Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Mo Money

Posted February 23rd, 2024 | 5 Comments »

The Eagles were actually in solid cap shape heading into the offseason. They didn’t have a ton of space, but had flexibility to make moves without doing a bunch of financial maneuvering. The Eagles will now have even more space.

That is an increase of $30M from last year. That’s a lotta money. Teams knew the cap would go up, but not that much. This is the NFL version of reaching into the pocket of a jacket and finding $20 you forgot about. PBR and Funyuns for everyone!!!

This is good news for the Eagles. They don’t need to go on a crazy spending spree. They have to be smart because they have players who are going to need extensions. But the team can go shopping. They definitely have areas that need to be addressed. You might have heard that LB was slightly less than an elite position last year. Maybe the extra space will lead the Eagles to spend more at that spot.

Howie Roseman and his staff will adjust their plan to make the best use of the extra space.

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Did the Eagles just get a couple of extra free agent targets today?

Both guys played for Vic Fangio last year. Both guys have a good track record. Both guys will turn 31 this season.

I would pass on Howard. The Eagles don’t need to be investing money in an older corner. I hope they learned their lesson from last year. Ogbah could make sense if the team wants depth at edge. They might prefer to bring back Brandon Graham and see about adding someone in the draft.

Neither guy feels like a likely addition at this point.

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Beyond those two, I think the Eagles need to be careful about adding older players. They have had some success with that in the past, but sure didn’t last season. I would prefer a younger, hungrier team that played with more of an edge.

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There has been a lot of talk about AJ Brown and the Eagles. There have been some talk show people making vague claims. I haven’t said anything about all of this because it just felt like offseason nonsense. We haven’t heard anything factual.

We did hear from AJ on Friday.

Can we please end with all the speculation and craziness?

Brown is a guy you want on your team and he’s someone that helps you win games. He helped the Eagles get to the Super Bowl in 2022 and is a key factor in them having a chance to go back.

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Nick Sirianni is far from a perfect coach. But he’s smart and seems to have good instincts. I found it interesting to listen to Steve Young talking about how Bill Walsh wanted his players to connect with each other.

That sure sounds like some of the messaging we hear from Sirianni on a regular basis. That philosophy helped Walsh build great teams that won Super Bowls. Sirianni is a young coach who is still learning, but I do think he’s got good ideas on how to build a team, as opposed to just a roster. Things didn’t go well down the stretch last year. We’ll see how much Sirianni learned from that in the coming seasons.

All teams and coaches have some struggles. The best learn from that and get better.

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More Tweaking

Posted February 22nd, 2024 | 4 Comments »

This isn’t the time of year for big moves. Free agency hasn’t started. Trades can’t officially be made. Teams are figuring out how much cap space they have and trying to come up with a plan for free agency. And next week is the Scouting Combine in Indy.

Right now teams are making low-level moves to address depth on their rosters.

Some fans are frustrated and want the Eagles to “do something”. Well, this is what you do in late February. You see what guys are available who you might want to develop. You also look at your own roster to see if there are guys worth keeping around.

Okwuegbunam has NFL talent. No one questions that. We just haven’t seen much of it. He was a late addition to the Eagles last summer. Okwuegbunam played in four games and didn’t catch any passes. He does have 54 career catches so he’s been a productive role player in the past.

The Eagles traded for him because of his potential. Okwuegbunam is an athletic pass-catcher. He must improve as a blocker and STer if he wants to push for regular playing time with the Eagles.

Dallas Goedert is the #1 TE. Things are wide open after him. Jack Stoll has 26 starts in three years, but only 20 catches. He is primarily a blocker and STer. The Eagles could use an upgrade at #2 TE. Grant Calcaterra has shown some good flashes in two years, but we haven’t seen enough to think he’s ready to be a key player. Okwuegbunam has the potential to be a good backup. He just has to show he can do the dirty work on a consistent basis.

Kellen Moore used his backup TEs more than the Eagles so it will be interesting if his offense brings out the best in some of these guys. There is also the possibility of spending a pick on a TE. Goedert is getting older. I’m fine with taking a TE, but not too early.

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We got an interesting nugget from D-Gunn on Nick Sirianni and Big Dom.

That may sound crazy to some. How can an NFL coach need someone to keep his emotions in check during games? Shouldn’t a successful adult be able to do that on his own?

Football can be an emotional game. A football field isn’t a normal office. This isn’t accounting or insurance or logistics. I had a coach in high school who was the friendliest guy in the world, unless we were on the field. During games he was pure emotion and most of it was anger. We were a terrible team so that likely wasn’t his fault. He lived and died from play to play.

We know Sirianni is an emotional guy. That is a big strength and weakness at the same time. Emotion drives him. It also leads to him being petty and saying some dumb things. If Big Dom can help settle Sirianni down, that’s a good thing.

The Eagles had something that worked really well for 2022 and the first 11 games of 2023. They struggled after Big Dom’s suspension. That could be a coincidence or it could be proof that he did have an impact on Sirianni and helped the Eagles stay on the right side of emotion being good or bad.

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If you grew up in the 1980’s, you remember Alcoa.

Those were awesome pieces each week. As great as football is today, there are a lot of little things I miss from the old days. Fantastic Finishes is absolutely one of them. Watching football in the 80’s was about as good as sports could get, from the players to the broadcasters to the features like FF.

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