Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Howie + Nick From Indy

Posted February 25th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

The Scouting Combine is taking place in Indy this week. Before the players work out, coaches and GMs meet the media. Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman spoke on Tuesday. While there wasn’t anything compelling, there were some interesting comments.

Here is Howie’s press conference.

There wasn’t anything really of note, but it is still always good to hear Howie speak. He did talk about how the Eagles are going to need young players to play in 2025 because of the cap situation. You can’t have big dollars invested at every position. That could mean Tyler Steen will be in the mix at RG. Or that Jalyx Hunt has a chance to start. It certainly means rookies will have a chance to play.

Howie met with local media before the press conference and offered some better nuggets there.

Howie telling fans to be patient means there probably won’t be any Saquon moments in the upcoming offseason. The Eagles will make moves, but they have to be careful about how they spend money. They already pay big bucks to a lot of players and they have a lot of talented young guys who will need extensions in the near future.

It doesn’t sound like the Garrett trade will happen. Giving up multiple high picks and then having to pay him would put a big strain on other parts of the roster. With so many good players already in place, Garrett is a luxury, not a need. It would be so much fun to see him in green, chasing Dak Prescott all over the field. Alas, it doesn’t sound like that will happen.

Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s the vibe I get from Howie’s comments. I’m sure it will drive him crazy not to be going hard after an elite player like Garrett.

Nick Sirianni’s press conference wasn’t all that interesting. I thought he was better in this interview with Mike Florio.

Howie did one with Florio as well, but it wasn’t great. Howie did advise Florio that he should try to make friends with Big Dom. Apparently Dom isn’t happy with Mike. I’m assuming that has to do with comments from the sideline altercation in the SF game from 2023. Florio ripped Dom and the Eagles on that.

Sirianni is always better in interviews like this than in press conferences. Most people probably are. He shared a couple of interesting nuggets.

*****

Jason Peters is retiring.

It is mind-blowing that he came into the league the same year as Shawn Andrews, who he played with at Arkansas. Andrews went in the first round. Peters was undrafted. Andrews was a good player, but Peters should be a Hall of Famer.

The Eagles traded for Peters in 2009 and he went to 7 Pro Bowls as an Eagle. He had an amazing career and was one of the most dominant LTs we’ve ever seen. He didn’t get to play in Super Bowl LII, but he was a key part of that team.

Legend.

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Push It

Posted February 24th, 2025 | 4 Comments »

The offseason is here and that means we get to have some annoying discussions. First up, the possible banning of the Brother Shove. Or tush push, or whatever you want to call it.

The Packers have submitted a proposal to the NFL Competition Committee to ban the play. This is not a huge surprise based on the comments of Mark Murphy.

I totally get that some people don’t like the play. I do not understand saying it doesn’t involve skill. If the Eagles are the only team in the league to master the play, it can’t be that easy. If the Eagles ran it 10 or 20 times a game, I could buy the argument against it a bit more. We don’t want the NFL turning into a rugby match. The Eagles are judicious with the play. They mix it in here and there, a handful of times a game.

The thing that gets me is that there is a way to stop it. Limit the number of short yardage situations, especially in the red zone. The Eagles aren’t running that from the 5-yard line. When they get stopped at or around the 1-yard line, it is Brotherly Shove time.

It doesn’t sound like this resolution is likely to pass.

It would take 24 votes supporting the ban for it to pass. Right now that feels like a stretch. The play hasn’t resulted in an abnormal number of injuries. The Eagles have a great OL. They wouldn’t do this if they feared those guys getting hurt. Jalen Hurts is a star QB. The Eagles wouldn’t run the play if they feared him getting hurt.

Interestingly, Sean McDermott doesn’t seem to like the play. And yet…

The Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills have combined to run 163 tush pushes, in which a team lines up one or more players behind the quarterback to push him forward against the defense, the past three seasons — more than the rest of the NFL combined, according to ESPN Research.

The Eagles and Bills have scored a touchdown or achieved a first down on 87% of their attempts using the play, while the rest of the NFL has been successful on just 71%, per ESPN Research.

This play sure bring out some strange comments from people.

The Eagles don’t have an unfair advantage. They just happen to execute the play better than other teams. The Jaguars defended the shove better than anyone else. Teams ought to be studying what they did instead of trying to ban it.

*****

Free agency will start in a couple of weeks. It doesn’t sound like the most compelling free agent class.

I went and looked at a list of free agents after reading this. DJ is on the money. There are some interesting options, but overall this is not a great group of players for teams in need of a sudden talent boost. This isn’t the year to have a ton of cap room.

I’ll write more on FA as we get closer. The Eagles will be talking to agents at the Scouting Combine this week in Indy. They’ll try to get a feel for which of their players they can afford to keep and who will be hitting the market.

*****

Haason Reddick is one of the FAs. He did not have a good year in 2024. Reddick got out-produced by Bryce Huff, if that gives you an idea of how things went. It was a bizarre season for a lot of reasons.

Some have asked if it would make sense for the Eagles to bring back Reddick. I don’t think so. He wanted to get paid last year and that led to a lot of issues with the Jets. He’ll want good money this year. I don’t know if anyone will pay it. Maybe you sign him to an incentive-laden deal. The problem with that is he would be focused on sacks and personal goals.

Reddick is a good player. He was a key part of the 2022 SB team. I just wonder if he’s the right fit for who the Eagles are at this point. Vic Fangio wants his defenders to be very disciplined. That’s not always Reddick’s strength. But he is a talented pass rusher and those guys can be game-changers. We saw what he did to Brock Purdy in the playoff game.

I don’t think a reunion is likely, but never say never. CJGJ came home and loved it. Let him talk to Reddick and see what happens.

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