Embracing Youth

Posted: February 18th, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »

Traditionally the draft is about the future. Free agency and trades are used to plug roster holes that need immediate attention. The draft is about finding guys you’ll want on your team for the next 5 to 10 years. Economics may be causing a bit of a change in that philosophy.

The Chiefs have a lot of money tied up in star players like Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones and Travis Kelce. They pay good money to key starters like Jawaan Taylor, Joe Thuney and Justin Reid. That means they can’t afford to spend a lot in free agency. Not every roster hole gets a veteran solution.

GM Brett Veach and his scouting department have done a great job of finding starters in the draft.

2021

LB Nick Bolton
C Creed Humphrey
OG Tre Smith

2022

CB Trent McDuffie
DE George Karlaftis
SAF Bryan Cook
LB Leo Chenal
RB Isaih Pacheco

2023

WR Rashee Rice
DB Chamarri Conner

When you can mix young talent like that with proven stars, you win back-to-back Super Bowls.

Now let’s take a look at the Eagles best players from those same three drafts.

2021

WR DeVonta Smith
OG Landon Dickerson
DL Milton Williams

2022

DL Jordan Davis
OL Cam Jurgens

2023

DL Jalen Carter

There are some quality players on that list, but the quantity isn’t anything compared to KC. Part of that is due to KC drafting better, but I also feel like part of it is the Chiefs embracing young players.

With the Eagles having big money going to Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Lane Johnson and some other key players, they really need to start getting more out of rookies and young players, especially outside the first round.

One other thing stands out above. The Eagles did well on the line of scrimmage, but struggled everywhere else. That matches up when you think about the back seven on defense and how bad that group was.

Howie Roseman and the scouting staff really need a strong draft class this year. Relying on guys like Nick Morrow, Bradley Roby and Kevin Byard did not work out last year. To make matters worse, the Eagles didn’t give those reps to young guys who could have been learning for the future. When you plug ‘n play one-year veterans, you are just pushing the problem down the road. Teams need long term solutions.

I think the defensive side of the ball will be better with the new coaching staff. That should help player development as well as performance. Coaches who truly understand a scheme can teach it better. That will help players to develop positional skills and also help their confidence. The Eagles have added some talented rookies, but they haven’t developed as hoped.

The Eagles might need to be less patient and more aggressive with young players. Feed them a lot of reps in the spring and summer. Put pressure on them to contribute right away. Let them make mistakes, as long as they’re learning.

There is no magic formula for winning a Super Bowl. But economics becomes a huge factor when you see star players getting mega-bucks. That means you need cheap players to balance them out so you can fit under the salary cap. Rookies are ideal for that because they give you affordable solutions for four or five years. Last year the Eagles found a great addition in Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, but he was a band-aid. He hit free agency and wanted a big payday. The Eagles had to go start looking for the next affordable veteran. That didn’t work so well.

Howie and his staff have a strong core of players already in place. That is part of what makes this draft so crucial. You want to take advantage of talented players like Hurts, Brown, Smith, Johnson, Carter, Reddick, Sweat and others who are key starters. The Eagles don’t have to build the whole house. They just need to renovate the kitchen.

I’m curious to see how Howie approaches the upcoming draft. He normally loves to move up in the first round, to make sure he secures the player he really wants. This looks more like a year to stay put or even move down and add extra assets. This looks like it could be a smart time to draft for quantity as well as quality.

This is a critical year to find some players.

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One player going to the Eagles in a lot of mock drafts is CB Quinyon Mitchell from Toledo. I would have no issue with that. Mitchell had a great college career and then played at a high level in Mobile. Stud.

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Roster Work

Posted: February 15th, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 1 Comment »

Free agency officially begins at 4 p.m. on March 13. Until then, teams can only sign players who are currently available. The Eagles decided to make such a move this week.

Who?

Good teams need depth. Okwara can help the Eagles at edge rusher. He’s not a future starter, but can be part of a good pass rushing rotation. Okwara is 6-4, 239 so he’s got more of a LB build than a DE. The fact the Eagles are giving him more than the minimum tells you this is a player they wanted and think has a realistic shot of making the team and contributing.

Obviously Okwara won’t be guaranteed anything. He’ll have to win a roster spot and earn any playing time. This is a low risk move with limited upside, but it makes good sense. The upcoming draft doesn’t appear to have great depth so you need to find players anywhere you can. Okwara isn’t anything special. All 32 teams had the chance to sign him. The Eagles either made the best offer or the only offer. We’ll have to find that out over time. Still, this is a player they wanted.

*****

This is interesting.

Jackson was due to make $12M this year so the Bears cut him. He turned 30 in December and isn’t the same guy who made the Pro Bowl in 2018 and 2019, but could be a good fit for the Eagles.

Reed Blankenship is a starting safety. Sydney Brown looks like he could be a starting safety, but is coming off a torn ACL. He’ll miss most of 2024. The Eagles could use a place-holder. Jackson knows Fangio’s scheme and could be a good fit as a band-aid for the upcoming season. He is coming off the least productive season of his career, though, so he’s hardly someone to get excited about.

The Eagles will add another young safety, whether as a mid-round pick or UDFA. Jackson would have value in helping to tutor the young guys in how to play Fangio’s scheme and how to deal with Fangio himself.

*****

Speaking of Fangio, here is an interesting piece on him from a former player’s perspective.

“I think that the gripe from the guys — it’s not that they don’t like (Fangio),” Quintin Demps, who played his first two seasons (2008-09) with the Eagles, told NJ Advance Media. “It’s just that they don’t like the demand. His meetings are long. It’s just a day and time now where like, ‘Do we need to meet this long and go over this?’ I doubt guys dislike him personally. It’s more so about how he’s old school about going about his business. He’s a great human being, but he is stuck in his ways, right? He’s an older coach, a veteran coach, got some swag. But I think if he can just adjust a little bit to the times, man, he would really, really get a defense to buy in again.” Demps said he was also “stuck in his ways” when Fangio introduced unfamiliar concepts to him that he didn’t want to learn as a 10-year veteran. But after reflecting, Demps wishes he could go back and embrace his former coordinator, whom he described as a “genius” and very detailed.

It will be interesting to see how Fangio and Nick Sirianni mesh. Fangio is an old school grinder. Sirianni is a grinder as well, but also embraces modern players. He is willing to dial back things to try and accomodate what works well with players these days. To be fair, Demps played for Fangio back in 2017. That was a while ago so we don’t know how much has changed since then.

I personally don’t care if Fangio forces the players to eat veggie burgers, drink non-alcoholic beer and watch Megaforce all day as long as he can build a good defense. Suffering through 2023 was miserable. Give me a good defense at all costs.

Even this.

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