No Such Thing

Posted: May 7th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

The Eagles have a good roster. A very good roster, actually.

There are multiple Pro Bowl players. There are playmakers on both sides of the ball. There are good STers. There is also good depth.

But…this isn’t a perfect roster. There is no such thing in the NFL.

Every team has holes.

No one has enough resources to get every player they want. There is also the problem that good players don’t want to be relegated to a small role. We see that with Chris Long right now. He loves the Eagles and Philly, but doesn’t want to see his snaps go down. He wants to be on the field.

If the Eagles lose him, they could go get another veteran DE. Ziggy Ansah is the name everyone mentions, but would Ansah want to come to Philly to be the #3 DE? Ideally he wants to sign somewhere to play a decent amount to he can hit the market next March and try to get a solid contract. If he comes to Philly to play a limited role, his chances of getting the big deal go down.

The Eagles don’t need a standout #3 DE because Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett are good players. But if one of them gets hurt, watch out. And that’s the catch-22 of roster building. You want as many good players as possible, but trying to find roles for everyone is hard…unless there are injuries.

The Cowboys won three Super Bowls from 1992-1995. They never had a good replacement for Emmitt Smith. But they never needed a backup for any extended time. The Eagles have had so-so RBs in recent years and they haven’t been able to keep them healthy.

Howie Roseman tries to plan for as many contingencies as possible, but you just can’t have everything covered. At a certain point, you need guys to stay healthy. And you need guys to play up to their ability.

One of the tricky parts to all of this is knowing when to flinch. For my money, the Ravens are generally the most patient organization in the league. They can have a hole at a certain spot and wait and wait and then fill it later than you would expect. The problem is that sometimes they don’t get the hole taken care of.

We all wondered what the Eagles would do at RB. They didn’t pursue Tevin Coleman. Or Mark Ingram. I don’t think they ever got too serious with looking at Duke Johnson. Howie didn’t panic and just go sign someone. He was patient. He ended up trading a late pick for Jordan Howard. Roseman then drafted Miles Sanders. That gives the Eagles a good 1-2 punch at RB. And we’ll see what happens with Corey Clement, Wendell Smallwood and Josh Adams.

What is the difference in patient and negligent?

That is a brutally tough question. The Eagles have an All-Pro center in Jason Kelce. They don’t have a good backup behind him. Isaac Seumalo could slide to the middle, but the Eagles don’t have a great set of guards right now. The team signed some talented UDFAs and will take a long look at them. It is possible that the analytics staff told Roseman this was the way to go. Don’t draft someone early, sign multiple good UDFAs and see what happens. Or it could be that there just weren’t good options.

The draft class only had a few centers with draftable grades. Don’t panic and waste a pick on a mediocre prospect. Sign a UDFA.

The Eagles might end up going for a veteran to play C/G. There aren’t great options, but it would be nice to have some experience for that area. At the same time, it would be nice to check out the rookies and get a feel for them. If they all struggle, go get your veteran. If one of the rookies shows real promise, hold on adding the veteran and give the kid a chance. You want cheap, young backups when you can find them.

Roseman was patient at RB and came away with a pair of players the team likes in Howard and Sanders.

Roseman was patient at LB and came away with Zach Brown.

Roseman was patient at DT and came away with Jernigan and Hassan Ridgeway.

Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. You can’t make good players magically appear. I’m sure Jernigan talked to a lot of other teams before re-signing. He obviously didn’t get the deal he was looking for. Ridgeway came available on draft weekend so the Eagles jumped on him. Maybe the team is waiting for May 7 before pursuing more free agents. Or maybe they just don’t like the options right now. We’ll find out soon enough.

The Eagles could still possibly add a DE, C/G or some other spot they feel could be strengthened. As Roseman loves to point out, they are always looking to add talent.

That never stops.

Still, no matter how many moves Roseman makes and no matter how strong some parts of the team looks, there will always be holes.

_


One Comment on “No Such Thing”

  1. 1 增大网 said at 6:01 AM on May 8th, 2019:

    增大壮阳、丰乳缩阴、泡妞把妹、房中秘术!

    够硬!男人的把柄才能堵住女人的漏洞!

    什么不用干,不用拉下线,坐收九百万!

    网址:

    longya.184.ooo

    增大网,吊炸天!