ACCORDING to rumor, Philadelphia might not host the 2018 NFL Draft. Chances are you’ve either read or heard of, a number of articles that are all based onone reporter’s gut feeling. It’s a gut feeling that’s entirely based on what he could ear-hustle, through his cup against the wall.
Look, it’s early in the process, and other cities are still making proposals of their own. So it’s way too early for anyone to have any real clue regarding which way the NFL is leaning. Besides, while I would love the Draft to come back for 2018 (so we can show off at full strength), it wouldn’t pain me if it didn’t, and for damned good reason.
We set an all-time Draft attendance record with over 250,000 people. That’s a quarter million people showing up to celebrate their love for the NFL’s brand of football. Put in visual perspective, the Linc has a seating capacity of 69,176. The Ben Franklin Parkway handled nearly 4 times that (3.6), with no arrests, no incidents, and not so much as a ticket being written. For those who are new to the subject of the NFL Draft, every prior sentence in this paragraph, isn’t merely impressive, it’s historical.
The NFL by now, has taken note of that fact that outdoor Drafts pack in the most people. Chicago rung the 200,000 bell, and Philly of course cracked 250,000. (And this lucky bastard was there for BOTH.)
Given the history of the Draft, the next place to host will likely see a fall-off in attendance. This is why 2018’s most ardent suitor, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, has made a pitch to use two locations, in two different counties (Denton and Tarrant), nearly 40 miles apart. So 40 miles is about the size of the shadow Philadelphia casts today. (Point of comparison: Broad Street is 12.4 miles, stem to stern.)
Splitting the Draft? Just to chase Philadelphia’s numbers? Can you imagine that? That would be less about the fan’s experience, and more about the wish fulfillment of one man. Since the Draft left New York, it has truly become as much about the fans as it is about the picks. The Drafts in Chicago and Philly showed fans that they matter.
More pointedly, when we celebrated the Draft this year, we ALL (Eagles, giants, Redskins, Raiders, Chief, Steelers, Niners, Broncos, etc.) were together. Brought together in one place for something bigger than all of us. Something which, even in a time of such polarization, still has the power to unite us all. Not in grief like 9/11 did, but in joy as nothing else ever has. At least not in my 41 year lifespan. It was the NFL Draft at it’s most American. It was America at it’s most ideal.
I would love to see the Draft come back for 2018, before moving on to another NFL city. Preferably someplace that won’t split it, and take the event backwards in terms of fan unification. However, as a Philadelphian, I can live with being the home of the Draft’s ultimate expression. Even if it means that we never get to host another one.
GENERALLY Eagles fans ignore the plotting of our rivals. However, there are times when something a rival does or plans to do, can affect who we start, or how we implement our own systems when we face that rival. It can even impact how we build our roster. The Cowboys are making a low-key move centered around a 4th round draft pick, which could send a ripple effect through the division. So now might be a good time to pay attention.
WR Cole Beasley isn’t very fast, but he’s quick. He has an ability to stretch a defense not vertically, but laterally. Due to being so quick, he can’t be covered in a short-area by most OLB’s. That forces teams from their base defense to their Nickle alignment, just to get a Defensive Back to cover him. This already puts a defense at a disadvantage just by being out of their base. It further presents a problem, because it swaps out a big body (OLB) from run defense for a smaller one (DB).
When the Cowboys drafted Beasley clone WR Ryan Switzer in the 4th round this year, the knee jerk reaction was to assume that he was a younger, cheaper replacement for Beasley. Rumblings out of Dallas seem to indicate that Switzer isn’t a replacement for the slot receiver, but actually an accompaniment.
Normally that would mean putting them on the field together a lot, but there wouldn’t be a lot of upside to having two 180 pound slot receivers out there at the same time. While it would allow for a lot more option-style short passes and quick Out routes, it would conversely rob the Cowboys run game of reliable blockers at the point-of-attack inside the numbers.
The best way to employ these two is to rotate them in a way that keeps at least one of them on the field for 75 to 90 percent of the snaps. Last year when Beasely came off the field, the Cowboys would put out a second TE, or another WR who was more straight-line fast, than short-area quick.
This year with two players who can stretch a defense laterally on every down, that threat can help create less congested running lanes, inside the numbers. They could gain the advantage of extra blocking without any wear and tear (or risk of injury) to the blockers themselves.
If the Cowboys actually go in this direction, we’ll have to find ourselves a S/LB hybrid (or two) who can stay with players like Beasley and Switzer. Examples of Eagles who might help, would be Safety Nate Gerrywhom we drafted in the 5th round this year, or LB Kamu Grugier-Hill. (Neither is a lock to make the roster in 2017.)
With any luck, I’m wrong and the Cowboys will opt for trying to play ‘B and S’ together. That would severely limit their individual effectiveness as well as the effectiveness of the entire offense to boot. That however, would require a LOT of luck, as no one (even the Cowboys) could be stupid enough to miss how much more dangerous these two would make the entire team, if they are rotated. Sometimes fellow Eagles fans, you might want to pay attention to what your rivals are up to.
LAST August I preached patience for our WR’s, yet by seasons end even I’d bailed on Nelson Agholor. I didn’t practice what I’d preached to you all and that is blatant hypocrisy on my part.
I’ve said on a few occasions that Eagles fans need to be better fans, and this time that also applies to me. I need to step-up my game, and be a better fan.
Agholor was drafted in the first round of the 2015 Draft, and had a dismal rookie season. Fans were already murmuring “bust” by the time Training Camp opened in 2016. So I stepped in and saidthat our WR’s (him included) weren’t beyond help.
I said that the Eagles receivers needed time. Time to learn good habits, and possibly UN-learn bad ones. I implied that this would take patience on the fan’s part. Yet a couple months later, I myself was throwing him under the bus, as much as anyone. It was a despicable thing for a fan to do. It was downright hypocritical. It was also damned unfair.
When Agholor first got here, who were the WR’s he could look up to for help honing his craft? Second year men Jordan Matthews, and Josh Huff, that’s who. Matthews and Huff got a year under Jeremy Maclin and (starter for some reason) Riley Cooper. Matthews played the slot and Huff hardly played at all in 2014. So there were no mentors in 2015 for Agholor. Same goes for 2016 when we traded for Dorial Green-Beckham.
Now in 2017 we’ve added Alshon Jeffreyand Torrey Smith. These are veterans that both Agholor and Matthews can learn from. They have on-field mentors to teach them good habits. (I also felt that former WR coach Greg Lewis was doing that, but the organization needed a fall guy for 2016, and Lewis drew the short straw.)
The result so far is that everywhere I turn, all I read is positive things about what competition is bringing out of Agholor. I watched Matthews on the news the other night, and the competition is already sharpening his demeanor. I’m not one to read much at all into OTA’s, but I’ll admit, I like what the competition is doing for the mental side of things.
I said all that, to say this: I had no business bailing on Agholor so early. Agholor (and even Matthews now) is getting the help I prescribed less than a year ago. The only fair thing to do is rally around them, and root for their success for as long as they wear midnight green. So I will do just that.
ORGANIZED Team Activities (OTA’s) started for the Eagles yesterday, and I could hardly care less. For me, the season starts at Training Camp. Everything before that is glorified gym class. Scour this website back to it’s beginning in 2014, and you will never see me hyped about the Eagles during OTA’s. It pretty much a given that when football players are running around in shorts and no pads, I can hardly be bothered to watch. (This also goes for the Combine.)
Since there’s no football to monitor, I’m still in offseason mode, and focusing on the business end of things. Basically, I’m wandering around in my robe and slippers, drinking coffee right from the pot until the June 1st cuts. Those cuts will trigger a few domino effects across the NFL, of players being signed and still other players being released afterwards.
I’m waiting to see whether or not some other team’s cap issues can net us an upgrade in a couple of places like OLB (one who can cover), RB, reserve OT or reserve DT. Also, there will be teams out there looking to score waived players from this process. When some of them miss out, then you may see a trade or two, as teams want to add needed pieces before Training Camps start on July 22nd.
The generally accepted rumor, is that we are going release RB Ryan Mathews, but there is no rule stating that we have to. Players like Mathews, C Jason Kelce, and OLB Mychal Kendricks could all be held onto, in an attempt to trade them to a team who missed on a Round Two Free Agent. Teams who suffering key injuries at these positions during OTA’s could also be part of that market.
So no, you won’t hear much from me about Phys Ed. for football players. On the other hand, I will make quite a bit of noise if our team can pull off a slick move or two in the next month or so.
EVERYONE seems to be talking about what RB LeGarrette Blount means for the Eagles Offense. Conversely, no one seems to be talking about what signing Blount means for 2nd year RB Wendell Smallwood. Sure they discuss how Smallwood may be used. How many touches per game he would, should or could see, but not what the Blount signing really means for him. Long term means for him. Well friends, allow me to enlighten you.
The Eagles went into the 2017 Draft wanting to draft a RB with second round pick. Let me repeat that. They wentinto the Draft with that desire. For Smallwood, the Eagles initial desire to draft a RB with a second round pick, says they didn’t feel that they have a star or even a starter in Smallwood.
The Eagles FO (Front Office) reportedly wasn’t able to move up in the 2nd round in order to get RB Dalvin Cook, so they took CB Sidney Jones instead. Since they didn’t sign a RB in Free Agency’s first round, and didn’t get their man in the Draft, the FO was left scrambling.
Realizing that they’d screwed the pooch, the FO took a hard look at the options already available on our roster. Those options were A) pay RB Ryan Mathews for 16 starts while only getting 6 to 8 out him; or B)they could release him, and go with a roster full of runts at the position. What happened next was no less than a repudiation of Wendell Smallwood himself.
Once they whiffed on Cook in the Draft, the FO didn’t trade for a promising young RB, nor did they get behind any back currently on the roster. They essentially decided that they would eat a year at the position. Yet even with that decision, Smallwood would still not be “the guy”. Not even in a throwaway year.
Instead, the FO spent as much as 2.8M on a 30-year old, one-dimensional player, just to act as a stop-gap for 16 games or so. He’s a one year role player, here to play (what even he called) “situational football”. Next year, either through the Draft or Free Agency, you can bet your sweet ass that the Eagles will prioritize getting QB Carson Wentz a RB he can grow with.
The Eagles blatant disregard for Smallwood in particular has to be jarring for his confidence, considering that the team didn’t even invest much in the guy they gave his spot to. Blount is here long enough for the team to have a full spate of options to pick from in 2018. At which point they’ll be looking past Smallwood again. I hope his agent is preparing him.
Maybe I’m wrong and Smallwood will have a huge year, be a top 5 rushing leader, and become a breakout star. Maybe the Eagles will decide they don’t need to spend an early draft pick on a RB in 2018. Maybe Donald Trump will be the best thing that ever happened to America, and maybe the Eagles and Browns will play in the Super Bowl this year. Oh wait, I don’t take hallucinogenics. Never mind.
This signing basically tweets to the world what the Eagles think of Wendell Smallwood. If he can still be an effective Kick Returner this year, then I can see him getting a deal to stay beyond his rookie contract. If not… This Philly (guy) is 75% sure that Smallwood will be packing his bags with Blount at the end of this year.
SIGNING RB LeGarrette Blount to replace RB Ryan Mathews, will save the Eagles about 4M dollars in cap space this year. It also fills gives us a short yardage and goalline runner who can indeed move a pile. I look forward to using phrases like “Blount Force Trauma”, “beaten with a Blount instrument”, and “Don’t Punt It. Blount It!” I also look forward to the backfield nickname of “Blount and Runt”.
But before we get carried away, fingering each other in celebration, it’s important that we pump the brakes and look at what we really have. There’s been a tendency to look at this signing through one lens, and that only sets us up for disappointment. We know we have a guy with long history of being a pile mover, but we also need to discuss his drawbacks.
One of his chief drawbacks is that he has a long history of being a pile mover. Pile movers (aka powerbacks) have a tendency to go over a cliff suddenly in the NFL. Christian Okoye, Barry Word, Rod Bernstine, Leonard Russell, Bam Morris, Barry Foster, Natrone Means, Mike Alstott,Brandon Jacobs. All of these guys made noise as NFL powerbacks. Not one of them was still nearly as effective at the age of 30. In fact, most were out of football by 30. Did I mention that Blount is 30? Oh, I didn’t? Let me correct that.
LeGarrette Blount is 30.
Blount is not an every down RB. I know people want to point to 2016 like it’s the standard for what he delivers, but the rest of his career strongly indicates that 2016 was a fluke. He hasn’t started more than 8 games in any season since 2011. He also has a career total of 46 receptions over 7 seasons. Basically, every time we trot him out there, we’re telling our opponent that the play is a run. Since he’s 250 pounds, he’s probably not running many Stretch plays, so we’re also saying “He’s coming at you between the tackles!”
He’s also not exactly a home-run hitter. Yes he had 18 rushing TD’s last year, but 13 were from inside the five, and NINE of those were from the one yard line or shorter.
What we have here is a role-player. Odds are, Wendell Smallwood is the “starter” in what will likely be a RB-by-committee approach, that doesn’t allow anyone to get into a rhythm and telegraphs our intentions (Blount = run, Darren Sproles = Screen, etc. etc.).
Blount should have enough juice to contribute if we use him at a pace of about 6 or 7 carries per game (96 to 112 over 16 games). However to expect more than a role player who nets 400 or so rushing yards, is unrealistic. Sorry, but I just felt someone had to speak Blountly about this.
CAN we talk about our Running Back situation for a minute? I don’t know if you’ve taken a good look at it, but at the moment we have:
24 Ryan Mathews 6-0 / 220
30 Corey Clement 5-10 / 220
28 Wendell Smallwood 5-10 208
39 Byron Marshall 5-9 / 201
43 Darren Sproles 5-6 / 190
34 Donnel Pumphrey 5-8 / 176
That’s six RB’s, with a (supposed) cut looming for Mathews. That would leave us with five RB’s, which is what we went with last year (Mathews, Marshall, Sproles, Smallwood, and Kenjon Barner). The make-up of this group however, is what has me concerned.
I forecast a lot of passing on third and short, and in goal line situations with this group; because when Mathews leaves, we don’t have a guy who can win man vs man “in the phone booth”. Mathews breaks tackles, but we’ve seen that Smallwood, Sproles, and Marshall are susceptible to arm tackles. Pumphrey looks to also fall into that category. Unless Clement shows us he can be “that guy” at this level, we don’t have a RB who can move the pile (or even one LB) to win short yardage situations.
The fact is, if our division rivals had our RB situation (after cutting Mathews), we’d be laughing about it. Sproles is scary in bursts, but he’s by no means 250 carry per year RB. In fact, last year’s 94 carries was his career high. Yes, I said career. And you saw how it wore him down. Our RB’s are only scary to RB coach Duce Staley‘s sense of job security. Or perhaps an undrafted, free agent rookie (Clement) can shock the world and save us! Barring that, we have no credibility at the position. That means opponents get to key on shutting down our passing game, with little fear of our sporadic run game hurting them.
(TRIVIA: Can you name which 7-9 team was 11th in the NFL in rushing yards in 2016? It was us.)
We passed on grabbing a bell-cow RB (like Latavius Murray, or Eddie Lacy) in the first round of Free Agency. We passed on picking up a bell-cow in any of the first three rounds of this NFL Draft. At this point, I’m not hopeful that a decent RB will hit another team’s cutting room floor in the second round of Free Agency on June 1st . Odds are that we won’t get LeGarrette Blount (whom I really don’t want), or Christine Michael (whom I’d be willing to gamble on if he got in before OTA’s start Tuesday).
Hate to say this to you fellow fans, but the Eagles absolutely shit the bed on this one. Just a messy wet one that they slept through, and rolled around in for a few hours. The result will likely be more 3rd and short passes than you’d see from a good team. When opponents get wise to this, you’re going to see them jumping QB Carson Wentz‘s short passes more and more. I hope his touchdown number goes up from last year’s 16, because without a legit RB he will almost certainly throw more picks than he did last year (14).
This has me hoping that the Eagles reconsider and keep Mathews on the roster. (Yes, it’s come to that.) I’m not the biggest fan of Mathews, but lucky for us he’s not out the door yet. We can take another crack at replacing him in 2018, but for now we should just miss out on the cap savings we could have gotten from cutting him, and try to save our QB’s ass for at least 16 more games.
AS a member of few NFC East based Trash Talk groups (on Facebook), I’ve ended up in dozens of debates over the years with Cowboys fans. The funny thing is, regardless of what subject they bring up (five rings, the Triplets, America’s Team), the one thing I never hear from them, is the name Drew Pearson. He simply never comes up. It’s almost as if they’d forgotten he’d existed.
When people love and want to remember athletes, they retire their numbers. A great example of that is Brian Dawkins. Dawk is loved by Eagles fans, so his number is NOT up for recycling on players who slap their mothers.
Which is why Pearson went all-out to antagonize Eagles fans during the Draft. It was just a case of a forgotten relic, doing what he could to be relevant again for a week or so. It’s why a week later he continues to troll not the Eagles organization that he played against, but the Eagles fans themselves. He just wants to remind Cowboys fans that Dez Bryant, and Michael Irvin weren’t the only 88’s in team history.
My guess is that he still does appearances in Dallas, at bank openings and car dealerships. Mostly for those fans who haven’t quite reached senility yet, and so will still vaguely recall him, if they’re told who he is. Still, it apparently isn’t enough attention for the Wide Re-geezer. So to get his name out there, he hauled his shriveled keister onto an Econo/Coach flight (likely on his own dime, right Jerry?), and came to Philadelphia to be made emotionally whole, by the only fans on Earth who could do it.
You could see on his face that it felt good to him that anybody still felt anything at all for him. Even if all it was, was a distant and faded form of hatred. A watered down version of true hostility, delivered by an audience mostly too young to have ever seen him play. The hostility wasn’t really even for him, but for the Cowboys having been mentioned. How could it be for him, when no one knew who he was? In all truth, most Eagles fans would probably hold the door for him at Wawa, because we wouldn’t recognize him if our lives depended on it.
Still, it was nice of us to make an old man feel like he mattered, during what may be his last night under the bright lights. If only for a moment Eagles fans did what no Cowboys fans ever could. We made him feel like a Star again.
GETTING it right. That’s always the most important part. I could have put out a Draft Report on Sunday, but I wanted to make sure I got it right. So I took my time, and I went over every pick again. Repeatedly.
Often times, people base Draft grades on whether or not an NFL team got good college players, instead of if those players stand a chance of helping the team that drafted them. After all, addressing weakness really is the point, right?
Weaknesses. We headed into the Draft needing a starting Cornerback to help our pass rush, or a bell-cow Running Back to loosen things up for QB Carson Wentz. We could have also used an Outside Linebacker who isn’t a liability in coverage, even against Running Backs. Yet we got none of those things.
So what DID we get?
1st round/ DE – Derek Barnett.
Barnett sets the edge and generally doesn’t end up on the ground vs the run. That’s basically what you want from a DE, but he wasn’t brought here to just play DE, he’s here to be a dominant pass rusher. However, when I look at this game vs Alabama, I don’t see a quick get-off. I don’t see great change of direction. I don’t see him using an array of moves to win early against offensive linemen. Name one great pass rusher in the NFL who lacks all of those tools. You can’t, because there aren’t any.
I’ve read that his hands keep him from being blocked long, but I couldn’t find any game tape (games, not highlight reels) that show him doing it consistently. So far I see a guy who will have an NFL career, but I don’t see 10-12 sacks per year from him at this level. If he proves me wrong, AT THIS LEVEL, great. But until then… Grade: C
2nd round/ CB – Sidney Jones.
We needed a CB immediately. Taking one this high was the right move to make. Totally made sense. What would have made more sense, would have been selecting a player who isn’t already sidelined for 2017. Word around the Training Room is that next year, after he rehabs his torn ACL (CORRECTION: An alert reader (thank you Bobby) pointed out that it’s Jone’s Achilles, not ACL that tore. My apologies for the error), Jones will be as good as he ever was. Might even be a steal. That’s the talk.
On tape here, you see a CB who even from a cushion will begin to concede a lot of real estate before the snap. College will allow DB’s that flaw, but in the NFL it’ll quickly earn you a target on your back. Also his man-press doesn’t seem to lead to significant redirection of his assignment. Luckily, these are things which can be corrected with coaching. Provided (as hoped) that he didn’t leave any of his athleticism in the operating room. Grade: C
3rd round/ CB – Rasul Douglas.
Douglas has good size at 6’2, but his near 4.6 speed causes me to question if he can play on the outside at this level. Also on tape you see he can be beaten badly on quick routes inside. That’s alarming because for a 209 pound CB, his press at the line is lacking. (There were two videos I could have chosen to show, but the other one was played in snow. That’s not a fair condition to assess players.)
The plan may be to move him to Free Safety as an insurance policy behind Rod McLeod. However, right now it seems like the Eagles spent an early pick on a guy without a true role. Grade: C
4th round/ WR – Mack Hollins.
I flat out hate this pick. The Eagles went out and drafted a Special Teams coverage player, in the fourth round. Drafted him! Smart teams wait until after the Draft to get those guys. On top of that, as a WR he shuffles his feet at the snap and doesn’t attack his blocking assignments. Grade: F
4th round/ RB – Donnel Pumphrey.
We supposedly got him to replace Darren Sproles at some point. Then again we were sold the same bill of goods last year, regarding Byron Marshall, remember? To his credit, Pumphrey catches the ball pretty well, and is very nimble. If he can get the ball in open space, he can be an asset. Then again that statement likely would be true for most RB’s. Grade: C
5th round/ WR – Shelton Gibson.
I like this WR far more than the first one we selected. Although Gibson is also a drafted Special Teamer coverage guy, aspects of his game that say he may actually be able to contribute as a WR. He doesn’t hesitate at the snap and he aggressively gets into his blocks. (Which could help Pumphrey.) I think you add ST coverage guys after a Draft, but if Gibson can contribute as a WR and help return kicks, then this was a really nice place to take him. Grade: B
5th round/ SS – Nathan Gerry.
This is another horrible pick. Too often he slows down to a jog before the play is even dead. He misses tackles. (Did you see that last part where the QB ran him over?) He can be seen being “extra” after plays, instead of being adequate during them. Grade: F
6th round/ DT – Elijah Qualls.
No penetration. No ability to win one-on-one. Ends up on the ground in a number of ways. Maybe if we tape a cheeseburger to the QB or cover him in BBQ sauce, Qualls might not end up being redirected so easily. I have no idea how this guy got drafted by anyone. I doubt he even makes the practice squad. Grade: F
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Last year we finished in the middle of the league with 34 sacks, which was 14 sacks behind the leader who had 48. DE Brandon Grahamled the NFL with 40 hurries, more of which could have been sacks if we had CB’s who could cover last year. The problem wasn’t our Defensive Line’s ability to get to the QB, it was that they weren’t given the time to do so. So of course we went out and got a starting CB, right? Wrong. We got a DE.
Our CB play was so bad last year, that we got rid of both Starters. While Sidney Jones may or may not become a perennial All-Pro after 2018, that still leaves us with questions about CB in 2017.
We needed to upgrade at WR, so we added two Free Agents, after Howie Roseman said no more “band-aids”. Then we waited until the 4th and 5th rounds to draft Special Teamers.
We needed a bell-cow RB and instead we drafted a player to someday replace a situational player.
Considering that we ended 2016 with a few needs (OLB, OT, RB) that we didn’t address during Free Agency, it’s hard to call this a good Draft, when we continued to ignore those needs.
The question isn’t about whether or not we drafted guys who can play. That really isn’t the question. It really isn’t the issue. The real issue is whether or not we fixed the holes that teams exploited against us in 9 losses out of 16 games last year. The answer is that we didn’t fix those holes. We didn’t utilize this Draft properly. So the truth is, while this was an amazing Draft for Philadelphia, it was a wasted Draft for the Eagles. The Front Office didn’t get it right.
HELP me understand this. In 2016 we had trouble at WR, so we didn’t cut any of our primary WR’s in Jordan Matthews, Nelson Agholor, or Dorial Green-Beckham. Instead we ADDED Free Agents Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith. Surely we weren’t going keep all five of these guys heading into September, so we’d need to shave at least Agholor. So why then are we drafting more WR’s?
I could see drafting a WR if we were talking about Chris Godwin, whom QB Carson Wentzcould mature with. I could see the logic if we were talking about JuJu Smith-Schuster or if we’d traded up to get a top-shelf guy. What I don’t get, is burning picks on WR’s who seem more like they were drafted with an eye towards them playing Special Teams here. You get those guys after the Draft.
We came into this Draft loaded with NFL quality veterans at the WR position. We had real depth in case of injury, for a team that generally keeps 5 active WR’s. So are we keeping 6 this year, or are we going to get rid of real depth to hold onto a Special Teamer or two? That’s not a question fans ask on Draft day, but come September ‘Cut Downs’, that very conversation will happen among Eagles coaches.
Remember how we kept Bryce Treggs overPaul Turner last year? Neither was drafted, but we deactivated a quality receiver for a fast guy who played Special Teams. Don’t look now, but I think we just set that same scenario up, when we drafted WR Mack Hollis in the 4th and Shelton Gibson in the 5th. In that scenario, who do you cut? Do you keep the quality vets, or do we cut one of our draft picks?
It’s easy to say if we keep five, “Cut Agholor since he’s a bust anyway”. That would mean cutting a vet and at least one of the WR’s we drafted. Given that the WR’s we drafted were 4th and 5th rounders, most fans won’t care if they get cut anyway. The odds are already stacked against 4th and 5th rounders to even make the team. Why bellyache over it, right?
Here is where I need you to explain this to me. If the odds are already long for a 4th and 5th rounder, why draft two guys at a spot where you already have plenty of help? You just stacked a stacked deck even more against either of these picks panning out. It’s basically giving away a draft pick. Or two! This is only made worse by the fact that we still need an OLB, or a RB to fill in for Ryan Mathewsif, WHEN he gets hurt this year.
Maybe you can explain it to me. Please, when you do, use VERY small words. I don’t want to miss anything. Because the Eagles Draft already has me tilting my head like a dog.
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