Roster Thoughts
Posted: August 31st, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 121 Comments »Okay, let’s talk about some of the moves.
Why was Chris McCoy cut? Like you, I felt he was a sure thing. My guess is that the Eagles were worried about his physicality. The first job for an OLB in the 3-4 is to be able to play the run. He must be able to set the edge, whether taking on an OT or TE. There was a play vs the Jags where a WR moved McCoy off the ball. That was a red flag moment for me. A 6-4, 261 OLB cannot be blocked by a WR, especially not moved off the LOS.
McCoy was terrific vs the Jets, but what did we see? You always need context in the preseason. McCoy beat the LT and LG to get pressure on pass plays. He should always beat the LG due to athleticism. The LT was Jason Smith, one of the biggest draft busts in the history of the NFL. Beating him doesn’t mean much.
I’m not ripping McCoy, but we need to understand what he can really do right now. If you were to put him in vs a good starting LT, could he be a functional run defender? It doesn’t seem like it. The good news is that this part of his game might be the easiest to fix. McCoy has shown pass rush ability and some cover skills. Those things require athleticism that you either have or don’t. He does.
If McCoy passes through waivers, he is perfect for the practice squad. He can get stronger. The coaches can work with him on being more physical in practice. He isn’t shy about contact. McCoy just needs to learn to play up to his size. He’s a big LB. He needs to play like one.
The cut leaves the Eagles light at just 3 OLBs. I’m sure this is a spot they’ll look to address. Howie Roseman talked about Vinny Curry and Casey Matthews being guys that could help out in emergency situations.
Speaking of Matthews, many of you really can’t believe he made it. I saw several people on Twitter speculate that he’s only here because Chip Kelly wants to keep an Oregon guy around? Really? Gimme a break.
Matthews earned a spot on the team. He played well in the preseason games. He didn’t make the same kind of standout plays as Jake Knott, but put on the tape and watch closely. Knott was running around blocks on a regular basis. When the DL kept Knott clean, he was terrific. Casey was more physical and did a much better job of taking on blockers and playing the run. I would also give him a slight edge in coverage and STs play right now.
Knott has more upside and is further along as a rookie than Matthews was, but I would have serious concerns about putting Knott in a game right now on defense. He must learn to use his hands better. He must improve at shedding blocks.
Chip Kelly wants to win. He’s not keeping anyone unless he is convinced that player can help him win.
What happened at WR? Roseman said the Eagles kept Jeff Maehl because of his versatility. He play the slot or outside. They like him on STs. Russell Shepard just wasn’t ready for the NFL. He needs time to develop. Greg Salas had a great summer, but he just didn’t show the speed to beat CBs on the outside. Making tough, contested catches against 2nd and 3rd stringers doesn’t always bode well for your chances to get open against starting DBs.
I think the Eagles will look to find another #5 WR as they scan the waiver wire. I’m sure they’d rather have someone that has more upside. On his best day, Maehl is going to be a #4 or #5 WR. He is safe in the sense he knows the offense, will play hard, has some size, some athleticism and some ability. He’s just not above average in any area.
The Eagles kept 6 CBs. They have the starters, Boykin and then Marsh, Hughes and Poyer. Say what? Do not take this as an endorsement for Marsh or Hughes. My guess is that they are only here until the Eagles find other players. Hughes could stick, but Marsh did not do anything to really impress this summer.
Poyer is harder to read. He started slow, but I do think much of that was due to missing the spring. Poyer got better and better. I still wonder if they really want him on the roster. Poyer seems more like a practice squad guy. The Eagles must fear that he would be claimed if cut and that’s why they’re holding onto him. He’s definitely someone they like for the future.
Why Emil Igwenagu over Clay Harbor? Roseman said due to versatility. A few writers took this to mean blocking. Kind of. Harbor was actually a solid blocker. Iggy is versatile because he can play FB, H-back, in-line TE or the slot. He is a good blocker from all of those spots. Harbor has never been a FB on a regular basis. Iggy showed in games last year that he could be a lead blocker. Chip Kelly doesn’t like FBs, but there are some plays where you may want a lead blocker. Iggy can be that guy. Plus, his nickname is Iggy. Much cooler than Clay.
The Eagles will be on the lookout for OLBs, CBs and a WR as the cuts come down. The roster as it stands now won’t last long. There will be changes.
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I’ll write about Danny Watkins when things quiet down. Boring topic on a busy day.
On Poyer and the missing spring;
CAN THE NFL PLEASE END THE RULE THAT KEEPS PLAYERS OUT OF MINI CAMP DUE TO COLLEGES RUNNING THAT DUMB SCHEDULE?
I think you convinced them. It’s the capital letters that make the difference.
Ha ha ha ha. I knew it would work.
I’m going to be using this line!
NFL Players Association must agree to the change.
I’m happy to be corrected, but rule changes regarding employment eligibility or qualifications in a union shop require the union to sign off.
Otherwise, think of the flip side. The employer could just screw employees on things like pay, benefits, overtime eligibility, leave.
I think you’re correct, but I wish the union would allow the change in that respect. As joke schools like FSU prove, legitimate coursework taking place for football players is the exception rather than the rule.
I think in this case both the NFL and NCAA have a vested interest in putting forward the illusion that they actually care about students getting an education, and this rule is part of that.
Tommy
I think we all agree that pre-season games mean squat in the end. Literally everyone who had great performances in those 4 games has been cut.
Good point. Except Acho
Good point well made, sir. However Acho Acho AchoMAN is the only exception as I can recall…
Maehl, Babre, Tobin?
I didn’t see much of Maehl apart from the last pre-season game, you?!
They only just got him from the Texans a couple of weeks ago
I know. Did he play for them in the pre-season? Might re-watch their games then.
He had some good blocks against the Jags
Well…
Kelly values blocking by his bottom of the roster guys.
Many coaches say if you play Off you gotta block and if Def you gotta tackle….
and a guy who seemed not to do anything made the team, emil at TE lol..
“Funky with his body, he’s a king
call him Mister Eagle, dig his chains
You can best believe that, he’s a AchoMan.”
Well…… Nevermind
I think you can say the stat sheet is meaningless in preseason yeah. If a guy shoots a gap because he sees an opening and gets a sack, but his job was to set the edge, thats going down as a negative.
I’m with you here. I think the qb competition was a farce as well. You can call it a motivation tool for Vick if you’d like. But Vick was never going to be a backup.
Vince Papale would not have made this team
as soon as you think the FB position is dead, it comes back to life!!! ( in response to Emil making the team) lol
I hope we claim/sign at least one of following players – Dorin Dickerson, Da’Rick Rogers, David Nelson or Kassim Osgood (beast STs player)
Clay got cut because he cant catch consistently. (theres a lot of “c’s” in that sentence) I swear if the ball could just magically appear in clays hands, he would of ate YAC up
While I agree that Harbor needed to catch better, it’s not like he’s the only TE with stone hands this year – Celek and Ertz have been dropping too often, too. Still, I guess it’s never a good sign when the team has you practicing another position (except for other OL spots).
Yeah but celek still produces, ertz is our 2nd round pick, clay just isnt a natural consistent pass catcher. He has all the athletic ability just isnt a natural pass catcher. but he is a good blocker
Can the bloddy Seahawks disclose their cuts finally?! Lol…
Seadderall Seahawks
Tommy – could cutting McCoy be related to scheme? I’m wondering if, after watching the defense through the preseason, they’e decided to play more 4 man fronts. Maybe thinking Graham needs to be on the field more…
Possible, but I don’t think so. Think the Eagles like him, but know he’s not ready.
I still think McCoy has more upside than Matthews and with Cole and Graham still struggling in pass coverage, I figured McCoy’s coverage skills would come in handy especially early in the season. That’ s why I thought for sure that it was going to be either Matthews or Knott, not both, making the team.
You do make an interesting point on why McCoy was cut though. Thanks for the info.
McCoy absolutely has more upside than Matthews. Point is that they want to put him on the PS and develop him there.
Barwin/Cole/Graham were going to play majority of snaps anyway.
Mathews has no upside. I’ve never read anywhere that Matthews play is making a statement to be a backup or even be on the 53 roster. Nor I have I read that he’s having a great preseason. I think its a position where nobody is standing out so you have to keep a few bodies just in case the starter goes down.
Since you are absolutely correct about Mathews. He showed nada this spring or summer. It lets a frightening thought gnaw at my green soul. Now I HOPE keeping Mathews around truly is in the best interest of our team. I do. But the scary thought gnawing at me, and I WANT to be wrong, is keeping the “lousy Mathews brother” around as opposed to McCoy, worries me that it could be some form of Oregon nepotism rearing it’s ugly head 😐 Chris McCoy is FAR from a perfect player or maybe not perfect for this scheme, Now. BUT, the kid has one thing Casey will never have :UPSIDE. I would have to believe that is a heck of a lot easier to “coach up” than a lack of god given talent. This move really left me SMH……
Injuries played a big role:
Kelly meant they needed an OT who can play now (Tobin) over one that can play later (Bamiro)
Hughes, Marsh meant they were short on STs, so Matthews over McCoy, Anderson and Coleman.
One note on age:
McCoy is already 27, how much stronger will he get?
Watkins and Barbre are both 29, Barbre can play LT, Watkins only OG.
Sims is 27, there’s no upside left.
The younger guys are the ones most likely to be stashed on the PS, buts like Tucker, Momah, Shepard, Carrier, Long could benefit.
Was Whitley put on IR or just released?
Whitley was waived/injured and they reached a settlement, I think.
because the Eagles clearly aren’t willing to sacrifice the present for a better future, its exciting to see them see so much ability in Tobin. on paper you would think that Watkins could be trusted more in a regular season game, so cutting Danny and Keeping Tobin means they must have seen something in Tobin and that’s exciting to me..
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Howies other moves lead me to believe that its not a case of them not wanting to lose Tobin because they saw some flash in the pan potential. If they didn’t think he could be trusted at some point this year in a regular season game, then I do t think he would be here..So it’s nice to see them find another young diamond in the rough who has a chance to be something….He had to have impressed to get them to cut ties with Danny
Thanks for the most well-reasoned explanation for the McCoy cut that I’ve read yet, Tommy. I highly doubt that neither McCoy nor Mathews being cut or kept would have altered our fortunes dramatically this year. Next year we will hopefully dedicating more off-season resources to the defense in order to get to the next level.
The Seahawks finally released their list of roster cuts. The only DBs they cut were S Winston Guy, CB DeShawn Shead, and CB Ron Parker. I know they’re not the players people here wanted but at worst they should be at the level of our back up DBs. Shead intrigues me because he’s huge at 6’2″, 220 lbs and runs well for his size. Both players also forced a turnover this preseason if that means anything.
They also released WR Chris Harper who was a 4th round pick for them this year. He’s pretty comparable to Benn in size, speed, and playing style and was someone who I was interested in heading into this past draft. Seemingly he was cut because of poor preseason play, especially drops. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem going forward since he had one of the lowest drop rates in the country in college according to stats.com and was probably due to lack of confidence.
All of those DBs interest me.
Yeah, hopefully Gus is happy with what he’s got and doesn’t out-waiver us.
Was it Harper who played for Chip before?
Yeah. He started at Oregon and then transferred to Kansas State in 2009.
Liked Harper a lot pre-draft. Call Howie and make it happen. 🙂
CO. SIGNED. I really hoped we got Harper late in the draft this year and now he’s available. He transferred from Oregon to KState, so I don’t know how Chip feels about him, but I’d love the move if we got him.
Hoping we snag Shead although he probably isn’t ready to step in, these guys from Seattle are maybe worth a look.
Eric is one of the funniest guys on Twitter.
He and his brother are Letterman’s head writers
I knew Eric was. Didn’t know about Justin.
And they both look something like Newman from Seinfeld.
He sure seemed like he started to “come out of his shell” yesterday..
..
I was embarrassed for the kid. looked like a friggin idiot getting in
opponents faces instead of pgetting back to the huddle and making a gesture of signing autographs…What a turn off his behavior was and it completely overshadowed the good game be had, ATleast in my eyes
I’m shocked that McCoy was cut, and not necessarily because he played well in the preseason (which he did). We are so thin at OLB that I’m surprised we didn’t keep him just by default, especially since we kept 6 CBs, 3 of whom were not exactly setting the world on fire with their play.
I thought they would at least hold onto him until after final cuts were announced to see who was available.
The roster today won’t be the roster tomorrow, opening season roster is sure to have a few changes.
Absolutely. I’m assuming we won’t have one of the 6 CBs on the roster once week 1 actually rolls around. Chris McCoy is a known quantity. We’ve watched him and up and until yesterday he was property of the Philadelphia Eagles. My problem with the cut is that we can’t be certain of what the other teams will do (well we are now, but weren’t yesterday). There is no guarantee that 1) there will be a decent OLB out there that can provide some depth, and 2) that someone won’t claim McCoy on his way to the practice squad. It’s a risk that I just wouldn’t be willing to take consider the shaky depth at that position.
I’m thinking Dennis Kelly might be put on recallable IR and maybe Marsh goes on regular IR.
I wonder about that with Kelly. Do they want to save that a couple of weeks and see if any key guys go down?
What exactly is the advantage of that? (Think about it). In fact, I would make the case that it is better to use this slot on someone you really don’t care about getting back that much.
How do you figure?
OK.
Scenario 1.
Let’s say you do not use the injured spot now. Let’s say that an important player (let’s call him Joe Important) gets a high ankle sprain in two weeks. You decide to use your recallable IR on him and he can come back by week 10. Meanwhile, from week 2 to week 10 you have a replacement player on your roster (let’s call him Joe Replacement). Meanwhile Kelly is ready to play in a few weeks.
Scenario 2.
You put Kelly on recallable waivers today and he is eligible to return in week 8. You immediately sign Joe Extraguy. In two weeks Joe Important gets injured.
You already have Joe Extraguy on your roster. If you now need a replacement for Joe Important, you get rid of Joe Extraguy and sign Joe Replacement. You are no worse off than you were before, other than the fact that you wouldn’t have Kelly available for a few extra weeks. Meanwhile, if Joe Important is ready to return by week 8 instead of week 10, you wouldn’t have to wait to bring him back because he was still on the roster.
In week 8 you would make the decision as to whether you’d rather bring back Kelly or hold onto Joe Replacement or pick up someone else altogether.
Do they need to denote the player as going on the short-term IR initially, or do they just announce that a certain player is returning early?
Back injuries are tricky. It would be unfortunate if they have to denote him as the guy now, then he turns out not to be ready and the tool is wasted.
I’ve read some harsh comments on the cuts. I will not go there. I am drunk on the Chip and Dave Kool-Aid.
Acho sold me on his sack in the 1st quarter against the Jets. He did some freaky “thriller” type hand movement rushing the qb. Look at how big he made himself before the sack… #53
Big deal. He’s no Marlon Favorite.
Tough to top that. He’s a little more Dawk. He made the play, should count for something.
Fair enough.
i want to see more marlon favorite dives!
I won’t say “Dawkins on Tiki-esque”, but nice.
He was pretending to be a giant fly swatter.
On the McCoy cut that everybody is upset about, learn from the past. Remember that Moats kid that had everybody excited in camp and preseason, but didn’t have the physicality and everybody was upset when we cut him before the season… (checks google… shakes head… closes tab) yep, we definitely cut him before the season, dodged a bullet there.
Without checking google, I thought we kept him at least one season.
Sarcasm my friend.
I get the sense sarcasm wasn’t my friend.
My guess is that Chip got as tired as everyone else with Harbor dropping passes
and, I guess, with McCoy dropping an easy INT
Just goes to show how little of an insight we really have. And here we thought Belicheck was going to trade for Harbor for a 4th lolol
I was kinda perplexed by some of the cuts s. Unless the offense is going to be sayin bit different than I’d imagined. I hope they turn out to be genius moves in hindsight. But I hussy get a nagging feeling that because we’re “all in” on Kelly, it seems we’re fishing for excuses/reasons to buy into his decisions. Hope I’m wrong (usually am)lol. But right now I’m a bit skeptical about the McCoy, Shepherd and Salas cuts.Atleast BOTH anyway. I’m probably really lonely in my world of not being at all surprised Mathews made the roster. I’m just worried I guess that with some of the cuts leaves us looking for cast offs to fill the voids & HOPING they’re upgrades at their respective positions
The two players I wanted to keep were Shepard (mostly because of his upside and STs) and maybe Tucker (4th RB is a bit of a luxury considering the problems at CB) so I am different than many. The players I most wanted to get rid of were Marsh, Matthews, Coleman but maybe that will happen in due time.
One thing is funny is people argued in there that Jason Avant should not make the team a few months ago (before Maclin injury) but now people seem overly concerned about Salas to me. Salas is fine as the 5th/6th/PS depth WR. Maehl and Salas have both been on practice squads since their draft year. Salas is a little stronger but it seems like Maehl has a little more quickness. Yes Salas may be a tad better technically from what we know.
Also we’ll see if/when something happens today. They probably will add somebody. I am looking at Shead but he isn’t likely stepping into the lineup if they add him. There isn’t a lot that sticks out at CB. Maybe a Moore. David Nelson the TE is interesting but I don’t know if we really have the room.
I looked at ever teams cuts & I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed by what I saw if we’re looking to fill out our roster with a few of these cast offs. Does Marcus Trufant have enough tread to help out a paper thin secondary? Or is he completely washed up? Did any of you guys see anyone I SHOULD be interested in? I’m thinking even more now of what maybe we could get for Graham or someone similar. I love Graham, but not for this D.
Gus Bradley cutting Trufant looks BAD!! With that said, he is a veteran, Charecter guy, who would accept a role on the bench..to where as a veteran with more left in the tank like Wynfield probably wouldn’t want to play that type of role…Marsh, Hughes, Poyer, none of these guys have ever showed anything to give us any trust that they can handle starting outside CBs, ATleast Trufant has done it before…
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I would have much prefered us to build for the future and go young all around the board, but since that clearly isn’t happening, I would be ok with bringing in Trufant for a year as insurance..I don’t care how much he has declined, just his name gives me more confidence then Marsh 🙂
I was thinking exactly the same as you on Trufant GEagle. Having a vet behind our 3 top 3. Anyone I.M.O. who is totally comfortable with our back ups (or our secondary in general honestly) is either overly optimistic/delusional. I saw Winfield was released & had immediate visions of a similar role for a year & the tool immediately announced his retirement! 🙁 lol let’s hope a serviceable player or three 🙂 come outta the woodwork! 🙂
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So I was reading an article by Spuds on the official site and NOON is when all waiver claims have to be in and we find out shortly afterward if we get our guy(s) if we make any in case anyone was wondering. I guess it also means the practice squad is put together (at least part of it, most of it) in the afternoon possibly.
Well my guy Ty Powell was waived by the Seahawks…OLB depth Howie!!
I have not seen this posted in here.
Reuben Frank @RoobCSN 1h
Looks like Kinne will be on practice squad, too.
Reuben Frank @RoobCSN 1h
Russell Shepard, Michael Bamiro, Ifeanyi Momah and Matthew Tucker are headed to the Eagles’ practice squad if they clear waivers. 8 spots.
Did anyone scoop Tucker up yet? Be surprised if he makes it to our PS
No news so far. Guess we will find out at noon..
I thought it would be Kinne. I was at the last practice and he was the QB throwing the balls up over and over again for the defensive players to try to “intercept”. That seemed like a practice squad function to me.
go get Tristan Okpalaugo
Iggy is on,y a cool nickname if you aren’t a sixers fan 🙂
yeah. I totally disagreed with that statement in Tommys post. Nothing cool about anyone called Iggy in Philly.
I am still not 100% sure how the waiver wire works. We know the Eagles have the 4th spot, and would get any player on their 53 men roster in case of a successful claim. But what if they put in 3 claims for the three DBs cut by the Seahawks and the Jaguars don’t put in a claim for them at all? Then the Eagles would be awarded with all three players, having to release three in order to make room for them. Or on the other hand, if they put in a claim for one DB only who then gets claimed by the Jags first, the Eagles will not get one. That being said the waiver wire is like a lottery, and a rather risky one too!
Does it work like that, or do you go to the end of the line after you get a guy?
This is where I am confused.com!
Yeah some waiver wire process clarification would be great….Remember to tempur our waiver expectations since shopping on the waiver wire is the equivalent of trying to pickup chicks on Craigslist 🙂
You keep your positions trough the whole season.
Thanks!
I think you only keep the current positions for the first 6 weeks, then it’s based on current standings
That didn’t answer my question though…
I don’t think the waiver priority changes.
OLB is a premier position…doubt anyone would ever go into a season with only 3 DEs or 3 OTs, so I don’t want to go into a season with 1OLB and 2DEs….I have to think someone will be added……
the one that bugs me is russell shepard.. the guy looked like he could play a little bit down the line.. especially with this core of receivers, you could use a little natural talent. the guy makes plays… he has good body control on jump balls.. he doesnt seem to screw up all that much but then again i only watched that one practice (the first one). the guy was making play after play..
he seemed like a decent special teams player too. i just didnt get that one..
I like him too. Let’s just hope teams don’t want to take a chance on a guy too raw for a 4-12 team and he can develop on the PS.
The frustrating part for me was that Shep wasn’t a preseason guy….what I mean is that he seems like he would benefit greatly from the plays that Chip would never want to show in the preseason…He could have been used as a Dennard Robinson offensive weapon, lining him up all over the place…Ultimately he wasn’t going to be ready to contribute offensively this year, so I have no problem with him landing on the PS….I like the work he put in and the self motivation he showed, so he is a guy I don’t want to lose so soon
You could see in his route running that he was a raw WR. A year or two on the PS to learn to run routes and he could become a really great WR for us
Wonder how different the roster would look if Mac n Rejus never went down for the year..
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After chip was hired we questioned whether Avant and Cooper would make this team. many of us thought Avant would be traded and many of us questioned whether Cooper could hold onto a spot with Rejus in town..But then the offseason work outs started and training camp, and chip made a lot of statement that sounded like Avant and Coopers place on this team was never even in doubt…If Maclin and Benn never got hurt, there is a good chance we would have kept:
Benn,Mac,Desean,Coop,Damaris,Avant…..I think there was less doubt about some roster spots then we thought. Clearly there was al competition at some spots, but it looks like othe spots were always etched in stone, and I only thought that was a case with just the RBs and Oline…but it now seems it was also the case with WR and Vick(making the decision after 2 quarters of preseason play)
Spads talked about this and its a great point…Howie needs to be praised for his trades. he managed to trade away 4 guys that wouldn’t make this roster for 4 guys that did make this roster: Gaethers, air Maehl, nACHO Libre, Rejus(prob was going to make this roster)…That’s a quality job by our GM making a dollar out of fifteen cents
Chris McCoy headed to Jacksonville…
Hate to see him leave but good for him. The young dude has game.
Does Gus Bradley know LBs?
The jags also claimed Harbor and the Bucs have claimed Shepard. Im really bummed over losing Shepard.
Bummer about Shepard.
Alright chaps, what’s going on here?! Why haven’t we heard of any Eagles claims yet?! Maybe they didn’t put in a claim at all, thinking our roster is da bomb already… lol
We just claimed Shaun Prater
Super Bowlzzzzz. Gotta admit though, don’t know anything about Prater. Thought he was a kicker. lol
Gus Bradley stole Chris McCoy and the Bucs stole Russel Shep…Awesome..
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we cut Marsh and claimed another injury corner from the bungals
Anyone know if DBs Dexter McCoil and Rontez miles made NFL rosters or not?
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