Eagles Notebook

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Eagles Notebook

Posted: October 13th, 2023 | Author: Tommy Lawlor 

Reed Blankenship leads the Eagles in tackles, pass deflections and interceptions. The second-year safety has emerged as a key player in the secondary. The only problem is that one safety isn’t enough. You need Wes Hopkins and Andre Waters. You need Brian Dawkins and Quintin Mikell. You need Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod.

Reed Blankenship and…

The Eagles signed Justin Evans and Terrell Edmunds hoping that one of them might emerge as a starter. Evans has been solid, but has also been hurt. Edmunds was terrible when he started against Washington.

The team drafted Sydney Brown with the hope that he would be a long term partner for Blankenship. Brown has dealt with injuries so we’ve only seen a bit of him in action.

I just watched part of the Broncos-Chiefs game and it was hard not to notice safety Justin Simmons, who might be available in a trade. It would be tempting to go get him for this season. Brown might be a long term answer, but Simmons is a stud now and has familiarity with the Fangio scheme. He has more INTs of Patrick Mahomes than any other player. That tells you he’s pretty good. He’s also a strong, physical tackler. Simmons will turn 30 next month so the Broncos might be willing to deal him as they look toward the future.

If he is truly available, Howie Roseman needs to make a call and find out what the price is.

*****

Brown missed last week. He’s been a limited participant this week, but hopefully will play. I don’t want Edmunds starting if that is at all avoidable.

*****

Speaking of the injury report…

Jalen Carter is on there with an ankle. That’s not good. The Jets have a bad OL. You want a healthy DL so you can dominate that battle. Fletcher Cox is healthy and will play. That’s great news with the strong start he’s had to the season.

*****

Need a compelling roster move? Here you go.

No shocker. The Eagles needed some stability at punter. Mann has hardly set the world on fire, but he’s been good enough so far. We’ll see if he can prove to be an effective solution for the rest of the year.

*****

We all know Jason Kelce is a stud. Here is a good discussion of how valuable he is, especially on the push play.

I do wish Landon Dickerson got more attention for what he does on those plays. Dickerson explodes off the ball and has the power to get movement. That creates space for Hurts to move forward.

*****

Will Nakobe Dean play this weekend? He’s back at practice so the Eagles have 21 days to decide when to activate him. It would be great to get Dean back on the field. The LBs have played well in his absence, but Dean is someone you want out there.

It will be interesting to see if he plays this weekend.

It will also be interesting to see what the coaches do. Is is Dean/Cunningham or do they go Dean/Morrow? There are arguments for both. Heck, maybe they’ll play all three of them and try to figure out the best way to get something out of all of them.

*****

Jets RB Breece Hall averages 7.2 yards per carry. He is an explosive runner with multiple long runs already this year. Dealing with him won’t be easy.

But…

The Eagles are doing a great job against the run this year. They haven’t faced a really good back yet so this will be a big test for them.

Defenses don’t have to fear Zach Wilson so this is a week to focus on the run and stopping Hall.

http://igglesblitz.com/2023/10/eagles-notebook-52/