Line Dance

Posted: October 16th, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Line Dance

Jason Kelce must be paranoid. He is the only starting lineman who hasn’t gotten injured this season. Kelce has played with 237 different players in the first five games. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but only slight. And the trend may continue.

Matt Pryor missed practice earlier in the week due to illness so it is possible Jamon Brown could start at RG. Based on the way Pryor played last week, Brown should probably get a chance to show what he can do.

The changes won’t stop there. It sure sounds like Lane Johnson will be out this week, which would put Jack Driscoll at RT. That paves the way for Brett Toth to become the swing tackle. Get these guys some name tags. Kelce deserves at least that.

This is another weird week in a very weird season.

I was furious when I saw Toohill got released. He was only a seventh round pick, but he was terrific in Training Camp and showed real promise. Toohill is young and a gifted athlete. You want to keep those guys around. When I saw he was released, I focused on the idea of him losing his spot to Vinny Curry. That would be infuriating.

Then I saw this.

And that’s when it hit me that with Driscoll likely to start, Toth might need to be the swing tackle. Pryor isn’t 100 percent healthy and he’s struggling at OG. The last thing  you want is him at OT.

I’m still not happy about losing Toohill, who was claimed by Washington. Ugh. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Couldn’t the Eagles have cut RB Jason Huntley or OL Luke Juriga? Are they really better players than Toohill? I guess the Eagles are betting on that, but I don’t like it one bit.

To be fair, these are the kinds of decisions you have to make when you have the worst injury situation in the league. I guess the flip side is that this is also what happens when you have an older, flawed roster.

The Eagles are getting a look at a lot of young OL this year. Jordan Mailata has impressed. He’s far from perfect, but you see a player with starting potential. We need to see how he holds up as teams test him in a variety of ways. Pryor has not impressed. He was awful in the first quarter last week. He got better after that, but still had issues. Nate Herbig and Jack Driscoll have both shown good potential. I think the Eagles are finding some long term pieces.

I have no idea what to expect from Toth if he has to play. He was with the Eagles for part of the summer of 2019. Toth played RT in the preseason finale and showed good potential. He was cut and picked up by the Cardinals. When they cut him this year, the Eagles brought him back. He has more potential than experience. At this point, the Eagles can’t be too picky. They’ve gone through O-linemen at a record pace.

The DL has played well. That’s been a mixture of vets and young players. We only saw Toohill for one game. He looked athletic and lost. That’s what happens when you make your debut vs the Rams and all their movement. No Eagles DL looked great that day.

Guys like Josh Sweat, Derek Barnett and Genard Avery have played well. There is good young talent up front. It will be interesting to see if Joe Ostman ever gets a chance to play this year. I certainly don’t want anyone ahead of him to get hurt, but it would be interesting to see Ostman in action. Is he Steven Means, pt. 2? A great practice player with limited potential. Or can he be a real contributor?

The Eagles better not bring back Curry unless there is an injury. They don’t need an older body up front. Trade him or cut him. Stick with the young guys. If they somehow find room for him, but not for Toohill, my head would explode. This isn’t the year to play 30-year old backups.

*****

It would be great to get him out there. He’ll be a bit rusty, but he has shown playmaking ability in the past and this secondary is desperate for playmakers.

This secondary is desperate for anything.

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