40 minutes ago, RLC said:

ESP was used by Chip Kelly to smear DeJean Jackson as an excuse to get rid of him. ESP then parlayed that into a career.

Whenever other fans and media members defend ESP, they're saying that behaviour was ok. 

Everything Jackson did (and didn't do) in his second Eagles stint validated Chip's decision to get rid of him, more than anything Kelly could say himself.  

 

25 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

Everything Jackson did (and didn't do) in his second Eagles stint validated Chip's decision to get rid of him, more than anything Kelly could say himself.  

 

What did DeSean do in his second stint hat was an off the field issue?

11 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I said a 3rd RB is a lock, whether its Gainwell or someone else. I was trying to focus more on numbers than the actual person. 

They signed Fred Johnson just for two years, this being his last. He'll be 27 next month so I don't really see him as a real potential guy. Bringing in Becton was upgrading and going younger, which makes Johnson kind of irrelevant. But again, put him as one of the other 2 OL I said would likely be here, doesn't really matter. 

In any event, this all just shows there is a bit of a numbers crunch going on

I think that 3rd RB is Gainwell. My point on Johnson was that they liked him well enough to sign him to a 2 year deal and I think they would be inclined to keep him. 

12 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

Everything Jackson did (and didn't do) in his second Eagles stint validated Chip's decision to get rid of him, more than anything Kelly could say himself.  

I was okay with dumping Desean. He made opposing defenses play way back, but he was otherwise a limited receiver for how much he was getting paid.

Dropping McCoy though was a huge blunder. He was a 5-tool rb who was worth every penny. 2016-2019 would have been substantially better with McCoy on the team. Maybe we would have even won 2 in 2017+2018.

53 minutes ago, LeanMeanGM said:

I'll never understand how they choose who to bring to these things

I feel bad for anyone named Drake that's not Aubrey Drake Graham.

Drake Maye
They not like us they not like us
OVHOE... say OVHOE
He a fan he a fan he a fan

 

3 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

 

Makes sense for them to practice more when you have all of these new coaches.

33 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Some silly stuff around here.

You're gonna cut a top PR guy to keep Parker or Wilson on the roster? How many touches does your 5th WR get, and if there's an injury, you promote someone from the PS or pick up a veteran off waivers.

I expect Smith to win the slot WR job, and even then he's going to have limited touches with Brown, Smith, Goedert and Barkley.

I think they're going to try to move Barkley around pre-snap, both to expose the defense but also to get him matched up against a LB/SS in space.

Who plays outside if Brown or Smith gets hurt and you have cut Parker to keep Covey? Is it really so easy to pluck a vet off the street? 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

 

Well that's reassuring.  

1 hour ago, BigEFly said:

But the risk of losing a PS player at cutdown and every week not protected is real unlike the 53.  With injury, there needs to be more than one option at RS and it should be RS not PR and KOR.  So Covey to PS might be the back up.  But @Iggles_Phan is right, it’s not about the 69 or 53, it’s about the 46 active.  

Look at it this way.  Lovato is active on all coverage teams plus FG and Extra Points.  Elliott is active on all KO coverage teams plus FG and Extra Points.  Mann is active on all Punt coverage teams plus FG and Extra Points.  Covey was on all PRs and rarely seen otherwise.  

Let’s look at Big WR, a position that I refer to as the Pascal position.  JJAW was the blocking WR but signaled the play type because he didn’t have agility to be much of a receiving threat, so he was replaced by Pascal.  I would argue that position was lost to Covey last year and it showed on offense.  Eagles have sure sent the message they are going to have the big blocking receiver again and Wilson fits that plus he has competition.  Smith fits competition with Campbell and Covey for the WR3 and WR5 position.  

Will the WR5 be active or even on the 53?  There will be other WRs on the PS.   So active is likely Brown, D Smith for sure.  Someone needs to be WR3.  Campbell seems the most likely with his speed and experience and he can play slot and outside but has been a bit fragile so may need a backup.  WR3 and the Big WR (WR4) will split time, I suspect.  Wilson can play both outside and slot and can block.  If WR5 is active that might mean a RB or TE is inactive.  (8 OL, 2 QB, 3 RB, 3 TE, 4 WR is 20 active on O).  21 and 22 aren’t necessarily O. Determined by game plan and what they offer on STs.  So they are competing with LBs, DBs, RB4, TE4 etc.  With coverage teams, FG, Extra Point, a VanSumerin or J Hall and some of the myriad of DBs might have more use.  Smith and Covey are also going to battle with the Big WR back up (likely a PS position) and that may fall to what is displayed at camp by other WRs.  
 

 

Not entirely. You can protect four players from the PS, so that's 57, not just the 46 active. You can also pay PS players more than the required minimum, even a full active player salary, to keep them from jumping ship. The PS members are free agents, meaning that they are free to stay with a team even if another team puts in a claim.

With the new KO rules the RS - NOT just the PR - but both is a significantly more valuable position. He'll have 10 plays or so a game rather than the 4-5 punts. That's a lot, considering that guys like Brown and Smith get maybe that many targets each per game. I expect that of the two deep guys on KOs that one of them will be the primary blocker and the other the primary return guy. Wilson would be my guess for the blocker and Ainias Smith for the primary returner. I see Covey as having one foot out the door and the other on a banana peel. He does not play coverage teams and with the new rules a PS ONLY is half as valuable as he was last season. 

If he's with the Eagles this year I expect him to spend a good amount of time on the PS>

1 hour ago, Saltpeter said:

Gainwell is a lock if he's not traded - and who TF is trading for Kenny Gainwell

Dallas?

 

The really may have the worst RB corps in the league.

1 minute ago, just relax said:

Not entirely. You can protect four players from the PS, so that's 57, not just the 46 active. You can also pay PS players more than the required minimum, even a full active player salary, to keep them from jumping ship. The PS members are free agents, meaning that they are free to stay with a team even if another team puts in a claim.

With the new KO rules the RS - NOT just the PR - but both is a significantly more valuable position. He'll have 10 plays or so a game rather than the 4-5 punts. That's a lot, considering that guys like Brown and Smith get maybe that many targets each per game. I expect that of the two deep guys on KOs that one of them will be the primary blocker and the other the primary return guy. Wilson would be my guess for the blocker and Ainias Smith for the primary returner. I see Covey as having one foot out the door and the other on a banana peel. He does not play coverage teams and with the new rules a PS ONLY is half as valuable as he was last season. 

If he's with the Eagles this year I expect him to spend a good amount of time on the PS>

Covey wouldn't stick on a PS. That 14 yards per avg is phenomenal.

11 minutes ago, just relax said:

Not entirely. You can protect four players from the PS, so that's 57, not just the 46 active. You can also pay PS players more than the required minimum, even a full active player salary, to keep them from jumping ship. The PS members are free agents, meaning that they are free to stay with a team even if another team puts in a claim.

With the new KO rules the RS - NOT just the PR - but both is a significantly more valuable position. He'll have 10 plays or so a game rather than the 4-5 punts. That's a lot, considering that guys like Brown and Smith get maybe that many targets each per game. I expect that of the two deep guys on KOs that one of them will be the primary blocker and the other the primary return guy. Wilson would be my guess for the blocker and Ainias Smith for the primary returner. I see Covey as having one foot out the door and the other on a banana peel. He does not play coverage teams and with the new rules a PS ONLY is half as valuable as he was last season. 

If he's with the Eagles this year I expect him to spend a good amount of time on the PS>

How is it much different from last season?  Covey was the PR specialist - a very good one relative to rest of the league.  And Boston Scott, our RB3, was the primary KOR.

If Smith as WR4 or DeJean as CB3, both of whom would dress anyway, became the primary KOR, how would that impact Covey's presence?

 

7 minutes ago, judunno said:

Covey wouldn't stick on a PS. That 14 yards per avg is phenomenal.

As are the four fumbles. Also, please note Michael Clay's comments that @Connecticut Eagle posted. They don't know what style returner is best. You want a 173-lb guy returning KOs?

Where is Brian Mitchell when we really need him?

1 hour ago, ManuManu said:

I agree it isn’t ideal to have a punt return only player. I think Smith is the long term guy there. He needs to clean some things up. DeJean, if he’s what I think he is, will be too valuable to put back there. 

In year 3, 4, 5, and beyond, I agree.   But, I think he'll be playing most ST units anyway... just like Malcolm Jenkins did back in the day.    So, we might as well use him to his greatest potential.

38 minutes ago, Aerolithe_Lion said:

I was okay with dumping Desean. He made opposing defenses play way back, but he was otherwise a limited receiver for how much he was getting paid.

Dropping McCoy though was a huge blunder. He was a 5-tool rb who was worth every penny. 2016-2019 would have been substantially better with McCoy on the team. Maybe we would have even won 2 in 2017+2018.

Yup.  McCoy has a lot more to be sour about than Jackson does.  The asinine part of getting rid of Jackson was not finding a trading partner.  The McCoy for Kiko trade was proof-positive that Chip had no eye for talent evaluation.  Chip didn't like McCoy's running style, but then they voided any cost savings in moving him by bringing in both Mathews and Murray.  Murray was the best example of overusing a RB; he'd have 1-2 really good years, then look completely washed the following year -- which is what the Eagles ended up with. 

It didn't help that Chip kept calling pitch plays for Murray and expecting him to get to the perimeter.

35 minutes ago, jsb235 said:

Who plays outside if Brown or Smith gets hurt and you have cut Parker to keep Covey? Is it really so easy to pluck a vet off the street? 

A veteran as good as Wilson or Parker? Wilson may not even beat out Ngata or the other big WRs they have on the roster.

1 hour ago, judunno said:

If this guy is going to be as good as I think he's going to be, no way would I put him back for returns when we have Expendables out there that can likely be just as productive if not better.

How many injuries have occurred to top punt returners?   I don't remember a lot of times where Devin Hester or Brian Mitchell got blown up and injured.  And if its a non-contact injury... those can happen at any time, even practice.   There's inherent risk just in stepping on the field.  This team is far too injury adverse.  Let them play.

31 minutes ago, paco said:

Dallas?

 

The really may have the worst RB corps in the league.

One of their bloggers brought up Miles Sanders to Dallas. I think that would make a lot of sense for them and for the Panthers.

 

1 hour ago, LeanMeanGM said:

Fangio is so old and curmudgeonly, it's pretty funny

Just like me.

2 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

 

nice... sounds like Baun is set up for failure.