Let’s Talk Duke

Posted: March 20th, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Let’s Talk Duke

It’s March so I thought we should talk about Duke. Will Zion Williamson put on a show and lead Duke on a magical run? Will Coach K get his sixth national title?

Oh wait. Wrong Duke.

There has been a lot of talk about the Eagles and Duke Johnson. I haven’t paid a lot of attention to it, but there might be something to this.

Adam Caplan knows the Eagles pretty well. He doesn’t say the Eagles are the team, but you can connect the dots. My guess is that he’s talking about the Eagles.

Caplan mentions that Johnson won’t be bringing much in compensation. A late round pick should do the trick.

Why would the Eagles be so interested in Johnson?

He is an interesting player, even going back to college. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry and 10.4 yards per reception. He was more playmaker than workhorse. That trend has carried over to the NFL, where he has 299 career carries and 235 receptions. He averages 4.3 yards per carry and 9.2 yards per reception.

Johnson is a good runner. He is a dangerous receiver. You can see where the Eagles would love to add a young RB with that kind of ability into their offense.

I loved this clip.

The ability to see space to the outside and then get out there…that’s impressive.

Watch this video and you can get a feel for his ability as a receiver.

You could think of him as similar to Corey Clement, but more explosive. Johnson is a 4.54 guy. Clement ran 4.68 at the Combine. If you put a guy with Johnson’s ability in the Eagles offense, he can be a playmaker.

Johnson is also durable, having played in all 64 possible games in his career. He hasn’t gotten a ton of touches, but he is used on a regular basis.

Johnson shows potential as a pass blocker. That’s important. You can see some evidence in this mic’d up video.

I don’t know if the Eagles will make a deal for Johnson, but he is an interesting player.

He’s under contract through the end of 2021. He is due to earn $3.05M this year and $4.85M in 2020. The price for this year is reasonable. The price for 2020 would depend on performance. That might turn out to be a fair rate or it might be way too much for a pure role player.

The Eagles are going to make a move or a couple of moves at RB. They need to get better there. Johnson is the guy being talked about the most, but that doesn’t mean there is legit interest. It feels like there is, but this could be more speculation than fact, even with a reputable source like Caplan talking about Johnson and the Eagles.

Howie Roseman and the Eagles are being very calculated right now. We’re in a buyer’s market at this point. There is no rush to make a move. You take your time and make sure the move makes sense for you.

Something will happen at RB. We just don’t know when.

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