Meet the New Guys

Posted: March 16th, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Meet the New Guys

The Eagles had a press conference for LBs Nigel Bradham and Corey Nelson. And then someone decided to crash the party.

You think Jim Schwartz was happy?

With Fletcher Cox, Tim Jernigan and Haloti Ngata, the Eagles have the best trio of DTs in the league. Ngata isn’t the guy he was in his prime, but he is still a massive, powerful man who can shed blocks and be disruptive. I think the Eagles rotation will help him to be more effective. Beau Allen played 422 snaps on defense in 2017. Ngata generally plays more than 500 snaps. Keeping Ngata fresh should help to bring out the best in him.

Ngata is a band-aid. The Eagles are checking out DT prospects for the draft and will likely add someone to develop for the future. It would have been great to keep Allen, but he’s making $5M per year and the Eagles can’t pay him that with Cox and Jernigan making big money as well.

You can watch the press conferences at PE.com, but they were pretty boring to be honest. We heard from the players, but not Howie or any coaches. The players played it pretty safe and said fairly generic things. Nelson did say he’s here to play WLB. That tells you pretty clearly that Mychal Kendricks is on the way out, whether traded or cut.

One thing about these signings is that character was an issue. Chemistry was a huge part of the Eagles success last year. They aren’t going to add just anyone. They want the right kind of guys, especially with the loss of good people like Allen, Brent Celek and Torrey Smith. Ngata is a high character guy. Ditto that for Nelson.

The 2011 Eagles were very talented, but more of a mercenary group. Howie Roseman seems to have learned from that experience. It also helps to have great leaders like Carson Wentz, Malcolm Jenkins and Jason Peters. They set the tone and that helps to bring out the best in the other players.

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Did the Eagles do this just to make the Ngata move or do they have something else cooking?

You can’t help but at least contemplate this.

Mathieu could come to Philly to play the slot and be moved around in different sets. I don’t think this is likely at all, but it is fun to think about. The biggest problem is that Mathieu would be perfect for the Malcolm Jenkins role. I don’t anticipate MJ going anywhere.

The Eagles do need to add a veteran TE at some point, especially someone who can block.

They can consider going for a WR, but that’s not a must.

No good free agency rumors for now. The Eagles just might let things get quiet for a few days and then start talking to players when prices have stabilized. Or Howie could make some completely unexpected move. It is hard to know what to expect from the Eagles right now.

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Judas Priest and Jim Schwartz? I saw a Philly.com article that talked about the band’s newest album and loved this nugget. Singer and metal god Rob Halford knows who Jim Schwartz is.

OK. The sports thing: Jim Schwartz, the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles…

Oh, I know he’s a massive Priest fan. I want to drag him out to the show and onto the stage. He doesn’t know that yet.

He does now. Are you an Eagles fan?

I’m not going to put myself there, but I love watching the challenge and human complexity of it. To have all these players – who all have their own lives and things on their mind – come together in unison as the Eagles with that goal in sight – win that Super Bowl – that’s mind-boggling. All those physical and psychological mechanisms at work …. I’m happy they won, especially after all those years. It’s beautiful, man. That message goes beyond sports. That’s about never giving in and never giving up.

That would have been very cool. Make that happen the next time Priest is in the Philly area.

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