One of the more ridiculous subplots of the offseason was the Eagles being investigated for tampering. Penn State coach James Franklin made an off-hand comment about Howie Roseman talking to Saquon Barkley before the signing. That mole hill never became a mountain, but it certainly got bigger.
The NFL investigated and determined there was no conversation between the Eagles GM and the free agent. There will be no punishment.
Actually, there was punishment. Hearing about this non-story for three months was pretty annoying. The Eagles love loopholes. That means they know the rules and try to exploit them, not cheat. Howie Roseman wouldn’t risk getting punished so he could talk to a free agent he felt good about signing. It makes no sense.
The Falcons got investigated and ended up losing a 5th round pick. They basically admitted to tampering. There wasn’t much question of their guilt.
The Eagles have plenty of picks for the 2025 draft. They will need those as they look for replacements for some veteran players. Jimmy Bama actually wrote a piece on the team’s succession plan for guys over the age of 30. Thankfully he didn’t go Logan’s Run on anyone.
A look at the Eagles’ players over 30, and their succession plan for each https://t.co/DvkhwQM4ha
The Eagles…are 30th out of 32 teams. Linebacker is a mystery for the second year in a row, but this year does feel a bit different. Maybe they overestimated Nakobe Dean last year. Maybe they thought the DL was going to be so dominant that they could get by with lesser LBs. No matter what the reason, LB was a major weakness in 2023.
There aren’t any sure things as we head into 2024, but I do think the group is more talented and more likely to pan out. Devin White is a talented LB. He didn’t play well last year and that’s one of the reasons he was available. The Eagles are hoping to fix him. Last year the Eagles were looking for talented LBs, hoping they could find a hidden gem.
Dean is back for his third year and will do everything he can to get on the field. He wants to show what he can do. The player we’re all curious about is Zack Baun, the free agent brought over from the Saints. He is a talented young player who is hoping for a starting role. Baun has 62 games of experience. He has a versatile skill set. He might prove to be an effective role player. Or Baun could turn out to be a good starter.
Jeremiah Trotter Jr is a promising rookie. Ben VanSumeren showed potential last year and is a gifted athlete. Oren Burks is a proven STer and has some starting experience. Brandon Smith is a talented athlete.
That’s still a lot of unproven players, but the group feels so much better than last year’s LB corps. Let’s hope they play better.
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Very cool news.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is proud to announce that Merrill Reese has been chosen to receive its 2024 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award!
Posted June 13th, 2024 | Comments Off on Quirky QBs
The Eagles have had some talented QBs over the past 35 years. We’ve seen some amazing football. As talented as some of the guys were, they also had some quirky personalities that made sustaining success a challenge.
Randall Cunningham was a special talent. As good as he was on the field, Randall wanted to be a cultural superstar as much as a star player. That didn’t always sit well with his teammates.
Donovan McNabb was booed on draft day and let that odd moment linger far too long in his psyche. Terrell Owens joined the team in 2004 and it looked like a marriage made in heaven. Oops. TO went nuclear in the 2005 offseason, forcing teammates to choose between McNabb and him. Despite McNabb entering his seventh season, the locker room was split between him and the new guy. I don’t think McNabb ever fully recovered from that.
Carson Wentz came along in 2016 and it seemed like the Eagles finally had their guy. Wentz got hurt late in 2017 and had to watch Nick Foles lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl win. Wentz was never the same and got a bit stranger each year after that.
Jalen Hurts was drafted in 2020. He came to Philly with a combination of talent and an incredible desire to win. More than anyone, Hurts seemed made for Philly. He was physically and emotionally tough. The meltdown at the end of last year raised a few questions about Hurts, but it felt like that horrible stretch wasn’t something a single player could overcome.
Then we had last week. Hurts was asked about Nick Sirianni and the new offense. Hurts gave an awkward answer, saying “”I mean, that’s a great question, I don’t know that I know the answer to it.”
There was a follow-up question and Hurts didn’t give a great answer to that.
This sequence has people thinking Hurts isn’t happy with Sirianni. He certainly could be. But we also know Hurts was trained by Nick Saban and isn’t going to give compelling answers on a regular basis. Hurts doesn’t exactly love microphones.
I’m of the belief that this isn’t a big deal. Time might prove me wrong, of course. QBs and coaches have a tricky relationship. Just look at Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. They made history together with all their Super Bowl wins. But Brady is strong-willed and Belichick is incredibly demanding. They had more than a few tough times over the years. Since Brady retired, the two of them have said glowing things about each other.
We’ve all seen the old clips of Mike Holmgren ripping Brett Favre and assistant coach Andy Reid interceding to take the blame and protect the star QB. Holmgren learned about coaching QBs from Bill Walsh. You demanded perfection, nothing less. Favre loved playing football, but also drinking and partying. He was more interested in killing a case of beer than learning about dime defenses. Favre and Holmgren had their share of ups and downs.
Sirianni did fire Brian Johnson, a longtime friend of Hurts. Maybe that rubbed him wrong. Maybe Sirianni was really tough on Hurts in exit interviews after last season. Maybe Hurts is having a tough time adjusting to the new coaches and offense and was just frustrated.
Hurts is 25 years old. He’s started a grand total of 51 NFL games. We’ve still got a lot to learn about him as a person and as a player.
Maybe Hurts comments meant something. Maybe they didn’t.
The PR department will coach up Hurts before he meets the media again so don’t look for those answers to give you an honest take on things. We aren’t going to know anything for sure until time goes by and we see more of their relationship. I think we’ll know things are good when we see Hurts and Sirianni riding a tandem bike from NovaCare over to Chili’s for some delicious Dollaritas.
Jimmy Bama did his roster projection. He left OT Fred Johnson off. I need to find out why he did that. I’m assuming he huffed too much glue with Charlie.