YOU really want to know where things are?
Get it straight from Kelly himself.
Let’s see who is and who isn’t a good judge of character, as well as who and who can’t read people.
This, is a test.
Front Office (F.O.)
Image courtesy of Philly.com
I’VE spent the day laughing at the notion that a rumor that was started and sustained by Tweets, is somehow supposed to be killed by Tweets.
During most of Jacksongate 2014© we’ve had to endure some of the worst “reporting” by professional outlets that I’ve ever seen. Tweets, sources close to blah-blah, and raw speculation have all fueled one of the most idiotic rumor sagas in modern sports history. It was even big enough to suck in an additional 5 NFL teams (Raiders, 9ers, Jets, Panthers, Ravens).
What’s funny is it all comes out of the fact that the Eagles won’t issue a single statement on the matter. Even now, after DeSean Jackson’s ‘go-team-go’ themed Tweets. It makes you wonder what’s real and what isn’t.
HERE’S WHAT’S REAL:
The Eagles can afford Jackson in 2014. They can’t next year (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C). Not if they want to field an entire NFL team. Did you see the 7 TD’s Nick Foles rectally inserted into the cash strapped Raiders last year? (FYI: Foles didn’t throw more than 3 against any other opponent.) So unless you want the 2015 Eagles to be the 4-12 2013 Raiders, you want him (and others) to be moved.
Restructures won’t provide relief. Foles is still on his rookie deal for 2014 and 2015; but in 2016 he’ll command a salary of better than 12 million. So other player’s 2015 money can’t be spread out over 2016 and on, because they’ll need that room for Foles and the upcoming new deals for guys like Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks, and Lane Johnson.
The room simply doesn’t exist. You went to school. You can do basic addition. This is just math. Besides, what do you do if guys don’t want to restructure? FYI: Connor Barwin and LeSean McCoy are the guys who would at that point be asked to take a cut.
Nothing has changed.
Jackson’s Tweet is completely meaningless. It carries as much weight as one put out by you or I.
Jackson was never going to trade or release himself. He never was said to be shopping himself. He never declared media silence on the subject of himself. That was all the Eagles as an organization, not as a team. None of his teammates threatened to shop him/trade him/release him. That was the Eagles organization, not the Eagles team.
The organization STILL has yet to declare what its intentions are. Keep in mind, Jackson spoke to Chip Kelly, not to Howie Roseman. Hell, Kelly has yet to issue a statement either! That’s an extremely important characterization. Especially in light of what Jeff Lurie said on Tuesday. You mean you didn’t know??
It’s still on folks. Eyes on the prize, not the distraction.
This story won’t go away until someone in the organization kills it, or if Jackson is still here on May 10th. Barring that, it still looks to me like he won’t be here much longer.
image courtesy of funnyjunk.com
SOMEBODY is full of shit.
One source says that DeSean Jackson isn’t returning Chip Kelly‘s calls. Another source says that Kelly “is too busy“ to return Jackson’s. Another claims that Kelly told Jackson he won’t be traded, then retracts that statement.
The Eagles flat out refuse to say anything publicly. They’re acting as if their silence isn’t adding to this, while actually more than anything else it’s fanning the flames of this car wreck. It’s a coward’s position, and it’s more than a little disingenuous. This allows all the information their fans are starving for, to be invented by pretty much anyone.
If I wanted to come on here and announce that the Eagles have agreed to trade Jackson to Dallas for their 2017 7th rounder, I could do so with absolute authority, then simply claim (when it didn’t happen) that the Eagles had simply backed out of the deal for a better one.
It would certainly drive up my traffic. However I have this weird condition called integrity. While I would love more of you to click the ‘Follow’ button, I’m not willing to lie to you to get that. Many outside sources however, are entirely willing to.
From what I can tell as I bounce around the places where my readers gather, nobody is mad at these outside sources, but there is a growing anger with the Eagle organization. And a growing weakness.
Right now they don’t control their own narrative. That looks weak. Disorganized. It’s black eye on the reputation of a franchise that used to be excellent at controlling the flow of how they were perceived. Remember the Gold Standard? The Eagles were called that by the entire NFL despite our failure to win a Super Bowl.
Not today. Today as the Eagles struggle to get rid of one of the leagues more dangerous players, the organization just looks weak and dishonest.
PICTURE if you will 2015. The Eagles have concluded 2014 without a Super Bowl win. Whether we finished 0-16 or 16-0, Chip Kelly will get a 3rd year. There will be no new coach. The roster will have no reason to be torn up. Fans will expect a good showing in the upcoming 2015 season.
Enter 17 players out of 53. They and their 2015 (rounded down) salaries are:
(running total)
DJax- 12M (12M)
McCoy- 11M (23)
Peters- 10M (33)
Willams- 8M (41)
Mathis- 6M (47)
DeMeco- 6M (53)
Barwin- 6M (59)
Kelce- 6M (65)
Jenkins- 5M (70)
Cooper- 5M (75)
Lane- 5M (80)
Herremans- 5 (85)
Celek- 4M (89)
Casey- 4M (93)
Cox- 3M (96)
Sproles- 3M (99)
Carroll- 2M (101)
17 players, $101 million dollars.
Assuming a generous 10% cap jump to 146M in 2015, that only leaves 45M for the remaining 36 players (avg. 1.25M per player). This also assumes Trent Cole and his 11M salary are already gone. If he stays then its 18 players at 112M, leaving 34M for 35 players (971K per player)
If the cap stays in the vicinity of 133M like it is this year, with or without Cole, the Eagles cap management will be a nightmare. I didn’t even mention Jeremy Maclin, Bradley Fletcher, or Chris Polk , all of which will be Free Agents.
The Eagles financial house could be in ruins for the first time since before Joe Banner took over. You remember Joe Banner. He’s man they ousted in favor of Howie Roseman.
Between Roseman’s Dream Team free agent signings, lackluster Drafts, awarding overblown contracts, and unnecessary surrendering of Draft picks; Jeff Lurie is set to wear quite a lot of egg on his face for sticking with Roseman over Banner, since Roseman has so far failed in every aspect of his job.
Now Roseman has to find a way to erase mistakes (like DeSean Jackson‘s contract), to afford depth so that Chip Kelly doesn’t have to head into 2015 (possibly his last year depending on 2014), with a stripped down team.
Howie Roseman has to save his job, and he only has 2014 to do it before things escalate beyond the Eagles control. Things can’t be re-negotiated and put off, because beginning in 2016 Nick Foles will command north of $12M annually. So the future is already tapped out. Unless the sacrifices are made today.
This is the real reason behind the sudden need to move Jackson. Whether they want him or not, a $12M WR is a luxury that Philadelphia can no longer afford. Jackson will be leaving.
And now (gasp) there is even word that Jackson will be released if he can’t be traded. This surely lowers his trade value and almost guarantees that we get nothing for him. That’s not Jackson’s call. It’s not even Kelly’s. But it’s kind of frustrating right?
So then why are they letting Eagle fans stew with constant empty reports of a trade that they won’t even confirm they have interest in making? The reason is simple. It’s to deliberately frustrate you. To make you tired of hearing about it. To make you want SOMETHING to be done. It’s to drive you nuts, and to get you used to the idea, so that when (one way or the other) the trigger is pulled, you exclaim “FINALLY!!!” You’ll be so glad that it’s over, you won’t even realize that you just watched the Eagles do what the Cowboys just did with DeMarcus Ware.
Oh yes. That’s what Roseman is doing now.
Step back. This story could have been killed weeks ago. But they’re just letting it fester. No one in the organization is speaking on it. It doesn’t appear on the website. Just empty report after empty report. One tweeted rumor after another of a source close to a source. And it’s maddening.
The truth is they need your anger and frustration right now to help lubricate the next move. Drive up public ire, sample only those quotes/tweets/blogs that bad-mouth the player, then put it on your website, so it looks like the FANS made the case for whatever becomes of Jackson.
Because if they had simply surprised us with trading DJax, fans would have burned something down by now. Even the ones who are now claiming to be sick of him.
Now imagine that they had simply released him last month. Would you have been angry? Yes. You would have. And by now you still wouldn’t have gotten over it.
There’s a lot going on under the surface my friends. It is a very deep rabbit hole indeed.
*Note: It’s 1:12 a.m. I’m about to post this and STILL there is no word of this situation on the Eagles website. There is a story about Vick signing with the Jets, and not ONE word to address the Jackson Situation.
Image courtesy of Katchop.com
THIS is one of those times when the Head Coach of an NFL team should have something to say.
Right?
Instead we’re left mostly with Chip Kelly’s media silence. As if he has no opinion on what the Front Office may or may not do with one of his key weapons. Like he is not at all concerned with the idea of losing a game changing player. I can’t speak for you, but I am far too smart to fall for that.
But because of his silence, there is a mob forming. Today fans and media sources are already grumbling that if we trade DeSean Jackson, Kelly will be to blame. The easy answer for fans is to blame either Kelly or Jackson. And while I can understand why fans would do that, it’s a knee jerk reaction to the roar of the mob around them.
So let’s shut the door for a moment and block out the screaming of that mob. So you can hear. And so you can think.
What if I told you that if Jackson goes, Kelly should be absolved of any blame? What if I told you that trading Jackson has more to do with Howie Roseman himself, than it does with Jackson, his contract, his behavior, and Kelly combined?
Would you be willing to listen? Would you hear the truth?
Then tomorrow. We’ll meet back here, and I will show you just how far the rabbit hole goes. But for now I will leave you with this:
The growing fan frustration is neither accidental, nor coincidental.
Photo: Michael Perez
TRADING DeSean Jackson doesn’t have to hurt.
Chip Kelly’s Spread Offense as its name indicates is more horizontally based than vertically based. To his credit, in 2013 Kelly did a good job of transposing Jackson’s skillset over his existing system. Due to what Jackson could do, the coverage shifted and the impact was felt on the opposite side of the field as well as in the running game.
That being said, at its heart this is a horizontally based running system. It doesn’t require a guy like Jackson for it to run effectively. He’s a nice option to have out there, but the reality is, his abilities fit a mobile QB much better over the long haul than they do a pocket passer.
If this system is going back to its roots, then Jackson won’t even require replacing. You replace something when the replacement is supposed to do what the old part did. If you swap out the old part for a part that works differently, it’s usually referred to as upgrading.
That may be what the Eagles feel they can do here. This is a place where a rookie could be drafted whose skillset is entirely different from Jackson’s but better fits what Kelly wants to do.
I also already indicated how the Sproles Effect could easily offset the loss of Jackson, even if they simply cut him. (Pray that Howie Roseman isn’t that stupid.) If the system doesn’t need the top taken off the defense to make plays, your need for guys who can do that diminishes. Even if you still want one, lo and behold there’s a Draft coming up.
So a trade really comes down to getting value for him. In the end, aside from losing a player who gave us a few truly awesome memories (The New Miracle at the Meadowlands; falling backwards into the endzone against Dallas; a bomb for a TD as the first play of a record setting Monday Night game against the Redskins; the sideline bump with Andy, to name a few), perhaps this doesn’t have to hurt at all.
I just somehow can’t help thinking AND feeling, that it will.
Image courtesy of instntrply.com
MUTHAFUCKA, are you high!? A 3rd round pick?! For DeSean Jackson?!
I got my Ray Rice mask and I’m waiting in elevators for Howie Roseman.
I was good, wasn’t I? They signed Special Teams players while other teams signed starters, and I let slide didn’t I? “Maybe they have a plan!” I said to myself. “Perhaps there is a diagram. Let us be patient as we partake of our beverage.”
I played it cool.
But if they trade DJax for chicken feed, I live near the Girard Street on-ramp to 95, so the NovaCare Center is less than a 15 minute ride from my house. I’m not above shouting at the building from Broad Street from the roof of the Jeep. Oh man, I’m goin’ through it! I’m not even putting up a poll today, because I can’t narrow the field of questions down.
Look, I’d already written two articles already about trading DJax. Today writing about ‘how I FEEL’ makes a third, and tomorrow writing ‘what I THINK’, will make a fourth. So I’m open to discussions on moving any player. But like when we unnecessarily surrendered a 5th round pick for what would have been a free Darren Sproles, I don’t like the notion of my team getting hosed. It would make more sense to move him for a player than a 3rd round pick.
I also don’t like the impact it could have on Nick Foles and LeSean McCoy. DJax kept Safeties out of the box and helped to free up Riley Cooper. If we get rid of him it’ll fundamentally change what Foles is expecting in 2014. That could hurt the Offense. Or maybe not. (More on that one tomorrow.)
But right now…this situation has me hotter than fish grease.
Image courtesy of Fansided.com
NATE Allen got a 1-year extension today, and at first it pissed me off a little. Then I gave it some thought.
At which point it pissed me off a lot.
Keeping around a guy who’s been a sub-par NFL Safety for the last few years now, is bad enough; but what message does it send to young players like Earl Wolff or free agents who don’t know the team culture? How do you tell THEM that that they have to elevate their play, if you keep shelling out for what you brought them in to replace?
Did Allen get an extension to sit the bench? Likely not. If he starts and we still suck vs. the pass, worse still if it costs us games, many fans will blame Allen for that. Not me.
This one is squarely on the narrow little shoulders of Howie Roseman. He talked a big game about getting a player at that position this off-season, and to be fair he got us a decent cover Safety in Malcolm Jenkins, but when the moment came to do something big, he bitched out. Now we have this crap load of back-up Safeties. These Special Teamers with “upside”. Man fuck outta here! MAKE AN EFFORT!
Special Teams hurt us in the game against New Orleans, no doubt. But you know what hurt us more? Getting the ball run down our throats, by a PASSING TEAM! Having the league’s leading rusher fairly bottled up by a defensive front that pushed our Offensive Line around. Having the NFL’s Most Over-paid Player blanketed by a 3rd round draft pickalready on his second team. THAT’S what hurt us.
We need some NEW STARTERS. Notice the capitalization of the words “new” and “starters”? That was not a mistake.
This signing on the other hand, is.
Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
BEFORE I get into talking about the Draft (written since this was first posted), I want to get us all on the same page, so that what I say next won’t seem like it comes out of left field on you.
Before we get into who to pick, we have to understand why we should pick them, or what we need in the first place. I looked over the entire roster and broke it down, factoring in also long term considerations. And let it be known how much I hate this time of year; because guys with absolutely no shot at making the team, clutter up the roster and artificially inflate many fans perception of depth (e.g. the current roster stands at like 64 or so players.) That all having been said, here’s The Chart (2nd ed.):
Now you know why you’re going to read some of what you’re going to see in my next article.
If you see something I missed, or you simply have a better idea, below here is a COMMENTS section. Don’t be shy.
ADDING CB Nolan Carroll was a solid Day Three move. I like his resume his, size, and his age. I also like the notion that he’s going to be pushing for a starting role. I can’t see the point of adding a back-up early in Free Agency.
Darren Sproles on the other hand I’m less thrilled about than everyone else. It’s not that I don’t think he can play, because I think he can. I don’t like the idea that we PAID for something New Orleans was about to give away, and I’m not sure how much football 3.5 million will buy you behind LeSean McCoy. My guess is we’ll see him on screen and screen decoys.
On the whole it’s better than adding Special Teams aces, but I’m still waiting for them to do something that changes signals that we’re better armed than the team that got out-muscled by the Saints.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 