Draft

A QB NOT NAMED MARIOTA

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/02/19
Posted in: Draft, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , . 4 Comments
sims

Alabama QB Blake Sims

BLAKE SIMS. Someone brought his name up today and I decided to take a long look at him, before the circus that is the NFL Scouting Combine kicks off. While I still believe that Chip Kelly will try to move mountains to grab Marcus Mariota, there are things about this Sims guy that really caught my eye today.

My source was Youtube. I wasn’t looking for highlights, I was looking for mechanics and what sort of decisions he makes. Basically I wanted to see what he’d be bringing with him besides his suitcase on Day One of rookie minicamp in May.

Keeping in mind that he had WR Amari Cooper as a primary weapon, I choose to omit any throws that Sims made to him, and instead looked for passes to everyone who wasn’t wearing #9. Once again let me repeat, what I was looking for was whether or not his skills offered anything to an NFL club on Day One.

I mostly liked what I saw. For one thing he doesn’t dance in the pocket, and his general delivery is NOT off of his back foot. He has good arm strength and has nice touch on his deep ball. While I didn’t see him throwing the ball into any tight windows, I did see him throw a couple of receivers open. Oh yeah, and the guy can hurt you with his legs.

He isn’t without fault though. His release point is a little low, and being “only” 6 feet tall, teams will hold that against him. Also (as you can see in the picture), his wind-up is too long, and far away from his body. But those are habits that coaching can usually clean up. Aside from that, I read he only has 12 starts under his belt. While there is the obvious statement about a lack of experience, there’s also the old coaching axiom about not having a chance to reinforce any bad habits.

His lack of experience makes him more of a blank slate, and his game will have few if any mental crutches that he relies on. Considering how different the Eagles Offense is from most NFL systems, a lot of experience in a standard system won’t be much help anyway.

The guy right now has a round 6 or 7 grade on him. He looks to me right now like a poor man’s Russell Wilson. But let’s see how he holds up at the Combine. If he even looks good (not great) I say reach and grab him in the 4th. In that case we stick with Nick Foles for 8 games, and use that top pick on a CB.

TRADING LESEAN MCCOY TO TAMPA BAY

Posted by The BEAST on 2015/01/07
Posted in: Conversations, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), trade. Tagged: , . 42 Comments

pressie

TAMPA Bay needs a QB, and the smart money is on them taking Oregon QB [Marcus Mariota]. With this not being a great draft for QB’s, and with one of the top two options electing to stay in college, Chip Kelly won’t be able to land Mariota unless he can swing a trade with Tampa Bay. But what could we offer Tampa Bay that would get them to part with that pick? This is where McCoy comes in.

Now before anybody starts crying about how stupid that would be, let me tell you I don’t like the idea either. However I look at ALL of the angles and the more I consider it, the more likely this scenario seems.

I’m thinking the Eagles could decide to package RB LeSean McCoy, QB Nick Foles, and our first round pick (20th overall) in exchange for Tampa’s 1st rounder (1st overall), and maybe a 3rd rounder or RB Bobby Rainey instead.

Seems like a lot at first, but let’s take a closer look shall we?

There is no way Tampa trades that pick without satisfying their QB need. This is where Foles comes in. Remember the glowing votes of confidence (Exhibit A and Exhibit B) that Kelly and Jeff Lurie gave Foles about being the starter in 2015? No you don’t because neither man would even say he’d be back for OTA’s. If the decision has been made to move on from Foles, then moving him to help get his replacement is no big deal at all.

So why would Tampa Bay want Foles if we don’t? He and Mariota would be coming out of similar versions of one system. The difference is, Foles has shown he can be an NFL QB, while Mariota has yet to. While the point of Kelly drafting Mariota would be to have QB better suited to Kelly’s system, Tampa Bay wouldn’t be running that system, and therefore would just need a QB who could be a viable NFL starter.

Tampa needs a pass rusher, but we don’t have one we can spare that would help trigger this trade. However, they also could use a RB. Doug Martin had a great rookie season, but since then has missed 15 of 32 games with injuries and has been inconsistent when he has played. Generally he’s been less effective than his back-up, the aforementioned Rainey. Dangling McCoy would seriously sweeten that pot, and it would also save us some serious cap space.

I’m not crazy about trading McCoy, but I first mentioned that it might happen, back in June. Most fans dismissed it and said I was nuts, only to find themselves back here asking me about it again by November, because of all the rumors swirling by late October. By the way: If we did pull the trigger, replacing McCoy wouldn’t be as hard as most may think. (I won’t get into that now though.)

Now here is why Tampa might want to do this deal: They still get a 1st round pick and could then use it on a pass rusher. One trade and they address three needs in a way they couldn’t with that pick or by trading with any other team in the NFL. It’s an offer they almost couldn’t refuse.

If this is going to happen I think it should happen sooner rather than later. If we drag our feet Tampa could address their pass rusher need by signing FA DE Brandon Graham away from our OLB spot in March, since he wants to play in a 4-3 anyway.

The more you look at it as a business decision, the smarter this seems for both sides.

So who could we replace McCoy with: How about one of these guys ?

 

CHIP KELLY IS AN IDIOT.

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/12/23
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Rants, Roster. Tagged: , , , . 9 Comments

kellyore

FIRST off, I wasn’t a fan of his hiring to begin with. So before your mouth begins to form the word “bandwagon” you can just dry swallow that.

Here is an excerpt from Monday’s press conference when Chip Kelly was asked about playing his back-ups:

“It’s not about trying to see what the future is,” Kelly said. “It’s about we got a game. I would not be fair in any of my beliefs and I would not be fair to any football player right now if I said to some guy, ‘Hey, I know you’re a better player, but I’m going to play a younger guy now.’ That’s not what we’re all about. If you want to go do that, go somewhere else. That’s not us.”

So we’re gonna play to win. That’s right EAGLES faithful; we’re gonna get one more long look at QB Mark Sanchez (expiring deal). “OLB” Brandon Graham (expiring deal). WR Jeremy Maclin (expiring deal). CB Bradley Fletcher (expiring deal). SS Nate Allen (expiring deal). DE Cedric Thronton (expiring deal). Naw. No need to get an extended “live” look at the guys behind those guys though.

So instead of getting a long look at the depth on our roster, we’re going to be playing to win. WHY!? Of what POSSIBLE benefit could a win by our starters be NOW!? If our back-ups can win a game, then maybe we don’t need to draft so high, but starters winning tells you nothing. It nets you nothing. Apparently picking 20th in the Draft isn’t low enough for Kelly’s taste. We’ll be looking to deliberately dig our hole deeper.

Here’s the deal: You get to be an arrogant dick when you WIN playoff games. Not when you get manhandled by a finesse team like the Saints one year, and then utterly fucking face-plant while running away with the division during the following year. He is one more bushel of Oregon bench-warmers away from setting this franchise back 4 years, after his bitch ass goes 8-8 next year and he bails for the comfort of the college ranks.

“It’s not about trying to see what the future is,” is a direct quote. Right out of his mouth. He just doesn’t fucking get it. The future is literally half of this game. It’s what the film study is for. It’s why scouts work year round. It’s why teams trade picks sometimes years in advance. Then again, not looking ahead may be why his draft record is so shitty. It would explain why the EAGLES Draft board was in so much disarray this year, when a couple of guys they wanted were off the board already. For a college coach Kelly certainly has no feel for young players.

Seriously, name one player drafted here in the last two years who developed into an NFL starter with a dramatically better game than they had coming out of college. The closest you get is Bennie Logan. Our last 1st round pick, sucks too bad in practice to even play. He’s making 1.5 million to watch football games. Us they charge for the same thing. But this is who Kelly wanted. Because the future. “That’s not what we’re all about.” You said it, Chip.

HITTING THE HOLES

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/12/10
Posted in: Defense, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , . 16 Comments

article regular-NFL Draft.640px.espn

 

WITH all the talk going on about which QB we want to win with or whether or not Chip Kelly (actually Howie Roseman) will draft a QB in 2015; what we haven’t really discussed is what we actually need. There’s been no real discussion on how to fill the holes on this team. Or even what those holes might be.

Let me get started by picking up where I left off:

GUARD: Last year I said the EAGLES needed to draft a young Guard. A real inside mauler. Just a big ol’, Popeye’s chicken eatin’ sumbitch. I know, I know. Our scheme is predicated on getting linemen in space, and running around in tutus and shit. That however is exactly why we do so much east west running. That’s cute in college, but in the pros, you need to be able to move the line of scrimmage. For that as you’ve seen this year, you need a mauler. So no more Tackles converted to Guard!

STRONG SAFTEY: We could also use a Strong Safety with some real speed. Even if employed in a Cover-Two, SS Nate Allen has been easy to run by for YEARS now. With a Safety being your last line of defense, he’s got to be able to run someone down. Since we won’t be able to pry UFA Rahim Moore away from Denver, I’m thinking the Draft is where I’d head for this spot too.

CORNERBACK: This is a weird one, because I think soon to be FA Bradley Fletcher is fine at CB, but I don’t think he’s pay raise worthy out there. Before yelling about drafting someone or adding another expensive FA, it makes sense to see what we have on the roster. But things are going too well (as far as wins and losses) right now to go sitting starters down just so we can say “let me see something”.

LINEBACKER: What every defense needs at its heart is a guy or two who will not be pushed around, and who will grab teammates by their short and curlies if they get caught being pushed around. If we do cut ILB DeMeco Ryans (as my friend Chris suggested could happen) to make cap space, a sneaky good addition could be current Bronco and soon UFA, Nate Irving. He’d be both the playmaker and the vocal leader you expect from a MLB.

Oops! Did I say MLB? This is assuming that DC Bill Davis gets canned after we get shelled in the playoffs. I love my EAGLES, but come on; we aren’t exactly holding our own vs playoff caliber teams this year. Part of that is the Defense. Actually a large part of it is the Defense. What do you think of Rex Ryan? I think it’d be nice to have another Ryan coaching our Defense. But not Rob.

 

TRADE NICK FOLES TO THE…

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/12/03
Posted in: Draft, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , . 8 Comments

trade nick foles

IT’S time to trade Nick Foles.

This offseason I had hopes that Foles would show some traits of a franchise QB. That he’d rent a house for more space (since he lives in a condo not far from me), and call a few guys down to work on some concepts and get into each other’s heads a bit more. To learn to see what each other sees, like Peyton Manning and Demaryius Thomas; Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski; Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson. Like Donovan McNabb used to do at his home in Arizona.

I was hoping Foles would put in that kind of work, but he wasn’t interested. This season showed the results of that lack of commitment. The league caught up to him, because he was fine with standing still. And it’s that lack of inner fire that makes him expendable.

QB Mark Sanchez is 3-1 as an EAGLES starter. He also came to our rescue in relief against the Texans, after Foles had thrown the pick six that tied the game and was injured. Considering that Sanchez played ¾ of that game, and since it was essentially 0-0 when he came in, he’s basically a 4-1 starter.

Foles on the other hand has regressed badly this season. This was of course after Head Coach Chip Kelly declared him his QB for the next 1,000 years. That statement made Foles the franchise QB in name, but there was never the faintest hint of him living up to it prior to OTA’s.

He’s under contract for another year, so we could keep him in case of emergency.  However, to get value for him, it makes more sense to trade him. You won’t get much for him as he’s a 3rd round pick, with just one good year, which wasn’t enough to convince 50% of his own team’s fan base before he regressed. But if you can package him with a pick to a QB needy team, then it improves the value of whatever pick you put him with (Foles and a 4th is good for a 3rd. Foles and a 3rd is good for a 2nd …).

With teams like Dallas, Washington, Jacksonville, and Tampa Bay all looking for along-term answer at QB, Nick Foles is a better option than virtually any QB likely to be on those rosters in 2015. Or we could just sit pat and watch him got to one of them anyway after his contract expires after 2015. (If Foles is going to be a Cowboy or Redskin, I want something for him!)

FOLES IS GONE.

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/11/05
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Draft, NFL, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , . 20 Comments
Chip-Kelly-Marcus-Mariota

Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota. Photo courtesy of the internet

 GIVE QB Nick Foles 15 or 16 starts in 2014 before pronouncing judgment on him.

That’s what I said I’d do.

Due to his broken collarbone, Foles won’t start 15 or 16 games this season. The injury will keep him out for 6-8 weeks, so it’s highly likely that his 2014 is over. Even if he comes back in 6, if we’re still playing for anything, he’ll likely be carrying a clipboard.

So to answer the question of whether or not Nick Foles is a franchise QB for the Eagles, the answer is: No.

If you disagree then you probably thought Michael Vick was also a franchise QB for the EAGLES. The knocks on Vick were that he couldn’t stay healthy and was a turnover machine.

Here are some cold hard facts:

  • Vick missed games every year with the EAGLES. But then so did Foles (broken wrist in 2012, concussion in ’13, collarbone in ’14.)
  • In 42 starts here, Vick turned the ball over 47 times, an average of 1.11 turnovers per game. Foles in 24 starts has 25, an average of 1.04 turnovers per game. (And he was clearly regressing).
  • In 54 games here Vick scored 72 TD’s for an average of 1.3 per game. In 28 games Foles scored 50 for an average of 1.7.

Foles has slightly better numbers in all areas, but none of those numbers say “Franchise”.

So no. Foles is not a Top 5 QB. Or a Top 10 QB. Or even a franchise QB. He will not see a huge pay day with this team, and he has likely started his last game in an EAGLES jersey. The “next 1,000 years” sure did go by fast!

Meanwhile Mark Sanchez is simply auditioning for his next team. We will be drafting a QB in 2015. Oh, and at least one Guard.

Hmmmmm. I wonder who’ll be our starting QB in 2015…

START JORDAN MATTHEWS NOW OR PAY FOR IT LATER.

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/10/30
Posted in: Coaching, Draft, NFL, Offense, Players. Tagged: , , , , . 16 Comments

player-jordanmatthews.500

RIGHT now our 2014 Draft looks awful. DE/OLB/ILB/ Marcus Smith had played in 4 straight games before being held out of the Arizona game. That has all the earmarks of regression. At this point the EAGLES have to hope he was a 1st round reach, and not a 1st round bust.

Despite clear athletic talent, WR/KR Josh Huff has shown some really questionable instincts so far. This only adds weight to notion of him having been a reach in the 3rd round.

WR Jordan Matthews on the other hand has been a consistent contributor so far, but it’s clear that he’s underachieving and is somewhat trapped in his role as a slot receiver. When Chip Kelly said on Draft night that Jordan would start in the slot, I had visions of him working intermediate along and in between the hash marks. Keeping both opposing Safeties playing closer to the middle, and away from being able to help their corners against our WR’s on Fly routes and Fade routes. I didn’t expect him to be a deep threat, but I did expect a guy who allowed the deep threats room to roam.

Instead what we have is a guy who runs WR middle screens, and Bubble screens.  That’s mostly because it’s what he’s asked to do. Seems to me that a WR selected in the 2nd round should be given more rope by now. It would certainly help the run game. Let me show you something:

shaded

That’s RB LeSean McCoy’s career. See that huge, across the board fall-off this year? That’s because up until this year he had 2 WR’s that could get vertical and be enough of a threat to open up room for him to create those long runs. Matthews and fellow WR Riley Cooper aren’t allowing for that. One on hand, routes called for Matthews keep him close to the line of scrimmage. On the other hand neither WR is doing much with yards after catch, as Matthews has 103 YAC, and Cooper has 75. So there is no room for McCoy to create long runs. Oh yeah! Then there’s the other thing. Let me show you something:

wrs

Combined Matthews and Cooper have fewer yards than WR Jeremy Maclin. Despite each having just 10 fewer catches than Maclin, neither man has even half his yards. Or TD’s. Maclin is also on a one year deal and will be an Unrestricted Free Agent after this season. He is clearly looking for a big contract and if someone offers him more money, he’s as good as gone. At that point our experienced WR’s are Cooper, Matthews and Huff.

It would be smart to sit Cooper and start developing (or trying to develop) Matthews into a starter ASAP. This offense was deadly with DeSean Jackson as our #1. It’s fallen to good with Maclin there. However if we lose Maclin too, we’re pretty much dead in the water.

Maclin settled for five million this just year (1.75 base, 3.5 signing bonus) , instead of signing for 5 per year on a longer deal. I’m guessing he’ll want the kind of money he saw DJax making, and will ask for something like 9 million per year. Odds are good there’ll be bidding and we’d have to overpay to keep him next year. Especially with what’s behind him, because as of right now the EAGLES have zero leverage. And oh, have I mentioned that there’s a salary cap crunch looming? Too much money paid for Maclin will, (not may) mean the difference between being able to afford someone and having to release or trade them.

If we don’t start developing Matthews soon, we’re going to be paying for the failings of this Draft through the nose.

 

 

CAN MARCUS SMITH BE REACHED?

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/08/20
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Draft, Players. Tagged: , , . 13 Comments

NFL: Preseason-Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots

CHIP Kelly says that rookie OLB Marcus Smith needs to be more productive. Despite playing more than 70 snaps against the Patriots, Smith logged only 1.5 tackles. While Smith wasn’t brought here to fill up a boxscore, spending a first round pick on him means they need to get him to make plays sooner rather than later.

Soon after this year’s Draft, Kelly pooh-poohed the idea that Smith might have been a reach. However with Smith so far playing like the early 3rd rounder he was projected as, you wonder if Kelly may be rethinking that stance.

I said in this week’s Breakdown: “Chip Kelly is about to learn the value of having elite talent at this level”. Specifically because his rivals have added some and he hasn’t.

So far in the last two Drafts we’ve shied away from adding any top shelf talent to the Defense and it’s showing. Defensively the last two Drafts look like: (2013) Bennie Logan, Earl Wolff, Joe Kruger, David King, (2014) Marcus Smith, Jaylen Watkins, Taylor Hart, Ed Reynolds, and Beau Allen.

You see any earth shakers there? Me either. In fact, all I see is one starter.

It is waaaay too early to call Smith a bust, or to even start that conversation; and NO that isn’t what this is. That is not being said here, so let’s not go there.

What is being said here, is that Smith was a reach who was graded where he was, (late 2nd -4th round) by most teams for a reason. His lack of production is indicative of that. Particularly because even with such a low grade, he was selected early despite plans to switch him from DE to OLB. (He was a rush LB in 2011, and DE in 2012 and 2013). Even by itself that switch-up is enough to classify him as a project; and you don’t take a project with the 26th pick.

Sadly, Marcus Smith is doing exactly what he should be doing under the circumstances. He’s struggling. I hope for his sake that he’s able to figure things out, before the “B” word starts dogging him, simply because someone else reached.

NFC EAST DRAFT BREAKDOWN

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/05/12
Posted in: Draft, Reviews. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment
Image courtesy of ESPN.com

Image courtesy of ESPN.com

GOOD teams are built through the Draft. While we know what WE did over the weekend, to really put it in perspective you have to get a look around your division to see who added the most firepower and who wasted the most picks.

DALLAS: Not a great Draft. They grabbed a solid building block in the 1st by getting an OT to maybe replace Doug Free (finally), and took a swipe at replacing DeMarcus Ware with DeMarcus Lawrence in the 2nd. They added some camp bodies later on, but no one we should be concerned about beyond their second pick.

NEW YORK: Did pretty well for themselves this year. The WR they got in the 1st  looks like a solid addition, but it was the C they added in the 2nd that got my attention. During my Pre-Draft NFC Review I mentioned that they were revamping their O-line. Well when you take a C that high, you know there’s a solid commitment being made somewhere to a long-term picture. I was also impressed with the RB they added in the 4th. The knock on him is that he didn’t catch many balls in college, but since when did the giants make throwing to RB’s a big part of what they traditionally do? Keep your eye on that SS they added in the 5th. If he sticks this year, he could be trouble for us down the line.

WASHINGTON: Probably had the best Draft of the division. (Though some may say NY did.) Adding Trent Murphy to Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan was almost unfair. They followed that up by adding youth to their O-line, and in the 4th they added a CB with a 2-3 round grade on him. Couple rounds later they added a RB as if they wished to match our depth at that position.

 

Seeing how much attention our rivals paid to their O-lines, and looking at the age/injury issues with our own line, makes me uneasy to say the least. In fact, it makes it look like the team was lucky Evan Mathis didn’t call them on the threat to trade him by daring them to do something so stupid.

In any case, you build to chase the leader and right now the leader of the NFC East is the Eagles. The selection of OLB’s by Dallas and Washington, and NY’s selection of the specific SS they took in the 5th, says that teams are clearly concerned about setting the edge on defense. Likely this is a direct response to LeSean McCoy’s success last year.

Long story short: I think the ‘skins and giants made themselves better over the weekend. Dallas made an investment for down the road but might see some early returns on that O-line if they give their 1st rounder an early shot at the starting job. 

So which rival would you say had the best Draft this year?

POSITIVE THINGS IN THIS DRAFT

Posted by The BEAST on 2014/05/11
Posted in: Draft. Tagged: . 9 Comments
Image courtesy of nbcphiladelphia.com

Image courtesy of nbcphiladelphia.com

THERE are things I liked about this Draft, and some things I didn’t like. Recently, there’s been some bellyaching about Eagles fans not showing enough positivity. So I’ll start off with things I liked about the 2014 Draft:

 1)     We entered the Draft with 6 picks and ended up getting 7 players, by trading back 4 spots in the 1st and gaining an extra pick.

2)     6’3” 212 pound WR Jordan Matthews. Every indication so far says this was a not just a solid pick but a good one. This team has NEVER drafted a WR with these physical attributes, this high. Instead of seeing (and coveting) T.O. and Larry Fitzgerald type WR’s from other teams, now we’ve FINALLY drafted one of our own.

3)     I like the Jaylen Watkins (CB) pick, more than I like the athlete himself. Where he was drafted indicates to our DB’s that he’ll have the chance to unseat them if they slip-up. Nothing improves a man faster than his own desire to work at it.

 

So that’s what I liked. Here’s what I didn’t:

 1)     Our first pick was a horrendous reach. I scoured the internet and I can’t find any place that has him rated as a solid 1st rounder. In fact the NFL’s own scouting has him rated as a 3rd – 4th rounder. We paid too much for him.

2)     WR Josh Huff may be a fine addition, but A) Right after we’d just picked a WR? And B) Here’s a guy who was rated as a 5th – 6th round talent (also by NFL Draft Scouts), but we took him in the 3rd.

3)     Taylor Hart and Beau Allen. Look at the game tapes and find ANYTHING that says they belong in the NFL.

4)     S Ed Reynolds. Why draft a S who can’t tackle? You’d think that would be the first thing you’d look for in a last line of defense.

5)     The apparent favoritism of Oregon players by Chip Kelly.

6)     Drafting for a reason other than pure merit. The evidence? “We’re putting the family back together,” Hart said Kelly told him when he called to inform him of the pick.

 

I’m not a “hype guy” by nature, but honestly, I’ve been looking for something to crow about for weeks now. I make the site where you post your own articles. Yet I see no one putting out the vibe they claim to want to see.

If my stuff is negative, speak up. But so far when I do see comments on here, I don’t see many that disagree with what I’m saying. So I apparently can’t be saying anything you aren’t already thinking.

This site averages hundreds of hits per day, and for all the positivity fans may say they want, they A) Don’t put out any when they’re here; and B) They apparently don’t think what I’m saying is wrong. If they did, they’d say so, because Eagles fans aren’t a shy bunch.

 That’s not negative or positive. That’s just being real.