DeSean = De’Anthony?

Posted: February 1st, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 35 Comments »

DeSean Jackson is down at the Super Bowl.  I didn’t catch what he’s doing or promoting.  He was being interviewed by someone and talked about himself in the Chip Kelly offense.  DeSean said he had talked to Oregon star De’Anthony Thomas, aka the Black Mamba, about Kelly and the offense. Apparently DeSean and De’Anthony are close friends.  They’re both from LA and DeSean referred to him as his little brother.

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De’Anthony is 5-9, 176.  He is a RB, WR, and PR/KOR for Oregon.  He just finished his Sophomore season.  In 2 years he has 18 rushing TDs, 14 receiving TDs, 3 KOR TDs, and 1 PR TD.  Thomas has 306 career touches and 36 TDs.  He is a big time weapon.

I don’t think DeSean will be used exactly as De’Athony, but I do expect DeSean to be more involved in the offense.  Thomas is a true hybrid RB/WR.  DeSean is a WR that can be used on some runs.  There is a big difference in those 2 things.  Still, DeSean is so dangerous with the ball that it’s foolish not to run him at times.  He averaged 15 carries per year for his first 3 seasons.  He averaged 7.65 yards per carry and had 3 TDs.  In the last 2 seasons DeSean had 10 carries for 34 yards.  That’s bad usage and production.

If Kelly can figure out how to use DeSean, I think it will be a huge help to the offense.  DeSean has played 5 seasons and scored 30 TDs, 26 on offense.  Due to his size DeSean will never be a great Red Zone weapon, but sure never felt like Andy/Marty figured out how to use him even close to effectively in that area.

DeSean said in the interview he’d like 15 to 20 touches a game and hopes to score 3 TDs per game.  He was laughing as he said this, but I think he does hope to be more involved.  Chip Kelly is watching tape of the Eagles players and I’d love to know what he thought of the way DeSean was used.  Chip did face DeSean once in college.  Just so happened that was DeSean’s best game at Cal.  He had 11 catches for 161 yards and 2 TDs.

Here are some DeSean highlights:

Here is De’Anthony Thomas in action:

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I heard Holly Robinson Peete (Rodney’s wife) on Jim Rome’s show today.  She grew up an Eagles fan and was ecstatic when Rodney got signed by the Eagles in 1995.  Holly is a huge NFL fan and tells great stories.  The best one she told today was about being at The Vet for an Eagles game.  She heard someone behind her yelling at Rodney.  Holly turned around to defend him and it turned out the heckler was her Aunt Jane.  Blood maybe thicker than water, but being an Eagles fan means even more.

Earlier in the week Michael Irvin was on Dan Patrick’s show.  Dan was talking about Michael’s appearance (looked dapper) and Michael noticed some white dust on his suit at that moment.  Michael then turned hilarious, saying that he’s the one man in America that can’t have white dust on him.  Michael told Dan to go get a cup so he could go ahead and get tested.  I hated Irvin as a player and mostly as a TV announcer, but he can be a really funny guy at times.  That was a great moment of radio.

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  • Flyin

    3tds? He said… “3, 4, 5, 6 tds a game”! The bar is set.

    • TommyLawlor

      I was trying to help him out, but you are right.

      We’ll all freak out if he has 6 TDs in his first game under Kelly.

      • Flyin

        If the Eagles have 6tds in the 1st game… we’ll all freak!

        • TommyLawlor

          Very true.

        • Mac

          6td? As an Eagles fan I’m not sure what that means… is it something you get whilst spending time with a lady of the night?

  • ian_no_2

    DeSean can throw passes, too. I can see him do a few read options. Damaris, too, maybe McNutt. A few, I said.

    Andy never gave DeSean enough screen passes, an easy way to get a solid gain and create a threat of him breaking one.

    • Adena Lavin

      Seem to be confusing oregons o with the wildcat. Unlike the wildcat, Kelly doesn’t do direct snaps to non-qbs. In the past three years oregons offense has only had 2 passes thrown by players with more touches on the ground than pass attempts. I do think we’ll see a fair share of bubble screens and the like going forward and am looking forward to having a decent screen game again after watching ours slowly die post b-west. For all shady’s skills he always seems to make the wrong reads on screen passes. Don’t seem to remember if b brown got any screen opportunities last year?

    • Adena Lavin

      Seem to be confusing oregons o with the wildcat. Unlike the wildcat, Kelly doesn’t do direct snaps to non-qbs. In the past three years oregons offense has only had 2 passes thrown by players with more touches on the ground than pass attempts. I do think we’ll see a fair share of bubble screens and the like going forward and am looking forward to having a decent screen game again after watching ours slowly die post b-west. For all shady’s skills he always seems to make the wrong reads on screen passes. Don’t remember if b brown got any screen opportunities last year?

  • Flyin

    I have watched some video “highlights” of the Oregon team and it seems Kelly coaches the play till the end result… td. The downfield blocking is impressive on all levels… especially WRs.

    Tommy, can you expand on that a little?

    • TommyLawlor

      Kelly tells his WRs that they aren’t getting passes thrown their way if they don’t block. Those guys know he means that and do a great job of blocking. Chip really sells his players on being part of the team and doing what it takes as a group. I hope he’s able to do that in the NFL.

      • Anders

        I think Maclin will be an insteresting case this next season. We all know he hates to block, but at the same time his talent should fit really well in Kelly’s offense, especially if he uses him the way he was used in college.

  • http://www.facebook.com/justin.sengstock.7 Justin Sengstock

    I am pleased that I got to see one of those highlights in person (#10, punt return TD vs Carolina). Some of the others are awesome and depressing at the same time. I remember being sure when he made the juggle-catch vs Arizona that we were gonna win that NFC Championship game and get back to the Super Bowl. And definitely didn’t think that the Miracle at the New Meadowlands would A) be our last win of the year, and B) basically be the end of Good Vick’s career as an Eagle.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=696449117 Michael Jorden

      God I love seeing that monster block by Avant.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=565087931 Jeppe Elmelund van Ee

    Do you think Kelly prefers to draft some of his own players from Oregon? Should we study these guys more than others? Jim Harbaugh didn’t draft any players from stanford, but it seems obvious to me, that you should be more comfortable drafting players you know inside out.

    As an example, OLB Dion Jordan and OG Kyle Long seems like good fits at positions of need here

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=565087931 Jeppe Elmelund van Ee

      ILB Kiki Alonso also seems like someone to groom behind Ryans for a year, and then break through as a starter in 2014

    • TommyLawlor

      Kelly took some Oregon coaches, but not the whole staff. I think he’ll be fair when it comes to player selection. He’ll take an Oregon player if the value is right and the guy fits what we need. If not, don’t force it.

      I would pay attention to Pac-12 players. That’s the group that Kelly knows very well.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=565087931 Jeppe Elmelund van Ee

        PAC-12 Profiles I think will be drafted. My guess to the round is (…)

        Stanford
        TE Zach Ertz, 6-6, 252 (1-2)

        Oregon
        OLB Dion Jordan, 6-6, 243 (1)
        OG Kyle Long, 6-6, 304 (2-3)
        ILB Kiki Alonso, 6-3, 242 (3-4)

        Oregon St.
        CB Jordan Poyer, 6-0, 182 (2-3)

        Washington
        CB Desmond Trufant, 5-11, 190 (1)

        Washington St.
        OLB Travis Long, 6-4, 255 (4-5)

        California
        WR Keenan Allen, 6-3, 210 (1-2)
        OC Brian Schwenke, 6-3, 307 (4-5)
        CB Marc Anthony, 5-11, 191 (late)

        UCLA
        DE Datone Jones, 6-4, 280 (2-3)
        OG Jeff Baca, 6-3, 305 (late)
        TE Joseph Fauria, 6-7, 257 (late)

        Utah
        DT Star Lotulelei, 6-3, 320 (1)
        CB Will Davis, 5-11, 182 (4-5)
        OG Sam Brenner, 6-2, 307 (late)

        Colorado
        OT David Bakhtiari, 6-4, 295 (late)
        TE Nick Kasa, 6-6, 271 (late)

        Arizona
        QB Matt Scott, 6-2, 202 (3-4)

        USC
        QB Matt Barkley, 6-2, 230 (1-2)
        WR Robert Woods, 6-1, 190 (1-2)
        T.J. McDonald, 6-2, 211 (2-3)
        OC Khaled Holmes, 6-3, 305 (late)

        • BreakinAnklez

          I’m pretty sure Kenjon Barner should be on there somewhere…

          • Anders

            I really doubt we take him unless he drops to the 4th or 5th round. With McCoy, Brown, Lewis and Havili all suited to Kelly’s offense and Polk who I cant see how he fits on the roster, taking a RB before that round is stupid.

          • BreakinAnklez

            I didn’t say the Eagles should draft Barner…nor did the OP address his post as players the eagles should draft. The post was listing PAC-10 players who will be drafted…

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=565087931 Jeppe Elmelund van Ee

            I meant to write I excluded RBs because I think we are more than set at that position. My mistake.. Barner is absolutely a good player..

  • D-von

    Tommy do you look into the team’s salary cap? I like this website called eaglescap.com; don’t know how reliable it is but it seems legit. Anyway,releasing Nnamdi, Vick, Bell and Patterson along with a couple of other players could give the Eagles a whopping amount of cap space. I think at least 40 mil. I know its hard to guess without more info on the Eagles coaching staff but do you have any projections on the Eagles’ cap space?

    • TommyLawlor

      I’m no Cap expert. Sam is that guy. And we both value EaglesCap as a great resource.

      The Eagles will have plenty of money after cuts. I don’t anticipate a spending binge. Maybe add a couple of starters. Just a guess, though. Never know what Chip will want.

    • Anders

      Eaglescap is very accurate. With just Vick, Bell and NA cut, I get we should have 39/40 mill in cap space. We can add another 4.5 if we cut Patt and another 4.5 if cut Jenkins and if we really wanna shed salary we can save another 6.7 by cutting Ryans. The most realistic number is around 40 mill, because I cant see why we would cut Patt, Jenkins or Ryans.

  • Ross Smith

    Irvin one time was talking about fans wearing Cowboys jerseys… saying you always saw white suburban kids wearing ’8′ jerseys or even ’22′ jerseys… but it was always some hard brothers wearing ’88′. The delivery was priceless. Irvin has a sense of humor about himself and honestly believes the things he says. It’s refreshing in the way Barkley is… it may not be the most intelligent, well-thought-out, informed commentary… but it is honest.

    • Anders

      Irvin and Aikman might have been a terrors against the Eagles (they are before my time), but both are actually really good on TV and seems to have no bias at all.

      • Mac

        Wait… what?

  • http://twitter.com/hotcakes_33 G Jaffe

    I watched a couple of videos of De’Anthony. In almost all of them there at least 1 if not 2 blockers down field. Impressive to see that kind of play from other skill players in Chip’s offense. Plus the OL guys who were blocking were quite athletic. It made me even more excited to see this offense alive with some energy.

    • shah8

      Yeah, I was going to say…If you watch Percy Harvin in Minn, these sort of plays with a WR/RB only work well with really good OL technique in the first five-ten yards–which is why you see DJax mostly running on the left side during the 2010 season. What with the greater commitment to the zone blocking scheme and the deep passing game in the last two years, DJax has drifted away from this aspect. Also, this kind of player involvement does not work long term without really great Y/A. Thus it shouldn’t really be a staple play, and 5 yards or less is pretty much a failure every time, even if you get a first down (unless you run it *really* rarely and got a first).

      Is Djax still fast? Is the Pope Catholic?

      • A_T_G

        Yes, and yes. What silly questi… Oh, I get it.

  • Ark87

    Interesting comparison. You can see why D’Anthony is used as a hybrid, he has good lateral quickness..which should serve him well as he develops his route running. Watching the early days, Desean was visibly blazing fast, everyone else looked like they were from those 1930′s reels. You see more recent film on him, it doesn’t quite seem the same.

    Just curious, does anyone think Desean lost a step? (From Blazing fast to just faster than everybody else, both are nice)

  • KeithPetres
  • aub32

    I just got a chance to look at the previous post and wanted to ask a quick Nnamdi question. If he was only making 6-7 million, would he be a good option as our #2 corner? I get he can’t run, but I still think he can help against the bigger WRs and TEs that have given us fits. I am only asking as a player stand point and not so much the locker room stuff.

    I pointed out a couple times during the season where the coaches really set him up to fail by having him cover Julio jones, and Jacoby Jones. He clearly needs to be a matchup guy. Also I think his best game might have been against the bengals. He didn’t let the WR opposite Green get a catch.