Eagles Find a Thumper
Posted: May 3rd, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 94 Comments »Teams around the NFL are fine tuning their rosters. The Skins cut ILB Steven Daniels, their 7th round pick from 2016. And then boom.
Roster Move: #Eagles claim LB Steven Daniels off waivers from the Washington Redskins. pic.twitter.com/i4Xza9h1yQ
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 3, 2017
I love this move.
Before you get too excited or accuse me of being nuts, this is a depth move. Before Daniels can change the game of football and go to the Hall of Fame with a handful of Super Bowl rings, he has to show he can get healthy and play at the NFL level. The Skins took a chance on him last year, but must have thought he wasn’t going to be healthy since they let him go so quickly.
At his best, Daniels is a very physical MLB. He will knock the crap out of blockers, runners, receivers and any other biological entities that come near him. I called him the most physical player in the 2016 draft.
Daniels is the most physical player in the draft. He hits everything he can. Hard. Daniels only ran 4.86 at the Combine. That’s not good for a LB. But he is smart and instinctive. He makes plays by getting into the right position. The Wide 9 can put pressure on LBs to defeat blockers. Daniels has no problems with that. He will take on and shed blockers.
Why the @Redskins chose @StevenD513? #BuiltBCStrong #BCEagles pic.twitter.com/wpYPdrRWhq
— BC Football Video (@BCFootballVideo) April 30, 2016
Boston College LB Steven Daniels comes upfield hard to make a big play on the screen pass #BCEagles pic.twitter.com/LuTBaqXXh0
— Linebacker HQ (@backers4life) December 1, 2015
That first clip is simply glorious. I’m fanning myself off right now.
The Eagles brought Daniels to Philly for a visit last spring. They also had a private workout with him. This is a player they had serious interest in. If he can’t get healthy and doesn’t pan out, so be it. But this guy is an ideal MLB for the Wide-9. He can sit in there all by himself and destroy whatever is closest to him.
If he is healthy and able to earn a roster spot as a STer and backup MLB, Joe Walker could move outside. Walker is the better athlete and could play WLB or SAM. Of course, we need Walker to get healthy as well.
*****
Dave Spadaro interviewed Howie Roseman for PE.com and got some good nuggets.
The Eagles had Top 10 grades on Derek Barnett and Sidney Jones.
The Eagles looked at the Jones picks in the sense of “Would we trade pick 43 for a Top 10 pick next year?”. The answer was a resounding yes.
Howie mentioned that DE Alex McCalister looks very good. He was a 7th round pick last year. How can he look good in these OTAs? McCalister needed to get bigger and stronger more than anything else. You don’t have to see players with their pads on to know who bulked up and looks bigger/better than last year.
Mack Hollins is a player that Joe Douglas and Andy Weidl loved. One of the things that stood out was his attitude and personality. Alpha dog type guy. Howie shared an interesting note. Hollins ran 4.53 at the Combine, but pulled up for the final 10 yards because of an injury. In Howie’s words, “He is 220 pounds and is a 4.4 guy all day long.” Sounds like the Eagles really like this guy.
Howie mentioned that he’s the one who first got excited about Donnel Humphrey. Just kept watching this little guy find ways to produce big numbers every week. No one could stop him. Howie said the coaching staff has a plan for how to use him, but wouldn’t elaborate.
The Eagles feel Nate Gerry could eventually develop into a starting LB, but the key to taking him was a commitment to Dave Fipp to keep giving him good players for the STs units. They think Gerry can be a terrific STer.
Howie mentioned the Eagles liked Elijah Qualls quite a bit and were nervous about whether he would still be on the board when they picked.
_
Is it too soon though dub Daniels the Big Ball of Hate?
Love this quote by Howie, “we committed to coach Fipp in the offseason that we did not want to take a step back in special teams.”
“I’m hungry Howie. Feed me.” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ba4e57966f6f9a2f3aec96a346123f32c135dc4a791aa1561d188f86eb1b910.gif
That guy looks a lot like Mitchell;-)
Super nice to know the team still values ST.
For me, you most likely get more career value out of a great ST player who might develop, than a bad ST player with amazing potential but never sees the field
Wake me when that = SB champions…
Plenty of Pats fans do that. Much more fun to be along for the whole ride.
JaCorey Sheperd got released yesterday. Do you think the Eagles will have any interest? The new 49ers regime likely didn’t value him, saw him as a bottom of the roster Chip guy. He’s still young, and will likely be better in his 2nd year coming off of ACL injury. It would be nice to see him in camp pushing Ron Brooks.
I don’t know…ISN’T he a bottom of the roster Chip guy?
If healthy there’s a chance he’s better than Ron Brooks. I’m not saying he makes the final 53, but add him to the 90 and see how he does in training camp. He was on our practice squad last year until Chip signed him.
Fair enough. Bring him in. But give him one of the dumb jersey numbers that no one wants, just in case.
Brooks is solid on ST, clearly matters to the powers that be.
He apparently looked like our best slot CB in camp two years ago, before tearing his ACL. Lots of buzz among the beat writers, and the staff. Remember, Chip letting Boykin go supposedly had a lot to do with Shepherd, who then messed up his knee pretty much the very next day. Maybe you think that he is one of those guys who needs a full year to come all the way back from an ACL tear and you take a chance on him?
No.
Love the focus on D, local media types whining that Wentz is not being supported. Hello? An elite D is one of the very best supports for a developing QB that exists. Just ask McNabb or Randall or Brady or Big Ben or Flacco or Wilson or well, you get the point.
It’s like we didn’t sign Alshon and drafted a competent speedster in Shelton Gibson or something.
Exactly or fortifying the OL, signing Smith and drafting Hollins as well…sure, we need a #1 RB, but there is still a chance a vet will get cut or we can cobble together a workable rotation from Sproles, Smallwood and Pumphrey
Maybe Blount could tote the rock for a season.
I’ll smoke to that!
Toke the rock?
Different type of smoke.
Couldn’t resist the urge to crack a joke eh?
We also didnt draft Mack Hollins or Pumphrey
And an old Peyton Manning
Laughable. They went out and secured the best depth at interior OL in the league, signed the best FA WR on the market along with another veteran and drafted two more developmental guys with upside. Sometime in the next couple of months they will sign a nice veteran RB from somewhere a la Ryan Matthews, and everyone will shut up about this.
Lots of crying these days about not drafting a running back in round 1 or 2 by people who report on football, but evidently don’t watch football.
Daniels reminds me of Trotter in build and playstyle. If you’d blanked out the jerseys in the first clip and told me it was Trotter blowing up a run play I’d have believed you.
JJ special. Trott, Kill the guard.
that Daniels clip was as impressive a play from a middle lineback i can recall. That was Trotter right there.
Love the Hollins pick. Favorite player from our draft. If he can keep his Alpha and bulk up a little, I can see his ceiling in the TO mold but with better hands and speed. His floor is a better Kenny Chesney Fan.
A hands catcher with great body control. Gets to top gear quickly catching DBs by surprise. Will be the 4th WR (Alshon, Torrey, Jordan) and active each game to start the season. He will eventually take Torrey’s spot opposite Alshon. Great job at tracking the ball and adjusting to poorly thrown passes.
This will not be Andy’s Eagles. No ball control offense. Alshon was brought in for the vertical game. He does not have the speed but the size and knack for contested 50/50 balls. Better hands than anyone we had. Torrey was brought in for his speed to stretch the field. Not the best of hands but like Alshon, a veteran presence. They haven’t given up on Agholor so they brought in two mentors. Hollins has Torrey’s speed with Alshon’s size and hands.
They had a chance to grab the best TE in the draft and could have went with the big back. 2 TE sets with a running game. Nope they played to Carson’s strength. Reading a D and long balling. The QBs they have are gun slingers. Speed and size on the outside and with TE. Add in a pair of shifty RB’s that LBs can’t stick with for the short game.
Love the post draft Kool Aid!
I think Hollins is going to be better than a lot of fans realize but he shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence with TO right now. After watching him Im hoping he ends up being similar to Mike Evans, although im not expecting him to be that right off the bat.
As far as where he ranks on the depth chart I only have AJ penciled in at the 1. I think every other slot is up for grabs. There’s chance Torrey Smith doesn’t become the player he was in Bmore. JMatt isn’t promised to be here either.
I think he and Gibson push Treggs, Turner and DGB off the roster though.
“I think he and Gibson push Treggs, Turner and DGB off the roster though.”
No complaints from me, or anyone who watched the travesty that was the Eagles receivers last season.
I agree. The TO comparison is extremely lofty at this point. But I have hope that he’s as impressive as some people say he should be. It would be massive for the team
Gotta like Turner. Practice Squad.
Treggs, Turner, and DGB are all on the outside looking in. Agholor has his contract to save him for another year (and also the chance that he figures things out a bit). But you figure that AJ, Smith, Matthews, and Hollins are basically locks to make the team. That leaves 1-2 spots, which Agholor is most likely one. So if they keep six WRs, that last spot becomes between Gibson, DGB, etc. And they may prefer that spot go to a guy who can be inactive on game days and get better for the future, which equals Gibson.
If some of the new guys look really good in camp, and they get a good offer for Matthews, maybe he’s moved. I still don’t see it. He is an NFL-caliber receiver and I think he’s worth more as injury protection for AJ/Smith (or for Smith not recovering his Baltimore form) than what we’d likely get in return.
I think Mike Evans is a bit of a stretch, Evans at worst a top 10 WR. Lets just hope he is a solid addition to our WR corps cause lord knows we desperately need one.
I meant that type of player not necessarily that player
TO mold but with better hands and speed. — I don’t think you’re remembering TO correctly…
If you got TO with better hands, you have the best WR the NFL have ever seen
exactly….
OK –
Paul Turner
Hollins
TO
Moss, Rice…yadayadayada
Fixed that for ya.
With Paul Turner firmly entrenched in the #1 WR role, do you think Alshon Jeffery is nervous about having to compete with the rookies, Smith, and Matthews for the #2 spot?
Scared shittuless
Thought it was April 1st for a minute there, you had me!
Almost Cinco de Mayo. But not quite.
I think Tommy was thinking a ceiling of a Malcolm Floyd. That seems a tad more realistic 😉
His highlight tape was fun, and looked like he could catch balls in stride and not lose speed, but he was also “college open” on almost all of them — question is how he can do when the defender is in much closer proximity, i.e. “NFL open”. It would be nice to have a big WR who actually plays to his size.
Malcom Floyd without the injuries is a solid player, one I’d be happy to have and great value in the 4th.
+10 for the Kenny Chesney fan comment
If Alshon played with a better QB, I think he could look close to what Dez Bryant is for dallas, just bully corners to come down with 50/50 balls
Is there any team out there that isn’t claiming they got two top 10 picks?
Chicago. Probably.
Fair enough. But he is going full Trump about how they signed THE MOST free agents.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-bears-ryan-pace-mitch-trubisky-nfl-draft-20170427-story.html
Tremendous free agents. The best free agents.
The most beautiful free agents. You’ll be winning so much, you’ll be tired of winning.
Just a YUGE group of free agents.
Can this guy play special teams? Imagine him running full speed down the field on kickoffs.
Did I miss something? Is Daniels hurt? Is that why the Redskins gave up on him so soon? Feeling like we’re only getting 1/2 the story…
We are talking about a team that has tremendous stability at the GM positio….scratch that.
We haven’t had much success getting castoffs from other NFC East teams.
Well, it’s not like he’s expected to be more than a potential backup. How much success would you expect from a former 7th round and previously injured JAG?
Expect, not much. But write off – premature.
My (somewhat obtuse ) point.
I left my green glasses at home?
Brian Mitchell, Sean Barber,
Jeremiah Trotter
Eh, that was a totally different regime.
He fits the Howie Roseman leave no stone unturned model, which I am 100% in favor of following. Especially given the fact that if he doesn’t work out the Eagles won’t be committed to him. Churn that roster.
Preach
I was genuinely concerned Chip had killed all of the pro personnel guys in 2015. That dude had a PS full of no upside filler and did not churn the back end at all.
They’ve got Mason Foster and Zach Brown as their starters. Tom Compton is now a backup but started last season. Chris Carter is their version of Najee Goode. They took Martell Speights who is very stylistically similar to Daniels in ’15, and they drafted one in the seventh this year.
this is a great move. I’m not as excited at Tommy – but in a round about way – Eagles got another 2016 draft pic :)..
The Eagles really did like him coming out. They took him one pick before we took Jalen Mills. Works out for us, we have both now.
Tommy, you have “Donnel Humphrey”. I think we all need to make spell check “learn” Pumphrey, or autocorrect is going to keep nailing us.
Unless he changes his name, of course.
Pumphrey will forever remain elusive.
Makes the inability to trade Kendricks a bit more frustrating this offseason. Maybe the Eagles can find a taker for him in preseason due to injury but his contract will be fairly prohibitive at that point too. Other teams need to think they are getting a starter & one who can start at least 13-14 G.
Kelly gets scapegoated for too many things that have gone wrong with this team since he got fired. Roseman has largely escaped blame despite some bad moves.
Kendricks deal though is all on Kelly.
its kind of crazy. Chip literally was the biggest name on the team when he was here.
I read they were close to a trade with the 49ers. But then the 49ers were able to trade back into the 1st and get Foster. It was really close, time wise for the trade and pick wise, since the Saints would have taken him at #32 (you can read it in Peter Kings MMQB, he was in the 49ers war room for the entire draft, fantastic read in general).
Can’t blame Howie for that to happen. If Schneider would have taken 30 more seconds to think about the trade offer, Kendricks would have been dealt.
It was still a weak LB draft. Let’s hope some team is interested in him because they didn’t get the LB help they wanted in the draft. Then there are always injuries. We won’t get much for Kendricks, but a 4th would be nice. Remember, we don’t have a 2nd next year. Howie already traded for 2 4ths (Bradford, Rowe). Adding a third 4th (making it 4 4ths including our own) obviously still wouldn’t be as good as having a 2nd, but it would help a lot to compensate for the loss.
You’re not getting a 4th for Kendricks.
I said it would be great. 4th should the best case. If they get a 5th or a 6th I won’t complain.
They weren’t going to trade him for less than a 5th, and he’s still here.
If you’re throwing out hypothetical best cases, then I say it’s four 1sts. Real world, nobody is even going to offer a 7th because they think we’re going to cut him.
Some things would have to break right. Kendrick would have to be having a good enough camp that there was a real possibility he sticks. And a contending team would have to have a need brought about by either injury or a struggling player.
If they’re have the leverage, like they did with Bradford, they could conceivably get a 4th. Not saying it’s likely… Just within the realm.
I don’t think a future 4th is out of the question….similar value to a 5th/6th this year…depending how high the team would be drafting..
The draft is over. We’re talking about future picks right now. And no, you’re not getting a 4th in any year for a player about to be on the street.
Saw the same thing too and not blaming Roseman for being able to trade him.
My sense is that Kendricks has minimal valuable (6th rounder – maybe conditional 5th) because of his contract and health concerns. Even that might be too high.
“Back in fall 1998, I was excited to do my first segment of CBS’s The NFL Today. In May I was let go by the Eagles after I traded for Hugh Douglas and drafted Tra Thomas, Allen Rossum, Jeremiah Trotter, Brandon Whiting, and Ike Reese. I was not bitter (yes, I was) and I moved on.” –Michael Lombardi
From an article he wrote for The Ringer about the Bills firing their front office.
the “I moved on” part is a lie, He’s been insufferable every time the Eagles come up almost 20 years later now.
I don’t see it that way. He doesn’t like Dougie P., yes, and he’s a little bit too hard on him for my taste. But other than that, I never had the feeling he’s bitter towards the Eagles.
Lombardi embellishes to the point of pure BS way too much of the time.
he loves to emphatically state opinions or guesses as fact, and that bugs me. He has some interesting stories about working with guys like Bill Walsh that sound like tall tales. Was talking about one time all 3 of the guys they were willing to pick went off the board and they panicked and he had to trade back to buy time. Like, really? Working for a dynasty franchise, they didn’t have any contingency plans, like you didn’t have a draft board? A little hard to believe, but this was the 80’s so things might have been different but still. His Al Davis stories are pretty funny and kind of bold to be telling of a dead culty patriarch.
He has been around the business for a while and has amusing stories.
Some of it is pure BS though including with closeness with Belicheck and what he did while he was employed by the Pats.
“Banner remembers the work Lombardi did as a member of the Eagles’ personnel department from 1997-98. In early 1997, Lombardi joined the Eagles as a pro personnel consultant, and Broaddus was hired as the organization’s college scouting administrator.”
“Lombardi and Broaddus ran the 1998 draft together”
“So why did the Eagles fire Lombardi a month after the 1998 draft?
Broaddus said Banner and owner Jeffrey Lurie wanted to build a culture similar to that of the Pittsburgh Steelers, so they hired Steelers personnel executive Tom Modrak as the Eagles’ director of football operations. Shortly after Modrak arrived in May 1998, Lombardi and Broaddus were shown the door.”
http://www.ohio.com/sports/browns/why-did-browns-hire-mike-lombardi-go-back-to-1998-draft-1.366361
That was a good draft, but Lombardi still sucks.
Re: Eagles sign Jerod Evans as development QB. I like this move quite a bit. The guy has talent, just made a stupid decision and came out too early. I could actually see him developing into a back-up with one or two years of development (Practice Squad…). Will be as much fun as there is watching 3rd and 4th stringers in the Preseason. McGloin is a good #3 (can’t imagine him making the roster, though, 3 QBs is too heavy). Evans is a nice #4/developmental guy. Think our QB gurus have something to do with him signing here. Yes, he came out too early and isn’t ready, but there is talent to work with. Have to think there would be teams out there where he has a better chance to be the #3 on the active roster and maybe, maybe, with a great camp, the #2 early on. But as stupid as the coming out was, it’s smart to sign with the Eagles as a developmental guy. 3 coaches who are all good with QBs is not normal. The Rams had exactly 0 last year. That’s extreme, but still.
i was excited about Hollins even at 4.53, but Howie is right, he did injure his leg with 10 yards to go. The nfl.com video of his run even titled something like “Hollins injures leg in the 40”. He went down hard after finishing. The “tweak” seemed to happen around yard 33 or so, noticeable, he fought to keep his form, but must have slowed him down. Definitely looks like a high 4.4 was very possible, which makes him in general the sacred “4.4” guy with size and a higher pick just cus of a number.