Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Competition

Posted May 30th, 2023 | 4 Comments »

Howie Roseman has done a masterful job of building the Eagles roster. The team is loaded with talent. The offense should be one of the best in the league. The defense could be one of the best in the league, if the new guys play as expected.

Beyond loading up on talented players, Roseman did a great job of building competition at uncertain spots. That’s important for Nick Sirianni, who obsesses on competition. Whether it is playing rock-paper-scissors or shooting baskets against players, he loves to compete and wants his players to embrace competition. The last thing Sirianni wanted was to hand a job to someone. Make them earn it.

The Eagles are very high on Cam Jurgens. Rather than pencil him in as the RG for 2023, the team drafted Tyler Steen to make sure Jurgens has good competition. Neither guy has started an NFL game, but both have the potential to be good starters. Jurgens is a gifted athlete and he’s been in the offense for a year. Steen started for four years in the SEC and has good size/strength. He’s also a good athlete.

Sua Opeta is already in place and will have a chance to show what he can do. The Eagles took at look at veteran OL DJ Fluker and could bring him to camp for more depth and competition.

The point of this isn’t to show a lack of faith. Sirianni believes that competition will bring out the best in players. He doesn’t want players to do okay. He wants them to be at their best and one way to help that is to push them.

We don’t know what is going to happen at safety, but it is a safe bet that the starters will earn their jobs. Reed Blankenship, Sydney Brown, Terrell Edmunds, Justin Evans and K’Von Wallace all bring different things to the field. Safety is a position where starters and backups can play. Players aren’t just fighting to start. They want to show skills that could make them a good fit for various roles in the different defensive looks.

If Blankenship and Brown win starting roles, maybe Edmunds will show he could be good in the Big Nickel package. If Blankenship and Edmunds are the starters, maybe Brown or Evans shows they could play in the slot in some sets.

Take a look at the QB situation. The Eagles have a great starter in Jalen Hurts. They have a good backup in Marcus Mariota. Ian Book was the third QB, but is largely unproven so the team spent a pick on Tanner McKee out of Stanford. They know QB is the most important position in football. You can never have enough QBs. Instead of sticking with Book, they decided to bring in someone they had rated highly so there would be good competition for the third spot. Book has more experience, but McKee has more talent. We’ll have to wait and see which guy wins the job.

About the only spot on the roster where there isn’t a lot of competition is LB. Nakobe Dean and Nick Morrow are the projected starters. Christian Elliss, Shaun Bradley and Davion Taylor are returning players, but none of them has much experience on defense. Ben VanSumeren is the rookie with a ton of athleticism, but not a lot of experience at LB. This feels like a spot where the Eagles will still look to add.

They aren’t going to go grab someone on the market now. They’ve got the bodies to get through camp. The Eagles would be looking for a quality player to add to the mix. That could require some patience. The Eagles traded for CJGJ on August 30 last year. Howie isn’t afraid to play the waiting game.

It can sound a bit odd to talk about competition. These guys are athletes playing football. Competition should come naturally to them. It should be expected. Oddly, that’s not always the case.

Players are human. Even some punters, I’m told. Complacency can set in. Players can lose their edge and a good team can have issues if that happens. Sirianni wants to keep his players at their best. That means competing on the field and in other ways that he can think of. Good coaches are good motivators. Sirianni has been masterful at that and a key reason is his ability to keep pushing the competitive buttons of his players.

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We won’t learn anything too important, but all nuggets are interesting when there aren’t real games to obsess on.

Who will be this year’s Lorenzo Booker?

(Old school reference for the EMB crowd)

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Sad news.

McGovern was the LBs coach for the Eagles from 2013 to 2015. He had some NFL jobs after that and was the defensive coordinator at UCLA last season. He passed away from cancer.

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Big Names

Posted May 27th, 2023 | 6 Comments »

No team is a better example of continuous roster building than the Eagles. The title team of 2017 added key players weeks into free agency (Chris Long), in May (LeGarrette Blount), in August (Ronald Darby) and in October (Jay Ajayi). Last year the Eagles added Chauncey Gardner-Johnson on cutdown day and then key role players Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh during the season.

The offseason is much more than the first 10 days of free agency.

Howie Roseman has built a loaded roster, but there are areas that could be improved and we know he’s always looking for help.

It wasn’t that long ago that Hopkins was the best receiver in the NFL. Should the Eagles go get him?

I don’t think it would make sense. Remember, you’re trying to build a championship team, not an all star team. Hopkins would be a great addition on paper, but players are people. They have egos. They want touches and there are only so many passes to go around.

DeVonta Smith – 95 catches
AJ Brown – 88 catches
Dallas Goedert – 55 catches
Quez Watkins – 33 catches

In only nine games last year, Hopkins had 64 catches. He is a workhorse receiver that needs the ball. The only way this could make sense is if Hopkins decided that winning a ring was his main priority. He would have to sign for less money and would have to embrace fewer touches.

It doesn’t sound like that will happen.

He’s reportedly looking for big money and is being repped by an odd choice.

Per multiple sources, the notorious Saint Omni is “running the show” for Hopkins. At least one viable contender for Hopkins’s services is leery about dealing with Omni. And for good reason. Last year, the NFL specifically warned all teams not to deal with Omni or any other non-certified agent in connection with linebacker Roquan Smith.

That doesn’t sound like a situation the Eagles would be excited about getting involved with. I’m sure Howie and Nick Sirianni will discuss if they want to check the situation out or if this is a hard no from them.

The Eagles could use an upgrade at #3 WR. That could be Watkins playing better or adding a veteran player. I think Howie is open to adding someone, but it would have to be the right fit, not just the most talented player. If a veteran is interested in chasing a ring, that might make sense for both sides.

I do think the Eagles genuinely like Watkins and want to see what he can do this year. Still, they know you need good players to win. Sirianni can praise Trey Sermon all day long, but the team then traded for D’Andre Swift.

I don’t see Hopkins making his way to Philly, but don’t shut the door on another WR in the future.

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Fluker is 32 and hasn’t played in the league since 2020. On the surface that doesn’t sound like a player you’d think much about.

Fluker came into the league at 6-5, 342 and got heavier over time. He has gotten into great shape and worked out at the Alabama Pro Day.

That is a very different body than the one we saw when he played in the NFL.

Fluker played for Jeff Stoutland at Alabama so that partially explains the Eagles interest. They didn’t sign him so maybe they have doubts about his return to the NFL or maybe they just left things open. Fluker might want to talk to other teams. We’ll see.

At his best, Fluker was a very powerful OG who could pancake DTs. He had okay movement skills, but was too heavy. Now that he’s in good shape, he would be much better on the move. I think Fluker is an interesting project and could make some sense.

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As a follow-up to my piece on Sirianni, watch this video.

That is an episode of Unscripted, the show done by the Eagles. It starts with Sirianni’s opening press conference and then jumps to the middle of last year. You can see and hear all the doubters. Then you see Sirianni winning the NFC Championship. What a difference a year makes.

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