WHAT’S this about Mark Sanchez “resurfacing as a starter underChip Kelly”?! I’m glad that Sanchez feels rejuvenated and that the Eagles were the best place he could have landed (because no one likes flipping burgers); but I’m not at all prepared for any discussion that puts ButtFumble in the driver’s seat.
Don’t get me wrong! Sanchez is an Eagle now, so as an Eagle fan I want him to do well here; but by “do well” I mean hold a clipboard and wear a baseball cap, as Nick Foles goes on to challengeBrett Favre’s ‘consecutive starts by a QB’ record. I’m not being anti-Sanchez, just pro-Foles. (Besides with [Marcus Mariota] coming out of Oregon next year, Foles doesn’t need the aggravation.)
Right now we have a WR coming off of a devastating injury, and were folding in a rookie to replace one of the NFL’s premiere deep threats. Still with that, Kelly says that the Offense is light years ahead of where it was last year. So you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t want the boat rocked right now.
FLETCHER Cox is probably safe, but Cedric Thornton had better watch out, because Vinny Curry is making a move. Curry wants a role in the base 3-4 the Eagles use on Defense and not just a spot role when we go to our occasional 4-3 front.
Lost in the fact that Curry didn’t start last year, is the fact that he had 4 sacks while the three starters had a grand total of 6. (Cox led the starters with 3).
Curry has spent this offseason making his 280 pound frame trimmer and leaner, stronger and more explosive. Being that DC Bill Davis likes his DE’s up around 300 pounds, you’d think Curry would want to bulk up instead.
Unless there’s a change coming.
Maybe we’ll be playing more 4-3 than we did last year. Or maybe something more exotic, like folding in some 46 elements. Whatever it is, there has to be a reason that Curry thinks NOT bulking up will earn him more time on the field.
MANY fans are hoping for Zach Ertz to unseat Brent Celek as the starter at TE this year. Considering that the Eagles aren’t quite as reliant on their TE’S to block in the run game as most teams, I suppose it could happen, but could ain’t should.
For my money I think Celek is the more complete TE. Not just because he’s more experienced, but because he’s a more natural blocker. Plus with the ball in his hands Celek will run a bitch over. You have to consider whether, when and how to tackle that guy.
Ertz has more fluidity, and I don’t just think it’s because he’s younger. I think it’s because if he was two tenths faster and 20 pounds lighter he’d be a WR. He moves better, he just doesn’t strike me as a natural TE.
Then again this system doesn’t really call for one does it? So Ertz’s blocking isn’t really a liability, and Celek’s blocking is merely a plus. Basically they’ll just provide Chip Kelly with options. Sounds good right? Now for a shot of cold hard reality and math.
The guy who I think is fucked is James Casey. He’s due 4 million next year; and with Celek almost making 5, and Ertz making 1.5, you know the Eagles aren’t going to want to hold onto all three next year. So I’m guessing Ertz will get every chance to step-up, and since Celek is a fan favorite, I think 2014 is Casey’s farewell tour in Philly.
BACK in February, the Eagles offered Jeremy Maclin a 5-year deal, which he rejected. Instead he inked a 1-year deal that will allow him to show that he’s back from injury, and still has his skills. If it all goes well he should be able to cash in next year as free agent either with the Eagles or elsewhere.
My guess is that it’ll be elsewhere.
We drafted WR Jordan Matthews in the second round and on the very same night, Chip Kelly said: “He’ll start in the slot”. Kelly added, “If the other team wants to play their smallest cornerback in (the slot), they will have to deal with a 6-foot-3 guy over 200 pounds.”
Since Matthews will start, he’ll get plenty of opportunity to shine. The problem is there’s only one football. If Matthews shines really bright, it may look like he and not Maclin, is the Eagles most dynamic threat at WR.
The emergence of Matthews could seriously undercut Maclin’s market value next year. Keep in mind all of this already assumes that Maclin stays healthy. Anything less than that would be disastrous for him.
If the gamble works out for Maclin, great; but he may find himself wishing he’d signed that 5-year deal.
ACCORDING to NFL.com’s projected starting line-up for the EaglesLeSean McCoy and Brent Celek may have competition for their starting spots.
As you can see, of the 11 Offensive starting positions only two are listed with a slash mark. Normally that mark on a depth chart means “either” or “splitting time”. If it means something else then they should say so.
Not that I’m putting a lot of stock in these predictions. One: Because it was done by NFL.com’s Chris Wesseling, who’s an idiot altogether. Two: Take a look at our projected Defensive starters. Notice how there is no DT/NT and there are 3 CB’s? (BTW: He has EVERY team in our division starting 3 CB’s.)
Wesseling’s prediction is thatBilly Davis will use Nickel and Dime packages 65-70% of the time. No, seriously. That’s his prediction. It’s like he didn’t even glance at our schedule.
This season out of 16 games, 9 of them are against teams that lean on power running. I wrote about that back February in my series “The 12”. (Back then we knew the opponents, just not the order.) Power running is the exact sort of game that teams will need to stay in games against Chip Kelly’s fast paced approach.
Does Wesseling seriously think we draftedBennie Logan last year and another NT this year, just so we can start a 3rd CB? With a 2 man D-line? Leaving our ILB’s unprotected against the run?!.
Going nickel or dime 6-7 times out of every 10 downs, is a recipe to have our LB’s beat up and worn down by the Bye Week. I’m far from Billy Davis’s biggest fan, but there is NO WAY that I can believe him to be that stupid.
Seems more like Chris Wesseling is just being an idiot again, which for him I’m afraid may be chronic. Somebody get that guy a ticket to a Pop Warner game. He needs to learn the basics of the game
But it brings up and interesting question. Who do YOU think will be our starters this year?
Eagle fans expect a LOT from Jeremy Maclin this year. Specifically, fans expect him to grab 1,000 or more receiving yards in 2014. Damn coming back from a destroyed knee. Damn the fact that in 2010 even with a guy to draw coverage from him, in 16 games Maclin fell 36 yards short of 1,000.
I put up a poll yesterday asking fans how many yards they thought Maclin would get in 2014, and 58% said 1,000 or better.
It’s going to be tougher for him now both from the inside and the outside, yet fans are expecting more than he’s ever been able to deliver. Yikes.
Look…Let me step in on Maclin’s behalf for a second.
It would be nice if Jeremy went over a grand, but instead of expecting so much from him so soon, let’s be prepared to cut our guy a little slack.
He’s already going to be pushing. Partly out of pride trying to show he can be the #1; partly out of being on a 1-year deal and wanting a heavier wallet; partly out of just wanting to show he can be healthy again.
His own moments of doubt will be battle enough, he doesn’t need us rattling his cage even harder. After all we are his fans, right? Our job is to support him. To let him know we have his back. Not to make him think he has to run himself into the ground.
So while 1,000 would be nice, if it becomes clear that he can’t or he won’t; or if it turns out that he needs a week here or there, let’s remember who we are, and what we come to do. Instead of deriding him, let’s show our recovering Bird some love.
EVERYWHERE I look it seems fans want a WR. [Kelvin Benjamin], [Mike Evans], [Brandin Cooks], [Cody Latimer]. There are more names but you get the idea. Even if it means trading up, in a year where we’re short on draft picks, fans want a guy to pick up the slack left by DeSean Jackson’s departure.
Fellow Eagles fans, I think we may be outsmarting ourselves here.
Even if only for depth purposes, the Eagles drafting a WR is practically a sure thing. But it occurs to me that Jackson’s replacement may not be a rookie. It could be Jeremy Maclin.
Maclin isn’t going to put up 1,300 yards of course, but he could be used to open up the box and continue to make it easier to run between the Tackles. I don’t know if anyone remembers when he was drafted, but a lot was made of him helping out with KR/PR duties because he had done so in college and he could also break arm tackles and make guys miss. Andy Reid gave it a whirl but not much came of it.
Fast-forward to today. Chip Kelly runs a system called the Spread. While it’s called that because you spread your opponent out horizontally, it also has a way of isolating defensive players from help. Maclin, if he can still break an arm tackle and/or make a guy miss, doesn’t need Jackson’s speed to be dangerous.
While Maclin may not be a home-run hitter, having a more consistent hitter is nothing to sneeze at. (Put another way: Maclin may not be Ryan Howard, but it’s hardly a bad thing if he’s Chase Utley.) If Maclin can make guys miss and break tackles, teams will cheat a Safety his way and that will strreeeeetch the box horizontally and make it easier for LeSean McCoy’s blockers. (Though I think McCoy could get blindsided a LOT more this year, because of this.)
A single WR replacing Jackson’s numbers won’t happen in 2014. No one on the roster is physically capable of it, and a rookie has to still learn how to read NFL coverages. However, the most impressive thing Jackson did last year can be somewhat duplicated, and the best man for that job (so far) is Jeremy Maclin.
Sidenote: Earlier this offseason I predicted that Maclin would post a number of career lows and still have what would be a good year. That of course was with me projecting him in a 3 WR formation along with Jackson.
Things have changed obviously, so I’m going change right along with them and re-vise those numbers accordingly. My new prediction for Maclin: 74 catches, 890 yards, 10 TD’s.
LET’S be clear on something: I do not want to discuss DeSean Jackson‘s merits or faults on or off the field. The only reason I’m bring up his name is because he is on the other end of this story.
What I do want to discuss is his release from the Eagles. Back on March 26th I wrote an article that gave the reason he’d be leaving. That reason was money.
In a nutshell, the Eagles wouldn’t have been able to afford him in 2015. Replacing him with a FA in 2015 wouldn’t be cost-effective, and next year’s Draft won’t be as deep at WR. This years Draft allows for a team to get what would normally be mid-2nd round talent, deep in the 3rd or early in the 4th round. That makes making this move now easier to do.
So why not just say it’s over money? Because that reflects poorly on GM Howie Roseman. This franchise let go of fiscal wizard Joe Banner in favor of Roseman. How would it look if they had to get rid of a key player with no replacement available, and say it was all at the feet of Jeff Lurie for backing the wrong guy? As it stands the Eagles are already looking at a salary cap crunch in 2015 that will have longtime fan favorites like Trent Cole packing his bags.
So why all the (alleged) leaks about Jackson? Because it makes his exit seem like it’s his fault. (FYI: If he were actually guilty of any wrongdoing he’d be awaiting a trial, not raking in more guaranteed money.) From gang activity to repeatedly cussing out his coach, nothing the man has been accused of has a source willing to back it. LeSean McCoy said he’d never seen or heard of the latter.
However it does have people looking left (fake leak), when the trick is on the right (millions freed up in cap space).
It’s been weeks of chasing smoke for anybody interested in the “Why?”, and that’s a shame, because the truth is and has been, right in front of them all along.
BRANDON Grahamhas fallen out of favor with the coaching staff. Okay. That happens.
DeSean Jackson fell out of favor. Jason Avant fell out of favor. These things happen
But could someone please explain to me why Jeff Meahl, and Casey Matthews are still here. Or why Will Murphy, Brandon Bair, or Josh Kaddu were added to the roster.
Murphy is a WR who’s ENTIRE college career consists of 24 catches for 240 yards, and a touchdown. IN 30 GAMES!
Bair is a DE who’s ENTIRE college career consists of 5 sacks. In 2 years pro, he’s been on 2 teams and has yet to play a down.
Kaddu is a LB who’s 108 tackles in 40 collegiate games is the definition of the word ‘underwhelming’. In 2 years as an NFL pro he’s played in 5 games and has yet to record a statistic of any kind.
Did I mention that all 5 of these guys played at Oregon?
Did I mention that so far the most successful pro out of all of these has so far been Matthews? Soak that in for a second.
Now we’re trying to trade for ANOTHER Oregon alum, who’s so far been underwhelming as a pro, and now has had an injury (torn shoulder labrum), that will be easy to re-injure/re-aggravate in this particular sport.
I understand wanting to have a comfort zone, but this is getting out of hand.
PLEASE stop crying about DeSean Jackson. Everything from:
“They out to get Trayvon! I mean, DeSean!” to “I’m burnin’ his jersey! While I’m still wearing it!”
Please fellow Eagles fans, for our collective dignity can we (you really), stop letting a REDSKINS PLAYER have so much control over our conversations?
I mean honestly, some people are starting to sound like that friend who keeps saying they’re over their ex, but won’t shut the fuck up about them.
Meanwhile they keep coming home to the WR’s we do have, and either talking about the ex or the next. It’s all Cooks or Jackson. Evans or Jackson. Riley CooperandJeremy Maclin who?
That’s no way to treat somebody who’s gonna lay it all out for you. Be a fan. Support YOUR TEAM. Leave the Foreskin players to the Foreskin fans.
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