Anthony Barr to 22?

Posted: April 24th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 104 Comments »

I keep saying that there is no way LB Anthony Barr falls to 22, but there are some who believe he could be in for a slide like that. Why would he slide? Is he really that good of a player? Some of you are excited by him possibly falling, while others want to know if he’s a guy the Eagles should still be interested in.

I like Anthony Barr. A lot. Let’s start with the numbers.

6-5, 255
arm – 33 1/2
hand – 9 3/8
40 – 4.66
BP – 15 reps
VJ – 34.5
BJ – 119 inches
3-cone – 6.82
SS – 4.19

2012 – 21.5 TFLs (13.5 sacks)…5 pass deflections…4 FFs…1 blocked kick

2013 – 20 TFLs (10 sacks)…1 pass deflection…5 FFs…

As you can see, Barr is a gifted athlete and a productive player on the field.

Barr played RB for his first couple of seasons at UCLA. He is the son of former Eagles RB Tony Brooks. While Brooks didn’t have much of an NFL career, those are still good bloodlines to come from. I’m sure Barr wanted to be a RB like his dad. Coach Jim Mora had the wisdom to move Barr to OLB in 2012 and the rest is history.

One concern with Barr is his offensive background. Does he have the right mentality for defense? People watch his game tape and don’t see a player that tries to physically dominate on every snap. That turns off some coaches and scouts. Barr isn’t the kind of player who will just take over a game. If you watch Khalil Mack vs Ohio State, you see a guy who put his team on his back and did everything he could in that game. Barr isn’t that same kind of guy.

I do wonder if coaching and scheme isn’t partially a factor. Watch Barr play and you’ll see him play under control most of the time. Watch Dee Ford for contrast. On most snaps, Ford flies off the edge, semi-out of control. Barr picks and chooses the spots where he’s going to really fly off the edge. You wonder if some of this was by design. With the read option and mobile QBs being so prevalent these days, Barr might have been told to slow down, read plays and keep things to the inside.

When you do see Barr fly off the edge, he is really hard to block. He gave OTs fits with his speed and explosion. You would think he could do this play after play if he wanted or the coaches told him to.

One of the reasons I like Barr so much is that he can bend and turn. Many DEs/LBs have a quick first step. They can get off the ball and up the field in a hurry. Special players can get low to get under the block of the OT and then turn to the inside to get to the QB. Even though Barr is 6-5, he does this well. That translates to the NFL.

I also love the fact that he has 9 FFs in 2 years. Strip-sacks are impact plays. Getting to the QB is one thing. Getting there and knocking the ball out is ideal. That generally means the rusher is catching the QB by surprise and the ball is still exposed. This is another part of Barr’s game that bodes well for NFL success.

Barr isn’t a great run defender. He needs to learn to use his hands better. Barr tends to do things with his shoulder. That’s the natural instinct, but it has to be coached out of him. You want defenders to engage blockers with their hands. You don’t want blockers getting into the defender’s body. There  needs to be separation so that the defender can disengage from the block and get in on the play.

People who don’t like Barr will see him as a finesse player. I see a guy who needs coaching. I don’t see a player who avoids contact. Barr simply needs to work on how to take on blockers and then shed them.

Barr would be an ideal fit for the Eagles. He has the size that Chip Kelly covets. Barr would be perfect to slide in at ROLB. He has the kind of explosive athleticism that would help him to beat LTs on a consistent basis. If something happened to Connor Barwin, the Eagles could slide Barr to LOLB and play him opposite of Trent Cole. Barr is big enough and athletic enough for the left side.

The Eagles could move him around if they wanted. Barr can line up over a slot receiver. He can line up as an ILB and rush up the middle or twist to the outside. He can drop back into coverage. Barr is a gifted pass rusher, but he’s athletic enough to play in space and do a solid job on those plays when you want to mix things up to confuse the opposing offense.

You can bet that Jerry Azzinaro and Bill McGovern would have a lot of work to do. They would have Barr hitting the sled every day and working on his hand use. They would drill into him how they wanted him to take on blocks. The raw potential is there, Barr simply needs work.

I will be shocked if Barr slides to 22. I just can’t see that happening. I sure hope it does. The Eagles better run to the podium in record time if he’s there. Barr is the kind of LB who can make plays in the NFL. The Eagles need an impact rusher and Barr could be that guy.

You see impact plays vs Oregon.

Here he is against Stanford. This isn’t an ideal matchup for Barr because he’s more pass rusher than run defender, but he still impacts the game.

I would be ecstatic if the Eagles could get Barr at 22.

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Anthony Barr, CJ Spiller…Big Rumor Day

Posted: April 14th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 84 Comments »

The most interesting nugget of the day comes from Geoff Mosher. He reported on Monday that the Eagles called Buffalo to inquire about C.J. Spiller.

Before they traded for Darren Sproles, the Eagles first tried to add a younger, more dynamic weapon to their offense.

The Eagles contacted the Bills this offseason with hopes of trading for versatile Pro Bowl running back C.J. Spiller, according to two league sources familiar with the situation. The Bills weren’t interested in moving Spiller, both sources said, and talks never heightened into an offer.

But it’s clear that the Eagles were looking to add a different dimension to their offense as they prepared to part ways with Pro Bowl wideout DeSean Jackson, another indication that Chip Kelly had planned to move on from Jackson well before the team released him March 28.

Spiller would be an ideal player for Kelly and his offense. Spiller can be a WR or RB. And he has explosive speed. He is a home run threat any time he touches the ball.

It sounds like the Eagles called to see if Spiller was available, not that the Bills were shopping him. It can’t hurt to ask, but obviously the idea got shot down pretty quickly.

It is interesting to find out that Kelly wanted a dynamic receiving RB. The Sproles addition seemed like just an opportunistic move. Asking about Spiller shows you that Kelly wanted that kind of a specific player.

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Tim McManus posted another interesting nugget. He reported that OLB Anthony Barr will be coming to Philly for a pre-draft visit. Within that piece, there is another bit of news I wasn’t aware of.

In a recent podcast on the team’s website, Brian Baldinger said that Eagles outside linebackers coach Bill McGovern went to UCLA to work Barr out.

“Say he’s there at 15 or 16. And I’m well aware that the Eagles only have six draft picks, they don’t have a whole lot of ammunition. But if that’s your biggest glaring need — and to me, the right outside linebacker position would complete this defense in some ways — why wouldn’t you be aggressive?” Baldinger asked.

So we now have Bill McGovern going to West Va to work out Will Clarke, a mid-rounder, and going to UCLA to work out Barr, a 1st rounder. Interesting.

I’m sure the Eagles do have serious interest in Barr. He is the kind of OLB I think they would love. Barr is 6-5, 255. He is an athletic edge rusher, but can also cover and play in space. Chip will have some knowledge of Barr from his Oregon days. He might have even recruited Barr a few years back.

If Barr falls far enough, I’d move up for him. The problem is that I just don’t expect Barr to fall that far.

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Jimmy Bama has a good nugget of his own. He says that the Eagles have shown serious interest in OLB prospect Ronald Powell from Florida. The former No. 1 high school player in the country didn’t have the college career that he expected.

Powell is an intriguing prospect. His college career hit a bump when he tore his ACL during the spring of 2012. Powell missed the entire 2012 season, but returned in 2013, when he had 4 sacks. Unless you’re Adrian Peterson, there’s a belief that it takes 2 years or longer to fully recover from a torn ACL.

Powell would be a mid-to-late round pick, but would be a good target. He could develop into a starter or might prove to be an effective backup and STer. He is a gifted athlete.

Jimmy has some videos over at the link. Go check ’em out.

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Why don’t we stick with the OLB topic?

Chip Kelly was at Smith’s Pro Day. The Eagles also saw him up close at the Senior Bowl. Either they have serious interest or they are putting on a heck of a smokescreen. My guess is that Smith could go in the late 2nd round.

* * * * *

UConn DE/LB Jesse Joseph worked out with the Eagles a few days ago.

None of the other Connecticut participants outside of Smallwood and Stephen are likely to be drafted, but the best prospect among the rest is defensive end Jesse Joseph, who had a fairly strong showing in his pro day workout.

Joseph put his versatility as an edge defender on display by participating in both defensive end and linebacker drills. He showed explosion going through the defensive line drills. Though he looked somewhat unnatural backpedaling and flipping his hips as you would expect for a defensive end, he looked relatively fluid for a player who typically has his hand in the dirt, while he did a good job catching the football in drills.

His numbers in the measurable drills weren’t good enough to bolster his draft stock, but they were adequate. He was hand timed at 4.83 seconds on both of his 40-yard dash attempts, while he recorded a 29 1/2” vertical, 8’6” broad jump and 19 repetitions in the bench press. He recorded impressive hand times of 4.19 seconds in the short shuttle and 7.26 seconds in the 3-cone drill.

“I think I did good,” Joseph said in an interview following his workout. “I did everything I could to leave everything on the field.”

Joseph said he could see himself playing either defensive end or linebacker at the next level. His sales pitch to an NFL team, he said, starts with being a hard worker.

“I’m a hard worker. I’m a competitor. I don’t let fatigue get to me when it’s that time for me to step on the field, and I can do more than one thing.”

Joseph said he has an individual workout scheduled with the Philadelphia Eagles for April 10, and added that he was “waiting on a couple more calls” from NFL teams.

Another LB to consider in the late rounds.

Here’s an interesting question. Does anyone else think the guy in this pic looks like Jerry Azzinaro?

He would have been at UConn to work out DL Shamar Stephen, who could be a DE target of the Eagles. In that pic, the coach/scout is working with Joseph.

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