Let the Rumors Begin

Posted: February 27th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Let the Rumors Begin

The Scouting Combine kicks off this week. This is huge for all the draft prospects, but also important for other reasons. All 32 teams will be together for the first time in 2019. This is when teams will start talking about trades and other personnel moves. That means we’ll start to hear good rumors.

Hmm. The Eagles could use a speedy WR. Wonder if they might be interested in Ross?

The Eagles were interested leading up to the 2017 draft. Doug Pederson was impressed.

“Well, a guy like that, he’s dynamic, has good speed, elusive, quick, short-area quickness is the things you see on film with him and on tape,” said Pederson. “He’s a guy, I think, wherever he ends up, could potentially be a difference-maker because of the speed and that elusive quickness with the ball in his hand.”

The Eagles did have concerns about Ross injury history, but they never got a chance to decide whether or not to take Ross. Cincy took him ninth overall. The Eagles ended up taking Derek Barnett.

Ross has been a major disappointment in the pros. He’s played in 16 games and is 21-210-7 as a receiver. To be fair, Shelton Gibson would kill for those numbers. But Ross was drafted to be an impact player and he hasn’t come close.

Ross has the kind of electric speed the Eagles could use.

Howie Roseman should talk to the Bengals. See what they are asking for Ross. If you could pair Ross with Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Mack Hollins and a rookie, that could be a good group.

You can’t count on Ross as a sure thing, but he’s young enough and talented enough to take a chance on. If the price is right. I’m not sure what a fair trade would be, but I would go low on Ross just because of the injury concern. He could stay healthy for the next five years or struggle to get on the field at all. You can’t overpay for a guy like that, fast or not.

There will be plenty of other rumors coming out in the next couple of weeks. Other players will be put on the trade block, or flat out released. It will be interesting to see who else becomes available and whether that helps the Eagles.

*****

The Eagles made about 237 changes to the coaching staff / operations department.

• Phillip Daniels promoted to defensive line coach

• Carson Walch promoted to wide receivers coach

• Mike Bartrum hired as assistant tight ends coach

• Matthew Harper named assistant wide receivers coach

• Roy Istvan hired as assistant offensive line coach

• Nathan Ollie hired as assistant defensive line coach

• T.J. Paganetti named assistant running backs coach

• Luke Thompson hired as assistant special teams coach

• Matt Burke hired as defensive special assistant

• G.J. Kinne hired as offensive special projects

• Joe Pannunzio hired as director of team development

The team has also announced the following promotions and hires within football operations:

• Andrew Berry hired as vice president of football operations

• Greg Delimitros promoted to vice president of equipment operations

• Patrick Dolan promoted to vice president of football technology

• Jon Ferrari promoted to vice president of football operations and compliance

• Jeremiah Washburn hired as advanced projects coordinator

Andrew Berry is probably the most interesting name.

Some additional info on Berry.

Berry, a Harvard graduate who earned his Bachelor’s in economics and Master’s in computer science in four years, was close to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, and some in the organization believed Haslam was grooming him to become the GM someday.

But all of that changed when Haslam hired John Dorsey as GM in December of 2017. Dorsey brought along his strong talent evaluation team of Assistant GM Eliot Wolf and Vice President of Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith, and suddenly, the Browns had a surplus of VPs of Player Personnel, including a third one in Ken Kovash, who joined the club in 2014 as director of football administration.

Other teams have inquired about Berry in the past, but it required a clearcut promotion to pry him away, and the Eagles offered one.

The move comes just before teams are heading to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine, which runs from Tuesday through next Monday.

Because Dorsey has Wolf and Highsmith, the Browns have no immediate plans to replace Berry.

Working closely with Dorsey, Berry helped lead all talent evaluation efforts for the Browns, including college prospects and NFL free agents. He also helped oversee the club’s scouting department.

Berry was hired by the Browns in 2016 after spending the previous seven seasons (2009-15) with the Colts, including the last four as pro scouting director.

Berry has more of a pro background than college, but he’s done enough that he will likely have input into both types of moves.

I”m not sure what to make of this hire. He sounds like someone you would want to add to your front office. At the same time, the Eagles already have Roseman, Joe Douglas, Andy Weidl and Dwayne Joseph.

Roseman runs the show. Douglas and Weidl run the college side of things. Joseph is the head of pro scouting. Where does Berry fit in?

Berry could be the key to bridging personnel and analytics. That would be interesting.

Any advantage you can get in personnel decisions is worth trying.

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