Just now, Iggles_Phan said:

When was the last time he got hot?

I mean through about 8 weeks he had a decent return on sacks? And last year he was pretty good for a #2 DE. But yeah I take your point.

Just now, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

You just giving us a list of all the LB's that we won't be getting? 😉

Morrow is on the list!

Just now, ManuManu said:

Morrow is on the list!

OK so there may be one or two of the bottom feeders.

20 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

The Broncos drafted a guy (Surtain) and have gotten 3 years of premium CB play at the cost of an entry level contract at $5M per season for 4 years, with a 5th year team option.  That's the correct way to do it.  The next team Surtain goes to will be paying $20M per season for a decreased level of play -- see Jalen Ramsey -- while giving up multiple draft picks.  That's not the correct way to do it.

Draft a guy.  

 

Also - The Rams traded for Ramsey in the middle of the 2019 season after he spent the first four years of his career in Jacksonville. Ramsey, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, had 77 tackles and four interceptions during the Rams' Super Bowl-winning 2021 season

8 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

OK so there may be one or two of the bottom feeders.

Depends on the market, of course, but with two Seahawks defensive coaches joining the staff I could see a mid-level contract for Brooks with the hopes that being a full year removed from an ACL tear will have him playing at a high, but not Pro Bowl level. 

More likely, I think we’re shopping in the Willie Gay, Josey Jewell, Al-Shaair market.

We will have to wait and see on the LB coach, who could have some sway with a FA. If it’s Joe Barry, maybe Devondre Campbell if he’s cut, although there seemed to be some bad blood with the Packers. If it’s Caldwell (he went from Tampa to Jax), I don’t see us paying for Lavonte David, and Devin White had a bad year and is really overrated.

Interesting that the Packers are interviewing two different Ravens for their DC job (Orr and Wilson). 

Get rid of Bradberry, trade for Sustain (never gonna happen) and sign Brian Burns, McKinney and a cheap vet at LB. 

Draft another LB, DE, OL, WR.

Profit.

Realistically speaking most of the above will never happen.

AJ Brown pulled out of the pro bowl due to injury. Curious if it’s just a player not wanting to participate or if the injury is more serious than they let on. We never got an official diagnosis on it.

16 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

When was the last time he got hot?

When was the last time anyone on the defense was hot? Reddick for 2 quarters vs the Dolphins? 

2 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

AJ Brown pulled out of the pro bowl due to injury. Curious if it’s just a player not wanting to participate or if the injury is more serious than they let on. We never got an official diagnosis on it.

Knee sprain I thought. 

14 minutes ago, garingovt2000 said:

 

Also - The Rams traded for Ramsey in the middle of the 2019 season after he spent the first four years of his career in Jacksonville. Ramsey, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, had 77 tackles and four interceptions during the Rams' Super Bowl-winning 2021 season

Ramsey played nowhere close to the level with the Rams that he was in JAX.  He's been a boom or bust CB since he left the Jags.

Good write up on the safety class. I don’t think we’re shopping at the top for Winfield or even the next tier like McKinney or Curl. I doubt Chinn or Dugger fit.

I’d be happy with a mid-level guy like Fuller, Whitehead, Blackmon.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-2024-nfl-free-agency-rankings-safeties

4 minutes ago, Swoop said:

Get rid of Bradberry, trade for Sustain (never gonna happen) and sign Brian Burns, McKinney and a cheap vet at LB. 

Draft another LB, DE, OL, WR.

Profit.

Realistically speaking most of the above will never happen.

Yeah we can’t afford Surtain and Burns. Smitty and Dickerson should be extension priorities. 

12 hours ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Bryce Harper played professionally as a teenager. He got to his first playoffs at 19. So the fact he wasnt even great as a rookie playing in a playoff was amazing. Lamar Jackson didn’t reach the nfl until 21. If you want to say, both of them in their rookie, years weren’t good in their first postseason, that’s not out of the norm. Because most are. But Lamar has been as bad as a passer besides the Texans and one titans game  

Bryce Harper had success before year 11 and 12 in the postseason. He didn’t get wins, but then again he wasnt the main factor why they lost those series (some bad bullpen, bad starting pitching and one postseason he was second on the team in hitting (hitting in all 5 games) as none of his teammates hit even hit his average besides 1 player). His second postseason at 21 he hit .294/.368/.1.251 OPS with 3 homers and 4 RBIs. You know how good that is? For a 4 game post season that’s really good. Yet they lost in 4 games. Also in elimination games before getting to year 11 and 12 he was hitting .467 and .578 OBP with 2 homers and 4 RBIs. You know how ridiculously good that is? Yet the nationals lost those games. Lamar second postseason he had 12 points, 52% completion and 2 turnovers that led to short field tds (3 turnovers in general) and had a bunch of garbage time stat padding vs. titans (increased his rushing yards and completion percentage). 

also in baseball, Bryce Harper has no control over the pitching like Lamar doesn’t have control over the defense. He also doesn’t have control over teammates offensive production. whereas Lamar dictates how his passing game looks and how that offense looks as he has the ball in his hands every time he takes the field on offense. If you want to tell me Lamar needs better talent at Wr i don’t disagree  it’s an issue with the ravens.

But Lamar’s defense has been good enough in all but one playoff game (titans his second year). I can’t say the same for some of pitching performances in some of those postseasons or the guys around him during those postseason runs in bryce Harper’s career.  For instance 2014 harper, rendon and Zimmerman were the only nationals players to hit. Harper wasn’t remotely the reason they lost that series when he hit nearly .300. In 2016 the nationals didn’t have Strasberg (their best pitcher) and everyone besides scherzer in their starting rotation was bad and their bullpen blew last 2 games otherwise he wins that series (not great but he wasn’t awful like lamar was yesterday in his 6th playoff game). In 2017, besides Michael a. Taylor, Harper had the second highest BA of any of the players who were in the lineup for all 5 games vs. the cubs. Turner, rendon, werth and Zimmerman were worse than Harper which allowed cubs to just pitch around harper. They got good pitching and sadly Harper was better than 8 out of the 9 guys in that lineup.

Meanwhile Lamar when they lose have been the major reason they’ve lost and he’s been as a bad you could be in those loses. In 5 of the 6 games Lamar’s defense has given up 24 points or less and 4 of 6 games 20 or less. I’d add the one game they gave up 28 is because Lamar threw a pick that gave the titans the ball needing 35 yards to score a TD and fumbled a ball that gave the titans the ball needing just 21 yards to score a TD. so he also screwed over his defense in that game with turnovers. when kimbrel blows two games and basically a series for the Phillies that’s counts against Harper W-L and teams began just pitching around him/walking him whereas lamar touches ball every time on offense and can’t make things happen as he touches the ball every time. Lamar Jackson has complete control on his offense and touches the ball every time. He’s been bad as a passer in all but 2 of his starts. In 5 of Lamar’s 6 starts their offense has scored  20 or less points. 1 game he’s scored over 20.

However, after bryce Harper‘s first playoff series at 19, he’s been either solid or good. In fact his 2nd and 3 postseasons he had .265/.419/1.005 (OPS). Since his rookie season postseason appearance he's hitting .298 with .414 OBP and 1.059 OPS with 15 homers and 29 RBIs since. Lamar Jackson has been "great” as a passer in one of his next five playoff games. In those 5 games they’ve averaged 15.8 ppg. He has 5 passing tds and 4 ints and a 79 qb rating. He has 2 rushing tds and 2 fumbles lost. So basically 1 TD more than turnovers in the next 5 playoff games. And there’s some garbage time stat padding in some of that. Harper in his second and 3rd postseason was better than that.  

Also Lamar didn’t play last year in the playoffs because he was too afraid of getting hurt and hurting his next contract. Where is Bryce Harper was playing with a Fing torn elbow. Also bryce Harper played a completely different position midway through the year and still performed. And in elimination games before coming to the Phillies he was hitting .467 with 4 RBIs and 2 homers with OBP of .578

If you’re going strictly wins and losses to tell me that Bryce Harper wasn’t good prior to your 11 and 12 you’d be full of crap. Because of elimination games for the nationals he was hitting 468 and OBP in over 50% of his at bats which is ridiculous  

I am not saying Lamar Jackson can’t get better overtime. You’d hope that’s the case. However you’re delusion if you think Bryce Harper was just bad in every postseason cause they didn’t win the series before we are 11 and 12 in the postseason. He was the best hitter the nationals had in elimination games. I can’t say Lamar was their best player in any of those losses. He’s been atrocious in almost every loss with their season on the line. Also, Bryce Harper got a bunch of crap about his postseason prior to coming to the Phillies and his postseason stats after his rookie season weren’t nearly as bad as Lamar’s  

Also Lamar is 2-4 cause he missed 2022 playoffs. So get your Fing stats correct. 

Also, who says lamar jackson is even playing in year 11 and 12 or as good as he is now to make those postseasons. Much shorter career than baseball and he’s already had durability issues. There’s a chance by 32-33 lamar is like cam newton where he’s at the end of his career

you wanna make a comparison to a baseball player, the comparison you should be using is Clayton Kershaw. Because Clayton Kershaw kinda has the same problem Lamar Jackson does. He’ll be great in the regular season. have a game or two in the postseason where it looks  good. But other times, he gets lit up or is just flat out bad. And he’s a 3X Cy Young award winner and won an mvp. 

 

Lamar reached the playoffs as a rookie.  Took over midway through the season at 21 and finished the year 6-1 to take the Ravens to the playoffs (they were 4-5 before he took over)  then he won his first of two MVPs the following year in his first full season as a starter.

A lot of excuses for Harper and a lot of hate for Lamar.  But ita funny how you get so defensive about Lamar when Harper in double the time in professional sports he has accomplished hardly anymore than Lamar has.

 

Drue Tranquill getting the Kyzir White comparisons...you know what that means.

25 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Understood.  But, given Howie's horrific drafting prowess at the CB position... we'd at least be getting a very young CB.  Surtain is only 23, he'll be 24 midseason next year.   And that locks down a priority position moving forward for the next 6 years.   Sweat, on the other hand, is old, even for a 26 year old.  And he literally provided NOTHING for the second half of the season.  Might as well flip him for a stud and look to replace his nothing with a later draft pick.. or cheaper vet.  Given Howie's abilities to draft defense over the years, you have to lean in to the ineptitude (since he'll never be reassigned) and work around the issue.  Trading for a true STUD CB, unlike the trades for Darby and Slay (Slay wasn't the stud that Surtain is when he got here, and his play has tailed off rapidly) is a major coup for Howie.   Of course, its a foregone conclusion to me that Denver would never accept those terms.

I hate to be nihilistic and bring this back to Hurts, but that's why the Eagles feel like they are in a doomed cycle.  Unless we have a Patrick Mahomes at QB who can get to SBs himself (we don't and neither does anyone else besides the Chiefs), Howie doesn't draft well enough to maintain an elite roster with a QB on a mega deal.  Howie is the master of trade and signs for semi-disgruntled players and good big ticket FA signings.  That essentially has been the backbone of this team for years under Howie.  And once you extend your franchise QB, you can't do that anymore....and then we fall back, rinse, and repeat.

 

12 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

 

Lamar reached the playoffs as a rookie.  Took over midway through the season at 21 and finished the year 6-1 to take the Ravens to the playoffs (they were 4-5 before he took over)  then he won his first of two MVPs the following year in his first full season as a starter.

A lot of excuses for Harper and a lot of hate for Lamar.  But ita funny how you get so defensive about Lamar when Harper in double the time in professional sports he has accomplished hardly anymore than Lamar has.

 

Lamar has constantly been disrespected since before he stepped foot into the NFL draft. He’s done nothing but be the face of his franchise and make incredible plays over and over again. Sorry his TE was injured and he’s playing with a rookie WR and a has been WR who’s better for the media than on the field. 

14 minutes ago, GoEagles614 said:

When was the last time anyone on the defense was hot? Reddick for 2 quarters vs the Dolphins? 

Absolutely right.  Which is why I am not against ANY player being released or cut if it means that we can add better talent.   No one is untouchable.  And that includes Jalen Carter.   If you get the right return for any of them, then bring on the trade!   That said, it would obviously cost much more for a guy like Carter versus a guy like Sweat.  

The defense requires a massive overhaul.   Bring in TALENT.

 

57 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

 

Lamar reached the playoffs as a rookie.  Took over midway through the season at 21 and finished the year 6-1 to take the Ravens to the playoffs (they were 4-5 before he took over)  then he won his first of two MVPs the following year in his first full season as a starter.

A lot of excuses for Harper and a lot of hate for Lamar.  But ita funny how you get so defensive about Lamar when Harper in double the time in professional sports he has accomplished hardly anymore than Lamar has.

 

great about his regular season success. No questions his regular season ability.  It’s always been how is he going to perform not the playoffs. And when he’s gotten there he’s been a far cry from what he’s been. He’s been Clayton kershaw

Lamar’s offense in 6 playoff games is averaging 16 ppg. His defense has given on average 18 ppg. You can call that hate he’s been largely bad outside of the Texans game and titans game (frankly he was ok not great and still had turnover issue and nearly fumbled a ball away). Bryce Harper in his second postseason appear hit nearly .300 with 3 homers and 4 RBIs. Add bryce Harper in elimination game steeper before getting to Philly hit .468 and .578 OBP 2 HRs and 4RBIs. those aren’t excuses. Those are facts that he actually played well in his second postseason and when the nationals needed him the most in elimination games he stepped up. Lamar Jackson has been the main reason why the Baltimore Ravens 2-4 record they do. It’s unfortunate you rather just ignore facts 

So a lot of BS everyone hates lamar from you. It’s always poor lamar with you meanwhile he’s been brutal every time the ravens lost in the playoffs. Meanwhile Harper in losses in particularly elimination games early in his career but was actually really good. FYI hitting .468 and OBP of .578 in elimination games with the nationals in his first 6 seasons is ridiculously good. That means when the nationals needed him the most, he stepped up. Nearly hitting .300 with a 1000+ OPS in his second postseason is also ridiculously good. So the difference in their first 6 seasons is Harper played his best when his team absolutely needed him the most in elimination games. meanwhile Lamar hasn’t outside of the Texans game in the divisional round and his offense has scored over 21 points 1 time in 6 playoff. Bryce Harper wasn’t remotely that bad besides his rookie season. The difference between Lamar and Bryce early in their careers is Bryce Harper played well in some of those losses by the nationals. Meanwhile, lamar didn’t play well in any of those losses. Frankly his offenses have gotten worse since his rookie year in losses. In the 4 playoff losses the ravens are averaging 12.5 ppg. If you exclude his rookie year as let’s say rookies don’t usually play well the next 3 losses they are averaging 8.3. If burrow, hurts, Stafford, mahomes, brady, manning or any Qb was averaging 8.3 ppg or 12.5 ppg in playoff losses. I would be going after that quarterback too. Because that’s absolutely pathetic. Just like it was absolutely pathetic that the Eagles only scored 9 points against Tampa Bay.

Think about this, if the ravens just gotten into 21 points in every playoff game Lamar Jackson’s played, they would be 4-2. 21 points is not some crazy achievement in todays nfl with the rule changes and advantage to the offense. the fact the ravens have scored 21 points or less in 5 of his 6 playoff starts is just bad. Just to point this out the QBs that have scored 21 points or more at least one time (if not more) in less than 6 playoff games: Daniel jones, cj stroud, Jordan love (2x in 2 games), hurts, cousins, geno smith, baker mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Herbert, Watson and Skylar Thompson. 

If Eddie Jackson gets cut, he might be a good stopgap to buy us some time while Brown recovers.

5 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Absolutely right.  Which is why I am not against ANY player being released or cut if it means that we can add better talent.   No one is untouchable.  And that includes Jalen Carter.   If you get the right return for any of them, then bring on the trade!   That said, it would obviously cost much more for a guy like Carter versus a guy like Sweat.  

The defense requires a massive overhaul.   Bring in TALENT.

I think that’s more of an indictment on the coaching than the players. Especially defensively where the scheme seemed disconnected on every level and didn’t show any desire to put players in a setting where teamwork paid off. Seemed like 11 guys playing 1 on 1 every play with no goal in mind. You could put Aaron Donald and Surtain on last years team and they would look very similar as a defense. 

1 minute ago, ManuManu said:

If Eddie Jackson gets cut, he might be a good stopgap to buy us some time while Brown recovers.

Yeah they can Cut Byard and have the money go there lol. 

17 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I hate to be nihilistic and bring this back to Hurts, but that's why the Eagles feel like they are in a doomed cycle.  Unless we have a Patrick Mahomes at QB who can get to SBs himself (we don't and neither does anyone else besides the Chiefs), Howie doesn't draft well enough to maintain an elite roster with a QB on a mega deal.  Howie is the master of trade and signs for semi-disgruntled players and good big ticket FA signings.  That essentially has been the backbone of this team for years under Howie.  And once you extend your franchise QB, you can't do that anymore....and then we fall back, rinse, and repeat.

I understand.  The way it does seem to be is that there's one elite QB (it was Brady, now Mahomes) and everyone else is just trying to get the table scraps they leave behind.   And the easiest way is to find a young, cheap QB that doesn't make mistakes... and surround them with an all-star team and hope that the magic falls just right.  

So what I'm hearing is the Eagles should draft better so they don't have to sign FAs and they should upgrade talent wherever possible.  I hope other teams aren't reading this blog to steal that expert advice