A Bad Finger

Posted: August 27th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on A Bad Finger

For the most part, the Eagles are on the mend. Well, at least that was true until Tuesday.

No big deal. I’m not even sure where DeSean fits in anymore.

Alshon Jeffery is the workhorse receiver. Nelson Agholor has the most experience in this system. And J.J. Arcega-Whiteside is coming off one of the greatest performances in NFL history. DeSean will probably still make the team, but…

Okay, a bit of exaggeration there. DeSean is going to be a critical part of the passing game this year. Hopefully this is a minor injury that has limited impact. The good news is that it won’t affect his speed. DeSean impacts defenses just by stepping on the field. The Eagles can build a gameplan that doesn’t put the ball in his direction much. Defenses wouldn’t know that, but would have to account for his speed on every play.

It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers DeSean puts up and also how the overall offense performs. I wrote a piece for PE.com about the team adding speed in the offseason. The lack of a gamebreaking WR hurt the offense in 2018.

Wentz is healthy now and the receiving corps is better, faster and deeper. This should be a fun offense to watch.

*****

Sullivan showed promise last year. Unfortunately, he didn’t build on that.

Young players who get a taste of success can struggle with how to handle that. They lose the edge that got them on the roster or into games from the previous year. Guys assume they’ve made it. If you’re a fringe player, you simply can’t afford to have that mentality. You’re not good enough to succeed like that.

The Eagles were patient with Sullivan. He just wasn’t responding.

As for Thompson, he has bounced around the NFL for a couple of years. The former QB is a gifted athlete. From a 2017 draft article.

5. JASON THOMPSON, S, UTAH

Marcus Williams is probably the Utah safety you were expecting to see on this list, but at Utah’s pro day it was Thompson who stole the show. He turned in a blazing 6.57-second 3-cone, 4.01 short shuttle, 4.45-second 40, 20 bench reps, a 39 ½-inch vertical, and an 11’1” broad jump. Those numbers are all elite for the position. They’ve yet to translate to football though as Thompson played all of 53 snaps the past two seasons.

The Eagles are just taking a flyer on a gifted athlete. Let’s see what he does on Thursday night.

This is good news for Johnathan Cyprien, although I already had him pegged as making the team.

*****

The Eagles cut a raw prospect for a player who has 12 NFL starts under his belt. They can now get some tape on Pullard in their system. If somebody gets hurt, he could be a player they’ll call as a replacement.

*****

Ready for another installment of As Jadeveon Clowney’s World Turns?

We don’t know if the Eagles are interested in him, but Clowney is reportedly interested in them. Winning team. Good culture. Gets to hang out with Les Bowen on a regular basis. Who wouldn’t want to come to Philly?

I still don’t think it is likely he becomes an Eagle. The fit/timing just isn’t great. It also doesn’t help that Houston doesn’t have a true GM right now. If the Eagles were interested, that would make negotiations more challenging than usual.

Oh, and Clowney fired his agent today. Just another weird layer to this situation.

Stay tuned for the saga that wouldn’t end.

_

Comments are closed.