6 minutes ago, Random Reglar said:

And then - AJ Brown got hurt.

Why did he get hurt? 

2 minutes ago, Random Reglar said:

I had no idea why the Eagles drafted him in the first place,  but it isn't uncommon for teams to draft on day 3 a QB3 project.  Those QB3 projects rarely actually do anything.  So,  things are going the way they typically do.  McKee is tall, and a lot of NFL teams like tall QBs.  So there is that.

Because you need to be able to practice too. 

 

Decent money

Either the Eagles had zero interest or he had zero interest in Fangio. Either way, not remotely happy or satisfied with what they've done at LB. Coming off the season they had, it's kind of annoying tbh.

3 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Either the Eagles had zero interest or he had zero interest in Fangio. Either way, not remotely happy or satisfied with what they've done at LB. Coming off the season they had, it's kind of annoying tbh.

There’s nothing left at LB on the market besides Cunningham. Definitely disappointing. 

3 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Either the Eagles had zero interest or he had zero interest in Fangio. Either way, not remotely happy or satisfied with what they've done at LB. Coming off the season they had, it's kind of annoying tbh.

Yep oddly with a new OC & DC they brought in no new players who played for either yet. Might mean nothing or something

Just now, ManuManu said:

There’s nothing left at LB on the market besides Cunningham. Definitely disappointing. 

Trade, draft or bust

Just now, ManuManu said:

There’s nothing left at LB on the market besides Cunningham. Definitely disappointing. 

Still holding out hope that they look at Justin Simmons at safety.  Will be upset if he goes to SF.  

 

6 hours ago, Swoop said:

RTK

That makes sense now. 

8 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Either the Eagles had zero interest or he had zero interest in Fangio. Either way, not remotely happy or satisfied with what they've done at LB. Coming off the season they had, it's kind of annoying tbh.

Well it's certainly not Howie's fault lol oh wait

10 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Either the Eagles had zero interest or he had zero interest in Fangio. Either way, not remotely happy or satisfied with what they've done at LB. Coming off the season they had, it's kind of annoying tbh.

Beyond annoying. I was skeptical of Howie rebuilding this defense and was hoping we would sign another front office guy who has a history of success on the defensive side of the ball to help out with this rebuild. Didn't do that.
 

Howie had 50 mil under the cap to fix this defense and it feels very underwhelming. Not like we had a very good D with just a couple missing pieces, this thing needed a makeover and I think it just wasn't a very good job overall. Time will tell obviously. I think Simmons would help a lot right now but they're just not going to do it. 

1 hour ago, Mike030270 said:

Was just going to mention this. Don't know why people are using that as some sort of positive argument for him. It really just points out how he's a bust relative to his draft position

A first round draft pick is going to battle it out for the backup position after being in the league for 2 years. That's not a selling point

People bring up Steelers being a mess of an organization. Chargers are a freaking mess and yet Herbert was putting up stats

Well, I guess we know now that Pickett isn’t as good as Herbert. Glad you cleared that up. 

20 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Either the Eagles had zero interest or he had zero interest in Fangio. Either way, not remotely happy or satisfied with what they've done at LB. Coming off the season they had, it's kind of annoying tbh.

I don't want to get my hopes up for a LB in the 2nd like Cooper or Wilson, because we've been let down at the LB position so long. But given the way free agency has gone, one of those should be a selection in the 2nd. But I fear Howie will trade the picks or use them on another position instead. 

3 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Well, I guess we know now that Pickett isn’t as good as Herbert. Glad you cleared that up. 

You're welcome

7 minutes ago, greendestiny27 said:

Beyond annoying. I was skeptical of Howie rebuilding this defense and was hoping we would sign another front office guy who has a history of success on the defensive side of the ball to help out with this rebuild. Didn't do that.
 

Howie had 50 mil under the cap to fix this defense and it feels very underwhelming. Not like we had a very good D with just a couple missing pieces, this thing needed a makeover and I think it just wasn't a very good job overall. Time will tell obviously. I think Simmons would help a lot right now but they're just not going to do it. 

I agree with Simmons and the need to do more.  Even losing Cox & the possibility of Maddox are negatives and that's assuming Reddick stays which seems iffy.  All that said they added CJGJ & Huff on multi-year deals and you don't usually add more than 2 guys like that.  We'll see if they fill in any holes still. They are definitely still there

1 hour ago, Random Reglar said:

what do you mean,  specifically?

"haven't done before"
high school counts.

A fact of the football world is that a lot of football players play multiple positions in high school.  They play well at both positions they play.  But, almost always,  they play only 1 position in college.  I believe that those players have the positional competence to play multiple positions.

Specifically.  VanSumeren was a Fullback for the Michigan Wolverines.  He has the full amount of positional competence needed.  

Give me Versatile Freakbeasts.    Versatile,  meaning the ability to play multiple positions.  Freakbeasts meaning,  super high RAS,  or,  even better,  super high sparq,  but sparq disappeared from the internet. 

Coach Em Up.

Maybe teams don't do that now,  teaching players to play better is just not a thing now.  Collective bargaining means that there are no more practices.  Maybe.  I don't know. 

You might have noticed that I've been putting youtube video and hudl video of players doing exactly what I want them to do with the Eagles.  Proving their positional competence. 

Since you asked for it,  here's VanSumeren doing catching, running, blocking and throwing in high school. 

http://www.hudl.com/v/2Hpkwm

That's a VanSumeren hudl,   it starts with graphics saying what he thought he was.  WR/ATH.  The video,  Junior season highlights,  starts with VanSumeren taking a snap from the shotgun,  much like Hurts does,  and runs outside for a nice gain.  So,  I look at that,  and I see "positional competence".   I also look for "general competence"  and wonderlic is good for that,  but we can't see those numbers,  so I make note of various scholastic achievements.   In VanSumerens case,  I note that he got offers from Harvard and Yale, so he's smart,  and has good marks for "general competence".

I understand that many people are angered because the NFL is not quite as dull and generic as they want it to be.  I want less dull and less generic.

I look for the best athletes,  who can do the most stuff,  who cost the least.  Others seem to just repeat what they see on TV or maybe sports talk radio.  Those shows are just the same basic stuff for the same basic people who aren't doing anything close to research with any point to it.  

I had VanSumeren on my day 3 of the draft udfa list.   Nobody else had one of those (ok, maybe a couple),  and they did take VanSumeren, and I was pleased,  and eventually he got a start and was the best ILB on the Eagles last year.  Best PFF at ILB.  Most Eagles fans don't know who he is,  and want someone else,  someone more expensive and more famous.    I turned in a different day 3 udfa wish list to the Ravens.   I had Keaton Mitchell on that,  the Ravens took him,  I was pleased,  and he ended up with a 92 before getting hurt.

I'm pretty confident that I'm just flat out good at this,  and I see little evidence that anyone else is even trying to do this,  trying to find players who are cheap yet versatile and great athletes.  The top argument here is "because Howie fills future needs on the OL sometimes,  Howie will always dedicate top resources to the OL for largely theoretical future needs on the OL".    An equally good argument is that Howie will draft the largest overseas rugby player he can find in the 7th round,  because he did that,  and it worked extremely well.

 

Dunning. Kruger. 

Yeah, coming into the offseason, my top needs were: S, CB, LB, Slot WR.

Of those, they've added CJGJ, Devin White, and Devante Parker.

Of the above 3, I feel only CJGJ can play. And as much as I love his game, he's not exactly Antoine Winfield Jr. And has injury issues. And Parker isn't even a slot guy to begin with.

Most of their attention has been spent at edge and RB. Two areas I didn't consider major issues in 2023.

And we obviously still have the draft to go, but say they trade Reddick for a pick tomorrow. Is the defense on paper currently better than last season's? I think Reddick would be a bigger loss than CJGJ and White would be a gain. He's their best defensive player. And I know they signed Huff, and I do like his potential, but it's a simple fact that we don't know for sure he'll turn into this yearly double digit sack guy here. He's a projection.

They have a helluva lot of work left to do on defense. And they won't have enough picks to do it all, so more signings and/or trades have to be on the way.

1 hour ago, Iggles25 said:

Big fan of Grable.

Think he winds up being an above-average starter somewhere. Also has that G-T versatility which is enticing.

I'm onboard with him in the late RDs.

But I've prepared myself and accepted Howie won't be able to resist OT in RD1.

Hey, alright,  another Grable fan!  I'll be typing his name a lot more times.  

He's moving up the mock draft database.  Currently at

I'd overdraft him,  not too concerned about whether I could have gotten him in a later round.  Right now he'd be the first of the 5th round picks, for me.

Ras wise,  he's the #2 OT,  after Joe Alt,  #1 Guard,  Tied with Alt for #1 Center,  both with 10 ras there.   Grable had a faster 40/20/10, better vert and broad.  Alt is taller and heavier.

That G-T versatility is something more theoretical than based on what has happened yet.  His size fits for T-G-C,  he's lighter,  heavier than Lane was coming out of college by 3 pounds,  but he's been a Tackle the whole time he's been on the OL.

He did play Tight End in college (like Lane).  And I'm thinking Blocking TE year one as all the backups wait for the starters to retire.  The reason I like him the most is that former high school QBs only rarely become the fastest/strongest OL,  and Tyler Grable has.  Bonus is that he was FCS All America, honorable mention all Big 12 so he was good, too.

Here's a full 3 hour high school game with Tylan Grable at Quarterback
 

 

18 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Yeah, coming into the offseason, my top needs were: S, CB, LB, Slot WR.

Of those, they've added CJGJ, Devin White, and Devante Parker.

Of the above 3, I feel only CJGJ can play. And as much as I love his game, he's not exactly Antoine Winfield Jr. And has injury issues. And Parker isn't even a slot guy to begin with.

Most of their attention has been spent at edge and RB. Two areas I didn't consider major issues in 2023.

And we obviously still have the draft to go, but say they trade Reddick for a pick tomorrow. Is the defense on paper currently better than last season's? I think Reddick would be a bigger loss than CJGJ and White would be a gain. He's their best defensive player. And I know they signed Huff, and I do like his potential, but it's a simple fact that we don't know for sure he'll turn into this yearly double digit sack guy here. He's a projection.

They have a helluva lot of work left to do on defense. And they won't have enough picks to do it all, so more signings and/or trades have to be on the way.

One nitpick: RB absolutely was a need with only Gainwell the only significant under contract. 

1 hour ago, BigEFly said:

BigEFly is happy to hear this. Glad Howie is reading my posts about Rice.

@Iggles_Phan this is my Justin Jefferson pick this year.  

Good choice.   Its not a position of desperate need for the Eagles like it was back then... but I hear ya.

25 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Yeah, coming into the offseason, my top needs were: S, CB, LB, Slot WR.

Of those, they've added CJGJ, Devin White, and Devante Parker.

Of the above 3, I feel only CJGJ can play. And as much as I love his game, he's not exactly Antoine Winfield Jr. And has injury issues. And Parker isn't even a slot guy to begin with.

Most of their attention has been spent at edge and RB. Two areas I didn't consider major issues in 2023.

And we obviously still have the draft to go, but say they trade Reddick for a pick tomorrow. Is the defense on paper currently better than last season's? I think Reddick would be a bigger loss than CJGJ and White would be a gain. He's their best defensive player. And I know they signed Huff, and I do like his potential, but it's a simple fact that we don't know for sure he'll turn into this yearly double digit sack guy here. He's a projection.

They have a helluva lot of work left to do on defense. And they won't have enough picks to do it all, so more signings and/or trades have to be on the way.

And that's not even weighing the loss of Cox who contributed more than expected last season.  And while Avonte didn't play currently they really don't even have a body to pencil in there.  D still has a long way to go.  I feel like this draft is good for slot WR and with Devonta's contract coming up I can see not spending there.

BOOM

lol