, maybe getting more room for Ertz or Matthews. He’s never going to keep DC’s awake at night for his ability to take over a drive like a Mike Evans. He’ll catch the occasional bomb, and if it doesn’t result in a TD he’ll come off the field. Jeffery, on the other hand, would be a primary and frequent target for Wentz that would be worth the investment, in my opinion. He’s worth cutting some dead wood for.
I think we’re talking about the same thing, but perhaps you have much more confidence in the Eagles’ ability and willingness to outbid every other team in the league for Alshon Jeffery.
I am not comparing Jackson to Jeffery. There’s no comparison for multiple reasons.
If we get Jeffery, great! I just don’t think it is very likely at all.
Since dream team, howie’s MO has been to cycle through players coming off injury or otherwise disjointed (often by coaching/scheme change). No one is happy with the last 2 FAs we broke the bank for so I really can’t see them doing that deal.
Think having djax will make the receiving corps above average. Djax, Mathews, Burton, Ertz, Ags — I can live with that.
I love Jackson, but I wouldn’t go that far. Barring a draft pick coming in and performing well immediately, Jackson + the current receivers would still be one of the poorer WR corps in the league. Ertz and Burton are decent, but not enough to significantly compensate for having a 30+ year old #1, a guy we’re looking to upgrade at #2 no matter who it is, and an average slot receiver in Matthews.
Comparing obj and Bryant to Jackson is crazy. Different tiers entirely. I have had conversations with friends who are Giants fans about how I don’t envy them for having to root for obj. They all wince and agree.
Fitzgerald, Boldin, ARob, Jones, plenty of high char, play the game the right way wideouts. Since when do we lower our standards to the rest of the division?
I believe we set that standard on that when we brought in Terrell Owens.
Yeah, that worked out well.
It did for one year, didn’t it? And Jackson has certainly proven to be much more retainable than Owens was.
But the point is you can’t say “lower our standards to the rest of the division” when we were the ones that lowered the bar first.
Nah, the Cowboys go way back. North Dallas Forty?
Things don’t exist in a vacuum. He may very well have torpedoed the next season, with a very talented roster. Would that money have been better spent on another receiver? Quite possibly.
How many Super Bowls did the Eagles win with Owens or Jackson? Many WRs are divas but the winning WRs manage to put the team first during the games. From Lynn Swann to Larry Fitzgerald they block and occasionally tackle. Owens and Jackson not so much. This is a team, team, team game!
So many fans don’t get that team thing. The ones with their name on the Lombardi almost invariably play as better than the sum of the parts.
How many Super Bowls did the Eagles go to with Owens? 1. How many Super Bowls did they not go to without Owens? 48
This is an interesting approach. What strategies are you proposing we follow based on past Super Bowl success?
Trent Dilfer has more Super Bowl wins than Dan Marino…see, you need to get a QB that plays the position the right way. Like Trent, who is clearly the superior QB due to his Super Bowl success. Not a malcontent like Marino that’s always yelling at his teammates during the game.
How many did we get to with Owens? How many did we get to after? How many playoff games w djacc, how many after.
If djacc wasn’t a difference maker we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Have to laugh. No one thinks the Eagles should pay Jackson 11 mill, but when Kelly cut him to save that much, it was “throwing him away”. For a town with such knowledgeable fans, there sure are plenty who don’t understand that talent cannot be evaluated independently from contract.
Oh, so it was a salary thing now? Interesting that the reason for throwing Jackson away has now changed when all the original reasons turned out to be BS.
Nope, been saying it was a money thing since day one. Granted, his lack of leadership skills and one-dimensional play factors into his evaluation. But it was always a salary thing, fans frequently overlook the fact that money rules.
When the Eagles cut Jackson, they saved 6 million but also suffered a 6 million dead money hit. This was at a time when they were under the cap by around 17 million.
I don’t think your math adds up. You can say that Jackson wasn’t worth the 12 million+, even though he was coming off the best year of his career and second best season for an Eagles receiver ever, but the Eagles didn’t save 12 million, they saved 6 million. Surely Jackson was worth 6 million dollars.
No, they saved 11 mill. I’ve been over this a ton of times with various people. Cutting him saved 11 mill overall cap space, which is all that really matters. I do understand people thinking he was worth putting up with for 6 mill, but that math was off.
How? Are you saying that the dead money against the cap didn’t happen, or that you don’t believe that dead money against the cap affects how much a team can spend against the cap?
No, I’m saying they saved 11 mill.
Jeffrey Lurie saved 12 mil. The Eagles could only spend 6 of that on players.
Usually when people talk about savings, they are specifically referencing money that is able to be spent on players, because nobody cares that billionaire owners put a few more million in their pockets.
No, they saved 10.5 mill to spend on other players, only 6 of which was available for that same offseason.
All if it was available to spend after that season. It was the last year of his deal.
No, he had 3 years left.
Accelerating bonus money forward doesn’t reduce the net savings. He had already been paid that money, not cutting him just spread it out over 3 years. And his salary was going to go up even higher. Dead money was dead whether they cut him or not.
If that cap space is immediately used up to replace the guy you just released with inferior talent, is that still all that matters?
What if it was used to sign Jenkins and McCleod, who cost about that amount last year combined? It’s not a direct correlation league, resources have to be flexible based on position availability. I feel you on the crappy state of the WR corps. I just can’t look at Jackson without seeing the team as a whole. He cost too much, and is horrible at too many things. High paid vets set the tone on teams, and I don’t see him setting a winning tone. It’s too easy for fans to focus on stats and highlights, but there really is a lot more to the game.
If they actually saved cap space by cutting Jackson and signed two really good safeties I’d be all for it. Jackson is far from a perfect or even great player. I’m not saying that choosing to move on from him because he’s a one trick pony that disappears for long stretches is necessarily a poor decision.
What I’m saying, is that we did not save money by cutting him. We actually ended up dedicating more cap space to the #2WR position in 2014 by cutting him and signing Cooper instead. That is absolutely a direct correlation. They had a guy under contract to play one of the starting WR positions. They decided to sign a different guy who was a FA that year and cut the former starter. That couldn’t possibly be any more correlated.
Further, the direct effect of that personnel decision to switch out DeSean Jackson for Riley Cooper caused us to have LESS cap space that year than we would have had if we had just kept DeSean and let Riley Cooper leave in FA without resigning him. So how would we have used LESS cap space to sign more players?
The fact that it cost us more cap space that year than it would have to keep him should be proof enough that the move was not financially motivated. But, when you add in the additional, unintended costs that we incurred in both salary and resources (a first round pick) trying to replace his production it proves that the decision to release him, absorb his dead money cap hit in 2014 and then spend more money on free agents to replace him netted us a grand total savings of $667k per year.
So not only did it fail to net us any immediate cap savings it has proven to barely net us any long term savings in actual reality.
If you don’t believe me regarding the $6.25M cap charge he carried on our 2014 cap even though he wasn’t on our team anymore, feel free to look at the spread sheet for yourself. http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/cap/2014/
Scroll to the bottom where they list dead money cap charges. You’ll note that it says the following right above the list of dead money charges: “Cap breakdowns for players who have been traded or released. All count against the team’s salary cap.”
When you use up almost 5% of your total cap space on a player that doesn’t even play for you, you are not doing that because it’s such a great financial bargain that helps your cap situation. You’re doing that because you feel it’s worth using up almost 5% of your cap space just to rid yourself of someone.
You wanna argue that Jackson was getting paid to much…I agree. You wanna argue that Jackson wasn’t worth what his contract was paying him…I agree. You want to argue that Jackson isn’t a well rounded WR that succeed in many different ways…I agree. But, when you say that cutting him saved us a ton of cap space that we were then able to spend on other players, you are just simply wrong. That is simply not the reality of how the cap ramifications worked out by us cutting him.
DeSean had three years left on his deal when we released him. The cap numbers for those final three years were: $10.4M, $9M, and $8M. Instead of spending an average of just over $9M a year we instead did the following:
We cut Jackson for nothing in return and immediately incurred a dead cap hit of $6.25M. So we essentially wasted $6.25M of our cap space to pay DeSean Jackson to play for the Washington Redskins. We also signed Riley Cooper $5M to take DeSean’s starting spot at WR in 2014, $4M in 2015 and actually had a dead cap hit of $2.4M this year as we were still (in cap terms) paying Riley Cooper almost two and a half million dollars to sit at home listening to country music and scratching his nuts.
Already, between the dead cap hit for Jackson and Riley Coopers new deal we essentially went from paying Jackson $10.4M to paying $11.25M for the opportunity to start Riley Cooper over him. A total cap savings of negative $850k.
The following year we signed Miles Austin to a deal to compete with Cooper for a cap hit of $2.25M and drafted Nelson Agholor with our first round pick with average yearly cap hits of about $2.25M. So in 2015 we went from being obligated to pay DeSean $9M to paying trio of Riley Cooper, Miles Austin and Nelson Agholor $9M. For a whopping cap savings of zero dollars.
In 2016, in what would have been the final and cheapest year of DeSean’s contract with us, we paid Riley Cooper $2.4M just to go home and not take a single snap for us, we paid Agholor $2.13M to suck something awful, and DGB $700k, for a cap savings of just under $3M of what we would have been paying Jackson.
All told it took three years for us to finally see a financial benefit for a grand total of just over $2M, or an average of $667k a season. Do you still think this move was financially motivated?
And keeping him would have cost the team an additional 11 mill. Doesn’t matter what the dead money is at that point, there are no time machines to go back and rewrite contracts.
What in God’s name are you talking about? What are you talking about time machines to go rewrite contracts? Do you know how the salary cap works? A players cap hit is not the same thing as the actual dollars he would receive from Jeff Lurie during that year. It is a combination of his base salary and bonuses. Even though the player gets bonuses upfront, for cap purposes the bonuses can get spread evenly across the years of the contract. However, if the player is cut prior to completing the contract you still owe the cap space for all that bonus money that was going to count against the future years of the contract. All the remaining prorated bonus cap hits accelerate and are all charged to your cap the year you cut the player.
That’s what happened here. A dead money cap hit, is simply money that counts against your cap for a player that is not on your team. It should be pretty obvious that with limited cap space teams typically try very hard to avoid dedicating millions of dollars of cap space to players that don’t even play on the team.
Prior to being cut, Jackson’s cap hit was set to be $10.4M that year. After he was cut, his cap hit did not drop to zero. It only dropped to $6.25M. That means that cutting Jackson saved us $4.15M. Which is the same exact thing as saying it would have effectively only cost us $4.15M more dollars to keep him than it would have to cut him.
You are so very seriously wrong here.
No, no, no. 😉 Read the other response, you are focusing on one year vs overall cap savings.
Do you really think that if the team had kept Jackson, none of those guys would have been signed? Just Matthews and Jackson for the receiving corp?
In the offseason prior to 2014, Riley Cooper was a FA and DeSean was under contract as was Maclin who was returning from the ACL injury. The front office decided to resign Riley Cooper and give him starters money. Clearly this was part of the plan that involved signing Cooper as the starter alongside Maclin and getting rid of DeSean.
If they had instead decided to keep DeSean and simply have him and Maclin as the starting receivers, I’m quite positive that they would not have signed Riley Cooper to a contract that paid him to be a starter. They paid him to be a starter, because they had decided to replace Jackson with Cooper. If they weren’t getting rid of Jackson, no, I don’t think they would have signed Cooper to replace him.
In 2014, Cooper was terrible and that offseason, Maclin left in FA. So we signed Miles Austin and drafted Nelson Agholor. If we had instead kept Jackson, I think we would have been just fine going on with Jackson, Matthews and perhaps a mid round draft pick or a lower level FA. I don’t think we would have gone out and paid Miles Austin a fully guaranteed $2.5M salary in desperation, nor do I think that there would be such urgency to take a WR in the first round of that draft.
But, even if you want to take Austin and Agholor out of the calculations (I wont let you ignore Cooper, since his signing was directly related to the decision to release Jackson), we still only saved a grand total of about $5.5M over 3 years. Nowhere near this $11M windfall you keep speaking of that is completely fictitious.
I agree DeSean was making too much money. If you could go back in time and not offer him that much money that would have probably been a decent decision. But, once you give out a contract that has a decent signing bonus, you’re kind of stuck with that player for a certain amount of time, because it actually ends up costing you more money to cut and replace them given the dead cap charges. This is why big FA contracts are such a risk and can put teams in cap space hell because you can’t get that cap space back. If you cut them you end up with a big dead cap hit sucking up cap space and giving you zero return on that investment and you still have to replace that player, so financially it just doesn’t make sense.
That’s what happened with DeSean. We cut him and signed Cooper to replace him. The net effect of that was that it cost us more cap space to do that than it would have if we had just kept DeSean and not signed Cooper.
Forget about all the years after that. Just look at 2014. Two choices you can make: Keep DeSean which will count $10.4M against your cap OR cut DeSean and replace him with Riley Cooper and it will cost $11.25M against your cap that year. That was the decision the Eagles were faced with and they choose to do the one that replaced DeSean with Riley Cooper and also cost them an additional $825k in cap space.
And, now you’re coming on and saying you agree with that decision, because it saved us so much cap space. Really? No. It absolutely did not.
Now, conversely, had we kept Jackson at his cap hit of $10.4M in 2014, we could have readdressed the very real issue of him being overpaid and a less than ideal #1 WR the following offseason. In 2015, his cap number was set to be $9M and his dead cap hit would have dropped to $2.65M. That offseason he could have been cut for a savings of $6.35M or we could have simply rolled with him for the final two years of his contract which were reasonable at $9M and $8M a year cap hits.
The team saved 10.5 mill of cap space, and even after signing multiple receivers to replace him, that roughly paid for Jenkins. The lack of development of wideouts is kind of tangential, though I agree the organization has not done well recently in that dept.
Here’s an excellent article on the cap ramifications of Chip Kelly’s personnel moves, including cutting Jackson. You should definitely give it a read.
http://mcnabborkolb.com/blog/2015/9/18/how-cutting-desean-jackson-continues-to-hurt-the-eagles
Kind of hard to follow the logic in that article, it’s all over the place. Couple of things. One, it specifically mentioned what I’ve been trying to explain to you, that front end money is the same as money spread out over the life of a contract. You are obsessing over the fact that cutting Jackson accelerated his cap hit. It’s true the team only saved about 4 mill that first offseason, but over the life of the contract they saved 10.5 mill, and that’s what really counts. Second, the article mentions his salary of 10.25 mill, when it was actually 10.5 with the roster bonus. Maybe minor, but that kind of sloppiness implies a lack understanding. The kind which trickles over into the fan base. 😉
Jesus…dude. I’m completely aware of how the new CBA effects cap roll over and how money spent now is the same as money spent tomorrow. I’m not obsessing over it, I’m accounting for the cap hits associated with his signing bonus, which you have to do regardless of roll over. You are ignoring those hits completely because you don’t understand how to calculate the cap hits, so you’re rolling shit over that isn’t there to roll over.
But, whatever…Let’s just go with your incorrect numbers. We saved $10.5M over the total length of the contract (2014-2016). They spent $12.5M of cap space on Riley Cooper over that same time span. Explain the savings then in the decision to replace DeSean with Cooper.
Ok, the Riley Cooper comparisons really confuse the point. A discussion of the team’s talent eval for wideouts is another long discussion, and we’d probably agree. The team saved 10.5 mill by cutting Jackson. Maybe 2014 would have been different with him, maybe that was the best expenditure of that money. I don’t agree, but that isn’t the discussion most of Philly had when he was cut.
It doesn’t confuse the point at all. It’s the whole point. You can’t just talk about the financial benefits of cutting DeSean without accounting for the cost to replace him once he was cut.
It’s like you were driving an expensive Mercedes to work everyday that had a car payment of $500 a month. And said I’m going to sell that and buy a new car. Except the new car cost you $400. Now you’re going around telling everyone how smart you are and that you saved $500 a month by getting rid of the Mercedes. I come along and point out that in reality you really only saved $100 a month when you account for the cost of the replacement car. And, you say that confuses the point. It’s starting to make my head spin. Let’s just agree to disagree.
So if you sell your Mercedes for 100k, then turn around and buy a used
Hyundai with the money, does that mean the sale of the Mercedes was the bad deal, or the purchase of the Hyundai?
Since you bought the Hyundai first and then got rid of the Mercedes for nothing (just took the monthly payments off your books)…both I guess. Really it’s one decision. You replaced a nice car with a piece of shit because you thought it would save you money. In reality you’ve spent so much trying to fix the piece of shit that you’ve saved no money overall compared to what you would have spent just keeping the Mercedes. Yet you’re still telling everyone how smart it was to spend just as much money on a Hyundai as you would have on a Mercedes, because gosh that Mercedes was expensive.
Also fascinating that the article says the contract was team friendly because it made cutting him easy, with virtually no wasted money (the signing bonus replaced first year salary money). Then the author turns around and criticizes the team for going ahead and taking advantage of the ease with which he could get cut. Look, we can argue the merits of Jackson all day. What is not open to interpretation is that the team saved 10.5 mill by cutting him. Confusing that fact confuses the entire debate.
He could be cut easily starting the following offseason. Not the offseason we did it. And, the point of being able to cut him, is you can cut him whenever he stops performing at a high level. But, cutting him the year before it becomes easy to cut him, while taking on the large dead cap charge, while handing a terrible WR starter money on top of that, was not a smart move.
They cut him the year of his highest salary. That seems to be the opportune time, to me.
salary was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Already had tension from day 1 with Kelly – djax put up a huge year and wanted a bump in salary, and kelly was like gtfoh.
DeSean said that he wanted a reworking of his deal that shifted some of his salary into bonus money, because there was no longer any guaranteed money left on his deal. That is not an absurd request for a player in their prime that just put up a career year. And, it’s not like the Eagles wouldn’t have gotten something in return either. Jackson would have negotiated for a little bit more financial security with some guaranteed money in case he had a career ending injury and the Eagles would have benefitted by freeing up some cap space by being able to spread that money over a few years in the new reworked deal. Happens all the time in the NFL and most of the time it’s something that a club who is concerned with freeing up cap space asks the player to do for them. And, when the player does it they are usually praised for helping the team out. But, when a player hints that he thinks he deserves a bit of a guaranteed commitment from his team, he’s usually painted as a malcontent locker-room cancer. I just don’t see the financial benefits that we apparently received by ridding ourselves of our best offensive weapon.
Well first off, his average salary per year wasn’t $11M it was about $8.5M and got cheaper every year through the remainder of his contract. And, it was an extremely team friendly deal that no longer had any guaranteed money on it so he was essentially on a series of one year option deals and could be cut for full savings at any point if he started to fall off physically. Plus he was in his prime coming off his best season ever and was an absolute key cog in our offense’s attack and lighting it up to the tune of 1332 yards and 9 TDs in Chip Kelly’s offense. And, finally, since he was under contract and coming off such a great year he was a tradeable asset. And, before you say, no one would have traded for him, understand that that’s fine. There was absolutely no urgency to rid ourselves of his contract that year as we had plenty of cap space and ultimately ended up spending almost the same amount of money on the combination of Riley Cooper, Miles Austin and Nelson Agholar trying to replace DeSean, so we ended up in no better financial situation by cutting him. And, we ended up wasting a first round pick on Agholar AND, if that’s not enough, we botched the whole thing completely the next year when we let Maclin, the guy who we were told justified the expendability of Jackson, leave in FA. Leaving us with a WR corp that features Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agohlar, DGB and Bryce Treggs.
I think that’s a very different situation than we are in now, where we’re tight up against the cap, DeSean is 3 years older and his market value is certainly less than it was back then.
So, I see absolutely no problem with being disgusted by the way Chip Kelly handled the release of Jackson while also maintaining that DeSean has not performed at a high enough level over the past two years to warrant a $5M a year pay raise.
The fact is no one cared about getting rid of djacc when we had Jeremy Maclin put up eerily similar stats the following year – with Mark Sanchez as QB.
No, no, no. It was not getting cheaper, it was getting more expensive. Do you really think Jackson would have taken a pay cut? Given his history? Clearly they felt he wouldn’t, and they were most likely right. And they saved 11 million, no doubt about it. Anything else is a misunderstanding of bonus money, etc.
Nothing you just said makes any sense whatsoever. Simply look up Jackson’s contract with the Eagles. His cap hits were going down by $1 million every year after the year we traded him. That is simply a fact. It’s not a pay cut, it’s the contract he signed and the majority of the later years were structured to have high base salaries with no guaranteed money. So, just saying no, no, no doesn’t change the facts of his contract structure which were widely reported and remain on the internet for you to search and confirm.
Next up, let’s talk about your speculation that Jackson wouldn’t accept a paycut (ignoring the fact that there was no pay cut for him to accept. He simply had 3 more years left on a deal that would pay him very well, even though the cap hits were set to decrease every year from then on out). This whole point is moot, since we can see exactly what he was willing to accept since he signed a 4 year $24M contract with a measly $5M signing bonus to go play for the Redskins. Which at an average of $6M per year was a substantial pay cut that he did actually accept. Again, you’re astoundingly wrong.
Finally, they did not save $11M. His cap hit in 2014 was only going to be $10.4M so even if we realized a 100% savings on that by cutting him, it still wouldn’t be $11M. And, as you can see here: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/washington-redskins/desean-jackson-3690/ he clearly had a $6.25M dead money hit against our cap in 2014. That means we only saved $4.15M by cutting him. Which we ended up spending on his replacement who massively underperformed compared to what we would have gotten if we just kept Jackson.
So to review: If we kept Jackson and did not cut him we would have had a cap charge for the WR starting next to Jeremy Maclin of $10.4M. Instead we ended up making a series of personnel decisions that caused us to have a dead cap hit of $6.25M and ended up with a cap hit for the WR starting opposite Maclin of $5M. Therefore, if we kept Jackson our #2 WR would have cost us $10.4M in cap space, by cutting Jackson and signing Cooper we ended up effectively dedicating $11.25M in cap space to the same position.
THAT IS NOT A SAVINGS
I know contracts can be confusing. There are two key points to grasp in order to understand the big picture. One, dead money came from a 10 mill bonus that had already been paid, then spread out over the 5 year contract. Cutting him accelerated the hit, but it was already on the books. That ties into the second point. Don’t focus on one year’s money, that is totally irrelevant in the current cap structure. Cap savings carry over. The fact that cutting him cost 6 mill for that one year was meaningless, because that 6 mill was already on the books. The fact is that he was due a minimum of 10.5 mill if they kept him, and that was 100% saved by cutting him.
The accelerated dead money cap hit was actual money that had already been paid to him, yes. But, I’m not the one that is confused here. Yes, his base salary portion of his 2014 contract was completely wiped off the books. As we’re all his base salaries in the future years. But, his base salary in 2014 was not $10.4M. It was $6.8M. That’s what was wiped out of his 10.4M projected hit that year. The remaining $3.6M portion of that $10.4M cap hit was associated with his signing bonus. That remained. The signing bonus portions of the next two years cap figures then accelerated into that years cap. We did not save $10.4M on the 2014 cap. We saved $4.15M on the 2014 cap by cutting Jackson. We signed Cooper for $5M cap hit which used that up. Therefore, the net effect was no extra money to roll forward. In the following years we would then save the full cap figures as they were taken off the books entirely at that point. $9M and then $8M. But, if you don’t account for the cost to replace him then you’re not understanding the cost benefit analysis of making a cut for cap savings. If you don’t understand it yet I don’t kno what else to say. But, I can’t explain it anymore.
10.5 mill base salary (with roster bonus):
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/14/desean-jackson-agrees-to-five-year-deal-with-eagles/
He would have been a 12.5 hit, 10.5 + 2 mill sb. Cutting him accelerated 4 mill of sb, but saved 10.5 mill. Thus, 6.5 mill dead money for that year, but 10.5 saved.
That $10.5 minimum you site includes that years portion of his signing bonus which was not saved by cutting him. And if you want to look at all the years, include the $12.5M in cap space we ultimately used on Riley Cooper to replace him.
Again, read the link and breakdown in my other post.
Here’s the easiest way to break it down for you just looking at the decision to keep DeSean or go with Cooper.
Cap Hits with DeSean and no Cooper: 2014: $10.4, 2015: $9, 2014: $8….total $27.4
Cap Hits with Cooper and Deseans dead money: 2014: $11.25, 2015: $5, 2016: $5….total $21.5
So we made that decision expecting to save a total of $6M in cap space over 3 years. When you account for what actually happened which was we spent a total of $8.5M of our cap in dead money over those 3 years on two players that were cut with cap charges needed to be accelerated and needed to expend additional cap space to eventually replace Cooper in year 3 of his 5 year deal it’s clear that it had a negligible effect on our cap.
Now I’m done. Seriously, though, if you don’t get it by now I don’t think you ever will.
And the point about the dead money is that doing things to increase your cap space is good, but as an extra resource it’s effect is mitigated when that same move means a large percentage of your cap will be used on a player that gives you zero production because he’s literally not on your team.
Fair enough, though I think I’ve done a pretty good job of pointing out your confusion. Maybe that link will help. Not sure why you keep stating 10.4 anyway, makes me think you have a questionable source. 10.25 + .25 roster bonus = 10.5.
Sorry, the .25 was a workout bonus, not roster. So for Jackson, far from guaranteed. 😉
As for what he might have accepted, that is complete conjecture. Given his previous contract stances, combined with skipping out on his exit interview for the year, and your feeling that he would have accepted a 3 million dollar pay cut does not have much to subtantiate it. He was forced to accept that with Wash, because no team in their right mind was going to pay him 11 mill. The Eagles backended his 2012 contract, and this was the result.
Impressive to see how obedient and nicey nice Dez gets when he loves his QB
Why don’t you take a closer look at how little Jackson contributed to SCORING POINTS.
Why would I totally discount the impact Jackson has on other players’ abilities to get open by stretching the field so Cousins can complete passes underneath?
He might not have been a real weapon in the red zone, but to act like he didn’t contribute to us scoring points is a ridiculous statement. You’re acting like the only guy that contributes to points being scored is the guy that catches the pass in the end zone. If DeSean catches an 80 yard bomb and gets tackled on the 1 inch line and then the RB punches it in, did DeSean not contribute to those points being scored or was that entire 80 yard and 1 inch drive a testament to the scoring prowess of our RB who picked up the last inch?
So as not to seem like I’m shooting you down without having some stats to back that up, please read this great piece by Jimmy Kempski:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/eagles/The-Eagles-miss-DeSean-Jacksons-big-plays.html
It’s a really good break down of how much his big plays in the passing game set us up in scoring situations. In fact, in his last year here we scored 141 points (or a third of our total offenses points that year) on drives that DeSean had a big play.
I’d say he contributed plenty to our ability to score points.
Keith Jackson?!
A blocking TE who had good hands. Tough. The list of all-time Eagles, for me, are almost exclusively from the defense. Eric Allen, Troy Vincent, Dawkins. Maybe our QB can begin a new trend where both sides of the ball are represented.
no it wasnt, he was acancer in the locker room, he’s a bum, I hope they get him back
I do have a feeling that no one will be break the bank for Jackson. Only if you get him at a very reasonable rate should we consider bringing him back.
Could happen… not going to bank on it.
I like your altered picture.
I concur. I don’t think he is going to command the level of salary that others seem worried about. And if he is as jacked about returning as reports are indicating, it sounds like the Eagles already have a foot in the door and would have an advantage unless someone else offers him crazy money.
same, no one wanted him coming off a 1400yd season. But you cant say he hasn’t been vital to redskin’s playoff push, especially since jordan reed has been hurt.
His stats in 2014-16 came nowhere close to matching the 2013 stats that Washington paid him 3 years / $24 million for. How’s he supposed to break the bank now?
So I agree with you.
3 years/24 million has been total fair for what he produced with Washinton.
Only question is when will the wheels go. Hopefully he’s got a couple more in him before it starts to decline.
I trust Roseman to structure a contract that won’t leave the Eagles with significant dead cap money if he declines.
one thing Jackson has along with speed is really good hands. he catches everything.
Watch him sometime. He absolutely never catches cleanly…always bobbles. If he’s covered, it’s incomplete, if he’s open, he catches. Better than Agholor, but not glue.
i guess you didn’t see those catches on Monday night he made on the sidelines, that were called incomplete, but upon further review showed what an awesome catch they both were.
and I don’t watch redskins game normally, but I have seen every game he played as an eagle, looked like he can catch to me.
although you are right he did drop that punt at the end of the game for the eagles when we played the giants in the meadowlands. and then he picked it up just in time! heyooooooooo
One game does not define a career. I have watched football since 1964 or thereabouts and have seen him bobble more than anyone I’ve ever watched. Luckily, he made most of those catches. And, yes, I too have fond memories of Miracle at the Meadowlands II (and I for that matter.)
A ROY . . .
I don’t think Clyde Simmons gets enough credit for his own Miracle@Meadowlands.
The 1988 Eagles beating the G-men on a TD scored by Simmons on a blocked FG attempted by the Birds.
And it was 10 years to the weekend as MML-1.
that was a classic! and it really shows how eagles giants games actually are. anything can and will happen!
I had forgotten about that. We needed that win to make it to the Fog Bowl…jeez, Nutty Buddy was almost 30 years ago.
yeah I just never noticed him with and hands bobbling. he makes some really nice catches. those 2 last Monday were really good.
“You can’t go home again. “
Los Angeles?
Everyone is miffed over character issues – i haven’t seen any issues in DC the last few years (aside from not going to OTAs/TC)
Amazing how he was the classiest of the big 3 CK firings – Evan Mathis, LeSean McCoy, and DJax.
Classiest? Seriously?
yeah he never said anything bad about chip or anybody when he was let go. unlike McCoy and mathis.
The whole Mathis thing showed a chink in Kelly’s armor, I thought. All he had to do was ignore his whiney ass. With DJAX I could buy the whole overpaid/too much for too little argument. I don’t believe Kelly started or heeded those ugly rumors about the gang stuff. But your point rings true. McCoy showed himself to a petulant child-man with an inflated ego and no class at all.
Maybe this will be interesting, maybe not… How much do you think Alshon Jeffery is going to get in free agency (per year) and how high would you be willing to go if you were making the decision for the Eagles. One number doesn’t have to necessarily be higher than the other.
I’d go to 13. I think he’s going to get 16.
agree – especially since cap going up another $10m.
14 and 0
0? harsh…
9-10 mil realistically but that’s so far off that it’s effectively 0.
Injuries, Suspensions, and he got really fat his last year in college. That’s a guy I’d be really hesitant to throw mega money at.
His talent will pretty much determine his contract, and if HR is not disposed to even making a bid, it’s a moot point. If he lets Logan walk and cuts Barwin and some others, he could get Jefferey’s attention with a big bonus offer. If all that happened, unless Jefferey is determined to get the biggest payday possible, he might settle for 12.8/year. Probably won’t, but a fan can dream.
Amused by the thought of a WR not taking the most money on the table.
I think there are some good players who want to get paid, and also get a good gig, as in class franchise, get a legit chance to win, and for some they will factor those variables in. The details of a deal are above my pay grade, but a fat bonus is guaranteed, and nothing after that is. So it may be a dead end, but there’s no harm in testing the waters.
I might have missed this, but why wouldn’t WAS try to retain me?
Wouldn’t it be weird if, for example, Darren Sproles was hitting up the Saints to re-sign him after this year?
Kurt doesn’t have a great arm. Plus they have Crowder and Reed, think that 8-12m will be better spent elsewhere.
Maybe I disagree because Kurt always manages at least one or two deep, back-breaking bombs to DJax whenever he plays us
Plus Doctson should be back next year.
It’s going to be hilarious if they don’t sign Jackson and Cousins and his receivers’ numbers go into the toilet because they don’t have Jackson stretching the field.
That would be cool. 🙂
I hope we don’t dump $8-12M a year on him, man. That’d be a pretty shocking average number considering the fact that he was a free agent two years ago, in his prime, coming off the best season of his career and only got $6-7M a year. I’d assume that after two mediocre years where he’s missed 7 out of 32 games and is now on the wrong side of 30 that his salary isn’t going to jump substantially on his next contract.
At $6M a year he’s a short term bargain. Someone has to start at WR next year that isn’t already on this team and outside of Alshon Jeffrey (who will cost double what Jackson makes) there’s no one that’s going to be available in FA that can give you 2-3 years of starter quality WR pay at that salary. $8M a year still makes sense, because like I said, someone has to start and even a mid level retread is gonna cost you around $5M. So is an extra couple million really going to strap your financials so bad that you band aid over this glaring weakness for the foreseeable future with mediocre players?
I understand where Tommy is coming from with asking if this really is a smart long term move to get us to a Super Bowl, but frankly I think you start to run the risk of stunting Wentz’s development if you keep trotting out such terrible offensive weapons with him to work with.
Plus the NFL is so fluid from year to year that it’s hard to justify taking extremely long term stances. I mean, look at the Cowboys…they couldn’t win a game to save their life last year without Romo, their starting QB breaks his back in the preseason and is again going to miss the majority of the season and all they had behind him was a 4th round rookie and Mark Sanchez. Did anyone think they were ready to win a Super Bowl this year? I know I didn’t. I heard a lot of people shooting them down for drafting a RB so early because their roster was too far away from being a contender to waste their pick on a position with a shorter than average NFL lifespan.
So, I feel like going out and getting a guy that just turned 30 and clearly still has his speed is the type of move that you do, in fact, have the luxury of making with a decent, but not great team in a league with this much parity and year to year variability.
Agree with all of that. Who better to help Wentz with his deep ball. Think djax is especially needed b/c i don’t think we’ll be able to get another skill position playmaker in the offense and djax really wants to be here and knows WAS’s defense like the back of his hand.
Sproles isn’t a free agent so yeah it would be weird. But also they have a lot invested in the WR position and have to give Crowder and doctson more reps
I don’t know you well enough. Maybe character concerns?
I know that you are replying to my post pre-edit 🙂
Or Malcolm Jenkins.
I think both Sproles and Jenkins feel they have been treated much better by the Eagles than they were by the Saints, despite the coaching shakeup. Maybe the Eagles FO isn’t as horrible as many fans believe.
Who believes Eagles players are treated bad here?
Those who played under Kelly.
You’re saying they didn’t get Taco Friday back?
Speaking of receivers, Nelson Agholor only needs 256 yards in this last game for his 2 year yardage total to equal Riley Cooper’s last two years for the Eagles.
I used to think Riley Cooper was going to be a breakout star, he did some good things with Nick Foles – like catch underthrown or off target balls.
I too was really surprised to see him regress so much and so suddenly as well. He showed some really impressive skills that often go overlooked in WRs like his ability to track deep passes while maintaining leverage against the CBs and he made some impressive catches as well. He even showed some break away speed a few times on short passes that he turned into longer gains. Then as soon as he got paid he seemed to forget how to catch the football and stopped being able to track deep balls like he used to. Really bizarre. I never thought he’d be a great starter, but I thought for sure he would become an adequate #2 and possibly a really good #3.
Yeah, WTH? He pulled a Reggie Brown.
Yea, Reggie was another guy that I thought had a bunch of talent and then just fizzled away for no apparent reason.
I never thought much of Cooper but Brown surprised me. I thought he was going to turn into an unspectacular but steady pro until he was 30-31.
Just fell off a cliff after ’07.
What’s awful is that Riley Cooper was my most disliked Eagle for the past forever years, and yet he still would have been the 2nd best receiver on the team this year. Ugh.
same.
Heck, Cooper can at least make plays downfield and win deep. I cant even say 100% say that Matthews would be better than him this year.
where is that lunatic?
I think there is supposed to be a Nazis rally in Minnesota
I was going to say he’s following Kenny Chesney’s world tour.
Both options.
I was half joking though
competitive fence jumping.
Another guy who was tough off the field but not so much on it.
What frustrated me the most about him (besides the fact he wasn’t cut) was how soft he was in the red zone.
You would think a guy with his size and length would have been able to outleap/outmuscle guys who were 6-8 inches smaller than he was on fades and iso routes in the end zone corners.
Ugh, indeed. I hope Carson doesn’t see your post because he’d be really bummed (about his receivers, not your post).
Yeah, he only needs to do that for a whole season to have the highest yardage of any receiver in NFL history. By about 2X.
Desean Jackson is NOT a “home run threat.” He catches long bombs. He makes highlight of the night tape. He seldom scores. He’s had seasons of 2 TDs, (twice) 4 TDS, 6 TDs and a couple of 9 TDS. Not even No. 1 WR numbers. His first year in Washington he blew off his teammates and scored less than both Maclin and Matthews. He’s blowing off his teammates right now talking about going to another team during the season. He’s an unproductive sleaze
Yeah, Jackson is a sleaze and Roseman is a weasel, but they are OUR sleaze and weasel.
I just renamed my band Sleazy Weasel
Nice. Almost as good as Mouse Rat.
Both are probably better than whatever banks d bag Reuben Frank goes to hear.
sleaze? is that what chip told you?
NJ dot com
doubt anything said today will affect his abiliy to catch a ball on sunday?
DeSean has 20 TDs of 60+ yards, trailing only the all time great Jerry Rice by 1 TD.
I’d consider him as a home run threat. Next question…
I agree to a lesser extent that he is an unproductive sleaze. Ags is more in that category with his strip club escapades. I completely disagree about him being a home run threat. That’s the one thing he is. Teams have to game plan around that. What Jackson is not, is a redzone threat. That and other reasons are why I say pass on Jackson.
Preach!
But he is our unproductive sleaze! Come home DeSean!
Best New College All Star Game Gimmick —
Per PFT . . . the coaching staffs for the East-West Shrine Game will be drawn from Assistant Coaches around the NFL (nominated by their non-playoff teams), with the two respective Head Coaches being selected from that group and then the HCs choosing their assistants.
Not clear who/how the HCs are selected from among the ACs.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/12/28/nfl-assistant-coaches-to-work-with-east-west-shrine-game-teams/
Interesting way to showcase potential HC candidates.
Also makes the game a bit more attractive.
Sure’d like to know whose idea that was.
Like!
Prefer the Eagles to get the Senior Bowl, but if they don’t would be nice if Duce, DeFlippo or Undlin got to go.
EDIT: After looking at the rosters, defenietly want one of the offensive coaches there. O has much better prospects than the D.
Ditto.
It’s been 21 years since the Eagles’ staff coached in Mobile.
(Kotite . . . what a wasted oppty.)
Barf.
You always add or find interesting things.
Dj shrinks in big games. His effect of changing the defense and making other receivers open or running game easier shrinks too.
Eagles need to win the small games first.
Are divisional games considered big games? He’s averaged 88 yards a game against us.
I could have big games against us!
DeSean played really well throughout the 2008 playoffs as a rookie. In three games he had 11 catches for 217 yards and a TD. After that we played in two playoff games against the Cowboys when McNabb couldn’t do anything all game long on both occasions and one game against the Saints where again the entire offense was out of sync and could do nothing all game long. He certainly did not do anything all that great in any of those games as he only averaged about 3 catches for 40 yards and scored 1 TD in the three games combined. But, I’m just not sure that’s a large enough sample size to say he specifically shrinks in big games. The entire offense was terribly specifically the QB play, in all three of those games. I do remember quite a few big MNF games and big divisional games when Jackson actually dominated.
He’s a nice piece to the puzzle as part of an offense, but he’s in no means a guy that can carry an offense like OBJ. That’s why DeSean will end up making $10M a year less than OBJ when OBJ finally gets his second contract.
Eagles have gained 400 yards in 4
I’d say we could use a dynamic player
Compared with 3 and 6, respectively last year. Same personnel on the field, some would argue a better qb and better ol.
Tempo
I think the most die hard among us would be hard pressed to convince ourselves that Carson is a better QB than Sammy is today. He seems to have the it factor Sam never found though
Thank you Tyler.
I don’t think Chip Kelly is entirely at fault for releasing DeSean Jackson. It might look that way now but DeSean has had character problems even with Andy Reid.
Andy actually benched him back in 2011 against the Cardinals when they were 3-6 and needed every win possible to get into the playoffs. I also remember when people excused his lack of effort for not wanting to get injured before he got his new contract.
But then again maybe his swagger and confidence can rub off on Algholor.
Remember him yelling at the WR coach during the game, always being pissed if he wasn’t getting the ball enough, having to get benched for not learning all 3 WR positions, always talking about more money, etc.
You’ll notice he wasn’t able to run and sign w/ the chiefs the way a lot of other eagles castoffs did.
Reid supposedly didn’t even offer Jackson a contract. My sense is there was no love loss between the two.
instead Reid stole our other good receiver
That coach was fired for being terrible at his job. I’m siding with Jackson here, Bicknell thinks he’s some type of tough guy and Jackson let him know otherwise.
I still believe the sideline incident between Bicknell and Jackson during the Minnesota game was the last straw for Chip.
Nobody thinks DeSean Jackson was an angel. But this is the NFL. Sometimes you have to deal with prima donna assholes because sometimes the best players are prima donna assholes.
Eagles lack of playmakers at WR + Not a great WR FA class = DeSean (at the right price)
#NoBrainer
Truth this.
“Patriots reportedly asking for 1st-and 4th-round pick in any trade discussions for QB Jimmy Garoppolo” — Sammy B setting the market.
He’s a former 2nd round pick that has been with Brady/Bellichick for the last 3 years and has played pretty well in the games he’s been in.
If I was the GM of the Browns, Bears, Jets, 49ers, Cardinals, or Texans I”d consider it.
Maybe I wouldn’t trade a 1st rounder in 2017 for most of those teams since their picks are so high, but I would trade a 2018 1st rounder.
Pats have drafted and traded a lot of QBs under that same theory, has any panned out?
Browns could pull it off with our 1. They have no QB and there won’t be another QB as good as Wentz in the draft for at least 30 or 40 years.
If ever.
Agreed.
🙂
A team who will be needing a franchise QB sometime soon offering their back up at a franchise QB price: Buyer beware!
Or they think Brady has another 2+ years left and they won’t be able to keep Jimmy G.
I think if Belichick thought he had a guy worth keeping for the next decade +, Brady gets the Favre treatment. He doesn’t seem the sentimental type.
And seeing as the Pats are a lot more savvy than the Packers; they’d get a king’s ransom for Brady in a trade.
Think of what Chip would give up for that repetitive accuracy.
Three 1s, Eric Reid, and the shake machine.
Makes his execution excuse a little harder to go to.
I would love to see that just for the unprecedented haul Belichick would get.
Wait two years, you just might.
This is what they think.
If Josh McDaniels gets a HC job again, wouldn’t surprise me to see his new team (SF, anyone) make this exact move.
This would make sense for Denver (minus the McDaniels part) if they didn’t over-invest in a talentless hipster QB in the 2016 draft.
The Hoodie is looking to snooker another team with the next Matt Cassell.
Apparently we forgot to mention in the “presents” article: from Wentz to his linemen: Shotguns! Who is going to try to touch a QB when his protectors have shotguns…think Goodell will fine for equipment violation? Well it was a good try.
Shifting gears, on the one hand, what an odd gift. On the other hand, I’ve totally been there, shopping is such a drag, get everyone the same thing!
Flacco got his guys PS4s they said during the game. What doea Dak owe his squad?
haha he’s making nothing compared to everyone else.
Hopefully Dak doesn’t offer to drive any of them anywhere after a party.
Yachts? Ferarris? Immersive 3D simulation theaters?
I hear that the recoil from Kelce’s knocked him back 3 yards.
LOL
Man, I love Mike Tomlin for this PC. Honesty and class that we don’t often see from coaches in any sport. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/can-you-spell-shade-steelers-mike-tomlin-has-great-response-for-terry-bradshaw-184640250.html
Bradshaw is such a piece of trash. I’m glad Tomlin flamed him back. The comments about Tomlin by Bradshaw were 110% out of line. “Cheerleader”? What is he, Joe Torre?
Zing!
Being a baseball purist; I have generally low opinion of the intellect needed to manage in the AL. Especially when one is handed a $200 mil roster of stars.
I would of disagreed strongly until the AL wild card.
No
actually you’re a moron
Al Gore?
Random thought; If we draft Teez Tabor from Florida and he becomes a shutdown corner, can we say the only thing you’ll get by throwing on his side of the field is “TEEZ NUTZ?”
When we play the Steelers, we could counteract the terrible towels with Teez tees.
That will be great for the 2024 season!
Or the Super Bowl…
no
Respekt!
I would endure 15 years of that happily….if we draft a shut down corner.
Upvoted for funny; downvoted for being about draft.
Fair.
https://twitter.com/JimmyKempski/status/814439092893130752
Trying again
https://twitter.com/JimmyKempski/status/814439092893130752
Entirely the product of Wentz’s completion percentage.
CW — with 14 TDs and 14 INTs — has a 64.7%.
Luck — 23 TDs 17 INTs — was 54.1%
PManning — 26/28 — 56.7% (in a less pass-friendly era).
Carr’s not worth addressing.
Nice but probably means nothing.
Wentz has 14 TDs.
Carr had 9.
Luck . . . 23
Manning . . . 26
it means everything
Nolan Carroll has said his agent has begun contract talks with Eagles. Does anyone here want him back?
Obviously depends on what we would get him for but McKelvin is already under contract along with Ron Brooks. Would we be letting them both go and bringing back Nolan as an insurance policies for the rookies we bring in?
I get confused about the free pass Carroll gets from Eagles fans. He gets beat as much as anyone, but everyone seems to say that he is a solid corner and reserve their anger for McKelvin (who’s been playing hurt) and Mills (who is a seventh round draft pick that is playing pretty well for a rookie), and last year Maxwell.
In a perfect world no. In real life… I don’t know. A good scenario would be only if he is better than Mills. Let the best of those be off the bench.
Its hard to every CB on the roster in one off season.
Yes, I do. Not for a king’s ransom, but he’s a top 3 (on a team) CB.
Random thought:
Why the hell would you not sort by newest?!
So you don’t have to scroll through comments you’ve previously read when you return to the blog multiple times while the same T-Law post is still up.
Just a theory.
Sounds like conspiracy theory to me.
You stepped away for a day and want to read in chronological order?
who would ever step away for a day?!
Sometimes I’m logged out and it defaults to oldest and I’m all confused and go on Twitter and complain about things.
Apropos of nothing . . .
I really hate that the Cowboys are good this year.
Jeez, ownership wanted Paxton Lynch and Connor Cook well ahead of Prescott.
Ugh.
Just ruins the whole NFL experience.
It eases one into that comfortable and familiar NFL universe where the Cowboys are good and the Eagles are bad.
CT–
Yes. The NFL universe spans back to when the Eagles were horrible, missing the playoffs from 1961 thru 1977 . .
While Dallas made playoffs from 1965 through 1986 (minus ’74).
And Lee Roy Jordon cheap-shotted RB Tommy Brown in ’67 in Dallas, breaking his jaw and knocking out 6 teeth.
Jordan didn’t have the guts to do that in Phila.
Just hate those eff’ng Cowboys.
that whole “America’s Team” thing was really annoying
NFL Films is responsible for that, with its 1977 Cowboys highlight film (after Dallas won the SB).
Bastards!
Didn’t they originally want to dub the Steelers “America’s Team” but the Rooney’s said “No, we’re the Pittsburgh team”?
You are correct.
http://www.steelersdepot.com/2014/11/steelers-turned-offer-branded-americas-team-70s/
Well done.
the fact that it’s back in full force makes the nfl unwatchable. Normally I voraciously gobble up any and all football media, but it’s just not safe for me out there.
You know, I haven’t been listening to sports radio much the last month or two, either.
All dafuk I hear is WE DEM BOOOOOYZ!!!!, THROW UP THA’ X!!! & COWBOY UP MUDDAFUGGGAZ!!!
Shoot me now!!!!!
In respect to your painful reminiscing, I offer this back-handed tribute to Jeff Lurie (by default). We once were Keystone cops…now we are a fanchise on a mission. http://www.espn.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/330/eagles-cowboys-a-look-at-the-rivalry
Just wait until they beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl…
I asked one of my Eagles-watching buds what we should do if the Super Bowl features the hated Cowboys and despised Patriots. He said, “Well watch the Sixers.”
Porn > Sixers. Sorry Embiid.
LMAO! Brilliant.
I’m trying to reply with something witty about “Talkin’ ’bout practice,” but can’t think of anything.
Flyers are playoff material.
The Dallas wins the Super Bowl I am seriously not watching another NFL game ever.
Me too. I am not that passionate as I was since the Giants won 4 years ago. If Dallas wins, I might stop caring.
That seems dramatic
Not dramatic enough!
Their defense is okay, which I take as evidence that they won’t win NFC. We beat them and then beat ourselves. They are not as special as the media would have us all believe. They can beat anybody on a good day, but their day is coming.
NFC: Atlanta might be only team that can take them out, if they can force a shootout. Luckily they both play in domes, so could happen
I think Green Bay and/or Seattle can take them. Russell Wilson plays his best football in the biggest games, and that is pretty much true of their defense too. Rodgers can demoralize any DL and secondary if he’s on. His D may never get off the field though, which would give him few opportunities but he doesn’t usually require a lot of possessions to make his point.
Packers and Seahawks both have playoff experience. The rookie qb of Cowboys will fade in the bright lights.
The Cowboys are good, but lets not overdo it and hand them the NFC just yet.
Seattle misses Earl Thomas and weren’t as strong as usual with him, but lets not pretend that defense can’t shut down anyone and that Russell Wilson can’t magically pull a win out of his ass.
Regardless of their defense, if Atlanta has one of those games, they can put up a crazy amount of points with their running game, Julio and Matt Ryan ability to spread the ball.
If the Packers get in, which I expect, Aaron Rodgers can beat anyone. And lets not forget that the Giants have beaten Dallas twice, and despite getting destroyed last week, Lions can still put up points while Ziggy and Slay can be problematic.
The play-offs are a different beast. Colts had that one season where Manning saved their ass, but come playoff time they beat the Ravens because for the first time that year they could stop the run, and their kicker won them a game like 15-9. Lets see how Zeke runs against a playoff defense and how Dak deals with having to potentially keep up with ATL or GB putting up 24 in the first quarter or Seattle pounding their defense in the run game, pounding Zeke and forcing 4 turnovers in the first half.
Sure Dallas might still run over everyone and somehow get stops on defense, but i’ve seen enough crazy shit in the playoffs and if you cannot count on Dallas choking then I dont know what the world has become.
Great analysis.
I think the Packers can beat them too.
I agree. Rodgers over Prescott when the pressure is on in the playoffs.
I thought they were extremely fake. Then they beat the Lions. Demolished the Lions…
I don’t know anymore.
Mike Caldwell has the Lions winning on smarts and hustle. They don’t matchup well with an opponent who sees them coming. The Lions are not equipped to take it to another level, because they are at their ceiling. That’s my expert analysis, having seen 5 quarters all season.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they’d become wunderkind with that Line and weapons though. Hate to admit it but the design of the offense is quality as well. Not sure I’m sold that Dak is actually a good QB.
As every Eagles fan will tell you: you are what your record says you are…even if you aren’t.
I think it also underscores how much of a crapshoot the draft is… and why attempting to grade GMs on drafts alone is a fool’s errand.
Also… happy holidays, AC!
Adam Caplan is reporting that the Cowboys will be giving Sanchez the majority of snaps this Sunday.
So much for the Cowboys wanting to play their starters.
I hope that brings out some rage from our side. Let Hicks knock Markie out of the game and bring in Dak. They are a conservative, baby-stepping, control-obsessed offense. Disruption is what they need.
I would be pretty happy if the season ended now and if Goodell just handed the Lombardi trophy to the Patriots.
I would prefer the Raiders or Chiefs but I’d take the Pats over any of the three NFCE scums…
I don’t think the Raiders have a chance now that Carr is out. As much as I want Andy to win one, the Chiefs might not be able to keep up with the Patriots.
NO. Andy needs to be stuffed like Jeff Fischer! ! He has his ring thanks to Reggie White. No pity rings for andy.
Andy is one the winningest coaches of all time. Why the hate?
Nasty attitude towrds fans via his schitt attitude to press’ questions
Wide9 waste, Jason babin
Higgest paid coach with zero super bowls
he got rich, we paid full price got a few nice wins. Thanks
He hates LBs, hates WRs
Ruined mcNab & TO
Fu ck ing up the super bowl
Last 2 minute mess of super bowl
2 schit sons but gets a free pass
Breathe breathe …
Ok, now rip me
Shut up. He’s the only reason why we were successful for the last decade.
He got lucky with McNabb, Westbrook & JJ
And Belichick got lucky with Brady. What’s your point?
Belichek has 5 rings. .how many for andy what ??
Belichek is about 5Million times better than Andy in every way possible
Belichek to andy comparison is a joke it makes me vomit.
They nske almost same money.
Andy isnt 10% if Msrv Levy
The benzos are on the counter next to the fridge, go grab a couple and drink it down with some nice ice water. You’ll feel better.
Tanks. . Using local xmas gift
Uh oh … here it comes
“2 schit sons but gets a free pass”
I wouldn’t call having to bury your own son a “free pass.”
Both felons. Daddy gave big boy a job.. doing heroin on nfl premises.. daddy parades entire nfl out for the funeral to generate sympathy so he can keep his job.
Calling it as it is.
Takes guts to say so… but name any nfl participant that has 2 gun toting drug dealing family members
Yay we got a few wins
Uh-oh Sanchez to play his old team.
Nope. He was Jets, USC .. he’s their prodigy
otay
Give him a small salary with lots of incentives, otherwise look elsewhere.