DON’T get it twisted. If Redskins (I’m calling them that, until they have an actual name) QB Alex Smith beats out QB Dwayne Haskins for the starting job, then that’s it, Haskins is trash.
Don’t @ me with arguments about how Smith was a first round talent, has over a decade more experience, and therefore should be able to beat out Haskins. Smith has been away from football for nearly two calendar years, and is 36 years old, with more than 36 years of wear and tear on his body.
Watching Smith’s workout video is a testament to his mental toughness.
But watching him run doesn’t indicate any ability to avoid a sack, or even hard hits. Throwing Smith out there as a starter (especially with no preseason games), would be feeding sheep to lions. You might as well coat him in barbecue sauce.
All offseason long, Smith’s return is the most football related story I’ve heard tied to the Redskins. Oh wait! That’s not true. Trading away LT Trent Williams, the best protection Smith would have had, also got quite a bit of coverage too. Yeah, Williams made it clear that he wanted out of there, so they traded him. But why would he want to lea- Ohhhh! That’s right:
So the Redskins are a team with no offensive line, RB’s who play with canes due to either age or injury, and a WR group that consists of ONE decent, but over-hyped player. There is no way to push Smith’s wheelchair up to the huddle, without it being a screaming indictment of Haskins.
Picking a starting QB is all about who you feel gives your (LMAO!) “Team” the best chance to win. It’s about who you have the most confidence in. If new head coach Ron Rivera starts Smith, it tells you how his new regime feels about the upside of their second year QB. It tells you that they have no confidence in him.
GOTTA admit it. I thought that either Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would cave, and give QB Dak Prescott his 40M$ per year deal, or that Prescott’s holdout would go into the season. I’d have bet good money on it lasting through Cowboys training camp. Well I’d have lost that money. Dak Prescott finally cried “Uncle!”. Or did he?
At first his signing made no sense to me. For about 12 seconds. Then the idea hit, and I felt like giving a high-five to Prescott’s agent. Very cagey move getting his client to sign now. I sat and waited two days for the NFL Network, or ESPN, or Fox Sports to weigh in, but nobody mentioned the genius behind this signing.
Well let me spill the beans, and also tell you how this helps the Eagles. It helps the entire NFC East, but it helps the Eagles in a much more immediate sense. Right now, the NFL is pushing to have a season in 2020, but the Coronavirus Pandemic (Covid-19) gets the last word on that.
If the NFL does manage a season, then Prescott plays for the tag. He plays for less than he wanted, but it’s still more than he’s ever made, and he’s doing what he loves. Unless he gets hurt, misses games and damages his pristine record, he’s still in line for a big deal in 2021.
Now here’s the genius of the signing. If the NFL cannot start or sustain the season, Prescott still gets credit for 2020. The money is his, fully guaranteed, he doesn’t get hurt, and he doesn’t “fail to make the playoffs/take another playoff loss”. It also puts the narrative on his side. He will have been “underpaid” for four years, then have signed a franchise tag. He’ll be undeniable.
So how does that help the division? Specifically the Eagles?
Signing the tag now, locks in the money that the Cowboys are spending on Prescott. True, the Cowboys said they wouldn’t rescind the tag, but up until Prescott signed it, the option still existed. That could have become cap space to offer Jets SS Jamal Adams, who recently requested a trade to one of seven teams that he prefers, Dallas being one of them.
Adams also named the Eagles as a preferred destination, and we have 22M in cap space, but we still have to sign our rookies. Not to mention that we’re projected to be 51M$ over the cap in 2021, and word is, the Eagles want to roll as much of 2020’s cap over into 2021 as possible.
Currently Dallas has about 11M$ in cap space. Between Prescott’s contract and still having to sign their rookie class, in particular first round Draft pick, WR Ceedee Lamb, the Cowboys will not have the money to offer Adams the 12-15M$ per year that he’s said to want. So Dak Prescott signing, effectively keeps Adams out of the NFC East. Making life easier for the division.
The Cowboys CAN afford to make such a move, if they cut DE Tyrone Crawford (9M$ in 2020), and a couple other players. Or they can gut their depth at tight end, offensive line, linebacker, and cornerback to make cap space.
Aside from DE DeMarcus Lawrence, Crawford is the only sure thing they have at the DE position. They hope that DE Aldon Smith can regain his old form, and they hope that DE Randy Gregory will be re-instated so that maybe he can possibly fulfill his potential.
In the event of a fully played season, having little to no depth, during a year when teams are expecting their rosters to be hit by Covid-19… That really helps your rivals. And it helps your strongest rival the most.
Who again is the Cowboys strongest rival? My guess would be the team that beat them and took away the division last year, driving them from the playoff picture. And who would that team be? You guessed it. THE EAGLES.
So from all of us Eagles fans from all across America, THANK YOU DAK PRESCOTT!!!
WHILE most of the talk is on the pair of Jalens that the Eagles drafted, WR Marquise Goodwin was the sneaky good add of the offseaon. How could adding him be sneaky when every time the media mentions our addition at that position, they mention the trade brought Goodwin here? How could it be sneaky, if people are talking about it??
Sneaky is not about some punch that our rivals don’t see coming. It’s about the power of the punch that everyone seems to be underestimating.
Goodwin has played 7 years so far. He’s never posted a 1,000 yard season. Never caught more than 4 scores in a year. He owns a career catch rate of exactly 50.0%. Over the last 3 years since he got to San Francisco, he’s started fewer games, seen dramatically fewer targets and caught for dramatically fewer yards, with every returning year.
The point is, the 5’9”, 180 pound receiver, though extremely fast, is viewed as a known commodity already. He’s seen as a flame-out. A one-trick pony who languished for 4 years in Buffalo, and then was slowly phased out of the offense in San Fran.
His stats tell that story. His tape however, tells another. He is a bit of a one-trick pony, but when relegated to role-player, it’s one hell of a trick. I don’t usually use highlight video, because it doesn’t tell you who a man is, down in and down out. It doesn’t show nuances. But Goodwin isn’t here for nuances. We didn’t bring him in to be poison. We brought him in to be a .45 slug.
Check the tape. It’s 6 minutes so wait until you have time. Trust me. It’s worth it. Don’t let me talk you into him. Let his tape sell you on why he’s here.
Did you see how often he had to stop and turn around for the ball? Did you how it works out when he doesn’t have to? Did you see that “Toe Drag Swag”? Now consider that most of this was with QB’s C.J. Beathard, Nick Mullens and Brian Hoyer throwing to him. QB Jimmy Garoppolo targeted Goodwin just 21 times (12 catches) in 2019.
Now Goodwin has QBCarson Wentzthrowing to him. Wentz has better arm strength, accuracy and ball placement skills than any QB that Goodwin has ever played with. And unlike Garoppolo, Wentz doesn’t throw passes with his eyes closed.
Goodwin is in the best position to succeed that he’s ever been in as a professional. Despite being role-player, he’s now free to practice the trade that he’s mastered. The one where he takes the top off of defense and opens up the field behind him. And unlike in the past where he was just a 50/50 threat, now he’s in a system that makes him a bonafide weapon.
Alshon. DeSean. Jalen. Zach. Dallas. Greg. And Marquise.
Our Offense is loaded and the QB is ready to fire. Sneaky good add indeed.
DESPITE the rumors that they’d be traded before the 2020 Draft or, traded during the 2020 Draft, both WR Alshon Jeffery and CB Rasul Douglas are still on the roster. This is the second “I was right” article that I wrote over the weekend, and it feels good to post this motherfucker.
Felt like not a day went by this Spring, where some folks weren’t running these guys out of town. However, it would seem that the Eagles organization finds them more valuable in an Eagles jersey, than as bargaining chips. I kept telling folks, that sort of thinking didn’t add up? But what do I know?
A lot. Turns out, I know an awful fuck of a lot. Yet some folk insist on being wrong. Maybe it’s part of their diet, and they’ll die if they aren’t fucking up. Who knows? (Probably ME!) But let me give my back and my palm a rest, and get back to talking Eagles, specifically.
I for one am excited by this, and what it does for our chances to repeat as NFC East champs. Understand, that in a year where there will be no OTA’s, no mini-camp, and an abbreviated Training Camp, having guys who have mastered our systems already, is a massive advantage over teams just learning theirs. There is no learning curve for our guys, so they can just hit the ground running.
Better still, our new players will have an easier time learning, because everywhere they look is an example of a player who knows what he’s doing, and why. Imagine being new somewhere, and the two other people whom you work directly with, are also new. Think of all the communication errors! Or when everyone thinks something was the other person’s responsibility.
The Eagles have accountable teachers from wall to wall. Why monkey with that? Oh yeah. The other thing is, Alshon and Rasul actually make plays. What fool lets that kind of quality walk out the door, without a bonafide successor in the wings, or for a sweet post-Draft trade package?
So you can shut the rumor machines down. The 2020 Draft has passed, and Alshon and Rasul are still rocking midnight green.
DEFENSIVE End Yannick Ngakoue is trying to convince the Jacksonville Jaguars to trade him. Along with his many requests to be elsewhere, are a number of dropped hints as to where he’d like to go. If his hint list did not include the Eagles, I would totally ignore this story. But it does. So I can’t.
Lots of Eagles fans want the Front Office to trade for Ngakoue. He represents something that the Eagles have lacked for a long time now. He’s a pass rusher that opponents will feel they have to game plan for. Not to devalue DE Brandon Graham, but tell me about the year where Graham recorded 10 sacks or more. Don’t waste time looking. For Graham there is no such year.
In fact, the last time an Eagles DE recorded 10 sacks or more in a season was 2011. DE Jason Babin had 18, and DE Trent Cole had 11. No Eagles defensive lineman would notch 10 sacks again, until DT Fletcher Cox posted 10 in 2018.
So yeah. Many Eagles fans are excited by the elements that Ngakoue can add to our Defense. They have visions of double digit sack years dancing in their heads. To which I can only respond:
Excuse me.
Excuse me. I just want to ask a question:
Can Ngakoue thrive as a DE in the NFC East?
Three quarters of the NFC East plays in cities that get inclement weather. None of those teams plays in a dome. Three quarters of the NFC East plays in stadiums near large bodies of water. That means humidity in the air and on the ball, early in the season. It means frost on the turf, and a dry, slick ball, late in the season.
Because the weather can impact the passing game significantly, our division is married to the run in ways that other divisions don’t have to be. Defending the run requires bulk to keep players from wearing down later in the year. It’s why there are no 246 pound starting DE’s in this division. Now guess how much Ngakoue weighs.
Understand, Ngakoue is from Washington D.C., and he played college ball at Maryland. He knows what weather in the region looks like. He grew up with it, and he can undoubtedly add some weight. If he does though, will we be getting the player that we saw with the Jags, or will we be getting Jevon Kearse 2.0?
Funny story, true story. At 11:37 this morning I went looking for a picture of Ngakoue to place in this article. While doing so, I noticed that while there are dozens of pictures of him sacking QB’s, aside from this picture,
it’s really hard to find any pictures of him tackling a RB. (Not that this is a tackle either.) You just can’t live that way in the NFC East. In this division, DE’s also have to play the run.
Also, watching him try to force his way out of Jacksonville makes me very uncomfortable. I’m fine with him wanting to leave. He’s entitled to wanting a different work environment. What I’m not fine with, is the way he’s making a show of it.
He says he wants to go to a team with a winning culture. One of the reasons Jacksonville doesn’t have a winning culture, is because they have players who make individual choices like the path he’s chosen. True strength of character would be to create a winning culture. Instead, he wants to immigrate to a place where the work has already been done. That’s suspect behavior.
You probably expected me to rant about why he’s not worth what Jacksonville is asking in return for him. Fact is, to me it never even needs to get that far. To heck with trading for him. I wouldn’t sign him, if he were an Unrestricted Free Agent. Keep reading.
Other fans see his sacks, and look past all the red flags. He’s talented yes, but he’s a showboat who doesn’t bring more to the table than stats. That’s the antithesis of the Eagles locker room culture. He’s all wrong for the mental make-up of my team. For that reason, he’s better suited to the Browns, Steelers or Cowboys. Or of course, the Jaguars.
That’s our kick-ass GM Howie Roseman. This guy, is a friggin’ GENIUS!
THIS so far, has been a nightmare. So far there doesn’t seem to be a plan. When we left the 2019 season we had obvious holes to fill, and things to strengthen. So get to it, right? Instead what happened, was our GMHowie Roseman, created more holes and has so far left them empty.
Some fans may have been placated by Howie trading for 30 year old CB Darius Slay. That said, I think many will acknowledge that a week earlier, no one was talking about Slay. Everyone (except me) seemed to want CB Byron Jones. As it stands now, Nobody’s First Choice, is thus far Howie’s crowning achievement of 2020.
Six weeks ago (going by talent on rosters), the NFC East was in the bag for the Eagles. Then our GM began just ripping shit up. Got rid of our only complete LB (OLB/MLB Nigel Bradham), a future Hall or Famer (LT Jason Peters), a perennial All-Pro (SS Malcolm Jenkins), the roster’s only down hill runner (RB Jordan Howard) and our leading receiver in Super Bowl 52 (RB Corey Clement).
Howie has left us thin at all of those positions now, and he hasn’t even brought in unproven players to fill those holes. What did we add to our roster you ask? Well shit, let’s take a look!
We got the aforementioned 30 year old CB, a NT (Javon Hargrave) for our 4-3 defense, in a Wide Nine system. We also got a… a… um…
Fuck! Just fuck, man! Fuck! The fuck is he doing, man?! I just want to… All he had to do was… I’m gonna go upstairs, put my head under my pillow, and blow my fuckin’ brains out!
Wait! Better idea.
But it’s no time to panic.
It is after all, still early in the process, and with everything being pushed back a bit, due to a public health concern (WINK!), it theoretically gives the Eagles Front Office more time to weigh all the options. The problem with theoretically, is that other teams are making moves in real-time, which removes some of the options, off the board.
Raise your hand if you’d have liked a serious run at trading for WR DeAndre Hopkins.
How about QB Nick Foles for a 4th rounder (like Chicago paid)? Foles is re-doing his deal so that the Bears can afford him. So, you know. Yay. I’m happy for the Bears. Hey, if you can’t see my eye twitch, or hear the bitterness in my tone, then you might assume that I took that trade in stride.
Hey! CB A.J. Bouye for a 4th rounder (like Denver paid), would have also been nice.
How about signing free agents like MLB Joe Schobert or LB Cory Littleton?! RB Lamar Miller is still out there (coming off an ACL injury) and waiting for a committee role.
Don’t even get me started about us not re-signing Bradham (still unsigned), Peters (still unsigned) Jenkins, Howard, or DE Vinny Curry (still unsigned). Rumor has it that the Jets are interested in Vinny.
I understand the idea of getting younger. I understand the idea of leaning on the draft. What I don’t understand, is the inactivity. What I don’t understand, is what we’re waiting for. What I don’t understand, is the plan.
UGH! Look at this idiot’s face. What’s the plan?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY TEAM!?!?
QUARTERBACKNick Folesis up for trade by the Jacksonville Jaguars. The two questions I keep hearing and reading are “Should we trade for Nick Foles?” and “Do you want the Eagles to trade for Nick Foles?” Funny thing is, many fans treat those like they mean the same thing, but really those two questions are a million miles apart.
Should we? Yes. The Eagles need a back-up QB with Josh McCown unlikely to be back. If we bring in another QB, it should be someone who fits the system, and culture. Someone the roster can rally behind, if our starter gets hurt. Foles meets those qualifications better than anyone else we could put in that #2 slot. In fact, Foles meets those qualifications even better than QB Tom Brady could. And I dare you to argue with that.
Do I want it? Yes. I want anything that obviously helps us be stronger. In January, we watched McCown get hurt and still keep the Eagles in a playoff game. Given that McCown was able to do as much as he did, there is no way that you can convince me that
A) if QB Carson Wentz doesn’t get cheapshot, we still lose that game.
B) if Foles (being more familiar with the roster) stepped in instead of McCown, that we still lose that game.
Eat a dick Clowney.
NOTE: This is not to say that McCown lost that game for us. Far from it. The guy was a gamer for us, and was a hell of a teammate. It would do me proud to see him in midnight green in 2020.
That all having been said, Foles coming here is out of the question, right? We can’t afford him, right? Sit. Have some tea. It’s Blood Orange. Outside the box tea, for outside the box thinking.
The deal that he’s on in Jacksonville? He was never going to be a Jaguar past 2021. Media types were saying that while the ink was still drying on the contract. Only 50 of the 88 million was ever guaranteed, and after 2020 the Jags can either cut Foles and eat 12.5M in dead money, or pay Foles the remaining 53.875 million over two years.
Bottom line: After 2020 Foles is owed just 12.5M if he’s cut. Letting him keep his roster spot exposes the Jags to owing him more money. So he won’t be there under any circumstance in 2021.
Just over a year ago (2/21/2019) I wrote “WHY NOT KEEP NICK FOLES?”. In that article I proposed 50M over 5, with 3 years guaranteed. Putting my GM hat back on a year later, I’d up that ante. 50 over 5, with every red cent guaranteed, with retirement being the only caveat language. If he (or his wife Tori) wants a no-trade clause, add it.
Next to the CBA (whenever it gets done) that’s an easy lift for a ringer in the #2 slot. It guarantees Foles stays until he’s 36 – 37, and basically retires him as an Eagle. A quick call to his agent Justin Schulman, will determine if Foles is amenable to reworking his deal. If so, we need to make the trade.
What about Carson!? (Shrug) What about him? If he and Foles truly have a great relationship, he should welcome it. If he secretly doesn’t want Foles to steal his spotlight, then the next time he volunteers to go into a tent, there should be s’mores involved. “With your shield, or on it.”
But what do we trade them? Hold on. Let’s understand the terrain before we travel any further. Trading Foles is a salary cap purge for them. As I outlined in that article from last year, most teams already have their prospective QB of the future. Thus, trading for Foles is asking for a back-up with an eight figure per year, price tag. Throw in a decent QB Draft pool, and the trade partners get really slim for Jacksonville.
How about we dangle DE Derek Barnett? Unless he has a monster 2020, we’d be silly to pick up his fifth year option after 2020. With them possibly losing DE Yannick Ngakoue, this patches a hole for them, with youth that may have more upside in their system, than in ours.
In fact, since they lost CB A.J. Bouye, I’d sweeten the pot by offering Barnett and CB Sidney Jones. I think Jones has more upside than most fans here do, but I think his confidence will always be an on/off switch. Better to broom him before we have to make any sort of tough financial decisions regarding him.
Admit it. You LOVE the idea.
So we offer something we can’t use, for something they can’t use. We do it before the Draft, so everyone knows what they need to replace as early as possible, and in the process give each other some cap relief, in the time-frames where we each need that space. Afterward, we rework Foles deal to be worth 50M not just 12.5.
Like I wasn’t going to include this.
As I said, these are two very different questions. BTW: If we don’t get Foles, it would be wise to make a push for Jacoby Brissett, and offer him that same 50 over 5 deal.
TOLD you not to watch that game, didn’t I? While watching two episodes of American Dad and channel surfing during commercials, I saw probably 45 to 55 seconds combined, of the entire game, before leaving for work. Meanwhile, many of you ignored my warning, and suffered through that debacle.
I bought a Daily News, an iced mocha, and I took the train from the airport this morning. It gave me time to digest what was reported about the game. When I got home, I looked up the box score for the player stats.
HOLY SHIT! I knew it was going to be a boring shit-show, but c’mon! They just Deebo’d you, for three hours of your life!
They didn’t even try to be worth your time. How do you lose 0 – 6 in a game where the winner the team that didn’t lose, misses 3 field goals?
The big thing in this game was supposed to be that it would help decide who made the 53 man roster. That’s garbage. I told you in Four Things that the roster was already set.
1) DE:Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz like to have five DE’s. The Starters are Brandon Grahamand Derek Barnett. Vinny Curry is the third end who can slide inside to DT in the NASCAR package. That means we need two more. Joe Ostman was lost with an injury, leaving Josh Sweat, Daeshon Hall and rookie Shareef Miller.
Hall has outplayed every pass rusher in the NFL this preseason. He made this team weeks ago. That’s four. Miller has out-competed, out-produced, and out-played Sweat, in every single regard this preseason. Unless we make a trade, if we keep five (like we did last year), Miller has to be fifth, with Hall being an automatic fourth.
2) RB:Wendell Smallwood or Josh Adams? Smallwood isn’t explosive and brings nothing to the table that our other backs don’t. Adams at least has the advantages of size, youth, and the possibility of a hidden upside. We’ve already seen Smallwood’s ceiling. If Smallwood makes the team, he has pictures of someone doing something with a dead girl, or a live boy. We don’t keep Adams if the staff decides to go with six receivers.
3) WR:Everyone wants to say we’re keeping five here. I like six. If Smallwood is cut then Special Teams needs a guy. Mack Hollinswas injured last year, but he’s back now. Greg Wardis a slot guy we need to keep around, if Nelson Agholor is going to be trade bait. It’s easier to keep Ward and then elevate him, rather than cut him, hope no one grabs him, and then have a hole if Aggie is traded.
4) QB: Are we keeping three or four? Who is the back-up? Has the depth chart changed? Nobody cares. Carson Wentz will play until our season ends, and render his back-ups irrelevant.
On The Whole:
I’m just glad this travesty of a preseason is over.
Better still, with the 8 – 4:30 hours at my new job, I’ll be able to catch ALL the games, without watching on a shitty tablet, with a shitty wifi signal that keeps dropping. And no more cramming these articles between the end of work, and desperately needed sleep. (Like I’m doing right now!)
SEEMS like the Redskins are going to make an upgrade to their offensive line. Not a serious upgrade (Chase Roullier is still the Center), but an upgrade none the less. Specifically, they are moving free agent OT Ereck Flowers to LG. The move is pure genius. Which is probably why I saw it coming AND TOLD YOU THAT IT WAS, two months before the Redskins put it out there.
Flowers has been a train wreck at OT, both on the left and the right spots, whether for the giants, Jaguars, or a brief stint in mini-camp for Washington in the absence of LT Trent Williams (who may have played his last snap in DC).
True to form, the brain-trusts both in New York and Jacksonville failed to realize that a powerful mountain of a man who has trouble with speedy/agile opponents, might be better off being moved one space over. The Redskins sort of stumbled over it, and lo and behold, it should work out well for them. Hooray!
Trying to play devil’s advocate it would have made sense not to move him to G, if the giants or Jags had a pair of All-Pro’s both at RG and LG. However, neither team had ONE such player at the time. The giants have since drafted Will Hernandez, who ‘Will’ likely be a good one for a years to come. (And no, I’m not sorry for that pun.) However, I can’t even play devil’s advocate on this one.
The notion that both teams tried him at only two out of five spots, the same two spots mind you, with one team (Jacksonville) knowing the that his prior team tried the same thing, is pure FARCE.
Somewhere out there in NFL-Land, are two front offices loaded with professionals who have degrees, and references, Who’ve logged hundreds, possibly thousands of hours lifetime, of pouring over the details of scouting, and draft minutia, player background investigations, along with interviews they have sat in on, and/or conducted, to say nothing of all the football they’ve watched. The notion that NOT ONE of these professionals ever said “Hey. Could that guy move over just one spot?” is mind-boggling.
Yet there Flowers sits. Smiling that Lennie Small smile. About to greatly benefit a division rival, when he should still be in NY keeping them from having to trade for grossly overpaid journeymen like Kevin Zeitler. Moves like this are why giants fans are always so sad and frustrated.
If Flowers goes onto have a great year in 2019, a handful of people in two cities (but especially New York) should be tied to a stake, doused with gasoline, and simply walked away from. They will likely, accidentally, agree upon a way to set themselves on fire.
LEFT Tackle Andre Dillard! Let me just say that love the pick. Now that you’re no longer in suspense, let me do a little housekeeping. I’m doing something a little different this year. Instead of issuing multiple article covering each day, I’m just going to update this article daily. For those who see links to this through social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.), you will see this same article re-posted, but there will be new content on it.
NOW BACK TO THE DRAFT!
I didn’t do much homework on him initially because from all early indications, both Dillard and OT Jawan Taylor would be off the board by 17, 18 at the latest. There was no way we’d have a shot a top LT at 25. Just no way. So I didn’t do much leg work on them. (As it was, I barely got my Wish Listout on time, this year.)
Then we got to 22 and both players were still on the board. By the time the Draft started I no longer wanted a DT, since we re-signed DT Timmy Jernigan earlier in the day. So it didn’t sting in the least when DT Christian Wilkins went to Miami (which is where I thought he’d go, and so I hoped we’d trade with.) I had no idea what we’d do at 25.
What we did was trade up to 22, trading our 1st (25), one of two picks in the 4th (127), and our 6th (198). At which we took forever before pulling the trigger on a guy who looks to be a better option than OT Halapoulivaati Vaitai, already.
Round 1 (22 overall):LT Andre Dillard.
At about 16 seconds into this video, Dillard steps forward into pass protection, instead of kick sliding backward. Then he does it again at 1:15. Then again at 3:03. And at 3:20. And 4:36. Then once more at 5:29. Keep in mind, these are on pure passing plays. By pure, I mean passing plays which employ no element of play-action.
He won’t be able to do that in the NFL, but when I saw it, I was IMMEDIATELY in love with the pick. (More on that in a sec.) He can get back quickly and deep. In fact (best example) at 3:47, but most of this video shows that his base technique is a shallow step back. So he’ll need a little time to make that slide feel second nature. But that could come as soon as mid-season, so don’t expect this to become a project.
The knock on him is that he isn’t a big-time run blocker, and it’s true. He really he isn’t. At least right now. He comes out high, which exposes too much of his chest. Against a smart defender, that can cause him to be used to trap his RB behind the line, stringing out a run, and giving time for the cavalry to get there. That will get fixed just by the way that O-Line coachJeff Stoutland runs the drills segment of camp.
That’s not to say that Dillard has poor instincts for the run. Quite the opposite. He understands where he has to be relative to the runner’s emergence point. In fact, (best example) at 5:06, you see him make two blocks, and create an alley for a rushing touchdown. He has the eyes and the instincts. He just needs to play in a grown-up offensive system.
A bit ago I said I fell in love, at about 16 second into this video. Really it was more like I started falling after 54 seconds, when I saw that the first step-up block wasn’t a fluke, (but this play included play-action.) However, by 1:15 (pure pass), he had me. He reminded me a little of another kick-ass LT that NEVER allowed a single sack in three years. He reminded me, of me. And that’s not a compliment that I just hand out.
With the cues I see in his game from this video and other videos (those were based on his QB), I think he’ll do great things, not just good things, at the LT position.
Round 2 (53 overall):RB Miles Sanders
Not a bad pick, but not a great one either. My guess is that he’s here to be an upgrade over RB Wendell Smallwood. Similar in body type, but with more speed and better feel for creating in traffic. There’s also no history of him being a reliable receiver.
Generally I like to get video of a player going against a tough opponent. I figure, a tough college opponent will show who a player is, when faced with a challenge. Initially, I went with Penn vs Michigan, but Sanders came up small, and seemed like he didn’t know some of his blocking assignments. So I went with a video vs a lesser opponent, to get an idea of his NFL upside.
If he gets a crack, he can hurt a defense.
Round 2 (57 overall):WR Jose Joaquin “J.J.” Arcega-Whiteside
Jump ball winner. Sort of an Alshon Jeffery-lite, in that even if he’s covered, he’s still open because he’ll win a contested ball. There’s a lot of “arm waving business” early in his routes that cuts into how fast he REALLY get into the route. That’s a shame, because at times he does a nice job with his feet to stem his routes. Fortunately that’s something that coaching may be able to clean up by the end of Training Camp.
Between recent draft picks Mack Hollins and Arcega-Whiteside, and the rumors of moving WR Nelson Agholor, it seems like the Eagles are winding up for a big WR corps, when the contracts of Jeffery and DeSean Jackson expire.
Speaking of Arcega-Whiteside, he needs a nickname. From us! JAW comes to mind, but Ron Jaworskiis already Jaws for us, and Jaws II seems weak. A&W is cute and could have a root beer tie at the stadium, if the fans drive it hard enough. Just some thoughts.
4th round (138 overall):DE Shareef Miller
Miller went few picks earlier that I had pegged him on my Wish List, but he’s not a bad pick in this spot. Not only is it nice to see a Wish Lister in here, but I have to love the fact that he’s a Philadelphia native. Here’s what I said about him in the Wish List:
Miller (6’4″ 254) does a solid job of playing “the run first” on every down. He sets and wins the edge, but doesn’t do a good job of exploiting it when he wins it. Too often he runs himself out of plays, or doesn’t bend inside when he has the Tackle on his heels. These are things that can be fixed quickly with coaching, and should have been already. (Then again PSU’s coaching staff is now infamous for letting some things go on too long.) Given that Chris Long‘s game is also “set the edge–play the run–rush the passer” Miller could be just the rotational player to fill Long’s (on-field) role.
5th Round (167 overall): QB Clayton Thorson
He is CLAYTON! Son of Thor ! Just kidding.
I’ll be damned, but watching this kid move around in the pocket, pick up short yardage and scramble, all reminded me of Carson Wentz. (Go back and check the tape.) He doesn’t have Wentz’s willingness to stick the ball in tight spaces, but that might have more to do with not having the faith, that his skill guys have the skill to make the plays.
That won’t be a problem in Philadelphia. We have all kinds of firepower here. In fact, the question is whether he’ll be able to sit in the saddle and ride such a powerful beast (our Offense). There’s a chance that it could overwhelm the young lad, as he’s never sat so tall, upon such an impressive monster as this.
If he does impress in camp, the fact are Nate Sudfeld was a 6th round pick, not the Eagles draft pick, and only has 25 NFL attempts, with no starts, and no wins on his resume. If Thorson shows some hunger, he might be able to challenge for best view of the name on Wentz’s jersey. At which point having a guy who plays like Wentz will be a heck of an insurance policy against injury.
Shit just got real.
All in all, it was a really good Draft. We had a LT, RB, and WR all fall to us. Grabbed a DE to replenish a loss that may or may not happen, and grabbed a QB who will either sharpen our current, competent back-up, or supplant him. All of those are good things.
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