Indy PCs

Coaches and GMs hold press conferences at the Combine in Indy. Today we got to hear Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman speak. There were no real highlights, but we got a few interesting nuggets.

Let’s talk about what the two of them had to say.

Watch live as Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson meet with the media at the #NFLCombine. https://t.co/cNeKpzQwr6

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) February 25, 2020

LT / JASON PETERS

Howie was asked about the LT situation and wouldn’t commit to anything. He praised Jason Peters as a Hall of Fame person and player. Doug flat out said he wanted Peters back. He compared this to saying he wanted Darren Sproles back.

What does this mean?

It is possible this is just Doug and Howie praising a great player and not wanting to be critical of him in any way. If either one of them said it was time to move on, they would be hit with all kinds of questions about the situation.

It is also possible they have some concern about Andre Dillard and are genuinely open to bringing Peters back. I tend to think that isn’t the case, but never say never when it comes to the NFL.

Doug loves his players. He wanted Sproles last year. Clearly Sproles should not have been brought back. I’m sure Doug would love to keep his veteran LT. That’s no insult to Dillard. Peters is a unique guy and Doug would love one more year. It is Howie’s job to say no. No. Absolutely not. No. Can’t happen. No. Bad idea. No.

I don’t want to make too much of today’s comments, but it would make me feel a lot better if these guys could let us know they really will move on from the veterans. Howie talked about the need to get younger. Stand by that. You aren’t insulting Peters, a legitimately great player and possible HOF’er. Football is a young man’s game. You have to move on from everyone eventually.

NEW COACHING STAFF

Doug was asked if Jeffrey Lurie had any part in coaching decisions. He said “no”. Doug let it be known that he made the decision to fire Mike Groh and then who to hire. He was asked about the comments at the end of season PC when he said he wouldn’t be firing anyone, only to reverse course the next day. Doug said that was simply due to him not having finished his evaluations.

Maybe.

I do think Doug mis-spoke at the PC. He really struggles with certain answers and I don’t think he was trying to lie. It felt weird to me at the time. That said, the quick reversal sure did make it feel like there was some pressure on him. Heck, Lurie could have simply told him to not let the situation linger. We won’t find out the real details until someone writes a book 10 years from now.

I know some people are worried about the new set-up, with no offensive coordinator. I don’t see the changes as all that big of a deal, in terms of duties and how things will work.

The Eagles have had a collaborative process since Doug got here. Jeff Stoutland has been in charge of the run game. That hasn’t changed at all. Press Taylor will oversee the pass game, which the OC used to do. Rich Scangarello has a bit of a new role, but nothing crazy.

The Eagles have been very effective with having specific assistants focus on third downs, Red Zone and so on. They have always done things as a whole staff. Remember that Press Taylor was just a low-level offensive assistant when he came up with the idea of Philly Special. That didn’t come from the OC or QBs coach.

I have no problem with the new format. The game of football is constantly evolving. Why do you need someone with the title of OC when you have an offensive head coach who calls plays? He truly is the OC.

The Eagles offense wasn’t some kind of disaster last year. The offense put up 30 or more points in six games. There were some really good games.

The problem was consistency. There were times when the offense just disappeared, often early in games. That has to get fixed.

I think the Eagles have some really bright minds with a variety of backgrounds. I’m excited to see what they can put together.

And I absolutely believe in Doug Pederson as a play-caller.

FREE AGENCY

The Eagles were mostly bargain shoppers the past few years. They spent some money on Alshon Jefferey, Torrey Smith, Mike Wallace, DeSean Jackson and Malik Jackson, but really focused on trying to find cheap, short term fits.

Patrick Robinson
Chris Long (also re-signed him)
Stefen Wisniewski (also re-signed him)
LeGarrette Blount
Corey Graham (also re-signed him)
Haloti Ngata
Zach Brown
Andrew Sendejo
LJ Fort
Jonathan Cyprien

You could maybe throw the trade for Golden Tate in there. And maybe bringing back Sproles a couple of times.

Howie said the team would look at free agency differently this time around. They would not look for temporary solutions, but rather players who could come in and be part of the team for several years.

That means spending more money. It also means the team likely won’t be getting comp picks, but they are okay with that. Comp picks were needed when the team was low on draft picks. The Carson Wentz trade is completely off the books by now so the days of only using five draft picks in a year should be over.

The Eagles aren’t just going to throw money around wildly, but they will be more aggressive shoppers.

WR

Both men were asked about the need to upgrade at receiver. Neither gave compelling answers.

They know they need help.

LEARNING

Howie was asked about learning from previous draft failures. He said the team needed to study past drafts to see what went wrong so they could learn and improve.

I would love to have him talk about the struggles at CB. That’s a spot where the team has invested in free agents, draft picks and trades. They have struggled to build a good set of CBs. It would be interesting to see if Howie had learned anything or had a theory on the struggles.

*****

Howie opened up a bit more when talking to Mike Florio and Chris Simms of PFT. He told a couple of good stories. Still nothing groundbreaking, but worth watching.

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