Posted June 3rd, 2024 | Comments Off on Any Cause for Concern?
There have been two OTA sessions open to the media. We heard a lot of positives from those practices, with one key exception. We didn’t get favorable reports on the QB play.
Is this a concern?
At this point, no. You would prefer the QBs to look good, of course. That’s the most important position in football. If you’re QB plays well, you have a chance to win. If he struggles, you need a lot of other things to go right.
Jalen Hurts, Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee are a talented trio. They are also learning a new offense and that is going to lead to some ups and downs. An offense is at its best when everyone is on the same page and the timing is like clockwork. That doesn’t happen overnight. Kellen Moore and Nick Sirianni are taking two playbooks and building them into one offense. It will take time and reps for things to click. What we’re seeing now is part of the learning process.
If the QBs are up and down in mid-August, that’s a different story. They should improve as they get accustomed to the new offense and develop good timing with the new skill players. Parris Campbell and John Ross are new to the team. Ainias Smith and Johnny Wilson are rookies. CJ Uzomah is new to the Eagles. So are Saquon Barkley and Will Shipley.
There is also the X-factor that we don’t know what the coaches are telling the QBs to work on. They might be stressing the short passing game. They might stress working the middle. We see results, but don’t know what is going on behind them.
I’m not saying the QBs should get a free pass for their struggles. It is fair to scrutinize them and keep an eye on the situation. You want the struggles to lessen as the summer moves along. There is no guarantee that happens. Moore is the new offensive coordinator. Doug Nussmeier is the new QBs coach. They have had a lot of success over the years, but every situation is different. We have to wait and see what happens.
The final point to make here is that Hurts is always going to be more of a gamer than a practice QB. Part of what makes him special is his ability to mvoe around and create. That doesn’t factor into 7-on-7’s or most practice periods.
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More about the Falcons and Eagles tampering rulings likely coming this week:https://t.co/UOO3y4PKhr
I will be glad when this situation is over. James Franklin made an off-hand comment and somehow that got trumped up into a potential tampering charge. Howie Roseman knows when he can and can’t talk to players. I would be shocked if he actually did anything.
The Eagles shouldn’t get punished unless the league can prove something. I won’t be shocked if they throw some minimal punishment at the Eagles to try to discourage future teams from tampering or anything close to it.
The Falcons are in a very different situation. They will lose a draft pick because they did tamper. The question is how high of a pick.
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Bill Walton died last week. There were a million stories about him and what an amazing life he led. Walton is arguably the greatest college basketball player of all time. He was an MVP and two-time champion in the NBA. Walton then became legendary as an announcer and personality. Truly a great life.
I hated Walton for a long time. One of my first sports memories is my beloved 76ers with Julius Erving and George McInnis losing to Walton and the Trailblazers in the 1977 NBA finals. I hated Walton and his red hair and beard and stupid headband. He might have been my first sports enemy. He went to the Celtics and helped them win a title in 1986, which only angered me further. Seeing Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Walton happy together was enough to make me want to jump off a bridge.
Thankfully I decided not to jump since I knew all those Super Bowls were coming with Buddy, Reggie and Randall leading the Eagles.
Oops.
I did learn to enjoy Walton as a broadcaster and personality. He was a great storyteller and had a unique way of looking at things. The world is less interesting without him in it.
The Eagles secondary was not good last year. That’s putting it mildly, to be honest. There were times when the secondary was a mess. The team really focused on that position in the offseason and that is paying off.
With no CJGJ, Slay, or Bradberry, the first-team secondary looked like this: Isaiah Rodgers at left cornerback, Kelee Ringo at right cornerback, Tyler Hall at nickel cornerback, Reed Blankenship and Avonte Maddox back at safety. The second-team secondary featured Quinyon Mitchell at left cornerback, Eli Ricks at right cornerback, and Cooper DeJean at nickel. Devin White and Zack Baun were the first linebackers up in 7-on-7 but Dean rotated in for Baun. Later on, the Eagles held an 11-on-11 period where Dean rotated in for White.
The Eagles were missing their best safety and corner, but still had enough quality bodies to have a good first team group of S/CBs and a good second group of CBs. That is impressive depth.
Here is BLG on Rodgers.
The aforementioned Isaiah Rodgers has looked good through two media-attended OTA practices. He made a play on the ball last week and he flashed again on Thursday with the biggest highlight of the day. Rodgers perfectly jumped a route on a short throw by Hurts for a pick six. A year off from football clearly hasn’t prevented Rodgers from shining. There’s plenty of offseason left for things to change but, as it currently stands, he’s seriously challenging to start at cornerback across from Slay.
Rodgers was suspended for all of 2023, but he worked hard so he would be ready for this year. He talked about mirroring his workouts to an NFL schedule. Football players are creatures of habit. I think having a set schedule that he was used to helped him to stay focused and to keep the right mindset. Rodgers had his career snatched from him (it was his fault) and now he’s got a chance to get it back. He seems very driven. By all reports, Rodgers has looked good so far.
It is still way early, but we could see Rodgers and Slay as the starting CBs. That would give Quinyon Mitchell and Kelee Ringo more time to develop. Cooper DeJean could stay focused on learning to play in the slot.
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Lane Johnson is skipping the voluntary OTAs. Mekhi Becton is getting snaps at RT in his place. While this isn’t 100 percent live football, the extra reps with the starters should be good for Becton. He has talent and experience, but has been an underachiever. The more snaps he gets the more tape there is for him and Jeff Stoutland to study. Players will tell you that watching themselves in action is a great way to learn. You can watch tape of others. You can get instruction. When you see yourself, good and bad, it adds clarity and can help the player really learn.
History tells us Johnson will miss a game or two. Becton needs to be ready to step in. Every rep will help him get better prepared for that.
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Jordan Davis is 350 pounds. But he’s a sleeker 350 than in the past. He gave up juices and focused on a healthier diet. I was encouraged by what Davis said in his press conference. He got better from Year 1 to Year 2. He knows he has to take a major step forward this year. Fletcher Cox is gone and the defense had a disappointing season. The pressure is on him and all of the key defenders to take things up a notch. Davis said he’s good with Vic Fangio and isn’t afraid of hard coaching. That’s exactly what you want to hear from someone who was part of an underachieving defense.
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John Ross isn’t a player I paid much attention to. Yes, he was a Top Ten pick. Yes, he held the Combine record for the fastest 40. While that sounds good, the harsh reality is that Ross was a major disappointment. He struggled to stay healthy and wasn’t much of a factor when he was healthy. He played in 37 games between 2017 and 2021, catching 11 TDs.
Ross got a spot in the rookie tryout camp and then got signed after legendary Eagle DeVante Parker retired. Ross spoke to the media on Thursday and said a lot of interesting things. I’ll be taking him more seriously after hearing what he had to say. Ross understands the opportunity he’s been given and is going to do everything he can to take advantage of it. He’s hungry. Ross wants to play football. He wants to be an Eagle (he said he grew up rooting for the team).
Saying all the right things is great, but he still has to show what he can do on the field.
• It was fun watching John Ross run routes. He can still run very fast. On the aforementioned deep ball that Pickett underthrew, it may have been because Ross got down the field so quickly. He was open. Ross also made a nice catch over the middle on a ball behind him from Pickett.
Ross has a long way to go. I do think he’s off to an encouraging start. The most important thing is for him to keep an underdog mentality and keep grinding each day. You can see the difference in him and a guy like Parker. Ross left the game at age 26. He signed with the Eagles at 28 and with something to prove. Parker came to the Eagles at age 31, thinking about making the transition to being a role player. He decided that wasn’t for him. Ross is coming off the street and has everything in the world to prove.
Here is his PC.
I’ll be pulling for him to make it.
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Another player I hadn’t paid much attention to is TE E.J. Jenkins. He was mentioned after a couple of nice plays last week. BLG had this nugget on him from Thursday.
E.J. Jenkins jumped high to make a contested catch on a Tanner McKee throw over the middle. Through two OTA practices, I feel like Jenkins has offered more intrigue than Grant Calcaterra has in a long time. Maybe he can push for a backup tight end job.
Jenkins is 6-6, 245. He played WR in college. His first two years were at St. Francis. He then transfered to South Carolina and finished at Georgia Tech. He didn’t do much in college, but had a strong showing at the GT Pro Day and got on the NFL’s radar. Jenkins signed with the Jets in the spring of 2023. The Eagles added him to their practice squad last year. It sounds like the light has gone on for him this spring and he’s starting to show what he’s capable of. I don’t know that he’ll beat out Grant Calcaterra, but Jenkins is getting peoples attention. Good for him.
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Go check out the notes below if you want even more depth chart info.