The Hand

Posted: July 2nd, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 40 Comments »

I am not referring to the 1981 thriller with Michael Caine, although I loved that movie as a kid.

I’m talking about the story that Ian Rappoport Jimmy Kempski broke a couple of days ago. According to a source of his, Jordan Hicks broke his hand while getting out of a pool on his vacatin in Greece.

The exact severity of Hicks’ injury is not yet known, as he has not yet gone for X-rays in Greece, where he remains for now. However, he did send video of his hand, performing an array of motions for team doctors to view. The Eagles do not believe the injury to be overly significant. A source with the Eagles explained that even if it is broken, the likelihood is that it would only be about a four-week injury.

Big sigh of relief.

Hicks is one player the Eagles can’t afford to lose. He knows how to run the defense and he is a playmaker, making him doubly valuable.

The Eagles liked what they saw from Joe Walker last year, but he got hurt and missed the season. Walker is reportedly on schedule to be ready for Training Camp and the preseason, but we’ll have to wait and see if that is true.

There is also the question of how coming off a torn ACL will affect him. Some guys are never the same. Stewart Bradley tore his ACL in the summer of 2009 and never got back to where he was. There were times in 2008 when Bradley looked like a stud MLB. He wasn’t even functional after the injury.

Other guys come back as if nothing happened. Jeremy Maclin tore his ACL in 2013 and then had the best season of his career in 2014.

It would be great if Walker is healthy by late July and can regain his form. There is no good backup MLB candidate on the roster beyond him.

Najee Goode has started for the Eagles and is an effective role player, but he’s better suited for OLB than the middle. He could play there, but I don’t think he has the physicality you ideally want to play inside runs.

Mychal Kendricks could easily play MLB, but he’s not the smartest or most instinctive player. He wants to attack. Kendricks isn’t someone you want running the defense.

Nigel Bradham might be able to play inside, but I’m not sure if he’s got the instincts. He’s good on the outside, but playing the middle where you are in heavy traffic and have to do so much reading, I don’t see that as the best fit for him. Bradham has a lot of experience in the scheme so he might be worth trying if the situation ever came up.

Don Cherry has MLB experience from his days at Villanova. I just question if he has the athleticism to play in the NFL. He’s stuck around longer than I expected so the Eagles seem to like him, at the very least as a practice player.

Nate Gerry and Kamu Grugier-Hill are too small to play MLB right now. Both are S/LB types who are better suited to playing outside.

For now, be glad Jordan Hicks is okay. We got lucky that this situation was an Aegean accident and not a full blown Greek tragedy.

*****

PE.com has a Rasul Douglas highlight video.

I know Douglas doesn’t have ideal experience. I know his long speed is an issue. But man, his size, length and crazy ball skills are really impressive. Turnovers make such a difference in football. He has the potential to make impact plays.

_

40 Comments on “The Hand”

  1. 1 Media Mike said at 2:44 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    It isn’t terribly hard to plant one’s hand the wrong way and break a bone when asking it to bear one’s full weight. Even if his hand was totally shattered; he’d still be able to cast it up and play………………unless his name was Kendricks.

  2. 2 wee2424 said at 4:31 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    Kendricks would have managed to pull a hammy while climbing out of the pool.

  3. 3 SteveH said at 4:49 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    Kendricks would have pulled a hammy getting into the pool.

  4. 4 phillychuck said at 7:30 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    Kendricks would have pulled a hammy planning the vacation.

  5. 5 Tumtum said at 12:58 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Poor Kendricks. He stayed pretty healthy last year.

  6. 6 SteveH said at 6:29 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Yeah I feel bad for the guy, all the potential in the world athletically, it just never quite came together for him. Flashes of great play here and there but that’s it.

  7. 7 P_P_K said at 8:31 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    I was going to write that.

  8. 8 tball_man said at 9:29 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    There’s a lot of marble in Greece…. Get that stuff wet and a feet over head slip isn’t far fetched at all.

  9. 9 Media Mike said at 8:08 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Nope. And I’d imagine that pool injuries, besides just drownings, are way more common than we’d know.

  10. 10 ChoTime said at 7:49 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Take some marble, add some hubris, boom, instant broken hand.

  11. 11 ACViking said at 5:27 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    Speaking of injured hands —

    How ’bout the case in Contract law nearly all first 1st-year law students have studied for the past 80-plus years . . . Hawkins v. McGee, 84 NH 114 (1923).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawkins_v._McGee

    And mainstreamed in this move . . .
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx22TyCge7w

  12. 12 P_P_K said at 8:31 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    I just learned something new.

  13. 13 A_T_G said at 8:44 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    Well? Don’t keep us in suspense, what was… oh, it was the hand thing. Got it.

    When the clip ended and my wife asked what I was listening to, it was difficult to explain how that was part of Iggles Blog, but it was interesting. Out of curiosity, what damages should the boy receive?

  14. 14 ACViking said at 7:41 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    The difference between what he was promised and what he received.

  15. 15 A_T_G said at 2:35 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Ah. So one just takes the value of a healthy, hairless hand and subtracts the value of a burned, hairy hand? Sounds simple enough.

  16. 16 ACViking said at 3:54 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    That observation is one of the principal reasons why the case is studied by 1st-year law students.

  17. 17 Benny6968 said at 11:43 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    A case of Funions and a lifetime supply of PBR’s and three posters of Megan Fox in various bikini’s would seem fair to me.

  18. 18 Tumtum said at 12:57 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Well if it is the difference between a burned or a burned and hairy hand.. clearly he owes the doctor, right?

  19. 19 Ark87 said at 1:40 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    lifetime supply of razors and 1000 shares of Gillette stock

  20. 20 Sean Stott said at 8:22 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    Since I didn’t know this, I’m assuming some others didn’t –

    Rasul is pronounced like Russell. I was rhyming it with the Spanish word for blue.

  21. 21 A_T_G said at 8:36 PM on July 2nd, 2017:

    I just recently corrected the same error.

  22. 22 usmcnole said at 12:55 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    That doesn’t phonetically make sense. He’s a bust

  23. 23 Media Mike said at 8:10 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    I’m still saying it like Spanish blue, like Rasual Butler from LaSalle. It’s stuck in there that way and not subject to change.

  24. 24 Tumtum said at 12:52 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    So was I. Thanks!

  25. 25 Pennguino Mack-Attack said at 4:34 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    I thought the article would be about Levon Kirkland talking to the hand

  26. 26 xmbk said at 7:29 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    That Greek tragedy line was reportin’ above and beyond the call of duty.

  27. 27 Media Mike said at 9:11 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    I’m about to fire off a 12 team mock fantasy draft. Picking 11th, as I am in my fantasy league. Any feedback about the roster will be appreciated. Standing rules are no Giants / no true arch enemy players.

  28. 28 Media Mike said at 9:29 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    1- Shady
    2 – Amari Cooper
    3 – Allen Robinson
    4 – Marshawn Lynch
    5 – Eddie Lacy
    6 – Jamison Crowder
    7 – Kyle Rudolph
    8 – Corey Davis
    9 – Kareem Hunt
    10 – Big Ben
    11 – Samage Perine
    12 – Matthew Stafford
    13 – Jags D
    14 – OJ Howard
    15 – Janikowski
    16 – Tyler Lockett

  29. 29 kajomo said at 9:49 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Without knowing who was in the board it is hard. I wouldn’t touch Marshawn. Who knows what that guy has left inthe tank. Also Eddie Lacy is part of a very crowded backfield on a 1 year deal. He could blow up or ride the bench. I would hedge that with Rawls.

  30. 30 xmbk said at 9:50 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    ARob is risky that high. Howard could be a steal that late.

  31. 31 Tumtum said at 12:50 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Very early for me, haven’t studied at all. Robinson was a pretty big let down for me last year, though that is why you are finding the 3rd round value. He could easily be a top 5 wr. So risk with reward. Not sure how I feel about Lynch. Would probably really want to hear how he is preforming in camp. I hate fat Ed, has burned me to much. The value is there, but seems like a risky backfield. Seem high for Crowder, but again haven’t researched yet. I think QBs are good, and drafted right when you want to.

    Locket not worth rostering. Go for someone with more upside there.

  32. 32 Ark87 said at 1:33 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Dunno about an Aging Shady under an untested regime (do they stick with the run/ how much do they rotate/ does their scheme work). But picking 11th you probably didn’t have much better options. Still, if the offense is competent, Shady should be effective playing off of Tyrod Taylor’s mobility. Also their O-line is pretty good. So it def could be worse.

  33. 33 P_P_K said at 4:41 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Props for not taking Giants or other enemies.

  34. 34 Benny6968 said at 11:33 AM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Can Rasul be the next Asante Samuels? I sure hope so.
    It would sure help to solve our ongoing issues at CB.
    I am still holding out hope for Gymes or CJ to grab the reins and own a spot in the rotation at the very least.

    Since Mills is getting a ton of praise for what he has done in mini camp and OTA’s, I hope that he can be part of the solution as well.

  35. 35 Tumtum said at 12:47 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    That would be the dream. Only he appears to be good at tackling.

  36. 36 Ark87 said at 1:27 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    we could really use a lucky break in the secondary, and hopefully Sidney Jones is legit next year. Because before we know it, we’ll be trying to transition to a new generation of safeties, would be nice to have corner locked down.

    We were definitely spoiled to have Taylor and Vincent with Dawk. Then Sheldon and Lito came in. Then Lito left and we got Asante. And all along the way, just about every safety that played next to Dawk played very well, even at pro-bowl level.

    Now it’s been a struggle to put warm bodies in the secondary going on a decade. Finally got some good safeties. Just need some of these corners to pan out.

  37. 37 A_T_G said at 2:26 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    With some luck, Sidney and Rasul will push Mills into Al Harris territory- good enough to start, just not here.

  38. 38 CrackSammich said at 2:55 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    Mills can play here, just in the slot.

  39. 39 A_T_G said at 6:50 PM on July 3rd, 2017:

    That’s what we tried to tell Al Harris, isn’t it?

  40. 40 D3FB said at 9:24 AM on July 4th, 2017:

    I’d actually kick Mills back to safety long term