Building Plans

When Jimmy Johnson took over as coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 1989, he looked around the NFC East and saw the Eagles as the team he had to plan for. Johnson saw a team of athletic playmakers on offense and defense. He built Dallas to have enough speed and size to beat the Eagles. That didn’t happen for the first couple of years, but Dallas split with the Eagles in 1991 and 1992 and then swept the Birds in 1993 and 1994. I think Dallas might have won a Super Bowl or two, but I can’t quite remember.

Team building thought for those in the AFC: KC, BAL and HOU have young QB's surrounded by track teams. You better get faster on defense if you want to compete for the next decade.

— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) January 29, 2020

Interesting note from Jeremiah, and one that makes sense.

But it also raises a question. Who do NFC teams build their teams to stop/deal with?

There really isn’t a clear team for the NFC to plan around. SF had a great year, but we don’t know if they’ll be able to sustain this level of success. We don’t know if Drew Brees is going to retire or come back to the Saints. Green Bay feels like a mystery team.

Seattle? The Rams? Minnesota?

I don’t know that there is anyone you specifically have to plan for.

The Eagles have to figure out how they want to approach the offseason. They could build up the offense, hoping to surround Carson Wentz with as much talent as possible. They actually tried that in 2019. Things just didn’t go right, in terms of injuries or players getting the job done.

The Eagles could look at how SF added weapons to their defense and decide to go that route.

There isn’t a clear cut answer. There isn’t a fool proof plan. The key is to do a good job of self-scouting so you have an honest accounting of the talent on hand. Then you need to add the right players to build on strengths and to fix weaknesses. And of course you have to hope they stay healthy.

One of the key things for the Eagles to figure out is what they want to do at WR. In the past, Howie Roseman has talked about rookie receivers struggling to contribute. We saw several rookie wideouts play well in 2019. Will that change the Eagles thinking? If not, then they may feel they need veterans at WR and addressing CB should be done in the draft.

The Eagles study positional production and age. This isn’t just Howie throwing some BS off the wall. That said, there is constant change in the NFL. If the Eagles thought they could bring in a couple of rookie WRs and get them to contribute right away, that would be ideal. It would surround Wentz with young talent that could grow around him.

The biggest thing for me is that the Eagles need to add good players. There are positions that must be addressed, but I don’t want the team to pass on a stud DT or dynamic S for a WR just because of need. I think more than a few fans are going to talk themselves into Pick 21 being a WR or CB…or failure.

Free agency will start to give us some answers, but that is six weeks away. Until then, we’ll continue to speculate and play GM from a distance.

*****

I was hoping South Carolina DT Javon Kinlaw might last until 21, but after a good showing in Mobile, it sure doesn’t seem like he falls that far. I stood next to him on the field and that is one big man. It would be fun to see a young guy like that playing with Fletcher Cox.

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