Guessing Game
Posted: February 22nd, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 143 Comments »Doug Pederson was hired in 2016. He drafted Carson Wentz the same year. That’s the foundation.
- 2017…Eagles have a winning record, get back to the playoffs. Realistic goal.
- 2018…Eagles go a step further and become a title contender. Realistic? Sure. Likely? Impossible to say without knowing what happens in 2017.
- 2019…New President Justin Bieber declares martial law while Eagles are 13-0 and that leads to complete chaos and civil disorder. No Super Bowl for anyone.
My crystal ball has been acting up recently so could be a tad off on those predictions. We’ll just have to wait and see.
We can talk about 3-year plans or 5-year plans or whatever schedule you want, but the truth is that we really don’t know what is going to happen. Each year a football team is a chemistry experiment. The 1998 Rams went 4-12. Their offense was 24th in points and 27th in yards. The next season they went 13-3, led the league in yards and points and won the Super Bowl. For my money, that was the best offense I ever saw. The Rams didn’t have more than 7 wins in any other season in the 1990’s. That team just exploded from bad to great.
Andy Reid’s Eagles built year-by-year. Bad to good to very good from 1999-2001. Then from 2002-2004, the Eagles were one of the best teams in the league.
The Falcons made the Super Bowl in Dan Quinn’s second year. That schedule is different from others because he inherited a good veteran QB in Matt Ryan and an elite player in Julio Jones. Really helps when you can build around a great duo like that.
The Rams have been the youngest team in the league for a few years in a row. That hasn’t done them any good. They aren’t building so much as treading water. That got Jeff Fisher extended fired and we’ll have to see how the new coaching staff does out there.
The Titans went from 2-14 to 3-13 to 9-7 last year. They seem to be a team headed in the right direction. The last time they won more than 9 games was back in 2008 (under Jeff Fisher) so this group of players is in somewhat uncharted waters for them. It will be interesting to see if they can continue the upward trend.
Seattle was mediocre in Pete Carroll’s first couple of years, going 7-9 each season. The team drafted Russell Wilson in 2012 and has won at least 10 games every season since then. Beyond that, they have been a title contender in each of those years.
There simply is no set schedule for teams. You have so many variables that you can’t make accurate predictions over an extended period of time. A lot of this is based on how Wentz progresses. He is ahead of where Donovan McNabb was after his rookie year. But McNabb took a big step forward in Year 2. Can Wentz do the same? I didn’t think McNabb really started to look like a consistently good pocket passer until Antonio Freeman arrived in 2002. Having a reliable slot receiver who could work the middle of the field helped a lot. Wentz already has a good slot receiver in Jordan Matthews. Wentz needs guys on the outside.
The Eagles could take a huge step forward this year if they add the right players. Or Wentz could get hurt and we could watch Chase Daniel throw passes to Trey Burton in painful loss after painful loss. I think the team has a good enough foundation in place that they can add some good pieces and become a playoff team. If they can find a great player, that changes things. That’s when you jump ahead of your schedule.
*****
DeSean Jackson wants to be an Eagle!!!
Or a Redskin.
Or whoever will pay him.
“I mean, it’s definitely a great story and ending, I guess you could say,” Jackson told Schefter of a possible return. “Starting your career somewhere and you go to a division rival and possibly maybe going back. You think about all that, you start somewhere and maybe you want to finish it. There’s a lot of speculation of a lot of thoughts. It all sounds good, but you never know until the final decision is made.”
But he does like Wentz.
“He killed it,” Jackson said. “He had a heck of a year. He showed he can do it all. He has the intangibles of being a big-time quarterback.”
It is cool to hear DJax say good things about the Eagles and Wentz. There is no denying that. And Jason La Canfora recently wrote that a lot of people around the league think it is almost a done deal that Jackson is coming back to Philly. I’m just not sure. If he was younger or cheaper, they might love him. He’s not.
I could be wrong and the Eagles might target him. I haven’t heard anything about DeSean that you haven’t.
We’ll find out more soon enough.
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[…] Tommy Lawlor Doug Pederson was hired in 2016. He drafted Carson Wentz the same year. That’s the […]
Signing JaccPot makes no sense to me unless you think you can win it all this year AND you have ample space.
I understand this reasoning, but only if you are believing that he costs you some other opportunity – a different WR, developmental time for a rookie, a FA that you could have afforded somewhere else (like you suggest).
As a second or third option, and paid accordingly, in our FA approach I think he would be a fine target and could help us be effective while we build. Rarely does one go from a cardboard box to a mansion. Sometimes you have to rent an apartment as a stepping stone.
I guess it boils down to what the structure/cost of the deal would be for him. 2 years and not a lot I’d be okay with. I doubt he’d take it though unless his other options were limited.
A good point, that makes the basis of a strong argument for a different player. If I went the pricey veteran with his best days behind him route, I would look for a culture guy. Jackson is totally fine, but I don’t want him to be the elder statesman that everyone looks up to. We’re going to need to salvage something out of the WR’s we have, that will be a tall order for our coaches. I think having a high character leader-type veteran will help.
Jackson isn’t a crook or thug or anything else people say about him, but at his best, when he’s content, he is the ultimate professional. He shows up when he’s obligated to and works hard. He stays in shape. Nothing more or less. He’s a fine piece to a locker room, you just don’t want him to be the head-piece of a weak and young receiver group.
I think that is extremely fair and accurate.
fan base generally loves him too.
I agree…If we go the high draft pick route for WR, I actually want an established veteran that. An step right in and be the clear cut #1 for a couple years, taking the pressure off the young guy as he develops.
If it’s Jackson, so be it. Howie’s just gotta structure that contract so we can get out of it the moment Jackson loses a step with no dead money, ’cause his effectiveness will fall off a cliff the moment he stops running a 4.3.
definitely an exciting off season as an eagles fan, last year it was completely open, we would either have a terrible year or win the super bowl. Obvs those werent really the options but it felt so mysterious until the season actually started. This year we have some definition at QB and we know the staff. I think your 2017 prediction for the eagles is grounded and honest. The eagles were SO close to a winning record this year (minus a couple fumbles, I’m look at your Ryan Mathews), but next year its most definitely reasonable to see a winning record. Any chance you might do a writeup looking at next years opponenets vs. the birds? Thanks as always Tommy for the write up!
Every year feels like a fresh lottery ticket, so that’s exciting. A million moving parts and if everything goes right, you can be the 2015 Panthers, even if you’re expected to be more like the 2014 or 2016 Panthers.
We’ve limited resources with which we need to not just stave off regression, but actually grow. And increasing those resources (draft picks, cap-space) comes at a cost of replacing the players you give up to get those resources. So for us to not regress this year, we need to nail the draft with some early impact guys, and get a bunch of free agents out of the bargain bin that really pleasantly surprise us. To make that happen you really need Howie and co to have his best year. You need the coaches to show they can coach ’em up better than last year, can’t afford to let talent go because our coaches don’t know how to get the best out of players (Eric Rowe, whole slew of young talented receivers that all managed to be terrible). Need Wentz to grow (that’s the one I’m optimistic about). Then if we string together the Cinderella team that absolutely cannot be deep in any way, we will need to stay healthy.
Sooo, winning record in a resurgent NFC East? Yeah, no way would I take that bet.
This was a fun read. Well done, Tommy.
Now, we just need some actual football news…
Jackson is the role model for “prove it” contracts.
How so?
He’s a merc. Put money on the line if you want to see his best.
He’s also at his most disruptive when a contract is looming. Holding out, getting suspended.Then we actually paid him the next year and I said “I can’t believe we just gave that guy the money he wanted”. He was the image of a guy that gets his money and vanishes. But he came into camp in great shape and absolutely dominated. All his problems were gone. He would get injured in that god-awful 2012 season. He went on and had a career year in 2013.
I would argue in reality he is the opposite of what he seems. He’s a fine or even great player when he’s happy and content, of the rare and mercurial T.O type. And like TO, he’s an absolute nightmare when he isn’t.
think that’s the old djax, he didn’t have issues in washington except for showing up to tc.
I have to admit I haven’t followed him closely since he went to Washington so I can’t account for how he may have changed in the past years. From afar he seemed to only put in that extra that made him great when he played us.
Not a Trump fan, Tommy? Tsk, tsk.
I read it as the opposite. He doesn’t have a new President taking over until 2019.
I believe the prediction is that the Beeb’s puppet, the ultra popular fellow Canadian and Justin, Trudeau, will annex the United States. The chaos and civil disorder that follows would be the result of unveiling the shell game when Trudeau resigns, making the Beebs the supreme leader of North America. God save us all.
Lots of people don’t like Politicians. No big deal.
Not sure why this Perine guy out of OU isnt getting more hubbub. Dude is a LOAD with quickness.
His listed weight scares some people, but you are correct; he has the NCAA rushing record for a single game.
He split time with Mixon last year which some people also hold against him as a RB; in other words, they are “marking him down” because he split carries with another extremely talented running back.
He’s a 4th round target in most of the mocks that I do- he has legit potential (from my uneducated perspective).
Some say that he’s too buff and stiff. If he loses some weight, maybe he’ll gain some agility and speed. He hasn’t caught the ball a ton (they used Mixon for that) and might just be an one speed and one dimensional player. I think he’ll be a complementary RB for his first two years unless he develops really fast.
Kareem Hunt my man.
off topic — can we ship anti-vaxxers and “earth is flat” ppl to an island so they can just be alone together?
if a time machine is ever built, anti-vaxxers should be sent back to the medieval ages where their ideas align.
Buzz kill time, any society that lived through plague would greet vacines with open arms. This wave of “natural is best” come from a decadent society that grew up in a world whose dangers have been neutered by science. Sure check out the natural birthing mortality rate back in the day, or child mortality rate in general, or watch plague ravage a land, or Spanish flu in the 20th century ravage unfathomable figures. The societies that lived these horrors were spurred to make the scientific advances to save future generations from these tragedies. anti-vaxxers fit uniquely in a society whose fears and axieties almost exclusively comes from technology, from nuclear holocaust, rogue ai, super strains of viruses, to any number of sci-fi dystopia. But people need not delve into hypothetical sci-fi novels to find terror, you need not go any further than our history books to find true terrors. Too many take it for granted in our safe spaces.
Preach
Can’t say I disagree with all of your points but no I don’t think any society would just accept vaccines without hindsight. There’s a reason why there has been more than one plague outbreak and it wasn’t until millions died before a vaccine was found. It was literally do or die for them and I wouldn’t have been surprised if people in that age would have refused to do take the vaccine. From the stories I’ve read, some anti-vaxxers would let their children die rather than own up to their mistakes. So I think most of them would fit right in.
Now this is purely anecdotal since my mother jumped onto the anti-vaxxer bandwagon. Paranoia and distrust for doctors drives anti-vaxxers. Not understanding the benefits vs risk of a vaccine/medication for something is what drives their decision to not take it. Albeit, my mother doesn’t know a thing about science or biology so there’s that too.
Actually, believe it or not, during both the small pox epidemic and the plague people noticed that the people who treated the sick oftentimes never got sick and seemed immune. So there were actually people that would go around and they’d cut open your arm and rub the pus from the sick people into your wound and more often than not you developed immunity. 25% of the time you got violently ill and died but it was better odds than facing these plagues/epidemics head on. Just think about that for a second. Back before modern science (just 225 years ago in some instances) people were willing to cut their arm open and rub pus from a dying sick man in the wound for immunity. Now we have vaccines that are so safe the people that have negative reactions to them are in the 100ths of a percentage point and suddenly people would rather go back to dealing with the illnesses head on.
Yep, besides that, some thought it was god’s wrath that sinners brought down upon them so they went on witch hunts. Some gave all their money to the church and formed wandering bands of repenters that would flog themselves through the streets. Some ran into the age old paradox that God can’t be both benevolent AND omnipotent given what was happening. Either God was an omnipotent bastard causing all this, or Satan was causing it and God was powerless to stop him, either way their solution was to form Satanic cults to beg for mercy and/or protection. The Pope surrounded himself by fire in the hope it would cleanse the air of impurities (it worked because neither rats nor fleas crossed the flames). These people were desperate.The best you can do is imagine the anxiety we had about Ebola breaking out in the west, then imagine we already lost a chunk of your town and family, seeming to come in waves. You survived 3 years of hell, and you’re about to face 4 more. If someone told you cart wheels could ward off Ebola, you’d give it a try.
Honest just send em back to when America was great again when poverty rules and you could die of a simple pneumonia
We already have a place for them. It’s called rural America with all the other people who don’t believe in “science”.
Since when is Washington DC rural?
stereotyping
I’ve met a few vaxxers; they ain’t rural.
I don’t doubt it. Robert DiNiro is a vaxxer too and he is from the city.
It breaks my heart to see DeNiro get involved in that shit.
Evidently he’s got a kid with autism
That’s unjustly stereotyping rural folk as those that don’t believe in science.
Your list is either way too long, or far too short.
I find it interesting and sadly predictable that so many folks lump the people who eschew vaccinations with people who, for a variety of reasons, deny global-warming, promote coal usage, and fight anything that takes money from their pockets. Credible science supports many of the fears and suspicions that surround vaccinations. People with compromised immune systems, particularly people with specific genetic mutations (single nucleotide polymorphisms), are at very high risk of autism and other developmental stage growth impediments. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is not analogous to a serious cold. Lupus is a life altering condition. Millions of people may be able to sustain vaccinations with no negative consequences, but that clearly does not apply to a considerable number of people. Conflating questions and negative views regarding vaccinations with being anti-science is ignorance at its best.
There is no credible scientific evidence of a link between vaccinations and autism, regardless of genetic mutations.
What the anti-vaccers have in common with the flat earthers and other lunatic fringe is that they have little evidence to support their claims, the weight of scientific consensus against them, and a tendency to retreat into conspiracy theories as to why their unprovable points are not accepted by others. There’s a gnostic thrill they get out of it: the sense that they’re one of the few “in the know” while all of the other sheeple are just following the herd.
In short, there’s a good reason why they’re lumped together.
Amazingly stated.
Thanks! I’d also add that there is one significant difference between, say, flat earthers and anti-vaccers. Flat earthers aren’t hurting anyone or contributing to the resurgence of deadly diseases, particularly amongst children. So, there _is_ a difference, I suppose.
I am neither a conspiracy theorist, a gnostic nor one who is advocating the elimination of vaccinations. I believe that the “evidence” which states there is no connection between the conditions that I noted and vaccinations is sound but not absolute. There is no reason to refer to the collators of anecdotal corroboration as lunatics. I cannot be around cigarette smoke without suffering nausea, eye burn and skin rash. I don’t need a laboratory to confirm what I know, and I am not looking to ban cigarette smoking. Mercury is a component of many vaccines and flu shots, and it is a highly toxic element. Many folks have mouths full of mercury fillings, and may be none the worse for it by all indications. Other folks have suffered crippling migraines that were mitigated by the removal of their mercury fillings. Are these people nuts? Making this an all or nothing argument is part of the problem. Science writ large has been a sanctuary for litigious reasons historically, when really it is the absence of compelling proof in the present that is given cover by scientific claims. The carcinogenic connections to asbestos and agent orange, and chlorinated hydrocarbons at Love Canal, just to name a few, were all promoted as “safe” and scientifically justified at the time those substances were initially challenged. The absence of evidence to the contrary (when such testing has been scrupulously avoided) is so weak as not to be called science at all.
Again, there is credible corroborating evidence, whether construed as science or not, that many among us are better off avoiding vaccinations. I do not get the religious fervor to keep this discussion muted.
No one is saying that any kind of medication is 100% safe in 100% of instances. That is not claimed. It is fully understood that there are outliers in every case. Mainstream medical science is not the entity making an outlandish claim. Rather, the vaxxers are making an outrageous claim, that there is a “proven” link between vaccinations and autism. The claim was put forth by a crackpot in a since-debunked report. There is ample literature surrounding the claim itself, and its subsequent debunking.
Those making an outlandish claim must be the ones bearing the burden of proof for that claim. The rest of us don’t need to prove that vaccinations can _NEVER_ cause autism, any more than it’s not necessary for me to prove that there isn’t an actual Santa Claus. The ones making the claim are responsible for proving that claim. No credible proof links autism to vaccinations. NONE. ZERO. Based on every shred of actual, valid evidence available, there is no causal link between the two.
You listed a bunch of other stuff about mercury, allergies, hydrocarbons, etc., that have no actual bearing on the discussion at hand. It’s just alarmist hand-waving that sounds vaguely on topic, but absolutely isn’t. It offers nothing to the discussion.
Here’s an exercise: find one piece of valid, credible evidence linking AUTISM to VACCINATIONS. I don’t care about mercury, or smoking, or toxicity. I challenge you to produce this evidence, and I’m pretty confident you won’t be able to. Because such evidence does not actually exist outside of the reams of material produced by crackpots, conspiracy theorists, and fringe practitioners of pseudo science that sounds and feels good but offers nothing useful.
“Vaccines do not cause autism.
So say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with dozens of studies published in prestigious, peer-reviewed journals. The scientific consensus on vaccines and autism is thorough and solid: There is no evidence of a connection.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/10/the-facts-about-vaccines-autism-and-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-conspiracy-theory/?utm_term=.39e3fc7b3c08
The physician who linked the two falsified his data and his study was PULLED from publication. Do you realize how fraudulent you have to be to be pulled from scientific journals?
He was also jailed.
I’d rather be autistic than get polio or measles.
Not saying that vaccines cause autism, because they dont
Although an argument can be made for getting rid of vaccines so that there are less overpopulation issues
Sure but that’s also an argument for genocide.
All it would take is one person who hasn’t been vaccinated to be diagnosed with autism and the whole argument would collapse.
I am on your side but that’s false. They aren’t saying that vacs are the only cause…
I don’t feel like looking it up to win a argument on a sports website, but incidence of autism is similar in both vaccinated and unvaccinated children.
“Credible science supports many of the fears and suspicions that surround vaccinations.”
No it absolutely does not. Please do not try to legitimize this horribly misinformed viewpoint.
BS
I do understand Tommy’s point about each year being an unknown, but you do have to build towards something. I personally look at Year 4 (2019/20 season) as the year I expect this team to peak. Every move I would make would have this focus in mind.
1) help the development of players currently on the roster
2) add piece that will be entering or still in their prime in 2019
Examples:
Does Jason Kelce meet either criteria? No – cut him
Jason Peters? For 2017 he helps Wentz’s development. Cut him after 2017.
Allen Babre, Nolan Carroll, Connor Barwin, Mychal Kenricks? Cut them all.
Desean Jackson? Will help with Wentz’s development, but will be declining in 2019, so I would pass.
Starting 2 rookies at CB? I’m fine with this as it doesn’t really hurt anyone else’s development. Starting 2 rookie WRs? No thanks. I don’t want to attempt developing WRs while developing Wentz.
That’s the logic I use when looking at this team. Build towards 2019. Everything before than is just part of the journey. I honestly don’t care if we make the playoffs next year, but this it is necessary in 2018.
You’re under the assumption that Wentz will have to carry this team.
Tom Brady and Russell Wilson both won the Superbowl in their 2nd season due to mainly their team’s defense. The Broncos won the Superbowl 2 years ago despite their anemic offence in the postseason, scoring 23, 20, and 24 points respectively.
I would offer a counterpoint that if the team had two quality cornerbacks last season, the defense would have finished as one of the best in the league and the team wouldn’t have relied on Wentz so much. Just by removing Agholor from the starting lineup should provide a solid boost in the offensive performance.
Yes and no to the assumption that Wentz has to carry this team.
I do believe your best shot to win a championship is by having elite QB play. That has proven the most consistent path. I think we are closer to Wentz being elite than our defense being elite. Really good defenses don’t win championships. Elite ones do. Denver’s defense was elite. So was Seattle’s. Pittsburg won with an elite D. It is also very difficult to have an elite defense for a long period of time. It’s difficult to keep all of those pieces in place with the salary cap.
I also see the holes on this roster. Let say they draft 2 CBs this year. It typically takes 2-3 years before those guys play at a high level. Our defense lacks a true pass rusher that most top defenses have. We need 2-3 WRs, LG, a RT (maybe Vaitai), OL Depth, probably need to replace Logan, replace kendricks, and improve the overall depth on this team. We are missing a 2nd round pick next year and are not swimming in cap room the next couple of years. It will take 3 years to get the rest of the roster to a championship level even if Wentz is playing well.
This is also why I am in favor of taking some risks. I am all for Joe Mixon because he provides a very talented piece to this offense at a discount.
I don’t think we need fully-developed CBs to have a great defense. Just being mediocre would be a huge upgrade.
Carroll, McKelvin, and Mills were downright bottom of the barrel last season. The only way for our CBs to be worse in 2017 would be to draft late-round players who are slow and/or unathletic and stick them in the starting lineup…like Mills was last year.
Well we can agree to disagree.
We are not far from being good-very good on D. We are not close to elite.
Broncos – Talib, Adams, Von Miller, TJ Ward, Malik Jackson, DeMarcus Ware
Seahawks – Sherman, Browner, Chancellor, Thomas, Michael Bennett, Wagner
Steelers – James Harrison , Polamalu, Joey Porter, Ike Taylor
Patriots – Rodney Harrison, Ty Law, Richard Seymour, Bruski, Vrabel, Willie McGinnis
Those are elite and pro bowl players. We have Cox, Jenkins, and maybe Hicks or Graham. Nobody is elite other than Cox. We are 3-4 top players away from having a championship D. Even if things go great, I don’t see how we can do that in less than 3 seasons.
There has been plenty of discussions on this site about how teams that win have a dominant unit. These teams had dominant defenses. The Falcons had a dominant offense. The Rams won with a dominant offense. The Cowboys just had the nfl’s best record with a dominant OL. The Giants wins the SB with a dominant DL. Well rounded teams don’t win…unless you have an Elite QB (Brady, Breese, Rodgers, P Manning).
The Eagles defense shut down both the Steelers and the Falcons this year. That wasn’t some kind of fluke.
You look at the players, I look at the results.
They also gave up 32 to a putrid Bengals team. Those are also results. You can’t just cherry pick specific game to support your argument. You have to look at the entire picture. I am not saying they are bad. They just aren’t elite and need some key pieces to get there
Tony Romo has been a good QB for a long time. You can pull out some games and even stretches where he dominates. He certainly isn’t elite and hasn’t won anything.
http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/cfb/69434/325/wide-receiver-rankings
Well time to do some homework on Carlos Henderson.
he’s been getting a lot of buzz lately
Looked awesome when I watched him a month ago. Gonna have to go back and refresh.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah “would not be shocked at all” if the Redskins and 49ers agree to a trade involving Kirk Cousins at the Combine.
Jeremiah isn’t a typical Rotoworld source on the NFL side, but with draft season upon us, he has an ear to the ground and talks with numerous personnel people. He believes there’s a “better than 50 percent” chance Cousins isn’t a 2017 Redskin, and a deal sending Cousins to San Francisco, possibly along with the Redskins’ No. 17 overall pick, in exchange for the 49ers’ No. 2 overall pick is in the cards. Further, Jeremiah reports the Redskins still aren’t sold on Cousins long-term. Washington seems intent on bungling an offense that had become one of the best in the league. Cousins would be a massive get for the rebuilding Niners.
Yes, please do it!
Lol then the Skins sign Romo?
I doubt Romo would go to the skins unless they resign DeSean and Garcon.
Does this end with 3 QBs being drafted ahead of our pick at 14?
Redskins would 100% draft a QB if they trade Cousins
MotoGP season starts in march .. for anyone interested in motorcycle racing its about as top notch in technical skills and world class and hell bent insanity as it gets for the off season
Good article, Tommy.
As Pete Townshend famously said, “pray we won’t get fooled again” – all FA, especially DJax, will say anything to create a competitive bidding situation and make themselves the most coin possible – do not buy the hype. Let someone else overpay or scoop him up later for less if the market ices him out.
I focus on CB and DE and probably having to replace Logan at DT. Make that defense elite and that will help Wentz develop a lot.
Falcons made the SB in their 2nd year under Quinn because of his work on the defense. Ryan and Jones had been there for years, the offense always could score, but the defense could not stop the Washington Generals much less quality NFL teams.
I’d focus on a 2nd tier WR FA and drafting one as well.
The other mistake would be getting rid of Kelce. Seumalo is still an unknown and the absolute LAST thing Wentz needs is an inexperienced and raw C. Keep Kelce for one more year, play Seumalo at OG and see how he does.
Also, they better have a good RB plan too. A QB’s good friends, after his OL, are stable and reliable RB who can relieve pressure and move the chains.
Just to you Seumalo point…then why ever move on from a veteran player. Every player you draft is an unknown. The coaches see him in practice every day. They say him play OG and RT. Teams need to project young players into starting roles all the time. You need to go cheap somewhere on the roster. Cutting kelce frees up cap room. I am certain we will get mediocre play from Kelce. I doubt Seumalo will be much of a downgrade. If anythkng i think his size could be an upgrade for our offense.
An experienced and capable C is very important for a 2nd year QB we are working very hard to develop. It is only one more year which also gives Seumalo a chance to develop as well, prove he can hold down a starting spot and thus make Kelce expendable.
We have plenty of other options to free up cap space and sometimes talent is more important than cap space especially at a vital position like C working with your young QB.
He was a 4 year starter in college and played a bunch this year. I think you are both underestimating how ready Seumalo is and overestimating the value kelce brings.
I also think not having people push the pocket back into Wentz’s lap like all last season is beneficial. Kelce is average at best. Experience does not trump talent/better scheme fit in this case. Especially when adding the financial factors.
Agree to disagree I guess. I think you’re over-estimating Seumalo based on very little data and under-estimating the value Kelce brings to a young and growing QB.
Being a college starter does not mean jack at the NFL level, tons of those types have not developed or flopped over the years.
He started 4 games late last season; that is not nearly enough to evaluate what he can/cannot do and certainly not enough to make him your starting C. If he is so great, he may beat Kelce out and earn the job, but until then I play him at OG and let him develop.
What if you used some of the money saved by cutting Kelce to bring is a guy like Ronald Leary for LG? Would you be for or against that?
Round 1 Pick 18 (TENN): Sidney Jones, CB, Washington (B+)
Round 2 Pick 11: Dan Feeney, OG, Indiana (B+)
Round 3 Pick 10: Antonio Garcia, OT, Troy (A-)
Round 3 Pick 19 (TENN): ArDarius Stewart, WR, Alabama (A+)
Round 3 Pick 37 (TENN): Samaje Perine, RB, Oklahoma (B+)
Round 4 Pick 12: Jarron Jones, DT, Notre Dame (A-)
Round 4 Pick 33 (COMP): Daeshon Hall, DE, Texas A&M (B+)
Round 5 Pick 11: Jeremy Sprinkle, TE, Arkansas (B-)
Round 6 Pick 10: Brian Hill, RB, Wyoming (B+)
Round 7 Pick 12: Matt Milano, OLB, Boston College (B-)
Some of my old favorites here, but I got the OU non-abuser at RB b/c some of y’all were talking him up.
2 RB’s but only 1 CB? Overall I like the depth moves of strengthening the trenches (OL and DL, with an OLB added). And I certainly think we could add 2 RB’s (we need the bodies) but I’d be a little disappointed if this is how the draft actually played out. I think.
This is tremendously unrealistic. And you’re unhappy lol? Moving back 3 spots and gaining two third round picks. It’s cool that they offer trades but some are ridiculous. For the record, I would be ecstatic if we got this haul, even if it only included one CB and one WR.
Yeah, that trade down should have only been worth pick 88.
In a perfect world, we would get 2-3’s and a 2018 2nd for it also 🙂
I did a poor job of explaining my thoughts- the talent and selections were great, most are players which are hopefully selected by our team in April.
What I differ in, was the allocation of resources and (what I deem) the probability that our position rankings fall this way. Could we use resources to add talent to our team, regardless of position? Yes.
I hear you, but I didn’t see CBs I liked better than the guys I took where I took them.
I can imagine- sometimes it falls that way. Overall, I like your selections
It’s the crazy time for these shitty Eagles sites to include Jackson, McCoy and Maclin into the Eagles’ plans. NONE will be with the Eagles in 2017. GUARANTEED. They need to write shit for this site for MORONS to clickbait. AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!
Hot take!
Your anger is designed to get us to click on your comment
Looks like our resident troll may be back. Praise the block feature!
u suck
Best part is, we can say whatever we want about him, and he can just sputter impotently!
Case in point…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/839c197ad81ed4a90a61174a9f08e38be263e494e6ef4f21e3c6b778ea3a675b.png
“This user is blocked.” “This user is blocked.”
I bet you pee sitting down
I don’t know about the rest of the guys here, but I’m still waiting to see an apology from you to Mitchell for your comment the other day.
This is an Eagles fan website, you can add constructive things to the conversation, make some jokes, or end up on everyone else’s block list.
Time’s yours.
Who are you? The resident arbitrator? Get lost, loser.
Nah, just a guy who thinks you’re time would be better served with a counselor than on an Eagles blog. But this will be the last time I read one of your comments. I wish I could say it’s been fun, but it wasn’t.
49ers announced assistant GM Tom Gamble has left the organization.
In a statement, rookie GM John Lynch announced he and Gamble “agreed that it would be in both of our best interests for him to pursue other opportunities” after working together for the last month. With a rookie general manager and head coach at the controls, the 49ers are losing an experienced and well-respected personnel man who could have eased the transition. Gamble is a 29-year scouting/front office veteran, including ten years with the 49ers.
Yea, Gamble is so highly respected that he had to be escorted out of the Novacare facility by security
Bye Felicia
Football guys don’t get fired!!
OT:
Why do the Flyers suck again?!
Overall lack of talent.
They need to unload one of the two goalies (whichever won’t sign a two year extension) all 3 UFA D men (Schultz, Streit, and Del Zotto), and hopefully trick somebody into taking Weise and Read.
Then call up some kids.
Read can still be an effective winger on a good team. He’s complementary winger who can’t carry the load, but if he’s not the focus, can be quite effective. The Flyers, unfortunately, are not that team right now, nor will they be next year. He’s overpaid for what he is, and that’s what’s keeping others from taking him for a bag of pucks.
Andrew MacDonald
If the whole reason that he played so much this year was that he’d get taken in the expansion draft …………ends up with him not being taken in the expansion draft……………….
That’s been debunked many times, but still if it were true, who the fuck do they think will take him? He’s terrible by just about every metric and his contract is awful.
The coach seems to prefer “his” guys who do the things right even tho they might blow and shouldnt play in the NHL
The D is completely overmatched. Mark Streit, Brandon Manning, and Andy McDonald are all below average defensemen, at best. Radko Gudas is a role player. Ghost is in a sophomore slump, and is, in the end, a role player (though an exciting one). Provorov is just a kid getting his feet wet.
The system Hak wants to implement shares a lot with what Laviolette ran. If you don’t have the horses on the backend, it looks like a hot mess. Add to that that the centerpiece forward, Giroux, is recovering from offseason hip surgery that he rushed back from.
They overachieved last year. This year always looked like it would be step back to me, especially when they decided to bring Provorov up from day one. They still need to clear some dead weight (McDonald and Streit, every Flyers fan is looking at you…), and they will need some time for the young D to hopefully find their way at the NHL level. Next year may only be a baby step forward. 2019 is when you can start coming to conclusions on whether they’re actually headed in the right direction.
So far, I’m a fan of what Hextall’s done. He’s cleared the deck pretty well. Now it’s time to see if their prospects can keep progressing.
I’ve hated a lot of Eagles players in my day, but none as much as I hate the Flyers’ Andrew McDonald. Every time he touches the puck, I know the play is over.
Bring Hinkie back! What the hell? Trading Ersan for Thaigo Splitter and 2 2’s? The hell is that shit? Ersan isn’t a world beater but he was a solid rotational piece at worst.
He’ll be a FA at the end of the year (and there aren’t many games left). 2 2nd rounders and lump of coal is a great deal.
I’d be happier about the trade without the lump of coal, Thiago Splitter sucks. Did we take him for salary reasons or something?
Yes he’s just a contract, he’s been hurt and hasn’t played all year. He’ll probably be waived tomorrow.
Matching salaries.
This deal is 100% a deal Hinkie would also do
My notes on Carlos Henderson after watching his available breakdowns via draftbreakdown.com. Note: I’ve included time stamps this time so whoever is interested won’t have to watch the entire breakdown.
vs West Kentucky
has great RAC skills and can make people miss (0:28) (1:40) (2:12)
has a second gear but not really a burner (0:28)
couldn’t secure a TD catch in time, resulted in getting the ball ripped out of his hands (0:50)
used often on WR screens and WR handoffs
doesn’t make a contested catch at (4:05) but makes up for it in the next play with a beautiful jump ball at (4:13)
makes another jump ball catch at (4:42)
lets the ball into his body more than I like
doesn’t look interested in blocking
body catches (2:44) (4:57)
drops a slightly overthrown bomb at (5:21)
Seems like he wasn’t 100% this game?
vs Texas Tech
showed off RAC skills again and flashed toughness after breaking some tackles (0:04), (1:50), (2:10), (3:14), (4:32)
didn’t bother blocking again (0:29)
body catches a bullet but can’t blame him for it (0:51)
first time I’ve seen him try to block, pretty decent blocker (1:27)
nice hand catch at 2:55
beautiful stutter steps to beat his man deep for a TD (3:35)
Strengths
RAC skills
Acceleration
Solid hands
Has experience returning the ball
Weaknesses
One year wonder
Ran simple routes
Seems to not track the ball that well
Question marks
Lets the ball into his body more than I like
Catch radius might just be solid
Big fish in small pond
Inflated stats like Jordan Matthews in college
I get the appeal of Henderson and think he’ll be a good WR eventually. He’ll fit what we’re running right now since his RAC skills are great. I don’t want to make any conclusions for guys that don’t have more than 4 breakdowns out but should the Eagles be interested? Yes they should.
Thank you!
Hey, great job on this. I would say that the bullet pass at :51 against TT: 1. great throw by the qb (tight window and excellent placement) 2. Henderson had 2 guys bearing down on him so I feel like he caught that one close because he knew he was gonna get clobbered. I’ll say too that he set the CB up PERFECTLY. Ran straight at him giving him no clue if he was going left/right/a go route, jukes to the sideline then cuts it to the middle to split the defenders. THEN finishes with the tough grab. He shows the ability to run routes, catch in traffic and get some separation…. You need those things in the NFL.
He’s probably the fourth best WR in the draft (and you could make an argument for him over Ross (depending on the knee medicals for Ross).
I don’t know that I would call him a one year wonder he produced 500+, and 700+ in his previous two seasons.
If he’s there in the second I think the Eagles will be very interested.
Who is in your top 5?
Williams
Davis
Ross
Henderson
Taywan
That’s also about where I see dropoff from guys who could be 1’s drops off
You like Henderson more than Taylor? Taylor is my draft crush right now.
It’s probably pick-em. I’ll bet teams end up split which one they like more. I’ll take the younger player.
My personal WR draft crush is Trent Taylor. Also here’s the reason Paul Turner isn’t an NFL WR: If you just used his college teammates to build an NFL receiving corps 1. it would be filthy, and 2. He wouldn’t make the team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBng1pBKQf0
he will certainly be a patriot.
White, quick, tiny. yep that checks all the boxes
I like Taylor a bit more than Henderson but that might be because of the lack of tape on Henderson.
The Biebs as president? I think you need a bag of funjans Tommy. You don’t think straight when you are hungry.
Bieber is a Canadian. He can’t be president. Everything else seems legit though.
Noel dealt to the Mavs.
This is coming from someone who really likes Noel and believes that he can be a defensive powerhouse in the NBA, if he isn’t already.
He can’t play PF, at least not regularly.
He can’t be a bench player, nor would he want to and would leave for nothing.
He can’t be the C on the 76ers, that spot belongs to Joel Embiid. Whether that experiment works out will probably determine the succes of the Sixers, but thats the bed me made and will sleep in, and we slept pretty well when we actually got to go to bed.
Sucks that we lost Noel, but it isn’t really surprising.
The deal gets worse, because the pick is top 18 protected, if we don’t get it this year it converts to 2 second rounders.
The only way this deal comes looking better is if we somehow move Bogut for something of worth but I doubt it. Otherwise we basically dealt Noel for a mediocre wing, an expiring contract and 2 2nd rounders.
I thought Noel coexisted well with Embiid and I don’t understand why we couldn’t get better value out of the deal or hold onto him. Kind of ridiculous.
Obviously the Okafor situation has been botched incredibly by Colangelo, Woj reporting that we’re trying to sell him now at a deeply reduced price.
Yeah, deal wise this is horrible but pretty much what we all expected right? Colangelo hasn’t really done anything right.
I’m just saying that Noel as a player wasn’t really the player we needed because of Embiid who the Sixers have their future tied up in.
The whole they never played together will get brought up, but Embiid needs to play C, and while Noel might do a job on the defensive end, I just cant see him being a PF offensively.
Now the question becomes whether Simmons is going to be the guy at PF, which seems unlikely with his ball handling ability. Long term, I think Simmons will be the SF on the defensive end, but handle the ball quite a bit offensively. Maybe Saric is the PF, but we’ll see.
Theres an argument for getting Noel out, because we kinda knew he didn’t fit, but damn this was a bad way to do it. Should have moved Jah and extended Noel, who was still an RFA. Gives time to find the right trade AND the option to see if Noel could actually work as the PF next to The Process.
Noel is too talented a defender to let go for what amounts to peanuts.
I wonder if they hadn’t bumbled about with the Okafor trade and actually gotten it done whether they would have dealt Noel at all.
it’s the NBA.
the players try for about 15 minutes a game, 30 games a year. All the best players stack up on one team rather than try to win on their own. The officiating is subjective at best and the league championship has been decided before they play a game.
He’s played with Embiid exactly 8 minutes. Granted, I think it was a good 8 but hardly something to judge off of.
It was just a logjam at center. Noel probably doesn’t work as a 4 and it was probably an 80% chance he is signing somewhere else for starters money that the Sixers would no way in hell match.
It’s a shit deal but the Sixers but they got something for him.
If our 2nd and 4th best prospects were not 4’s i could see you trying to play Noel 10 minutes a game at the 4 and just hope they are defensively impactful enough to make it work…. But you are never going to want to take Simmons or Saric off the floor to play Noel at the 4.
How does the spot belong to Embiid when he hasn’t shown any signs of staying healthy though