Still Looking For Mr. Right
Posted: June 29th, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Tags: Antonio Cromartie, Carlos Rogers, Ike Taylor, Josh Wilson | 24 Comments »I have already shared thoughts on RCB targets Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Jonathan Joseph. There are still more guys for the Eagles to consider. Here is my Top 5 RCB targets as of now:
1. Nnamdi Asomugha
2. DRC
3. Ike Taylor
4. Carlos Rogers
5. Josh Wilson
Asomugha is pretty obvious. Best RCB in the NFL and he’s available. Downside is age and cost.
DRC has big time potential. His situation is complicated because we’d have to trade for him and there is no guarantee that the Cardinals are willing to deal him.
I watched a few game tapes of Ike Taylor, 2009 and 2010. I came away impressed. He can play both sides, but is primarily at RCB. Good build at 6’2, 195. Can press or play off. Physical player. Good hitter and tackler. Dick LeBeau trusts him and that is a good endorsement. Taylor stays on the field when PIT goes to a 1-CB set. In a 2009 game vs the Bengals, LeBeau had Taylor shadow Chad Johnson all over the field. As a bonus, he can also blitz and get to the QB.
Taylor isn’t a great player. He’s nowhere close to Nnamdi. Heck, he’s not as physically gifted as DRC. Taylor turned 31 in early May. That age doesn’t help. Taylor isn’t a great playmaker. He has 11 career INTs (since 2003). That would only take Asante 5 games vs either of the Manning brothers.
The case for Taylor is that while he’ll be expensive, he won’t be Nnamdi or even Asante expensive. He is a high quality veteran player with experience as part of an elite defense and plenty of big games. He would bring toughness to the CB group. Taylor would be a very good influence on Curtis Marsh and Trevard Lindley. He could teach Marsh how to play like a big CB and teach Lindley how to play like a tough CB. Taylor would fit in well opposite of Asante.
Carlos Rogers is also a veteran. He’ll turn 30 on Sat. July 2nd. He has good size at 6’0, 189. Rogers is versatile. He can play RCB, LCB, or even in the slot. The Skins seemed to move DBs around quite a bit. I wasn’t as impressed by him as I was Taylor. I do wonder how much of that is Rogers and how much is the dysfunctional Skins team.
Rogers had a terrific season in 2008. He had 56 tackles, 24 passes defensed, and 2 INTs. Since then he’s totaled 2 INTs and 24 PDs. I didn’t see people avoiding him on tape. Has his play slipped or is being a Skin just having a negative effect on Rogers? He’s openly expressed frustration with the organization.
Rogers could come to Philly and be the RCB. He has good size, skills, and athletic ability. He has bad hands. Not just “he’s not a WR for a reason” bad, but bad. Rogers drops a lot of potential picks. He’s only got 8 INTs in 6 years. We could live with a RCB who doesn’t have great hands as long as he can play both man and zone and has some size. Rogers fits the bill. He can also hit and tackle. It is possible he could come to Philly and thrive, but I’d see him as just a solid player to bridge the gap until Marsh is ready or we make a big move.
I watched 2010 tape of Josh Wilson. He looked good. Wilson played RCB. He mostly pressed, but did show that he could play off and be effective. Wilson isn’t the most disruptive player when it comes to jamming receivers off the ball, but he can get better at that. He has the speed and skill to run with receivers down the field.
The downside to Wilson is that he’s short at 5’9. He does weigh 192 pounds so he’s got a bit of thickness to his build. Wilson is an aggressive tackler and solid run defender. He has a good vertical leap so only being 5’9 is somewhat lessened by that.
Wilson might move up the list if I had studied him more. He’s posted good numbers over the last 3 years, with 9 INTs (4 for TDs) and 36 PDs. I am curious about his playing time. He started 12 of 16 games played in 2008. He was 12 for 12 in 2009. He only started 9 of 14 games in 2010. Wilson played in 42 of 48 possible games. He started 33 of 42 games played. What kind of durability issues does he have?
Wilson is 26 and shouldn’t cost a huge deal. He has good KOR ability. In some ways he is a better version of Ellis Hobbs. They are similar in build and skill set. I think Wilson is more athletic and a better cover guy.
* * * * *
I’ve gotten questions about other CBs. As far as I can tell, Atlanta’s Brent Grimes is going to be a Restricted Free Agent. He’s only got 3 accrued seasons of experience. Good player, but not worth giving up picks for.
Chris Carr isn’t of interest to me. He was a nickel back up until last year when he started in Baltimore. He looks best in the slot. Not a guy I’d go for as a starting RCB.
Antonio Cromartie…no thanks. I’ve said good things about a turd like Big Al, but won’t take AC. What’s the deal? Cro is outstanding in man-to-man. He can shadow receivers all over. He’s not as good in zone. Lousy tackler. Likely to cost a few bucks. Has definite character issues. This just isn’t a guy I want to give money to. Might be a good fit for the Texans and Wade Phillips if they pass on Asomugha.
I didn’t get to watch tape of Richard Marshall. My opinion going in is that he would be an effective complementary corner, but he’s not someone I’ve got targeted.
Where does Jo-Jo rank on your list? Does he come in at #6, or did you just forget him?
I left him off the list. He’s not of much interest to me. I want guys that fit what we need. That way when I hand them a big check they’ve got a chance to succeed.
The Eagles might feel different. They may think he can easily be made to play RCB for us and is “The Guy” to go after.
Dez Bryant, Hakeem Nicks, Miles Austin, Steve Smith…
We need a CB that is fast, physical and a long term solution. I think DRC can grow into that guy. The other guys are either too old or too small or too slow.
NFL LOCKOUT IS OVER!!!!
(just kiddin)
I would be okay with getting any of those 5, I would not be unhappy with Jo-Jo. Normally I would not like adding guys the age of Taylor or Rogers, but seeing as we have Marsh and Lindley hopefully we have at least one CB ready to start in a couple of years.
In a chat Caplan speculated getting Daryl Washington from Arizona instead of DRC in a Kolb trade. It was pure speculation but what is your opinion of it? I’m not sure they would trade a second year player, and we do have a lot of young LBs
@ Leroy…
Long term solution could very well be Curtis Marsh. Excellent size/speed guy. Just needs practice/experience.
Tommy
I know its getting boring but I totally agree with your list.
Aso should definitely be top priority, no matter if he’s 47 and costs 1 billion dollars.
DRC comes in at no. 2, but only if the Eagles get another high pick for Kolb. If it is a straight up deal, then I’d rather get a 1st from some team and look at a free agent cb, namely Ike Taylor.
Any other player taken will only be a short term solution for the Eagles in my eyes…
@Steve
Not funny.
taylor and rogers are not really the way the eagles have done it over the past few years but i think they see the team as a contender right now and would go for one of them knowing we got marsh and lindley developing.
if we go for taylor or rogers, we may need 2 starting corners 2 years from now. asante may only be here another 2 years. hopefully marsh or lindley develope
Here’s an unrelated question (maybe requires a separate post) will Andy be more hands on with the defense this year? In his tenure, he’s basically given JJ and McD free rein on that side of the ball. With Castillo’s inexperience, will Andy give the D more attention? Does he have that ability if he wanted to?
tommy im curious what you think about our dends, especially TEO. parker is getting older and with BG out, if we dont get haynesworth or dont pick up a new dend like charles johnson or babin, our dends arent too impressive.
if teo or sapp or tapp even hunt cant step it up, we could be in trouble. although if we get ndamdi or haynesworth or even DRC, then i think we will be fine, especially with washburn here now.
Tommy,
I realize that we have a new DC now so the scheme will be slightly different but I remember when we signed Geoffrey Pope off the Bengals’ PS it being written somewhere that the Bengals played the same scheme in the secondary as the Eagles do. Do you know if that’s the case? I’m personally higher on Joseph as a target than you are.
Ike Taylor is exactly the type of solid, veteran acquisition the FO could make that would send Eagles fans diving off cliffs.
Tommy,
I’d be interested to see your scouting reports on some of these guys coming out of college if you got em
Ryan,
Most of his notes are on http://www.scoutsnotebook.com/
Among these 5, many are long in their teeth. Taylor sounds interesting per Tommy’s descriptions. As a 2 to 3 years fill in and a tutor to the young players, he may be just right. The age may just be the heavy factor against him.
DRC is still my pick though, as he is still young and has the right mix of measurable and skills.
Interesting to note that Tommy thinks Marsh is the long-term solution at CB. If that is indeed the master plan, then they could play this out differently and not locked in to get a rising player having many years left.
but… but… what about patrick peterson? *lip trembles*
“That would only take Asante 5 games vs either of the Manning brothers.”
-Nice!
[…] Still looking for Mr. Right – Tommy Lawlor, IgglesBlitz […]
I know I at this point I have a rather negative view of the Eagles front office – in terms of making the big move.
This off season I think will only further cement that opinion. Anything other than Nnamdi will be a overpriced, under producing player. If we are going to have to over-pay – over-pay for the best or second best corner in football.
Ike Taylor, Carlos Rogers, Josh Wilson? No. DRC and his 1 good season? No thanks.
Nnamdi or bust.
How does Ike Taylor, Josh Wilson and Carlos Rogers compare with lets say – Sheldon Brown….
What version of Sheldon Brown? There is speculation that Cleveland may move him to FS this year.
All 3 guys are definitely better than Sheldon at this point.
In his prime I’d probably take Sheldon over these guys in their prime, but part of that is bias because I loved the way Sheldon played.
sheldon was ranked as one of the worst corners in the leugue by pff. pretty sure he was 3 rd worst. in his prime, yeah i take him. but i think the eagles once again made a great trade
Fair enough I guess. I still don’t understand why we’d pay 30-40 million over 5 years to these mid level guys rather than paying 60 million or 70 million to get a legit stud.
My Brown point was that we refused to pay him a similar amount – when at the time he was a similar player, or at least in my mind was.
Thanks Thunder, I knew they were there was being lazy and didn’t feel like looking.. 🙂