Michael Bennett

All posts tagged Michael Bennett

CHRIS LONG IS A NO-BRAINER

Posted by The BEAST on 2019/01/27
Posted in: Conspiracy Corner, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, Players, Rivals, Roster, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

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NEXT year DE Chris Long is due 3.5M$ in the final year of his contract. That’s a pittance for what we’re getting in exchange. Aside from being a reliable, productive player, Long is an extremely high-quality person off the field. On the field, he plays starter level minutes, but he never bitches that he doesn’t get to start, and doesn’t make starter level money. (Note: Over the last two seasons, Long has more sacks (11.5) than any giant besides starter Olivier Vernon (13.5).

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Every time the giants overpay a former Dolphin, an Eagle gets his wings.

Chris is rare. Our odds of finding another player like him, are staggeringly low. When he leaves, regardless of how he leaves, we will miss him. Even if we find another player like him, we’ll have a situation where we could have had two like him. There is no getting around the fact that we are better with him. And Jerome forbid, Long should go to a division rival, like the aforementioned giants! 

So keeping Long should be a no-brainer.

He said that he’s mulling retirement. However he also said “I’m literally just kind of sitting back and seeing what the Eagles do, and who they bring in, or don’t bring in, and how deep that room gets.” And he also said “Listen, I know I’m an older guy. But, you know, I don’t think I’ve missed a practice over the last two years. I feel like I’ve been durable and ready when called upon.” In addition to that, and most importantly, he said “I’d like to play football in 2019”.

Let me run that by you one mo’ ‘gin: “I’d like to play football in 2019”.

What you just read were multiple examples of a guy quietly making his case. He’s saying to the Front Office that he’s still viable. That he still has good football in him. He’s waiting for the Eagles to say “Chris, we’d like you back. Will you come back?” That’s it. That’s what the man is waiting for. He has a contract, he just wants to know if Executive Vice President of Football Operations (EVPF– Fuck it), GM Howie Roseman wants him to stay.

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Last year (March 2018) when he was mulling retirement, I said we’d be fine at DE, even with the loss of he and Vinny Curry. However at that time, Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett and Steven Means were all under contract, and we’d even added Micheal Bennett.

As I said in RE-ARMING FOR WAR, the loss of Graham and Long, (Steven Means now plays in Atlanta), would leave us with Bennett, Barnett (returning from injury), and second year DE Josh Sweat. Sweat is also returning from injury, and he didn’t really flash before he got hurt.

So we need Long. We need him for character, depth, production and even tactically. Yeah, tactically. He understands the nuances of what his spot demands situationally, for this scheme. So if on a given down, he needs to freelance, he can do it without downgrading the integrity of the unit. You can’t get that from a new player. Even if that player is a ten year vet.

This is a phone call. This is that phone call that Reggie White and Brian Dawkins didn’t get from the Front Office. Not to put Long on that level, but the ease of resolving this situation is similar. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot if we don’t. This is easy. We need to get this done.

It’s a no-brainer.

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Don’t worry. Howie is smarter than this… Right?

 

 

2018 SEASON REVIEW: QUARTER THREE

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/12/08
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFC East, NFL, Offense, Players, playoffs, Reviews, Roster, Special Teams, stats. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

SEASON Reviews are usually done at the end of the season. (Duh, right?) A few are done at the halfway mark, and/or at the end. Starting in 2017, Eaglemaniacal.com began treating the season like a game, and breaking it into four quarters. Since football is a hard sport, we’ll take a hard look, at where our team stands at the moment (in relation to where it started), and where it needs to go.

STATUS: 6 – 6 overall, 3 – 1 division, 4 – 5 conference, 2nd in the NFC East

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OPPONENTS:

L: Dallas (7 – 5)

L: New Orleans (10 – 2)

W: New York Giants (4 – 8)

W: Washington Redskins (6 – 6)

OVERVIEW:

Find a run game! Three of our next 4 games are division rivals, and we can’t beat them if we can’t run.

That was the stated mission for this quarter, and we’ve done that over the last couple of weeks. The result was two straight wins for the first time this season. Offensively the Eagles seem to have found a balance, and therefore a rhythm, which has eluded our team for most of the season.

Injuries have been a huge problem for the second year in a row, but the team looks as if it’s coping now. Players (particularly on Defense), asked the coaches to simplify things within the schemes, and it’s been paying off. Especially in the Secondary. It remains to be seen if we can apply these lessons to teams who are above .500. for example, though Washington was 6 – 5 when we encountered them, they were a team in free-fall, that had lost 3 of it’s previous 4 games. We need to beat a team in good standing. Lucky for us, we get 3 in a row starting Sunday.

GRADES:

QB: (C) Aside from an abysmal game at New Orleans, Carson Wentz has been solid this quarter. Not great, but solid. That being said, forcing the ball to a new WR, leaning on the TE, rarely throwing the deep ball, and not using his legs to pick up cheap yardage, has marred this quarter for him. He’s been competent, but if we’re going to get to and win playoff games, then we need to see him be spectacular.

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RB: (B) Elevating rookie Josh Adams and ending the Wendell Smallwood experiment, may have saved the season. The Eagles now have a legitimate rushing attack, and are now balanced because of it. Darren Sproles has just made his way off the injured list, and into the end zone, and Corey Clement looks to be fully healed from his quad injury. (Tidbit: We are 5 – 0 in games where Clement has double digit carries.) This unit isn’t as dangerous as it was a year ago, but it’s a damned sight better than it was a month ago.

TE: (A) We have Zach Ertz. Like legs in a brothel, he’s always open. With 93 grabs already, he’s the second leading receiver in the NFL. As if that wasn’t enough, we have rookie Dallas Goedert, who is already better than some starters in this league.

WR: (D) Alshon Jeffrey hasn’t reached 49 yards in any of the last 5 games. The deep ball has disappeared from our arsenal. Attempts to force-feed the ball to Golden Tate have (until this last game) been a dismal failure. Nelson Agholor needs to be switched out for Jordan Matthews in the slot.

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OT: (C) Jason Peters is giving everything he has. It seems unfair that he should have to go through this, but I don’t want to be the guy who attempts to drag him off the field. He’ll play until he can’t. Lane Johnson has had better seasons. Still waiting to see him assert his will on that right side. Halapoulivaati Vaitai is better suited to the right.

OG: (D) Not a great year in terms of communication of assignments, and free-runners into the backfield. Running the ball should help at least slow rushers, as they’ll actually have to read the play, depending on down and distance. Given Brandon Brooks history of being quietly solid, the knee-jerk reaction is to blame the less than stalwart, Isaac Seumalo. However, it really does seems to be an issue of communication.

C: (D) Communication on the interior isn’t sharp, and there have been too many false start/simulating the snap type penalties this year on Jason Kelce.

DE: (C) During this quarter, this position is playing extremely sound, team-concept football. They are where they need to be to allow the rest of the front to flow around them. Delivering big plays in key moments however, is a weakness for this unit. Michael Bennett and Brandon Graham have combined for 5.5 sacks in the last four games, but neither man has had back to back games with a sack, nor are they scaring QB’s into throwing interceptions.

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DT: (D) If Fletcher Cox was the only player at this position, the grade would be an “A”. Since he isn’t, the grade is much lower. Timmy Jernigan is just two weeks in, working his way back from back surgery, so judgment on him will be held in abeyance. Haloti Ngata and Treyvon Hester on the other hand… neither is an every down player. However, injury has forced them to be. This allows teams to focus more on Cox than they otherwise would be able to.

OLB: (C) One pass deflection. That is the only non-tackle stat that Nigel Bradham or Kamu Grugier-Hill has produced in four weeks. One pass deflection. KGH has all of 29 tackles to this point in the year. We simply don’t attack with them enough.

MLB: (C) Soooo, Jordan Hicks is hurt. Again. Are you surprised? Prior to that, he’d been steady (not spectacular) this quarter. Filling in for him these last two games, is OLB/S tweener Nate Gerry. Gerry has had some issues with his run fits, and needs to play more downhill, to get in an O-lineman’s face before that lineman gets any momentum going. His diving interception against the Redskins was nice though.

S: (B) Malcolm Jenkins played lights out this quarter, making visible, tangible impacts on the outcomes of the Eagles last two victories. Getting back Corey Graham from injury has been big for the communication in the Secondary, and now deep balls down the middle are no longer a gimme. Injured CB/S Avonte Maddox filled in gamely until Graham got back, but being a rook, there were things he just hadn’t seen and could be exposed by.

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CB: (F) Rasul Douglas, Sidney Jones, Cre’Von LeBlanc, DeVante Bausby, Chandon Sullivan. All five have started at least one game in the last four weeks and in that ENTIRE group, there isn’t so much as a single pass break-up. Not one. No sacks. No picks. Nothing. Some guys flash traits here or there, but by and large, the Eagles either have to re-evaluate the defensive system, or the way that Cornerback talent is scouted.

LS: (B) Reliable.

P: (B) Cam Johnston was good this quarter, but not quite a weapon. Of his 10 punts, 6 were returned for 39 yards (6.5ypr). He is also still struggling not to out-kick his coverage, as only 5 of his 47 punts this season, have been downed near the goal line. No NFL Punter has fewer.

K: (A) Jake Elliott is 7 for 7 over the last four games, with no extra point misses. Only 3 of his 17 kickoffs in that span have been returned.

Jake Elliott 9.24.2017

PR/KR: (D) The picture here changes too often for it to be anything but a liability.

KC: (B) No scores allowed yet. However, teams have threatened on a few occasions.
SINCE LAST QUARTER:

The mission for this quarter was “Find a run game”, and we did that. That has set the table for less abuse on our QB, and it has given our Defense chances to catch a breather, as they review what the opposing offense is trying to do.

Since finding this formula, we haven’t had to play anybody of consequence, but that has given us a real opportunity to test out what we’ve learned, and lean on it. Aside from an utter shit-canning from the Saints, every game in this quarter was either a win or contested to the very end.

MISSION FOR THIS QUARTER:

Put it all together and finish strong. We’re 6 – 6 today. We don’t see the playoffs with a record of less than 9 – 7. Running the table would be awesome, but (barring a miracle of mathematics) we have to have three of these four. Seeing more mobility from Wentz would go a long way towards getting that done.

THIS CAN STILL WORK

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/03/26
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Players, playoffs, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

 

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THE indictment of DE Michael Bennett is something the Eagles need to deal with. If he were still on his Seattle contract, then I’d say this is all on him. I’d say he was owed nothing, since he’s done nothing for the team, nor his new teammates, nor the fans in the community.

However, when he got here, he quickly re-did his deal to free up cap space for the Eagles. Where I come from (Philadelphia), when someone does you a solid, you do them one back. (Maybe even two.) So it’s on the Eagles organization to not distance themselves from this (fucking mess), once Bennett turns himself in.

If the NFL is going to suspend Bennett for violation of Personal Conduct Policy, then the NFL should say so as soon as possible. That way Bennett can start serving it as soon as possible. There is no upside to fighting a suspension here. Even if Bennett is found ‘Not Guilty’, the public will demand a pound of flesh from him. Get it over and done with, so that football can be the focus again.

While he’s out however, poses an interesting question about how his base salary and amortized bonus is paid out. (By the way, this is the only place you’re going to even see this subject brought up. If you hear someone talking about it next week, you’ll know where they got it from.)

With a base salary of 1.65M$, Bennett’s base game-check is 103K. His 5M$ roster bonus (if broken up and distributed through each game-check), is 312,500$. That’s a weekly payout of 415,500$. Over six games, that’s 2,493,000$. That much money can have significant bearing on the salary cap for 2018.

Look, the 5M$ roster bonus is guaranteed to Bennett. The only question is how and when it gets to him. That being said, there is no reason that this incident (which the Eagles and the NFL are trusting wasn’t hidden for a year by Seattle), should negatively impact the Eagles.

The only fair move here, is for the NFL to grant the Eagles 2.5M$ in cap space from Bennett’s 2018 contract, if they suspend him. Of course, we’d still be without his expertise for 6 weeks or so, but there may be a solution on the horizon for that DE spot.

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Last year, DE/OLB Connor Barwin played for the Rams for a base salary of 2M and a roster bonus of 1.5M, total hit 3.5M$. Barwin doesn’t fit as an every down 4-3 DE, but he can play that spot in a rotation. He also has some experience as a LB in coverage, so he offers a little (though very little) scheme versatility.

The question is, would Barwin come back to Philly for a shot at a ring, and to play in a scheme that doesn’t wear him down, but instead keeps him fresh? The answer is that according to a GQ article  from March 5th, the Barwins were leaving Malibu California, to wait out free agency in here in Philadelphia. The entire world to choose from, and they come here.

There’s your answer.

In true Philly style, the idea isn’t to avoid a mess, but to make the best of one. To see the opportunity in the middle of a crisis. Not to create a mess, but to expertly manage one. As we’ve been doing since the days of the Lenape and the Swedes. We can MAKE this work.

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IF CHRIS LONG RETIRES

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/03/22
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Roster. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

The Long Family

WORD on the street is that the Eagles want to extend DE Chris Long until the end of the 2019 season, but he has yet to give the okey-doke on it. Losing Long and DE Vinny Curry in the same offseason seems like it would be a blow, despite the signing of DE Michael Bennett. While Bennett is a very disruptive player, he still can’t play two DE spots at one time.

Then again, he doesn’t need to. Fact is, DE Derek Barnett was getting Curry’s starting RDE spot anyway. What we really are replacing in 2018 isn’t Curry, but Barnett on the second wave. That’s what Bennett is for. So the right side is buttoned up already. Even before the Draft.

If Long retires, it would give DE Steven Means the opportunity to be part of the second wave. I’m not saying that Means and Long are the same, but Means has shown serious flashes (preseason and regular) over the last two years. If we have to rely on him, I wouldn’t be the least bit worried about a lack of effort or intensity, when LDE Brandon Graham came off the field.

We’re in great hands.

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Of course if we lose both Long and Curry, some media pundits will tell you that the Eagles defensive line has taken a step back. They’d be dead wrong. Our dominance isn’t about star players. It’s about having players who are ideal for the scheme we run.

That’s why we can sign these declining stars. The media, lack-luster coaches, and mis-educated fans, will focus on the name. Meanwhile the Eagles can add scheme fit after scheme fit. God help the NFL if the Eagles actually added a bonafide star in their prime to this line.

No disrespect to Graham, but if the Eagles put someone like Ezekiel Ansah, or Joey Bosa, or Cameron Wake next to DT Fletcher Cox, it would be letting the NFL know that the Super Bowl ran through Philadelphia for the foreseeable future. (It would also be hella expensive!) However, if we find scheme fits, we can still be dominant without breaking the bank.

Even if Long retires, the Eagles are fine at DE. We already have Means, plus there’s a Draft coming, and there will even be a number of free agents released after that. So now… Let’s all wish Long well. Regardless of what he chooses. But I don’t want you to hang your eye. Not for a second. Chin up!

Take heart Eagles fans. No matter how this all shakes out, we will be fine.

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FREE AGENCY 2018: DAY 1

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/03/15
Posted in: Defense, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

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THE object of the game is to get better than we were. The question is: Did we?

With the expiration of some contracts, we lost players like RB’s Darren Sproles and LeGarrette Blount; DT Beau Allen; TE Trey Burton, LB Nigel Bradham and CB Patrick Robinson. An additional hole was created with the release of TE Brent Celek.

As for those holes, the Eagles replaced Allen with DT Haloti Ngata, in a move that could actually be seen as an upgrade. Bradham was brought back on a new deal. The loss of Robinson was offset by the trade of WR Torrey Smith for CB Daryl Worley. We also added DE Michael Bennett in case we have to cut DE Vinny Curry for cap space. We also added a back-up LB in Corey Nelson. 

Remaining holes going into Day 2 of Free Agency? TE and uh… well nothing. At least as far as players are concerned. However, we still need to make a ton of space to get under the salary cap. Technically we don’t actually have to be compliant until Week One, but the sooner we are, the easier everyone will sleep.

All and all though, it wasn’t a bad Day 1. It was pretty green actually. 

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WHAT MICHAEL BENNETT MEANS

Posted by The BEAST on 2018/03/08
Posted in: Conversations, Defense, Front Office (F.O.), Players, Roster, trade. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

(2a.m., coffee bathes the lower halves of my pupils, fingers flying, ‘No Church In the Wild’ on repeat, on repeat, on repeat.)

(Whispering) Run with me.

TRADING away a 5th round pick and WR Marcus Johnson, to get DE Michael Bennett and a 7th round pick, seems like a steal on the surface. A fiery, veteran pass rusher, who’s used to winning? That sounds like a guy any defense would be happy to have in their starting line-up. Clearly we crushed the fuck out of this trade.

Whoa now. Pump the brakes. While there’s no knocking the addition of Bennett, his being added to the roster signals two things.

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The first thing is that, the Eagles are about to release DE Vinny Curry, in move that’s designed to save the team $5M of the $11M he’s scheduled to be paid in 2018. (Initially I’d put my feelings about that in this article, but it hijacked the article’s tone. So, I decided to relocate those paragraphs. They’re still part of the original draft, they just weren’t added to what you can see here.)

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The second thing it signals is, Derek Barnett will now become our starting RDE. No surprise there. That was the plan from the moment he was drafted on the steps to the Art Museum’s East Door last Spring. However, Curry’s contract still had guaranteed money on it, and that didn’t facilitate Curry being a back-up in 2017. So Barnett sat lat year.

That was last year.

It remains to be seen how this will affect our run defense however, since Curry was our best DE against the run in 2017. Curry did an excellent job of setting the edge of the defense last season, and keeping runs from successfully bouncing wide, on his side. It remains to be seen if Barnett can hold it down the same way.

For his part, Bennett is here to be the 2018 version of Chris Long. A veteran player who probably isn’t as good as he used to be over 16 full games, but might be awesome over 16 half games. There can be no doubt that he will put heat on QB’s, and probably make our four man pass rush even more effective than it was in 2017.

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While Bennett can be moved around pretty much anywhere on the Defensive Line, he’s likely to mainly line up at RDE. I love that. A QB who sees Bennett lined up on his blind-side, is already thinking of quickly dumping the ball. Even before the ball is snapped. That’s already a rushed pass.

Basically Bennett means we can intimidate opposing passers, just because of where we line him up. Not bad Howie Roseman. Not bad at all.

Oh yeah, just because I put this out, doesn’t mean I skipped out on today’s THE 12 article.  You can find that right HERE

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