Everyone is saying the most 2023 Eagles way to end this season is to get blown out on the road by the NFC South. I disagree.

The most Eagles way to end the 2023 season would be for them to win next week, for Dallas to lose, still get the #2 seed. And then....

Lose in embarrassing fashion to the 7 seed at home.

21 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Reddick - top 7 pass rusher in the NFL, pro bowler, all pro

Jalen Carter - very good DT already, potential to be the best in the NFL for a decade

Jordan Davis - meh

Cox - good DT who’d start on many teams. Not elite anymore.

Williams - solid NFL DT who’d be in any team’s rotation

Sweat - very good edge who’s having a down year. Not elite, but with a better defensive coordinator I think would be annual double digit sacks.

Morrow - sucks

Dean - so far, sucks

Cunningham - doesn’t suck, but meh

Leonard - sucks, washed

Slay - still good, would start on many teams

Bradberry - looks washed, but has been up and down lately wouldn’t surprise me if he bounced back next year with a better coordinator, but as of now looks washed

Blankenship - does nothing special, but won’t lose your games. Merely decent.

Byard - meh. Can do worse, can do a lot better

Maddox - hard to say, has been injured. Usually very good when healthy.

Graham - not what he used to be, but still a quality depth edge

Nolan Smith - meh so far, but potential.

 

That’s my evals of the defense.

Reddick— good just not DPOY level like last year 

Carter— like you said. But he’s not hargrave yet. And you had only him and asking Williams and Davis to play more to replace hargrave, suh and Joseph. 

Davis— he’s basically bunkley/Mike Patterson right now

Cox— shouldn’t be playing the amount of snaps he is. Still solid. Should be a 3rd DT not playing 50% of snaps 

Williams— overrated. He played significantly better last year down the stretch. He’s reverted to what he was his rookie year and early 2022. His inability to play consistently like he did last year down the stretch is part of their depth issues along the line. Id argue he regressed from where he was at the end of last year 

morrow— JAG

cunningham— average but in 30s shouldn’t expect him to just play all 17 games and playoff games

dean— not good

Leonard— washed

slay— again 32 years old. Shouldn’t expect a 32+ year old corner to hold up all 17 games. He’s about to miss a quarter of the season.

Bradberry— bad. His career has been this. Good then dramatic drop off. So not surprising that he’s an issue. It’s been his MO. So that’s a personnel problem 

Blankenship— he’d be fine in Marcus Epps role. However you don’t have the personnel beside him to make him be in that role. So again that’s not putting him in a better position, you dont have good enough personnel.

Byard— he was slow and not very good with the titans before coming here. He’s been the same. Again another his name has more value than his performance with the titans and eagles this year. He’s a personnel problem.

Maddox— always hurt. Again personnel problem. Can’t put him in a better position with a DC unless that Dc has some fairy dust to make him less injury prone. Dude is always Fing hurt.

graham— isn’t as good as last year. Solid rotational player but he is also not nearly as good as he was 2022. I don’t think that’s putting him in a better position. He’s declining as he’s old. 

Smith— unknown and personnel problem and coaching issue. Coaching issue cause can’t develop him faster. And personnel cause how good is he really when he isn’t playing along the best players in college football. And he didn’t stay healthy in college 

brown— should’ve never been relying on a 3rd round rookie to have to contribute right away. And he missed a bunch of time. Personnel problem as he wasn’t and shouldn’t have been counted on his much as a rookie. But we had too cause edmunds was a JAG and Evans is injury prone and we knew this when we signed him  

jobe, ringo and ricks— backups at the moment. They don’t have enough experience or reps to know what else they are. Having to rely on them isn’t putting them in a better position but a personnel problem

I said this 4 weeks ago, their positional groups are bad. All were downgraded in the off-season. To what extent the downgrade is the argument. I would argue at safety, linebacker and defensive line depth was massively downgraded. And I would argue because of the regression of Bradberry and Maddox not staying healthy and not having another slot corner to jump in like CJGJ your cb position has also downgraded. not one spot on this defense where they got better personnel wise. 

Just now, Sack that QB said:

Everyone is saying the most 2023 Eagles way to end this season is to get blown out on the road by the NFC South. I disagree.

The most Eagles way to end the 2023 season would be for them to win next week, for Dallas to lose, still get the #2 seed. And then....

Lose at home in embarrassing fashion to the 7 seed at home.

I think their stage is set.  Commanders don’t even want to win.  Dallas is already the division champs.

They’ll play an ugly game against Baker and the Bucs that goes down to the final drive.  Coin toss win or lose…like every game they’ve played this year except SF and Dallas.  If they lose the coin toss, our misery ends.  If they win the coin toss, they can go to SF and get their doors blown off one last time.

2 hours ago, Casey @ Bat said:

See you next week!

I'll be in hell. At Fed ex Field

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Reddick— good just not DPOY like last year 

Carter— like you said. But he’s not hargrave yet. And you had only him and asking Williams and Davis to play more to replace hargrave, suh and Joseph. 

Davis— he’s basically bunkley/Mike Patterson right now

Cox— shouldn’t be playing the amount of snaps he is. Still solid. Should be a 3rd DT not playing 50% of snaps 

Williams— overrated. He played significantly better last year down the stretch. He’s reverted to what he was his rookie year and early 2022. His inability to play consistently like he did last year down the stretch is part of their depth issues along the line. Id argue he regressed from where he was at the end of last year 

morrow— JAG

cunningham— average but in 30s shouldn’t expect him to just play all 17 games and playoff games

dean— not good

Leonard— washed

slay— again 32 years old. Shouldn’t expect a 32+ year old corner to hold up all 17 games. He’s about to miss a quarter of the season.

Bradberry— bad. His career has been this. Good then dramatic drop off. So not surprising that he’s an issue. It’s been his MO. So that’s a personnel problem 

Blankenship— he’d be fine in Marcus Epps role. However you don’t have the personnel beside him to make him be in that role. So again that’s not putting him in a better position, you dont have good enough personnel.

Byard— he was slow and not very good with the titans before coming here. He’s been the same. Again another his name has more value than his performance with the titans and eagles this year. He’s a personnel problem.

Maddox— always hurt. Again personnel problem. Can’t put him in a better position with a DC unless that Dc has some fairy dust to make him less injury prone. Dude is always Fing hurt.

graham— isn’t as good as last year. Solid rotational player but he is also not nearly as good as he was 2022. I don’t think that’s putting him in a better position. He’s declining as he’s old. 

Smith— unknown and personnel problem and coaching issue. Coaching issue cause can’t develop him faster. And personnel cause how good is he really when he isn’t playing along the best players in college football. And he didn’t stay healthy in college 

brown— should’ve never been relying on a 3rd round rookie to have to contribute right away. And he missed a bunch of time. Personnel problem as he wasn’t and shouldn’t have been counted on his much as a rookie 

jobe, ringo and ricks— backups at the moment. They don’t have enough experience or reps to know what else they are. Having to rely on them isn’t putting them in a better position but a personnel problem 

Ben VanSumeren - Kyle Juszczyk 

2 hours ago, DaEagles4Life said:

Edgerrin Cooper is a flat out stud

 

 

I heard this name on a podcast about 2 months ago as a guy who was going to be a riser in the draft. From what I recall, if theres a knock on the top LBs, including this guy, its that none of them are really coverage guys.

BUT, they all seem to have the athletic profile to be able to do it at an adequate level. Its just a skill that will need to be developed over time. 

7 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Reddick— good just not DPOY level like last year 

Carter— like you said. But he’s not hargrave yet. And you had only him and asking Williams and Davis to play more to replace hargrave, suh and Joseph. 

Davis— he’s basically bunkley/Mike Patterson right now

Cox— shouldn’t be playing the amount of snaps he is. Still solid. Should be a 3rd DT not playing 50% of snaps 

Williams— overrated. He played significantly better last year down the stretch. He’s reverted to what he was his rookie year and early 2022. His inability to play consistently like he did last year down the stretch is part of their depth issues along the line. Id argue he regressed from where he was at the end of last year 

morrow— JAG

cunningham— average but in 30s shouldn’t expect him to just play all 17 games and playoff games

dean— not good

Leonard— washed

slay— again 32 years old. Shouldn’t expect a 32+ year old corner to hold up all 17 games. He’s about to miss a quarter of the season.

Bradberry— bad. His career has been this. Good then dramatic drop off. So not surprising that he’s an issue. It’s been his MO. So that’s a personnel problem 

Blankenship— he’d be fine in Marcus Epps role. However you don’t have the personnel beside him to make him be in that role. So again that’s not putting him in a better position, you dont have good enough personnel.

Byard— he was slow and not very good with the titans before coming here. He’s been the same. Again another his name has more value than his performance with the titans and eagles this year. He’s a personnel problem.

Maddox— always hurt. Again personnel problem. Can’t put him in a better position with a DC unless that Dc has some fairy dust to make him less injury prone. Dude is always Fing hurt.

graham— isn’t as good as last year. Solid rotational player but he is also not nearly as good as he was 2022. I don’t think that’s putting him in a better position. He’s declining as he’s old. 

Smith— unknown and personnel problem and coaching issue. Coaching issue cause can’t develop him faster. And personnel cause how good is he really when he isn’t playing along the best players in college football. And he didn’t stay healthy in college 

brown— should’ve never been relying on a 3rd round rookie to have to contribute right away. And he missed a bunch of time. Personnel problem as he wasn’t and shouldn’t have been counted on his much as a rookie 

jobe, ringo and ricks— backups at the moment. They don’t have enough experience or reps to know what else they are. Having to rely on them isn’t putting them in a better position but a personnel problem

I said this 4 weeks ago, their positional groups are bad. All were downgraded in the off-season. To what extent the downgrade is the argument. I would argue at safety, linebacker and defensive line depth was massively downgraded. And I would argue because of the regression of Bradberry and Maddox not staying healthy and not having another slot corner to jump in like CJGJ your cb position has also downgraded. You not one spot on this defense where they got better personnel wise. 

Comparing them to last season is something I don't really care about. I think it's much more relevant to compare them to the rest of the NFL this season. I think talent-wise, they are not a bottom 5 defense, but they're playing like one because of bad coaching. So when I say they aren't this bad, I believe being terribly coached you're getting the absolute worst version of this defense, where if you had a good coach he'd be able to cover up some flaws.

And I do believe you can turn things around with one good offseason. Could have a drastically improved defense next year, just like the Eagles did from 2021 to 2022. Needs to start with getting a real coordinator.

6 minutes ago, BDawk_ASamuel said:

They’ll give Nick every opportunity to turn it around as long as he plays ball the way Lurie and Roseman want their coaches to. Doug was fired because he was defiant. Chip was gone because he lost the players and the power struggle with Roseman. 
 

We’re basically at the Scangarello point in the ever-repeating time loop of this team. But they need to hit this time on whoever they bring in from the outside. 

Yup that’s how i view it. We aren’t at the point yet where sirianni is going to be in a power struggle or defiant with howie/lurie. I still think the FO likes sirianni and i think he’ll still work with Lurie/howie in trying to fix it.  I don’t believe all the players have just quit on him. It looks like that on defense cause their defensive personnel and DC are bad. i think guys on offense are frustrated but i don’t think they’ve given up on sirianni yet. 

That might very well change next year. But at this point i think the smart money is on going to the outside to bring in someone to help sirianni on the offensive side. 

Siri is a poser. He rode the coattails of 2 coordinators last year who are the both HC now in the NFL.

He in of himself has no added value to contribute.

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

Everyone says I’m so negative.  I’ll be watching next Sunday.  Even if they bench all the starters.  And I’ll be there wringing my hands when their season ends at the hands of either the Bucs or 49ers.  We’ll learn a bit of what to expect for the future from these 2-3 games.

I already know I want the focus of the offseason to be rebuilding the back 7. Most specifically, 3 premium additions to the LB and CB positions.

If they go with Blankenship and Brown as the safeties, Im ok with that. If Ringo or Ricks start and improve I can probably live with that too. But you need at least 2 legitimate starting LBs, and 1 starting CB. Out of the draft and free agency thats not too much to ask. Theyll also need to make sure they have Center, and RT succession plans in place, and a WR3.

I think it can all be done.

New OC and DC. WITH EXPERIENCE.

Ill feel pretty confident going in to the new season with those changes. 

Just now, D-Shiznit said:

Siri is a poser. He rode the coattails of 2 coordinators last year who are the both HC now in the NFL.

He in of himself has no added value to contribute.

He also has butthole eyes 

If I’m Smitty, I’m flat-out refusing to block on screens after what happened today.

9 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Comparing them to last season is something I don't really care about. I think it's much more relevant to compare them to the rest of the NFL this season. I think talent-wise, they are not a bottom 5 defense, but they're playing like one because of bad coaching. So when I say they aren't this bad, I believe being terribly coached you're getting the absolute worst version of this defense, where if you had a good coach he'd be able to cover up some flaws.

And I do believe you can turn things around with one good offseason. Could have a drastically improved defense next year, just like the Eagles did from 2021 to 2022. Needs to start with getting a real coordinator.

Ok compare them to the rest of the nfl. Bradberry isn’t top half of the league. No coaching is fixing the fact he’s declining and not very good. Byard isn’t top half of the league. Eagles two DCs and vrabel couldn’t get him playing like years past this year. So maybe he’s just not very good this year coaching or not. Their linebackers might arguably be be worst in the league.

Cox and graham should be backups at this stage of their career.

Davis is probably middle of the road. Williams is a backup player 

Blankenship isn’t going to be better with coaching. It’s he needs a better safety tandem then declined byard and a rookie who’s not ready to play significant snaps 

Slay missing a quarter of the season cause he’s old and his body is wearing down isn’t going to be helped by coaching  

Carter and reddick might be the only two players at their position that are top 10 in the league at their position 

can say they aren’t bottom 5 with better coach. I’d argue they’d still be bottom half of the league which isn’t good enough personnel to win what you want to win 

yes, they need better coaching from their DC. However even if belichick was here their personnel isn’t good enough to compete with offenses like ravens and niners. Likely better but still getting destroyed by good offenses. So you have a big jump to make personnel wise. 

JMO…this offseason, I’d like to spend their FA $$$ on CB and LB for immediate juice there.  

Draft picks I’d spend on RT, RDE, CB, and WR depth.

 

LB: They need instant help at LB…but not a stud…just not a total disaster.  Don’t overpay with a 1st round pick just to get instant help.  Fork over some $$$ and get a proven LB starter in FA.

CB: Slay is in a linear decline and there’s no telling when that is going to change to a more ominous rate.  They need 3, THREE CBs for the future.  Need all the help they can get…and they need it immediately.  Unfortunately, the best CBs on the market this year will be 28 and up.  I’d rather not jump into that pool.  The most intriguing guy under 26 is Jeff Okudah.  Despite being a very high pick, he won’t command a massive deal thanks to being on his second team and having the history of Achilles injury.  He won’t be cheap either, but there’s a chance the Eagles could actually afford him.

S: This is going to have to be the position they neglect, IMO.  Too much other work to do.  I think they have to pray that Blankenship/Brown emerge as a viable duo.  I think there is more reason for hope there than there is for the other positions that aren’t playing well right now…so I think they just need to leave it be.

 

22 minutes ago, DawkinsOwnage03 said:

Whose brilliant idea was it to go into the season with no lbs?

Edwards and White were under appreciated and underated by Howie. He thought they were easily replaceable. I guess he was wrong.

They need young cost controlled studs in the back 7. Their first round pick needs to be on defense. Lane’s replacement be damned. Deal with that later when it happens, they need to start putting together young quality playmakers on that defense.

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

JMO…this offseason, I’d like to spend their FA $$$ on CB and LB for immediate juice there.  

Draft picks I’d spend on RT, RDE, CB, and WR depth.

 

LB: They need instant help at LB…but not a stud…just not a total disaster.  Don’t overpay with a 1st round pick just to get instant help.  Fork over some $$$ and get a proven LB starter in FA.

CB: Slay is in a linear decline and there’s no telling when that is going to change to a more ominous rate.  They need 3, THREE CBs for the future.  Need all the help they can get…and they need it immediately.  Unfortunately, the best CBs on the market this year will be 28 and up.  I’d rather not jump into that pool.  The most intriguing guy under 26 is Jeff Okudah.  Despite being a very high pick, he won’t command a massive deal thanks to being on his second team and having the history of Achilles injury.  He won’t be cheap either, but there’s a chance the Eagles could actually afford him.

S: This is going to have to be the position they neglect, IMO.  Too much other work to do.  I think they have to pray that Blankenship/Brown emerge as a viable duo.  I think there is more reason for hope there than there is for the other positions that aren’t playing well right now…so I think they just need to leave it be.

 

I’d argue jaylon Johnson is the best available CB in FA and is 24. Problem is you have too much money invested in bradberry and slay in contracts that leave a ton of dead money  and cap hits 

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I’d argue jaylon Johnson is the best available CB in FA and is 24. Problem is you have too much money invested in bradberry and slay in contracts that leave a ton of dead money  and cap hits 

Maybe a trade can be found? Remember no one ever thought Howie could trade Kiko Alonso. 

4 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

I already know I want the focus of the offseason to be rebuilding the back 7. Most specifically, 3 premium additions to the LB and CB positions.

If they go with Blankenship and Brown as the safeties, Im ok with that. If Ringo or Ricks start and improve I can probably live with that too. But you need at least 2 legitimate starting LBs, and 1 starting CB. Out of the draft and free agency thats not too much to ask. Theyll also need to make sure they have Center, and RT succession plans in place, and a WR3.

I think it can all be done.

New OC and DC. WITH EXPERIENCE.

Ill feel pretty confident going in to the new season with those changes. 

First of all, I think Lowie better have the wisdom at this point to realize that it doesn’t ALL have to be done.  Don’t over-extend trying to address every hole.

Somehow adding a stud CB, a really good LB, and a future stud RT is a home run of an offseason…even if they totally neglect the other CB spots, LB2, and safety.  Those additions alone are going to elevate the replacement parts they use to fill the other spots.

Contrast that with trading down, reaching for need, signing multiples of tier 3 FAs and adding a new body at literally every spot we were unhappy with last year…only to find that most of these forced additions suck themselves.

Do less, but do it really well.  That adage probably means handing 2024 starting jobs to Blankenship, Brown, Ringo, and a scrub LB2 competition involving Dean and some randoms.  But if they do find a stud CB, a really good LB1, sort out the RT future, and maybe even get a RDE to short-term rotate long-term replace Sweat…that’s a great offseason.  That’s actually a lot to ask though.  

By the way I told you all Maddox wouldnt make a difference as he is not good. Got a couple confusey face emojies. Like, some of you guys completely forgot what hes like on the field because he is hurt so much. Hes not good. Hes an automatic completion out there. 

 

The good news is people keep talking up this Indy gambling guy we got. So we may already have one new "starting" CB nest year. If we can sign Jaylon Johnson, and one mid-tier Kyzir White type LB thats a home run free agency. Draft another LB in the first 3 rounds and we are on the right track to rebuilding the defense.

Just now, HazletonEagle said:

Maybe a trade can be found? Remember no one ever thought Howie could trade Kiko Alonso. 

The issue is more the amount of cap space it takes to deal slay and bradberry. Both are gonna have to be before june 1st trades. So if you trade slay prior to June 1st it’s 33 mil dead money and 22.8 mil cap hit. If you trade bradberry prior to June 1st it’s a 16 mil dead money and 11.3 mil cap hit 

1 minute ago, eagle45 said:

First of all, I think Lowie better have the wisdom at this point to realize that it doesn’t ALL have to be done.  Don’t over-extend trying to address every hole.

Somehow adding a stud CB, a really good LB, and a future stud RT is a home run of an offseason…even if they totally neglect the other CB spots, LB2, and safety.  Those additions alone are going to elevate the replacement parts they use to fill the other spots.

Contrast that with trading down, reaching for need, signing multiples of tier 3 FAs and adding a new body at literally every spot we were unhappy with last year…only to find that most of these forced additions suck themselves.

Do less, but do it really well.  That adage probably means handing 2024 starting jobs to Blankenship, Brown, Ringo, and a scrub LB2 competition involving Dean and some randoms.  But if they do find a stud CB, a really good LB1, sort out the RT future, and maybe even get a RDE to short-term rotate long-term replace Sweat…that’s a great offseason.  That’s actually a lot to ask though.  

They also need a quality RB, TE2 and WR3 

Embarrassing that possibly the last game at the linc for kelce was what we saw today. If they don't win the division they're losing a road playoff game and thats how an era ends.

6 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I’d argue jaylon Johnson is the best available CB in FA and is 24. Problem is you have too much money invested in bradberry and slay in contracts that leave a ton of dead money  and cap hits 

I’d like to see Bradberry in the slot for the balance of the year.  That’s where he should have been today.  He’s going to be a cap anchor next year either way…if he could actually do that while on the roster and serviceably filling the slot, that would be a win.

Slay is probably well equipped for the slot, but I’m going to go ahead and hot take it that there’s a 0% he’s enough of a team guy to make that transition.

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

The issue is more the amount of cap space it takes to deal slay and bradberry. Both are gonna have to be before june 1st trades. So if you trade slay prior to June 1st it’s 33 mil dead money and 22.8 mil cap hit. If you trade bradberry prior to June 1st it’s a 16 mil dead money and 11.3 mil cap hit 

Id most likely be keeping Slay. Hes still useful. Find the least harmful way to get rid of Bradberry, and do it.