LB Talk And An Update On Who’s In/Who’s Out For Cleveland

Posted: August 23rd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 11 Comments »

For my SB Nation Philly column I decided to write about…drum roll, please…the LB situation.  I tried to explain the thinking behind what’s going on with Matthews, Chaney, and the rest of the gang.  Hopefully you’ll find it riveting and insightful.  If not, you clearly don’t have a sophisticated literary palate.

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Andy Reid announced that Mike Patterson will play some on Thursday night.  Great news.  Glad to see him back in action and I’m glad to have a key DT to put back in the rotation.  Reid said he’ll work him in slowly, as he did with DeSean last week.

Trevor Laws hasn’t been ruled out.  He needs to get on the field to make a case that he should be kept around.

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Reid said Winston Justice is getting closer.  He said Justice could be back on the practice field as soon as next week.  King Dunlap can be the RT for a week or two, but I don’t think he’s a guy you want on the field every game.  Justice played well when healthy in 2009, but it’s hard to have too much faith in him since he’s coming off an injury and will still have to adjust to a new scheme.  I don’t know what to expect from him.

It sure is starting to feel more and more like Ryan Harris is going to get cut.  The team can always re-sign him after the first week if his back gets better.  He’s got talent, but durability is a huge factor in who makes the team and who doesn’t.

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I’ve been working on a 53-man roster, but it is really tough right now.  We know there are going to be some surprise cuts.  But who?  Could it be vets like Juqua Parker and Jamaal Jackson?  Young guys like Daniel Te’o-Nesheim and Mike McGlynn?  Do we keep 5 WRs and 3 TEs or 6 WRs and 2 TEs?  All kinds of crazy questions.  The final 2 games will sort out some issues as guys get hurt or young players rise up/fall down.  Roster spots will be earned in the final 2 games.

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We lost to PIT on Thursday.  Came out pretty healthy.

The Giants thrashed the Bears last night, but lost CB Terrell Thomas for the year with an ACL.  I hate seeing players go down like that.  The Giants are our enemy, but I don’t wish torn ACLs on anyone.  Young CB Brian Witherspoon reportedly tore his ACL.  We still need official confirmation on that.  LT William Beatty got x-rays on his foot.  Apparently it wasn’t too serious, so that’s good news for the G-men.

Winning and losing is nice, but staying healthy is critical.  Just one more game for the Eagles starters to get through until the preseason is basically over.  Reid did say he might give some starters playing time in the preseason finale, but that would just be a couple of players who needs some work.

11 Comments on “LB Talk And An Update On Who’s In/Who’s Out For Cleveland”

  1. 1 nicolajNN said at 3:21 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    I know King has played well in the past, but I just don’t trust over a season, can’t really explain why.

    In his presser Reid said something about having Jamaal Jackson at G in short yardage and goal line. Is that something we have done before and how would that work? Jamaal at LG and move Todd out as OL/TE?

  2. 2 J.O said at 3:44 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    I heard him say that too, and my first thought was maybe…Mathis at LG and Herrimans at RT if Winston or King dont pan out over the next two weeks. I know they like that Herrimans and Peters work well, but if they are considering that move, why not make it now and give Herrimans time to work over there.

    JJ at left guard…I dont think Mudd will go for that. It’s obivious he’s not crazy about him at center.

    And finally, Tommy can you think of any RT’s that may be on a bubble on another team, that the Eagles may have their eye on with cuts looming? I just get the sense they are not set on any of their RT’s.

  3. 3 Eric said at 3:49 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    This is funny. I was looking through other teams’ depth charts and I noticed Joe Mays is starting for the Bronocos. The best part is his picture is of when he was with the Eagles.

    http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/11434/joe-mays

  4. 4 Tommy Lawlor said at 4:01 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    RE: Jamaal at G

    I had not picked up on that. I might try to watch some snaps from the first couple of PS games and see what I can find out.

    That was interesting to hear Reid mention.

  5. 5 Tommy Lawlor said at 4:03 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    @ J.O.

    I’m not sure there are 64 good OTs in the league right now. We want a RT because we aren’t thrilled with King Dunlap, but other teams might love him.

    BUF right now isn’t set at either OT position. The Ravens just added a player a few days back and now he’s their starting RT.

    Teams are hurting. We’re okay by comparison. I’d love to say we’ll get a RT thru trade or cuts, but I’m not so sure there are good players to target.

  6. 6 ppk said at 4:06 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    @Eric

    Thanks for the Mays info. I am heading to Colorado tomorrow for a week with family. My bro & father-in-law are big Broncos fans. I’ll fill them in on what we saw when Joe was with the Eagles.

  7. 7 McG said at 4:21 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    @ppk pack a hard hat… they’ve been having a lot of earthquakes in CO.

  8. 8 McG said at 4:34 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    @ Tommy my favorite parts of your article on SB nation were the transition from passive to aggressive, and also Brian Rolle being a “role player”. I think he is stuck being a Rolle player unless he changes his name to some unpronounceable symbol.

  9. 9 DB said at 7:17 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    Any truth to the rumor that the earthquake was the result of Casey Matthews starting at MLB?

  10. 10 ppk said at 9:08 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    @McG

    Colorado is also the home of Dawk. Still hurts to see him in a Broncos uniform.

  11. 11 Stephen said at 11:12 PM on August 23rd, 2011:

    Something off topic Tommy but as I was doing my usual mind numbing commute home from work tonight, I was pondering why we haven’t done more to extend Djax as of yet. I wasn’t exactly expecting that a deal would be done by now, but I recently read that there has been “silence” between the 2 sides so far. This to me seems foolhardy, because I kind of get the feeling that Desean might be one of those people who would make “business decisions” in the event that he isn’t extended before the season starts. I noted but didn’t really notice anyone else mention in the Steelers game that Desean seemed to really go down well before he needed to during the WR screen to him. He got up and seemed to be laughing about it with the Steelers players afterwards. Maybe I’m making too much about it, and it is a preseason game, but to me the whole thing just seemed like why risk a big hit during a preseason game when I’m not getting paid yet? I’d just really rather not have that kind of attitude carry over into the regular season… I’d rather see him locked in and focused on playing his best, rather than wondering if he’s going to get injured before he can cash in.

    That being said I’m not saying Deseans a bad guy or malcontent or anything for thinking that way, I actually commend the guy for not turning this into an adversarial situation like a lot of players do when they hold out. Just look at whats going on with the Chris Johnson situation, who really deserves a new deal but seems to be taking a very confrontational stance about the whole thing. Jackson seems to be avoiding any of that, even during the holdout it never seemed like it was on the verge of getting nasty or becoming a distraction.

    I personally feel its a poor strategy to let the situation linger on as long as it has. I want my elite playmaker happy and focused on playing.