1 hour ago, ManuManu said:

The thing about Nolan Smith is he has one pass rush move, but he doesn’t play to his speed and doesn’t have the arm length to make the outside speed rush work well. If he doesn’t learn an inside counter, he’s unplayable. 

Agreed. He doesn't play up to his speed at all. Also, he's really slow getting off the line.  I noticed it when I was watching his college highlights and it was painfully obvious last year. He's like a half second after everybody else so all that speed is negated by the slow jump. He doesn't have pass rush moves. Looks like the Eagles got enamored by the Georgia player with the super fast 40 time. He never really produced much in college either. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't really expect much out of Smith at this point.

16 hours ago, BDawk_ASamuel said:

Didn’t Nick say last season that if he could go back he would have played the starters for some of preseason? And then he proceeds to not play them this preseason. 

I heard from Sirianni after last season's end that camp next year (2024) was going to be different, less soft. I wonder if that idea got vetoed from on high.

1 hour ago, bpac55 said:

pass rush specialist

With one pass rush move...as someone else already stated. He may not have transitioned well into the NFL from Georgia yet, but at the draft position he was taken at, as others have said already, you can't give up on him yet.

1 hour ago, ManuManu said:

The thing about Nolan Smith is he has one pass rush move, but he doesn’t play to his speed and doesn’t have the arm length to make the outside speed rush work well. If he doesn’t learn an inside counter, he’s unplayable. 

He also lacks the instincts to play in space, just compare to Hunt who is a raw rookie but has that safety background.

Smith has speed, high motor but lacks "it."

With the zone blitzing I expect Nolan to split the pass rushing reps with the ILBs, and when he is given the green light I figure there will be a fair amount of games involved as he can make the most of an ‘unblocked’ situation with his speed/agility. Not sure if he is just slow off the snap, or he’s slow to make the run/pass read as it looks like he’s 2 gapping - but he should be more of a threat to attack either shoulder of the offensive tackle.

1 hour ago, bpac55 said:

I wonder if White or Baun could be surprise players that are moved. Probably no chance but I'm anticipating at least one where did that come from move.

I think white will provide a bunch of impact plays through the season.  But id move Baun. I want to see him as a pass rusher somewhere.  I think we are misusing him and I don't think he will be a starter all season here.  I think Trotter or Dean will take his job. 

I'd actually like Baun to take Nolan Smiths role but that won't happen. 

Snap Counts:

Offense

 

Defense

1 hour ago, ManuManu said:

 

Depending on the cost, I really hope Howie makes a few calls.

I keep seeing the BG and Smith comparison and that we need to be patient. BG was a complete player at UM, just kind of a tweener and then misused here. He was equally good against the run and the pass in college. I don't think Smith is very strong against the run at all so hoping he develops and follows the path of BG seems like a huge stretch. We all agree that he's a high character, likeable guy and would be a tremendous locker room guy. But if he can't produce, you have to move on. 

How did Dejean look? And what position did he play? 

1 minute ago, bpac55 said:

I keep seeing the BG and Smith comparison and that we need to be patient. BG was a complete player at UM, just kind of a tweener and then misused here. He was equally good against the run and the pass in college. I don't think Smith is very strong against the run at all so hoping he develops and follows the path of BG seems like a huge stretch. We all agree that he's a high character, likeable guy and would be a tremendous locker room guy. But if he can't produce, you have to move on. 

Graham also tore his ACL late in his rookie year then shortly after had to fit in with Chip and Billy Davis 3-4. He had a lot going against him early on.

2 hours ago, bpac55 said:

And Nolan Smith is a 1st round pick who might be a ST player and part time pass rush specialist. 

 So he might be Patrick Johnson? Okay, we'll lets see what he becomes then since he's under contract longer, is younger, and has a much higher ceiling given his athletic ability.

1 hour ago, shlo said:

Agreed. He doesn't play up to his speed at all. Also, he's really slow getting off the line.  I noticed it when I was watching his college highlights and it was painfully obvious last year. He's like a half second after everybody else so all that speed is negated by the slow jump. He doesn't have pass rush moves. Looks like the Eagles got enamored by the Georgia player with the super fast 40 time. He never really produced much in college either. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't really expect much out of Smith at this point.

Josh Sweat was a workout warrior who was slow off the line.  He may not be an all pro, but he did change that.  And it took about 2 years.

 

 

I don't know exactly why but I find myself less invested in the final roster decisions this year.

1 minute ago, pgcd3 said:

I don't know exactly why but I find myself less invested in the final roster decisions this year.

Me too. But I’ve been fairly checked out (by my obsessive Eagles fandom standards). Maybe it’s just knowing that in all likelihood we wouldn’t lose anyone worth a darn anyway, or maybe it’s tue ability to put two guys in IR so we can game the system to keep their two hardest roster cuts. 

I’m really only interested in seeing any potential trades. 

3 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Me too. But I’ve been fairly checked out (by my obsessive Eagles fandom standards). Maybe it’s just knowing that in all likelihood we wouldn’t lose anyone worth a darn anyway, or maybe it’s tue ability to put two guys in IR so we can game the system to keep their two hardest roster cuts. 

I’m really only interested in seeing any potential trades. 

Is there a new IR rule I missed?

2 hours ago, ToastJenkins said:

The myth of the 5th year…

if he develops you have to pay him since its such a premium position. Its like a qb

Yeah ... if he turs into an all pro by year 3. But if he's more of just a solid player that shows signs he is still developing, you pick up that 5th year and see what he does in a contract year. 

19 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

Is there a new IR rule I missed?

You can IR two players at cutdown (and designate them to return so it’s not a season-ending IR) instead of having to carry them on the initial 53. 

The biggest battles right now are Tuipulotu vs Booker, BVS vs Burks, Ainias Smith vs Campbell, Bradberry vs McCollum.

I'm really hoping they keep Booker and Burks, those guys are better, but I have a feeling the Eagles will lean toward "their guys." I guess there's a chance they could keep an extra LB though, but they'd have to go light somewhere else and not sure where that would be. I don't think they'd go light on the OL.

45 minutes ago, pgcd3 said:

I don't know exactly why but I find myself less invested in the final roster decisions this year.

It’s a top heavy team. I think everyone could correctly predict 50 players making it and the last 3 is a possible 4 or 5 guys. 

15 hours ago, Texas Eagle said:

Just rewatched every play of his and man it wasn’t petty. He was going against 2nd/3rd team guards who slid out to play tackle and didn’t make an impact. Unfortunately for him a RB didn’t chip him inside for a clear lane to the QB and he didn’t have the speed to circle around a tackle (though to his credit he came kind of close to getting to the QBs arm at one point). He looked maybe even worse than last year in this game.

I don’t see a world where Howie doesn’t address edge by the trade deadline if he doesn’t step up. I hope I’m dead wrong and he shows out but not holding my breath.

LOL. Yep ... you're making it out to seem worse than reality. 

Here, he gets chipped by the TE and then gets picked up by Quessenberry (a 7 year OT with 30 career starts). He backs him into the QB causing the hurry that led to the INT:

Here, despite being held by 68, he and Burks both get to the QB for the sack:

Nolan Smith only played 19 snaps. A couple times he dropped into coverage. Several plays went completely away from him. On some plays the QB got rid of the ball quickly. If you have any video of the snaps that "weren't pretty," please share them, otherwise I'm just going to conclude that you just wanted to get in a negative take. 

 

I like that Fangio had him out there. He needs all the experience he can get against different players and different offenses. I wish the Eagles had the guts to play key inexperienced players (like Smith) even more in the preseason. 

11 minutes ago, brkmsn said:

LOL. Yep ... you're making out to seem worse than reality. 

Here, he gets chipped by the TE and then gets picked up by Quessenberry (a 7 year OT with 30 career starts). He backs him into the QB causing the hurry that led to the INT:

Here, despite being held by 68, he and Burks both get to the QB for the sack:

Nolan Smith only played 19 snaps. A couple times he dropped into coverage. Several plays went completely away from him. On some plays the QB got rid of the ball quickly. If you have any video of the snaps that "weren't pretty," please share them, otherwise I'm just going to conclude that you just wanted to get in a negative take. 

 

I like that Fangio had him out there. He needs all the experience he can get against different players and different offenses. I wish the Eagles had the guts to play key inexperienced players (like Smith) even more in the preseason. 

I hope so

2 hours ago, ManuManu said:

 

So weird they’re letting him seek a trade, he’s their defensive play caller in the huddle. He must be asking for crazy money