EAGLES LINEBACKER SITUATION

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/05/23
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

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LINEBACKER Mychal Kendricks was released yesterday. Not long after that, Free Agent acquistion, LB Paul Worrilow, tore his ACL on the first day of OTA’s, effectively ending his 2018 before it started. Given our LB woes from last season after MLB Jordan Hicks went down, Eagles fans are already nervous about where we go from here.

I’m here to say: RELAX. We got this.

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The NFL is loaded to the gills with options for us to cherry-pick a starting caliber LB by July.

Examples would be:

1) Cincinnati’s Vontaze Burfict. Rumors about him being traded to Oakland already were out in March, and that was before the Bengals drafted LB Malik Jefferson in the 3rd round of the 2018 Draft.

2) Speaking of the Draft, Chicago grabbed a LB with their first pick, and they have an absolute glut of 13 bodies at that postion. Most teams roll with 6 to 9, depending on their system. If we can get our grubby mitts on Nick Kwiatkoski, he’s a better option than Worrilow would have been.

3) The Redskins have 14 LB’s, most of which are either well-proven or have intriguing upsides. (Especially in Jim Schwartz’s system). There is no way they get through final cuts without leaving some talent on the cutting room floor. If I know that, they know that, and would rather get something over nothing for that talent. “Paging Howie Roseman!”

This isn’t even taking into account the number of veterans who’ll be June 1st cap casualties. (Looking at my watch) June 1st is how many minutes away? Yeah. We’ll be fine.

Take a deep breath, and remember what I said. RELAX.

KEEP AN EYE ON THE COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/05/19
Posted in: Conversations, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Rivals, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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EAGLES fans have been so buys slapping each other on the back, congratulating ourselves, and singing the praises of GM Howie Roseman, that we almost missed something important. Almost.

Dallas might be teaching the NFL how to afford a QB in the 30 million per year, era. It’s not a lesson that Howie can follow, and you’ll understand why, as I explain why it’s going to work for Dallas (and other teams). It does however indicate, that the Cowboys front office is developing the ability to think ahead, and not just live one season at a time.

Cowboys QB, Dak Prescott, is about to be three quarters through his rookie deal, with Free Agency looming after the 2019 season. Given routine inflation, and any 2019 deals that could move the needle, Dallas clearly would be better served signing Prescott to a long-term extension after the 2018 season. That’s why there are conversations about this issue happening two seasons ahead.

Cowboys GM Stephen Jones said, just last Wednesday “You kind of, when the time comes, [expect to pay him]. I know Dak is going to have a good year this year. I hope it’s up there. It’s going to be as he deserves.”

He expects Prescott to have a good year? Really? How? By allowing his two primary weapons for 2017 to walk, and not replacing them? By shifting to a more run-oriented approach? By not improving the defense, which will force more shootouts which the Cowboys aren’t armed for? Seems like it will be hard for Prescott to even reach the 22.5 passing touchdown he’s averaged per season so far.

I find it interesting that the focus of the offseason has been to make the Cowboys offense more “Dak friendly”. Not more “Dak led” or “Dak keyed” or “Dak centered”. The term is “Dak friendly”. Look up each of those phrases, and tell me what you find. FYI: You’ll find more of THIS.

Whether most of their fan base accepts it or not, the Cowboys are in re-build mode. Understanding that they can’t compete for the division this year, their front office has decided to tank Prescott’s 2018, to help control their future costs. (Sort of like the Philadelphia 76ers tanked for years to contribute to “The Process”.)

The Cowboys went 13-3 in Prescott’s rookie year, then went 9-7 last year, with his play being reflective of both years. One more down year and he’ll look like a QB in regression, so he won’t “deserve” top dollar. From anyone. (Which helps keeps any bidding down.) At that point Dallas can sign him for multiple years, at a rate closer to 2016 top QB prices than to 2020’s top QB prices.

This is why Dallas isn’t getting him any real weapons. They’re capping his upside now, to be able to afford a team later. It’s a pretty cagey move on their part. Otherwise they’re stuck with creating holes all over their roster, to overpay their QB and RB in couple years.

The Eagles can’t follow that example, because now there is an air of extreme expectation among us fans. When the time comes, QB Carson Wentz will command a boatload of money, and many well-loved veterans are going to hit the cutting room floor, to make that affordable. Sorry Eagles fans, but it’s true. (Unless Howie has more tricks up his sleeve.)

That’s where these 11 draft picks fit in:

Rd    How acquired

1       Eagles’ own pick

2       Eagles’ own pick

3       Eagles’ own pick

4       Eagles’ own pick

4       Compensatory pick (Trey Burton)

5       Eagles’ own pick

6       Eagles’ own pick

6       Compensatory pick (Beau Allen)

6       Compensatory pick (Patrick Robinson)

7       Eagles’ own pick

7      (Conditional. Acquired from Broncos for Allen Barbre – Exact conditions not yet known)

Dallas has yet to learn how to leverage draft picks as well as Philadelphia does. That leaves them having to sacrifice the entire 2018 season, in order to control future costs.

Still, for anyone who’s scratching their heads over how and why Dallas is operating these days, now you get their plan. It’s pretty fool-proof too. I have to commend Dallas on this one. Which is why I’m hoping that Prescott has a great statistical year, despite the team being under .500 for the year.

Keep an eye on the Cowboys this year. This will be fun to watch. One way or the other.

Statler and Waldorf

MAJOR NFC EAST POWER SHIFT

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/05/10
Posted in: Conversations, NFC East, NFL, Preview, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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LESS than a month ago, on April 13th I predicted that the Eagles would win the NFC East, that Dallas would finish second, Washington third at 6-10, and New York would finish last at 5-11.

It’s a Pre-Draft prediction, and I deliberately go out on limb for it. My record is 1-2 on these so far, because in the first two years, I didn’t change my prediction after the Draft, even though my gut screamed at me to do so. I refuse to make that mistake again, this year.

I’m officially changing my NFC East prediction. 

First things first. The Eagles will still win the division. Last year we did what we did, while short-handed, after a crazy injury bug seemed to target ONLY our key players. Law of averages (and general NFL history) says that we won’t have it as bad, for a second year in a row.

As for our key players who had to watch our Super Bowl win, while in their street clothes…There’ll be no complacency or Super Bowl hangover for them to battle. So there’ll be a bunch of key players playing hungry, and looking to prove something. This means the Eagles should be an even harder team to contend with in 2018, than we were in 2017.

It’s a good thing for the Eagles that the team will be a better team in 2018, because a certain team in the NFC East has stepped it’s game up. That team would be the giants.

The giants looked like a 5-11 team with the potential for 0-16, but then they had a strong Draft, which made their Free Agent moves more than just the sum of their parts. Drafting G Will Hernandez, now ties the entire offense together. If the giants had a decent replacement for Jason Pierre-Paul, they might have a decent defense in 2018. As it is, they’re an offensive team who’ll finish second in the East. That being said, jumping from basement to second place, indicates that the giants are headed in the correct direction. No mockery or sarcasm here. New GM Dave Gettleman deserves a round of applause.

The Redskins will still finish third. Washington had a quietly solid Draft, which seems weird after they gave an ancient, underachieving QB (Alex Smith), a fuck-ton of guaranteed money. It’s hard to tell if they’re arming for the future, or deliberately trying to harm themselves. Until recently, they’d been having the worst offseason of any team in the NFC East. Then the door flew open, and a new challenger yelled “Hold my beer, and watch this.”….

The Cowboys are on a diving board, doing a belly-flop into an empty pool. Screwing over WR Dez Bryant was one thing. Replacing him with shrugworthy draft pick WR Michael Gallup, or free agent WR Allen Hurns was another. Losing TE Jason Witten’s leadership won’t help at all. Lastly, moving CB Byron Jones from the corner to FS, was an attempt to make room for Seahawk FS Earl Thomas, but that has yet to actually happen. (If ever.) The Cowboys offseason has fallen into a woodchipper, and so they’ve fallen from second to last in projections.

Prediction: Eagles 11-5. Giants 9-7. Redskins 7-9. Cowboys 6-10

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This picture has NOTHING to do with the article.

IS JERNIGAN’S INJURY DESTINY FOR VAEAO?

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/05/07
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Players, Roster, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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NEXT man up! After recent surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back, DT Timmy Jernigan will be out for 4 to 6 months. That means he’s going to miss OTA’s, any mini-camps, and likely most (if not all), of training camp and all four preseason games.

Upon his return to action during the season, he probably won’t be in proper football shape just yet. That opens the door for someone to step up and push for Jenigan’s starting role. Specifically DT Destiny Vaeao. Understand that “push” for the starting role, and “challenge” for the starting role mean very different things here.

By “push” I mean that if Jernigan is out longer than anticipated, the starting role would lean more towards one player inheriting it, than towards having several players split it.

To “challenge” would mean that Vaeao showed enough to make coaches consider taking the starting role from Jernigan. So far Vaeao hasn’t shown himself to be that player. However, in all fairness, he’s never had an opportunity to start and/or play extensively.

This however could be his opportunity, despite there being five other DT’s on the roster. Let me explain why it should be him and not the other five:

1) Timmy Jernigan – He’s out, and that’s the reason his spot is open.

2) Fletcher Cox – He’s already starting, so he can’t be competition.

3) Haloti Ngata – He’s the no-brainer pick to start, right? Wrong. He wasn’t brought here to play extensive minutes on a weekly basis, early in the season. Running him down early compromises him for when we’ll really need him.

4) Elijah Qualls – He wasn’t active for 10 of 16 games last season. He didn’t even start during preseason Week 3, or the regular season’s Week 17 garbage game, so it’s unlikely that he’d get the nod while the season is still on the line.

5) Winston Craig – He didn’t start a single preseason game in 2017, and didn’t make cutdowns last year. He was brought back AFTER the Super Bowl. He might have just been a camp body if Jernigan didn’t have surgery, but if he acts up in camp, he could use this opportunity to challenge Qualls for his roster spot.

All this makes the spot Vaeao’s to lose. Unless of course, the Eagles fuck up and opt to overuse Ngata, which undercuts the plan for him, and in turn undercuts the whole Defense. The Eagles are too smart to Eli things up that bad.

So keep your eyes focused on the interior of our Defense during camp and preseason. It’ll give you something to root for, until the NFL begins throwing us franchises to eat on September 9th.

2018 DRAFT REPORT

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/05/01
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Draft, Offense, Players, Reviews, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

 

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GETTING it right. To me, that’s always the most important part. I could have put out a Draft Report on Sunday, but I wanted to make sure that I got it right. So I took my time, and I went over each of our picks.

Repeatedly.

Often times, people base Draft grades on whether or not an NFL team picked “good” college players, instead of if those players can contribute anything unique to the team that drafted them. After all, addressing weakness really is the point, right?

So let’s talk about our weaknesses. We headed into the Draft needing a TE who can help with blocking for the run; an OT for the future; depth or maybe a potential starter at OLB; a reserve SS, and a KR/PR.

That’s what we needed. So what did we get?

1st round/ Nothing. We didn’t have a pick in that round.

2nd round/ TE Dallas Goedert – I don’t get this pick. Yes, he can catch, but his lack of effort at blocking is going to get someone killed. This is why I try to use game video, not highlights. Look at him down in and down out, and you’ll see what I mean about his blocking.

Grade: C

3rd round/ Nothing. Yet again, no picks.

4th round/ CB Avonte Maddox – Remember what I said about game video vs highlights? Well I can’t find any game video of Maddox, just highlights. Many of which look more like the offense making a mistake, and less like him making a play. Word is that he’s a candidate to be a Nickle CB, but he looks a little grabby for the inside.

Grade: D

4th round/ DE Josh Sweat – There’s talk that this guy can drop into coverage, but given how well he sets an edge (from either DE spot), we may want to keep this guy with his hand on the ground. He plays bigger than 250, and even seems to hold up well inside the 5, with his back to the end zone. This is a great value pick, as you can see by how he competes and produces vs top competition. He lacks a quick first step, but turned loose in the Wide 9, this guy might be a nightmare.

Grade: A

5th round/ Odd numbered round. So yet again we didn’t draft a football player out of college.

6th round/ RT Matt Pryor – We took a RT in the 6th round and he looks like a 6th round RT. There was no video of him specifically, so I’m using a game film for his team’s RB (Kyle Hicks.) Pryor’s work ethic and athletic prowess (such that it is) are on display. You’ll decide if you’re excited by what you see. I however, was not. Grade: D

7th round/ OT Jordan Mailata – Has never played a down of football of any kind (Pop Warner to college). Yet he somehow managed to get into the draft pool, and get picked ahead of actual football players. Unlike other sources, I’m not going to try to hype him by showing video of him playing Rugby, since it’s a totally different sport with him doing something totally different than he’d do as an OT.  Besides, we already have an Australian rules football player that we’ve not successfully converted to TE. A second experiment of this nature, seems like the waste of a pick. BUT! Maybe he’ll prove me wrong and become a perennial All-pro. Grade: F

Largely, I don’t like this year’s Draft much, but that’s okay. For several reasons, it was sort of a hard Draft for me to get excited over. We didn’t really have any glaring needs to address, so our team didn’t go looking for a player to rally around, or who one who could rescue us.

For Philadelphia, this year’s Draft was a re-stocking event. It was canned goods and peanut butter. Ketchup, sugar, and dry pasta. Coffee-mate and a carton of Kools. I love you, Mom.

 

2018 DRAFT WISH LIST

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/04/23
Posted in: Defense, Draft, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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PHILADELPHIA just won a Super Bowl. We’re picking 32nd. We don’t need new starters, because many are signed through the next few years. Even our primary back-ups are gold nuggets.

Thanks to General Manager Howie Roseman, the Eagles boast what is almost certainly the NFL’s most complete and deepest roster. There are some thinnish spots (OLB and TE) and some older spots (LT, C, WR, and DE), but it’s nothing that a strong Draft can’t smoothly pave over. All we need is a strong Draft.

And therein lies the problem.

This Draft has some goodies tat he top of it, and some nifty do-dads near the bottom, but the middle is like a vast wasteland, if your team isn’t desperate for talent. I almost wish we could reserve our picks, and sit this year out. However, that’s not how this works.

So I put together a Wishlist of prospects that I’d like to see the Eagles use our picks on. (Provided we don’t trade out of spot.) This list is less about the individuals talent that they bring to the team, and more about how they fit into what we do already. View this list with that in mind.

1) Round 1 Pick 32 (#32 overall): LT – CONNOR WILLIAMS

Word is that he’s fallen off since getting hurt, but we don’t want him bringing his college game/technique to the NFL in the first place. He’s got a good motor, a mean streak, and unlike our current back-up LT, he doesn’t have heavy feet. As usual, I prefer using game tape over using a highlight reel if I can. That way you see what a player is like, down in and down out.

 

2) Round 4 Pick 30 (#130 overall): LT – BRANDON PARKER

He run blocks with the attitude of RT. No sin in having a matching set of young Tackles ready to go, in case of retirement and or injury.

 

3) Round 4 Pick 32 (#132 overall): LB – GENARD AVERY

Now is where it gets weird. Avery has a 5th or 6t round grade on him, but to Hell with that. Less important than where we get a guy, is THAT we get a guy who does what we need. He may not be there later, so get him now. He’s a powerful guy playing in a scheme that suits him poorly. He’s moved around the formation (inside the box, on the edge, matched up in man), so he offers the chance to be a 3 down player.

 

4) Round 5 Pick 32 (#169 overall): RB – CHRIS WARREN III

“Warren has a 7th round grade on him! Why reach and get him this early??! Draft picks aren’t free! This isn’t Madden, dumbass!” I hear you, I hear you. Take a breath and let me ask you: “Will we miss LeGarrette Blount?” What if we we could replace him with a younger, cheaper player who already has some pass protection polish to his game? He won’t start, but he can fill that third RB role. Look at the WHOLE tape and tell me that he’s not worth a 5th rounder.

 

5) Round 6 Pick 32 (#206 overall): LB – DORIAN O’DANIEL

He’s more of a Nickle LB/Safety tweener, which we have a couple of already. The whole idea is to draft a Special Teams coverage Ace, who can also play some actual defense.

 

6) Round 7 Pick 32 (#250 overall): WR/RS – QUADREE HENDERSON

I’m not a big fan of highlight videos. However, given that so much of what this guy does is on Special Teams, it seemed silly to look for regular downs-type game video. Take a look and tell me if he reminds you of anyone.

 

So that’s what the Draft would look like if I had my way. I mean it’s pressure-free! Seriously, what do you get for the team that has everything? This Draft is a restocking run. That’s it. It’s a replenishment of depth, where hopefully we’ll find more gold in this Draft.

So lets get prospectin’! I meant, uh drafting.

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THE 2018 SCHEDULE

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/04/20
Posted in: Conversations, Reviews, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

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YOU can’t tell, but right now, I’m dancing in my chair. For the second year in a row, the schedule makers have smiled upon Philadelphia, and given the Eagles a pretty good schedule. It’s not a great schedule, but it’s a pretty good one. It’s also a tough one.

While a good schedule doesn’t mean a team will win their division, a bad one can easily act as an obstacle, or magnify the effect of existing obstacles like opponents, and injuries.

This year’s schedule includes a Week 9 Bye. Not too shabby. That’s a week off, smack-dab in the literal middle of the 17 week season. Eight games on, one week off, then eight games on. While I’m glad it’s not an early Bye (meaning anything earlier than Week 6), it would be better if it it fell on Week 10, 11 or 12. But Week 9 will do.

It’s a good schedule, but we do get plucked in the eye a few times. It’s a tough run, but there are only two points where we have short turnarounds of less than 7 days:

  • Week 6 at the giants, after facing Minnesota 4 days earlier. However, that’s not so bad considering that the giants are also on a 4 day turnaround, after visiting the Panthers. So both of our teams will be about as tired as the other. Sauce for the goose.
  • Week 14 at Dallas, after we duke it out with Washington 6 days earlier. A double stack of division games! Yummy! And we get to go on the road to Dallas! After they’ve had 10 days of rest. (Me no likey, the this one here.) Sometimes the placement of a game can make it hard to win it. This is one of those.

Then, after two weeks of war and emotional exhaustion vs Washington, and Dallas, we get to play the Rams in their home, on Week 15. This three week stretch could be the most dangerous part of the year.

In fact, the entire second half of the season is loaded with land mines. Five division games, and meetings with both the Saints and the Rams. All of which is fine, because a champion should be served a challenge.

It’s a tough schedule, but it’s a good one.