Front Office (F.O.)

EAGLES COACHES AREN’T COORDINATED

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/05/26
Posted in: Coaching, Conspiracy Corner, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 6 Comments

supergreen

WAY back on May 13th (13 days ago, less than 2 full weeks), I wrote an article blaming the Eagles organization for creating the problem with Sam Bradford. I got a lot of backlash from my readers, and I have to admit that it stung a little. Fast forward to today and here again they seem to be pulling the rug out from under Bradford.

Two days ago Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz said about the QB pecking order here “don’t pre-determine the result of the race.” 

Yesterday on WIP radio, Offensive Coordinator Frank Reich would not cop to the idea of Bradford being the clear Starter.

However, Head Coach Doug Pederson has said things like:

“He’s my guy”. He’s the No. 1 guy. I just want him to embrace that. Let’s not look backward. Let’s look forward.”

“I expect Sam to not look over his shoulder. I expect Sam to look forward. He’s getting himself ready for the season. He’s getting ready for Cleveland. …That is the message I gave him. No need to look over your shoulder. You’re the guy. Let’s embrace it, let’s go.”

Pederson’s quotes aren’t from February or March. They’re from May 17th . Nine days ago. NINE!

How is the team supposed to get on the same page, if the coaching staff can’t? Unless this is a case of the tail wagging the dog, and Pederson is just a figurehead… Seems to me that when the HC makes a call, it’s the job of his staff to back him up. Any misgivings they have with his decisions should be closed door discussions.

For his part, Reich did his best to tap dance around refuting his boss. He muddled around with a statement about how it was necessary to say Bradford was the starter to establish sense of order, but that even with that order established, there must be competition. That by the way, is total horseshit. It completely flies in the face of what Pederson said when he said “No need to look over your shoulder. You’re the guy.” It seems that Doug and Frank need to have closed door discussion.

Schwartz didn’t tap dance. Some have an issue with a Defensive coach talking about QB’s, but I don’t. My issue with Schwartz is that he too, is speaking out of turn on two counts. The first is that he knows what his boss is trying to do, and should back him at least publicly. Second, Schwartz cites his experience with playing QB Matt Stafford as a rookie in Detroit. Trouble is, that doesn’t correlate with this situation at all.

Look, Pederson has it in his head that he wants to develop Carson Wentz instead of throwing him to the wolves. All reports say that Wentz throws a pretty ball that is easy to catch, but there is more to being an NFL QB than that. Making the jump from a FCS college team to the NFL (as Wentz is doing) is a bigger leap than the one Stafford had to make coming from a FBS college team.

The FBS produces better NFL players. Here is a list of FCS teams and a list of FBS teams. This is why even draft scouts called Wentz “developmental”. Sure there’s a chance he could get lucky and be just dandy out there. But the odds are slim that a guy who played against second rate college competition, will hit the ground running as a rookie in the NFL. This is why Pederson wants to develop Wentz, and it is the only reason Bradford is starting.

So if Pederson has a plan, and if he’s already publicly made a decision, shouldn’t that plan and that decision be backed up by his staff? Or are we about to watch the HC have his plan overruled by the staff? And what would Bradford’s reaction be to that? At what point will people begin to acknowledge that he is getting a little bit more screwed by this organization every day? It makes me wonder why they even bothered to re-sign him. I can’t stand Bradford, so it pains me to have to say these things. but fair is fair.

The bottom line here, is that management has destabilized the QB position on this team, and it seems there is no end in sight. I wonder what the next 13 days will bring.

A GUARDED MOMENT

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/05/24
Posted in: Conversations, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, poll, Roster, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

 

EAGLES

IT’S week 17 vs Dallas. The Cowboys lead 21 – 16, but the Eagles have the ball. It’s 4th and goal from the 1, the final timeout has been called, and 00:04 remains in the game. The winner of the game gets the NFC East crown. The loser has nothing but 2017 to look forward to, as there will be no Wild Card berth to be had. There are four more ticks of the clock in someone’s year, and it all comes down to the very next play. No one in a green or navy jersey is using their whole seat. And there is only ONE question to ask:

In that situation, which of these rookie Guards would you rather have RB Ryan Mathews run behind?

First up, we have our third round Draft pick Isaac Seumalo.

Next we have undrafted Free Agent Darrell Greene.

Again, the season is down to one last down. One last call. You’ve seen the tapes. So who do YOU go with?

HOWIE ROSEMAN GOT HOSED

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/05/15
Posted in: Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Rants, trade, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 15 Comments

roseman

WHEN the trade with Cleveland happened I said we gave up too much.  Many people disagreed. Their feeling was what we gave up, is what we had to give up, to move up. They were of course, dead wrong. I of course, was right.

As usual.

You want proof that we over paid? How about words directly from Cleveland’s rookie GM Sashi Brown? He by the way, is the guy who hosed Eagles GM Howie Roseman in that horrible trade that we made. Here are Sashi’s words: “I was a little surprised we got as much as we did, but some hard negotiating and (Vice President of Player Personnel Andrew Berry) was a big help in that, keeping me at bay and not pulling the trigger too soon.”

Did I mention that Brown is a rookie in his position? Oh I did?! Okay, keep reading.

He was surprised by what he got and he should have been. In case you need a refresher, aside from swapping spots, here’s what each team got: The Browns acquired a third-rounder and a fourth-rounder in 2016, a first-rounder in 2017 and a second-rounder in 2018. We got a fourth-round pick in 2017. So for the  Eagles, making this trade add up comes down to what we get out of that #2 pick. 

To justify this trade, QB Carson Wentz will have to be no less than the next Brett Favre. He would have to surpass Donovan McNabb in every meaningful way. By that I mean becoming the statistically greatest QB in franchise history, while amassing more wins, playoff wins, and if not one Super Bowl win, then at least two appearances. Considering that we didn’t spend nearly as much to acquire McNabb, it stands to reason that to re-coup value for Wentz, that he has to deliver greater results. That’s just common sense and basic arithmetic. If you possess the former and can do the latter, this is easy for you to grasp.

In the event that Wentz doesn’t reach those benchmarks at some point in his tenure as an Eagle, then the trade comes down to giving Cleveland a third-rounder and a fourth-rounder in 2016, a first-rounder in 2017 and a second-rounder in 2018, in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2017. So if Wentz doesn’t become the best Eagles QB of all-time, Howie Roseman got hosed. By a rookie no less. 

SAM BRADFORD’S DAMAGE

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/05/13
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), Offense, Players, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

Mick

SAM Bradford is by no means a favorite of mine, but let’s be fair here. While there can be no doubt that he damaged his standing in the locker room with his trade demanding, OTA holdout, hissy-fit; his place was made shaky by the Eagles Front Office well before his histrionics ever began.

The first shot was new Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson talking up Chief’s back-up Chase Daniel as being worthy of starting in mid-February. This is prior to re-signing Sam Bradford on March 1st.

If you recall, Bradford and his agent wanted 25M per year and the Eagles were sending the signal already that they already were looking at Daniel as a guy who could replace Bradford. This says to the locker room that the HC feels their starter could be replaced by a career back-up. That’s damage.

So Bradford re-signs, and the Chase Daniel thing is dismissed as a negotiating ploy. However, eight days later, Daniel is signed to more money than you would normally sign even a good back-up to. This raised eyebrows across the Delaware Valley and even had my guru Rhodie, shaking his head without verbal comment. (If you ask him about it still, he merely chuckles under his breath. I’m not sure what’s going on in that head of his, but my eyes are WIDE open.) If it raised eyebrows among fans and media (some of whom are former NFL players), you can bet it raised eyebrows among Eagles players. More damage.

Following all that, the Eagles then moved heaven and Earth, mortgaged the future, traded the farm (pick your favorite expression) to move up six spots from #8 to #2. At this point the writing was on the wall that they would be selecting a QB. For my part I did my best to look around it, over it, past it… I saw it coming but I HATED the idea. At this point though you can’t say that the speculation was adding to the damage, since nothing was concrete.

Then came the concrete. The Eagles drafted Carson Wentz #2 overall and THAT sent a clear message to not only the roster, but through the entire league. There was nothing subtle about it. For Bradford it was like waking up with a “Dear John” letter nailed to his forehead. His contract had become a countdown. Now everyone in the locker room would know he wasn’t The Man, he was just the guy warming The Man’s seat for him. That’s real damage right there.

So then if Bradford isn’t The Man, who is he?

Sam Bradford is the guy who takes the hits while the O-Line learns the new blocking scheme. Damage.

Sam Bradford is the guy who has to figure things out through trial and error, while Wentz watches the process refine itself. Damage.

Sam Bradford is the guy to absorb the losses on HIS record as the team acclimates to all the new things they have to relearn or unlearn after three years of (TIK). Damage.

Sam Bradford is the patsy in all this. He’s very well paid for the role (no doubt), but he’s the fall guy here. And that situation was set up well in advance of his hissy-fit.

He has undoubtedly lost this locker room and he is no position to get it back. That is unless something unspeakably tragic happens to Wentz and Bradford finally, miraculously finds his niche in the NFL. Aside from that combination of events though, we have to be fair. The Eagles damaged Bradford well before he did.

I’M DEFENSIVE ABOUT THIS LINE

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/05/12
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Fletcher Cox card

DEFENSIVE Tackle Fletcher Cox is the piece that will make Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz‘s system work. The Defensive Line is what will make this unit as scary as it going to be in 2016. That having been said, Cox is the difference between this being a scary Defense and it being a mid-level to upper mid-level Defense. However, that’s by no means an attempt to slight anyone else on the Line.

DE Vinny Curry is virtually unblockable one-on-one. There were flashes of that of that even before Andy Reid was fired. For three years Reid’s idiot replacement relegated Curry to being a part-time player, and so Curry has never started a game in his pro career. Never. This is despite outproducing the starting starting DE’s in sacks, in two out of his four years in the league, including 2014 when he led Eagles linemen with 9.

DT Bennie Logan is not as much a pass rusher as he is a pocket collapser and a run plugger. Playing NT in the prior regime’s “Multiple 3-4” front, Logan was frequently the subject of interior double teams against which he still more than held his own.

Due to each lineman’s 2-gap responsibility sort of holding them in place, it was easier for blocking schemes to key on our linemen. Many of the plays made by our lineman were through sheer effort and/or talent. Schwartz’s system will not hold the linemen to static gap responsibilities and will allow them to create. This will mark the first time in any of their careers that the scheme will act to help them as players.

The RDE spot will likely go to Brandon Graham who is coming off his best year as a pro, but still hasn’t shown to be the guy we were all hoping he’d be. Whether it’s been the system or injury, the situation just keeps seeming to not quite fit him. Now with Schwartz’s system relying on the Wide 9 technique, it almost seems like Graham is set to repeat his 2012 season if he stays healthy, or his 2011 season if he doesn’t.

The dark-horse to win that spot is Connor Barwin. He has the bigger contract and recent production on his side. However he also has a dismal history of playing with his hand on the ground in the NFL. It would be nice if he surprised me, but I, and many a number of media sources, (and here are some examples: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C) feel that the time to move on from Barwin was this offseason, because he’s not a natural fit in a 4-3. Even Barwin himself is reported to have some questions about how he’ll fit, even going so far as to have requested to be traded to San Fran, where he’d reunite with his former Eagles coach.

When you look at this group there’s plenty to be excited over. It’s not hard to envision this being Year One of a great, young Defense that will act as the team’s backbone for years of deep playoff runs. Which is why it’s important not to dick around with Cox’s contract.

Look, if we’re going to keep him, we’ll have to pay him at some point. What he wants now is ridiculous, but it won’t get any lower after this year. Especially if things go as they should. Cox will cost some team an arm and a leg. The only question is: Will it be us?

While we could always let him walk after 2016, and get a shiny new rookie, you have to weigh the concept of the Mississippi native in a Cowboys jersey in 2017. (You saw how fast they jumped on Cedric Thornton this year.) We can hope the Eagles postpone paying him and hope he doesn’t have a great year this year. (Ugh!) Or we could bite the bullet and realize that at this point the Eagles need him more than he needs the Eagles.

We have some nice players on this Defensive Line, but Cox is clearly the best of them.

PAY THE MAN!

EAGLES 2016 DRAFT REPORT (Full)

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/05/01
Posted in: Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Roster, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

retro

WE looked at the first three rounds in Part One. This here is the FULL report.

ROUND ONE: Carson Wentz (QB) – I see Eagles fans everywhere talking themselves into this guy. Don’t get me wrong, he seems like an okay guy, and gives a pretty good interview. But hey! He’s still a #2 overall who’s supposed to sit on a shelf for a year or so. Why would you sit a rookie QB? So he can watch and learn. Learn from who? GOOD QUESTION! People point to Aaron Rodgers sitting behind Brett Favre as an example, but last time I checked, Sam Bradford was no Favre. And neither is Chase Daniel. The bottom line here is that we traded the farm to draft a kid who won’t help us improve on last years 7-9 mark. Conversely he also won’t improve while contributing to a worse record this year. Grade: C-

ROUND TWO: I’d love to discuss this pick but, well…ya know… (sigh)

ROUND THREE: Isaac Seumalo (G) – I watched some game tape of this guy vs Arizona and was blown away by how poor his hand usage is. Add to that just 19 bench presses at his pro day (not the Combine). I’m left worrying about the longevity of a 303 pound Guard who has poor hand instincts and little upper body strength. Grade: D

ROUND FOUR: Let’s play everyone’s favorite game! Waiting for Round Five!!!

ROUND FIVE (A): Wendell Smallwood (RB) – Having read the tweets he put out badmouthing Philly and calling 75% of the men here gay, I wanted to be able to say that this guy sucks, is just a camp body, and that he’ll never make it in the NFL. After watching some game tape (not a highlight reel), I have to say that he’s a pretty ordinary RB. He can get you some good gains if the holes are there, but he’s not a creator in the LeSean McCoy mold, despite having a similar build. He also gets run down from behind with open space still in front him. He has the look of a camp body, but considering our lack of depth, he may give Kenjon Barner a real run for his money. Grade: C-

ROUND FIVE (B): Halapoulivaati Vaitai (T) – I know I’ve been giving these picks some pretty unexciting grades, and this one is no different. Seriously watch the tape and tell me why I should be enthusiastic. This isn’t me being mean. Look, Carson Wentz will pay the price if we don’t get him good protectors. This kid here watches too much football when he should be playing. He’s sluggish off the line, and doesn’t believe in finishing his blocks. Seriously, watch the tape and see how often he takes halfhearted swipes at his man, fails to latch on, or maintain control of his assignment or area. Grade: D-

ROUND SIX: Blake Countess (CB) – There are some highlight tapes of him, but I need a game tape to really evaluate a player’s habits. Since I couldn’t find any on him, I can’t form a solid opinion. What I can do is give my general impression of his situation with the Eagles. He’s a 5’9” Nickel CB, on a team with veteran depth. Even if he sticks he adds nothing we don’t already have. This is a wasted pick. Grade: F

ROUND SEVEN (A): Jalen Mills (FS) – Tackles with an exaggerated looping motion to his arms that may get him killed in the NFL. Stops his feet way too much when diagnosing from the Nickel spot. As a FS doesn’t hit his run fits and is hardly a factor in coverage. As a Safety you have to make your name either being able to cover really well or being known to take guys heads off. This player does neither. Grade: D

ROUND SEVEN (B): Alex McCalister (DE) – At 6’6” 239 he’s too thin to play DE at the pro level, as he already could be manhandled by blockers in college. That said, the guy is explosive and seems to prioritize setting the edge over rushing the QB. He also turns his hips and runs pretty well. If he can translate that to OLB, we could have a steal here. Even if he only develops into a situational player. Grade: B

ROUND SEVEN (C): Joe Walker (ILB) – No game film. We need players at this position. Grade: C

ARE THE EAGLES VICTIMS OF THEIR SUCCESS?

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/04/22
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 7 Comments

Doc Brown Time Lord

RETURNING GM Howie Roseman reclaimed his throne in grand fashion. He ridded the team of a number of players added by the former head coach. He also took the Eagles from the 13th spot in the draft to the 8th and then to the 2nd. On paper that second part looks damned impressive until you look at what he had to give up to get there.

The part that keeps eating at me as I replay his Q&A explanation for this trade over and over in my head, is not WHAT he had to give up, it’s WHY he felt compelled to do so. He mentioned that the team’s Draft position is rarely in the top ten. So when he managed to get from 13th to 8th, the organization felt that getting to 2nd was a must. They were concerned with how rarely they get this opportunity.

Therein lies the rub. The reason for not being in the top ten is generally because your record was too good the prior season. The Eagles simply aren’t bad enough, often enough, to need serious help. Or so the thinking goes. So the franchise operates with a sort of “Time to re-stock the shelves” mentality.

Under Owner Jeff Lurie there haven’t been many years where (like the Browns do) we have to take a hard look in the mirror, scrap everything and change the entire formula. Even after we went 4-12 under Andy Reid, we hired a new coach and went 10-6 the following season. We didn’t fire our “Dream Team” GM. Even the prior season’s starting QB Michael Vick didn’t change. We went 4-12 and said there was no need for a rebuild. And though I’ve been saying we’ve needed one since 2009, the Eagles going 10-6 the next year, made most people think a rebuild wasn’t needed. The following two seasons however, have increased the number of people who agree with my 2013 assessment.

It begs the question, are the Eagles victims of their own success? Roseman said in the same Q&A session “for us we want to get into a position where in the near future we have an opportunity to compete every year”. An opportunity to compete every year is what Lurie said he wanted his team to have back in 1994. And we’ve been VERY competitive since then. But we have at no point been stripped down and reformatted with the singular focus of winning it all. We’ve been trapped in this Twilight Zone of “good not great” for two decades now.

And now?

You can’t debate that picking QB Donovan McNabb #2 overall in 1999, led to the most successful stretch in this franchise’s 83 year history. That’s fact. So it’s no wonder that Lurie thinks that he can duplicate that swell of success, by picking another QB #2 overall. Also like 1999 there is a Head Coach in Doug Pederson who has experience in developing QB’s. In fact, Pederson was the QB who as a player mentored rookie McNabb in 1999! It’s practically kismet.

The “Competitive” model produced the greatest Head Coach (Reid) and the greatest QB (McNabb) in franchise history. However we’re now repeating a model that has also only produced 1 Super Bowl appearance in 22 years (since Lurie made the ‘competitive’ statement.) And the spot on the shelf where that Lombardi trophy should be, now has a pile of dust on it as tall as the trophy itself.

I’m hoping that after Doc Brown selects our QB, that the Front Office has some new tricks up their sleeves for this go ’round. This is Andy and Donovan 2.0 and we’ve already seen how version 1.0 ended. This time around “good enough” cannot be good enough.

NOT HERE TO WHINE

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/04/21
Posted in: Draft, Fans, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, trade, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . 8 Comments

Dinosaur-fucking-Robot

LET the record show that I hate the trade the Eagles just made with the Browns. Basically we get to move up 6 spots in exchange for the #8 pick, one of our third rounders, a fourth rounder, next year’s first rounder, 2018’s second rounder, one of Lurie’s balls, my youngest cat, and six fans to be named later.

Decades ago Malcom X saw this trade coming and described it this way: “I say and I say it again, ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”

But I’m not here to whine. What’s done is done. This is now all about how we move forward with our starting rookie QB. Of course we have to start a guy that we drafted number t… What was that? Howie Roseman said that who is our what now? …Yeah but that’s a quote from 2015 right? …The fuck you mean it’s from yesterday? These motherf- No. I’m going to relax and breathe. Just relax…and breathe.

internal scream

I’m not here to whine! What Howie has done, is done. Right? Now our rookie can sit and learn at the feet of a master like Sam Bradford. Because Bradford has clearly done what few other’s have been able to manage. So much mediocrity. So much guaranteed money. I mean how many other grossly overpaid QB’s can you name who have managed to…Chase Daniel you say? 12M in guarantees, you say? Oh wow… Well I guess with so much money tied up in QB’s, it’s a good thing we won’t have any early draft picks who’d eat up some of that salary cap. Oh look! My nose is bleeding now.

So am I to understand that we don’t need Offensive Line help and we’re going ahead with Ryan Mathews as our starting RB? That’s happening? Oh wow… Do you realize that even if the Eagles go 0-16, we still won’t pick until the second round next year? DO you realize that?

How do I feel about it? How do I feel about it?!!

But I’m not here to whine!! (Dear God just fucking shoot me.) What Howie has fucked up is already ruined, right? RIGHT? Que sera sera, right?! Mi casa, su casa! Kama Sutra!

I’ll just go find a nice quiet corner to hyperventilate in, until I pass out. BUT YOU WON’T CATCH ME WHINING!

LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM, HE’S OURS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/04/16
Posted in: Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 4 Comments

donkeyburger

SUCK it up! Sam Bradford is likely the Eagles starting QB for the 2016 season. Yeah, yeah. I don’t like it either, but unless something stupendous happens in the next two weeks, we’ll spend Sundays this season rooting for Bradford. Again.

Consider the realistic alternatives:

The Back-up: Chase Daniel is going to get a shot at unseating Bradford. If this idea makes you happy, hey, go ahead and hope that it happens. Realistically speaking though, nothing Daniel has ever done should inspire more (or even as much) confidence from fans than is generated by Bradford.

A Trade: Okay. For who? Last time I checked, no team in 32 was dangling a starting caliber QB for trade. Not one. In fact, even Brandon Weeden was snatched back up off the pavement by Houston. This was also after they publicly made a bunch of noise about moving on from the QB’s on their roster. But pickings were slim, so they quickly added Weeden back to their roster before someone else could capitalize on their mistake.

Signing Private Ryan: So many reasons not to do that. Age. An undistinguished career. A demand for too much damned money. The guaranteed money we’re already on the hook for to Bradford and Daniel. There are too many reasons not to sign, or even want to sign Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The Draft: The QB the Eagles wanted [Carson Wentz] won’t be on the board now that the Rams have moved up to the #1 spot; and if the Cowboys have an ounce of sense, then [Jared Goff] will be off the board a couple picks later. There are other QB’s, but aside from one or two guys this year, everyone else is a developmental project. That means a rookie likely wouldn’t lead us to a winning record this year, which is what everyone says is the knock on Bradford.

I myself wouldn’t mind the idea of writing off 2016 to give a rookie QB the necessary on the job training. However, that’s not likely to happen. Eagles brass wants a winner every year, so they aren’t likely to give new Head Coach Doug Pederson a “free season”. This means a veteran QB will open our season, and right now there isn’t a better veteran QB out there for us. Sure there are different QB’s out there, but is the idea to get a better QB than Bradford, or is it to make another lateral move, like we did when we traded Nick Foles for Bradford?

You don’t have to like who our QB is. Hell, I’m sure you remember how much I hated The Idiot Kelly (TIK) from Day One. But unless you have plans on taking a year off as a fan, I expect your ass front and center with me, backing your Eagles, and giving hell to any ass-hat who badmouths them. I hated TIK, but I stuck it out for our Eagles. Surely we can hate Bradford and still show our love.

 

EAGLES, PLEASE DON’T DRAFT…

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/04/01
Posted in: Draft, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Rants, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

176-1shoot_yourself_in_the_foot

PLEASE don’t draft a QB in the first round. Sam Bradford 36M dollars (26 in 2016). Chase Daniel 21M dollars (7 in 2016). This team has already committed itself to 33M dollars worth of QB this year. So why dear god, would they Draft a QB in the first round this year? It just wouldn’t make any sense.

First of all, this is not a great year for QB’s in the Draft. While it totally makes sense to grab a franchise QB while you have the positioning to do so, you should also make sure that what you’re getting is franchise caliber. In all truth there are a couple of guys that can be developed in this Draft, but every QB with a 1st round grade on him this year, comes with obvious flaws if not outright red flags. This is not the year to go all in early on a QB.

Secondly, if we grab a QB early, who is his mentor, Bradford or Daniel? Captain Checkdown or the Clipboard Commander? Or do you start the rookie and sit about 20% of your salary cap on the bench, with no plans to do anything more than just sit it?

Understand, I’m a HUGE fan of the idea of drafting a QB this year. I happen to think that this Draft will be a failure if we don’t draft one. That said, the sort of QB we need is one we can develop, and you don’t draft a project in Round One. We should draft a QB, just not early.

If we can move Bradford in a trade, and draft a guy high, that wouldn’t be the worst move we could make, but that would assume that Bradford possesses a level of trade value that has so far gone undocumented. I mean when was the last time you heard that the Eagles were offered anything at all for him? Besides, haven’t we already had hopes of trading Bradford blow up in our faces during the last Draft? Let’s not be Charlie Brown AND Lucy for a second year in a row.

The smart move is to add to the group of men who are charged with keeping the QB upright. My mind goes back to a thing that Eagles fans have no experience with. Dan Marino. He was sacked 31 times over the course of a 48 game span (6 times in 1988, 10 in 1989, 15 in 1990). Eagles fans have no idea what that kind of protection looks like, but it’s high time that we did. There are better things that we can do with that #8 pick, than select a QB.

So I’m begging you, Jeff Lurie. I’m pleading with you Howie Roseman. Please DO NOT draft a QB in the first round.