10 minutes ago, Waiting4Someday said:

Femi O's pass rush win rate is mediocre over 2024 as a whole - until you look at the last set of games where he starts to really figure it out.  I figure he's a 3rd round target like Jalyx last draft.

That’s a good assessment.

11 minutes ago, mattwill said:

That is easy to officiate because the D players objective in every play is to stop forward progress. The O players other than the ball carrier have the objective of clearing a path so the ball carrier can maximize forward progress.  Running into a pile of players should/could be legal if it is to clears path for the runner, but not legal if it is to push the runner.  The refs would simply observe where the point of contact of the blocking player is in order to determine whether to throw a flag.

The thing with calls on pushing/pulling will vary per officiating group.  Last nights Premier League game (Liverpool vs Everton) is a great example.  The ref and video assistant deemed a challenge ok and the initial punishment as appropriate. The refereeing body overnight said they were wrong and it was a sending off offence.

The NFL has so many challenges with officiating consistency that I worry that allowing interpretation about pushing/pulling will only make the perception worse.  Todays rule is very simple to manage; adding in interpretations of what is a pull or push. Yikes.

3 minutes ago, mattwill said:

Even if you set aside any NY / Dallas bias, the NFL has worked hard and long to legislate parity into its product.  The Salary Cap legislates against successful teams.  The Draft legislates against successful teams.  The scheduling algorithms legislate against successful teams.  Everything about the tush push is contrary to the mission of achieving parity.  Therefore, it must go.

I think there's probably some resentment about how the Eagles have built their roster as well.  

16 minutes ago, mattwill said:

All of those great teams are prior to 1994, and as such didn’t have to play with one hand behind their back.

That's fair.  In the salary cap era there are handful of Patriot teams ('04, '07, '16), Broncos of '97 & '98, Rams of '99 & '01.

Those teams were seen as great at the end of the regular season and didn't lean so much their playoff performance.  No one was considering the '24 Eagles as an all-time great team before the playoff began.  We were the two seed.

5 minutes ago, mattwill said:

Even if you set aside any NY / Dallas bias, the NFL has worked hard and long to legislate parity into its product.  The Salary Cap legislates against successful teams.  The Draft legislates against successful teams.  The scheduling algorithms legislate against successful teams.  Everything about the tush push is contrary to the mission of achieving parity.  Therefore, it must go.

To add a contrarian question.  Is the shovel pass from Mahomes to Kelce a play that is too successful, and needs to go? Or the Broncos old inside/outside zone scheme in years gone past? Where is the balance between rewarding success and punishing it?  Should a sports rules legislate for someone being successful?  It's a hard one to navigate (hence the debate on here, and I don't know the correct answer).

I don't have any issue banning something that affects player safety.  I support that with a factual breakdown and would go further in some areas than the NFL do around tackle heights, etc. We don't want Hurts being concussed because Luvu knew he could take a legal shot at Hurts. But punishing a team for being too good is a slippery slope and can lead to issues year down the line when the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak.

2 hours ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Three weeks until the draft!

Big if true.

8 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

I think there's probably some resentment about how the Eagles have built their roster as well.  

Absolutely 

52 minutes ago, EaglesAddict said:

Yeah, those teams...along with the '72 Dolphins...are always the ones regarded as the best.  Certainly different eras of football and the game is much different these days.  It may be more fair to say the 2024 Eagles were one of the best of the "modern era"?  As in, maybe in this century?

Nearly an impossible task to compare teams whether its the same era or not.   Can someone definitely even prove that the Eagles were a better team in 2024 than the Bills in 2024?   I would also argue that the Bills in 1991 were a better team than the Giants in that same year, BUT... on that particular day, the Giants won and the Bills lost.  So, the Bills were not better, even though 'on paper' they absolutely were.  "Wide right".

3 minutes ago, UK Eagle said:

To add a contrarian question.  Is the shovel pass from Mahomes to Kelce a play that is too successful, and needs to go? Or the Broncos old inside/outside zone scheme in years gone past? Where is the balance between rewarding success and punishing it?  Should a sports rules legislate for someone being successful?  It's a hard one to navigate (hence the debate on here, and I don't know the correct answer).

I don't have any issue banning something that affects player safety.  I support that with a factual breakdown and would go further in some areas than the NFL do around tackle heights, etc. We don't want Hurts being concussed because Luvu knew he could take a legal shot at Hurts. But punishing a team for being too good is a slippery slope and can lead to issues year down the line when the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak.

I’m sure the discussions at NFL corporate have included consideration of how easy it is to describe the offending play in a rule, which is pretty easy in the case of the tush push but not so easy to do in either the Chiefs or Broncos cases you have cited.  And secondarily, how easy it would be for referees/officials to enforce.

37 minutes ago, mattwill said:

That is easy to officiate because the D players objective in every play is to stop forward progress. The O players other than the ball carrier have the objective of clearing a path so the ball carrier can maximize forward progress.  Running into a pile of players should/could be legal if it is to clears path for the runner, but not legal if it is to push the runner.  The refs would simply observe where the point of contact of the blocking player is in order to determine whether to throw a flag.

You lost me at, "The refs would simply..."  

59 minutes ago, mattwill said:

Have you tried the new ESPN mock simulator?  You can access it at https://espnanalytics.com/draft-sim/

I hadn't... Here is my 1st crack at it

9 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

That's fair.  In the salary cap era there are handful of Patriot teams ('04, '07, '16), Broncos of '97 & '98, Rams of '99 & '01.

Those teams were seen as great at the end of the regular season and didn't lean so much their playoff performance.  No one was considering the '24 Eagles as an all-time great team before the playoff began.  We were the two seed.

The two seed rather than the one seed was first and foremost a numbers thing, but I think it is accurate to say that the talking heads had the Eagles as the two seed as well.  My personal belief is that that was because of 1) the 2023 late season collapse, 2) the first four games of 2024, 3) the clear trend in the NFL devaluing the running game, and 4) the fact that Hurts had not shown consistent (any?) efficiency/production as a passer during 2024.

What the playoffs run showed was that all four of those concerns were not valid.

As the old saying goes, "Cream rises!”

9 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

You lost me at, "The refs would simply..."  

Fair enough.

So if Starks is available at #32 (or even in the late twenties), does Howie take a solid first round talent that fills a need even though the current top-end AAV for safeties is about $10M less than DT, ED, and OT?  Or does he pursue the compensation arbitrages that rookie contracts at those positions create?

 

EDIT:  Assume that there are quality options available at DT, ED, and OT when we pick.

 

I wonder if Pearce is off the Eagles board. If his character issues are that bad, probably.

This draft cycle has been one of the most underwhelming I can ever remember. Not sure if it's still the high of winning the Super Bowl, the lack of top end talent or both. Even from other teams perspective it's just boring. 

There needs to be some major trades, shakeups and intrigue. Otherwise, this is the most boring draft in 30 years. 

9 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

 

Vic is smart.   I think he recognizes that DeJean's greatest asset to the team is as the nickel.  That doesn't mean that he can't shift outside for 2 CB personnel groups, but he's truly a weapon at NCB, and might actually already be the best in the NFL.  He single-handedly made some really elite plays this year due to his unique skill set.   The 4th down and 1 against the Bengals, where they schemed to match him up against Chase and he completely shut the play down by himself... that was a huge moment in this season, and for him.

38 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

That's fair.  In the salary cap era there are handful of Patriot teams ('04, '07, '16), Broncos of '97 & '98, Rams of '99 & '01.

Those teams were seen as great at the end of the regular season and didn't lean so much their playoff performance.  No one was considering the '24 Eagles as an all-time great team before the playoff began.  We were the two seed.

I had the 2024 Eagles at #10 all-time in the analysis I did.  There does definitely need to be two lists -- one pre free agency and salary cap and another post.  

4 hours ago, EaglesAddict said:

Just out of curiosity, what are you doing on YouTube to make revenue...particularly when you were making 3k per month?

Various things, how to and/or product review type videos, firearms, Eagles, old TV commercials. Anything that I thought would make money (some did, some didn't).

Back around late 2019, YouTube decided that they didn't like something, they never told me what and I had no copyright strikes but out of the blue, they decided to delete my channel. Poof, just gone with no explanation. I appealed but didn't think it'd ever work out in my favor. Then about 6 months later, poof, it was back. Again, with no explanation. 

After it was reinstated, my revenue never recovered and went from something around $2800 a month, down to under $100. I figured that someone behind the scenes didn't like some of my firearms videos and 'shadow banned' me from being recommended so that severely limited any potential revenue I could earn. I don't know that, but it's just what I suspect. 

 

7 minutes ago, garingovt2000 said:

I hadn't... Here is my 1st crack at it

Good one too

Here are 5 Things You Should Know About Derrick Harmon

Lead All DTs In Pressures

Harmon only had 5 sacks, outside the top 10 for DTs in this class. But Eagles fans know well that getting the QB down is not the only way DTs can impact the game, and what Harmon did do was lead the draft class in pressures, and he did so by a wide margin.

Harmon had 55 pressures. 2nd place for DTs in this draft had 44. Harmon also leads the draft class with 43 Hurries, 9 more than the guy in 2nd place. His Pass Rush Win Rate of 17.6% is 3rd in the draft class.

You can judge players by how they perform when the lights shine the brightest. You could argue the 2 biggest games Oregon played last year were the 2 games vs Ohio State (the eventual Champions). His team won 1 of them, and kind of got embarrassed in the other one. But how did he fare in those games?

Between both games, Harmon totaled 6 pressures, 5 QB Hits, 4 stops, and 1 forced fumble. By PFF’s grading system, the first game was his best game of the season, and the playoff game was his 3rd best game.

1 hour ago, ManuManu said:

Schultz: 

My understanding is since Joe Milton became available at the start of the offseason, teams that showed interest included the Raiders, Eagles, Giants, Steelers and the Cowboys.

The #Patriots had a better offer for Milton but chose to send him where he wanted out of respect for him, per source.

Strong arm but not particularly accurate.  Mobile but doesn't show sense to get down and will try to run guys over.  Started one season in his six-year college career.  

I'm not sure what DAL chose to give up in a trade for a guy who was a #193 overall draft pick.  He might make a few exciting plays every now and then, but I don't see him as a viable starting QB prospect.

21 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

So if Starks is available at #32 (or even in the late twenties), does Howie take a solid first round talent that fills a need even though the current top-end AAV for safeties is about $10M less than DT, ED, and OT?  Or does he pursue the compensation arbitrages that rookie contracts at those positions create?

 

EDIT:  Assume that there are quality options available at DT, ED, and OT when we pick.

If both Starks and an OT are available at 32, I believe he takes Starks, because the arbitrage you describe yields value when/if the player takes snaps.  That is the core argument that Iggles Phan and others have made against Davis, and it is a good argument.  Starks would yield value immediately, but an OT would sit behind Lane and Mailata for at least two seasons (unless the Shawn Andrews route is followed).

Edge and DT are rotational positions, so a 33 pick there would (probably) see snaps almost immediately.  I say probably because of the Nolan Smith history.  But even if the player has more rookie success than Smith did, the rotational nature of DT and Edge gives the full time production of Starks at Safety a value arbitrage advantage.

So absent specific player names at DT and Edge, I believe Howie would take Starks and look to take a DT and an Edge later in the Draft.

JMO

34 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

So if Starks is available at #32 (or even in the late twenties), does Howie take a solid first round talent that fills a need even though the current top-end AAV for safeties is about $10M less than DT, ED, and OT?  Or does he pursue the compensation arbitrages that rookie contracts at those positions create?

 

EDIT:  Assume that there are quality options available at DT, ED, and OT when we pick.

BPA.  And may also trade up or down.  We are in a very good position.